How I Met Your Mother: Each Main Character Ranked From Worst To Best

Sitcoms are built on great characters. Their humour, likability, development and flaws are what drive the show forward and decide whether the series is going to work or not.

How I Met Your Mother, aside from being frequently hilarious, (mostly) well written and a clever blend of comedy and drama, is elevated beyond other shows of its kind by a group of well-drawn, messed-up, funny characters. Following the exploits of Ted, Marshall, Robin, Lily and Barney made the show an absolute blast, and seeing each of them change and grow was the best part of the overall story.

As a whole, none of them are perfect people, but in many respects that's the point. From a character standpoint, How I Met Your Mother was actually quite realistic when it came to creating flawed, imperfect characters, whilst still making them all likable and easy to root for despite their biggest mistakes.

For this list, focus will be on the show's six main players, so people like Ranjit, the Eriksen Family, the Captain and Carl the Bartender will not be included here. From the entertaining womaniser to the hopeless romantic narrator, here are all the main characters of How I Met Your Mother ranked worst to best.

Before we begin, it's best to get one thing clear: There are no bad characters in this show. Unfortunately, someone has to sit at the bottom of the pile, and for this list, that someone is Robin Scherbatsky.

Smart and career-driven, Robin starts the show as Ted's main love interest before becoming one of his closest friends and an integral member of the main gang. She has many great qualities, often seen being a good friend to the others, and she can be incredibly funny when the writing is working for her.

But therein lies the problem - the writing lets her down as the show goes on. Her reactions to Barney's relationships after they break up see her as self-involved and possessive, and her treatment of side characters like Patrice and Loretta paint her in a terrible light. She also spends a lot of time mocking Marshall and Lily for their relationship rituals and she leads Ted on. All. The. Time.

She may have been funny, well acted, entertaining, tough and compelling in the big moments, but she ends up being the most unlikable and out of place member of the gang by the show's end.