For weeks now, we've been wrestling with the notion that How I Met Your Mother's "The Mother" might be dead and finally we have our answer. The Mother, Tracy McConnell, did in fact get rather ill and pass away, leaving Ted free and clear to be in love with Robin. We're simultaneously crying and screaming at the same time.
The theories began, of course, during an episode of the series' final season in which Ted and the Mother sit together at the Farhampton Inn for dinner and talk about all of their old stories. Towards the end of the episode, Ted says something about "the kind of mother who would miss her daughter's wedding" and both he and the Mother get choked up when they realize that the statement hits rather close to home. Fans immediately began theorizing that the mother was about to die — likely from terminal cancer — and the outpouring of grief was unstoppable.
However, when the actress who plays the Mother, Christina Millotti, called the theory that her character could die "insane," we were all thrown into a tizzy. Why would the series hint at such an ominous fate — the death of a mother — if that fate would not befall the woman we waited eight seasons to meet? What was the meaning of all this?
Now, we finally know that Ted and the Mother lived happily ever after until she tragically passed away. And we can finally break out the tissues for a heart-wrenching conclusion to this long-running, beloved sitcom — even if we're not all that thrilled about the true ending.
Image: CBS
