The New Timeline: What Actually Happened

[scarynikki12]

Did Oliver know about William this whole time? What was Moira up to after surviving Slade? This is your spot to make it make sense.

**This is just for new timeline theories and related discussion. Not a general show thread.**

[scarynikki12]

6 hours ago, Primal Slayer said:

Whose to say that Tommy stayed in Star City after Laurel died? She dies, he moves away, returns for Oliver's funeral. 

Tommy living drastically changes Laurels arc for s2. Does she become an alcoholic after Sara dies? How does that change her relationship with Sara? Or is Tommy put into a coma, wakes up after Sara's death, they get married at the end of s3?

I've thought about the implication that Tommy left after Laurel died and only came back for the funeral. I can buy that except for the fact of Siren taking over Laurel's life. Quentin immediately called Dinah to let her know that it wasn't really Laurel as a way to explain why she didn't show up so I think they want us to assume that Oliver did the same with Tommy back in season 5. The problem is that Tommy Merlyn is a high profile individual and the press was all over "Laurel's" miraculous return. Without the press Siren assuming Laurel's identity wouldn't have worked. So her return was a major story in the press yet Tommy never came back to Star City to reunite with his beloved wife? I'm sure Oliver called him the second they realized Siren wasn't Laurel but the public never knew they were different people so Tommy not coming home would have been a major scandal. He would have been hounded by the press and regular people alike wondering how he could be so cruel as to abandon his wife when she finally escaped her kidnappers. They'd wonder why he wasn't overjoyed that she was really alive. And I guarantee that some of them would have started insinuating that he was involved with her disappearance and presumed death. I think Quentin would have been encouraging him to at least keep up appearances and, later, to get to know her because she has a soul now.

The only thing I can think of to make this make sense is to assume that Tommy and Laurel married while Oliver was presumed dead and then got divorced at the end of season 1 rather than just breaking up. Then Tommy moves away after Malcolm destroys the Glades. That would have the least amount of disruption to both Oliver's and Laurel's stories and Tommy gets to live.

[bettername2come]

1 hour ago, scarynikki12 said:

Did Oliver know about William this whole time? What was Moira up to after surviving Slade? This is your spot to make it make sense.

**This is just for new timeline theories and related discussion. Not a general show thread.**

I think she probably told him after season 2 around the time she told him she knew he was the Green Arrow instead of finding out in season 4. I think they fought about it and a lot of the William-y stuff that happened may have just started a year earlier. I think Thea wouldn't have gotten so suckered in by Malcolm if her mother were alive and overall would've been a little emotionally stabler. 

[bijoux]

I was just reading spec about Dinah's disappearance from 2020, but that got me to wondering how and why she'd even have become the new BC.

Oliver was actually searching for a Laurel replacement in the original timeline and sought Dinah out, then brought her to SC. Am I remembering that correctly? But if Laurel was never BC, and from everything I've read I'm deducing she wasn't, why would he have looked for Dinah and then sort of forced the moniker on her? 

[GHScorpiosRule]

1 hour ago, bijoux said:

But if Laurel was never BC, and from everything I've read I'm deducing she wasn't, why would he have looked for Dinah and then sort of forced the moniker on her? 

I'm thinking he thought the city needed a Black Canary after Sara died? I got nuthin'.

I guess her disappearing is the best way to not put on that fugly, ridiculous "old" make-up on both Julianna and Katie for the future?

[insomniadreams88]

1 hour ago, bijoux said:

I was just reading spec about Dinah's disappearance from 2020, but that got me to wondering how and why she'd even have become the new BC.

Oliver was actually searching for a Laurel replacement in the original timeline and sought Dinah out, then brought her to SC. Am I remembering that correctly? But if Laurel was never BC, and from everything I've read I'm deducing she wasn't, why would he have looked for Dinah and then sort of forced the moniker on her? 

Well, you see, in this new timeline, Dinah was undercover in SC as [insert something that could come up in the spinoff] and the team crossed paths with her and realized she had a metapower that matched Sara’s sonic devices ... (half kidding)

[Featherhat]

I'm still on the "I want as little as possible actually changed" train, although it means a lot of it barely hangs together with new characters inserted.

I think Laurel and Dinah were both still BCs. There's no indication from Dinah that she remembers being BC and not being BC in two different timelines just that she somehow ended up in 2040 and all records of both DD and BC have been erased, probably by the same person for the same reason. - Thus Laurel also was BC and died in the prison because she was Quentin's daughter. They reiterated E1 the destined hero in COIE with Diggle in that ludicrous scene and whilst that was old timeline the intent was there. Plus unless LOT is going to deal with it, it changes a lot of Sara's past season storylines and backstory.

 With William I'm not sure Moira willingly tells her secrets, even when it would be for the best. She'd tell herself she's still protecting both her son and grandson from danger by keeping William anonymous in CC because of GA business and maybe she's Mayor? So Oliver still finds out about William in the crossover but has an actual person to be furious with instead of a memory and she takes Thea's position of "do whatever you need to keep your Babymama happy" nonsense. He still doesn't tell Felicity and they break up over it. Party because I think as terrible as it was, the break up happened because both had big insecurities and they went from 0-60 pretty quickly. They got back together sooner and it was only a brief break up with no Billy and Susan. Or maybe they both needed the comparison.

I have found that though I would love things to change for the better in the series I have a really big problem with Oliver writing fix it fic on his life. It's cheating somehow. Let your mistakes have happened. Or show me how they changed everything via a 2 hour episode and flashbacks! 

Guess we will get some answers ITSGPU and Dinah can clarify things and William can remember he has another mother that isn't just Felicity and how/when/if she died in this timeline. Maybe they can get ST and/or CD to guest star. 

Edited February 1, 2020 by Featherhat

[GHScorpiosRule]

8 hours ago, Featherhat said:

ITSGPU

What does this mean?

[apinknightmare]

48 minutes ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

What does this mean?

If the spinoff gets picked up, I assume. I had to take a few seconds on it too lol. 

[Featherhat]

Yeah, sorry guys, I got sick of typing If the Spin off Gets picked up over and over so I completely made up an abbreviation in the episode thread.

[BkWurm1]

I have to think that the William secret would have come out when Moira was running Mayor as a part of opposition research like it was found by Thea when she was doing that on Oliver.  The opposition hadn't found it in season two when we were watching but that's not to say they wouldn't have eventually.  So I'm not convinced the timeline with William would remain the same.  But pulling those threads get really messy, really quickly so then I wonder if during Oliver's reboot of the universe he would have tried to keep that the same as before even if logically it would have happened differently, like he scripted somethings to happen as before because the ripple effects of the changes would be too big.

But I don't see how relationships couldn't have vastly changed when it comes to Moira NOT dying.  Thea would probably not spiraled like she did but I wouldn't have put it past Malcolm to still either lure her away for other reasons or just flat out kidnap her so he could get to know her.  Or extort a relationship of some kind with her. 

With Moira and Oliver, the big change would be I think Moira's reaction when she found out about his serious relationship with Felicity.  She might not have found out until they left the city at the end of season 3 but on their return in season 4, Moira and Felicity would have had to have had SOME kind of deeper interaction unless Oliver had cut off all contact with his mother, but at that point, would he? 

Still, I can't imagine Moira not having had Oliver and Felicity over for at least ONE family dinner.  Plus, chances are Moira would be Team Arrow's main source of funding.  Though it is possible that Ray chased Felicity with a job no matter where she worked to help him access the info he needed for his suit and still gave her his company afterwards just minus Queen Consolidated.  (Cause I really can't see Moira letting that be taken over.  She'd resign as Mayor before she'd let that happen.  And not being Mayor would make it easier to stay alive, lol.) 

So would Moira embrace Felicity in her son's life or try to break them up for reasons?  She claimed all she wanted was for her children to be happy, I don't know how she wouldn't see how happy Oliver was with Felicity.  So if Moira suddenly put on the charm offensive and tried to make nice, would Felicity let her?  Would that mean they'd bond?  Would Moira have helped run Palmer Tech?  Or offer advice?  Would they clash?  Team up?  It's their relationship that feels kind of inevitable to me if Moira was alive.   But it would be so complex!

In the spin off Mia is living at the Manor which to me says she and her mom weren't estranged from Moira.  Did Felicity and Moira overcome hostility between them or were they already allies?  Except that would be only half of Felicity's current memories.  She'd remember it both ways.  

They really could have easily spent another 12 episodes dealing with the new normal.  

Edited February 2, 2020 by BkWurm1

[tv echo]

This new Moira is apparently a bit mellower than the old Moira. Roy said something to Thea about how Moira seemed to like him better than she did before.

[quarks]

With Black Canary, I think we're dealing with two separate events:

1. Crisis and Oliver merging the timelines, choosing to let Original Laurel stay dead and Not Laurel live so that Quentin could have someone to hug.

In this timeline, Sara still became the Black Canary. The scene at the funeral confirmed that Sara and Nyssa still knew each other and fell in love; Talia and Sara didn't mention meeting before, but it's possible that they didn't want Nyssa knowing about this (and even more possible that whoever wrote this episode forgot the entire first season of Legends of Tomorrow or figured that bit had already been changed at some point by Barry or Team Legends anyway). 

At this point, the possible timelines split again. In one, Sara was then killed, presumably by Malcolm, before Laurel, Thea, Malcolm and Constantine brought her back to life. Unlike back in season four, Thea would still have had access to her Queen Consolidated money and possibly Malcolm Merlyn's money, which would help answer the "how did Laurel and Thea smuggle a dead body out of the country" question that season four never did get around to answering, if not "why did Laurel and Thea smuggle a dead body out of the country, what the hell is wrong with you, Original Laurel," that many of us were asking at the time and continue to ask now.

In this timeline, Original Laurel either became the Black Canary and was then killed, presumably by Damien, or she remained an attorney, and was then killed, presumably by Damien because of her father. In either case, Green Arrow Oliver recruited Dinah after Original Laurel died and Sara took off for Team Legends, and Spectre Oliver, thinking it over, decided that Not Laurel was more amusing and had never slept with him or his best friend so decided to keep Not Laurel around. 

In the other option, Sara never died, which meant that Original Laurel never became the Black Canary - but Oliver still recruited Dinah after Sara took off for Team Legends, and Original Laurel was still killed by Damien to punish Quentin.

Regardless, we have at least two Black Canaries in this timeline - Sara and Dinah - and possibly all four - Sara, Original Laurel, Evelyn/Artemis and Dinah. 

I think this is the timeline that was in place during Oliver's funeral - a timeline with Black Canaries. This also somewhat fits with the Legends of Tomorrow documentary.

2. A separate event that erased all Black Canaries from the record, that happened at some point after Oliver's funeral.

This might have been caused by Spectre Oliver, or possibly by Felicity, or Barry Allen, or possibly as part of whatever is going on with Legends of Tomorrow/Zari, with the possible assistance of Kara and J'onn - possible now since they are all on Earth Prime. 

Or, since this was presumably related to Dinah appearing in the future, more probably by a new character/threat who will be revealed at some point in Green Arrow and the Canaries.

This fits in with what we saw in the last episode of Crisis (where Dinah Black Canary was around and recognized as the Black Canary, and where Marv Wolfman identified Team Legends as a publicly known group even if Sara wasn't mentioned specifically), the first episode of Legends of Tomorrow this season (where the film crew recognized Sara as the Legends leader, thus presumably as a Canary), Arrow's season finale (where a different film crew interviewed Dinah and got her name on camera, and the other characters all recognized her as Black Canary). It also fits with what Dinah said during the backdoor pilot - that she had been at Oliver's funeral (confirmed in the series finale) and then woke up in the future, to find that she and the Canaries had been completely erased from the record.

Granted this still leaves the very good question about how, exactly, Dinah managed to get together enough money to buy a bar and how she was able to buy that bar without any identification (speaking as someone who just had to pull out gov't ID to buy Dayquil), not to mention why anyone other than a few irritated Arrow fans would want the Canaries completely erased from the record (well, ok, Sara clearly didn't want to be on the record, so let's add her to that group of Arrow fans), as well as several other questions, but I think it fits what we've seen on screen so far?

 

[tv echo]

2 minutes ago, quarks said:

2. A separate event that erased all Black Canaries from the record, that happened at some point after Oliver's funeral.

I agree. In 810, it was revealed that a month had passed between Crisis and Oliver's funeral.

[Primal Slayer]

Season 1 - Feel like 99% of it still happens as it does except Tommy doesnt die (of course)....to make things add up a little bit more...I'd say he was likely in a coma?

Season 2 - Obviously Oliver stops Slade from killing Moira. Sara still comes back to town as Canary....question is....does Laurel still become an alcoholic since Tommy is alive? If Tommy were in a coma it could send her down a similar survivors guilt path that she went through.

Season 3 - Tommy/Laurel likely get married, Sara still dies, Laurel likely still becomes Black Canary. Guessing Thea still goes with Malcolm after learning that she is his daughter. Tommy/Oliver probably clash over Thea's revival via lazarus Pit.

Season 4 - Laurel still dies. Tommy likely leaves Star City. 

Big question is Black Siren. The Mulitverse isn't "known" in Earth Prime so presumably Zoom never happened on The Flash which means that he never came to Prime which means that he never brought Siren over....BUT we know that she is a left over from the Pre-Crisis World. I assume that she may have kept her memories and didnt need J'onn to give them to her so what does she do the entire time? She still obviously meets up with Team Arrow. Unless the Mutliverse was supposed to have still happened in Earth Prime timeline???????

[Velocity23]

I feel like Laurel/Tommy must have married before s3. Especially since s3 already had the Dyla wedding.  Also Laurel was too obsessed with avenging her sister. And her father had that heart condition If anything i wouldnt be surprised if Laurel/Tommy were actually already engaged by the time Oliver comes back from the island or by end of s1. The only way i can justify both tommy and laurel surviving the undertaking is i if they are together and  arent at CNRI. 

[quarks]

9 hours ago, Primal Slayer said:

Big question is Black Siren. The Mulitverse isn't "known" in Earth Prime so presumably Zoom never happened on The Flash which means that he never came to Prime which means that he never brought Siren over....BUT we know that she is a left over from the Pre-Crisis World. I assume that she may have kept her memories and didnt need J'onn to give them to her so what does she do the entire time? She still obviously meets up with Team Arrow. Unless the Mutliverse was supposed to have still happened in Earth Prime timeline???????

I think Not Laurel had her memories restored by Cisco's device, which she then used to restore Mia's device?

[Primal Slayer]

2 hours ago, quarks said:

I think Not Laurel had her memories restored by Cisco's device, which she then used to restore Mia's device?

Possibly, if so I wonder what her new memories would be. Would she think that she's also Prime Laurel like Beth thought the same?

[Kymmi]

I'm not sure I follow what's happening with the Diggle children.  When Dig and Lyla got set to leave Star City in the van/suv - they showed a little girl in the backseat, which I'm guessing is Baby Sara.  So if Baby Sara is there, that means that JJ is gone, right?  Is this going to change things with the spinoff (assuming it gets picked up)?

[Primal Slayer]

6 minutes ago, Kymmi said:

I'm not sure I follow what's happening with the Diggle children.  When Dig and Lyla got set to leave Star City in the van/suv - they showed a little girl in the backseat, which I'm guessing is Baby Sara.  So if Baby Sara is there, that means that JJ is gone, right?  Is this going to change things with the spinoff (assuming it gets picked up)?

They showed in COIE that both exist and are possibly twins?

I have a feeling that going forward with other shows in Earth Prime that continuity is going to be super messy with Arrow having Oliver "choose people" to come back while he cant have that same experience with other characters outside of Arrow.

[quarks]

45 minutes ago, Kymmi said:

I'm not sure I follow what's happening with the Diggle children.  When Dig and Lyla got set to leave Star City in the van/suv - they showed a little girl in the backseat, which I'm guessing is Baby Sara.  So if Baby Sara is there, that means that JJ is gone, right?  Is this going to change things with the spinoff (assuming it gets picked up)?

JJ is still around - that was confirmed in the Legends of Tomorrow episode of Crisis on Infinite Earths. Also, JJ showed up in the backdoor pilot, which Dinah confirmed was set in the post-Crisis world, so, again, definitely around. I think the main question with JJ and the spinoff isn't so much JJ's existence, but Charlie Barnett's availability - his stock has gone way up since he was originally cast for the role.

The real question I had with the Diggle kids was about Connor.  The backdoor pilot seemed to suggest that Diggle and Lyla adopted Connor in the new timeline as well, but there were only two kids in the SUV. So, where is Connor?  

[BkWurm1]

Quote

I assume that she may have kept her memories and didnt need J'onn to give them to her so what does she do the entire time?

 

6 hours ago, quarks said:

I think Not Laurel had her memories restored by Cisco's device, which she then used to restore Mia's device?

I think everyone on EPrime once Oliver rebooted it would have memories of the new timeline with the exception of the "paragons" who were shown only to remember the original timeline which makes sense since they were outside of the universes that had to be resparked. The universe reboot included every version of the multiverse so just because BS was from a parallel universe wouldn't change the need for her to get her old memories restored. 

Once the universe was rebooted per Crisis J'onn went around and restored the memories of the original timeline to all the "heroes".  And  E2 Laurel (for better or worse, lol) seems to be included even before Crisis as one of the heroes so it seems likely IMO  she wouldn't have needed to wait around for the Cisco device.  

I suppose we'll know more after the first Flash episode what kind of changes the new timeline made to their show and thus to Zoom and BS's arrival but I don't think it actually will have changed.  Because Oliver was there on E2 and made connections to those people too.  So given the chance to save all of them, why wouldn't he? And bringing JUST BS back from that world where she lost people she loved seems kind of cruel.  And Oliver isn't that. 

 

 

Edited February 3, 2020 by BkWurm1

[BkWurm1]

16 hours ago, Primal Slayer said:

The Mulitverse isn't "known" in Earth Prime so presumably Zoom never happened on The Flash which means that he never came to Prime which means that he never brought Siren over..

I'm not sure that one set of rules will apply to all the shows, lol.  I suspect Flash will have a way around it so Zoom was still from E2

 

[Primal Slayer]

35 minutes ago, BkWurm1 said:

 

I suppose we'll know more after the first Flash episode what kind of changes the new timeline made to their show and thus to Zoom and BS's arrival but I don't think it actually will have changed.  Because Oliver was there on E2 and made connections to those people too.  So given the chance to save all of them, why wouldn't he? And bringing JUST BS back from that world where she lost people she loved seems kind of cruel.  And Oliver isn't that. 

 

 

That's why it would have made sense if all these various versions got merged into one but they seem to be showcasing E1 took precedence over everything else. But Oliver choosing who to save doesnt line up with other characters from other shows showing up (like Momma Luthor). They probably should've just left out "Oliver chose to bring back x,y,z"  since now it turns into "why did Oliver bring back this person but not this person"

I really do hope we get to see what having these positive changes have and what the universe does to balance that out.

[scarynikki12]

The Earth Prime characters don't know that the rest of the multiverse was reinstated so their perspective could be that Supergirl and Black Lightning were always part of Prime and that there was a multiverse pre-Crisis that is now gone. That would allow for the Zoom story to remain, for the Earth X story to remain, for Siren's story to remain, and explains how the Brainiac 5 and Beth Kane doppelgangers we've seen on Supergirl and Batwoman can exist at all.

As far as Oliver choosing to save some characters but not others, I assume he only did that with Moira, Tommy, Emiko, Quentin, and Baby Sara. Until they say otherwise I just tell myself that The Monitor told him that he could only save five specific people and that was his list. That leaves out Laurel because he'd automatically pick his family (mother, lifelong best friend, new sister, father figure, and niece) first. Other characters who are now alive rather than dead are a coincidental side effect of the reboot rather than a deliberate decision.

[lemotomato]

7 hours ago, Primal Slayer said:

Possibly, if so I wonder what her new memories would be. Would she think that she's also Prime Laurel like Beth thought the same?

Why would she think she was Laurel Prime? She would only get her Black Siren memories restored because that's who she was before Crisis.

[Primal Slayer]

1 minute ago, lemotomato said:

Why would she think she was Laurel Prime? She would only get her Black Siren memories restored because that's who she was before Crisis.

I'm saying Pre-restored memories. 

[lemotomato]

Just now, Primal Slayer said:

I'm saying Pre-restored memories. 

The finale made it clear she wasn't Laurel Prime. She didn't seem to know Tommy and he had to tell her that he used to be married to Laurel Prime. 

[Primal Slayer]

2 minutes ago, lemotomato said:

The finale made it clear she wasn't Laurel Prime. She didn't seem to know Tommy and he had to tell her that he used to be married to Laurel Prime. 

We all know she isnt Prime Laurel. Earth___ Beth showed up on Earth Prime not knowing she wasn't on her Earth anymore but very confused. She thought she was THE Beth. The same could have happened to E2 Laurel before she got her Pre-COIE memories restored (just like all the Brainys on Supergirl)

[lemotomato]

1 minute ago, Primal Slayer said:

We all know she isnt Prime Laurel. Earth___ Beth showed up on Earth Prime not knowing she wasn't on her Earth anymore but very confused. She thought she was THE Beth. The same could have happened to E2 Laurel before she got her Pre-COIE memories restored (just like all the Brainys on Supergirl)

If Earth [blank] Beth thought she was still Earth [blank] Beth but displaced on Earth Prime, then following that logic, Earth 2 Laurel would still think she was Earth 2 Laurel, just displaced on Earth Prime. 

[Primal Slayer]

1 minute ago, lemotomato said:

If Earth [blank] Beth thought she was still Earth [blank] Beth but displaced on Earth Prime, then following that logic, Earth 2 Laurel would still think she was Earth 2 Laurel, just displaced on Earth Prime. 

Earth Prime is THE Earth to be on so a lot of the doppelgangers just thought it was their Earth which makes them the main versions. Laurel wouldnt think "this is Earth 2" she'd just think she was on the regular Earth. When Brainy ran into his counterpart they went through a whole "you're the fake!" It's the same thing.

[BkWurm1]

43 minutes ago, Primal Slayer said:

Earth Prime is THE Earth to be on so a lot of the doppelgangers just thought it was their Earth which makes them the main versions. Laurel wouldnt think "this is Earth 2" she'd just think she was on the regular Earth. When Brainy ran into his counterpart they went through a whole "you're the fake!" It's the same thing.

We haven't seen anything on Arrow like the dopplegangers on Supergirl or Batwoman.  All we have had is Laurel confused why she was there and not original Laurel while Quinten knew all about them both and was ok with Original Recipe being still in the grave. And then we had Tommy having zero previous knowledge of BS. 

If a spin off happens, it will get to set its own rules like Supergirl and Batwoman,  but based just on what we saw on Arrow and the end of Crisis, it feels like Star City didn't do dopplegangers so Laurel would never be confused about who she was in the world even pre memories returned.  In the backdoor pilot she was pretty clear on her history with her Oliver.  In the context she brought it up, she was saying people don't change. You'd think if she had two versions of her past, (BS's Oliver and our Oliver on Earth Prime) she'd have brought up both.  

[lemotomato]

Something that I haven't really seen addressed anywhere: since 809 showed a future that will happen because of the new universe Spectre!Oliver created, can we assume the season 7 flashforwards happened after another version of Crisis, but one where Oliver died the way the Monitor had foreseen-- helping the other heroes win but not as the hero. The multiverse didn't get wiped out, Oliver didn't need to become Spectre, he didn't reset everything, and life went on in the same trajectory as the end of season 7 implied, with Crisis as just another once-a-year crossover big battle?

[BkWurm1]

4 hours ago, lemotomato said:

Something that I haven't really seen addressed anywhere: since 809 showed a future that will happen because of the new universe Spectre!Oliver created, can we assume the season 7 flashforwards happened after another version of Crisis, but one where Oliver died the way the Monitor had foreseen-- helping the other heroes win but not as the hero. The multiverse didn't get wiped out, Oliver didn't need to become Spectre, he didn't reset everything, and life went on in the same trajectory as the end of season 7 implied, with Crisis as just another once-a-year crossover big battle?

Good question.  Maybe that future never happened at all and all of the previous flash forwards were ONLY part of the Monitors vision of the future based on what he thought Oliver did vs what Oliver really did.

[quarks]

15 hours ago, lemotomato said:

Something that I haven't really seen addressed anywhere: since 809 showed a future that will happen because of the new universe Spectre!Oliver created, can we assume the season 7 flashforwards happened after another version of Crisis, but one where Oliver died the way the Monitor had foreseen-- helping the other heroes win but not as the hero. The multiverse didn't get wiped out, Oliver didn't need to become Spectre, he didn't reset everything, and life went on in the same trajectory as the end of season 7 implied, with Crisis as just another once-a-year crossover big battle?

That's what I thought. We got to see the original timeline - Star City really sucks! - during season 7. During season 8, Oliver heard about that timeline from Time Travelling Team Kid Arrows. He then died in a way that the Monitor had not expected, thus dooming the multiverse, which forced the other heroes to try to bring him back to life. Once brought back to life he was able to make multiple changes - which in turn saved his city.

 

[tv echo]

Here's my take on how Laurel ended up marrying Tommy in this new timeline...

My impression from watching S1 of Arrow (and reading the Tommy-Laurel story in the tie-in comic) is that Tommy always had a thing for Laurel, but she was dating his best friend. After Oliver left on the boat trip and was presumed dead during those five years, Tommy and Laurel had an on-and-off again affair. Laurel was attracted to Tommy but she didn't take him seriously. She was also still hung up on Oliver. When Tommy saved her at the end of S1 and told her he loved her, she finally realized that he really did love her. When he died, she realized that she loved Tommy as well. 

In the new timeline, everything stays the same in S1, except Oliver manages to get to CNRI in time to prevent Tommy from being impaled by the steel rod. Tommy survives. Then in S2, Laurel starts exploring a serious relationship with Tommy while dealing with her leftover feelings for Oliver. She realizes that her feelings for Oliver are just remnants from her old, pre-boat trip dream of marrying Oliver Queen. She never joins Team Arrow and never becomes the Black Canary. She doesn't become an alcoholic. When Sara returns from the dead, Laurel has to resolve old resentments toward her sister. When Sara dies, Laurel has Tommy to help her work through her grief and, instead of becoming a vigilante, she devotes herself to seeking justice through her job as an ADA. Tommy gives up his playboy lifestyle and takes over as CEO of Merlyn Global. Laurel and Tommy marry in S3. Then in S4, Laurel is killed by Damian Darhk in response to Quentin's betrayal of Darhk.

Laurel never confesses on her deathbed that Oliver has always been the love of her life, because he wasn't. Oliver was just her first love, but Tommy was her last love.

Edited February 5, 2020 by tv echo

[tv echo]

This was apparently revealed on last night's Flash episode...

.Arrowverse's Earth-Prime Map Revealed: Where Every City Is Located
Matt Morrison   Feb. 5, 2020
https://screenrant.com/arrowverse-earth-prime-map-cities-locations-after-crisis-infinite-earths/

Quote

The first episode of The Flash following Crisis on Infinite Earths revealed a map of Earth-Prime and offered a glimpse at how much things have changed in the new Arrowverse. While the new map showed many familiar names, some of the locations seemed slightly different compared to the world of Earth-1.
*  *  *
Precise geography has never been a strong point of the Arrowverse. The Flash's hometown of Central City, for instance, had a ZIP Code which suggested it was somewhere in Oklahoma. Yet the first episode of The Flash placed Central City 600 miles away from Star City, on the West Coast of the United States. To further confuse matters, Central City is said to have a population of 14 million people (almost twice as many people live in the real world New York City) yet is modeled on the modestly sized city of Portland, Oregon.
*  *  *
Star City
...
The hometown of Oliver Queen and the setting of Arrow, Star City is perhaps the most drastically changed of all the key cities of Earth-Prime. Once an urban hellhole which seemed to suffer some sort of calamity every spring, Oliver Queen's sacrifice during Crisis on Infinite Earths allowed the city to be reborn without the organized crime that plagued it for decades. Star City is located on the West Coast of the United States, close to where the real world city of Seattle stands.

National City
...
The setting of Supergirl was relocated into Southern California on Earth-Prime without anything from Earth-38 being lost. Indeed, National City seems to have gained several new residents, thanks to a wormhole centered upon Al's Dive Bar that somehow saved some doppelgangers from other dimensions and pulled them into Earth-Prime. The ramifications of this have yet to be fully explored, beyond the fact that one of these doppelgangers is an evil version of Winn Schott who embraced the identity of his terrorist father and became a new Toyman.
*  *  *
Gotham City
....
Typically Gotham City has always been presumed to lie somewhere on the East Coast of the United States. However, according to Cisco's map, the Gotham City of Earth-Prime is located on the western shores of Lake Michigan, somewhere between Chicago and Milwaukee. There is some sense to this, however, as some of Batwoman's exterior scenes were shot in Chicago and many modern Batman writers have based their depictions of Gotham City and its organized crime on the real world gangsters of Chicago.
*  *  *
Metropolis
...
The famed City of Tomorrow is located on the East Coast of the United States, somewhere south of Happy Harbor. Based on Cisco's map, it seems likely that Metropolis, as in the comics, is located in the state of Delaware, facing northward onto Delaware Bay. The series finale of Arrow revealed that John Diggle and Lyla Michaels will be moving to Metropolis soon, though it is unknown if they will make an appearance in the upcoming Superman and Lois series.

Freeland
..
The setting of Black Lightning and hometown of Jefferson Pierce, Freeland is situated somewhere in the southeastern United States. Freeland seems to be located fairly close to Atlanta, Georgia, which makes sense as that is where the series is filmed. Previous episodes of Black Lightning also used real world Atlanta ZIP codes to represent addresses in Freeland.
*  *  *
Nanda Parbat
...
The home base of the League of Assassins in the Arrowverse, Cisco's map has Nanda Parbat situated somewhere in the mountains forming the border between Nepal and Tibet. This is consistent with where the city was located in the original DC Comics' universe. It should be noted, however, that the city in the comics was home to a peaceable order of monks rather than a clan of hired killers.

 

 

Edited February 5, 2020 by tv echo

[tv echo]

Edited February 10, 2020 by tv echo