The Gang

The Gang

Episode Appearances	Numerous
Members	Ted Mosby, Marshall Eriksen, Lily Aldrin, Barney Stinson, Robin Scherbatsky

The Gang serves as main characters in How I Met Your Mother universe. They are included in all of Future Ted's stories and adventures before he met his wife, Tracy McConnell.

The Main Five[]

The Gang, also known as The Main Five, is a group of five friends that consists of:

Additional Member Info and Trivia[]

Gangfinal — The Gang at MacLaren's Bar in 2020 during Ted and Tracy's wedding.

The Gang is formed by Ted and Marshall in their university days.
Lily joins The Gang when she dates Marshall also in their university days.
In 2001, Barney joins The Gang after he decided to teach Ted how to live.
In 2005, after going out with Ted, Robin is included in The Gang after she meets the others in Purple Giraffe, as established in Last Forever - Part One. Partly due to reporting assignments and Ted's relationship with Tracy, Robin stopped hanging out with The Gang right after Marshall and Lily's 2016 Halloween party until sometime in 2020 when the Mother persuaded her to come to Ted and the Mother's wedding.
In Season 6, Zoey is temporarily a part of The Gang, but disappears after Ted ends their relationship.
Based on the events of Last Forever - Part One and Last Forever - Part Two, the Gang stopped hanging out after their 2016 Halloween party and only started hanging out again in 2018, albeit without Robin. Since that Halloween Party, the Gang promised to hang out when there were big moments. Barney set out a rule that if there is a big moment, the gang would hang out until at least 4 am. Although there were initially no big moments to hang out for in 2018, Marshall came in saying to the Gang he was offered a judgeship position, which to him was indeed a big moment. In 2020, the Gang hung out for the birth of Barney's daughter (except for Robin) and Ted and the Mother's wedding.
Even in years when the Gang was no longer hanging out frequently, its individual members continued to see each other occasionally.
- 2017, 2025, 2027, 2029, 2030 - Lily and Robin were reminiscing about the past over a bottle of wine. In each meeting, Robin also confessed to Lily details of an incident in 2013 where Robin was forced to watch Marvin after Lily left his pacifier on a bus (Bad Crazy). The 2017 meeting marked the first time that Robin encountered a member of the Gang since they stopped hanging out regularly in 2016.
- 2020 - Robin bumps into Ted and his daughter Penny as Ted was telling Penny about the GNB building he designed.
- 2020 - Lily, Marshall, and Ted attended their university alumni class reunion (How I Met Everyone Else).
It is unclear if the Mother was part of The Gang, however she was hanging out with them in 2016 when everyone visited Ted's suburban house and the Apartment for a Halloween Party, and once again in 2019 when they saw another Robots vs Wrestlers match.
Technically speaking, each member of the main five members was engaged at least twice over the course of the series:
- Lily and Marshall became engaged in the first episode, but separated a year later in Come On, before getting back together and renewing their engagement six months later in Swarley, and marrying in Something Borrowed.
- Ted proposed to Stella Zinman in Miracles, which she accepted in Do I Know You?, but left him at the alter in Shelter Island. Ted also proposed to Victoria in The Autumn of Break-Ups, but she would only accept on the condition that he end his friendship with Robin, which he's was unwilling to do, and they separated. He eventually married Tracy.
- Kevin proposed to Robin in The Drunk Train, and she initially accepted, but they separate a day later in the same episode.
- Barney proposed to Quinn in The Magician's Code - Part Two and she accepted, but the two separated in The Pre-Nup.
- Within the same year, Barney proposed to Robin in The Final Page - Part Two, and she accepted. The pair later married in The End of the Aisle, but divorced three years later. They where also engaged years earlier, during The Rough Patch, but broke up the same episode.