List of How I Met Your Mother characters
The main characters are: Ted Mosby, a romantic searching for "The One"; Barney Stinson, a womanizer; Robin Scherbatsky, a journalist who moved to New York in 2005; and Marshall Eriksen and Lily Aldrin, a long-term couple. Although the show is based around The Mother, her first appearance is not until the season eight finale.
List of How I Met Your Mother characters
Played by Frances Conroy, Loretta is Barney's mother. Prior to her first proper appearance, she appeared from the neck down voiced by Megan Mullally in "Single Stamina" and "Showdown". Loretta had a very promiscuous lifestyle and neither Barney nor James know who their real fathers are until they are adults. She also tends to tell ridiculous lies to her sons to cover up bad news, such as saying Barney's father is Bob Barker. So that his mother would not worry about him, Barney hired actors to pretend to be his family; when he is forced to reveal the truth in "The Stinsons", Loretta is not upset. She returns in "Cleaning House": the gang go to her home as she is planning to move. Though she had hidden the identities of James and Barney's fathers so that she could be both mother and father to them, she eventually discloses who both of their fathers are.