The Flash The Flash and the Time Paradox

[Herolee10]

Honestly, the first time paradox was presented at the very end of the series premiere for this show.

If the "Flash" disappeared from history after Wells had killed Barry's mother, then there's no way that he should have had access to a newspaper article of the Flash being considered MIA from the original timeline that he originated from, the same timeline where Barry's mother was never killed in.

 

[Spider-Fan83]

I don't think Barry Allen was alive in Eobard's "present day". It's possible that a legacy speedster hero was alive and using "The Flash" name, but I don't think it would have been Barry Allen (unless Barry Allen travelled to his future, which would be Eobard's present day, and got "stuck" there).

And I'm not sure Eobard had any interest in conquering the world. That didn't seem to be his motivation for originally wanting to kill Barry and it didn't seem to be his motivation for so despertately wanting to return to his own time.

I didn't mean, the future that Eobard originally came from/born in, I mean whatever time him and Flash were fighting (that he said he could never beat him)

why Eobard/RF was even in that time in the first place... IDK? if he's a time traveler, if he couldn't beat Flash, why not just go to a time when Barry was no longer around?

unless even after Barry was gone, other Flash's took his place (Wally, Bart,... an so on) into the future where Eobard came from, but he found out that Barry was the original Flash that started it all (stop the first flash from existing, stop anyone from following in his foot steps)

 

[The Incredible Hulk]

Also another reason I say this is because it still has to be a time loop. Like, has anyone ever seen Misfits (the UK series)? Don't wanna spoil it,

Spoiler

but Simon from the Future (AKA SuperHoodie) goes to the past then has his powers removed, all so he could make Alisha fall in love with him. Future Simon gets killed, then Alisha starts a relationship with present day Simon. But then she gets killed, so the Simon of the present has his powers removed and goes back in time...TO MAKE ALISHA FALL IN LOVE WITH HIM! It was even acknowledged in the show by a cast member that the events will play over and over again.

The way I see it is that those events still HAVE to play out (RF going back in time, killing Nora, getting marooned, etc). It has to because it's like "canon" for that timeline. Thawne only died after Eddie killed himself, because it's easy to deduce that he's the head of the Thawne bloodline. They both appear together within the show's timeline.

The only way for it to be undone, where Thawne can't kill Nora Allen, is for something to happen to one of Eddie's ancestors, e.g. death of one of his parents. They don't exist, Eddie doesn't exist. Eddie doesn't exist, Thawne will never exist.

That's how I see it anyway. I like nerd debates lol

so then by that logic, are there really two concurrent running time lines (the original one where Eddie lives to produce heirs and RF eventually exists and the one where RF goes back in time, Eddie kills himself, and then RF is erased before he's born) that sort of merge at the point where RF goes back in time and then again where Eddie commits suicide? (picture it almost like a sideways double helix)

See the thing about time is a lot of it is based on our perception of it. So if when Eddie shoots himself RF gets erased from existence in the present, he should also be getting erased from the past. We can't see him getting erased in the past but if time travel is possible (meaning time isn't linear) then he really should be wiped from everything. Funny you mentioned BTTF because I always had the same question if Marty never got his parents to kiss and really did disappear in 1955. I always said it would've just reset the original timeline because if he never existed he wouldnt be there to get hit by his grandfather's car instead of his Dad, meaning he'd have been born anyway.

So to summarize, RF can't exist in a time before he existed if he never existed in the first place.

 

[Dark Raven]

What if Barry discovers that the timeline he returned to where he smashed Thawne's timeship wasn't actually the timeline we've been seeing in Season 1? Maybe we only think it is, because it looks very similar to it, but what if there were a few details that were actually different?

Or what if the Barry that did return wasn't the same Barry that left but a Barry from another timeline? And what if the Barry that left returned to a different timeline instead by accident? Do we know that the Barry that returned wasn't the one from the future who tried to prevent Season 1 Barry from saving him mom? We only assume it was. But what if Season 1 Barry couldn't find his way back and ended up in a different version where Caitlin has become Killer Frost or other events have transpired differently?

 

[Spidey220987]

so then by that logic, are there really two concurrent running time lines (the original one where Eddie lives to produce heirs and RF eventually exists and the one where RF goes back in time, Eddie kills himself, and then RF is erased before he's born) that sort of merge at the point where RF goes back in time and then again where Eddie commits suicide? (picture it almost like a sideways double helix)

See the thing about time is a lot of it is based on our perception of it. So if when Eddie shoots himself RF gets erased from existence in the present, he should also be getting erased from the past. We can't see him getting erased in the past but if time travel is possible (meaning time isn't linear) then he really should be wiped from everything. Funny you mentioned BTTF because I always had the same question if Marty never got his parents to kiss and really did disappear in 1955. I always said it would've just reset the original timeline because if he never existed he wouldnt be there to get hit by his grandfather's car instead of his Dad, meaning he'd have been born anyway.

So to summarize, RF can't exist in a time before he existed if he never existed in the first place.

BANG ON! The Grandfather Paradox
They've even linked the BTTF GF Paradox example on the TV Tropes website.

I agree also about the 2 timelines running concurrently. As I said earlier, there are multiple timelines at play, it just depends on what happens. I still feel the BTTF2 explanation with the 2 timelines is the best in terms of sci-fi time travel lol.

Another way to look at it is that if Eddie kills himself and doesn't have any heirs, RF doesn't get born. SOOOOOO maybe a paradoxical RF still exists at some point in time to commit the murder. I still believe it's the GF Paradox at play with regards to Eddie and RF.

If you think about it, while RF was marooned in "our" timeline, Eddie grew up not knowing that his descendant was inhabiting the same timeline. RF didn't keep tabs on Eddie to ensure that they both survived, he knew he would. Obviously Eddie's sacrifice means he died before he was meant to. IF Eddie had died when he was much younger (say before the night RF was meant to go back and kill Nora), I don't see how RF could travel to that night, if his ancestor had already perished. If he was too young to have any heirs, RF couldn't exist at any point in the future to attempt to come back and kill Nora. So this theoretical timeline would be where Barry has both his parents and Adult Eddie never existed.

The anomalies in all of this are the intervention of Future Flash plus Eddie's sacrifice. Wow, even my head is starting to hurt, and I'm the one typing LOL!

 

[TheBlinding]

This is my interpretation, please feel free to correct me if you feel I'm wrong.

A lot of the questions raised are because of a flaw in the writing(I'm not trying to insult the writers its just that time travel story-lines are difficult), in my opinion and understanding.

There are two different theories on time travel being used simultaneously leading to a sloppy finale(again in my opinion). As we don't really see Eobard travelling I'm only using when Barry does. Originally we see Barry travel back a day when stopping the tsunami. As he goes back in time he travels along his own timeline and is the only Barry in both times, meaning that if the tsunami timeline still exists somewhere there is no Barry left in it. When he sees himself here it is only a mirage or mirror(cant remember what they called it in the show), not an actual existing Barry. So presumably when he travelled back he actually rewound time and that timeline essentially never happened, should not exist anymore. Exciting that Cisco can remember it because of his abilities.

However when he travels back to the night his mum is killed there is already that timelines version of him, Young Barry, there, meaning that the way he travelled back in time was different. In this case he has again left the 'present' timeline and gone back into the past but is now a second Barry temporarily co-existing with Young Barry.

These two different ways of travelling are one reason why it doesn't really make sense.

The existence of the third Barry, the one from Eobards time is also travelling back using the second theory, whereby he encounters alternate versions of himself rather than being the only one and travelling back along his own timeline. This makes sense because he and our Barry both split off after the events that night. This would suggest that the alternate timelines are in fact running alongside one another because presumably he returned back to his after failing to save his mother(or allowing the events to continue as they had to) otherwise he too would still exist stuck in this timeline.

I hope that makes sense and again if I'm wrong or missing anything please point it out!

Oh and one last thing that did annoy me was Caitlin not knowing what a singularity was! She's a leading scientist helping play around with a particle accelerator but she hasn't heard of something as promiminent in modern physics as the concept of a singularity? Just no! Make Joe ask that question!(its the little things)

 

[king666]

You know, the sad thing is that unless proven otherwise, the PRIME Flash (the version of Barry that came from the "original" timeline, who we saw saving young Barry in the past) pretty much died/ceased to exist.

I think in a way, the season finale pretty much confirmed it without actually saying it out loud that Prime Flash ceased to exist the moment Thawne killed his mom. He was probably on his way back to the house when he disappeared midway as his mom died, similar to how Thawne eventually disappeared when Eddie died.

If that's the case then Eobard should've disappeared.

 

[The Incredible Hulk]

Here's a fun take on the whole time travel paradox. the "record" analogy is an interesing one:

http://comicbook.com/2015/05/20/the-flash-season-finale-explained/

 

[Spidey220987]

Here's a fun take on the whole time travel paradox. the "record" analogy is an interesing one:

http://comicbook.com/2015/05/20/the-flash-season-finale-explained/

I liked the record analogy, that makes a lot of sense.
Already knew about the Butterfly Effect lol, but he's definitely right in saying the show is mixing the 2 up.

 

[The Incredible Hulk]

I have a feeling when or wherever Barry emerges from the singularity that things are going to be somewhat "different." That should hopefully be the key to how they're going to choose to deal with time travel from here on out.

 

[The Incredible Hulk]

Here's another one:

When Barry went back in time and saw his Mom getting murdered, another Flash told him to stay put in the room. While that was happening the yellow blur was still flying around the room.

Assuming the Flash that told him stay put went back once already and saved his mother and screwed something up (hence telling Barry to stay put) does that mean there were in fact THREE or FOUR Flashes in that scene?

1. Original Flash that saves Barry from RF
2. Our Flash that went back and was in the bedroom
3. The bright red Flash who told Barry to stay put
4. Another Flash who actually did go back and save his Mom?

Am I offbase? Are #3 and #4 really the same Flash, and does #3 just nullify #4 from happening with #2?

 

[Quinnsanity]

Here's another one:

When Barry went back in time and saw his Mom getting murdered, another Flash told him to stay put in the room. While that was happening the yellow blur was still flying around the room.

Assuming the Flash that told him stay put went back once already and saved his mother and screwed something up (hence telling Barry to stay put) does that mean there were in fact THREE or FOUR Flashes in that scene?

1. Original Flash that saves Barry from RF
2. Our Flash that went back and was in the bedroom
3. The bright red Flash who told Barry to stay put
4. Another Flash who actually did go back and save his Mom?

Am I offbase? Are #3 and #4 really the same Flash, and does #3 just nullify #4 from happening with #2?

Just posted this in the finale thread, but I think this is a more relevant place:

I realized something upon yet another rewatch. How did future Barry—the one with the white on his suit—know what present Barry—the one without white—was going to do? Ostensibly, he returned to the past to prevent the Reverse Flash from killing HIM, he would have no way of knowing that RF was going to kill Nora because in his timeline Nora never died. He's already well outside of the house with his past self when Thawne kills Nora, so he couldn't have seen it. Even if he were to go back and see Nora's dead body, it would have to happen after his interaction with present Barry. So if we are to believe that the Barry we saw in the Allen house, the one with the white suit, really did come from the "original" timeline, one in which the past was never changed and he grew up with both Henry and Nora Allen as living and non-incarcerated parents, he couldn't have specifically known what present Barry was going to do.

The only way future Barry could have known what present Barry was going to do was if he had already done it himself. If that's the case, it means that the future Barry we've seen, the one in the white suit, can't come from some utopian timeline in which both of his parents lived and he didn't become the Flash until 2020. He had to have lived through the same timeline as present Barry. I need some time to process quite what that means, but at the very least, it means we're looking at least five distinct timelines:

1. The one Barry leaves during Weather Wizard's tidal wave
2. The one Reverse Flash was born in, in which the Flash was created in 2020.
3. Future Barry's timeline, one in which he presumably went back and saved Nora (a necessity so he'd know to tell present Barry not to).
4. A Flashpoint timeline that comes after Barry saves Nora, one so horrible Barry would tell his present self not to let it happen.
5. Our present Barry's timeline, in which he sees future Barry at his mother's house.

This is all before we consider Jay Garrick. My brain hurts.

 

[Dark Raven]

These time paradoxes are still easier to reconcile than Oliver coming back to help Barry when he's supposed to be in Nanda Parbat getting married to Nyssa and would never have had time to stop over.

 

[stillanerd]

One thing I don't think we are taking into consideration is this: remember the 2024 newspaper in Gideon's archive? That we were led to believe was from the original timeline, the one in which Barry's was never murdered by the Reverse Flash. After all, it says the Flash disappeared, in which we now know was him going back in time to save his younger self.

However, there was only one moment in the entire series in which that newspaper changed...It's when Blackout temporarily sapped Barry of his powers, and Barry initially decided not to try and regain them back. Thus when Eobard/Wells checked the newspaper, he not only saw the lead story was different, but that there was no records whatsoever of the Flash.

Which means the 2024 newspaper is from the current timeline. Which also means Future Flash is from the current timeline, not the original one. This explains how Future Flash knew Barry was there and warned him not to interfere. But if Eobard, who comes from the future, remembers a different history, including that the real Wells created the particle accelerator in 2020, then how can the 2024 newspaper also be from his future? Remember, Eobard, in order to get back to his own time, recreated the conditions for Barry to become the Flash at an earlier age. Once Barry became the Flash, then history began to correct itself to lead towards that same future as depicted in the 2024 newspaper. Basically, think J.J. Abrams Star Trek, in that although the events in that even though the history of the Enterprise crew was different, they still got together to go on their voyage in exploring the galaxy, just like in the original timeline.

This also means that, in spite of Eddie Thawne shooting himself and thus erasing Eobard Thawne from existence, the Reverse Flash will still return and kill Barry's mom. How? Well, what have we seen happen whenever Barry travels through time? He remains unaffected, with his memories still intact. Also, as long as he's traveling through the Speed Force and time, he's shielded from whatever affects and changes are being done to the timestream.

The same thing applies to the Reverse Flash. So if an earlier version of the Reverse Flash was traveling back through time via the Speed Force, then he should still remain intact even though, paradoxically, he has ceased to exist. To take a cue from the comics, when Flashpoint happened, I believe it was explained that the reason Reverse Flash still existed, still had his powers, and still retained memories of the original timeline in spite of the changes is because he was protected via traveling through the Speed Force while those changes occurred. Same thing could happen in this case.

Also, remember the Reverse Flash who Barry faced in this season is someone who already has a long-standing history with Barry. Just like River Song in Doctor Who, Barry may have already just met Eobard, but Eobard, technically, hasn't met Barry yet, but will. This is also how the show could bring Matt Letscher as Eobard Thawne for next season, the difference being he's playing Eobard from earlier in the timeline who, because he was traveling through the Speed Force at the time his future self was being erased from existence. Which means he's literally a man out of time who no longer has a future to go back to. This can be the explanation for why the Reverse Flash hates Barry because he blames him for literally taking away everything he ever knew, even though ironically, it was his own great great great great grandfather all but forgotten by history. This would also explain why his Speed Force went out of whack once he killed Barry's mom--because he's now inadvertently set himself on the path where he causes his own death as we saw at the end of this season.

 

[Dark Raven]

One thing I don't think we are taking into consideration is this: remember the 2024 newspaper in Gideon's archive? That we were led to believe was from the original timeline, the one in which Barry's was never murdered by the Reverse Flash. After all, it says the Flash disappeared, in which we now know was him going back in time to save his younger self.

However, there was only one moment in the entire series in which that newspaper changed...It's when Blackout temporarily sapped Barry of his powers, and Barry initially decided not to try and regain them back. Thus when Eobard/Wells checked the newspaper, he not only saw the lead story was different, but that there was no records whatsoever of the Flash.

Which means the 2024 newspaper is from the current timeline. Which also means Future Flash is from the current timeline, not the original one. This explains how Future Flash knew Barry was there and warned him not to interfere. But if Eobard, who comes from the future, remembers a different history, including that the real Wells created the particle accelerator in 2020, then how can the 2024 newspaper also be from his future? Remember, Eobard, in order to get back to his own time, recreated the conditions for Barry to become the Flash at an earlier age. Once Barry became the Flash, then history began to correct itself to lead towards that same future as depicted in the 2024 newspaper. Basically, think J.J. Abrams Star Trek, in that although the events in that even though the history of the Enterprise crew was different, they still got together to go on their voyage in exploring the galaxy, just like in the original timeline.

This also means that, in spite of Eddie Thawne shooting himself and thus erasing Eobard Thawne from existence, the Reverse Flash will still return and kill Barry's mom. How? Well, what have we seen happen whenever Barry travels through time? He remains unaffected, with his memories still intact. Also, as long as he's traveling through the Speed Force and time, he's shielded from whatever affects and changes are being done to the timestream.

The same thing applies to the Reverse Flash. So if an earlier version of the Reverse Flash was traveling back through time via the Speed Force, then he should still remain intact even though, paradoxically, he has ceased to exist. To take a cue from the comics, when Flashpoint happened, I believe it was explained that the reason Reverse Flash still existed, still had his powers, and still retained memories of the original timeline in spite of the changes is because he was protected via traveling through the Speed Force while those changes occurred. Same thing could happen in this case.

Also, remember the Reverse Flash who Barry faced in this season is someone who already has a long-standing history with Barry. Just like River Song in Doctor Who, Barry may have already just met Eobard, but Eobard, technically, hasn't met Barry yet, but will. This is also how the show could bring Matt Letscher as Eobard Thawne for next season, the difference being he's playing Eobard from earlier in the timeline who, because he was traveling through the Speed Force at the time his future self was being erased from existence. Which means he's literally a man out of time who no longer has a future to go back to. This can be the explanation for why the Reverse Flash hates Barry because he blames him for literally taking away everything he ever knew, even though ironically, it was his own great great great great grandfather all but forgotten by history. This would also explain why his Speed Force went out of whack once he killed Barry's mom--because he's now inadvertently set himself on the path where he causes his own death as we saw at the end of this season.

This is what I suggested in the episode thread: what if the Future Flash with the white on his symbol in the season finale isn't the same one we've been seeing all season? So maybe the one from the pilot and afterwards was from the original timeline and didn't know what Reverse Flash was going to do. But what if the Future Flash in the finale is a different Flash from another timeline who has taken his place and gone back to save young Barry and warns off Season 1 Barry?

And yes, it's possible that he lost the speed force not because of Barry but in fact because of Eddie.

 

[stillanerd]

This is what I suggested in the episode thread: what if the Future Flash with the white on his symbol in the season finale isn't the same one we've been seeing all season? So maybe the one from the pilot and afterwards was from the original timeline and didn't know what Reverse Flash was going to do. But what if the Future Flash in the finale is a different Flash from another timeline who has taken his place and gone back to save young Barry and warns off Season 1 Barry?

And yes, it's possible that he lost the speed force not because of Barry but in fact because of Eddie.

Exactly. Thus, when Reverse Flash killed Barry's mom, the Future Flash from the original timeline ceased to exist. However, this would also mean if the future Flash from the original timeline ceased to exist, then he also wouldn't have gone back in time to save his younger self. Which also means Reverse Flash would never have gone back in time to try and kill the younger version of Barry, either. Which means this would've created a temporal paradox (hmm, the "crisis" the 2024 newspaper talks about, perhaps?) Which means maybe (and this would really make people's minds be blown) is that the Future Flash we've been seeing all along is a future version of Barry from the current timeline. He literally has to go back in time to save his younger self in order to save all of reality, and "close his loop" as it were.

 

[Dark Raven]

Exactly. Thus, when Reverse Flash killed Barry's mom, the Future Flash from the original timeline ceased to exist. However, this would also mean if the future Flash from the original timeline ceased to exist, then he also wouldn't have gone back in time to save his younger self. Which also means Reverse Flash would never have gone back in time to try and kill the younger version of Barry, either. Which means this would've created a temporal paradox (hmm, the "crisis" the 2024 newspaper talks about, perhaps?) Which means maybe (and this would really make people's minds be blown) is that the Future Flash we've been seeing all along is a future version of Barry from the current timeline. He literally has to go back in time to save his younger self in order to save all of reality, and "close his loop" as it were.

That could explain why he disappeared from the future in that newspaper article. Maybe Thawne did actually succeed in ridding himself of his mortal enemy once and for all when killing Nora, but since he was stuck in the past, he had to actually recreate the Flash all over again using the particle accelerator. So he ended up undoing all his success.

 

[DCMarv37]

Lots of great and interesting theories in this thread. Time and AU traveling is a real mind-bender, eh?

Everyone is - rightly - focused on the original timeline changing when Eobard/RF killed Nora Allen, but wasn't the timeline changed or effected just by EoT going back at all? I mean, it was clearly shown that after the confrontation & killing of Nora in the Allen household, he tried to run back to his own time but ran "out of juice". So, that by extension, would have created a paradox in his traveling back in time. But then being trapped there until Barry could become the Flash and then by using the Speed Force, get EoT back to his original time - even without killing anybody just because he was 'really mad'. I refuse to believe he would have just sat around and 'twiddled his thumbs' for about 25 years while waiting for BA to become Flash.

I do believe that there are multiple timelines and/or AUs in play, its just a question of what & where the show-runners are willing to go with it.

 

[Dark Raven]

What I'm curious about is why the Flash has always been associated with time travel and philosophical discussions, but Quicksilver never seems to have.

 

[vantheman77]

I like this time travel and parallel universe stuff in the Flash.

 

[The Incredible Hulk]

Also, remember the Reverse Flash who Barry faced in this season is someone who already has a long-standing history with Barry. Just like River Song in Doctor Who, Barry may have already just met Eobard, but Eobard, technically, hasn't met Barry yet, but will. This is also how the show could bring Matt Letscher as Eobard Thawne for next season, the difference being he's playing Eobard from earlier in the timeline who, because he was traveling through the Speed Force at the time his future self was being erased from existence. Which means he's literally a man out of time who no longer has a future to go back to. This can be the explanation for why the Reverse Flash hates Barry because he blames him for literally taking away everything he ever knew, even though ironically, it was his own great great great great grandfather all but forgotten by history. This would also explain why his Speed Force went out of whack once he killed Barry's mom--because he's now inadvertently set himself on the path where he causes his own death as we saw at the end of this season.

That's a LOT to think about and process. But you make some really good points here. Your point about the reason why his speed force crapped out is one I hope they use in the show.

Exactly. Thus, when Reverse Flash killed Barry's mom, the Future Flash from the original timeline ceased to exist. However, this would also mean if the future Flash from the original timeline ceased to exist, then he also wouldn't have gone back in time to save his younger self. Which also means Reverse Flash would never have gone back in time to try and kill the younger version of Barry, either. Which means this would've created a temporal paradox (hmm, the "crisis" the 2024 newspaper talks about, perhaps?) Which means maybe (and this would really make people's minds be blown) is that the Future Flash we've been seeing all along is a future version of Barry from the current timeline. He literally has to go back in time to save his younger self in order to save all of reality, and "close his loop" as it were.

Also, I'm thinking that Future Flash disappearing in the Crisis in 2024 is a complete other storyline that has nothing to do with the time travel we saw in Season 1 and him going back to save Nora/himself as a child.

It's time travel so even if he disappeared from the future to go back to the night of the murder, he could still get back shortly after he left without anyone knowing he's gone. My guess is that in 2024 the Flash disappears and it's got nothing to do with time travel unless as someone mentioned above he created his own paradox and mistakenly erased himself from that timeline.

The real question is why would RF really care so much? If he only needed Barry to get up to speed in 2015 to go back to the future, why does he care if he vanishes 9 years from now?

 

[Man of Steel]

The real question is why would RF really care so much? If he only needed Barry to get up to speed in 2015 to go back to the future, why does he care if he vanishes 9 years from now?

I assumed he was just checking the newspaper to make sure that the Flash still existed, not because he actually cared about the Crisis.

 

[klaudyuxxx]

I think I'll just stop watching this show. Last episode made no sense.
1. Reverse flash should have been erased completely from any timeline he ever existed. Everyone who ever knew him should forget him.
2. The show should be reset like nothing happened.
3. Season 2 should start in the future where the particle accelerator eventually fails as it's supposed to by accident.

 

[Wyrminarrd]

Based on what we've seen so far on the show I like the following theory of how time travel works on this series:

The universe can't change the past, it can only change the present and the future. This means that events prior to the paradox actually happening aren't effected and the universe only edits out paradoxal things from the time point where they happen. This could be viewed as an inbuilt paradox protection that keeps paradox loops from happening.

This would explain why Eobard was wiped out of existence when Eddie killed himself while the timeline kept going without a massive re-write. It also explains why everyone would retain their memories of Eobard.

All events prior to Eddies death still happened the way they did because nothing in the present can change the past. So the only way to change the past is to travel into the past so that it becomes the new present.

 

[Demon Hunter]

Guys, I feel like you're trying to make your theories suit your expectation of the plot, instead of just laying your theory.

Reverse Flash wasn't killed. He was erased and never born, because Eddie killed himself. He didn't die and he didn't leave a body because there never was a Reverse Flash.

In my opinion that's why the singularity opened... not because Barry went back in time, but because Eddie kinda performed a 15 years of a butterfly effect by killing himself before having any ancestors.
(Why would Reverse Flash give his name out and provide them with this plot device is an entirely different topic, but I guess villains have the need to explain it all).

What happens now?
Barry realizes he can't stop the singularity and travels one day back in time and prevents Eddie from shooting himself. Reverse Flash is defeated, but alive.
The time-travel causes a ripple, similar to the Flashpoint Paradox and the beginning of the New 52, allowing the writers to retcon and rearrange certain aspect of the universe, such as the horrible season finale of Arrow (wishful thinking, I know).
Ra's is alive, RF is alive and a new team is formed (Legends of Tomorrow).
Tom Cavanagh reprises his role as Harrison Wells, who's now alive and is a series regular.
Oliver never gives up the Arrow mantle and Olicity is not a thing.

The End

This kinda turned into a lame fan fiction, but I do hope that Eobard will get to live and Oliver will never defeat Ra's.