Ted is the main character on the television show How I Met Your Mother. The series follows Ted and a group of his friends as they navigate life in New York City. The entire story is told through Ted's point of view as he is telling the story to his children years later.
He shares more details with his children than they would probably like to know. The story includes some truly heartbreaking moments for Ted. But it also includes some truly terrible things for which Ted is at fault.
Ted is a hopeless romantic who is constantly on a quest for love. At one point, he decides to revisit some of his past lovers to see if any of them would be suitable mates for him. He begins to pursue Natalie who is still furious at Ted for breaking up with her on her birthday via answering machine years prior.
He convinces her to date him again only to dumb her on her birthday for a second time. This scene shows how truly selfish Ted is. Fans were delighted when Natalie decided to knock some sense into him.
Being an architect isn't easy. When Ted is fired from a big job, he decides he is going to start his own firm from his house. He hires an intern - which doesn't go well. He countless days and nights working assiduously without much success. He is finally forced to expect help from Stella's fiancé Tony in order to find a job.
When Ted first meets Robin, he is instantly attracted to her. He wants to get to know her but needs an informal excuse to spend time with her after telling her he loved her on their first date. Ted decides to throw a party with the entire motivation being to spend time with Robin. When she is unable to attend the first party, he throws a second one the following day. When that plan fails as well, he continues the party for a third day.
This is somewhat creepy but the bigger issue here is that Ted is being completely insensitive. His good friend and roommate Marshall is trying to complete an important paper for law school and is obviously struggling due to Ted's nonstop parties.
Ted and Robin's relationship had a lot of ups and downs. Although the pair obviously cared for each other, their relationship struggled due to their differing aspirations.
The two clearly struggled to cope with the understanding that their relationship couldn't work, constantly running back to each other. Their break-up was truly awful to watch as it was clearly ending due to circumstances and not lack of caring for each other.
While Ted and Robin were dating, Robin notices that Ted has kept many things from previous relationships. She is upset with this and asks him to get rid of all of the items. Ted later discovers that Robin's dogs all came from past boyfriends and accuses Robin of being a hypocrite. He demands she get rid of all of her dogs. This is a truly ugly moment for Ted as living-breathing-creatures are a bit different than gifted inanimate objects.
Funnily enough, the little known behind the scenes fact about these dogs were dumped is the fault of actor Josh Radnor, who plays Ted Mosby. Apparently, the actor struggled with an allergy to dogs and filming the scenes with Robin was providing to be a problem.
When Robin and Barney marry, it is clear that Ted is still in love with her. He tries to do his best to be a supportive friend to the couple, but inside he is dying. In a harrowing scene on a rooftop during the wedding weekend, Ted finally admits to Lily that he is still in love with Robin and believes she should be with him and not Barney.
Victoria was a lovely woman. She was the most well-received girlfriend of Ted's and was actually the back-up mother in the event that the show was canceled. While Victoria is away at a culinary institute in Germany, Robin begins to express interest in Ted again.
Ted then lies to Robin, telling her that he is single and the two begin to make-out on the couch. When Robin discovers Ted has lied, she prevents it from going further. This choice was a betrayal to both Victoria and Robin.
It seemed that Ted had finally found love with Stella. The two were set to be married and Ted even uninvited Robin to his wedding to respect Stella's wishes. During that difficult conversation with Robin, she begged him not to marry Stella. For once, Ted was confident in his decision and decided to move forward with the wedding, rejecting Robin.
Unfortunately, Stella's insecurities around Robin were more about her unresolved issues than they were about Ted. On his wedding day, Ted finds a note from Stella and it becomes clear that a wedding will not occur. Ted is left to cope with his loss with the help of his friends as Robin sails away from the venue with a front-row seat to Stella's reunion with her ex.
Ted happens to reconnect with Victoria and ask her to meet him on what happens to be her wedding day. She shows up in her wedding dress and offers Ted the opportunity to run away with her. Although Ted first says he's going to take her to the church, citing the pain he felt when Stella left him on his wedding day, he changes his mind and takes the opportunity to drive off with Victoria.
When he realizes she hasn't left an explanation for Klaus, he drives back to deliver a note and discovers Klaus also fleeing the wedding. While it's clear this wedding wouldn't have turned out well regardless of Ted, he was still willing to run off with someone else's bride. It seems that Ted has learned nothing from his past mistakes.
After years of searching, Ted finally finds the love of his life. It doesn't take long for fans to fall in love with this new character as well. When it was revealed that she had passed, the audience was stunned. Hearing the pain in Ted's voice as he recounts this devastating moment to his children was one of the hardest moments of the entire series.
