Romance Refresh
‘How I Met Your Mother’: Who Does Ted & Everyone Else End Up With?
[Warning: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for the ending of How I Met Your Mother.]
Believe it or not, September 19, 2025, marks the 20th anniversary of How I Met Your Mother. From the pineapple incident to the slap bet, Ted Mosby’s harrowing, nine-year-long journey towards meeting the mother of his children is officially two decades old.
How I Met Your Mother follows Ted Mosby (Josh Radnor) as he navigates the highs and lows of dating in New York City alongside his college roommate, Marshall Erikson (Jason Segel), Marshall’s longtime girlfriend (and eventual wife), Lily Aldrin (Alyson Hannigan), and their womanizing friend, Barney Stinson (Neil Patrick Harris). The show is told from the perspective of Future Ted (voiced by Bob Saget) telling his kids (Lyndsy Fonseca and David Henrie) the unabridged story of how he met their mother, beginning on the day he met the fifth member of their gang, Robin Scherbatsky (Cobie Smulders).
While Ted spends the majority of the story pining after Robin, the Season 8 finale reveals that the mother of his kids is a musician named Tracy McConnell (Cristin Milioti) who perfectly matches his freak. However, Ted and Tracy aren’t the only characters who find love at the end of the series, and even their love story is anything but straightforward.
So does Ted end up with the Mother at the end of How I Met Your Mother, and if he doesn’t end up with his kids’ mother, what was the point of the story? Plus, how did the rest of the gang’s romance storylines play out? Scroll to find out who ends up together in the finale of How I Met Your Mother.
How I Met Your Mother, All Seasons, Streaming Now, Hulu
The Captain & Becky
Whoever came up with the idea to partner The Captain (Kyle MacLachlan), or George Van Smoot, with “boats, boats, boats,” Becky (Laura Bell Bundy) deserved a major raise. During Season 9 of How I Met Your Mother, Ted finds out that Robin’s former news anchor colleague, Becky, is dating his ex-girlfriend’s ex-husband, a stoic boat enthusiast who everyone refers to as simply, “The Captain.”
Of course, during How I Met Your Father, it was revealed that the two are going through a divorce, but for the nature of this list, we’ll count them as an endgame couple, for sure.
James & Tom
Barney’s brother James (Wayne Brady) leads a fairly consistent love life throughout his time on the show, until Season 9, when James reveals that he has been cheating on his husband Tom (Jai Rodriguez) with Gary Blauman (Taran Killam). Barney is shocked to learn his brother is getting divorced.
When James comes face-to-face with Blauman, he realizes that the only man he has to blame for his infidelity is himself, and vows to make amends with Tom.
In the future, we see James, Tom, and their two kids, Eli and Sadie, together on the couch. Spoofing Ted’s nine-year story, James asks his kids if he has ever told them the story of how he met their father. James concisely tells them that they met at a party.
Cindy & Casey
Years before Ted met Tracy, he went on a date with her roommate, Cindy (Rachel Bilson). While they didn’t work out as a couple because Ted seemed more compatible with her mystery roommate, Ted runs into her and a friend again at the bar during Season 6.
After he remembers that Cindy’s roommate sounded pretty cool, Ted goes over to make a move on who he assumes is the roommate, only to witness Cindy kiss the mystery woman instead. As Future Ted puts it, “That girl wasn’t your mother after all, but she ended up being someone else’s mother,” showing a picture of Cindy, Casey (Kaylee Anne DeFer), and their daughter.
Scooter & Jasmine
Even Scooter (David Burtka), Lily’s high school prom date and light stalker, finds love at the end of the series. Working at the cafeteria in Lily’s old kindergarten, Scooter meets his ex’s doppelganger, Jasmine, the Russian stripper from the Lusty Leopard. Sounds like a match made in heaven to us!
Jeanette & Kevin
Now this is a couple that no one saw coming, but makes perfect sense. During the Season 9 episode, “Gary Blauman,” Ted catches his kids up on where some of the side characters in his life ended up.
Among the list is Jeanette (Abby Elliott), Ted’s last love interest, or “final horrible mistake,” before meeting Tracy.
According to Ted, Jeanette ended up getting arrested and forced to attend court-mandated therapy with Robin’s ex-fiancé/former therapist, Kevin (Kal Penn). Now we know, if we had a nickel for every time Kevin started dating one of his clients, we’d have two nickels, which isn’t a lot, but it was weird the first time, and it’s even weirder that it happened twice.
Robin & Barney
While the entire final season revolves around Barney and Robin’s wedding, the finale makes it clear that they do not end up together.
In a flash forward, Barney reveals that Robin’s career at World Wide News is really taking off, causing her to report from “anywhere but New York, apparently.” He sarcastically tells Ted, “It’s great, it makes things super difficult for us, but it’s great.”
When Barney joins Robin on one of her numerous business trips, they hit a breaking point. Robin tells him, “I know I’m always traveling. We both hate it when I’m gone, we both hate it when I drag you with me. Neither of us is happy. Is this just not working anymore?”
This leads Robin to ask Barney, “If I gave you an out. If there was an exit ramp right here at the three-year mark. Would you take it?” In response, Barney tells her, “I love you, Robin. And when we got married, I made a vow that I would always tell you the truth…”
Shifting back to the present, Barn-man and Robin reveal the heartbreaking truth, “We got divorced,” to the rest of the gang. To lessen the blow, they declare, “Guys, it’s OK. This isn’t a failed marriage. It’s a very successful marriage that happened to only last three years.”
While this causes Robin to grow distant from the rest of the group and Barney to return to his f-boy ways, the exes wind up on good terms around the time of Ted and Tracy’s wedding.
Marshall & Lily
Marshall and Lily end up having three kids. In the finale, we see them decide to move somewhere bigger, ultimately giving up the apartment above McClaren’s Pub. Years later, Marshall finally becomes a judge, fulfilling his dream of being “Judge Fudge.”
However, he later reveals that he has decided to run for the state supreme court. He tells the gang, “If everything goes to plan, you won’t be calling me Judge Fudge anymore. You’ll be calling me, Fudge Supreme.”
At Ted’s wedding to Tracy, Marshall hands five dollars to Lily, finally admitting that he had lost their bet that Robin and Ted would be endgame. He then turns to two young guys in the booth next to them at McClaren’s and says, “Do you have any idea what happened right here in this very bar? Just, all kinds of stuff.” Ugh, we still get chills every time.
In a deleted scene, Marshall receives a call from Ted, presumably letting him know that he has finally gotten back together with Robin. Holding his hand out to Lily, he proclaims, “Singles, please, and take your time,” before singing, “Sweet, sweet five bucks you’re finally mine, even though Lily and I share a bank account, so you’re already mine to begin with.”
While the conclusion of their epic bet didn’t make the final cut, we think it puts the perfect bow on their storyline.
Barney & His Daughter
Following his split from Robin, Barney puts together a brand-new Playbook, titled The Playbook II: Electric Boogaloo, in order to attempt a perfect month (sleeping with one woman every night).
While he achieved his questionable goal, hook-up No. 31 ends up getting pregnant. Of course, Barney melts the second he meets his daughter, Ellie, telling her, “You are the love of my life. Everything I have and everything I am is yours, forever.”
Ted & Tracy
In the final season of How I Met Your Mother, Ted finally meets Tracy McConnell at a bus stop in Farhampton.
In a flash forward, Ted reveals that they are going to get married in a French castle; however, Tracy tells Ted that she can’t get married because when she does, she wants to fit into her wedding dress (Surprise: she’s pregnant!)
After “only seven years and two kids,” Ted tells Tracy, “Give me back your engagement ring,” before proposing again. He states, “Five years is past the statute of limitations on proposals; if you don’t get married in that time, you have to re-propose.” On one knee, he tries to ask Tracy if she will marry him again, but she cuts him off, saying, “Yes! Yes, you silly man!” He concludes, “Will you marry me on Thursday? I called your office. You have nothing on Thursday. Will you marry me on Thursday?”
Much to the gang’s surprise, Robin ends up showing up to the wedding, “I know I’ve missed a couple lately, but we said we’d always be here for the big moments.” Robin reveals that while she had RSVPed ‘No,’ “Someone pretty persuasive talked [her] into it.” Of course, it was Tracy who got the full gang back together.
Lily toasts, “To Ted, a man with more emotional endurance than anyone I know. It was a long, winding road. Thank God we got here.”
Now brace yourself, HIMYM fans, because here’s where we always start crying. Ted tells his kids, “Aunt Lily wasn’t wrong. It was at times a long, difficult road. But I’m glad it was long and difficult because, if I hadn’t gone through hell to get there, the lesson might not have been as clear. You see, kids, right from the moment I met your mom, I knew: I have to love this woman as much as I can, for as long as I can, and I can never stop loving her, even for a second. I carried that lesson with me through every stupid fight we ever had, every 5 a.m. Christmas morning, every sleepy Sunday afternoon, through every speed bump, every pang of jealousy, or boredom, or uncertainty that came our way. I carried that lesson with me.”
While viewers may have loved for the show to end right then and there, tied with a beautiful final lesson bow, Ted continues, “And I carried it with me when she got sick. Even then, in what can only be called the worst of times, all I could do was thank God, thank every God there is, or ever was, or will be, and the whole universe, and anyone else I could possibly thank, that I saw that beautiful girl on that train platform and that I had the guts to stand up, walk over to her, tap her on the shoulder, open my mouth, and speak.”
That, kids, is how Ted met (and subsequently lost) your mother.
Ted & Robin
With three minutes left in the entire series, How I Met Your Mother cuts back to grown-up Ted and his kids as his daughter tells him, “That’s it? No, I don’t buy it. That is not the reason you made us listen to this.” She continues, “Let’s look at the facts here, you made us sit down and listen to this story about how you met mom, yet mom is hardly in the story. No, this is a story about how you’re totally in love with aunt Robin, and you’re thinking about asking her out, and you want to know if you’re OK with.”
While this makes sense for the timeline of the show, as Penny tells him, “Mom’s been gone for six years now, it’s time,” the ending definitely gave viewers some serious emotional whiplash, especially seeing as we had waited nine years for Ted to end up with Tracy, only for her to get killed off 71 seconds later. Truly, there’s less than a minute and a half between the moment their meet-cute fades to black to the moment Penny says she’s dead.
Even so, the kids are thrilled to see Ted consider calling up their Aunt Robin. However, instead of calling Robin, Ted comes to her window with their classic blue French horn, holding it up to her, just as he had done on their first date during the pilot episode. Arguably, if How I Met Your Mother had let viewers know that the mother had died prior to Ted sitting down to tell his kids the story, this would have been a beautiful, full-circle ending. However, even though it’s clear that Ted’s relationship with Robin does not negate his love for his late wife, it’s a little hard to watch him end up with anyone else.
