Barney Stinson

Barney Stinson is a deuteragonist in the TV series How I Met Your Mother. He has since gone on to become one of, if not the most popular parts of the show.

He is played by Neil Patrick Harris

Personality
Barney is a serial womaniser. In nearly all of his appearances, he's trying to seduce a total stranger, sleep with her and then dump her immediately afterwards. This has earned him both the disgust and the grudging admiration of his friends.

Barney enjoys the finer things in life. His suits are his life and he is rarely seen without one, even spending his Christmas bonus on a suit with pinstripes made of diamonds. He even wrote and performed a song about how much he loves suits.

Despite being the oldest member of the gang, Barney is also the most childish. He has an adolescent sense of humour and enjoys laser tag. He also has a penchant for magic tricks, particularly ones involving fire.

Season 1
Barney has been hanging around Ted, Marshall and Lily for at least three years before they all met Robin. Whilst Ted tries to woo Robin, Barney enjoys the single life. Ted later starts going steady with Victoria, while Robin takes Ted's place as Barney's wingman. Barney initially thinks Robin is attacted to him and tries to have sex with her, but she brushes him off.

Lily finds a mysterious videotape that one of Barney's old flames named Shannon has of him. Barney is horrified that Lily found his Shannon video, making it seem that the contents are especially lurid. When Lily puts it on, the gang sees Barney as this:

Its then revealed that Barney was once a hippy who wanted to join the Peace Corps. with his then-girlfriend Shannon, but after she left him he underwent a complete transformation. Its implied that Barney is still that same person underneath, but doesn't want to be hurt again.

Season 2
When Ted and Robin become a couple, Marshall and Lily separate. Barney then takes Marshall under his wing, but when they try to pick up women, Barney steals them away from Marshall. He then reveals this is a trick to help Marshall and Lily realise that they should get back together.

Barney begins looking through Robin's history and finds a video of her from the 90s. He thinks it might be porn and bets with Marshall that if Robin did porn, he could give Marshall 5 slaps across the face. It turns out to be a music video, so Marshall slaps Barney, then promises to deliver the remaining slaps in his own time. The second slap is delivered shortly afterwards.

When Marshall and Lily's wedding plans go awry, the gang decide to have a makeshift wedding just between the five of them. Barney, who has a marriage license, weds them. He later finds out that Ted and Robin have split up, making him happy that things have gone back to normal.