- "Depressing to think all of my descendants are as crazy as you."
- "Oh, no, no, no. No, the Thawne bloodline is chock-full of influential politicians, scientists, captains of industry. Failures such as yourself are just the exception."
- —Eddie Thawne and Eobard Thawne[src]
The Thawne family was a distinguished family of politicians, scientists and industrialists that continued to the 22nd century. Due to the actions of Eobard Thawne, a time traveler, 21st century's Eddie Thawne ended his life by committing suicide. This caused a paradox that wiped out all Thawnes that were supposed to come after him.[1]
History[]
In the original timeline, the Thawne family was generations full of very successful, prestigious and distinguished people throughout its history, survived into the 22nd century.[1][2]
21st century[]
The earliest known family member was Agnes the grandmother of Eddie Thawne.[2] Eddie's father was a politician and was presumably a very influential individual, being able to close down a factory many people relied on.[3] Eddie Thawne was eventually born and became a police detective and apparently became known as a failure in his family, living an uneventful life and eventually siring a child to continue on the bloodline.
Between Eddie and Eobard, several other Thawnes became influential politicians, decorated scientists, and esteemed captains of industry. Eventually, it got to the point that the Thawne family was chock-full of such people, making the family legacy a great and well-remembered one.[2]
22nd century[]
Eobard Thawne, a scion of the family, was an inventor, genius and scientist who was also a deep fan of the Flash, a decorated hero of the 21st century who inspired him to become like the man in the future. In his adulthood Eobard would devote his entire life to becoming a speedster and spent his wealth and fortune on a scientific life project of learning about the speed force and unlocking it’s secrets. He successfully became a meta-human speedster which meant he built a machine called a Biometric Lightning Oscillation Chamber (B.L.O.C) that duplicated the reaction that gave Flash his powers thus granting himself super speed just like him. He was eventually ready to present himself to the world and be hailed as a hero but the flash beat him to it by saving a crowd from some unknown incident, a crowd that Thawne felt entitled to be praised by. Angered he devoted himself to becoming faster than Flash out of envy for being “slower” than him. When using this power he learned to time travel and then he discovered that he was destined was to become the Flash's most greatest enemy but never the flash himself much to Eobard's disbelief and disappointment. Angered at his realization, he came to bear a petty grudge for his fallen idol for being the sole reason of his undying obsession for speed and wasting his whole life on becoming a hero like him but more so because he is envious of Barry being loved and faster than him, he dedicated the rest of his life to becoming the Reverse-Flash, the greatest adversary of the Flash to spite him for the rest of his life until he kills him.[4]
Eventually, Eobard decided to stop the Flash from ever being created by killing his younger self. He traveled to the year 2000, followed by the Flash. The hero stopped the Reverse-Flash's plan by getting his younger self from danger. In his anger, the Reverse-Flash took a kitchen knife and killed the Flash's mother, Nora Allen, seeking to traumatize him, so that Barry Allen would never become a hero. It worked too well for Eobard's own liking, as the future Flash disappeared, but so did Eobard's connection to the Speed Force, stranding him in the year 2000, and forcing him to recreate the Flash's origin and ensure that Barry Allen becomes the Flash despite his newfound traumas so that he could return to his time.[1][5]
Becoming Harrison Wells, Eobard Thawne worked for fifteen years to turn Barry Allen into the Flash, eventually succeeding. His attempts to force Barry to do his bidding and help him return to the world of the 22nd century, however, backfired, with Barry refusing to change his, or Thawne's destiny. Enraged, Eobard threatened to kill off Team Flash, but before he could do so, Eddie Thawne shot himself with a pistol, creating a grandfather paradox that would wipe out the Thawne family that came from Eddie, Eobard included, from history.[1]
After surviving through his family's erasure by traveling through the Speed Force like a bunker when he reversed Flashpoint, Eobard Thawne ended up in a reality where he existed as a living paradox, while the rest of his family was wiped out from history,[6] prompting him to seek means of altering reality, the Spear of Destiny in particular.[7] Eventually, Thawne's time remnant was erased by the Black Flash,[8] but eventually, using the Negative Speed Force, Thawne preserved himself again and remained alive for some time.[9]
Known family members[]
Earth-1/Earth-Prime[]
- Agnes (Eddie's grandmother and Eobard's ancestor; status unknown)
- Eddie Thawne's father (Eddie's father and Eobard's ancestor; status unknown)
- Eddie Thawne's mother (Eddie's mother and Eobard's ancestor)
- Robern (Eddie's uncle; presumed existence)
- Eddie Thawne (Eobard's ancestor)
- Eobard Thawne (Agnes and Eddie's descendant; deceased)
Earth-2[]
- Eddie (Eddie's doppelgänger; presumably)
Earth-27A[]
- Eddie Thawne (Eddie's doppelgänger)
Trivia[]
- There are a few times Eobard's relationship with his immediate family has been potentially alluded to.
- In "The Nuclear Man", Eobard tells Caitlin Snow, "We all want to go home again. You know, where we feel safe. Where we feel loved." While he was primarily referring to Martin Stein in this situation, it's possible he was also speaking from experience.
- In "Rogue Air", Eobard tells Eddie to think about all the things that defined his life, including "All the people you love," and to "imagine if one day, in a flash, all of that vanished."
- In a deleted scene from "Fast Enough", during a conversation between Eobard and Joe West, Eobard implies to have loved ones in his time period.
Behind the scenes[]
- In DC comics, the Thawne family is ultimately a rival offshoot of the West-Allen family (since the progenitor of the future Thawnes was an Allen baby switched at birth; Malcolm Thawne) the rivalry of which lasted for centuries, both producing speedsters like the Flashes and the Reverse-Flashes, as well as mystical beings like Cobalt Blue.
- Eddie's name originated as a red herring for viewers that knew of Eobard Thawne before Eobard revealed himself and mentioned Eddie as a distant relative in "Out of Time".[10]