Savitar (Arrowverse)/Synopsis

Savitar is an antagonist in the Arrowverse, appearing in the third season of the TV series The Flash as the main antagonist.

Becoming a speedster
Savitar's exact biograhpy is hard to understand, as there are different reports on how he came to be a speedster:

According to Jay Garrick of Earth-3, Savitar is a powerful-speedster, maybe the most-powerful of all. According to him and Julian Albert, he was a normal man in an unknown part of the multi-verse, presumably Earth-1 or Earth-38, who somehow obtained an artefact known as the Brahmastra, or "Philosopher's Stone", which was part of prominent Hindu mythology as the creator of the first meta-humans. After getting it, he used it to gain god-like power, becoming the first-ever person to become connected to the Speed Force, the energy that sustains a speedster's powers, and named himself Savitar after the Hindu God of Motion, Savitr, and was later called the "Dark Lord" by his disciples. Jay claims that whenever Savitar perceives a speedster on a world in the multi-verse to be a future threat to him, he sends a disciple of his, known as Doctor Alchemy, to "prepare" the speedster's world for his arrival. After getting to the Earth he finds the speedster (or speedsters) on, he uses the minions that Alchemy creates for him to conquer that Earth. However, he is still considered a myth by many, with information about him coming from "Speed Force rumours", as Jay put it. Few have ever seen him, and fewer have lived long enough to see him, as his power of invisibility, presumably-sourced from the Philosopher's Stone, prevents anyone without a Speed Force connection from seeing him.

However, according to Savitar himself, Barry was present when he became a speedster and that this happened in the future. At that unknown point in the future, presumably the late 2020's, Savitar is defeated by Barry and imprisoned in the Speed Force. Through unknown means, but presumably-caused by future Barry, he is trapped within the Philosopher's Stone, which is placed in a small stone box, and left in the Indus Valley, hurled into the past so it would never be found in the future. While in the Speed Force, Savitar would "lose [his] mind many times over", being trapped in a time loop in which he was forced to relive the single, most painful moment of his life. His only way to escape his prison was another speedster taking his place.

This, however, wouldn't rob Savitar of his freedom completely. Julian Albert, a British-born scientist-turned CSI, attempted to locate the Philosopher's Stone, hoping to use it to restore his deceased sister to life with its power. This was presumably-caused by Savitar's ability to manifest ghost-like apparitions of certain people in order to fool them into helping him. At some point in the early 2010's, Julian ended up in the Indus Valley, having-tracked the Stone and the box containing it, and proceeded to open the box. After doing so, he was taken over by the spirit of Doctor Alchemy, who killed the rest of Julian's crew. Julian woke up in a hotel the next day, unaware of what he had done or what he'd unleashed on the world. For some time after that, Savitar and Alchemy stayed with Julian as he went to the U.S. to escape his demanding family. He became a CSI in Central City, where, presumably by coincidence, the past-version of Barry Allen worked.

Facing the Flash
Barry Allen, distraught by the pain caused by the Earth-2 speedster Hunter Zolomon, time-travels to create the alternate timeline Flashpoint, stopping Eobard Thawne from killing his mother Nora. However, he later realizes his mistake and reverses time, allowing the past to be fixed. However, certain changes were made to the timeline he was in now; for instance, prior to Flashpoint, he'd never even heard of Julian, but after Flashpoint, he finds that Julian had been working at the Central City Police Department for about a year, unaware of his split-personality Alchemy. Savitar, having been able to witness Flashpoint, saw Wally West as the Flash; after the timeline was restored, Savitar got the idea to empower Wally in the restored timeline, getting him stronger and faster so that he will be able to take his place in the Speed Force and suffer a fate worse than death.

Alchemy would later locate individuals who had meta-human powers in Flashpoint, such as Edward Clariss, Frankie Kane, Shade, Clive Yorkin and a yet-to-be-seen meta-human, and empowered by first making telepathic contact with them (and even hallucinating the effect of the word "ALCHEMY" being scrawled onto glass surfaces by an invisible force), then luring them to Alchemy's hideout in Central City, then restoring their Flashpoint memories and meta-human powers using the Philosopher's Stone, which encased them in a cocoon-like shell that would break after their powers were returned, leaving behind strange "husks" with their DNA attached to it. Along the way, Alchemy managed to start up the Cult of Savitar on Earth-1, letting all its followers know about Savitar and their plans.

Clariss, however, failed to kill Barry after Alchemy ordered him to, and so Savitar arrived at Iron Heights Prison and kills him on Alchemy's behalf by throwing him across his power-proof cell. Footage found later from a security-camera by Julian shows an invisible entity (Savitar) killing Clariss. Frankie and Shade were also unsuccessful in their efforts, with Frankie convinced to not kill innocent people by Barry and Shade defeated through S.T.A.R. Labs technology made by Barry's friends Cisco Ramon and Caitlin Snow.

After Alchemy has seemingly been defeated by the Flash and a S.W.A.T. team, who arrived to arrest him and being led there by Wally West's new memories of Flashpoint, Savitar speeds into the room, being too fast for even Barry to recognize. Despite Barry's attempt to stop him, Savitar frees Alchemy's chained-up disciples and murders most of the officers, save for Detective Joe West, before grabbing Barry and announcing himself as Savitar, the God of Speed. Barry urges Joe, the only one left with him, to shoot Savitar, but Joe cannot see him, either because Savitar's body is moving so fast that he can't be seen or because he is only visible to speedsters. Barry tells Joe to shoot nonetheless and Joe does so, but the bullets are reflected by Savitar's metal armor. Savitar then speeds off with Barry, being incredibly fast. Due to his enormous speed, Savitar does not appear to be moving but appears and reappears all over the city. Whenever emerging, Savitar hurls Barry away and beats him up. Barry eventually manages to get back up, but although he attempts to fight Savitar, is thrown to the floor immediately again. Barry is only saved when Cisco and Caitlin appear at the city's shoreline through Cisco's meta-human powers, and Caitlin, despite not being able to see Savitar, uses her ice powers to freeze the evil speedster. He breaks free, with his ice casing visible to them, and speeds off, with Barry recovering later at S.T.A.R. Labs.

Savitar later visits Julian Albert in the hospital, recovering from an attack by Caitlin, and commands him to return to the Police Department and get back his Doctor Alchemy attire, seeking to get his organisation back. Julian, unaware of his actions and later being unable to remember any of it, does exactly that, finding his Alchemy mask at his lab.

Banished
When Alchemy performs a ritual on top of the Shults Building in Central City around Christmas-time, intending to re-power all the meta-humans from Flashpoint, he is confronted by Barry Allen and Jay Garrick, the Earth-3 Flash. As they arrive to stop this, Savitar appears and attacks Jay, taking him and speeding off. While Barry deals with Alchemy, Savitar beats up Jay similarly to how he attacked Barry previously, leaving him bleeding badly in an alleyway and unable to fight back. Savitar is right about to finish off Jay, but just as that's about to happen, Barry, back at the Shults Building, encases the Philosopher's Stone in the strange stone box that Julian previously found it in. The exact instant he does this, Savitar, due to his connection to the Stone, vanishes into thin air, sending him back into the box.

Savitar is later freed when Cisco opens the box at S.T.A.R. Labs, having seen the spirit of his deceased brother Dante. Dante, however, was actually an illusion created by Savitar to trick Cisco into letting him loose. Unleashed again, Savitar attacks Barry and is only distracted when Wally West, having been turned into a speedster by Alchemy a few weeks prior, speaks to him. After having Savitar's attention, Wally attempts to attack him but is beaten up as well. Although he is able to defeat both speedsters, Savitar is banished once more when Caitlin convinces Cisco to close the box again. By using a machine on Julian, the team is able to contact Savitar, with the villain speaking through Julian. Savitar, once more claiming to be a god, claims that Barry's future self trapped him for eternity, revealing his motivation as simply wanting revenge on Barry for his entrapment. Additionally, Savitar makes the prophecy that among Barry's team at S.T.A.R. Labs (Caitlin, Cisco, Joe, Wally and Harrison "HR" Wells of Earth-19), one will die, one will betray the team and one will suffer a fate worse than death. While Savitar rants on without end, the team deactivates the machine, and thus Julian was seemingly-freed from the villain's influence. Barry and Jay decide the best course of action is to get rid of the box and the Stone, and so they use a breach in the Speed Force to hurl it into the multi-verse, presumably never having to worry about it again.

Future
However, in the effort, Barry is sent into a point in May 2017, 5 months later, where he witnesses a stand-off between Savitar, who doesn't seem to notice him, and future Barry, with Savitar holding Barry's girlfriend Iris West hostage. How Savitar arrives here after his banishment has yet to be explored. Savitar proclaims his victory and uses the metal blade on his suit to pierce Iris' back, killing her and making future Barry weep over her body. Past Barry is pulled out of the scene by Jay, who tries convincing him that what he saw was just a potential future and not something that's sure to happen.

Later on, Barry and Cisco vibe themselves into the future to witness Savitar kill Iris again and look ahead to upcoming events. During the vision, they see HR on a rooftop holding a S.T.A.R. Labs weapon, despite that he wasn't there initially. The heroes then realize that they can alter the future by preventing or doing things differently in events leading up to May 2017. After Barry finds that Wally is actually slightly faster than him and gaining prominence as "Kid Flash", he decides that the newcomer will be the one to save Iris instead of him, as he can get across several feet in 0.26 seconds in time to do so.

Plotting his return
Weeks after Savitar's banishment, around the time Wally finally gets fast enough to save Iris from Savitar, Wally suddenly starts having hallucinations of the evil speedster appearing in Central City. These hallucinations gradually get worse and worse to the point that Wally even believes himself to be physically attacked by Savitar. To investigate the matter, Barry and the team contact Savitar once more by using Julian as a vessel.

Once Savitar has returned, he starts arguing with Barry, claiming that from his viewpoint, Barry is the villain. He then takes a look around, realizing that HR is still with the team and arrogantly addressing the fact. When HR stands up to Savitar, claiming that he will stand with Barry and the team, Savitar replies that it is irony that HR - the coward - will be the one that lives through all this. Barry then asks Savitar where Barry would imprison him in the future. Savitar answers that Barry imprisoned Savitar in the only place that could hold him and that Savitar was trapped long enough to lose his mind several times over. He claims that only his will kept him on the side of sanity. When Cisco makes the remark that sanity and Savitar not really go hand in hand, Savitar replies that Cisco has always been small and will remain so. Barry then starts talking to Savitar again, asking why exactly the two of them were enemies. Savitar claims that they are enemies because they have to be. He claims that only one of the two can live and that, while Barry thought of Thawne or Zoom as his nemesis, Barry's true nemesis is and has always been Savitar.

Joe then asks what exactly the team ever did to Savitar, angering him and he replies that everything he is, he is because of them. He bitterly adds that he never asked for any of this but was made who he is by the Flash. This causes Barry to ask when they will meet to which Savitar answers that Barry was or will be present when Savitar became what he is now. Barry next asks whether he caused Savitar to become a speedster but Savitar arrogantly dismissed the idea, claiming that only he himself could create the greatness that he is. Barry laughs at that, telling Savitar that the Philosopher's Stone is still gone and that Savitar will thus not escape. Savitar, however, claims that he is closer to his freedom than he has ever been and that every step the team takes to prevent Savitar's return brings him closer to his goal. He hints that he only needs one thing to fully return. He addresses Iris, apologizing to her because he will kill her, but claims that it is either her or him. He then turns to Barry, acknowledging that Barry has suffered worse than every other member of the team. When Savitar cruelly claims that Barry will never get over his parents deaths, Barry pulls the plug on the machine connecting Julian to Savitar, banishing Savitar back into the Speed Force.

To find out more, the team intends to watch Savitar's acolytes. They track down a group of them on a mountain outside of Central City where the acolytes hold some kind of mess to Savitar. Barry speeds into their midst, takes out all of them and interrogates their leader who is holding a box similar to the one that contained the Philosopher's Stone. The box, however, is empty and the acolyte only taunts Barry. Back at S.T.A.R. Labs, the team comes to the bitter conclusion that the two boxes are actually the same and that Savitar might somehow have gained the Philosopher's Stone again. However, a piece of the stone was secretly stolen by Caitlin who wanted to use it to get rid of her Killer Frost powers. After Caitlin admits this to the team, the team decides to contact Savitar again in order to locate the place where. However, Cisco can only narrow the location down to all of Central City, which made no sense and wasn't exactly helpful.

Return
When Wally has another hallucination of Savitar who tells him that he now has everything to escape, Wally plans to stop the villain himself due to the tension in the team. Meanwhile, the team finds out why only speedsters are able to see Savitar - because he has been trapped in the Speed Force all along. This is also why Savitar thus far only appeared for a few moments, because he was being sucked back into the Speed Force soon after emerging. This also explains Savitar's teleport-like speed powers; he merely entered the speed force again and emerged at another place. The team realizes that, by throwing the Philosopher's Stone into the Speed Force, they brought him the means to escape his prison. However, as he does not have the full stone yet, he cannot escape.

Meanwhile, Wally, still under the influence of what he saw, steals the remaining part of the stone. By telling Wally that he will never be fast enough in order to create a portal to the speed force through which he can throw the remaining part of the stone, the manifestation of Savitar deliberately encourages Wally to manage exactly that. Wally hurls the remaining part of the Philosopher's Stone into the Speed Force and is grabbed by energy tentacles and sucked into it, leaving only his burnt suit. Moments after Wally is sucked into the speed force, the portal opens again and Savitar emerges from it, proclaiming that he is finally free. He reveals to Barry, who has come too late to save Wally, that Wally has now taken his place as prisoner of the Speed Force. With Wally's punishment, one part of the villain's prophecy has come true, as now Wally is suffering a fate far worse than death.

He then reveals to Barry that by creating Flashpoint, Barry unwittingly gave him the means to escape from his banishment and tells him that he used Wally's youth and ego to free himself from his prison. The two speedsters then run at each other, both being knocked away by the impact. Savitar speeds off immediately but is hunted and confronted by Barry. Barry furiously screams at Savitar that he will kill him but Savitar replies that if Barry had the stomach to kill him, he would have done so in the future. From the envious remarks Savitar makes, Barry realizes that Savitar must be someone Barry knows well enough so Savitar can be jealous of everything Barry achieved. Barry attacks Savitar once again to remove his mask but Savitar uses the blade in his arm to stab Barry; given that he hasn't suffered badly-enough, the villain tells him that he cannot kill him yet, but he'll have to wait until May 23rd, 2017 to do so, as that is the date he is destined to kill Iris. Barry phases his hand and shatters the blade, causing Savitar to flee in pain.

Tracked
While Barry is headed into the speed force to save Wally, Cisco and Jessie analyse the blade Savitar used to stab Barry and track him down. Jessie eventually goes on with the plan alone after the rest of the team refused to. Jessie successfully uses the blade to track down Savitar, who claims that he knew she would come. When Jessie asks how he could possibly know that, Savitar replies that he knows everything because he already lived it.

Jessie then speeds herself up fast enough to produce lightning which she hurls at Savitar. Savitar, however, absorbs the lightning and redirects it at Jessie, who is thrown away. After Jessie gets back up, Savitar intends to retrieve his blade but Jessie holds on to it. Using some magnetic force, Savitar drags both the blade and Jessie towards him. While Jessie is dragged towards Savitar, HR contacts her and comes tho the conclusion that Savitar must be wearing his armor because he is vulnerable underneath it. He tells Jessie to find an opening in Savitar's armor and Jessie manages to do so by stabbing Savitar with his own blade when she is close enough to him. Once again, Savitar responds to pain by running off.