So, lately i’ve seen a lot of fans, especially on Facebook, joining groups like “My life would be amazing if I found out who Ted married.” Now, being that i’ve been a long time HIMYM fan, and active on the IMDB Message Board for the series, I thought i’d post some of the compiled info on the mother so speculation can either rage on, or be quelled.
Okay: FACTS ABOUT THE MOTHER.I can’t reference all of these from memory as I stole a few from another post, but to the best of my knowledge, here is the list… add to it as you are able, but let’s try to stick with facts over speculation.
1) Owns a yellow umbrella.
2) Was in Econ 305 at Columbia the day Ted accidently started his career in the wrong classroom.
3) Thought Ted was a complete idiot that day.
4) Guys are constantly falling in love with her to the extent of making a roommate jealous.
5) Had a roommate named Cindy (Rachel Bilson) who was a PhD student.
6) She paints watercolors of robots playing sports, including one of robots playing volleyball that is still hanging in the den of their home.
7) Didn’t mind that Ted called her right away after just giving him her number.
8) Laughed at Ted’s stupid first date joke.
9) Attended a St. Paddy’s Day party at the same bar as Ted & Barney in 2008.
10) Left her umbrella behind at that bar… got it back when Ted accidentally left it in her apartment.
11) Plays bass (electric) in a band.
12) Sings showtunes with breakfast food, including a hauntingly beautiful rendition of Memories.
13) Owns a small yellow toy bus that carries some significance for her (displayed prominently in at least two of her homes)
14) Owns a copy of The Unicorns’ Who Will Cut Our Hair When We’re Gone.
15) Thought enough of World’s End by TC Boyle to give a copy as a birthday gift.
16) Likely a brunette, based on Ted’s assertion that the kids would’ve been blonde had he married Stella.
17) Is caucasian.
Now, there are 3 episodes that definitively rule out certain people from being the mother.
- At the end of “Lucky Penny,” Future Ted wraps up the story by saying that the firm he was interviewing for hired someone else, and that person had to move to Chicago three months later. He points out: “Kids, funny thing about destiny; I thought I was destined to get that job. But I was wrong. My destiny was to stay in New York. Because if I hadn’t, I never would’ve met your mother.” Aside from strongly suggesting that he meets the mother in New York, it clearly means that he had not yet, at the time of “Lucky Penny” (and some window of time afterwards, prior to when he would have moved to Chicago) met the mother.
- At the end of “Something Blue,” Future Ted closes the story with this revelation of his and Robin’s futures: “And as hard as it was at the time, in the end we both got what we wanted. She did eventually go on to live in Argentina, and Morocco, Greece, Russia, even Japan for a little while. And I? Well, I met your mom.”
- At the end of “The Leap,” Future Ted offers up this summary of the fourth season: “That was the year I got left at the altar. It was the year I got knocked out by a crazy bartender. The year I got fired. The year I got beat up by a goat—a girl goat, at that. And dammit, if it wasn’t the best year of my life. Because if any one of those things hadn’t happened, I never would’ve ended up in what turned out to be the best job I ever had. But more importantly…I wouldn’t have met your mother. Because as you know, she was in that class. Of course, that story’s only just beginning.”
So anyone Ted can be construed to have “met” before the events of “The Leap” can be definitively ruled out as the mother, including Victoria, the coat check girl, the Slutty Pumpkin, Wendy the Waitress, Trudy, Stella, and most other female characters Ted has personally significantly interacted with from Seasons 1 through 4.
Notable characters who have not definitively been ruled out by this phenomenon include the Perfect Match from “Milk” (she and Ted never met in person, though they presumably know each other’s names and what the other person looks like), and the Bump Girl from “No Tomorrow” (since they merely bumped into each other).
Additional (though less explicit) statements that nonetheless establish Ted as not having met the mother yet:
“No Tomorrow” - Future Ted makes a point of the fact that he learned years later that the mother attended the same St. Patrick’s Day 2008 party that he did, but did not meet her there.
“The Three Days Rule” - after telling the story of how things with Holli went, Ted mentions that when he met the mother, he didn’t hesitate to call her back as soon as he got her number, strongly implying that this event has not happened yet in the timeline.
“Girls vs. Suits” establishes additional facts about the mother that rule out previous encounters (and no doubts oem future ones as well). Particularly notable is the fact that he counts Cindy’s description of her roommate as the first description he gets of the mother, effectively ruling out the Perfect Match from “Milk.”
I feel it’s also important to note the “Contingency Mothers”. HIMYM has had to address the possibility of cancellation at least twice (and perhaps three times) so far in its run.
Like any new series, HIMYM had an initial order of 13 episodes. And as with any series that have ongoing subplots, the writers of HIMYM were particularly motivated to provide a reasonably satisfying conclusion if those 13 episodes were all they were going to get.
And what was the 13th episode? “Drumroll, Please.” And if you watch the episode, one can see where it would have provided a satisfying ending—Robin winds up unhappy, but one can see where she was instrumental in bringing Victoria and Ted together (a prerequisite of the whole story, at least if it were to end this early in the game), Lily and Marshall having a moment in the previous episode that they feel is a landmark in the journey to their wedding day, Barney being awesome as usual, and Ted and Victoria getting together in a very romantic fashion. All the episode was missing to become the finale of the show was a final voiceover from Future Ted saying “and that, kids, was how I met your mother”—something that could’ve been added had the situation required it.
The show was renewed for a second season before production on the first season was finished, so a “contingency” wasn’t needed for the end of the first season—in fact, they made the season finale a cliffhanger.
The end of the second season wasn’t as sunny, and the finale even aired before official word of HIMYM’s renewal came down. So what we got in “Something Blue”—bittersweet but slightly reassuring and satisfying to some extent, with Ted’s narration providing a little closure to the mother mystery without actually revealing the mother, and a memorable final punctuation mark courtesy of Barney.
While HIMYM’s renewal also came too late in the third season, it seems that the ratings boost from Britney Spears’ appearance may have given the producers enough confidence in a renewal that they gave the show a little cliffhanger as well, though it’s also conceivable that they would have been content with the “question mark” ending with the further assumption that Stella was the mother.
So there you are, read and take it all in. Robin cannot be the mother, nor would most of us want her to be. Thanks to the IMDB Board & FAQ page for most of the info. Hope this answers a few questions.
