Unpacking HIMYM fan theories

Piggybacking off of last week’s episode, I thought it might be fun to delve further into some of the fan theories I’ve seen over the years & see if there’s any validity to them in order to either bunk or debunk them once & for all. So let’s jump right in, shall we?

Ok, so the first one I saw is that big fudge killed tracy just to win the bet. Now putting aside the fact that he is a man of integrity, not to mention a lawyer & later a judge, I don’t think this theory has any legs to it. It just seems very unlikely. I mean first of all, we don’t know exactly what the cod even was; it’s never confirmed because evidently the writers didn’t think it was relevant to the story. However, based on the fact that she was in the hospital, it obviously wasn’t a physical murder. Of course, he could’ve still poisoned her but there are a lot of different types of poison (each of which takes a different amount of time to kill a person) & we don’t know how long she was in the hospital prior to death so it’s tough to prove he had a hand in any of this. In any case, murdering someone just to win $5 that were already yours in the first place is one of the most ridiculous things I’ve ever heard & like i said, he’s a good man (although I wouldn’t put it past swarley to try something like that). Plus, keep in mind even if he had found a way to kill her & get off scot-free, that was still no guarantee he would end up with robin anyway. So while it’s definitely an intriguing theory, it’s almost certainly a false one. But I love how creative the fans often get with these theories & find them fun to read.

Then one of the most popular is dr. x exaggerated just how bad swarley was because he was his competition for robin. Now I do think there is a bit of credence to this as he does frequently forget or misremember things throughout the series. However, I definitely don’t think he was exactly a saint either. Don’t forget he himself was also a bit of jerk at times throughout the series so it wouldn’t make sense for him to lie about how bad swarhili is if he didn’t intend on making himself look like mother tereasa. So maybe he used hyperbole on occasion in regards to swarles barkley but i don’t think he fabricated his entire personality. We even see in the future, the character’s personalities are pretty much all the same (although we never actually see old swarles in the future/present).

Piggybacking off of that, there’s another theory that he doesn’t even exist & dr. x just made him up to keep the kid’s attention. Now this one was pretty interesting but I don’t think there’s any validity to it. I mean I think the mere fact that he pops up on how i met your father definitely debunks it. I guess you could try & make the argument that two different people are making up the exact same character but I can pretty much guarantee you would lose that argument. Not to mention if he were making him up just to keep the kids interested, why would he give him a character arc where he becomes duller & less interesting over time? So I’m placing this one firmly in camp debunk.

& finally, the only other theory that I think has any merit to it is the only reason he’s telling this story to his kids is because he’s terminal. I honestly don’t have any opinions either way on this but there does seem to be evidence to support this. I mean it’s clear throughout the series, he’s not just telling the story; he’s also using it as an opportunity to teach the kids life lessons. That being said, I don’t think this one holds much weight. I mean for one thing, I don’t think he would’ve been nearly as inclined to get back with robin if he knew his days were numbered. I mean it’s possible he just wants to spend however much time he has left with the one but I would think the main priority there would be getting your affairs in order. Not to mention the odds of both him & tracy having some sort of terminal illness is astronomical. But either way, it doesn’t change my viewing experience of it. I’m just glad he got his happy ending & hope we all are able to follow suit.

PS. If you’re interested, I’ll leave a link to the other theories people have thrown out over the years but like I said, most of them are dumb & have already been disproven: https://www.ranker.com/list/dark-how-i-met-your-mother-fan-theories/saim-cheeda