#Eobarry

[zeroducks-2]

Do you really think reverse flash is in love with Barry? I don't mean for this to sound snarky I'm just confused. Thawne killed Barry's mom how can you say he's in love with him? I like all the things you post and rb about them I really enjoy the ship. I just don't get it can you explain?

The question "how can Eobard be in love with Barry if he hurt him" has both a short answer and a long answer. The short answer is that people are very much capable of hurting the ones they love, on purpose or by accident.

The long answer is that Eobard is a deeply disturbed individual who has never been the recipient of love, and because of that and of many extremely traumatic events (including but not limited to being brainwashed in prison, being trapped in a timeless limbo alone for years, being tortured and treated like cattle and put in sensory deprivation for ludicrous amounts of time, dying at the hands of the only person who had ever shown compassion towards him), he has a skewed perception of a lot of things and is extremely bad at emotional regulation.

Moreover, and this is something which is easy to overlook but it's actually very important, Eobard is not human. His actions are informed by his traumas, but the way he approaches pretty much everything (including his "problems" with Barry) isn't done the way a human would.

Eobard is a timeless, deathless creature which embodies one of the driving forces of reality itself (the Negative Speed Force). He lived probably more than a few hundred years considering how he keeps running around through time doing stuff, and how he keeps going back to watch past events and adjust the way he will interact with the timeline next.

He knows the huge impact that killing Nora will have on Barry, but from a moral and ethical standpoint it's not a big deal for him. Nora is less than a speck in time, an NPC who served her role for that briefest moment in which she existed. She is a big deal because she is a big deal for Barry, not because she's meaningful in any other way.

"But then he did want to hurt Barry when he killed her" Yes, absolutely he wanted to. Eobard didn't "just" kill Nora Allen - he went back in time and changed everything about Barry's life, made it so he had no friends, made him grow isolated and insecure and shy, lacking confident in his abilities. And he did it because he is very, VERY angry with Barry for one, and also because isolating Barry makes it easier for them to grow closer.

And it worked! Back in the Silver Age, when Nora and Henry were alive and not in prison, Barry couldn't be bothered with Eobard. For him Eo was just a random criminal with superspeed, and sure he was threatening because speedsters always are, but not that much of a big deal.

Now? Now Eobard is a primary element in Barry's life, a constant he's had to deal with basically since birth, someone who rewritten his entire life to make himself part of it in an indelible manner.

It worked because now Barry is more likely to fall for Eobard's manipulation, to listen to him, to just accept that he's THERE because he's always been. Near the end of Running Scared, Eobard tells him "run away with me", and Barry says yes.

Back in the Silver Age there would have been no way.

It's worth mentioning that to understand Eobard, you need to understand that everything he does, every single thing, has the end goal of being with Barry. Whether he's trying to protect him or trying to hurt him or trying to manipulate him, whether they manage to work together against a common enemy or they're on opposite sides of the fight, every single one of Eobard's actions is motivated by love (his personal, inhuman version of love).

"But if that is the case, then why doesn't he just tell Barry 'I love you'?"

Two reasons, and one is meta.

The in-story reason is that every time Eobard tried to do something good without masking it as horrible, it went sideways and backfired spectacularly - mix that with poor emotional regulation, and you have someone who's not going to be able to handle rejection and is outright scared of doing good things openly. I think if he told Barry "I love you" and Barry reacted badly it would hurt too much. Also he wants Barry to understand, and thanks to a couple of competent writers who sadly don't work on Flash anymore, we were getting there.

The meta reason is because DC is homophobic, plain and simple. Eobard DID SAY I love you many times except with words, because DC editorials won't let him. That's it. It's the same reason why Joker can't tell Batman "I love you" and has to do weird ass word plays and even more weird ass attention seeking maneuvers. They're stunted by reasons which no one but DC itself can control.

So in short. How can Eobard be in love with Barry and hurt him so much at the same time? Because he doesn't have many ways of express love, he has a hard time being caring, and every time he allows himself to be soft it backfires. Because he wants Barry to belong to him and will isolate him and make him suffer to get there. Because he's angry with Barry -- Barry hurt him too, rejected him and left him alone and refused to accept that Eobard is his lightning rod for a long time.

Eobard easily lashes out when he's hurt, and the less grounded he is the more vicious and violent he turns.

"But Zero, how can Eobard think that Barry will ever forgive him for having killed his mom?"

I don't believe Eobard was ever looking for forgiveness, but fun fact. Barry did forgive him already. Barry is not human either, and at this point I think he'd forgive Eobard just about anything, and despite how difficult everything is between them, he really wants to get to a place where they don't need to hurt each other.

The problem with this, and it's one of the reasons why they have so many issues communicating, is that Barry is in denial about many things - about being the Speed Force, about Eobard being in love with him, about how they're two constants through time and two sides of the same coin and basically can't exist without each other, about how they're each other's lightning rod.

Their relationship is very complex, absolutely not what it looks like at first glance, and it's colored by all the hurt there is between them. But again, ultimately understanding Eobard is understanding that love is what motivates him, even when he does the most horrible unhinged things.

In conclusion, have this panel from The Flash Age which is one of my favorite Flash comics, in which you can see the way these two manage to trust each other and fall into the right rhythm, despite the oceans of misunderstandings and suffering between them.

Pages from The Flash Age, by Joshua Williamson. In which Barry tells Eobard to "do the right thing", and Eobard just does it.

#thanks for asking anon #you didn't sound snarky at all no worries #I tried to be as exhaustive as possible without writing a wall of text #idk how well I managed #I just know I could talk about these two forever #my asks #eobarry #barry allen #eobard thawne #my meta

[nopes-and-dreams]

Original text

#dc fanart #dc #flashfam #barry allen #dc comics #the flash #eobard thawne #the reverse flash #reverse flash #eobarry #but only on one side

[mcuxhp777]

"Oh, you don't wanna be my best friend? Fuck you, now we're enemies for life"

#wayleska #clex #eobarry #lukercy #drarry #cherik #erik lehnsherr #charles xavier #bruce wayne #jeremiah valeska #luke castellan #percy jackson #draco malfoy #harry potter #clark kent #lex luthor #eobard thawne #barry allen #gotham #pjo series #xmen #smallville #the flash #harry potter movies

[nopes-and-dreams-and-nightmares]

Panel redraw

#dc #dc fanart #the flash #barry allen #dc comics #eobard thawne #the reverse flash #reverse flash #eobarry

[ftl-faster-than-life]

#eobarry #quotes

[aka-ecckunass]

#eobard thawne #barry allen #eobarry

[tacagen]

just.

just noticed this

#def time to continue reading rebirth flash and reread these issues. like. WHAT THE FUCK #WHY IS BARRY WEIRDLY CLOSE TO THAWNE IN THIS ARCCCCC #i remembered only him suddenly calling thawne by his first name in contrast to every other interaction except for the first meeting #but this!!! OH MY FUCKING GOD #No Wonder thawne decided to save paradox after all. No Wonder he cringed later deciding to kill godspeed to make up for it #eobard thawne #professor zoom #reverse flash #barry allen #the flash #eobarry ig? #yeh no #eobarry

[jayspilledink]

\ Broken Wings /

hey have you ever heard of The Flash

#The flash #barry allen #eobarry #reverse flash #eobard thawne #sorry transformers followers

[raethereptile]

I'm sorry but we do not talk enough about Wellsobard outing himself as the Reverse Flash by teaching Barry to Phase via the speedster equivalent of dirty talk

#we seriously dont #that scene man #the flash #the flash cw #barry allen #harrison wells #eobard thawne #Wellsobard #eobarry

[ihatepreschool]

here ladies, gentlemen and other fine people we have ‘the’ and his opp ‘reverse’

#dc #dc comics #the flash #flashfam #barry allen #eobard thawne #eobarry #reverse flash #professor zoom #the man #the #reverse #r/arkham #r/batmanarkham

[captalwork330]

you did WHAA-

i need more embarrassed thawne asap

guys i dont like him i just really aggressively infatuated in him. in hating him i mean. also i dont like punching him, i just like seeing him in pain!

ah yes, just a taped on paper on a uniform quoting: "genuine flash uniform" is enough to make this guy get blown away

*sigh*

this how rivalry works i swear

#eobard thawne #reverse-flash #dc comics #just a bit of comic brainrot #sure ill tag this as #eobarry #why not #resurrected by the unstoppable power of gay

[zeroducks-2]

Hi.

(Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox)

Today in "I swear I was not watching porn you just walked in at the wrong time-"

#the animators really went 'man sure Johns wrote Eobard pretty queer -- LET'S DOUBLE AND TRIPLE DOWN ON THE GAY SHIT' #there's some real nice whump in that movie #Barry gets tossed around REAL BAD #a metal pipe through his thigh? sure of course #eobard thawne #barry allen #eobarry

[nopes-and-dreams]

So many things that I would do…

#dc #dc fanart #barry allen #the flash #eobard thawne #reverse flash #the reverse flash #eobarry

[mcuxhp777]

"I'm not gay." Continues to stare at their love interest like he's the only one in the room.

#byler #wayleska #reddie #jaygar #nygmobblepot #eobarry #lukercy #will byers #mike wheeler #bruce wayne #jeremiah valeska #eddie kaspbrak #richie tozier #jason todd #garfield logan #oswald cobblepot #ed nygma #eobard thawne #barry allen #luke castellan #percy jackson

[nopes-and-dreams-and-nightmares]

When your enemy’s feeling extra chaotic and has a shrink ray.

Homage to that one crazy issue of the Flash where Eobard shrank Barry and chucked him in a jar.

#I guess this is Eobarry but honestly it’s just Eobard being Eobard. Lol. #Barry #The Flash #Eobard Thawne #The Reverse Flash #Reverse Flash #eobarry

[ftl-faster-than-life]

Hey Eobarry community! Right now I have these adorable charms up on my Ko-fi, which you can find linked through this pinned post on my art blog. They were designed by Dashainstuff for us, and you will be sent a free sticker and free microprint with the keychain. I will ship these internationally, so if you’re outside the U.S., you can still purchase a keychain. There are less than 30 available.

#barry allen #eobard thawne #reverse flash #the flash #the reverse flash #professor zoom #eobarry