This post is a bit late, but after getting some referrals to my blog from Crowdini, I figured I needed to write a new blog post, and this has been on my mind for a while.
*SPOILERS FOR THE FINAL EPISODE OF HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER AND THE REST OF THE SHOW*
Everyone jumped on the hate train saying how awful the finale for How I Met Your Mother was, and I have to say, I see why people think that. It was a hugely eventful, rushed hour of details, twists, and many, many feels. It isn't surprising in the slightest why everyone thinks finale is awful, and "ruined" the show.
Sure, shows that focus around a central mystery such as this one hinge on answering that question, and delivering a satisfying ending. If the tv show "Lost" never delivered answers to all the questions they posed, people would have been pissed (maybe not more so than they already were). So for Carter Bay and Craig Thomas, the main people behind this show, to give you this finale to a 9 season show that supposedly shit's all over your notions of happy endings, answered questions, and overall story resolutions, it seems like an insult. I get the anger, devoted fans staying with a show this long, especially after some criticism that it stayed passed its welcome, just to give you this controversial ending, it hurts.
Not to be full of myself, but here is why those feelings are misplaced, and in truth this ending is almost perfect.
First and foremost, if a bad ending "ruined" a show, you are watching it wrong. Again, as I previously mentioned, I get that the title of a show asks a question, so answering and resolving the question is a huge part of the show and its draw. But there are numerous blogs showing that it isn't completely about Tracy (The mother). And that last link is an article saying why the ending of the show failed. It's good to read both sides of a debate.
How I Met Your Mother is about so much more than the Mother. First off, it was a show about Ted. More specifically, it was about how he became the person he needed to be to meet his future wife. If Ted met Tracy in any other part of the show, he wouldn't have been the right person to be with Tracy, and they would have never married. Ted learned so much throughout the show, about destiny, friendship, not doing stupid stuff after 2am, and by the end of the show, it made him the right person to finally meet and fall in love with his wife to be. It was about his journey.
A 9+ year journey is another thing the show was about. This is why future Ted (Bob Saget) so long to tell this story. It's again about his transformation, but it is also about the transformation of his friends, and their group as a whole. Why do people watch TV shows? It isn't about patiently waiting for the ending of the show (though if is an amazing show, that can be a part of it). You enjoy each episode, each story, each arc, the jokes, the characters, the pineapple, and of course, the mysteries. Even if a show has a bad ending, I'm not going to look back at the whole series and suddenly regret it. I wasn't watching HIMYM purely to find out how it ends. Sure, that was a huge part, but I still love almost every episode for giving me an enjoyable experience.
Now, to actually defend the ending, in more ways than the previous paragraphs.
A common argument that actually has some merit is that the show spent so much time saying why Ted and Robin shouldn't end up together, and they spent a full season about Robin and Barney's wedding. It is true that Ted and Robin kept playing with the idea of getting back together, and ultimately thought it was a bad idea, and I can see why people think this should be true.
But the finale season truly showed us why Robin and Barney shouldn't be together, and why Ted and Robin should.
Robin and Barney have always seemed to be more of friends with benefits than husband and wife material. When Barney first realizes how much of a "bro" Robin can be in a very early episode "Zip, Zip Zip" S1E14, it kind of cements what their relationship is like. They are alike in many ways, in such a way that they are good friends. They both like Scotch and Cigars, elegant clothing and some of the finer things in life. In "The Fortress of Barnitude" S8E19, Robin at first wants to sell the place that has all of Barney's quirks, but ultimate says they should keep it. Every feature in there is a total "bro" feature of Barney. You learn over the course of the show that almost every feature of that apartment is something of Barney's that Robin would hate, in a romantic sense. His porn collection, the lid that automatically raises, all the Star Wars memorabilia. Robin is accepting all these features of a guy that is a man whore, who lies and never commits, and who is straight out weird.
Okay, Robin can accept these features, but about the features where it matters, Robin and Barney do not get along. One of the biggest things that mattered to Robin in the final season is that Barney is a liar. Even when Barney can't tell a lie because he is so drunk "Unpase" S9:E15, Barney still manages to lie about the Ring Bear (That, or he got it after the fact, which isn't much better). In "Sunrise", S9E17, Barney reverts back to his old ways, teaching some new blood about the ways of the "player", how they could live his previous lifestyle. He still was holding onto a form of the playbook as well, something Robin absolutely hated. In "Last Forever" S9:E23/24, Robin wanted to move on with her life, to focus on her career (like she has done many times in the past), and Barney wants to live a stagnant life (like he has done many times in the past) and it shows, among other things, that they were really never destined to be together. Everything Robin wants romantically, Barney for the most part can't or won't provide, and who they are deep down do not connect. It was shown throughout the show this wouldn't work out, but it was especially emphasized in the final season. They were just not meant to be.
And now why Ted and Robin deserved to be together. If you recall in the very first episode, as this daily quirk article explains, everything was about Robin. “…that’s the funny thing about destiny, it happens whether you plan it or not. I mean, I never thought I’d see that girl again, but it turns out I was just too close to the puzzle to see the picture that it was forming. Because that, kids, is the true story of how I met your Aunt Robin.” They spent a whole season on the chase, a season of dating, and several seasons about the repercussions of the break up. It took 9 seasons for Ted to "get over her", and in the end, couldn't.
Whether it was due to his insane love for Robin, or just true kinship to another human being, Ted's acts in the final season showed how romantically they are connected. Robin wants the locket, Ted goes nuts finding the locket. Robin wants someone to be there for him, Ted is constantly supporting her during all the problems this wedding is having. Robin wants someone who won't tell significant lies, or potentially "player" ways.. Well Robin doesn't have to worry about that, because that isn't who Ted is. Ted by character is naturally a "dad". He was meant to be a dad. He is loving, caring, goofy, romantic guy. Though Ted and Robin differ on a lot of personal things, when it comes down to it, they seem to be a match romantically with everything except kids, which plays a huge point in all of this.
If Robin and Ted were destined to be together, why not have them marry and why even include the mother? Because if Ted never had kids, he could never marry Robin. Now, I don't mean to minimize Tracy's importance, she is much more than the mother of Ted's kids, and I'll talk more about her in a bit, but in a way, that is what she is. Ted and Robin could never have gotten married because Robin couldn't have kids, and that would never work for Ted. Like I said, he is a dad by nature, and without having the kids fulfill part of his life, it would have never worked. Robin also needed to follow her career. She has always made it a point about how important her career is, and if Ted and some kids tied her down, she wouldn't have fulfilled her life either. Barney was perfect for that part too. They all played their roles to help them progress into who they needed to be. Even though Robin and Barney's marriage went to the dumps, it still enabled Robin to do what she wants to do, even if it hurt.
While this is happening, Ted and Tracy have their lives and are completely happy. If Tracy didn't died, he wouldn't be missing out on his destiny. They truly were meant to be together, as shown by how perfect they were together. Almost everyone grew to love Tracy in the final season, which is why so many people felt betrayed when she died. It was awful that she died, and Ted truly did experience a horrific loss, but it wasn't about her. In the future, Ted is talking about his life, the progress they all have made through it, and where he currently is. Ted became the person he needed to be to be a dad, and now he is the person he needs to be to finally be with Robin, even if he didn't intend for the whole story to turn out that way.
Tracy, while not playing a huge part, did play her part, both as the mother of Ted's children, and Ted's wife. She was her own character, who we quickly grew to love, and were sad to see her go, but she was just another step in the rest of the groups lives. After many years of grieving and getting over the loss of her, Ted finally could move on to the only other person he was meant to be with. And that is why this ending really does work.
Now for the caveats. It is "Almost" perfect for a number of reasons. As many people say, and I have to agree, the ending was a bit rushed. They threw so much at us within an hour, I didn't know how to respond at first. There was enough material for a whole season there, and they glossed over so many details. Honestly, I am okay with it though, to an extent, because a lot of it would have loss some of the impact if we slowly learned about it over the course of a season. Such as Tracy's death, it was not meant to be a focus of the story. Ted isn't celebrating how that story line ended, but how it led him to that point, where he is telling the story, and if it was told over a season, it would have felt much different. It wouldn't about how he subconsciously wants to be with Robin, but how in the end he misses Tracy. Sure I am sure he does, and if he was telling this story to his kids shortly after her death, the whole show would have been different. But the fact that it is many years after the death, makes the shortness of many of the scenes make sense. He already is who he needs to be, so there is little need to focus on it.
Again, I still wish there was a little more detail and time on the events. Despite how they play into the flow of the story, and how it fits with the ending, it is impossible for it to not feel rushed, and feel like we missed out on a lot, though I don't know what alternative would work. I wouldn't have liked a season of jumping around and depression, which we would totally get if the last episode was a whole season.
Second, and the only other point I really didn't like about the ending, is Barney. They completely destroyed everything about his character. He gained absolutely nothing from the events of the entire series, shown by his reversal to his previous self, his transformation into a new person by the birth of his kid felt entirely rushed, more so than the whole episode, and his resolution of character felt misplaced. I do not feel like he should be here, and gotten there from where he was, by the series of events shown. Carter Bay and Craig Thomas are masterful writers, planning almost everything out far in advanced, and for so much planning, you'd think that Barney would flow into something a little better than what he got.
In the end though, I still think it was a great ending, which really did fit in with everything the show set up for the viewers. And if I didn't change your mind about the ending, and still think it was awful, that's okay. We're all entitled to our own opinions, and clearly there is room for support on the hate train. I just ask that you don't let it affect your opinion of the show as a whole. This whole series was a journey, and beyond realizing that maybe the destination wasn't as good as you were hoping, the ride you went on was still a fantastic one, and that's how you should remember it.
Showing posts with label Tracy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tracy. Show all posts
Friday, May 23, 2014
Friday, March 23, 2012
How I Met Your Mother: Theories on who is "The Mother"
First post in a while. I think this is a worthy topic to write about before the show comes to a close.
I believe that Ted's future wife has been shown on screen, and they have seen each other, though we haven't been introduced yet.
*Obviously some spoilers will be said along with my theory, involving some of the newest episodes.* *Edit at bottom to address newer episodes.*
In S3:E12, the episode called "No Tomorrow", we have the first major information released about who the mother is. Ted says that she was also at that party. The yellow umbrella belonged to her, and he got it. Unfortunately for Ted, they never met that night (or fortunately, since Ted said he had to grow into the person that he needed to be).
The few continuity errors aside, I've learned that nothing happens in this show by mistake. There are tons of little things placed here and there that hint to, foreshadow, and reference many things. One really subtle example of this is in S4:E10 "The Fight", where Marshall says that he will be cutting turkey with a lightsaber in 3 years or so. When they fast forward three years to Thanksgiving, Marshall says "Mom, Lily, fantastic job!" he never mentions his dad, and you never see him. This is potentially not showing Marshall's dad because he is going to pass away later in the show. That is so subtle that it flies over most people's heads.
Back to "No Tomorrow", during Ted's semi-drunken panic, he runs into a girl. They look at each other for a second, Ted apolgizes. The mystery girl smiles and says "Nah, that's okay." and walks away.
(I took this using "prt sc" off of Netflix so sorry if the quality is lackluster. I am not sure of many other ways to do this)
This takes up a few seconds at most, but there is absolutely no reason to have this scene otherwise. That is enough time to have a witty one-liner, funny action, or something else, but instead they decided to put it in here. It has to have a greater purpose. My theory is that she is Ted's future wife.
If that isn't the case, then she will at least be brought back for something else. That, or the writers used her as an exit strategy. With a plot line like this, if they get canceled/don't get a renewal, they at least want a somewhat complete story arch. If the show didn't make it past the first season, Ted would have gotten Robin at the end, and she would have been the mother. By the end of season 2, the writers didn't know if their show got renewed for another season, so they would have ended it on a funny note. Ted is single, and out on the prowl with Barney, and Barney starts his hit saying "LEGEN" and it would have cut off there.
Victoria and Stella were both default mothers if the show didn't get renewed. It is possible that if season 3 would have been the last season, they would have used her to be the mother.
To combat the idea that Ted says he never saw his wife until he saw her ankle at that lesbian's apartment, I will just say that he never knew that was her, or doesn't remember bumping into his wife like that.
As far as that goes, I think it is well enough explained, but I want to list a few other theories I have here.
-Ted's future wife is the woman who had a blind date with him made by the company "Love Solutions". In S1:E21, he is supposed to go out with a "perfect girl", but he ditched the blind date to go out with Robin. This woman could potentially be his future wife.
- This one is lengthy. Ted has said in the later seasons time after time that he met his wife at Barney's wedding. I think it is pretty safe to assume that Barney, or someone Barney knows have no relation to Ted's wife. Now, when you go to a wedding, unless you are someone's date, you either know the bride or the groom, and you at least know of the people who's wedding you are going to. It's not impossible, but I think it won't be the case, unless you go by this theory
http://whosright.com/poll/himym-is-barney%E2%80%99s-half-sister-ted%E2%80%99s-wife
This theory basically says that Barney's dad, Jerry, has a daughter, Carly, who is in college, and we haven't met yet. I'll admit this sounds very plausible, but I'd think there is something in the bro code that says one bro shouldn't go after another bro's sister, such as how Barney couldn't go after Ted's sister. Even though they are half siblings, I'd think it still applies. Also the argument "Uncle Barney and Aunt Robin" can't be too accurate because Marshall and Lily have those titles too.
They may find a loophole around this, such as Barney barely knowing her, so it doesn't count, or Barney's classic exception "Unless she's hot." Knowing that almost every character on TV is attractive, this isn't far from the realm of possibility, but I personally don't think it will happen this way. It's a possible and highly believed theory, but let us go on assuming this theory is incorrect.
Anyway, that leaves the brides invitees. The bride has to know Ted's wife, or know someone that is close to Ted's wife, like Ted's wife's roommate, who Ted dated. So far, we have had three main candidates for Barney's future wife:
- Robin
- Nora
- Quinn
It's safe to assume that Ted's wife has some relation to one of these girls. Robin and Barney have an on and off again relationship, which makes it so we don't know if they will end up together. We know Ted denounced Robin's and his agreement on getting married if they are both single at age 40 in S7:E18 "Karma". With that, Ted pretty much has given up on Robin, so Barney is free to end up marrying her. I highly doubt Robin knows Ted's future wife because if she did, we should have heard of her within 7 seasons. If I am to fully believe this, it leads to the conclusion that Barney and Robin are not going to get married, which I find likely.
That just leaves Nora and Quinn. Since Nora and Barney broke up, we haven't seen or heard of Nora, so this is leaning more towards Quinn. Quinn has blond hair, and so does Cindy's (Ted's old girlfriend that turned out to be lesbian, and roommates to Ted's future wife) lesbian wife. It's a stretch, but it could be possible that they are related, and that is why she is at Barney's wedding. I'm more of throwing this part out here as food for though.
Also, Barney shows that he really wants to marry this girl. He wants to marry her, to stop her from stripping, which is shown in S7:E17 "No Pressure". He clearly has feelings for her, and with time running out until the end of this show, unless he ends up with Robin or Nora, we don't have much time to be introduced to who he marries. So it is likely that Barney will end up will one of these girls. My belief that it will be Quinn.
Quinn and Barney get married, Quinn or someone Quinn knows has some relation with Ted's future wife, they meet at the wedding.
The last theory that I believe is possible is not even a theory on who the mother is, but what her name is. In S1:E9 "Belly Full of Turkey", Ted meets a "burlesque entertainment artist" otherwise known as a stripper, and she first introduces herself as Amber. She then changes her name to Tracy. Future Ted then says "And that kids is the true story of how I met your mother!" and the kids both scream "WHAT?!". People theorize that if the kid's mother wasn't named Tracy, they wouldn't have been so shocked. If my dad told that story, but called the stripper anything else other than my mom's real name, I would call bullshit immediately. Because of this, people think the mom's name is Tracy.
I apologize to anyone who is named Tracy, but I do not hope this is the case, because I am not really fond of that name.
Lastly, some other theories that I have read that I will at least partially address:
- Adoption Theory
- Not Ted's Kids Theory
- Everything isn't Real Theory
- Mother Is Dead Theory
Until the most recent episode, the adoption theory seemed somewhat possible, albeit unlikely. We learned in S7:E20 "Trilogy Time", that Ted has a baby girl that he has to watch for the night. Unless he is baby sitting for someone else's kid, which is highly unlikely, this shows that he does have a kid of his own. Also, the comment of "taking after his mother" would seem out of place unless her mother is Ted's wife. It's unlikely that anyone would make a comment about an adopted baby looking a lot like the mother that adopted her.
As far as the "Not Ted's Kids Theory", I guess we don't have much to disprove this. Sure, as I stated in the last paragraph, Ted does have a kid, but we can't link them to the kids that Future Ted is talking to. This could just be a story to someone else's kids. They do exclaim at one point "DAD!", though I don't remember the specific episode. This seems to say that this theory is false, but he could just be a "father figure" to them. As I will talk about while addressing the "Everything Isn't Real Theory", this just doesn't seem like it will happen.
"Everything Isn't Real Theory". This theory is that Ted talking to his kids about how he met their mother is all a lie. He has become so delusional and lonely that he is addressing the kids he never had. Sort of like in S7:E12 "Symphony of Illumination", Robin addresses her kids that do not exist.
Without having proof, since you can't really disprove an abstract notion like this, I can still claim with some certainty that this will not happen. This show isn't Lost, or some sci-fy/thriller movie, or any M. Night Shyamalan movie. This is a fairly straight forward Sitcom. Sitcoms almost never have an absurd twist like this. This theory, if true, would ruin the show for many people, and piss everyone off for waiting this long to hear it.
I know "Roseanne" had a bat shit crazy ending, but that is because the writers lost their minds. The show was dropping in ratings like crazy, so they started to pull out all the gimmicks to try and increase ratings. I sincerely doubt the writers and producers of HIMYM will do this.
"Mother Is Dead Theory". Same as the last paragraphs, though we can't prove anything, I seriously doubt the show will end like that. That is way too dark for a sitcom.
I doubt this will get many views, but if anyone reads this, and has any comments, thoughts, rebuttals that completely destroy this argument, I'd love to hear it.
Some youtube videos that go along with my theory.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4D-4bjMSZtQ&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNTJKzcrO2M
*Edit 05/22/12*
Huge spoiler here. In S7:23/24 "The Magicians Code parts 1 & 2", we get some huge information. They finally reveal who Barney gets married to. In part 2, Barney proposes to Quinn. At the end of part 2, it is revealed that Barney is getting married to Robin, through the flashback they show. They have several flashblacks to the wedding. I am rewatching every episode that features a flashback to try and get any additional info I can.
The first flashback is in S6:E1 "Big Days". This is the first time Future Ted says that he met his wife at a wedding. It is never stated in that episode who's wedding it is, but we do know he is the best man to. It is shown in S6:E24 "Challenge Accepted" that he the best man to Barney Stinson. By this episode, it still is never officially stated that he meets his wife at this wedding. Future Ted just says "at a wedding" and then it switches to the wedding. It is shown one last time in "The Magicians Code" where Barney's wife is Robin.
No time throughout the dialogue is it stated that he meets his wife at Barney's wedding. It is just inferred through the scene switching that it is. It is possible that it happens at a different wedding, possibly to increase the length of the show. Normally, my skeptical self would say that this is possible, but since Barney and Robin are marrying each other, I don't know of many weddings that he would go to after theirs. The only other weddings I could possibly think are options is Stella's wedding, or Victoria's wedding.
Stella is the woman that left Ted at the alter for her ex-husband. This infers that they got a divorce before Ted met her, so if they are in love again, they can get married again. Even though it is stated at Ted and Stella's wedding that "You never invite an ex to your wedding", things work out completely differently. Ted invited Robin and Tony to his wedding in S4:E5 "Shelter Island". Sure, things ended horribly in that episode, but Ted states that everything that happens to him turned him into the person he needed to be to meet his future wife, so one could construe that it was a good thing this happened. In gratitude, Stella could still invite Ted to her wedding.
One last possible reason that it could be her wedding, is that a lot of times, the opposite of what is stated or believed, happens, but then it is for the better/turns better. This wedding helped shape Ted to what he needed to be to meet his wife, Marshall and Lily's break up ultimately led to them getting married anyway, and in "The Magician's Code", there is going to be a good reason for Ted saying he doesn't want to steal a bride, then steal a bride anyway.
Or, somehow, using some of the previously stated reasons, Ted will go to Victoria's wedding, after their inevitable break up happens, and he will meet her there. Victoria and Ted will break up, her ex will take her back, and they will get married. He will go to the wedding, and meet his future wife.
Both of these, I still think are very unlikely, but still possible. Again, I put these theories out there as food for thought. More than likely, this wedding is the correct wedding.
What I now believe, and is very likely, is the Carly theory. Robin almost positively won't know Ted's future wife, so unless we meet someone else that might know the future wife, the only other potential is Ted's half sister Carly. I doubt the girl will be some random girl at the wedding, because there has to be some connection, unless she is just another "+1", which is unlikely. I doubt that anything seriously bad will happen at Barney and Robin's wedding.
The other theories are still possible, but with the recent developments, I believe the "Barney's Sister AKA Carly" theory is the most sound.
Edit: 3/6/13: Well, I was partially right in theory. It wasn't anyone that knew Robin or Barney that have already been introduced. It wasn't Carly though. They addressed that, Ted and Carly had their fling, and the episodes kept coming out.
Most people were shocked that HIMYM released such detailed information on how Ted meets his wife. In one of the newer episodes, Ted says that if it wasn't for him running into his lesbian ex, he would never have found the band to play at Robin and Barney's wedding, where he meets the bassist, and they fall in love.
This leaves many of us wondering how the rest of this season to play out. Will there be one more season like they say, will the season end with them finally meeting, or will it end with their wedding? Is there a whole story in how they finally talked to each other?
That is anyone's guess, but there isn't much to create theories on anymore, unless you want to make more tie ins. Maybe this girl is still the "perfect woman" from the dating service, or maybe she is the bump girl. But we know in good detail, how he is going to meet her, we just haven't seen it yet.
I wasn't the most correct, but I found it fun to think so much about it. I'll leave this post up just for the sake of reading it for fun. Maybe it will spark more discussion, give you a bit of insight on other aspects of the show, or just be a good read. I thank whoever reads this, because it makes me feel better about geeking out on something like this.
Get the first season of HIMYM here! HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER SEASON 1 BY HOW I MET YOUR MOTHE (DVD) [3 DISCS]
I believe that Ted's future wife has been shown on screen, and they have seen each other, though we haven't been introduced yet.
*Obviously some spoilers will be said along with my theory, involving some of the newest episodes.* *Edit at bottom to address newer episodes.*
In S3:E12, the episode called "No Tomorrow", we have the first major information released about who the mother is. Ted says that she was also at that party. The yellow umbrella belonged to her, and he got it. Unfortunately for Ted, they never met that night (or fortunately, since Ted said he had to grow into the person that he needed to be).
The few continuity errors aside, I've learned that nothing happens in this show by mistake. There are tons of little things placed here and there that hint to, foreshadow, and reference many things. One really subtle example of this is in S4:E10 "The Fight", where Marshall says that he will be cutting turkey with a lightsaber in 3 years or so. When they fast forward three years to Thanksgiving, Marshall says "Mom, Lily, fantastic job!" he never mentions his dad, and you never see him. This is potentially not showing Marshall's dad because he is going to pass away later in the show. That is so subtle that it flies over most people's heads.
Back to "No Tomorrow", during Ted's semi-drunken panic, he runs into a girl. They look at each other for a second, Ted apolgizes. The mystery girl smiles and says "Nah, that's okay." and walks away.
 |
| Potential First Encounter |
(I took this using "prt sc" off of Netflix so sorry if the quality is lackluster. I am not sure of many other ways to do this)
This takes up a few seconds at most, but there is absolutely no reason to have this scene otherwise. That is enough time to have a witty one-liner, funny action, or something else, but instead they decided to put it in here. It has to have a greater purpose. My theory is that she is Ted's future wife.
If that isn't the case, then she will at least be brought back for something else. That, or the writers used her as an exit strategy. With a plot line like this, if they get canceled/don't get a renewal, they at least want a somewhat complete story arch. If the show didn't make it past the first season, Ted would have gotten Robin at the end, and she would have been the mother. By the end of season 2, the writers didn't know if their show got renewed for another season, so they would have ended it on a funny note. Ted is single, and out on the prowl with Barney, and Barney starts his hit saying "LEGEN" and it would have cut off there.
Victoria and Stella were both default mothers if the show didn't get renewed. It is possible that if season 3 would have been the last season, they would have used her to be the mother.
To combat the idea that Ted says he never saw his wife until he saw her ankle at that lesbian's apartment, I will just say that he never knew that was her, or doesn't remember bumping into his wife like that.
As far as that goes, I think it is well enough explained, but I want to list a few other theories I have here.
-Ted's future wife is the woman who had a blind date with him made by the company "Love Solutions". In S1:E21, he is supposed to go out with a "perfect girl", but he ditched the blind date to go out with Robin. This woman could potentially be his future wife.
- This one is lengthy. Ted has said in the later seasons time after time that he met his wife at Barney's wedding. I think it is pretty safe to assume that Barney, or someone Barney knows have no relation to Ted's wife. Now, when you go to a wedding, unless you are someone's date, you either know the bride or the groom, and you at least know of the people who's wedding you are going to. It's not impossible, but I think it won't be the case, unless you go by this theory
http://whosright.com/poll/himym-is-barney%E2%80%99s-half-sister-ted%E2%80%99s-wife
This theory basically says that Barney's dad, Jerry, has a daughter, Carly, who is in college, and we haven't met yet. I'll admit this sounds very plausible, but I'd think there is something in the bro code that says one bro shouldn't go after another bro's sister, such as how Barney couldn't go after Ted's sister. Even though they are half siblings, I'd think it still applies. Also the argument "Uncle Barney and Aunt Robin" can't be too accurate because Marshall and Lily have those titles too.
They may find a loophole around this, such as Barney barely knowing her, so it doesn't count, or Barney's classic exception "Unless she's hot." Knowing that almost every character on TV is attractive, this isn't far from the realm of possibility, but I personally don't think it will happen this way. It's a possible and highly believed theory, but let us go on assuming this theory is incorrect.
Anyway, that leaves the brides invitees. The bride has to know Ted's wife, or know someone that is close to Ted's wife, like Ted's wife's roommate, who Ted dated. So far, we have had three main candidates for Barney's future wife:
- Robin
- Nora
- Quinn
It's safe to assume that Ted's wife has some relation to one of these girls. Robin and Barney have an on and off again relationship, which makes it so we don't know if they will end up together. We know Ted denounced Robin's and his agreement on getting married if they are both single at age 40 in S7:E18 "Karma". With that, Ted pretty much has given up on Robin, so Barney is free to end up marrying her. I highly doubt Robin knows Ted's future wife because if she did, we should have heard of her within 7 seasons. If I am to fully believe this, it leads to the conclusion that Barney and Robin are not going to get married, which I find likely.
That just leaves Nora and Quinn. Since Nora and Barney broke up, we haven't seen or heard of Nora, so this is leaning more towards Quinn. Quinn has blond hair, and so does Cindy's (Ted's old girlfriend that turned out to be lesbian, and roommates to Ted's future wife) lesbian wife. It's a stretch, but it could be possible that they are related, and that is why she is at Barney's wedding. I'm more of throwing this part out here as food for though.
Also, Barney shows that he really wants to marry this girl. He wants to marry her, to stop her from stripping, which is shown in S7:E17 "No Pressure". He clearly has feelings for her, and with time running out until the end of this show, unless he ends up with Robin or Nora, we don't have much time to be introduced to who he marries. So it is likely that Barney will end up will one of these girls. My belief that it will be Quinn.
Quinn and Barney get married, Quinn or someone Quinn knows has some relation with Ted's future wife, they meet at the wedding.
The last theory that I believe is possible is not even a theory on who the mother is, but what her name is. In S1:E9 "Belly Full of Turkey", Ted meets a "burlesque entertainment artist" otherwise known as a stripper, and she first introduces herself as Amber. She then changes her name to Tracy. Future Ted then says "And that kids is the true story of how I met your mother!" and the kids both scream "WHAT?!". People theorize that if the kid's mother wasn't named Tracy, they wouldn't have been so shocked. If my dad told that story, but called the stripper anything else other than my mom's real name, I would call bullshit immediately. Because of this, people think the mom's name is Tracy.
I apologize to anyone who is named Tracy, but I do not hope this is the case, because I am not really fond of that name.
Lastly, some other theories that I have read that I will at least partially address:
- Adoption Theory
- Not Ted's Kids Theory
- Everything isn't Real Theory
- Mother Is Dead Theory
Until the most recent episode, the adoption theory seemed somewhat possible, albeit unlikely. We learned in S7:E20 "Trilogy Time", that Ted has a baby girl that he has to watch for the night. Unless he is baby sitting for someone else's kid, which is highly unlikely, this shows that he does have a kid of his own. Also, the comment of "taking after his mother" would seem out of place unless her mother is Ted's wife. It's unlikely that anyone would make a comment about an adopted baby looking a lot like the mother that adopted her.
As far as the "Not Ted's Kids Theory", I guess we don't have much to disprove this. Sure, as I stated in the last paragraph, Ted does have a kid, but we can't link them to the kids that Future Ted is talking to. This could just be a story to someone else's kids. They do exclaim at one point "DAD!", though I don't remember the specific episode. This seems to say that this theory is false, but he could just be a "father figure" to them. As I will talk about while addressing the "Everything Isn't Real Theory", this just doesn't seem like it will happen.
"Everything Isn't Real Theory". This theory is that Ted talking to his kids about how he met their mother is all a lie. He has become so delusional and lonely that he is addressing the kids he never had. Sort of like in S7:E12 "Symphony of Illumination", Robin addresses her kids that do not exist.
Without having proof, since you can't really disprove an abstract notion like this, I can still claim with some certainty that this will not happen. This show isn't Lost, or some sci-fy/thriller movie, or any M. Night Shyamalan movie. This is a fairly straight forward Sitcom. Sitcoms almost never have an absurd twist like this. This theory, if true, would ruin the show for many people, and piss everyone off for waiting this long to hear it.
I know "Roseanne" had a bat shit crazy ending, but that is because the writers lost their minds. The show was dropping in ratings like crazy, so they started to pull out all the gimmicks to try and increase ratings. I sincerely doubt the writers and producers of HIMYM will do this.
"Mother Is Dead Theory". Same as the last paragraphs, though we can't prove anything, I seriously doubt the show will end like that. That is way too dark for a sitcom.
I doubt this will get many views, but if anyone reads this, and has any comments, thoughts, rebuttals that completely destroy this argument, I'd love to hear it.
Some youtube videos that go along with my theory.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4D-4bjMSZtQ&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNTJKzcrO2M
*Edit 05/22/12*
Huge spoiler here. In S7:23/24 "The Magicians Code parts 1 & 2", we get some huge information. They finally reveal who Barney gets married to. In part 2, Barney proposes to Quinn. At the end of part 2, it is revealed that Barney is getting married to Robin, through the flashback they show. They have several flashblacks to the wedding. I am rewatching every episode that features a flashback to try and get any additional info I can.
The first flashback is in S6:E1 "Big Days". This is the first time Future Ted says that he met his wife at a wedding. It is never stated in that episode who's wedding it is, but we do know he is the best man to. It is shown in S6:E24 "Challenge Accepted" that he the best man to Barney Stinson. By this episode, it still is never officially stated that he meets his wife at this wedding. Future Ted just says "at a wedding" and then it switches to the wedding. It is shown one last time in "The Magicians Code" where Barney's wife is Robin.
No time throughout the dialogue is it stated that he meets his wife at Barney's wedding. It is just inferred through the scene switching that it is. It is possible that it happens at a different wedding, possibly to increase the length of the show. Normally, my skeptical self would say that this is possible, but since Barney and Robin are marrying each other, I don't know of many weddings that he would go to after theirs. The only other weddings I could possibly think are options is Stella's wedding, or Victoria's wedding.
Stella is the woman that left Ted at the alter for her ex-husband. This infers that they got a divorce before Ted met her, so if they are in love again, they can get married again. Even though it is stated at Ted and Stella's wedding that "You never invite an ex to your wedding", things work out completely differently. Ted invited Robin and Tony to his wedding in S4:E5 "Shelter Island". Sure, things ended horribly in that episode, but Ted states that everything that happens to him turned him into the person he needed to be to meet his future wife, so one could construe that it was a good thing this happened. In gratitude, Stella could still invite Ted to her wedding.
One last possible reason that it could be her wedding, is that a lot of times, the opposite of what is stated or believed, happens, but then it is for the better/turns better. This wedding helped shape Ted to what he needed to be to meet his wife, Marshall and Lily's break up ultimately led to them getting married anyway, and in "The Magician's Code", there is going to be a good reason for Ted saying he doesn't want to steal a bride, then steal a bride anyway.
Or, somehow, using some of the previously stated reasons, Ted will go to Victoria's wedding, after their inevitable break up happens, and he will meet her there. Victoria and Ted will break up, her ex will take her back, and they will get married. He will go to the wedding, and meet his future wife.
Both of these, I still think are very unlikely, but still possible. Again, I put these theories out there as food for thought. More than likely, this wedding is the correct wedding.
What I now believe, and is very likely, is the Carly theory. Robin almost positively won't know Ted's future wife, so unless we meet someone else that might know the future wife, the only other potential is Ted's half sister Carly. I doubt the girl will be some random girl at the wedding, because there has to be some connection, unless she is just another "+1", which is unlikely. I doubt that anything seriously bad will happen at Barney and Robin's wedding.
The other theories are still possible, but with the recent developments, I believe the "Barney's Sister AKA Carly" theory is the most sound.
Edit: 3/6/13: Well, I was partially right in theory. It wasn't anyone that knew Robin or Barney that have already been introduced. It wasn't Carly though. They addressed that, Ted and Carly had their fling, and the episodes kept coming out.
Most people were shocked that HIMYM released such detailed information on how Ted meets his wife. In one of the newer episodes, Ted says that if it wasn't for him running into his lesbian ex, he would never have found the band to play at Robin and Barney's wedding, where he meets the bassist, and they fall in love.
This leaves many of us wondering how the rest of this season to play out. Will there be one more season like they say, will the season end with them finally meeting, or will it end with their wedding? Is there a whole story in how they finally talked to each other?
That is anyone's guess, but there isn't much to create theories on anymore, unless you want to make more tie ins. Maybe this girl is still the "perfect woman" from the dating service, or maybe she is the bump girl. But we know in good detail, how he is going to meet her, we just haven't seen it yet.
I wasn't the most correct, but I found it fun to think so much about it. I'll leave this post up just for the sake of reading it for fun. Maybe it will spark more discussion, give you a bit of insight on other aspects of the show, or just be a good read. I thank whoever reads this, because it makes me feel better about geeking out on something like this.
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