***Thanks for all the comments, but I’m closing down commenting on this article. It’s at over 650 comments and that’s a ton to read, People are saying the same things over and over. In the spirit of keeping the conversation going, I’ve summed up the bulk of the post and what people are saying here and have started a new thread called More on Who is the mother from HIMYM.
Like most posts tat I really enjoy it’s overly in depth, check it out and let me know what you think!
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I feel that a big question for How I Met Your Mother fans has always been “Who is the mother?” And while we don’t have a definite answer, we can take what we do know so far and begin to formulate some ideas. This is a long one so go grab a drink and pull up a chair. By the way, HIMYM returns to us on March 17th! So hopefully soon there will be more to add to this list! Disclaimer: I love theories, but I have not posted anything here that cannot be backed up. Enjoy!
Who we know is NOT:
1. Robin is not the Mother. We learn this in the first episode and and it is reconfirmed countless times in all 3 seasons. No matter how much people “want it to happen, ” it just won’t. Get used to disappointment. In fact, for those still
letting the thought wonder in the empty space in your head let me share the best explanation / recap on the subject from tv.com forum user RUdaPs:
To explain the surprise of the “…and that’s how I met your Aunt Robin.” line in the pilot…
If you pay attention throughout the pilot, Future Ted always says things like “…and then I went to her apartment.” The assumption is that the kids are thinking the whole time that “she” and “her” are their mother because Future Ted says that he’s telling the story of how he met their mother. The only thing is, he doesn’t say a name. So at the end when he says “…and that’s how I met your Aunt Robin.” the kids are surprised.
It’s like watching “The Sixth Sense” for the first time. (If you haven’t seen it and would like to you should stop reading this and skip to the next paragraph.) You always assume that Bruce Willis is alive but it is never clearly stated. Then if you go back and watch it again, you realize that only the kid talks to him throughout the movie. Even though you thought it was obvious the story was about one thing it was clearly about another and you can go back and see what it was really about
2. The string of possible girls throughout Season 1. There was Natalie (Return of the Shirt), Ted’s old girlfriend, who knew Krav Maga. Coat Check Girl (OK Awesome), that Carter Bays even joked that if the writers strike ruined the show for good, she was the mother. Even though we never meet her (which would be a great idea for this season…hint, hint), the Slutty Pumpkin (from oddly enough the episode called the Slutty Pumpkin). Dr. Sara O’Brien (Matchmaker), the engaged 9.6 match found by love solutions. Trudy (the Pineapple Incident), who came back in the Third Wheel…let me side track here for a moment. Ted only says “I left Trudy a message, but she never called me back”…to me this implies he never saw her again, but I suppose that was the way around things for that episode (that and “Some stories you tell, some stories you don’t”…seriously, would would ever tell their kids they rode the tricycle)…anyhow moving on. There was Victoria from episodes 12-18, she was great, would have been nice, but she won’t be back (at least not as marriage material). Let’s not leave off Mary the Paralegal (and that is a shame…but when you don’t laugh it just seems mean). And I can sum all these up as “not the mama” because in the episode Lucky Penny from Season 2, Ted says:
“My destiny was to stay in New York. Because if I hadn’t, I never would have met your mother.”
Thus saying that up to this point, he has not met the mother yet, so we have not seen her. Take a moment and let that sink in if you need to.
3. Ted’s soul mate. Let’s camp on this one for a moment. Season 1 episode 21, Milk, the dating company finally comes through and finds Ted’s soul mate. Now if #2 is true then she could be included in that group. However, Ted never actually met her in person. Will this be a loophole? Will she ever play back in? I leave it to you…personally I feel, the “Soul Mate” is out of the picture or at very least not the mother…I just felt she needed to be mentioned.
4. The girls form Season 3 (so far). Well Season 2 was a wash as far as “the mother” because Ted was with Robin the whole time. And in Season 3 so far I don’t think we have seen any potential for a “mother character”. In some of the recent interviews with the creators of HIMYM they confirm this thought (more or less). In the Platinum Rule, Ted say something about that being all with Dr. Stella for now…but I seriously doubt she is the mom…and here is why….
WHAT WE THINK WE KNOW SO FAR:
1. Her name. Now this is just a theory but it seems to be a pretty strong one. The mother’s name is Tracy…don’t believe me? Season 1 Episode 9, Belly Full of Turkey, at the end of the episode a “burlesque entertainment artist” approaches Ted and says what he did was sweet… She says “I’m Amber”…then says “Actually, I’m Tracy”… then future Ted’s (Bob Saget) voice pops in and says “And that kids is the true story of how I met your mother.”
The kids are blown away surprised. He does say he is kidding…however ponder this if you will…why would the kids even believe it for a moment if their mother’s name was not Tracy?
*Update: Here is some more info on the Tracy Theory.
2. They meet in New York. This is a slight assumption too, however in Lucky Penny he says if he wouldn’t have stayed in New York he would have never met her.
3. The Yellow Umbrella. Season 3 episode 1, Wait for It, Ted says, “Kids, there is more than one story of how I met your mother. You know the short version, the thing with your mom’s yellow umbrella…” So we don’t know much, but we do know there is a yellow umbrella involved (You can thank Captain Obvious for that one).
Also if this is your first time here be sure to check out the How I Met Your Mother Show Reviews for the latest info on “the mother”.
I completely agree yusuf…also, sorry about deleting your other comment. I just get tired of people bringing up the bump girl at the party like no one has thought of it before.
Cheers!
its ok. i didn’t read all comments here. . but the bump girl was very awkward. =)
peace all. i love how i met your mother but 5. season going really bad =)
Have ya guys noticed the pictures in the background of the couch on which his children sit?none of the pictures has ted’s wife in it….there is this one picture towards left in which one could see three people,most probably ted along with his son and daughter…there is this other episode in which future ted is shown along with marshal and lilly at some college reunion getting high and he goes like,”where is my wife?” since he is high and not in his right mind i am guessing the wife wasnt with him at the reunion at all…maybe they got seperated or divorced and he was given the children’s custody…and there is when robin comes in….see there is an episode in which he talks about robin being an important part of the artwork of his children…u see the children with robin…the mother is no where to be seen in the picture.. its just a wild guess but i think things dont work out between ted and his future wife “the mother” and his kids are raised by him as a single father with robin being an important part of their upbringing!!!any comments would be most welcome!!!
I may be wrong on this but, we never see future robin or future barney anybody else find that a lil curious?
sorry to get off topic
You guys do realise that the mother doesn’t have to also be Ted’s wife. If it was about Ted’s wife it would be called ‘How I Met Mom’ or ‘How I Met My Wife’. He calls them ‘kids’ and they never call him ‘dad’. Who’s to say Ted isn’t just a pal of the kid’s parents? They could be Barneys?
Ted doesn’t have to be with ANY of these women-the show could end with Ted still being single as long as the mother is tied up, since it hasn’t actually got to be the same person. See? It’s just a very clever writing method to make us think one thing then BAM. I’m not sure if others have had this theory or not, none of the one’s I read had.
This would also solve the Robin conundrum> Aunt Robin. Aunt is used in the US as a friendly name for family friends. He would therefore be uncle Ted to the kids. See? Didn’t Ted mention he had a brother? He could literally be their uncle and Robin could be the Aunt…it would also explain the physical similarities between Ted and the kids and why he is even chatting to the kids…I mean, if they aren’t his kids, why would he talk to them, surely they would have to be pretty close…like family?
I could be wrong but it’s pretty solid and lets the writers mess with you because it leads us to believe that it’s Ted’s story and that all the women that he meets are related to him…but they aren’t.
Any thoughts on this? It would change perceptions…wouldn’t help with who the mother is but it cuts the chord between Ted as the husband of the mother…I mean-if it was his wife, surely she would be talking to the children?
😀
“If it was about Ted’s wife it would be called ‘How I Met Mom’ or ‘How I Met My Wife’. He calls them ‘kids’ and they never call him ‘dad’. Who’s to say Ted isn’t just a pal of the kid’s parents? They could be Barneys”
There are a number of times where the Kids refer to Ted as “Dad” so they are differnetly his kids …………… (Season 2 Ep 1 comes to mind)
Yeah they do call him dad and also there is an ep. when he does go to his sisters house and the kids so that not his neice and nefew
DAMN IT! That would have been such an incredible idea. I guess I’m just better than the writers. Pah
Anyway watching from denmark. I find the writing and acting to be awesome.. I guess since its called “how i met your…”. The cast probably dont even know themselves.. however even though Robin is constantly referred to as aunt Robin, Future Ted never states that he is not married to or partner with Robin.. i wouldnt put it past the writers to put an additional spin to the main story. Awesome rock on
Just one more thing against the ted not the father thing…
Barney and Marshall have both been called ‘uncle’ to the kids. So if Ted is not the father, who is?
And yeah, the kids have called Ted ‘dad’ repeatedly.
But overall, I think that the writers are indeed messing with the viewers, because let’s face it, we can spout off theories all day, but we don’t know anything for sure…
i understand the idea that the writers are messing with us by ted bumping into the girl in the bar during season 3 however i have to disagree. it doesn’t make sense for the awkward encounter to take place without their being a reason. plus, the same girl makes a brief appearance in a flash back later i believe in season 4. Also, don’t quote me on this but i am pretty sure when barney and robin solidify their relationship in season 5 (after being locked in the bedroom together and lily won’t let them out) they all walk outside to the front steps of the building and the same girl is walking out of McLearens (sp)…kinda fishy.
my point is this…why would they bring back a girl that was just a “random” run in at the bar for two extra episodes…seems more like a LOST conspiracy for that girl to not play an important role…
@ Izzy
Your theory is just awkward. In the episode Brunch, Ted’s dad says “I met your mother at a bar”. Then Ted decides that when he has kids that “he will tell the whole damn story”. So its clear that the kids are his.
My Theory.
Okay, First of all this is just an assumption so dont get pissed off when this does not become true.
.
But this assumption of mine is way more logical than any other lurking in the internet.
For the past 3 weeks i have been watching all the episodes back to back to find a clue about the mother. A interesting episode was “The Milk” In Season 1 due to the following reasons
1. The 600Ghz computer at Love solutions found a perfect pair to Ted, as the future ted narrates. If you have closely noticed, the Future Ted never lies. For instance,
Incident 1 : The Goat incidence which was first brought up in the same episode and it was aired 3 years later in season 3.
Incident 2 : In the latest episode “The Playbook” The Future Ted says “ironically, that was the day Robin met Dom”. That does mean that the Dom guy has to do something with the future.
And various other incidents which proves that the Future Ted NEVER lies. So the pair found at Love Solutions was infact PERFECT
2. The perfect women “Liked dogs, Spent summers in North Carolina, Played bass guitar, did crossword, Played Tennis, Liked old movies, Liked Lasagna, Liked Otis Redding, wanted two kids- a boy and a girl.
They showed a picture for every single element in the above paragraph but what was the bloody need to hide the face? She DID have something to do with the future and thats why they hid their face.
3. This is an extract from Wikipedia
A scene directly relating to the identity of the mother, involving Ted’s future children, was filmed near the beginning of season two for the show’s eventual series finale
“beginning of season two”
The milk was the 21st episode of season 1 so when it was aired, they should have been shooting season 2(with the mother) so that during the finale, they may rewind with those pictures of Ted (with the exact appearance as he had in season 1 and 2).
4. Ted did not meet that Perfect girl only due to his feelings for Robin. Now he is completely over Robin. More over if you notice there has not been a single reference to the “Love solutions girl” ever since that Milk episode got over so that it may come as a bomb shell to us.
5. Why can’t “the girl with the yellow umbrella” and the “girl who shared the meaningful look at St.Patty’s day” be this girl?
In the St. Patrick’s Day episode, Ted says that the kids’ mother was at the same party he was. He then walks out holding a yellow umbrella he found on the floor.
Yellow Umbrella theory.
So anyhow.
I would just like to put down once and for all the theory about Robin being the mother.
She clearly is not the mother, because in one (or more) of the episodes, he says “And that is the story about how i met your _aunt_ Robin”
Anyhow, hf
I’m surpirsed there is not more theories that Abby is the mother- is there anything that discounts her?
I wish it was stella.
but i think it could of been at the st patrics party!
Has anyone ever stopped to think that Ted could still end up with Robin? Ted isn’t necessarily the father of the kids. Robin is Aunt Robin, but why can’t Ted be Uncle Ted?
Follow the sixth sense theory and watch how he talks to the kids and how they talk to him. They don’t call him dad and he always says “Kids, this is the story of how I met your mother”…..clearly a story that an “uncle” could be telling some kids……..
The show also refers to all the friends as uncle/aunt. Unble barney/marshall/etc.
The kids mother could just be a new friend introduced to the group.
I firmly believe this to be true, and have a long standing slapbet in place with one of my friends. I hope our commissioner is ok with me posting here 🙂
yellow umbrella theory again…
girl outside the party with the yellow umbrella, has blue jeans… but they dont appear as tight as the blue jeans worn buy the girl ted bumps into later… that may just be a continuity error, but otherwise, the blue jeans match up, and they wouldnt have written that into the script, its too meaningless to be filler, which to me seems like its not meaningless at all… im gonna go with the yellow umbrella theory.
-written that *bumping into* into the script-
as well… has anyone denied the “definitely, maybe” theory? (for those of you who havent seen the movie SPOILER following) Maybe future ted has just changed the names of some of the characters so that it adds a twist for the kids when they hear the story, similar to that of Definitely, Maybe.
any thoughts?
I think “Bump Girl” from Season 2 is Natalie Imbruglia.
Obviously I meant season 3. Oops. But I still think it’s Natalie Imbruglia.
there is a possibility that the kids never knew their mother so they might not have known her name, which means the stacy theory is irrevalent
There is a thing that has been bugging me:
The name of the show says How i met YOUR mother… It does not directly imply that Ted IS the father…
For all i know those could be Robin’s kids, and Ted is just talking a story to them…
I’m not saying Robin IS the mother, but I don’t support all the “It’s impossible” voices either.
Look at the characteristics of “How I met your mother”.
A LOT of times, Future Ted tells something, which later didn’t happen. Small things like the “What he/she/we/I SHOULD have said” episode and bigger things I can’t really remember right now, but they WERE there. :3
It COULD be, that in the end he says something like “And all this would have happend like this, if I really were in the bar that day and met Robin like this, BUT…”
Or something like that. I lost allmost all hope, BUT it’s still hope out there. 😉
Wanted to moment to give you credit, yes please keep on with your posts, i truly enjoy them. You constantly can publish something entertaining that doesn’t bore me to death alike what you see on other websites.
i have a major problem with the ted not being with the mother theory… and basically it comes from the fact that there is no way that the audience would be happy, after waiting years for this amazing love story between ted and the mother, to find that they didnt get together.
also, im pretty sure that in an interview one of the writers stated that the mother hasnt been met yet, and that as far as the girl he knocks into goes…that it was there as a red herring to keep the viewers excited…
also, i think there may be a long wait before we find out…since the oldest child is written as being 16 in 2030…meaning she was born in 2014… which could mean a bit of a wait…
also, they yellow umbrella from the st paddys day ep could also be a red herring…it could be that the mother could have a matching yellow umbrella to the one ted picks up…having said that i think that since you dont see the girl with the yellow umbrella’s face it means she is the mother… just not the actual person in the same way that the stalker in season 3 was re-shot to be britney…
just some thoughts…
in the ‘no tomorrow’ episode, ted says the mother is at the club that night. and when ted goes to talk to barney at the bar, he bumps into a girl, says sorry to her and continues to barney. i think the mum is that girl, because the writers may have wanted to show her in an earlier episode….
what do you think??
The kids don’t know who their mother is. Their dad Ted decides to tell them the whole story. And that’s how he met their mother. It is why they are suprised when he says Aunt Robin in the pilot episode.
If you watching Season 3 No Tomorrow, when Ted bumps with that girl,
obviously it prove a few things below:
1. Kids’ mother is not Robin, as Robin, Lily and Marshall was at that apartment, assuming both scenes happened at the same time and previously ted already said their mother went to the party as well
2. Ted take the yellow umbrella, which someone left it, it could be the bumped girl left it, as we can see the girl walk in a rush towards the party door, so their mother could left the umbrella over there.
But it is not the bumped girl, because ted said he never met her at the party, and obviously both of them see each others when the knock is happened.
Tracy Theory = 50% accurate
Why I say so, the children get surprise might because they thought their mother is a stripper/dancer, as you can see his daughter putting her hand on her chest (luckily is not my mother)
Definitely ted is the kids dad, in season 1 episode 2 – purple giraffe (0:53), his daughter said “Oh Dad!”
Hey I know after watching himym that robin us not the mother but maybe he falls in love with robin after having the kids and the kids are just visiting like the movie definately maybe where he falls in love with the mother has the kids then get a divorce what do you guys think????????????????
Sharna,
Obviously this is not going to be happened.
as Ted said clearly their mother is in the party/pub taking a yellow umbrella, and Robin is not there obviously because she visited the lily & marshall apartment at that time.
What do you guys think of my theory that future Ted is actaully telling the
kids about how he met their step mom? and the kids are actaully from between Robin and Ted. I always thought since the fisrt ep of first season that the kids didnt look so what should i say, ” enthusiastic” about finding out who their mother is.
I am thinking that kids are from between robin and ted and maybe they are just about to find out whos their new mom( step mom) is. At the end of episode “Little Boys” in season 3, Ted says Robin appeared in lots of their drawings and shows three drawings which says ” Us and Aunt Robin” and decribes ONLY just three of them( Robin, daughter and son) which i thought was really weird. What are the chances of kids being so close to their aunty spending time JUST with her?
I am thinking that when kids were young Ted and Robin agreed not to tell their kids til they are old enough that Robin is their real mother and those drawings are from when kids were spending time with their real mother( you know when a couple get divorced kids spend times with mom and dad separatley) cuz Ted won the custody.
But then first ep Pilot in season 1 kinda belies my theory when Ted tells his kids: thats how i met your Aunt Robin” cuz kids shoulda known that Robin isnt their Aunt anymore.. i dont know :S i am confused myself now. thats just what i think
People!
I read the most of your discuss, of who the mother is. Well one thing left to say, the of the TRACY THEORY.
It’s not right. Remember the very first, “Pilot” Episode?
Ted says: “And kid’s, that’s how i met your Aunt Robin”
Kids: “I thought this was a story of how you met our mother!”
So the kids were surprised then too. It’s a TV SHOW. Maybe we hear the names but they don’t. Are i dunno how old are they they dunno their mother’s names 😀
@starkiller… maybe you didn’t read enough… it’s pointed out several times that Ted never mentions Robin’s name until the end of the episode. Watch it.
And sheesh! I know it’s a show..don’t get our panties in a wad if you don’t like the THEORY.
We’ll we know for sure that it is’nt Robin. Both because of the before-mentioned “No tommorow” (Robin’s not at that party), but also because Ted says in S05E01 that their mother was in his class (Well actually not his. The one where he teaches at first, but finds out he’s in the wrong classroom). Robin is not taking that class.
We even know that the mother is on the right side of the blonde girl who was going to tell Ted that he was in the wrong class (if you notice Ted says something like “Your mother was sitting up here” then camera goes to the right. Then he just goes “… wait, let me finish this up real quick” and the camera goes back). So we know that shes in the right part of the class, not on the front row and she was at the st. Paddy’s day party. Also, it’s pretty likely that she’s a brunnete, seeing as both the kids are brunette, but that’s not for sure.
That’s what i think. I don’t know who the mother is though, but then again, who does? 🙂
omg… u guys are retards takin this too seriousliii… its jst an television series meant for total entertainment of public. dont u guys get the concept of this story in all these years. guys there is NO mother… i mean NO MOTHER THT WILL BE EVER SHOWN ON TV IN THIS SERIAL. if a mother is presented then its the end of the story. there is a chance u mite see a mother at the end of the serial… but withot a face. now jst get back to ur real lives n stop acting like retards pls. n dont blow ur brains with whos the mother… jst enjoy the show… thank u
n btw robin cud still b the mother… if a face will be shown its gonna b her cos there is no other usual face ted ever dated in the show. n nothin is impossible for those creative writers. u guys need to understand how shows work.
you’re hilarious skipper…chastising everyone then saying btw Robin could still be the mother (which she is not, more than abundant evidence)…. are you sure you understand how the show works? lol
Just read an interesting fact from the episode “the window” at the very end when Ted is talking to Barney at the newspaperstand. A woman walks behind them and grabs what appears to be a yellow book from the shelf and turn around. Dont know if its overanalyzing, but that might be the mother, or at least a forshadowing that someting is about to happen relating the whole umbrella mystery.
Haha it’s fun to read all of your ideas, but the daughter looks like robin ?? i hope its her 🙂
Hey…. Maybe the kids are ADOPTED! :O. Adopted kids still call their foster parents “Mom and Dad”, and maybe he met “the mother” when he and ROBIN (sorry, but I want that to happen) want to adopt!
If you watch other sitcoms, we’ll all see that the main characters somehow always eventually end up together. For instance? Ross and Rachel in Friends is a typical and classic relationship of these kinds. Falling in love, then as friends through the mid seasons, then finally get back together. Wake up guys! Lets take a look at big picture, who else apart from Robin would be with Ted? Robin may not the physical mother of Ted’s kids does not mean that they aint getting married. The only reason that a “mother” exists is that the writer could have rooms to run the whole show toward a mysterious question: “who is the mother?” to attract views. The bottom line is always the views. I reckon there’ll be a similar ending like Friends, Ted+Robin (Ross+Rachel), Marshall+Lily (Chandler+Monica), Barney is like Joey still single tho they’re great at girls. At the end of the day, just asking yourself is it that important to know who is the mother or to see how dynamic relationships among them will end up?
I personally believe that the mother is revealed in Season 3 Episode 12: No Tomorrow. There are a lot of little clipits throughout the show that seem unnecessary that sometimes last until seasons later. The one area in the middle of the episode, around 13:23, Ted bumps into a girl at the party. We know that the mother was at the party, but he did’t “meet” her, per ce. Possibility? I believe that that woman is the mother.
hey guys just wondering in season 4 ep 4 do they all move away or do they all stay in new york??
wow….. u could be right! 🙂
i think his wife left him
i think he switched the names of the mother and robin is the mother and their aunt is some 1 elts