For someone who’s as commitment-loving as Ted Mosby, the architect narrator of How I Met Your Mother has dated an awful lot of people, trying to find Ms Right. A lot of fans have criticized Ted for being a gaslighter and for manipulating love interests and using them as stepping stones for his character's inner growth, and the narrative of the show certainly does give him a lot of room for self-glorification.
Ted has dated a lot of incredible women and a few not-so-great ones, and quite a few with really low IQs, and has pretty judged them all for not being as intellectually gifted and for not loving Star Wars as much as he had hoped.
Becky
Broadcaster Becky was perhaps the least smart of all of Ted’s exes; though Ted only dated her very briefly, fans were shocked that the cerebral Ted would be drawn to someone like her. But as it is explored on the show, Becky’s little girl act was depicted as a dude magnet which made all kinds of men vulnerable to her charms. But Becky was decidedly quite foolish as evidenced by the song she made up, titled ‘Boats, boas, boats.’ Her immature act is also the reason why Robin hates Becky as she also takes over her spot on her show.
Karen
Though Karen was depicted as a snobbish, possibly blue-blooded ex who looked down upon Ted’s friends, upon further reflection Karen comes across as not so bright and just out of touch. Karen pretended to not know about commonplace items like TV or bunk beds and despised anything regular people her age like, but it just goes to show that she was really unaware as she didn’t realize how bizarre her pretentiousness made her look.
Karen is not unintelligent in the conventional sense because she’s quite sneaky and has adapted certain manipulative social tools to navigate her relationships but she’s just not self-aware in any way.
Carly
Carly was mainly used as a plot device to convey how Ted was growing older and was not looking to date twenty-something girlfriends anymore since they may not have much in common at all. But even by millennial standards, Carly is really shallow and vacuous. Her idea of a good time is simply nightclub hopping and roller skated everywhere and behaved like a wannabe hipster. Plus she seemed to have no conception of the real world as she asked Ted if he was in Vietnam and had pretty silly tastes.
Blah Blah
Blah Blah's probably was she was so forgettable that Ted didn’t even remember her name. The only thing that wasn’t forgettable about her character was her sense of insecurity since she was jealous of Robin and made no secret of it.
In fact, any statement Robin made, Blah Blah thought she was doing it to put Blah Blah down which was bizarre and yet quite hysterical. She was also really bad at reading a room and made everyone quite uncomfortable with her pettiness.
Cathy
On the show Cathy’s claim to fame was that she was a chatterbox, she could go on talking for hours without stopping, jumping subject to subject. Not only does she not realize she has a problem but is also very bad at reading a situation. She also proves that she is not self-aware at all and works hard to not acknowledge her own flaw. For instance, when Ted meets her after many years he sees that she is engaged to a deaf guy, which would mean Cathy decided to settle down with a man who will never come to realize that she has a problem.
Royce
Royce came in Ted’s life at a really sad and sensitive point when he wasn’t in a great place emotionally and also had some self-esteem issues. He was dumped by Stella who chose her ex husband over him and Ted even became the bad guy of Stella’s husband blockbuster film The Wedding Bride. And even though Royce came across as a seemingly pleasant person who was willing to help Ted out with his post breakup blues, she had quite a few hang-ups of her own.
Not only had she been left at the altar three times but she also had a debilitating gambling addiction and shared a bed with her brother at a tiny studio apartment. But what really makes her foolish is that she doesn’t think any of these are problematic as she bluntly admits them to Ted one by one without realizing that it would freak anyone out.
Zoey
Zoey was a huge fan favorite but she wasn’t exactly the brightest; she also just had messed up priorities. Even her activism, which she swore by and was seemingly so passionate about, was just a way to kill time because she didn’t want to be known as a rich, bored housewife. But most importantly, she was indecisive, she couldn’t seem to make up her mind about what she really wants or deal with to change all that well, or even leave her comfort zone and acknowledge the reality.
Stella
Stella wasn’t exactly the best person: she had deceived Ted and had lied to him about getting back together with her ex husband. She even let her husband make a film about their story and use Ted as a pathetic plot device, but Stella also had a sense of self-awareness and she also had a healthy sense of boundaries.
Stella hadn’t had sex in five years and knew it may be a big deal to some men and immediately admits it to ted because she didn’t want to keep secrets. She valued transparency because she was a single, working mum who couldn’t afford to take risks with her dating life and also couldn’t afford being carried away in love.
Robin
To be fair, Robin is a pretty terrible decision-maker but she’s sharp and perhaps the most worldly person on the squad. In terms of intelligence Robin is definitely quite gifted but she’s exceptionally intuitive when it comes to her friends. Robin is also a great ally and it is because she was so good at reading a situation or de-escalating a sensitive situation and knew exactly how to offer support, and often went against her own beliefs so she could make life easier for her friends. Even more than her intelligence, her social acumen was definitely noteworthy.
Victoria
The reason why Ted was so drawn to Victoria was because they are very alike; Victoria is shrewd, sorted and knows how to handle tricky personal situations, although she’s not the most confrontational person. She was definitely smart because she could see that Ted felt very strongly about Robin and had lingering feelings for her. However, she wasn’t a bitter person, and though he gave Ted an ultimatum that he should break ties with Robin if he wanted to be with her, she didn’t harbor any bitterness for Ted when he chose Robin in the end.