Board Thread:The Flash episode discussions/@comment-9346948-20150429010150/@comment-1731233-20150430044308

139.192.146.35 wrote: I need explanation guys! If older/future barry traveled back in time, he would have known that in this timeline, his mother was killed..

So why is older barry didnt stuck around in this timeline too? If he went back to his original timeline, wouldnt everything changed (I mean, this show treated time traveling NOT as an alternate reality like the Star Trek movies)?

or is the future/older Barry just simply disappeared from existance since everything is now changed? while Eobard Thawne still exists because he's from way way in the future and him being born and his process of getting his speedster power still remains the same? (and thats also why he kidnapped Eddie, so he doesnt marry Iris..)

this time travel thing is confusing, hope everything becomes clear. This will work if it follows the multiverse theory - basically parallel worlds, but not the infinite parallel worlds one. Instead of ONE timeline, we have multiple timelines. Let's assume Future Barry come from Timeline A. When Barry A travelled back in time, he technically createdmoved to a different timeline, the Timeline B. Barry A DID NOT have his mother killed, and his travel back in time was merely an accident during his battle with the Reverse-Flash. Barry A returns back to his time, while Eobard Thawne is stuck in B.

So why is the future the same? Well, if we do not go for the infinite parralel worlds theory, that means that there is only a few parallel worlds (like Steins;Gate). These worlds are separate, but have their own timeline. The infinite world theory refers to the idea that every decision you make creates a separate timeline. However, we can see that is NOT the case. Barry B overwrited his timeline when he time travelled, taking the place of the past Barry instead. The Reverse-Flash DID NOT travel to the past of A, but rather B instead. That means his time travel DID NOT create Timeline B, it was there all along. What happened was that Eobard Thawne influenced that Timeline and changed its events. Despite the changes, the Flash still went missing because he will inevitably go back in time to rescue his mother, getting himself killed in the process this time. Eobard's intention was to make sure B's future stays like that.

This solves all the problems you have.

Tl;dr version: Future Barry is from Timeline A and current Barry is from Timeline B. There is no infinite world, so their actions didn't create a different Timeline. Future Barry and Reverse-Flash merely jumped from a different Timeline to another one. Reverse-Flash can't go back to Timeline A, so he is going to influence the future of Timeline B instead.