The Mother

Portrayed by: Cristin Milioti Pamela Fryman, Jennifer Birmingham

First appearance: Wait For It

Occupation: Bass Player

Residence: Ted's house (future), Cindy's apartment, 317 West 115th Apartment 7A

Romances: Ted Mosby (future husband) Louis (future ex-boyfriend)

Gallery of The Mother images (14)

The Mother refers to the future mother of Ted's children. Since her name is currently unknown, she is simply known as "the mother" amongst fans. She's the bass player for an unnamed wedding band that commonly plays around New York, her friends include Cindy and Louis (Her boyfriend by April 2013) and is currently studying for her economics degree at Columbia University. She most likely lives with her boyfriend at West 115th street, apartment 7A.

Family

• Spouse: Ted Mosby
• Children: Ted's Kids

Known Facts

While not much is known about the mother, the following has been revealed throughout the series.

• At the end of Lucky Penny, Future Ted says:
  

  “Kids, funny thing about destiny. I thought I was destined to get that job, but I was wrong. My destiny was to stay in New York. Because if I hadn’t, I never would’ve met your mother."

  This strongly suggests that Ted meets the mother in New York.
• At the end of Something Blue, Future Ted closes the episode talking about his and Robin’s futures:

  “And as hard as it was at the time, in the end we both got what we wanted. She did eventually go on to live in Argentina, and Morocco, Greece, Russia, even Japan for a little while. And I? Well, I met your mom.”

• At the end of How I Met Everyone Else, Ted asks Marshall and Lily where his wife is, at his college reunion. As the reunion was held in 2020, it is revealed that, by 2020, Ted would have already gotten married.
• In Wait For It, it's revealed by Future Ted that the mother's yellow umbrella factors into the story of how she and Ted met.
• In No Tomorrow, Future Ted states that his future wife was at the same St. Patrick's Day party he went to, but that they didn't meet each other. When going back to the party to find his phone, he picked up the yellow umbrella that belonged to her. However, Ted does bump into some seemingly arbitrary woman whom he seems to notice and who seems to notice him, now proven to be a red herring.
• In The Three Days Rule, Future Ted tells his children that when he got their mother's phone number, he called her right away.
• In The Leap, Ted is shown teaching his first class at Columbia University. Future Ted narrates how this was the best job he's ever had, and that if it weren't for that job, he never would have met their mother. However, in Definitions, it's revealed that Ted was in the wrong room for his first class, and all the students there were Economics students, and that the mother was one of them.
• In Double Date, Future Ted tells his kids that when he first told their mother his "shellfish-selfish" joke, she laughed.
• In Last Cigarette Ever, Future Ted reveals that he eventually quit smoking two weeks into dating the mother.

• In Girls Versus Suits, Ted dates a girl named Cindy. Cindy's roommate is the mother, as revealed by Future Ted. Although they never meet, while in Cindy's apartment Ted looks around and discovers things about the roommate/mother that shows they have very similar likes and hobbies, such as making breakfast foods sing show tunes, painting pictures of robots playing sports, and playing bass guitar. Ted also sees what Future Ted states was probably the mother's feet, as she leaves the bathroom to go into her room. ^[1]
• In Big Days, Future Ted reveals that Ted will meet the mother on the day of a wedding and that "a little ways down the road" he will be the best man at a wedding, later revealed in Challenge Accepted and The Magician's Code - Part Two to be Barney and Robin's wedding.
• In Garbage Island, in a scene that flashes forward to 2021, Ted meets Wendy the Waitress at an airport and tells her that he is now married to "a wonderful woman" and has two kids, revealing that he will have met and married the mother by this time. This fits into the continuity of the series, given that Ted's kids are in their late teens by 2030.

• Later in The Exploding Meatball Sub, a scene set in April 2021 (ten years into the future) shows Ted wearing a wedding ring, further implying he will have met and married the mother by this time.
• In No Pressure, it is stated that the last person he said 'I love you' to before the mother was Robin.

• In Trilogy Time, it is shown that by 2015, Ted is watching the Star Wars trilogy with Barney, Marshall, and his baby daughter - implying Ted has met the mother and has had a child by that time. Ted is also seen to be wearing a wedding ring in the scene as well which means he has already married the mother by 2015.

• In Farhampton, it is shown that while Ted is waiting for the train back to the city at the Farhampton train station, after Barney and Robin's wedding, the mother also comes there, holding up her yellow umbrella in the rain. Craig Thomas confirmed in an interview that this is the place where Ted and the mother finally meet. ^[2]
• In Band or DJ?, it is revealed that the mother is the bass guitar player in the band playing at Barney and Robin's wedding
• In Bad Crazy, Future Ted reveals that the last girl he dated before meeting the mother was Jeanette.
• In The Time Travelers, it is revealed that in April of 2013, 45 days before she met Ted, The Mother was dating a Finance guy named Louis, living in West 115th street in apartment 7A and still getting her Economics degree.
• In Something New The Mother's appearance is finally revealed, she's short, has mid length brown hair, large brown eyes and a wide smile. In this episode she is buying her ticket for Farhampton where eventually she'll meet Ted.

Possibilities and Theories

This is a list of possible identities and popular theories regarding the mother.

• At the end of Belly Full of Turkey, Future Ted jokes to his kids that the stripper named Tracy he flirts with was their mother. Similarly, in the first episode of the series, Ted tells them the story of how he met Robin, and they believe it is the story of how he met their mother, until he reveals in the end that it was "Aunt Robin".
• During Milk, Ted has a date with Ted's Love Solutions Match, as they share a lot of similar interests and she wants the same things out of life as Ted does. However, Ted realizes that he doesn't want perfect, he wants Robin, and stands her up on their date to pursue Robin instead. Furthermore, by looking at her profile, Ted says that she is college educated. This possibly conflicts with the fact that the mother is still attending college in Season 5, though it's possible that she had enrolled again for higher studies.

Past Candidates

These are a list of people who, in the past, were potential candidates for being the mother. However, due to new information released later during the series, these people have been excluded from being potential candidates. Please note that only those who had a realistic chance of being the mother are included in this list, such as those that have been in serious, long-term relationships with Ted.

Robin Scherbatsky

In the Pilot, it was shown that Ted wanted to get married and loved Robin, so it was implied that she would be the mother. However, at the end of the episode, Future Ted reveals that that girl turned out to be Aunt Robin, not the mother. This may be a device used by Future Ted to state the intimacy Ted's kids have with his friends, as Marshall, Barney and Lily are named aunt/uncle throughout. In Symphony of Illumination, it is revealed that Robin cannot have children, so she could not be the mother. Lastly, in The Magician's Code - Part Two, it is shown that Robin is the bride at Barney's wedding, eliminating any possibilities of her being The Mother.

Relationship with Robin

So far, every step that has brought Ted closer to meeting The Mother has been indirectly connected to Robin in some way:

• In Season 1, Ted's attraction to Robin prevented him from having a long-term relationship with several women, most notably Victoria. (Nothing Good Happens After 2 A.M.)
• In Season 2, Robin and Ted began dating, taking Ted off the market for awhile.
• In Season 3, Robin and Ted have split up, causing Ted to rebound, get a tattoo and then have it removed by his dermatologist and later girlfriend, Stella Zinman. (Wait For It, Ten Sessions)
• In Season 4, Robin agrees to come to Ted and Stella's wedding, but only to tell Ted that she thinks he's making a mistake. Later on, Robin sees Stella and Tony running away together. (Shelter Island)
• When Ted is feeling stumped on his latest project, Robin convinces him to go take a walk. It is here that he runs into Stella and Tony, who would give Ted a teaching position at a local college, which leads him to Cindy, the Mother's roommate. (Right Place, Right Time)
• In Season 5, Ted briefly regains his infatuation of Robin. Just as they were about to kiss, Robin took off Ted's hat, saw that he had bleached his hair, then started laughing. (Doppelgangers)
• In Season 6, Robin encourages Ted to break up with Zoey, knowing that the Arcadian's fate would kill their relationship regardless of what happened. (Landmarks)
• In Season 7, Ted cancels his deal with Robin to get married at 40, saying that its holding him back. Ted's obsession with Robin also prevents him from seeing other women. Robin is also revealed to be the bride at the wedding where Ted meets the Mother. (No Pressure, The Magician's Code - Part Two)
• In Season 8, Ted proposes to Victoria, but when Victoria makes him decide between marrying her or keeping his friendship with Robin. Ted chooses his friendship with Robin and, as a result, Ted and Victoria break up. A chance meeting with Cindy leads Ted to hire the Mother's band for Barney and Robin's Wedding. On the day of the wedding, Ted is at the Farhampton train station because he was leaving early to escape his feelings for Robin, which closes the persisting pattern that Robin's existence in Ted's life, and meets the mother at the train station. (The Autumn of Break-Ups, Band or DJ?, Farhampton)

Victoria

Due to the seriousness of their relationship, it was suspected Victoria would be the mother, but as was said earlier, in Lucky Penny, Future Ted states that he had not yet met the mother. Since Ted met Victoria months prior to this episode, it's clear Victoria is not the mother. She also makes a major appearance in Ducky Tie, where she reveals she maybe getting engaged.. However, it's likely that if How I Met Your Mother had not been renewed for a second season, Victoria would have been a fallback option and become the mother. Although, Victoria left her fiancée at the altar for Ted and they started dated again in Season 8, it has been confirmed that she is not the mother.^[3]

Stella Zinman

Stella was a likely candidate to be the mother, due to the seriousness of her relationship with Ted, culminating with their engagement and subsequent wedding plans. However, Stella left him on their wedding day and later re-married Tony Grafanello. However, if How I Met Your Mother had ended after Season 3, then Stella would likely have been a fallback option (similar to Victoria) and she would have been the mother, although unless Lucy was the girl child, she does not appear to be present while Ted is talking to his kids.

Zoey Pierson

Zoey was never a real possibility to be the mother, since it had been stated before Ted met her that the day he met his wife was the day of a wedding further down the road. It further confirms that Zoey is not the mother when Ted reveals to Wendy the Waitress when they meet in 2021, in Garbage Island, that his and Zoey's relationship ended badly and that he eventually married the mother, the true love of his life.

Carly Whittaker

Until Ring Up, it was believed that the mother could be Barney's half-sister, Carly. Not much was known about her, except that she is currently attending college, mentioned by Jerome Whittaker in Legendaddy. Thus, she may have been in the Economics class Ted accidentally went into as his first first day as a Professor. Carly's family also lives ten minutes away from Ted's house, and it is likely that she grew up in that family house. Ted meets Carly in Season 8 and briefly dates her without knowing she's Barney's sister. Upon discovering this, Barney gets angry and tries to forcefully marry them, but both of them decide not to go with it. 

Episode Appearances

1. Wait For It
2. No Tomorrow
3. Girls Versus Suits
4. No Pressure
5. Farhampton
6. Band or DJ?
7. The Time Travelers
8. Something New (first full appearence)

Notes and Trivia

• The last 20 seconds of the song on tedmosbyisajerk.com sounds like gibberish, but if played backwards, it plays: "Wendy the Waitress is the mother of the goat".
• Carter Bays joked that Nora was the mother.
• Before her appearance in Something New, the mother has been played by a variety of 'stunt actresses', including Jennifer Birmingham and Pamela Fryman. ^[4][5]
• On the Season Six DVD set, there is a special feature called "What we know about your mother". In it, Future Ted lists that:

1. She's not Robin.

   

   How I Met Your Mother - What We Know About Your Mother(05:03)
   14,459 views

2. She's not Victoria.
3. She was almost Stella.
4. She was Cindy's roommate.
5. She has a yellow umbrella...that I stole.
6. She was in what I thought was my architecture class.
7. She thought I was a complete idiot.
8. She's considered weird by some.
9. She was never going to be Zoey. That was just doomed.
10. I met her on the day of a wedding.
11. And here's something I haven't told you before:
    1. "...She never would've left that much of her sandwich uneaten. No joke, I've seen that woman get a half a pad of butter wrapped up to go...
    2. ...Oh, and your mother would've definitely would've befriended the waitress, which inevitably would have lead to a free dessert...Mom's ability to get free pie; supernatural...
    3. ...Oh, and I wouldn't have had much luck with an orchid. I'd have given her lilacs; her favorite...which just just happened to be the first flower I ever gave her...the very moment we met..."

• Josh Radnor has said that he wants the Mother to be played by an unknown actress: “I don’t think it should be any sort of stunt casting. I think it would be more interesting to have this fresh, exciting face that Ted has never seen before and neither have people who watch the show.” ^[6]
• When Future Ted was imagining what his kids would look like if he married Stella, they had blond hair. The Mother has brown hair instead of blond.
• In all episodes involving flash-forwards to Barney and Robin's Wedding, Ted is seen wearing a lilac boutonniere on the suit he wears to the wedding. A lilac is the flower he gives to The Mother the very moment they meet (according to the Season 6 DVD set special feature).
• On October 19, 2012, Lyndsy Fonseca said in an interview with The Huffington Post, in response to the question "Do you have any hunches on who the mother is?", she says "there was a time when we were told who it was and to never give the information out."^[7] This allows us to believe that The Mother has been pre-determined from the very beginning.

References