Background on Characters

Theodore Evelyn "Ted" Mosby (born April 25, 1978) is the main character of How I Met Your Mother, portrayed by Josh Radnor. Ted serves as the show's narrator from the future, voiced by Bob Saget, as he tells his children the long version of how he met their mother. He is a struggling architect and a romantic, believing in an idealized version of love, and wants to get married and start a family. Ted has been best friends with Marshall since they met in college, and lived with him for around 6–8 years. A graduate of Wesleyan University, Ted grew up in Shaker Heights, Ohio with parents Virginia and Alfred Mosby. Ted complains in season 2 that he has never been able to talk about anything deep or difficult with his parents. In this episode the gang goes out to brunch to celebrate Virginia & Alfred's 30th anniversary. Ted soon discovers that his parents had actually divorced 9 months previously, after being separated for 2 years, and had been playing happy family for Ted and his sister's sake. When Ted confronts them he realizes that he doesn't really know anything about them or how they met. Ted vows here and now that when he has kids that he is going to tell them every single detail of how he met their mother thus birthing the entire concept for the series.

Played by Neil Patrick Harris and born in 1975, Barney Stinson is a womanizer, favors suits, enjoys playing laser tag and performing magic tricks often involving fire, and frequently uses the words "awesome" and "legendary," which Ted believes he uses too liberally. Barney is very eager to prove his "awesomeness" by doing things his friends inadvertently suggest (normally something they find ridiculous), prompting him to say his other coined phrase "challenge accepted". Barney is the writer of the Bro Code (though he claims it was written by Barnabus Stinson in the Colonial Era) and the Playbook, from which he documents his favorite moves to use on women. Barney was raised by a single mother, along with his older brother James. He spent very little time with his father when he was a child. In season 6, Barney's father Jerome, returns to his life hoping to make amends for abandoning him as a child. Barney was engaged to a woman in college, a woman who rejected him because of his lack of success and her lack of desire for commitment. Barney still fears committing to another woman. When she broke up with him (leaving him still a virgin), his black, gay brother James Stinson arranged for him to lose his virginity. The woman claimed he was awesome (as a favor to Barney's brother) which ignited Barney's unlimited confidence. Prior to losing his virginity, Barney was a long-haired hippie with plans to join the Peace Corps.

Soon after his rejection, he saw a flier for a sale on suits, thus beginning his suit addiction. Shortly after he met Ted Mosby in the Men's room and announced to that he would "teach Ted how to live," beginning his life with Ted's group of friends where he remains. Barney believes himself to be Ted's best friend. In season 4, Barney realizes he has fallen in love with Robin and spends the next season hiding it from her. The two get together in season 5, but the relationship only lasts for 7 episodes. After their breakup, Barney returned to his womanizing ways, but sometimes shows regret in ending his relationship with Robin. In season 6, Robin introduces him to her friend Nora. Barney first denies that he is attracted to her, but later admits to Robin that he is. Barney and Nora's relationship is short lived, however, because Barney is unwilling to let himself be honest with her about his feelings. In the sixth season finale, it is revealed that Barney will be getting married a little ways in the future, a scene which includes Barney, Ted, Lily and Marshall and does not reveal who the bride is.

 

Marshall Eriksen is played by Jason Segel. Born in 1978 and of Scandinavian descent, Marshall met Ted and Lily during their freshman year at Wesleyan University. He is a Columbia Law School graduate originally from Minnesota. Even though he stands at 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m), he is the shortest male member of his family, which has invented the sport of "baskiceball". Marshall became a lawyer because he was interested in environmental protection laws. Ultimately, he accepted a job at a corporate law firm where his only client is an amusement park riddled with various safety violations. He later joins the legal team at Goliath National Bank, where Barney also works. Marshall is also very good at various games and highly interested in food and paranormal happenings, specifically Sasquatch and Nessie. He can play the piano fairly well, as seen in the episode "Slapsgiving" where he performs a song after slapping Barney. Marshall is an enigma in the episode "Sweet Taste of Liberty" he is relieved when he escapes a fight claiming he has never fought anyone before but proves he is formidable and experienced fighter in the episode "The Fight". It is revealed in "Last Cigarette Ever" that in the future, he and Lily have a son. In early 2011, after being told Marshall and Lily are capable of having a baby, Lily tells Marshall that his dad had a fatal heart attack and died. Marshall and his friends agree his dad's last words towards him were, 'I love you' but they were actually about a foot cream. But during his father's funeral, Marshall says in his eulogy that the last words his father ever said to him were "...rent Crocodile Dundee 3...", which are in fact the last words his father ever spoke to him in person (the last words about foot cream were in a voicemail). In "Last Cigarette Ever", it was revealed that the two have at least one son, and in the season six finale, Lily announces to Marshall that she is pregnant.

Lily Aldrin Played by Alyson Hannigan and born in March 1978, Lily is a kindergarten teacher. She is married to Marshall Eriksen and grew up in Brooklyn, New York. Like Ted, and Marshall, she is also a graduate of Wesleyan University. Lily also dreams of being an artist and at one point painted a portrait of Marshall in the nude. At one point, she had also painted Barney nude for $5000, although she made Barney looking like a Ken doll, in which his crotch were drawn, but not his genitals. Lily sometimes show an interest in the same sex, fantazising and dreaming about women. She seems to be attracted to her friend Robin and have several times hinted that she might be a little bisexual. In episode 22 in season 6, it is shown that she becomes keen to kiss Robin when drinking Martini. She also has a huge debt problem because of her impulsive buying practices. She is able to hide this from Marshall until they apply for a mortgage. She cannot keep a secret, and is often shown to be the most spoiled of the group, but despite those traits she is a very caring person and will much of the time do thankless acts for the good of her friends. In the episode "Mosbius Designs," Barney describes her as "A diabolical puppet master, manipulating every single situation to get exactly what she wants, she is pure evil," and tells Marshall that he has "a good one there, hang on to her." In the episode "The Possimpible," Lily lists her special skills and interests on her resume as:

"Competitive Speed Eater (can eat 33 hot dogs in 8 minutes; New York City Speed Eating Champion, Junior Division, 1995), Painting, (Oils, Acrylics), fluent in Italian, certified in Teaching English as a Second Language, Proficient in Photoshop, Quark, Java."

She met Marshall and Ted in college and almost immediately started dating Marshall. They were together for about 9 years and engaged for almost a year when Lily broke up with Marshall to move to San Francisco to concentrate on her art. She was there for a summer and came back to NYC but Marshall was too hurt that they stayed separated for a few more months. They eventually patched things up and got married. They moved into an apartment in Dowisetrepla, which they did not know at the time stands for Down Wind of the Sewage Treatment Plant. They want children, but for a while were scared so they didn't try. Later Lily and Marshall make an agreement that once they have seen the doppelganger of every member of their gang they will start trying for a child. By the summer of 2010, they have seen all but Barney's doppelganger, when Lily sees what she thinks is his doppelganger (it wasn't). The rest of the gang knew this meant she was ready for a child and let her believe it. In the season six episode, "The Mermaid Theory", future Ted was telling a story (out of place in the present time-line) of a fight that Lily and Barney have while she's pregnant. Future Ted stated that the pregnancy was a "way down the road" from when he told the story. Lily announces in the season 6 finale that she is pregnant, and in "Last Cigarette Ever", future Ted reveals that they have at least one son.

Robin Scherbatsky Played by Cobie Smulders, Robin was born on July 23, 1980, and works as a Television news reporter/co-host of a 4 AM TV news show, 'Come On Get Up New York'. She was originally from Vancouver, British Columbia, and named after her father, who treated her more like a boy than a girl. In many episodes it is implied she is a fan of the Vancouver Canucks. For most of the second season, she dated Ted after Ted spent much of the first season pursuing her romantically. Early in the first season, it was established that she does not become Ted's wife, instead becoming "Aunt Robin" to Ted's children. Despite their break-up, there continued to be some sexual tension between them throughout most of the third season, most obviously when Robin brought home her new Argentinan boyfriend from the trip she and Ted had planned together. As a teenager, she was a teen pop singer named Robin Sparkles who toured malls across Canada following her minor hit "Let's Go to the Mall" and debacle "Sandcastles in the Sand." Her first boyfriend was Simon, who starred in her second music video. In season 4, Robin moves in with Ted after leaving her short-lived job in Japan. During the fourth season finale, she and Barney pursue a relationship, but they end it in season 5. Some of her idiosyncrasies include having predilections towards fights and pronouncing the word picture as pitcher. She also is frequently made fun of for her tendency to laugh while lying, and well as her references to places and history exclusive to Canada, including Mount Waddington and Danby's. Though she stated explicitly throughout the seasons that she does not like children, future Ted mentioned that she eventually grew to like them and even became close to Ted's children (appearing in their drawings). After being unemployed for a while after being in America, Robin found out that she would be deported if she did not get a job. Barney helped her land a job for an early morning show. Soon after she started she got a co-host named Don whom she could not stand. However, she started to have feelings for him and they were a couple for a while. While she was with Don, she had a job opportunity for an anchor job in Chicago, but she turned it down to continue her relationship with Don. However, she was upset when she found out that Don actually accepted the position. In season 6 episode "False Positive", Robin works as a Researcher for World Wide News.