Reasons Why Robin is Barney's Bride (Part 3)
If you haven't read Parts 1 & 2, you can read them here:
Part 1 (Reasons 1 - 39)
Part 2 (Reasons 40 - 63)
*Warning*: Contains my own theories and speculations on what may happen on HIMYM. Some of my speculations may be proven wrong in upcoming episodes.
My reasons and speculations cover episodes from S1.01 - S7.19.
Reasons Why Robin is Barney’s Bride (Part 3)
64. Becki Newton who plays Quinn has been cast as one of the three leads in a new Fox pilot called “The Goodwin Games.” Craig Thomas, Carter Bays, and Chris Harris created it (Source). She will be needed for this new show so I don’t think she will be available enough next season (in order to be Barney’s bride). Therefore, I think the show will go with a regular, which has to be Robin - the show would want to make sure that the actress who plays the bride is available for next season and a possible season 9.
65. Becki Newton said that she met with the creators of HIMYM six months ago to pitch the character of Quinn to them (Source). This makes me believe Quinn cannot possibly be the bride. Quinn wasn’t even the writers’ idea; there is no way that they had her planned to be the bride from the start of S6 when the whole wedding mystery was revealed on the show. Since the writers had the S7 premiere, the November sweeps episodes, and some of the season finale already written right after S6 ended (Source & Source), I think that points more to Robin being the bride than to Quinn. Quinn wasn’t even created until October or November of 2011.
66. I think there is a reason that there hasn’t been much Barney and Robin interaction on the show ever since the four November sweeps episodes. I think the writers are deliberately keeping them apart so the audience will believe they have both moved on, thereby “shocking” the audience in the season finale when Robin is revealed to be the bride. I think the lack of Barney/Robin scenes is a lead up to something big happening between them in the season finale.
67. I think the door on Ted and Robin together romantically is finally closed forever. In the S7 episode “No Pressure” Robin didn’t close the door to their apartment when she was leaving for Russia. I think that was symbolic of their relationship being unresolved. At the end of the episode, Future Ted says that the door had finally closed on his relationship with Robin and he was no longer holding on to the hope he might end up with her. He said all of this right after we saw Robin close the door to their apartment when she was moving out. I think the whole Ted and Robin drama happening this year and Ted moving on from Robin is because Robin is Barney’s bride. If she isn’t Barney’s bride, why couldn’t the writers address the Ted/Robin stuff next season? Why did it have to be this season? I think the writers had this all go down this season b/c Robin is going to get back together with Barney eventually (even if it isn’t until next season sometime), and Robin will be dating Barney next season leading up to their wedding day where Ted is the best man to both of them. I also think that Ted and Robin are having a falling out right now on the show (Future Ted said they wouldn’t see each other for a really long time in S7’s “The Broath”) b/c the writers want the audience to doubt that Ted would be Robin’s best man in the future. They also want the audience to doubt Ted would tell another man (Barney) that he “nailed it” in picking the “right tie” (Robin) if Ted was so hung up on Robin a year before her wedding. However, I think the scene between Ted and the bride - if it is Robin - would be all the more poignant b/c of all that went down between them this season. We would see that they are back to being best friends again. I think that would be a nice way to end the season.
68. At the end of S7’s “No Pressure,” Lily tells Marshall to pay up b/c Robin and Ted will never end up together, but Marshall says “not yet.” I think this is a clue that Robin is Barney’s bride. Marshall wouldn’t even pay up on Ted’s wedding day to Stella. He probably won’t pay up until he hears the “I do’s.” Lily won’t see her money until Marshall sees either Robin or Ted get married and actually go through with the whole wedding. I don’t think we will ever see Ted marry the Mother on this show, but if Robin is Barney’s bride, then we will see that played out on the show b/c Ted meets the Mother on the day of the wedding. I think Marshall will finally pay Lily when Robin says “I do” to marrying Barney b/c that’s the point when Marshall will feel it’s been confirmed that Ted and Robin will never end up together. I think the writers purposefully put Marshall’s “not yet” line in the episode so that it could be a callback on the wedding day episode (if Robin is Barney’s bride). Marshall won’t know it at the time, but his paying up that day is significant on another level as well (a double meaning unbeknownst to him) b/c Ted will be meeting his soulmate (The Mother) that same day (doubly ensuring Ted won’t end up with Robin).
69. In S7’s “The Drunk Train,” I think Robin saying “yes” to Kevin’s wedding proposal was supposed to be seen as Robin not being afraid of commitment anymore. She told Ted at the end of the episode that she was finally ready for something serious but Kevin couldn’t get past her not wanting kids. The writers intended Robin’s “yes” to be viewed as character growth. It’s also meant to make the audience buy Robin being revealed as Barney’s bride at the end of the season b/c she is no longer against getting married someday.
70. In S7’s “The Drunk Train,” Kevin broke up with Robin b/c she doesn’t want kids. She later tells Ted everything that happened and why, and asks Ted “who would want this?” (referring to herself). Earlier in that same episode, Robin tells Marshall and Lily her infertility secret. The only character on the show who doesn’t know Robin’s secret is Barney. I think there is a reason why Barney is the only one who doesn’t know about Robin’s infertility. I think the writers are saving Barney finding out about Robin’s infertility until the end of the season. I think when Barney finds out about it, he will tell Robin he doesn’t care about having kids; he would much rather be childless and with her than not be with her at all. I don’t think Barney has a deep desire to be a father anyway; the writers said this same thing when asked if Robin’s infertility would be a deal-breaker for Barney. Craig Thomas said, "We don't look at that as a singular deal-breaker for Barney and Robin at all. Barney wants to have kids in a very hypothetical sense. He thinks having kids will be cool. He made fun of that baby for pooping in its diaper. He may not be totally ready to be a dad. Barney, deep down, doesn't know what he wants” (Source).
71. In S7’s “No Pressure,” Lily tells Ted that there must be a reason he hasn’t gotten back together with Robin in the past five years and asks him what is standing in the way. The scene then cuts to Barney looking for Marshall and Lily’s sex tape. I think this cut was a deliberate way for the show to say: it’s Barney who has been standing in the way of the Ted/Robin relationship. A little later in the episode, Future Ted says that he realized what was standing in the way of he and Robin getting back together and then Present Ted blurts out to Barney that “Robin is in love with you.” I don’t understand the point in Ted coming to this realization if it doesn’t lead anywhere. Ted even voices this to Robin by saying it is b/c of Barney that she doesn’t want to get back together with him. I think maybe Ted will have something to do with Barney and Robin getting back together b/c he realizes that they are in love with each other. It would explain why Ted takes his best man duties very seriously and why he wants the whole day to be perfect. If Ted had a hand in Barney and Robin getting back together, it also could explain why he would cry during his best man toast (besides the fact that they are two of his best friends).
72. In S7’s “No Pressure,” Ted tells Barney that “Robin is in love with you.” Barney responds by saying Robin isn’t in love with him, but he never says that he isn’t in love with Robin. He tells Ted that he doesn’t care that Robin is single b/c she doesn’t feel the same way about him. He also says Ted can go ahead and get back together with her. He says if Ted makes Robin happy then that makes him happy. I think this shows selfless love. Robin demonstrated this same type of love towards Barney at the beginning of the season (S7’s “The Stinson Missile Crisis”) when she decided not to try and break Barney and Nora up after she took Ted’s advice that “Bottom line, I realized that sometimes love means taking a step back…If you care about somebody, you should want them to be happy, even if you wind up being left out.” I also think the writers are trying to fool viewers into thinking that Barney has moved on from Robin so when she is revealed to be the bride in the season finale they will be surprised.
73. In S7’s “Karma,” Robin says to Ted that Marshall and Lily realized deep down that Long Island wasn’t the right fit. Ted replies that “it is hard to admit that sometimes…but it is better to face it and move on than to try to force something that wasn’t meant to be.” In this scene, Ted and Robin are admitting that they are not right for each other. I think “forcing something that wasn’t meant to be” is what Robin was doing with Kevin and what Barney was doing with Nora (and is now trying to do with Quinn). Ted and Robin’s conversation reminds me of Barney telling Ted in S4’s “The Leap”:
“Say you and I went suit shopping and you happened upon a beautiful suit, a beautiful Canadian suit…You try it on, but it’s not exactly the right fit for you so you put it back. Then I try it on. I don’t really wanna take the same suit you had your eye on, but, at the same time, I really like that suit.”
In this quote, Barney is saying that Robin is the right fit for him, but she wasn’t exactly the right fit for Ted. Ted doesn’t argue with Barney’s assessment and later (in S7’s “Karma”) he (Ted) comes to exactly the same conclusion. I think Robin is Barney’s “right fit” and vice versa. I think any other relationships they try to have with other people is just them trying to force something that isn’t there. This makes me think Robin is Barney’s bride b/c they don’t have to force a relationship between them, and I seriously doubt deep down that either one of them has truly moved on.
74. I found what Carter Bays said in a recent interview to be very interesting: "Barney and Robin are so in love…They are doomed as a relationship in some ways because they are both so messed up. But part of this show is them taking themselves apart and rebuilding themselves. We're seeing them learn how to move past everything that screwed them up in the past and make this work for real” (Source). This is interesting to me b/c both Robin and Barney describe themselves as messed up in the S7 episode “Tick, Tick, Tick,” but they didn’t get back together in that episode. I think the writers want them to work on themselves separately before they can make a relationship work between them for real. I don’t see why Carter would say all this (including that these two characters need to rebuild themselves to make a relationship work for real) if Robin isn’t Barney’s bride. This quote makes me believe that Barney and Robin are endgame and that Robin will be revealed to be the bride by the end of the season.
75. S7’s “The Drunk Train” was Kevin’s last episode and Quinn’s first. I think this reinforces the whole timing theme this season in the Barney/Robin relationship. When one is single, the other one isn’t. I think by the end of the season Barney and Robin will finally have their timing right and Robin will be revealed to be the bride. What’s happening with Barney and Robin right now on the show is exactly what Robin said in S7’s “The Best Man”: “If you have chemistry, you only need one other thing: timing, but timing’s a bitch.” The writers are purposefully keeping Barney and Robin apart this season in order for the bride reveal to be more shocking when Robin is revealed to be the bride.
76. One of the things that made Barney and Robin not work during their first attempt at a relationship was Barney missing his old womanizing life (as witnessed at the end of S5’s “The Sexless Innkeeper”). Immediately following Barney and Robin’s break-up, Barney went back to his old lifestyle, even resorting to some of his worst schemes from his Playbook to pick up chicks (S5’s “The Playbook). I think the character of Quinn was created to teach Barney a lesson about how horrible he treated the women he played. There is a reason Quinn’s stripper name is Karma. I don’t think we’ve seen the end of her playing Barney b/c towards the end of S7’s “Karma,” when Barney runs into Quinn at the coffee shop, Future Ted says that Barney couldn’t escape karma. I think this was a clever way of saying karma is not done with Barney yet. Barney needs to be truly remorseful about how he treated the women he played and realize it was wrong in order for him to never want to return to that lifestyle again. If Barney and Robin are to make their relationship “work for real” the second time around, then Barney can’t want to go running back to his old ways. I just feel like this is something the writers want to “fix” about Barney if he is to get married. This might not be a reason why Robin is the bride, but I think there is a reason why the writers are referring to both of them right now as such messes who need to rebuild themselves.
77. In S7’s “The Broath,” Barney and Quinn decide to move in together. At the end of the episode, Quinn tells Barney that she would give up stripping if she ever got married. I think Quinn is a bride red herring, just like Punchy’s upcoming wedding was a wedding red herring last season. I think the writers are having the Barney/Quinn relationship move way too fast, way too soon b/c they want to play up the bride mystery. They want the general audience to believe that Quinn might be a real possibility for Barney’s bride. They also want the audience to believe that Barney has moved on from Robin b/c he seems happy with Quinn now. They want the audience to think the chapter on Barney and Robin is over forever when really that’s not the case at all, but the exact opposite. I think the show is going to try and make the audience think Quinn is the bride from now until the finale. However, I'm confident that when the bride is revealed in the finale, she will be Robin. There is no way the bride will be Quinn b/c it wouldn't be "shocking" for the bride to be revealed as Barney's current girlfriend. Even if Barney proposes to Quinn in the present, the wedding takes place in the future, so I think the bride will be someone other than Quinn -- namely Robin. Quinn is just a bride red herring. If Quinn is the bride, then why are the writers rushing Barney and Quinn’s relationship right now? Why not slow things down a bit between them if she is going to be around next season? The writers have skipped the build-up in the Barney/Quinn relationship, which I think points to the fact she is not the bride and Robin is.
78. In S7’s “The Broath,” Robin has a bright yellow coat that is placed in the background in the scenes at Quinn’s apartment and later Robin hangs it up once she returns to Marshall and Lily’s apartment. This coat is very similar to her yellow raincoat in S7’s “Disaster Averted.” (See reason #16 for the significance of Robin’s yellow raincoat.) I think there is a reason the writers decided to have that yellow coat belong to Robin in this episode, especially considering she is never actually seen wearing it in any of those scenes. The coat is very visible throughout the scenes at Quinn’s apartment. The framing of the yellow coat seems pretty deliberate. It’s a bright coat and really draws attention. If there is no significance to the coat, I think it would be kept out of the shot to avoid it distracting some viewers from the action. Barney is getting very serious with Quinn in this episode, so I think Robin having the yellow coat with her is a clue she is the bride despite how serious things might appear between Barney and Quinn. The writers are trying to tell diehard fans who analyze this show that what is being presented on the surface isn’t necessarily what is going on under the surface. On the surface we see Barney being happy with Quinn and, by the end of the episode, considering marriage to her. Beneath the surface we are being told something different. What is happening in the present is not going to be the actual future outcome. Therefore, Quinn will not end up being Barney’s bride, but instead Robin will be revealed as the bride. Robin is placed in the background during Barney and Quinn’s fake fight scene. I think this scene was staged intentionally for Robin to be the only character we see back there. I think there has to be a reason the director staged that scene that way.
79. While S7’s “The Broath” set up a possible Barney/Quinn marriage (which I think was an obvious red herring), it also provided some subtle hints that Robin is not over Barney and is his future bride. First, Robin takes a long swig of her beer after Ted tells the gang that Barney says he and Quinn have mind-blowing sex together. Second, Robin’s expression in the background during Barney and Quinn’s fake fight seems for a second a bit hopeful that they might break up. Third, Robin confronts Ted about she and Ted not being friends anymore and how Ted won’t even look her in the eye now, which is exactly the same situation she finds herself in with Barney. After the gang takes the broath towards the end of the episode, Barney looks toward Robin and she averts her eyes so as not to look him directly in the eyes. And finally, Robin doesn’t hug Barney when Barney and Quinn announce they are moving in together. All the rest of the gang hugs Barney though. After she hugs Quinn, Robin looks really sad for a moment before Quinn addresses Robin and Ted about her available apartment. These things are all very subtle, but I think they are there for the observant viewer to pick up on and use to see that right now things are not what they superficially appear to be between Barney and Robin. Robin has not completely moved on from Barney. Also, I wonder if what Future Ted said about he (Ted) and Robin not seeing each other for a long time has to do with more than just the Ted/Robin fallout, but with the Barney/Robin fallout as well (fallout that the writers haven’t really addressed yet on the show). There has to be a reason why the writers have kept Barney and Robin from interacting since what happened between them during November sweeps. Robin might start avoiding the gang, or at least Ted and Barney, b/c she doesn’t want to see Barney happy with Quinn. She will probably use the excuse that she is just really busy at work now that she has been promoted.
Part 4 (Reasons 80 - 91). This entry also includes some theories in support of Robin being Barney’s future bride.