At the risk of insulting someone, because this is an interesting theory at its core, this is what happens when people simply have too much free time and are avid TV fans that don’t miss an episode of their favorite shows. Comparing Sheldon Cooper to Barney Stinson is kind of like comparing the ideas of hot and cold. The opposite effect that is brought into play, not to mention the idea that they could be cousins or the same person just from different dimensions, is something that had to have taken someone a while to figure out, or at least had to be the ‘aha’ moment that people have at times that can amount to being as ground-breaking as the unwanted passage of gas after a meal. Sheldon and Barney do share a couple of similarities, namely their narcissistic streak and their superiority complex that enables them to think that they’re better than those around them. But apart from that, they couldn’t be more different if they tried since Barney is the ladies man and Sheldon is almost repulsed by intimacy in any way, shape, or form, at least for a good portion of the show. The fact that Jim Parsons actually auditioned for the role of Barney at one time is about the only other thing that could be mentioned in relation to this, but really, thinking that Sheldon and Barney connect in any other way is kind of hard to imagine.
Perhaps one other thing that could be mentioned is the fact that while both characters are hard for those that don’t know them to get used to, the fact that they are both jerks to people isn’t a deal-breaker for those that have been around them long enough to understand why they are the way they are. Anyone speaking to Sheldon for the first time might be turned off by his blunt manner and complete lack of social graces, while anyone talking to Barney for the first time might think ‘sleaze’ and walk the other way. In fact when both men make it a point to announce how great they are some viewers even managed to roll their eyes and walk away since this kind of attitude doesn’t present itself well to a few people. It was great to learn at one point or another that both Jim Parsons and Neal Patrick Harris are decent people that know how to step into a role that makes appear as self-centered egotists that don’t really deserve the praise they believe they’re due. After all, stumping Sheldon was proven to be fairly easy when talking about subjects that he had no interest in, while just ignoring Barney is hard, but avoiding him is probably the best idea.
The biggest similarity between these two is that they are huge egotists that might have the right to be so due to their accomplishments, but are anything but complete human beings since they’ve spent so much time perfecting their lives in a way that makes them feel superior to others that they’ve neglected to become well-rounded individuals. To say that they’re both unique and very interesting characters is obvious and many people would likely agree that they are, but to say that they’re infallible in any way would be incredibly naive simply because they both have glaring weak spots that a lot of people could exploit once they’re known. Both of them are weak when it comes to genuine emotions since Sheldon barely knows how to handle himself when he’s called upon to do anything but act like the human super-computer he acts like, while Barney is essentially useless when it comes to being a decent human being for more than a day. In a sense, neither character is really so well-rounded that they can be called entirely stable since they’ve spent so much time developing a one-way personality that even an attempt at something they’re not comfortable with causes them to nearly shut down. The similarities that they share tend to revolve around both men being unable to look past their own strengths and achievements in order to admit that they do have faults and that they do have moments when their dominant personality traits get in the way.
On-screen both characters are uniquely suited to their shows since somehow they fit quite easily into the stories they’ve been put into, even when they tend to clash with other characters as intended. But trying to compare them to each other isn’t exactly the worst idea, but it’s definitely something that needed to be concocted by a mind that’s been exposed to both shows repeatedly. It feels that only after this happened could someone possibly draw a parallel between the two characters. Otherwise, it doesn’t sound like something a casual fan would really notice.
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