How I Met Your Mother: 10 Ways The Finale Totally Lived Up To Expectations

6. Barney Has A Satisfying Ending

After divorcing Robin, we saw Barney return full throttle to his pre-Nora state of womanising and staying out all night. Until Ellie came along. And we finally got the touching moment from Barney that had never quite come when he was with Robin. Sure, he promised never to lie to her, but that was after all the deception that led to his proposal and their rehearsal dinner, just to name two, as well as inflicting the Ring Bear (who was, undeniably, adorable) on their wedding without talking to her about it. Barney was still Barney, just turned down a little bit. But it took a lot more than Robin to break Barney, and that turned out to be Ellie - his daughter - the result of Barney's one-night-stand with Number 31, the final score in his Perfect Month. We know nothing more about the mother, and we have no way of knowing whether she and Barney then entered into a relationship or simply shared custody of Ellie, but we do see how parenthood changes Barney: basically into a normal bloke. But it was beautiful. From his tearful rendition of a speech he had earlier mocked to his subsequent advice that two girls in MacLaren's go back home to their parents, Barney finally, truly changed into the compassionate man we always knew he could be. And who was the mysterious Number 31? Some fan theories have pointed towards it being an ex-lover such as Abby or Quinn (there was even a Twitter trend during the show that 31 would turn out to be Robin), but apparently that's not information we (or, rather, Ted's children Penny and Luke) need to know. Perhaps they already know, or perhaps it really doesn't matter because she and Barney never had a subsequent relationship. That's not the important part. The important part is that Barney had a proper send-off, possibly the only satisfying send-off that such a character could have - he finally grew up.