10 TV Character Deaths That Pissed Off Fans

Despite all the ire these TV deaths caused, you won't find one more universally loathed than that of the titular mother, Tracy (Cristin Milioti), in How I Met Your Mother's series finale.

After eight seasons of speculation, we finally saw the mother for the first time at the end of season eight, after which she became a main character for the remainder of the series.

It seemed like Ted (Josh Radnor) and Tracy's happy ending was quite literally pre-destined, but because there's apparently nothing worse for a series finale to be than predictable, the writers decided to hurl a misguided last-minute curveball at fans.

In the series finale, Ted reveals that, six years prior to the start of the series, Tracy died of an unspecified illness, effectively freeing up Ted to pursue Robin (Cobie Smulders) in the present.

Fans were outraged that Tracy was disposed of so flippantly after two seasons worth of character development, especially as it felt like such a transparent way to get Ted back together with Robin.

The backlash was so severe that an alternate ending was included on the season's DVD release, re-editing scenes and including new narration from Ted that both kept Tracy alive and had Robin never get divorced from Barney (Neil Patrick Harris).

The alternate ending is considered canon by the majority of fans, even if technically the ending that aired is the "real" one.