15 Saddest How I Met Your Mother Episodes
How I Met Your Mother was never afraid to break your heart.
How I Met Your Mother was the perfect blend of innocent sitcom fun and top-notch TV drama. As Ted sits his future kids down to tell them the epic tale of how he met their mother, he shares with them (and the audience) touching life lessons, tragic stories of love and loss, and proves never to be afraid of telling the truth - no matter how much it hurts.
Over nine seasons and just over 200 episodes, Ted, Barney, Marshall, Lily and Robin were put through the wringer. Sure, there were good times - the Slap Bet, the Playbook, the interventions and the drunken misadventures - but for every episode of laughs there were two more tales lying in wait, ready to break your heart.
Not afraid to hurt its characters or risk alienating its audiences, How I Met Your Mother was, at its best, a solid slice of drama about life's ups and downs. With this recurring theme came numerous hard-hitting chapters in the gang's tale, from the horrible break-ups, to the intense reunions and the shocking twists.
With that in mind, here are the 15 saddest episodes of How I Met Your Mother. Major spoilers throughout.
15. The End Of The Aisle (Season 9, Episode 20)
After twenty-one episodes, set over one weekend, Barney and Robin were finally married at the Farhampton Inn. But even in the final moments leading to their union, the pair hit some major bumps. Robin panics about the idea of marrying Barney, sure that the fact she never found her long-lost locket is a sign they won't work. Barney, meanwhile, struggles to write his wedding vows.
Watching Robin panic is sad enough, though becomes kind of heartwarming when she (literally) runs into the Mother, who calms her down, but the true kicker of the episode comes in from a side-plot about Marshall and Lily. As Robin and Barney freak out, the show's perfect couple duck out and renew their own vows, each giving sweet and teary-eyed speeches about how much they love each other.
Best of all, Barney sees their vow renewal and it gives him the push he needs to confront Robin about his panic. It's sappy and moving in all the right ways, and is bound to make you tear up.