A darkHow I Met Your Motherfan theory ended up being surprisingly accurate. ThroughoutHow I Met Your Mother’s nine seasons, there were many theories about how the show would end.
The season 8 finale set up the show’s endgame by finally showing Tracy McConnell (Cristin Milioti), who would become the titular mother, and the love of Ted Mosby’s (Josh Radnor) life. While this was a major leap forward for the show, it still did not explain why Ted was telling his children the story of how he met their mother.
WithHow I Met Your Motherbeing ashow whose ending was planned from the start, co-creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas had known the answers years before the series finale aired, and the answers were shockingly close to a dark fan theory.
A Dark How I Met Your Mother Theory Claimed That The Mother Was Not Around
Fans Noticed That Future Ted Didn’t Refer To Her As “My Wife”
One fan theory was that the mother was not around because she and Ted got divorced, or that they broke up after never getting married in the first place. This could have been because the older Ted (voiced by Bob Saget) did not refer to Tracy as"my wife"and instead always referred to her as"your mother"when telling the story to his children.
Calling her"your mother"made sense given Ted’s audience, but some fans thought it was strange that he never referred to her as his wife and that there was a darker meaning behind it. The phrasing or lack thereof potentially implied that her relationship with the kids was now more important than Ted’s relationship with her.
The mother’s absence in the future lent further credence to this theory and that she was not around because she and Ted were no longer together. If this had come to pass, it would have beendark to see her and Ted fall in love after years of anticipation, only to learn that things didn’t work outbetween them.
How I Met Your Mother’s Real Twist Was Even Darker Than We Could’ve Expected
The Series Finale Revealed That She Died
Of course, the real twist ended up being thatTracy had died from a terminal illness, which explained why she was absent from the future timeline where Ted was telling his children the story of how he met her. Tracy’s absence being due to her death instead of divorce or a breakup was far darker than what many fans had theorized.
Ending a television sitcom withthe death of a beloved character was always going to be dark. Beyond this inevitability, Tracy’s death was also difficult for many viewers to accept because they had spent years waiting to meet her, only for her to die in the series finale.
Tracy’s dark fate also addressed why Ted believed he was telling his children about how he and their mother met. However, Ted’s kids rightfully discerned that he was not telling them the story because of their mother, but so they could understand and approve of himdating Robin Scherbatsky(Cobie Smulders).
How I Met Your Mother Dropped Plenty Of Hints That The Mother Was Dead
The Clues Are Heartbreaking In Retrospect
Even though the reveal was initially shocking, there are plenty ofclues inHow I Met Your Motherthat foreshadow Tracy’s death, especially in the later seasons.One of the most significant clues is in season 8, episode 20, “The Time Travelers,” when the future Ted shared everything he would do if he could relive the night he was telling his kids about.
Ted made it clear that the first thing he would do would be to go see their mother, who he would not meet for another 45 days. In this hypothetical scenario, he was seen tearfullytelling the unseen Tracy that he was here now because he wanted those extra 45 days with herbecause he loved her and would love her forever.
After Tracy died, this scene was completely recontextualized, as Ted wanted those 45 days back because Tracy was dead, and he wished he could have had more time with her.
Another significant use of foreshadowing came just a few episodes before the series finale in season 9, episode 19, “Vesuvius.” When reminiscing on the story of Robin’s mother (Tracey Ullman) making it in time for her daughter’s wedding, Tracy commented that it was hardly a surprise because"what mother is going to miss her daughter’s wedding?"
This remark made Ted teary-eyed becauseTracy was already terminally ill and would not live to see their daughter get married. Earlier in the episode, Ted and Tracy also agreed that when something particularly intense was happening, it was often best to leave that thing unspoken and enjoy each other’s company, which was what they did instead of dwelling on Tracy’s illness.
A far earlier and more subtle use of foreshadowing came inHow I Met Your Motherseason 1, when Ted’s favorite book was revealed to beLove in the Time of Choleraby Gabriel García Márquez, whose plot had parallels with Tracy’s fate. Years later, Ted would also be reading the same book at the train station where he would meet Tracy for the first time.
