Theodore "Ted" Evelyn Mosby is the main character in the sitcom How I Met Your Mother. He is portrayed by Josh Radnor, with Bob Saget serving as a "Future Ted" who narrates the story to his kids.

Ted is from Shaker Heights, Ohio, and is a Wesleyan University graduate and an architect who, according to Barney, thinks too much. After his best friend Marshall becomes engaged, Ted decides to try and find his soulmate.

Prone to socially questionable romantic gestures, he steals a blue French horn (nicknamed " The Smurf Penis") that was a topic of conversation in his first date with Robin. In a similar vein, he also dresses up as a "hanging chad" every year for Halloween, in the hopes of meeting the "Slutty Pumpkin", a woman dressed as a jack-o'-lantern (complete with strategically placed holes) whom he once met at a Halloween party.

For a time, he dates a baker named Victoria, whom he met at a friend's wedding. She accepts a culinary fellowship in Germany, prompting a long-distance relationship, which does not last, due in large part to his persistent feelings for Robin. His friendship with Robin is threatened when he implies that Victoria broke up with him before he actually did, leading to their making out.

They ultimately reconcile, and shortly after that, Ted makes one last attempt to win her, hiring a chamber orchestra with blue instruments to play in her apartment while he makes his appeal. She cannot give him a definite answer, but, after she is stuck at her apartment due to an unpredicted storm (that Ted had danced for), she decides to pursue her feelings for him upon his return to her. After nearly a year together, they break up, and Ted no longer sees Robin as "The One," but doesn't reveal the identity of his future wife. Robin, however, does act as a "Aunt" figure of sorts to his future children.

Ted comes from Shaker Heights, Ohio, (in real life, Josh Radnor grew up in the Columbus, Ohio area). He was seen cheering for the Cleveland Indians when they were playing the Yankees at a baseball game in the episode Where Are We? and also alluded to once being trapped under a fake rock at a mall in Ohio when he was 9 in the episode Slap Bet. He also wears a Cleveland Indians T-Shirt in the episode Sandcastles In The Sand. He and Marshall were randomly assigned as freshman year roommates at Wesleyan but became friends on a long road trip that was deemed both "Fieroasco" (by Marshall) and the "100k Fiasco" (by Ted). This story was told in Arrivederci, Fiero.

For a while Ted claimed to be "vomit-free since '93," meaning he had not vomited for any reason since 1993. However, in the episode Game Night, he reveals that this is not true, and that he vomited on Robin's door mat. He knows sign language (presumably American Sign Language), and has a strong tendency to correct everything that people around him say.

It is revealed in "No Tomorrow" that at a St. Patrick's Day party he and Barney attended, his future wife was also present and he inadvertedly met her there. Once he returns to the room of the party the morning after, he picks up a yellow umbrella which can be seen blowing in the wind in the season promo. Also, he becomes the second main character to actually own a car (a blue Toyota Camry Hybrid) after getting a raise at his job in The Chain of Screaming. By the end of the episode, Ted decides to get rid of the car to help Marshall with his income trouble.

In The Goat, Ted tells Barney that he no longer wants to be friends after Barney breaks the 'bro code' by sleeping with Robin. The two eventually reconcile in the Season Three Finale Miracles, after both were in accidents (Ted in a taxi crash, Barney being run over by a bus on the way to visit Ted in the hospital). At the end of season 3, it is also revealed that by Ted's 31st birthday, Robin will be living in the apartment.

At the beginning of the third season, Ted, while drunk, gets a tattoo on his lower back (his "tramp stamp"). He goes to see a doctor in order to have it removed, and goes on a date with the doctor in The Platinum Rule. In Ten Sessions, they reveal Stella as the doctor, and after the tattoo is removed, Ted takes her on a two-minute date. The begin dating, and at the end of "Miracles" Ted proposes to Stella. She says yes at the beginning of the fourth season. Ted invites Stella's ex-husband to his wedding, which unbeknown to him, cause Stella and he ex-husbands feelings to reemerge for each other and Stella leaves Ted at the alter.

Ted's life continues to see a negative turn during the fourth season. After being left at the alter, Ted has trouble rebounding back into a romantic setting, and his job becomes a source of trouble as well. After being hired to design a project for Goliath National Bank, he is fired after weeks of unsuccessful work. He attempts to remedy this by starting his own firm, Mosbius Designs, but continues to be unable to get a client. It is revealed in the season four finale, "The Leap", that Ted ultimately accepts a job as an architecture professor, a job offered to him by Stella's boyfriend Tony as a peace offering. He also reveals it is in that class that he meets the mother of his children.

Romantic Interests
Stella Zinman - a dermatologist who removes Ted's butterfly tattoo during Season 3. After taking her on a two-minute date, they start dating. He proposes to her at the end of Season 3, however, she does not give a definite response. At the beginning of Season 4, she tells Ted she will marry him. However, she leaves ted at the alter and runs of with her ex-husband and the father of Lucy, Tony. Played by Sarah Chalke.

Natalie - a girl Ted had dated prior to the start of the story as well as during Season 1. Both times Ted breaks up with her on her birthday, with the first time being on an answering machine.
Trudy - a girl who Ted hooked up with first during season 1 (The Pineapple Incident, then met again in the third season Third Wheel. Played by Danica McKellar

Victoria - a baker at Buttercup Bakery whom Ted meets at Stuart and Claudia's wedding. They date for a few months before she accepts a culinary fellowship overseas, and after trying long-distance for a while, they break up. Played by Ashley Williams

Robin Scherbatsky - reporter for Metro News 1. Ted meets her in the pilot episode and takes her out on a date, but after telling her he loves her on the first date, she ends it. They begin dating again at the end of Season 1, but break up at the end of s2.

Amy - a tattoo girl, Ted met at the beginning of Season 3. She is responsible for Ted's Tramp stamp, and therefore for Ted and Stella's meeting. Played by Mandy Moore.