Ted Mosby met The Mother on a train platform in Farhampton, then viewers saw their love affair unfold in a brief montage, before her untimely death, thus paving the way for Ted to get back with Robin yet again.
After the finale, fans began posting their own, happier, less dead mother-y edits of the ending online, but it appears that as of this weekend, the official alternate ending to the series has leaked.
UPDATE: FOX have been taking down YouTube clips, including the one embedded, lending a lot of weight to the theory that this alternate ending is the real deal. It shows a montage of all Ted’s former girlfriends, accompanied by a voiceover about how all his various dating adventures led him to meeting Tracy. It then ends with the familiar train platform scene, omitting Tracy’s illness and death, and Future Ted showing up at Future Robin’s apartment to pledge his love yet again.
For now, you’ll just have to make do with this gif instead:
This ending makes less narrative sense, given that the whole point of Ted’s lengthy story is that he’d secretly been in love with the kids’ Aunt Robin all along. Also, it invalidates the hints that the show dropped about The Mother’s impending illness, which inspired a near-meltdown in fans in the weeks leading up to the finale. But still, it’s warm and happy and fuzzy, so we’ll take it and imagine an alternative timeline where Ted and Tracy stayed together.
It seems that this ending will be included as a special feature on the HIMYM Season 9 box set, due out later this month.
