How I Met Your Mother Ending Explained: Who did Ted end up with?

The CBS comedy show How I Met Your Mother began airing on the channel in September 2005 and ran for nine seasons until 2014. Created by Craig Thomas and Carter Bays, the show was narrated by the late actor Bob Saget. It revolved around an architect named Ted Mosby telling his children Penny and Luke how he met their mother and the adventures he had with his friends.

It starred Josh Radnor as Ted Mosby, Cobie Smulders as Robin Scherbatsky, Neil Patrick Harris as Barney Stinson, Jason Segel as Marshall Eriksen, and Alyson Hannigan as Lily Aldrin. Ted is narrating the story of how he met his wife, Tracy McConnell, played by Cristin Milioti. However, as How I Met Your Mother concluded, Ted ended up with Robin, who he had been in love with since the beginning of the show.

Throughout the show, Ted was portrayed as a hopeless romantic who didn't give up until he found "The One" for him. His route initially almost collided with his future wife, Tracey but they only got together towards the end of How I Met Your Mother. When they met, it was evident to fans that they were intended to be together as they unified under the symbolic yellow umbrella and argued about who its owner was.

With nine seasons and 208 episodes, How I Met Your Mother ended on March 31, 2014. The one-hour-long finale titled Last Forever, finally solved the mystery of how Ted met the mother of his children.

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How I Met Your Mother: The ending explained

In How I Met Your Mother Ted encountered “The Mother”, Tracy McConnell, on a foggy train station following his best friends Barney and Robin's marriage. While Barney and Robin's marriage ended in divorce, Ted and Tracey's marriage ended a while later after she fell ill and passed away after the birth of their two children. It is worth mentioning that Tracey's death was something that fans and critics of the show seemed to have expected.

The final episode of the series showed that Ted and Robin's romance was reignited after he finished telling his kids the entire story. As he ended his story of how he had been in love with Robin, Ted assured them while he had loved their mother, she had been dead for six years. Following that, his children believed that he had told them the story so that he could have their permission to approach Robin.

Critics of the show claimed that since How I Met Your Mother was supposed to be about Ted's children's mother, Tracey McConnell was hardly in it. After the finale was aired, many criticized the creators for ending it with Ted declaring his love for Robin.

In the finale of How I Met Your Mother, Ted tells Robin he loves her the same way he did when they went on their first date, with a blue French horn in his hand. The blue French horn was one of the prominent symbols of love in the series. According to the creators, it stood for "Ted's unending love and devotion to Robin."

The narrative of How I Met Your Mother was always a major detour, a story inside a story. The show's title initially gave viewers the impression that the mother would be the main emphasis, but Ted didn't meet the mother until nearly the end. The story was more about the time and the journey he was on.

Without both Tracey and Robin, the show wouldn't have made sense. It would have lost the plot if Ted ended up with Robin right from the start but it would have been equally plotless had Ted and Robin not ended up together.

Without Robin, Ted never would have met Tracy, and without Tracy, Ted would never have returned to Robin. Ted's true love was Robin but Tracey was his soulmate.

Ted wasn't supposed to be with either of them. He was destined to end up with both of them, no matter how long or short a period. The yellow umbrella led to the blue French horn. Ted letting go of Robin led to Tracey, and Tracey's release led back to Robin.

The focus of Ted's tale was always Robin. No matter how much time passed or how many people he dated, it would always come back around to her. The show's title might be considered deceptive, as it initially made it difficult for viewers to understand that future Ted's happily ever after didn't involve his kids' mother.

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The show is available to be streamed on Disney+ and on Hulu's free subscription.