Throughout the course of How I Met Your Mother, the writers do a pretty good job of establishing Ted and Barney as two guys who have pretty decent taste in women. Sure, there are a few 'swing and a miss' moments here and there, but they've both been pretty fortunate with the lovely ladies they've had in their lives.
Today, we want to run through ten of their love interests that the majority of viewers wouldn't say no to in a bar. Some are obvious, but a few selections are a little bit more unconventional — such is the nature of HIMYM.
Quinn
In many ways, Quinn seemed like she was the perfect girl for Barney — and perhaps if he’d have gotten back together with her after the Robin marriage went up in smoke, things would’ve ended a little differently.
She was able to challenge him and really put Barney in his place, and not a lot of women were capable of that. Sure, she may have been used as a plot device to kill a bit of time, but we do think she had some great moments during her time in the show, and that says a lot.
Nora
Everyone fell in love with Nora when she was introduced into our lives, and the fact that Barney treated her so poorly towards the end of their relationship really didn’t sit well with fans of the show.
She forced Barney into a situation where he had to be serious, because if he didn’t, then the opportunity to date her would’ve gone with the wind. It was the first time that he seemed to be genuinely crazy about a girl outside of the core group, and that shift was important for his character development.
Natalie
While Natalie’s use of Krav Maga may have scared quite a few people out of wanting to be in a relationship with her, we think it only added to her character. After all, she was dumped twice by Ted on her birthday, which continues the trend of Ted & Barney not being particularly nice to these girls.
She was super down to earth, she seemed really funny, and she was gorgeous. Of course, if you got on the wrong side of her then you would’ve had to pay the consequences, but that’s part of life.
Karina
Professional wrestling fans would’ve been especially happy to see Karina feature as the hot bartender in HIMYM, but the same can be true for, well, everyone.
She wouldn’t take any nonsense from Barney, and she forced him into a situation where he had to choose: girls or suits. He used his manipulative ways to get what he wanted, but the fact that he had to go a few days without actually wearing a suit says an awful lot about his commitment to the cause. Either way, she was pretty amazing.
Zoey
The rollercoaster ride we all went on with Zoey was pretty dramatic, to say the least. We all started off loving her, before quickly changing our tune upon discovering that she was trying to ruin Ted’s life. Then they got together and it seemed like Ted may have finally found his dream girl – only for the destruction of The Arcadian to once again get in the way of their love.
She had baggage, sure, but the same could be said for all of us and we enjoyed how ionate she was.
Professor Lewis
The cougar of the series was viewed as something of a ‘challenge’ for Barney to try and conquer – and while he gave it his best shot, he couldn’t quite ‘tame’ her, in his words. While she may have only appeared in a one-off episode, she did seem to rekindle the thought of being with an older woman for many viewers. She was good, smart, and appeared to be more than capable of holding an interesting conversation for longer than five seconds.
Plus, she played a role in Marshall’s grade going up, so that’s always a bonus.
Victoria
The fact that Ted and Victoria didn’t actually wind up together is still a delicate topic for many fans of the show. Sure, they didn’t work out the first time, but when things fell into place towards the end of the show’s run, we all thought that was it.
Alas, it didn’t quite happen, but we all still fell in love with Victoria regardless of that. She was super witty, really bubbly, and she was unique. That was exactly what Ted needed, and it made her one of the best girls he’s dated by a country mile.
Wendy
She may have gone a bit crazy at one stage when she had her fling with Barney, but aside from that, we really enjoyed Wendy the Waitress’ presence on the show.
The best part about her was that she was just consistent. She was always there to lend a helping hand, or to put the guys and girls in place if they needed it. If she was given the chance to have a deeper speaking role, then perhaps we could’ve seen her come out of her shell even more. Who knows.
Robin
Some love her and some hate her, but either way, Robin Scherbatsky was one of the key cogs that helped keep How I Met Your Mother together. She was just so real, and while that didn’t always help her in certain situations, she definitely knew how to handle herself.
She seemed destined to live happily ever after with Barney, but instead, the show decided to throw us a massive curveball in the final episode and she seemingly wound up with Ted. In the first season that would’ve made a lot of sense but as time went on, they drifted apart.
Tracy
The mother. We waited so long to catch a glimpse of her, and boy oh boy was it worth the wait. Tracy was everything we could’ve hoped for and so much more, ticking every single box that Ted wanted.
Of course, that wasn’t the most important piece of the puzzle, because the fact that they fell madly in love is all that really matters. A selfish part of us wishes that we’d had the chance to see them together beyond the final season, but such is the nature of the direction they went in and the outcome they chose.