How I Met Your Mother season finale: This is how the show ended

Deaths, births, blue horns and yellow umbrellas

The HIMYM gang's stories were all tied up neatly (CBS)

How I Met Your Mother reached its season 9 finale last night, an ending to the show and an end to Ted Mosby creepily telling his kids more about his sex life than they're apt to want to hear. Chances are you've dipped in and out of HIMYM over its nine years, but here's some closure anyway.

*Spoilers, don't shout at me please*

As many predicted, the previously teased mother (whose name we discovered is Tracy McConnell) was actually dead in the present day, having passed away from an unexplained illness after many happy years with Ted thus providing the reason for her absence during his lengthy living room retrospective.

This paved the way for a twist ending in which he rekindles things with Robin, who divorced from Barney 20 minutes into the final episode.

"You made us sit down and listen to this story about how you met Mom - yet Mom was hardly in the story," his now teenage daughter Penny said.

"No, this is a story about how you are totally in love with aunt Robin. And you’re thinking of asking her out, and you wanna know if we’re OK with it."

This all led to a fairly saccharine ending that saw the return of the blue French horn, which Ted clutched as he arrived on Robin’s doorstep at the show's close.

Barney? After the divorce he went back to his lascivious ways only to get a girl pregnant, fall in love with her and cradle the bambino in his arms at the hospital. Awwwww/retches furiously.

Marshall and Lily? Marshall finally gets his dream lawyer job and the pair have one more child together before finally move out of the apartment above MacLaren's.

"And that kids, is how I met your mother." (Picture: CBS)

A selection of fan responses to the finale:

'Please tell me that finale was an April Fools' joke and a better version is being released.'

'Completely disappointed. Everything I dreaded happened. Terrible end to a fantastic show.'

'Not many shows can retroactively destroy the entire series, but How I Met Your Mother managed that great feat.'

'Annoying shiiiiiiiii.'

'Loved it.'