Alternative Character Interpretation for How I Met Your Mother.
- Is Barney a selfish and contemptible jerkass who deserves what happens to him (i.e. being temporarily abandoned by Ted for sleeping with Robin, and getting banned from laser tag for assaulting children)? Or are his actions justified based on his crappy childhood and rejections, among other issues that make him fragile? His shrink thinks the latter, calling him "A narcissist with severe attachment disorder."
- In the finale, was his regression to The Casanova just an Author's Saving Throw, or is it justified because sleeping around is his only coping mechanism? He handled his first major break-up (with Shannon) by suiting up and becoming a player, and after breaking up with Robin, he immediately created Bang-toberfest, so there is precedent.
- Is Barney given a fair depiction or is Ted an Unreliable Narrator who exaggerates, embellishes and even straight-up lies about his friend's exploits? The finale implies that the birth of his daughter caused Barney to forever change his ways, which would explain to Penny and Luke why the stories Ted tells of Barney don't seem to go with the uncle they know and love. However, it is possible that Barney was the post-Ellie guy all along, except he liked to party and was a flirt before he became a father. The reason why Ted might be lying about Barney is that he wants his kids to root for Robin to choose him and not Barney. This can be supported by the alternate ending, which implies that there is hope yet for Barney and Robin. Co-creator Carter Bays gives fuel to both interpretations, saying
that Barney was a womanizer but that fans can choose to believe certain elements are exaggerations.
- Is Ted really an all around Nice Guy with both positive and negatives aspects of the trope? Or is he a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing who only puts on a friendly facade to impress women? Keep in mind Ted frequently prioritizes his own wants and desires over his friends, not caring about how it would affect them. Such as in "Moving Day" when he took all of his things from his apartment while moving in with Robin, leaving Lily and Marshall struggling without their basic necessities. The finale only adds further ambiguity to this as shown below.
- When Future Ted revealed all the amazing things Robin did over the years for his children, was it to fill the void of not having kids of her own, or did she do them just because she was being a good Honorary Aunt?
- Lily's seen in-universe as a kind-hearted Team Mom (with Chessmaster tendencies), but an alternate interpretation sees her a self-centered Bitch in Sheep's Clothing with an Informed Ability of intelligent scheming.
- Similarly, Marshall and Lily's relationship is sometimes seen less as sugary sweet perfect romance it's canonically considered and instead the pairing of a shrill harpy and a doormat settling for the first woman to sleep with him.
- As suggested In-Universe, did she come back from San Francisco because she realized she made a mistake or did she just settle for Marshall after failing to make it as an artist?
- Was Robin's anger at the group for assigning porn tropes to her old show Space Teens anger at them for insulting her show or was it misdirected anger at herself for not realizing that she was essentially on a lecherous teen show?
- Lily subjecting women the Ted dated to the Porch Test. Were they really unsuitable for Ted as she claims? Or is the Porch Test rooted in Lily's unconscious desire for a perfect family with a perfect father figure, something she never particularly had growing up? Considering that Ted often takes the role of the Team Dad in their group dynamic, it's hard not to see Lily's actions as being like a young child acting out and developing an irrational hatred of their parent's new partner. Or does it have to do with her and Marshall's bet about whether Ted and Robin end up together?
- Robin. Were her failed relationships a result of unfortunate circumstances or was she a shallow, want-what-she-can't-have woman who just rushed headlong into a relationship to get the man she wanted with no consideration for the future? In the series her relationship was explored almost as extensively as Ted's and she was shown with both a caring, loving side and a clear case of If I Can't Have You…. Her relationship with Barney and Ted are always followed this very unhealthy formula: Unresolved Sexual Tension, she completely denied it, he understood, moved on with other women; she had Green-Eyed Epiphany and realized she really like them now that they're taken; If I Can't Have You… kicked in and she tried to sabotage his relationship before quietly gave up; Mixed message was sent and the guys realized they still loved her, broke up with their girlfriend to be with her; they were happy for awhile before their differences drove them apart; they broke up.
- Did Tony (and Stella) write The Wedding Bride as a Take That! to Ted or did it just suffer from an In-Universe Executive Meddling because the film studio higher-ups wanted a Card-Carrying Villain for their film?
- Alternatively, it's possible that Stella was a bit insensitive when talking about Ted in front of Tony. Green-Eyed Monster kicked in and Tony twisted her words in the worst way possible. "As fast as they can" supported this view, as Tony went out of his way to "make up" to Ted, including giving him money and jobs and then broke up with Stella when he thought she still had feeling for Ted. Ted had to assure Tony about it to get them back together.
- Yet another possibility was that Tony's guilty conscience over his role in breaking Ted's heart continued to bother him, and he ended up mentally rewriting history to make himself feel better.
- Also, does Ted remember the movie accurately, or was it actually a complex movie that showed Jed's positive sides as well, but Ted hated it because it made him re-experience being left at the altar? There is a clue in which Royce complains that (in her mind) the movie's only flaw was that Jed was such an irredeemable jerkass that it made no sense that Stella would be with him in the first place. It is also possible that Ted is the one lying about certain aspects of his relationship with Stella, and as his friends noted, some parts of the movie were actually accurate?
- The Take adds a further theory that Ted's villainous portrayal in the movie is how Stella genuinely remembers him. When you strip away Ted's Sympathetic P.O.V., how he treated Stella for their entire relationship wasn't that great: he badgered her into dating him, complained when things weren't moving fast enough, then abruptly dumped her when she started moving faster. He then proposed out of the blue, expected her to uproot her daughter's entire life to keep his New York bachelor apartment, invited both their exes to the wedding without consulting her, which rekindled her feelings for her child's father. Ted later turned up in her life, badmouthed her to Tony so badly the latter temporarily broke up with her, and then initially refuses to fix the mess he made. From Stella's POV, Ted probably was that villain.
- The finale implies that Ted redevelops feelings for Robin after spending six years mourning the death of his wife. However to some viewers, it looks like Ted might have been in love with her all along and just waited a few years before asking her out because it's more sociably acceptable. This has led to the following interpretations:
- Ted is a Manipulative Bastard whose plan all along was to use another woman to have the children he always wanted (due to the fact that Robin didn't want nor can have children), wait for the inevitable divorce between Barney and Robin, and then find a way to ditch his wife after Robin finally realized that she and Ted were "meant" to be together. Tracy's death was a fortunate turn of events in Ted's master plan.
- Alternately, Ted is an Unreliable Narrator who exaggerated Barney's womanizing behavior and painted himself as the Dogged Nice Guy to his kids so they would root for him and Robin to be together even when he told them about how he couldn't let go of her when she had rejected him and fallen in love with Barney.
- A more favorable interpretation posits that Ted is a Broken Bird who feels conflicted about his emotions, seeing as he is reluctantly infatuated with Robin in the wake of Tracy's death, and is in denial about the aforementioned infatuation. This makes sense if one considers his initial negative reaction to his children telling him that they believe him to be infatuated with Robin, the fact that he doesn't paint Robin in such a flattering light compared to Tracy overall, and the possibility that because Ted's romance with Robin has failed multiple times, the factors in their breakups may give him legitimate reasons to want to overcome his infatuation towards her. Additionally, it could be suggested that Ted legitimately misses Tracy, and even if he believes he should recover, part of him does not wish to do so.
- Ted's children are also subject to different interpretations:
- Are Ted's children, Penny and Luke, the real, insensitive, Manipulative Bastards who want their father to reunite with Aunt Robin for selfish reasons, and to that end, sit through his story before trying to convince him to move on? Or do they just want Ted to move on from Tracy's death because they believe his bereavement to be dragging him down?
- Additionally, in conjunction with the interpretation that Ted is reluctantly infatuated with Robin, are they ignoring the fact that Ted portrays Tracy in a more favorable light than even (or especially) himself, while he portrays Robin with prominent personality flaws? Or do they sincerely believe that Robin's flaws should be overlooked.
