Barney Stinson

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Barney Stinson
Jerome Whittaker (father)
Cheryl Whittaker (step-mother)
James Stinson (maternal half-brother)
Jerome "J. J." Whittaker, Jr. (paternal half-brother)
Carly Whittaker
(paternal half-sister)
Spouse
​
​
(m. 2013; div. 2016)​
(broadcast ending)
​
​
(m. 2013; div. 2016)​
​
​
(m. 2020)​
(Alternate DVD ending)
ChildrenEllie Stinson (daughter, born 2020)
RelativesTom (brother-in-law)
Eli Stinson (nephew)
Sadie Stinson (niece)
Leslie (cousin)
NationalityAmerican / Quarter Canadian

Barnabus Stinson is a fictional character portrayed by Neil Patrick Harris and created by Carter Bays and Craig Thomas for the CBS television series How I Met Your Mother (2005–2014).

One of the show's main characters, Barney is known for his brash, manipulative and opinionated personality. He is a womanizer known for his love of expensive suits, laser tag, and Scotch whisky. The character uses many 'plays' in his 'playbook' to help him have sex with women. In later seasons, he has a few serious relationships, then marries, divorces, and has a child with an unnamed woman from a one-night stand, and then marries the same woman again (as implied in the alternate ending). Barney's catchphrases included "Suit up!", “Go for Barney”, "What up?!", "Stinson out", "Legendary", "Wait for it" (often combining the two as "legen—wait for it—dary!"), "Daddy's home", "Haaaaave you met Ted", “True story”, “That’s the dream!”, "Challenge accepted", and "I only have one rule." (that one rule is constantly changing).

Critics have praised the character and credited Harris’ performance for much of the show's success. Barney is considered the show's

breakout character.[3]

Development

The show's creators envisioned Barney as what Bays later described as a "large,

dive roll, accidentally knocking over a chair and slamming into a wall in the process. CBS executives enjoyed his playing and soon offered Harris the part.[5] The character is named for a heroin dealer in the James Ellroy novel L.A. Confidential.[citation needed
]

Character

Barney Stinson is one of five main characters on

hypocritical) opinion.[5] Throughout the earlier seasons, Barney is a huge womanizer, and has been described as a "high-functioning sociopath" by his best friend, Ted Mosby (Josh Radnor). Barney has a plethora of strategies and rules designed to meet women, sleep with them, and discard them.[5] Through several seasons of the show, four of the main characters are couples, as Ted began dating Robin Scherbatsky (Cobie Smulders) and Ted's roommate Marshall Eriksen (Jason Segel) becomes engaged and later married to Lily Aldrin (Alyson Hannigan
). This leaves Barney the only single character, and, according to Harris, Barney is "resentful" that the other characters have paired up. Later on, in season 5, he dates Robin. They end up breaking up not long after, once they both realize they are making one another miserable.

Harris describes Barney as a man who "likes to create crazy situations and then sit back and watch it all go down."[6] He is an opportunist who manipulates any situation so that it goes his way. He is also highly competitive, and will take on "challenges" to complete outlandish tasks in order to prove his worth by often announcing "Challenge Accepted". He is proud and stubborn, and attempts to stand by his word no matter what. In "I Heart NJ", for example, he refuses to put down his fist unless someone offers him a fist bump. By the end of the episode, he has the same fist elevated in a sling after struggling to keep his fist up throughout the episode. In "Lucky Penny", when the others do not believe that he can run the New York City Marathon the next day without training, Barney immediately agrees to do so. Although he succeeds, he is unable to walk afterwards. Although he thinks of himself as worldly, Barney is sometimes extremely naive, believing many lies his mother told him well into adulthood, such as believing that Bob Barker is his father.

Barney, like Harris himself, is an

Intervention". Barney uses magic tricks mostly to pick up women. His most common method of picking up women is telling them elaborate lies about himself, often using an alias. Many of his schemes for picking up women are in a book he has written called "The Playbook", which is exposed in the episode "The Playbook
". He has commitment issues, as evidenced in his reluctance to put a label on his relationship with Robin and the fact that she is one of the few women he has actually dated since the show started.

Barney is very well-connected and is the most affluent member of the group. He frequently buys expensive items—such as a last-minute plane ticket to San Francisco, thousands of dollars in postage stamps, or two televisions specifically for smashing in frustration—in the spur of the moment. He is also something of a

Chinese Triad, and "Monday Night Football
".

Although The Early Show described him as "Utterly devoid of morality", Barney lives by the "Bro Code", his own code of ethics.[7] Despite his overall questionable character, according to creator Craig Thomas, Barney is "a pretty fragile character who's really afraid of being alone. He just wants people to like him, to be important to people, and to have disciples who follow his word."[8] He has displayed a softer, kinder side on several occasions, however, such as preventing Marshall from sleeping with other women when he and Lily break up, and persuading Lily to come back to Marshall.

In "The Slutty Pumpkin Returns", Barney finds out he is one-quarter Canadian due to his grandmother's Canadian ancestry, much to his horror and embarrassment.

Throughout the series, one major character development is apparent in Barney: At the beginning of the show, his character is a womanizer who completely objectifies sex and women and wants nothing to do with dating and relationships. Although he does date Robin in Season 5, he resumes his promiscuous lifestyle immediately after they break up. In Seasons 6 and 7, however, he begins to confront his personal issues, like his relationship with his estranged father and his fear of commitment. By the time late Season 7 rolls around, Barney has finally "grown up," and has now warmed to the idea of a commitment and marriage, culminating in his proposal to his girlfriend, Quinn. Although he briefly retreats to his escapades after he and Quinn break up, he does make one major final leap in his maturity when he burns The Playbook and proposes to Robin in Season 8's two-part episode "The Final Page," after finally admitting to himself that he is still in love with her. Robin accepts and they plan their wedding in the second half of the season.

The final season revolves around Barney and Robin's wedding weekend. After some apprehension on both their parts, they get married in "

The End of the Aisle" after he vows to always be honest with her. The series finale, "Last Forever", reveals that, three years after their wedding, they get divorced because Robin's hectic travel schedule prevents them from spending any time together. Barney returns to a lifestyle of meaningless sex with multiple women for several years afterward, reasoning that if he could not form a lasting relationship with Robin it was not going to happen with anyone else, until he gets one of his one-night stands pregnant. He hates the idea of being a father until the day his child – a girl named Ellie – is born. He falls in love with her at first sight and becomes a devoted father, turning away from his player lifestyle for good. The series' alternate ending implies that following Ted's wedding, Barney and Robin eventually got back together.[9]

At the end of "Daddy", the second season premiere of spinoff How I Met Your Father, which takes place in 2022, main character Sophie Tompkins (Hilary Duff) hits Barney's car (with a license plate reading "LGNDRY", a nod to his catchphrase, "Legendary"). He has attempted to stop womanizing by telling every woman he meets that he is "in recovery" and apologizing if he tricked them into having sex with him at some point in the past; he also wears an ankle bracelet that delivers an electric shock every time he says something sexually inappropriate. He bonds with Sophie over growing up without a father, and inspires her to start looking for hers.[10]

Childhood and family

A few references have been offered to identify Barney's birthday: In "

Columns" set in 2007, Barney gives his age as 31, further confirming his birth year is 1976. In "The Drunk Train
" Marshall states Barney is a Scorpio which places his birthday between October 23 and November 21, 1976.

He was raised in

Showdown", he appears on The Price Is Right with the intention of naming Barker as his father on national television until he panics at the last minute and cannot go through with it. As a child, Barney was terrible at sports, and from various episodes, it is shown he had few friends (one scene shows that no one attended his birthday party). In the episode "The Leap
," Lily reveals that Barney planned on being a violinist when he was young.

In "Natural History", Barney finds out that a man named Jerome Whittaker, whom Barney believed to be his uncle, signed a form claiming to be Barney's father. Barney finally meets Jerome (John Lithgow) again in the episode "Legendaddy" and learns that he is in fact his father. Upon meeting, Jerome feels pressured to act like the hard-partying womanizer he once was in order to impress Barney, and also because Barney refuses to see him any other way. Barney eventually breaks down and accuses Jerome of walking out on him. Jerome, who can offer no excuse, apologizes and pleads with Barney to allow him to be a part of his life. Later in the sixth season, in "Hopeless", Jerome tries to impress Barney by acting like his old self, but later reveals he was just pretending. Barney, nevertheless, willingly listens to advice from Jerome about settling down. Barney also learns of his Canadian heritage, when he finds out that Jerome's mother was born in Manitoba.

Barney has three half-siblings: James (played by

Okay Awesome
".

Education

Throughout the series Barney has claimed to have attended MIT; In the final season, Barney explains that MIT is an acronym for the Magicians Institute of Teaneck, not the

Atlantic City", Barney learned at least conversational Korean, both Mandarin and Cantonese, Japanese, as well as some French. He's also spoken Ukrainian (actually Russian) to his tailor. His musical skills include playing the drums, piano and violin, dancing the tango, and singing. He is also skilled at juggling and laser tag
.

Adult life prior to 2005 ("Pilot")

"

better source needed
]

Barney is also revealed to have had a

Atlantic City" that he lost his entire life savings playing a Chinese game. He has also apparently lost every one of his many bets on the Super Bowl. He will go to any lengths to win a bet, even if it takes one year for just $10.[14]

In the series (2005–2014)

While Barney's softer, more generous side is not often apparent,

Quinn Garvey and Robin Scherbatsky
. He is also known to write a blog.[15] In an allusion to Harris' role in Doogie Howser, M.D., the music played during his blogging sessions is the theme song from the show.

Career

Throughout the series, Barney frequently refuses to say what he does for a living, brushing off any questions about his job with a dismissive "Please."

Barney is apparently quite wealthy, He lives in an

Imperial Stormtrooper costume from the Star Wars films.[16] Barney is also shown to be a fan of the rock groups AC/DC, Van Halen and Bon Jovi
.

In his blog, he writes that he is the Director of WHO DID THIS.

Happily Ever After", Barney states to a woman that he is an "Attorney in Law", though this was probably just part of a pick-up line as he immediately followed it with "Let's talk about getting you off". His video resume was published in Season 4 episode "The Possimpible".[19]
In a season 8 episode, it was implied that the full extent of Barney's career might never be revealed.

In the Season 9 episode "Unpause", he drunkenly reveals that his job is to "Provide Legal Exculpation And Sign Everything" (P.L.E.A.S.E.), setting him up to be the fall guy for his company's nefarious activities. Unknown to his company, he has been conspiring with the federal government as part of a long-term plan to get revenge on his boss, who stole his girlfriend prior to the start of the series.

Friends

Ted Mosby

Ted is Barney's self-proclaimed best friend and "wing man". They meet in 2001 at MacLaren's, and Barney takes it upon himself to "teach Ted how to live". While Ted is often annoyed by Barney's antics, he considers him a good friend, and in "Miracles," says that Barney is like a brother to him. Their friendship has been tested, however; in "The Goat", Ted finds out that Barney and Robin slept together and ends their friendship, and refuses to speak to him for several episodes. In the third-season finale, "Miracles", however, Ted forgives Barney after Barney severely injures himself while trying to help him. They remain an important part of each other's lives for the rest of the series, with Barney comforting Ted after he is left at the altar in "Shelter Island" and Ted teaching Barney how to be a good boyfriend to Robin in "Robin 101". Ted is the best man at Barney's wedding, and, along with the other main characters, is present for the birth of his child.[2]

Marshall Eriksen

Barney meets Marshall around the same time as Ted, and takes it upon himself to give Marshall unwanted advice on picking up women. While Marshall makes fun of Barney's promiscuity and ethical lapses, however, Barney has helped him many times throughout the series. For example, Barney gets him an internship at Altrucell in "

The End of the Aisle
".

Lily Aldrin

Barney makes many unwelcome sexual advances toward Lily throughout the series, and frequently implies that Lily is secretly attracted to him, despite all evidence to the contrary. Nevertheless, he considers Lily a confidante, seeking her advice on winning Robin over and telling her deeply personal secrets, such as his failed ambition to be a concert violinist. He also admires her skill at lying and manipulating people, considering it to be on par with his own. While Lily calls Barney "the world's biggest pervert" and a "womanizing creep", she also considers him one of her best friends. Throughout the series, it is evident that while Barney is good friends with Ted and Marshall, Lily is really the one who helps him most as a person. Along with the other main characters, Lily is present for the birth of Barney's daughter.[2]

Romantic relationships

Robin Scherbatsky

Barney and Robin start out as friends, but he falls in love with her after they impulsively sleep together in "

The End of the Aisle". The series finale, "Last Forever", reveals that, after three years of marriage, they get divorced because Robin's work schedule prevents them from spending any time together. They do not see each other again for several years, until Ted's wedding;[2] the series' alternate ending implies that following Ted's wedding, Barney and Robin eventually got back together. This shows that Barney always loved Robin and always will as she is the one who got him to settle down in the first place and that it is never too late for them.[9]

Others

Barney has two other serious girlfriends throughout the series: Nora (Nazanin Boniadi), on whom he cheats with Robin, and ends the relationship with in hopes Robin would do the same with her boyfriend at the time, Kevin. However, he is left broken hearted when he finds out that Robin chose to stay with Kevin. The other serious relationship of Barney was with Quinn (Becki Newton), a stripper to whom he proposes, but with whom he breaks up upon realizing that they do not trust each other.

Appearances outside How I Met Your Mother

In 2008, the book The Bro Code, ostensibly written by Barney, was published. Three other books ostensibly written by Barney, Bro on the Go (2009), The Playbook (2010), and Bro Code for Parents: What to Expect When You're Awesome (2012), were also published.

In 2010, Barney was featured in a

Super Bowl commercial that showed him in the stands at the Super Bowl with a sign stating "Hey Ladies Call Barney Stinson 1-877-987-6401." A recorded message by Neil Patrick Harris was played if the number was dialed.[20]

Catchphrases

In the show's

high-fives" for every occasion. Barney's invented high-fives include "The Self-Five" (in which Barney high-fives himself), "The Prayer-Five" (in which Barney and Robin discreetly move their hands in a motion replicating the Sign of the Cross -up, down, left, right- before making contact with the backs of their hands while sitting in a pastor's office), and "The Almighty-Five" (in which Barney supposedly receives a high-five from God himself).[21]

However, Barney's arguably most famous catch phrase is "Legendary!" which he uses to describe anything and everything fun and exciting (In fact, Ted says that he over-uses it). When saying something is legendary, he typically says "it's going to be Legen... wait for it... dary! Legendary!" He also says "wait for it" quite often, and uses the word "Nice" to express when he enjoys something or someone.

In the show Barney frequently approaches attractive women with Ted in tow and asks "Haaaaave you met Ted?" as a way to start a conversation with strangers. Thomas says that this phrase is based in real life, as a one-time friend of his often used a similar line to meet women.[8] He is also prone to saying "Daddy's Home" as either a chat-up line or for grand entrances, and "True Story" as an ending to stories or theories that are generally erroneous.

Barney often uses the phrase "Challenge accepted" when someone mentions an outlandish task that supposedly cannot be done; he takes this as a personal challenge and attempts, usually successfully, to perform the task.

Reception

According to The Early Show, Barney is one of the main reasons that the show has been a success.[7] Maclean's stated that Barney is the show's most popular character and explains that the most likeable characters are often those with the best catchphrases.[8] In 2006, TV Land named Barney's "Suit Up" one of the 100 Best Catchphrases. Barney's signature phrase is one of only four from contemporary television shows, as writers are now less likely to have a character repeat a phrase in many episodes.[8] In June 2010, Entertainment Weekly named him one of the 100 Greatest Characters of the Last 20 Years.[22] Paste included him in their list of the 20 Best Characters of 2011, ranking him No. 4.[23]

From 2007 to 2010, Harris was nominated for a

bro" and noted how his language uses the word literally.[26]

References

  1. ^ a b "Unpause". How I Met Your Mother. Season 9. Episode 15. January 20, 2014. CBS.
  2. ^ a b c d "Last Forever". How I Met Your Mother. Season 9. Episode 24. March 31, 2014. CBS.
  3. ^ Zoromski, Brian (January 8, 2010). "How I Met Your Mother: Girls vs. Suits Review". IGN. San Francisco, California: j2 Global. Retrieved February 13, 2012.
  4. ^ Sullivan, Brian Ford (January 8, 2010). "Live at the Paley Center for Media: "How I Met Your Mother"". The Futon Critic. Retrieved June 10, 2012.
  5. ^ a b c d Dransfeldt, Jeffrey (April 26, 2008). "Harris is enjoying Barney's adventures in How I Met Your Mother". Ventura County Star. Archived from the original on March 14, 2009. Retrieved May 2, 2008.
  6. ^
    Deseret Morning News. Archived
    from the original on May 17, 2008. Retrieved May 2, 2008.
  7. ^ a b c "Neil Patrick Harris on Playing a Cad". The Early Show. October 9, 2006. Archived from the original on May 9, 2008. Retrieved May 2, 2008. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  8. ^ a b c d e f Weinman, Jaime J. (December 25, 2006). "Why Barney is the new Fonzie". Maclean's. Archived from the original on December 5, 2008. Retrieved May 2, 2008.
  9. ^ a b Kreps, Daniel (September 6, 2014). "Watch the Happier 'How I Met Your Mother' Alternate Ending". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on January 28, 2018. Retrieved July 20, 2020.
  10. ^ Piña, Christy (March 27, 2023). "'How I Met Your Father' Season 2 Reveals Where Barney Stinson Is Today". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved August 12, 2023.
  11. ^ "How Lily Stole Christmas". How I Met Your Mother. Season 2. Episode 11. December 11, 2006. NBC.
  12. The Yips". How I Met Your Mother
    . Season 3. Episode 10. November 26, 2007. CBS.
  13. ^ Weather & Time (April 2, 2012). "Barney Stinson's Bro Code". Chacha.com. Archived from the original on July 29, 2012. Retrieved July 13, 2012.
  14. ^ "Ten Sessions". How I Met Your Mother. Season 3. Episode 13. March 24, 2008. NBC.
  15. ^ "How I Met Your Mother Community". CBS.com. Retrieved July 13, 2012.
  16. ^ "How I Met Your Mother: "Third Wheel" Review – A potential threesome ... for Ted, not Barney". Archived from the original on July 17, 2010. Retrieved March 4, 2010. ... we know he's a geek at heart. He does have a life-size Stormtrooper in his living room after all.
  17. ^ How I Met Your Mother Season Premiere Monday September 24, 8/7c (May 15, 2012). "Barney's Blog: Interrogation Room, Sweet Interrogation Room – How I Met Your Mother". CBS.com. Retrieved July 13, 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  18. Life Among the Gorillas". How I Met Your Mother
    . Season 1. Episode 17. March 20, 2006. NBC.
  19. ^ "Barney Stinson's Video Resume". Barneysvideoresume.com. Archived from the original on March 30, 2019. Retrieved July 13, 2012.
  20. Zap2It. Tribune Digital Ventures. Archived from the original
    on July 2, 2015. Retrieved January 10, 2015.
  21. ^ Russo, Cam (December 31, 2020). "The LEGENDARY Barney Stinson High-Five Playbook". Kizaz. Retrieved January 11, 2021.
  22. ^ Adam B. Vary (June 1, 2010). "The 100 Greatest Characters of the Last 20 Years: Here's our full list!". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved July 7, 2012.
  23. ^ Jackson, Josh (December 5, 2011). "The 20 Best TV Characters of 2011". Paste. Archived from the original on June 26, 2013. Retrieved June 30, 2012.
  24. ^ "And the nominees are". The Daily Telegraph. September 14, 2007. Archived from the original on December 31, 2012. Retrieved May 2, 2008.
  25. ^ Esposito, Michael (November 8, 2008). "5 things we learned from "The Bro Code"". Chicago Tribune (in Japanese). Archived from the original on April 19, 2009. Retrieved April 15, 2011.
  26. Oxford Dictionaries. Archived from the original
    on April 7, 2014. Retrieved April 5, 2014.

Bibliography

External links
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