Originally Posted by
Restingvoice
His history was already altered to A Lonely Place of Dying, but he's still only a ward, because at that point, that is Rebirth Tim. He's neither Pre-Flashpoint Tim nor New 52 Tim.
The New 52 Tim was transformed into Rebirth Tim by cosmic interference (this can be different things like Dr. Manhattan, Mr. Mxyptlk, or any Crisis). Same with Bunker. Same with everyone.
It's like this.
There is one single timeline encompassing all of DC publications from 1938 to today.
Within that, the timeline is broken up by reboots or Crisis, changing the people living in it and the world they live in.
In story. Not just out of story.
So Tim was first the 80s version, then a cosmic interference turned him into the Tim of 2011, then there's another interference turned him into the Rebirth version.
They're different versions of a person every time that happened, but they're still one person within one single big timeline.
Every time that interference happened, Tim remembers different things, and what actually happened is also different, since a cosmic interference alters not just memory but the physical as well.
Normally people don't know that they have a past version since normally they wouldn't know that they've been rebooted.
So if at one point current Tim looks at his old family picture, he'll probably see the thin and old Jack Drake instead of the chubby younger one from New 52, and he won't remember that he used to steal Penguin's money. He only remembers A Lonely Place of Dying version of his origin. There won't be a house where he keep chubby Jack Drake safe, but instead, there's probably gravestones of both Drakes. (This is just an example)
The memory of the other versions have been locked away. Tim won't be able to remember it on his own.
The physical part is already transformed. Tim was 17, then he's 16, then he's... whatever he is now.
However, there are powers that can breach that limitation.
Zatanna's magic seems to be like that, it can breach that physical limit so that Tim can look to his previous versions, something he won't be able to do if he's just remembering things like normal people.
Then at the end of Metal, Gold Wonder Woman, who's a higher being than the Greek Gods, can unlock that memory about their past versions buried deep inside them, so they remember that they were all rebooted and transformed.