What happened to Ted Mosby after How I Met Your Mother ended? The character, played by Josh Radnor, appeared in all 208 episodes of the sitcom over the course of its nine-year run. Not only was Ted the central character, but he also served as the show's narrator (voiced by Bob Saget).
Ted was portrayed as a hopeless romantic, searching for "The One" over the course of the series. The sitcom revolved around Future Ted's story about how he met the mother of his children. Over the course of his story, many memorable events centering of the lives of Ted and his friends are shown. Ted met Marshall and Lily (Jason Segel and Alyson Hannigan) at college and the trio remained life long friends. Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) also forced his way into the friend group along with Robin (Cobie Smulders), after a brief relationship with Ted.
As time went on, Ted took major steps in his career but he couldn't figure out his romantic life. The architect-turned-professor held on to his optimism but he experienced a few setbacks along the way. For a long time, Ted believed that he and Robin belonged together. He eventually let go of that notion when Robin married Barney. After their wedding, Ted met Tracy (Cristin Milioti), aka the "Mother." All of How I Met Your Mother season 9 provided insight into Ted and Tracy's romantic history, with the series finale tying up many loose ends.
The flash-forward scenes in the future revealed that Ted's romantic gestures paid off with Tracy. The pair were engaged after a year of dating but they wouldn't officially get married for another five years. In that time, Ted and Tracy had two kids, Penny and Luke. Ted also made it a priority to see his friends as much as possible. When he and Tracy had their wedding ceremony, it was Tracy who urged Robin (who had drifted from the gang following her and Barney's divorce) to be there as she understood how much her being there meant for Ted. Unfortunately, Ted suffered a major loss shortly after the wedding when Tracy passed away from an undisclosed illness.
In the How I Met Your Mother series finale, Ted finished his story and his kids realized that Ted still has feelings for Robin. Their mom had been gone for six years already and they wanted their dad to move on so they convinced him to win her back. Ted did just that by using the blue French horn and showing up at her doorstep, just as he had in the pilot. Robin and Barney's marriage only lasted a few years before she fully focused on her career. In that time, she always harbored feelings for Ted. The pair were clearly destined to be together even if it meant going their own direction for a while.
Ted always wanted children but Robin wasn't interested in starting a family. By being with Tracy, she was able to give him something that he always wanted. There's no doubt that he would continue to deeply miss her but he had an opportunity to go back to the girl who he first envisioned would be "The One." It may have been a bittersweet ending for Ted in How I Met Your Mother but he eventually found a new path to happiness.