Eddie Makes The Ultimate Sacrifice On 'The Flash'

Whoa. Deep breaths, everyone. I didn't see that coming, and I'm going to bet that you didn't either. During the season finale of The Flash , Eddie killed himself in order to basically save the universe and every timeline from Harrison Wells/Eobard Thawne. It happened so fast, and was so insane and twisted, that though I'm still crying over multiple things from the episode, Eddie's death stands out. But besides the emotional ramifications, now what?

It's been discussed multiple times that Eddie and Eobard are related. We never learned their specific relationship beyond Eddie being Eobard's ancestor, as the Reverse-Flash was born 136 years in the future. Therefore without Eddie, there is no Thawne family name, and there is no Eobard.

So how could one stop a distant relative from the future? Prevent them from ever existing. During the chaotic final battle between the Flash and Reverse-Flash, a single gunshot was heard. I thought Eddie had shot Wells, and I actually cheered for a split second. Then I realized that Wells hadn't been shot, and neither had Barry. Someone else was shot and when the camera pulled back to reveal that it was Eddie, I just about lost my mind.

It — UGH — makes so much sense though, and that's why I hate it so much. The easiest way to describe this time travel is via Back to the Future, when Marty McFly goes back in time, and various members of his family start slowly fading away from the picture he carries. This is basically what happened to Eobard, but he had no photographic warning. As soon as Eddie shot himself, Wells (who now looks like Eobard) slowly began disintegrating into thin air.

To make things even harder to handle, there was no way to move Eddie's body out of the particle accelerator, either, so he was sucked into the newly re-formed worm hole. I don't know exactly how this wormhole works, so I'm going to keep hoping that there's a chance Eddie being sucked inside somehow saved him, and he comes back to life in an alternate timeline. That doesn't sound quite as awful, right? Right.

So rather than become a villain like Eobard as we all feared, the end of The Flash Season 1 saw Eddie become a total hero, but it cost him his life. Thank you for saving the world, Eddie. I'm still hoping for your return but in the meantime, I'll be crying all summer over your untimely death.

Image: Cate Cameron/The CW