Disclaimer: I do not own Flash or anything else you may recognize
This is just something I thought up and a request by Jokermask18 had me thinking more about this and the more I do, the more it makes sense.
This takes place during 1x21.
Hope you enjoy.
Eobard Thawne stood in his secret chamber inside S.T.A.R. Labs where he had kept Eddie after kidnapping him.
He had finished making the device that would transport him back to his own time after he convinced Barry to do it.
His possessions in the time vault had been discovered because of which he didn't have access to his cameras anymore.
But he had a secret camera hidden in the cortex of S.T.A.R. Labs whose feedback he did not receive in the time vault. His watch had a holographic projector on it which gave him live feedback of that camera.
Right now, he was watching how Iris was ripping into Barry for keeping his identity a secret from her and was also criticizing Joe.
A sadistic smile came over his face as he watched the scene. On the off chance his plan failed, this might be a small victory against Barry.
He had been going around manipulating the timeline long before the fateful night he had killed Barry's mother. Most of them had minor consequences.
But one of them was a major one in the life of Iris West. Her mother's drug addiction. In the original timeline, her mother never had a drug addiction at all.
It was an unintended consequence of Thawne's manipulation with time. And Francine West's addiction had led to the day when she had passed out due to drug addiction while six-year-old was next to an open flame on the stove.
Horrified by the fact that her drug addiction had led to her daughter getting injured, Francine had abandoned her family and disappeared.
Iris had forgotten about the incident but it was embedded deep inside her sub consciousness. And that was the reason she had developed such an irritable and unlikable personality.
In the original timeline, Iris' personality was far different from this. She was kind, caring, supportive and understood decisions made by Barry even if she didn't agree with them.
But in this new timeline, her personality had been changed due to that one event that had scarred her for life. And now she was bossy, arrogant, hypocritical and didn't even try to see other people's point of view.
The only reason Barry wanted to stay around her was because he had grown up with her and had an idealized version of her in his head. That idealized version came closer to the Iris from the original timeline than the one in this new timeline.
Maybe one day, Barry would marry her while being blind to how toxic his relationship with her would be due to her personality but he would never realize it and alienate everyone around him for this relationship.
Assuming Thawne's plan failed of course.
"I am always one step ahead of you, Barry." He whispered with a smirk.
This was a small victory.
Stand with Ward and Queen and Bl4ckHunter have both rightfully said on their profiles that Thawne's manipulation with the timeline has probably changed Iris' personality because if Barry hadn't grown up with her, he would never want to be around her at all.
This is how I think he would have done it. A little sketchy on the details but the best I could think of.
Hope you enjoyed this explanation.
