Snowbarry

"Look. Caitlin... she's a good person. I'm begging you: don't turn her in. I will do anything you want"

- Barry to Julian

Snowbarry is the het ship between Barry Allen and Caitlin Snow on the CW series The Flash.

TEAM FLASH
Barry Allen is struck by lightning after the Particle Accelerator explosion, turning him into a metahuman and the infamous hero "The Flash". After his situation becomes critical and Barry is put in a coma, he was moved to S.T.A.R. Labs where he was under the care of Caitlin Snow, Cisco Ramon and Harrison Wells (Eobard Thawne). Caitlin and Barry properly meet when Barry awakes from his coma and the team explain what happened.

Barry starts doing tests under the guidance of Dr. Wells, and he and Caitlin quickly develop a deep understanding, first through their mutual experiences of loss; Barry losing his mother and Caitlin losing her fiancé, Ronnie Raymond. Caitlin is very cautious and quickly shows how much she cares for Barry, berating him for taking too many risks, while Barry in turn tries to assure her that he's okay, glad that she cares about his safety.

FRIENDSHIP
In the high stakes profession of saving lives the Flash dives into, Caitlin helps save his life multiple times, as he does hers in dangerous situations fighting metas. When faced with the meta Blackout, Barry loses his speed as Blackout siphons it off of him. Barry tells Caitlin how much he loves being the Flash and she tells him that with or without his speed, he's still him. There's a beat where Caitlin watches Barry admiringly talk about how he loves being able to help people. She tentatively steps forward as if she's about to kiss him, and, for a second, Barry realises it, but before either can react Cisco walks in and they both move awkwardly.

When Barry asks Caitlin to shock him to jumpstart his speed, he asks her what she believes. She later tells him that she believes in him and that he was chosen to be gifted his powers and that he should believe, too, at a time when Barry needs reassurance of who he is and whether he is complete without his speed. When Blackout enters S.T.A.R. Labs, Caitlin and Barry hide together, holding hands for the first time.

Heatwave and Captain Cold later abduct Caitlin to lure the Flash, Barry is horrified and will do anything to get Caitlin back safe, while Caitlin in turn wishes to keep Barry safe, telling him not to come for her. When threatened by the villains, Caitlin tells them to do whatever they want to her as long as they leave Barry alone. Barry is very visibly worried and angered by Caitlin being kidnapped. Once returned safely, Caitlin and Cisco are faced with their former colleague, Hartley Rathaway, wreaking havoc and once they capture him he is horrible to Caitlin about Ronnie's "death", at which point Barry tells him to shut up. When spending some time together, Caitlin and Barry realise they're both pining for people they can't be with and Caitlin suggests that the two go out and have fun.

The night ends in drunken (on Caitlin's part) karaoke and Barry making sure Caitlin gets home safely. She asks him to stay with her until he falls asleep and Barry obliges. After defeating Peek-A-Boo, Caitlin tells Barry she's ready to move on and gives off the vibe that she is hinting to Barry. Just as this happens, Ronnie returns to their lives for real and after the Team successfully separate Stein and Ronnie, Caitlin and Ronnie are back together. When the military attempts to abduct Firestorm, Ronnie realises that leaving town with Stein to figure out their combined powers is his new path, and that he and Caitlin can't go back to where they left off.

After Barry accidentally alters the timeline by a day, and acts according to the day that never was, Caitlin helps mend his ailing relationships with Eddie and Iris, by explaining to them that Barry suffers from "lightning psychosis" and they share a great moment. In many ways, their larger-than-life experiences as a superhero crime-fighting team makes their bond tighter and close knit as there are things they can only share with each other.

REVERSE-FLASH
Via Joe and Cisco's diligent research, Barry soon learns that Harrison Wells isn't who he says he is and it creates a conflict with Caitlin, who is not on board with investigating Wells or believing the claims Cisco, Joe, Eddie and Barry make. After she tries to go and talk to Wells herself, she and Barry fight and Caitlin finally confides in him that Wells was there for her when she lost Ronnie and her career. Barry comforts her, saying that he knows it's hard but that what they do as a team is still worthwhile.

Caitlin seems more assured by Barry's words, but says she'll have to consider things and starts to see maybe something's up. When Cisco and Joe return Barry takes Caitlin to show the proof they found that the real Harrison Wells was murdered in 2000. Barry, Caitlin, Cisco, Eddie and Joe attempt to set a trap for Reverse-Flash, who thwarts them and reveals his identity. The team now frets to find a way to beat Reverse-Flash and rescue an abducted Eddie. Ronnie returns to help the team and re-proposes to Caitlin, who accepts. Ronnie, Barry and Oliver work together to capture Reverse-Flash. Caitlin and Ronnie are married by Professor Stein with Barry as a witness, along with Eddie and the Wests.

SEPARATION
6 months after Barry and Firestorm attempted to close the unstable breach over Central City, Barry is working alone. Though Professor Stein survived, Ronnie died trying to save the city and Barry is suffering alone with the guilt, rejecting help from Joe, Iris and Cisco. Barry learns that Reverse-Flash left him S.T.A.R. Labs and a video message, but Barry can't bring himself to watch it. After Joe tries to convince Barry to come back to his family and friends, Barry goes to see the one person he needs — Caitlin. She works for Christine McGee at Mercury Labs and Barry sees her for the first time since Ronnie died.

He explains how he couldn't face her because he feels responsible for what happened to Ronnie and Caitlin, in turn, confides in Barry that she feels like it's her fault. They comfort each other and Barry tells her about the message from Thawne and that he's afraid to watch it. In a parallel to Caitlin's first time going to the pipeline after Ronnie died, she offers to watch the video with Barry and he agrees. After this, Barry asks Caitlin to come back to S.T.A.R. Labs and tells her he'll only reassemble the team with her there too and she agrees.

ZOOM
Caitlin, Barry and Cisco work together to help the Snart siblings, Martin Stein when he needs to find a new Firestorm partner and Earth-2 Harrison Wells, who searches for his daughter abducted by Zoom. Both Caitlin and Barry enter into new romantic relationships. Barry starts dating Joe's new partner, Patty Spivot, but breaks up with her coldly after being unwilling to tell her he's The Flash as to not put her in danger, although he loves her and should've learned that lesson from the prior year. Caitlin starts dating the Earth-2 Flash in a painfully ironic move from the writers, and for Caitlin herself when they all discover that he's not The Earth-2 Flash Jay Garrick, but really serial killer Hunter Zolomon aka Zoom.

Before the discovery, they think Zoom killed "Jay" and Caitlin is devastated. Barry supports her and does everything he can to avenge Jay and help Caitlin cope with another personal tragedy so soon after Ronnie's death. After they discover "Jay" is really Zoom, Barry opens a breach which ultimately leads Zoom to get his speed and abduct Caitlin to Earth-2. Barry is at a loss for how to get Caitlin back and has trouble sleeping because of her abduction. Zoom hatches a plan to conquer Caitlin's earth and keeps her prisoner in Central City Police Station, from where Caitlin manages to send Team Flash a message to help save people.



Zoom decides to let Caitlin freely choose whether she wants to stay with him or return to Team Flash and Caitlin escapes. Barry is overjoyed to have Caitlin back as he was unable to rescue her from Zoom himself. Barry takes Caitlin's hand and leads her to the examination room, while he explains to her what happened to him and how he got his powers back. An exhausted and traumatised Caitlin falls asleep and Barry stays with her, watching over her as she rests. Following the murder of Barry's father by Zoom, Caitlin, along with the team, helps Barry prepare for his battle with Zoom amidst the shock of loss.

FLASHPOINT
Devastated by the loss of his father, Barry runs back in time to save his mother and creates a new timeline — Flashpoint — where he lives with his parents and doesn't know his former team. When facing obstacles, Barry wants to assemble the team and easily finds Earth-2 Wells and now-billionaire owner of S.T.A.R. Labs, Cisco Ramon. Barry tells them that he needs their help, but that they they're missing someone important — Caitlin. Now a paediatrician, Caitlin is taken aback at being abducted by a random stranger, but keeps her cool in the strange situation. Barry, albeit surprised at her very different occupation, feels happy now that the team is complete.

Once Barry resets the timeline yet again and leaves his parents behind for good, after three months with them, he returns to his own time altered by his actions — the biggest change of all being that Caitlin is now imbued with cold powers. She doesn't know how to share it with anyone as she's so afraid of her sudden powers, but she does use them to save Barry when he's trapped in a mirror by the Mirror Master. When Cisco semi-reveals it, Caitlin uses her powers and an alter ego, Killer Frost, takes her over. Barry is the only one who can coax Caitlin back by facing her directly and giving her a free shot to take his life. Caitlin breaks down in his arms, horrified at what happened to her and that she may've hurt someone.

Unbeknownst to Caitlin, Barry gives up his job at CCPD at Julian's request, so Julian won't reveal Caitlin's secret identity to the world.

Fanon
Fans sometimes refer to Harry Wells, the Earth-2 Harrison Wells, as a so-titled Captain of Snowbarry as he allegedly is always cheering on the couple through his actions. Since around mid-Season 2, the show started drastically reducing the screen time and interactions between Barry and Caitlin, as well as the Flash team consisting of them, Cisco and Harry. While the four of them as a team have had glimmers of interaction in Season 4, the fandom in general is unhappy with the lack of the close friendship/family bond Cisco, Caitlin and Barry established in Season 1 being all but forgotten.

Songs

 * can't pretend | TOM ODELL


 * i found | AMBER RUN


 * where's my love | SYML

Quotes
"Kill me, Caitlin! You can't do it. Because underneath all that cold, you're still you"

- Barry

"Sometimes, great possibilities are right in front of us, and we don't see them because we choose not to"

- Barry

"I already lost someone I cared about in this building, I can't do it again!"

- Caitlin to Barry

Fandom
AO3

FANFICTION
 * FlashFrost
 * Caitlin x Barry
 * snowbarry
 * snowbarry

FORUMS
 * Snowbarry

TUMBLR

WIKIS

YT
 * SkyFullOfStars
 * ReactOutLoud

Trivia

 * Producers were considering a Barry/Caitlin romance in Season 1, but Grant Gustin objected to it
 * Earlier in the episode where Barry is blinded by Dr. Light, he says the 'great possibilities' line to Caitlin. A Snowbarry IG account posted this and Grant Gustin (Barry Allen) replied punnily: "Well in this case we didn't see what was in front of us because we were blind..."

Photos

 * Snowbarry/Gallery