Ted Mosby - Future Ted

Future Ted

Future Ted, voiced by Bob Saget, narrates every episode to his children in 2030, framed as the story of how he met their mother. We know that Robin, Lily, Stella, Wendy the Waitress, Cindy, Zoey, Cathy, Janet Mcintyre and Victoria and Tracey the Stripper are not the children's mother. The mother was finally revealed in season 8 episode 24 without a name, but as woman with the yellow umbrella.

The first episode of season 3, "Wait for It", reveals that Ted's kids already know the "short version" of the story of how Ted met their mother, and that it was an incident involving her yellow umbrella. Some clues given are that Ted's future wife is a college student studying economics, as she was in the classroom on Ted's first day as a professor, where he initially went to the wrong room and started teaching Architecture 101 to what, actually, was Economics 305. It was also mentioned that she was at the same nightclub as Ted and Barney on St. Patrick's Day, 2008. In the first season episode "Belly Full of Turkey", Future Ted jokes to his kids that a stripper he meets named Tracey is the mother. Future Ted told his kids that he met their mother "on the day of the wedding" which is later revealed to be the day of Barney and Robin's wedding, in which Ted is the Best Man. In the season premiere of the 8th season, Ted is reading a book while waiting at the "Farhampton" train station after Barney and Robin's wedding when "the mother" (indicated by future Ted's voiceover and the appearance of the signature yellow umbrella) is shown arriving at the same station via taxi cab, though whether or not they meet at that time is unconfirmed as the episode fades to credits with the two unaware of each other. In the Season 8 episode entitled "Band or DJ?" Future Ted reveals in a flashback that "the mother" played bass guitar in the wedding band that performed at Barney and Robin's wedding. Although the flashback shows that Ted does see the mother at the wedding, it is implied that they do not actually formally meet at the wedding. Ted and his wife are shown in a flashfoward standing outside a movie theater advertising The Wedding Bride III during the episode "No Pressure", although the wife's face is not shown nor is her identity revealed. In the season finale of the 8th season, entitled "Something New," the mother is finally revealed (played by Cristin Milioti), as she was shown with her yellow umbrella, and bass guitar, buying a train ticket to Farhampton.