Eric Cartman

Eric Theodore Cartman, voiced by Trey Parker, is one of the (four then five) central characters of South Park (Stan, Kyle, Kenny, & Butters). He is arguably the most popular and well-known South Park character, and has become an international celebrity. He is also the show's primary antagonist, villain and anti-hero

Appearance
Eric Cartman wears a red jacket, yellow gloves and a blue hat with a yellow puff ball on top, brown pants, and black shoes. He sometimes wears a green T-shirt under his jacket, and other times a white tank top. He has medium-brown hair, which is always dyed black when he is dressed up like Hitler or as a sumo-wrestler, and has a double chin. Cartman has a weight problem, but always denies it by saying "I'm not fat. I'm just big boned," or some variation thereof. However, as seen in the episode Cartmanland, his weight problem is genetic and runs in the family. According to anime drawings of him, he has either brown or hazel eyes.

Concept and creation
Cartman is the oldest of the four boys. According to creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, they thought it would be impossible to put a character like Archie Bunker on late-20th century television. But then they came up with the idea that it might be allowed if the character were an animated nine-year-old boy. Thus, Cartman was born. Contrary to popular belief that Cartman's name is derived from German war-pilot Erich Hartmann, Trey and Matt confirmed in an online interview that Cartman's name is based on someone with the surname "Carpman". Trey Parker has stated that Cartman is his ultimate favorite of all the characters in the show.

Although Cartman is initially modeled after Archie Bunker, Toni Johnson-Woods, author of Blame Canada: South Park and Contemporary Culture, says that she believes Cartman also draws parallels to Jackie Gleason of The Honeymooners, and Fred Flintstone.

Personality
Born on February 4, Eric Cartman is a spoiled, foul-mouthed, ill-tempered, insensitive, sociopathic, greedy, racist, hypercritical, wildly insecure, sadistic, bigoted, corrupt, and manipulative fat ass. The very dark, often disturbing undertones to his personality often hint at an extreme mental imbalance. Cartman clearly has some good in him. Apart from being portrayed as having a general lack of moral responsibility or social conscience, he also seems to express schadenfreude, which means taking pleasure from others' misfortune, and is generally unable to show empathy, although there have been exceptions, such as in "How to Eat with Your Butt". This has been parodied as well, in the cliche of a typical villain becoming benevolent. In these episodes, he usually convinces Kyle that he has good intentions, such as in the "Cartoon Wars" two-parter, where Cartman appears to Kyle to be concerned of people's safety at the beginning, but it is later shown to only have been acting in his own interests; in the "Do the Handicapped Go to Hell?" two-parter, Kyle, and many others, fall for Cartman's apparently "good intentions" for trying to prevent the children of South Park from going to hell, but as we find out later, he only did it so he could get money; and in "Kenny Dies", where he is distraught at Kenny's impending death, leading Kyle to console him, and later when his supposedly real motives were revealed, knowing how Cartman typically is, Kyle promptly beats him up in Kenny's defense (although Cartman was genuinely distraught over Kenny's illness before and after he learns that he can benefit from it and the end of the episode clearly shows that Cartman went through Congress for Kenny and that he just doesn't have a healthy way of dealing with the death of his friend). In "The Death of Eric Cartman", Kyle brands him a "fat, racist, self-centered, intolerant, manipulative sociopath". Cartman, however, does not consider himself to be a bad person; in fact, he seems to disregard good or bad altogether and does whatever he feels is necessary for him to get ahead. Cartman seems to be motivated not so much by personal gain as by asserting superiority over others, usually Kyle. In "Red Hot Catholic Love", he won $20 in a bet with Kyle, but instead of using the money, he simply flaunted it in front of Kyle until Kyle conceded that Cartman was right, ruining his sense of victory and causing him to throw a tantrum (and apparently even abandon the money). The same thing happens in "Christian Rock Hard": Kyle makes a $10 bet that he can get a platinum album before Cartman, but Cartman makes a successful album and makes millions of dollars and earning the album. But when Cartman discovers that the Christian companies do not give out platinum albums (they give out Myrrh albums), thus meaning he cannot win the bet, he angrily destroys the album, showing that he did not care how he just made millions of dollars, he just wanted to beat Kyle. Cartman's much quoted line, "Respect my authority" (or as Cartman pronounces it, "authori-tah") highlights his power hungry and dictatorial characteristic. Cartman's friendships with the other kids are clearly existent, but just not shown as much because of his personality.

Ironically, despite (or perhaps because of) these qualities, Cartman also seems to be a natural leader, able to utilize overwhelming charisma and rhetoric to gain the obedience of large groups on a moment's notice (as in "The Passion of the Jew"), appearing to be innately aware of how to take advantage of "mob mentality" and direct it toward accomplishing his personal goals, as has been evidenced in countless episodes throughout the series' history. In situations where the other boys share his goals, Cartman is often the de facto leader (for example, "Make Love, Not Warcraft" and "Marjorine"). Indeed, the others consistently show a willingness to follow him and trust in his leadership when he's using his abilities for "good."

He also shows interest in the planet Endor where the small, bearlike species of Ewoks live in the Star Wars universe created by George Lucas as shown in the episode Clubhouses, when he and Kenny build a tree house called the "Ewok Village" and in Chickenpox when he writes a report on "how America should be more like Endor where the Ewoks live because they live in the trees and have barbecues" and he would like to live there.

Cartman also has an extremely strong dislike for Family Guy.

Anti-Semitism and other forms of bigotry
"If you had a chance to go back in time right now and stop Hitler, wouldn't you do it? I mean, I personally wouldn't stop him, because I think he was awesome, but you would, right?" - Cartman in "Make Love, Not Warcraft"

Cartman is extremely anti-Semitic, and a great many of his bigoted actions are directed towards Jews and especially toward his Jewish friend Kyle, who he openly hates and considers sub-human because of his faith. In the episode “The Passion of the Jew,” after seeing The Passion of the Christ, he believes the film was Mel Gibson's way of rallying people against the Jews, and idolizes him for it. He then dresses up as Hitler and manipulates people, who think that they are simply raising awareness for the movie and Christianity, to join him in an anti-Jew march while chanting in mispronounced German: "Es ist Zeit für Rache" (It is time for revenge) and "Wir müssen die Juden ausrotten" (We must exterminate the Jews). When Cartman plans to cheat and win the Special Olympics by feigning a disability, Kyle attempts to talk him out of it by telling him, regardless of their differences, that Cartman will surely go to Hell for such an act; Cartman replies that Kyle does not understand that Hell is reserved for the Jews, indicating once again his self-righteousness. He also has been shown to consider Judaism to be a disability and the title "Jew" to be an insult. He also believes Jews to be incapable of many professions, such as basketball player, fireman, pirate or even so much as someone tough.

In the episode "Pink Eye," Cartman dresses up as Hitler for Halloween (A costume made by his mother even though Cartman himself did not know who Hitler was, showing that his antisemitism comes from his mother for some part). When shown a documentary to demonstrate why dressing like him “isn't cool,” Cartman is enthralled and imagines himself being the one commanding the Nazi troops in the video. Cartman’s admiration for Hitler is further emphasized in episode: “The Entity,” after being offered $40 by Kyle not to tease Kyle's cousin, Kyle Schwartz. Since Cartman has trouble restraining himself from teasing Kyle about his Jewish heritage, when the class teacher (Ms. Choksondik) later tells Kyle's cousin to concentrate, Cartman impulsively blurts out: “Maybe we should send him to concentration camp!”

A contradiction of his idolization of Hitler is seen in "I'm a Little Bit Country" where in this episode Cartman is incapable of pronouncing “Nazi” correctly (pronouncing it "Nay-zee") upon seeing it written, as though he had never come upon the word before. Another contradiction occurs in "Tsst", when Cartman compares his mother – who had been instructed how to treat her rampantly egocentric son by the Dog Whisperer – with Hitler, as a reason why she should be killed.

In addition to taking regular jabs at racial, ethnic and religious minorities, as well as people of lower income, Cartman is also prejudicial against redhaired, light skinned, freckled people, or ‘Gingers’. This particular prejudice most probably originated from the notorious incident with Scott Tenorman, who had red hair and freckles, although it may also be partially due to the fact that Kyle has red hair. During the episode "Ginger Kids", when the other three boys lead him to believe he has become a Ginger himself, he is horrified. Later, he organizes a cult of homicidal ginger children bent on world conquest known as the ‘Ginger Separatist Movement,’ remarking: “I'm not going to live my life as a Goddamn minority!”

Cartman's most passionate abhorrence is aimed at hippies, though he seems to use this term for liberals in general. In episode: “Die Hippie, Die,” he believes that hippies will destroy the town, and while the rest of the town is initially skeptical, his fears are eventually borne out. When too close to liberals, he suffers what could be called an allergic reaction. He also wore a bio-suit upon entering San Francisco. Being a white red-neck from a small-rural white-bread red-neck town, he has nothing but disgust for hippies. Looking at them as lazy locusts and degenerates. Though he's very much a Christian.

Cartman's bigotry and antisemitism seem to come in second next to his personal needs, however; despite his hate for the Jews, Cartman saves Kyle in the episode "Smug Alert" because he can find no one else to pick on. In Le Petit Tourette, he is not above thanking Kyle for stopping him from possible public humiliation. Also, he saved the life of Kyle, (who had been killed by Manbearpig) in the episode Imaginationland Episode II; while this was seemingly because Kyle would not be able to suck his balls if he died, he was shown to cry, and showed concern even before the military leader reminded him that "at least now he doesn't have to suck anyone's balls." Cartman screamed, "Noooooooooooooo!" and began performing CPR on his dying "friend."

Eccentricities
It has been repeatedly shown that Cartman has serious behavioral and emotional problems. He has extremely exaggerated anger issues and violent tendencies when upset: in season 5, he ground the parents of a teen he was angry with into chili and fed it to him, causing a horrified Kyle to say that he and Stan should never piss off Cartman again (this has since been regarded as Cartman's defining moment and has been brought up again numerous times during the series, such as Cartoon Wars Part II).

He also has displayed traits of gender confusion, as he occasionally has tea parties with stuffed dolls (pretending they are talking about how cool he is), owns a female cat named "Mr. Kitty", and in the episode "Bebe's Boobs Destroy Society", he was seen re-enacting a scene from The Silence of the Lambs as Buffalo Bill with a rag doll he named Polly Prissy-pants trapped down a well. In episode 601, "Freak Strike", Cartman goes on the Maury Povich Show to be a panelist during a discussion on out-of-control kids. In an attempt to win the assumed prize, he dresses up as a promiscuous teenage girl. This may have been a reach for attention.

In episode: "AWESOM-O", Butters reveals to the residents of South Park a video of Cartman dressed as Britney Spears, while dancing around a cardboard cut-out of Justin Timberlake, which he apparently later had made out with. Cartman's possible gender confusion is most apparent in the episode "Cartman Sucks", in which Cartman takes pictures of himself with Butters's penis in his mouth to make Butters look homosexual. However, Kyle, Stan and Kenny explain that such actions actually make Cartman look gay, which results in Cartman trying to get a picture taken of his own penis in Butter's mouth.

This is not the first time Cartman has performed oral sex on another man. In episode 607, "Simpsons Already Did It", Cartman comes home with semen which he adds to his aquarium of Sea Monkeys. He apparently got the semen from a man named Ralph, quoting "He just made me close my eyes and suck it out of a hose". The kids did not understand the difference between semen and Sea Men. He has also notably given Ben Affleck a hand job in the episode "Fat Butt and Pancake Head" in season 7.

Cartman also confuses English people with French people. In the early seasons, he often teased Pip and called him a "French piece of crap". On the other extreme, in the movie, he called The Mole a "British piece of shit", despite The Mole being supposedly French. Additionally, in "The Jeffersons", he alludes to despising Austrians, apparently failing to note the irony of this: he admires Hitler, who was an Austrian.

He also speaks with a very strange but geographically indeterminate accent, which has shown to be a dominant trait in the extended Cartman family. Aside from the sheer volume of expletives in his dialogue, he also uses words in different (and often grammatically incorrect) context (e.g. instead of saying 'I'm serious' he will say 'I'm seriously').

Greed
A defining arc during the show’s fourth season was Cartman's single-minded quest to make 10 million dollars. The schemes he has tried include becoming a part of the Denver "tooth racket" and stealing Tooth Fairy money from kids, starting a boy band called “Fingerbang,” and culminating in forming his own church and embezzling the church’s collection money. He also tried at it in the episode "Cherokee Hair Tampons" when Kyle's kidneys were failing and Cartman, being the only one with Kyle's blood type, demanded a payment of 10 million dollars when Stan begged him to let Kyle have his kidney. He has also tried to sell a crashed truck-load of aborted fetuses to the highest-bidding stem cell research center, and even to a restaurant as food. In the episode "Up the Down Steroid", Cartman had also pretended he was retarded to compete in the Special Olympics and win $1000. The reasons for this are never fully explained, although in one episode Cartmanland, after inheriting a million dollars from his grandmother, he reveals that he wishes to buy his own amusement park so he won't have to wait in lines for the rides. He also stated that it has been his dream to own a million dollars since he was two years old. In one episode, he threatens Kyle with a gun for his "Jew gold" and in the episode Manbearpig Cartman stumbles upon a pile of treasure while the boys are trapped in a system of caves. Afraid that the others might find the treasure and demand a share, Cartman decides to swallow as much of the coins and jewels as he can, causing him to become extremely bloated and unable to walk or swim on his own. Later in the episode it is revealed that the treasure is fake and used for photographs for tourists at the caves. He is extremely miserly, determined not to give up the slightest amount of money, such as refusing to give a dollar to Afghan children: "I'm not giving a dollar to those towel-heads!".

Ignorance
Although Cartman can at times be worldly, he is often wildly misinformed; he once believed that dolphins lived in igloos. Cartman has also been known to formulate schemes that are insane and complex in nature; some of his plans have achieved success on occasion. In episode, "I'm a Little Bit Country", instead of studying, Cartman records various documentaries on the American Revolution from The History Channel on a TiVo and then electrocutes himself with it in a tub, which sends him on a flashback to 1776, and ultimately helps him stop the riots going on in present-day South Park between pro and anti-Iraq War activists after waking from a coma. Cartman also appears to know very little about the female anatomy. One time, he threatened a woman with "Bitch I'll twist your nuts off". Also, in the episode Chickenpox, when he was told that his mother sent him to Kenny's house so he would catch chickenpox, he claimed that he would "kick her in the nuts", which is an intriguing threat since Cartman's mother is a hermaphrodite.

Cartman's ignorance is best demonstrated in the episode "The List" when he made a plan to steal a list the girls made of who the cutest boys in the class were. The plan involved Butters kicking one of the girls in the balls, which failed of course, forcing Cartman (and the rest of the boys) to conclude that "Apparently girls have no balls". Whether or not he has finally learned this fact remains to be seen. In "Miss Teacher Bangs a Boy" it is shown that Cartman's idea of intercourse is to "Stick it inside her and pee. If you don't want to get her pregnant you pull it out and pee on her leg." In the pilot episode "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe", Cartman complains "Mom! Kitty's being a dildo!", showing ignorance of the context in which "dildo" is used and, possibly, what a dildo is. However, it is possible he is using it as a generic insult, such as calling someone a "dick."

It is also worth noting that Cartman is completely oblivious to the fact the other kids hate him, and often assumes they're joking when they imply it

Impatience
Cartman shows a pathological degree of impatience when forced to do something he doesn't want to do or when he has to wait for something he wants. An example of the former is seen in "I'm a Little Bit Country," in which Cartman electrocutes himself in an attempt to create a flashback and avoid studying; the latter is evidenced in the episode “Go God Go”, where Cartman freezes himself so that he won't have to wait three weeks for the Wii console to be released, which shows irony in the end, as Cartman eventually ends up two months before the Wii's release.

Physical confrontations
Although Cartman frequently insults and taunts his friends, he sometimes appears to be more cowardly than they are when it comes to physical confrontation. In "It's Christmas in Canada," after repeatedly threatening to beat Kyle up if they didn't get home in time for Christmas, Kyle punches Cartman and he immediately bursts into tears, thus showing that Cartman is not pain tolerant; a similar instance was during "Cartman Sucks", although Kyle only punched Cartman in the arm.

Also in “Goobacks” Cartman threatens Kyle and it leads to Kyle giving Cartman a bloody nose; in “Christian Rock Hard,” Cartman is beaten up by Token after provoking him with racial jibes, and in several episodes, he is seen able to overpower Kenny in some episodes and some he isn't capable of doing so. However, in such earlier episodes like "Damien" which he beat up Kyle. (Although Kyle beat up Cartman in the more recent "Tonsil Trouble" without hesitation.) In “Tweek vs. Craig,” Cartman has no problem with fighting the other boys back physically (and it is revealed that Sumo is his martial art of choice). In "I'm a Little Bit Country" he smiles and sings the Dawson's Creek theme while he kills the Official Messenger Boy with a piece of wood then drags the body off-screen, although this happens in what was essentially a fantasy of Cartman's and may, therefore, due to Cartman's inflated ego, not be representative of his actual abilities. Also in episode “Cartoon Wars Part II,” he and Kyle has a slapfight in which he won, and in the episode "With Apologies to Jesse Jackson", he was dominant in a physical fight against a midget (who supposedly had a black belt in karate). Also in "Cartman's Silly Hate Crime 2000" he threw a rock at Token and Token got hurt badly. Token even got a black eye. In "Breast Cancer Show Ever", Cartman is shown to be quite nervous over fighting Wendy, even faking upset, and during the fight, although he gets in a few hits Wendy grabs his head and ram his head into a steel pole. Overall, Cartman is a decent fighter, although he can be a wuss (especially when someone so much as hits him at all) and particularly enraged opponents can beat him with ease.

Miscellaneous mannerisms
Cartman has a disturbing habit of appearing in other people's homes in the middle of the night. He has a preoccupation with becoming “mature,” or at least more so than his friends, which frequently ends in him doing something that is anything but. Cartman also appears to be driven by a desire to surpass Kyle (especially), Stan, and Kenny. Knowing that his satisfaction chiefly comes with seeing other people unhappy, Kyle once deliberately congratulated Cartman on winning a bet. This, of course, ruined Cartman’s egotistical satisfaction at having humiliated him.

Cartman apparently sees scenes of sickening and/or disturbing imagery every time he closes his eyes, but thinks nothing of it. He also occasionally has milk come out of his nose when he laughs, even when he was not drinking any. This milk-sneezing problem is due to a malfunctioning kidney, which Cartman is tricked into donating for transplant, benefiting his friend Kyle, who receives the malfunctioning organ as seen in the episode "Cherokee Hair Tampons". Many of Cartman's mannerisms were revealed to be inherited in "Merry Christmas Charlie Manson!", in which most of the Cartman family were depicted in a similar manner.

Popularity
When South Park first premiered, Cartman's outrageous and shocking behavior made him instantly popular with viewers. Another reason Cartman tends to stand out is because he is generally the most pro-active of the four main characters. Cartman is frequently the one to come up with new ideas and plans, usually told excitedly to an often unimpressed Stan, Kyle, and Kenny. Cartman frequently comes up with ideas that are ridiculous or offensive, and while he may appear to have the upper hand, his antics tend to inevitably turn on him. He is often shown receiving the brunt of consequences generated by his behavior by the end of the episode, although on certain occasions, Cartman is shrewd enough to either earn himself a Pyrrhic victory ("Toilet Paper", for example), or allowing Stan and Kyle only such a gain (most notably "The Red Badge of Gayness").

There have been a few people, while never having heard of South Park before, had still heard of Cartman, or had seen his image somewhere.

Obesity


In spite of his insistence that he is just "big-boned", Cartman is obese. He is often depicted as overeating and is shown to have a preference for fatty and sweet food items. His favorite snack is Cheesy Poofs, a take on Cheetos. In Fat Camp, he makes a snack that includes a melted stick of butter coated in chocolate milk mix and stuck between two toaster pastries. His mother's spoiling plays the main role in his overeating, although at the end of "Fat Camp", when he is ultimately rejected by the camp, and eats a doughnut for comfort, it is indicated that depression may be a major factor. In some episodes Cartman's obesity is aggravated or reduced, but it always returns to normal in the next episode. Cartman has also attributed his weight to: being 'buff', having a sweet hockey body, being festively plump (at Christmastime), and the usual big bone excuse. Cartman stated in the episode "Weight Gain 4000" that he weighed 90 pounds, which, for a nine year old normally isn't that overweight, but since the other kids weigh about 40 something pounds, it is double their weight. However when he was introducing Colorado's defense and offense lines he said he weighs 190 pounds.

In the episode "Weight Gain 4000", one of the main plots of the story revolves around Cartman getting "in shape" for the presentation with Kathie Lee Gifford. He sees an advertisement on the television for Weight Gain 4000, and he believes it will make him buff in time for the presentation. However, he merely gets fatter (see picture) and for comical effect, his fat shoots up his height as well. At the end of the episode, he has gotten so obese that he can't even get out of his house; when he appeared on the Geraldo show, they had to interview him in his own house, and transmit the recording back to the studio. In a false memory in "City on the Edge of Forever" (a.k.a. "Flashbacks"), he recalls that the formula actually worked, and he showed up at the presentation very tall and muscular.

It is normally shown that Cartman has no self-consciousness or even realization of his obesity. This may be in part due to the fact that Liane allowed him for the first few seasons to believe that he really was big-boned. (Liane: Now boys, Eric isn't fat, he's big-boned! Kyle: He must have a huge bone in his ass then! Liane laughs, to Cartman's frustration.) He is almost shell-shocked during the intervention in "Fat Camp", when he looks to his mother for defense, saying that she always told him he was simply big-boned. She replies "Uh, sweetie, those were all lies. You're just fat."

Tonsils
In the first episode of the twelfth season, "Tonsil Trouble", it is revealed that Cartman has in the past needed a routine tonsil checkup. In this episode, however, his tonsils had to be removed.

HIV virus
Also in "Tonsil Trouble", Cartman was accidentally infected with blood contaminated with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. He was angered by this, and his anger worsened when Kyle laughed-- out of irony, disbelief and thrill that something so horrible has happened to his all-time worst enemy. He then snuck into Kyle's room intentionally gave Kyle AIDS with a syringe. Kyle figured it out and hunted Cartman down and beat him up in the schoolyard and broke many of his toys. (Including his favorite, his crown-jewel, the beloved Clyde Frog.) Cartman, in the meantime, researched the virus and found out that Magic Johnson had had AIDS for decades and was still alive. Cartman and Kyle then found out, along with Mr. Johnson, that the actual cure for AIDS was heavy doses of cash--the point being the solution to any problem is to throw lots and lots of cold-hard cash at it. Cartman and Kyle have both since recovered from the disease. Kyle still made it a point to break his X-box.

Kyle's mockery of Cartman's infection with HIV is ironic, since Cartman has wished on many occasions in past episodes for Kyle to have AIDS:
 * In the episode Casa Bonita, Cartman, Kenny, and Stan are all playing video games when Kyle enters and says that he has good news, to which Cartman hopefully replies "You have AIDS?"
 * In the episode Woodland Critter Christmas, Cartman ends his fictional Christmas story with the line, "And everyone lived happily ever after, except for Kyle who died of AIDS two weeks later."
 * In the episode Red Man's Greed, Cartman suggests giving Kyle AIDS as a potential way to raise money.
 * In the episode Cartman Joins NAMBLA, while playing a board game Cartman gives Kyle an AIDS card, giving him AIDS in the game.

Mental Health
However, obesity, HIV, and tonsils may be the least of Cartman's health concerns; Cartman seems to have a very poor mental health. He shows signs of not only anti-social behavior, but also sadism, Schizophrenia, identity issues, Psychosis, Psychopathic nature, and possibly even insanity. He apparently dreams of humiliating, beating, emotionally destroying or even killing Kyle. For example in Fat Butt and Pancake Head, Cartman dreams of taunting Kyle ("I told ya so!") so much that the latter starts crying. In South Park is Gay!, he seems to hope to kill Kyle without any reason. However, it was not until the season five Scott Tenorman Must Die incident that we see how deep his insanity goes.

Sexual Encounters
In "Goobacks" He joined in the Pile of Men having sex to eliminate the Future people. Got semen from a man named Ralph in "Simpsons Already Did It". Became a Prostitute in "Cow Days" Put Butters's penis in his mouth.

Sexual Tendencies
He often shows less interest in sexuality than the other boys. This seems intentional on the writer's parts, and fits with his self-absorption, immaturity and gender confusion. An example for this would be seen in the episode "Raisins", where the boys end up in a Hooters-like restaurant, and all Cartman shows interest in is the food, rather than all the skimpily-dressed waitresses.

Cartman also displays a lack of knowledge about sex, despite the fact that his mom is frequently having sexual relations with other people in South Park. When Kyle says that Ike is too young to understand sex in "Miss Teacher Bangs a Boy," Cartman replies, "What's there to understand? You get a boner, slap her titties around some then stick it inside her and pee." Cartman's lack of knowledge is also displayed in "Sexual Harassment Panda" when he tells Mr. Garrison that sexual harassment is "when you're trying to have intercourse with a lady friend, and some other guy comes up and tickles your balls from behind." However, the other children (except for Kenny and possibly Clyde) do not seem to have more knowledge of sex than Cartman, probably because they are only eight or nine years old...

In the episode "Imaginationland" Cartman makes a bet with Kyle that requires Kyle to suck Cartman's balls if Cartman can prove that Leprechauns are real. Cartman wins the bet, and his single-minded quest to force Kyle to suck his balls subsequently becomes a significant subplot of the Imaginationland trilogy. Cartman goes to the federal government in order to get legal backing for the contract, he dreams about the issue, he breaks into the Pentagon in order to find Kyle (twice) - he even saves Kyle's life, against all odds. Although he does not get Kyle to suck his balls in reality, he does imagine Kyle sucking the balls of an imaginary Cartman with much enthusiasm at the end of "Imaginationland Episode III." This entire incident takes place for all of Imaginationland to see. Since Kyle previously stated that imaginary things are real (in an effort to dissuade the government from launching a nuclear missile), Cartman declares that Kyle is "really" sucking his balls. The other creatures all agree, and ridicule Kyle, to Cartman's delight. But considering he made the imaginary Kyle suck the Balls of an imaginary Cartman makes clear he wasn't intrested in the sexual experience, only in Kyle's humiliation "Jared has Aides" after listening to Butters get beaten by his parents (he was responsible for it by pretending to be Butters on the phone and insulting them) he says "If I were older I would so start jacking off right now" heavily hinting sexual sadism.

In "Make Love, Not Warcraft", when Clyde Donovan tells Cartman he's going to stop playing World of Warcraft, Cartman says that the French also stopped playing when Hitler rose to power. He then taunts Clyde by asking him if he's French, and saying "Voulez-vous coucher avec moi, Clyde?" ("Do you want to sleep with me, Clyde?").

There is evidence of a potential homosexual bond between Cartman and Butters. In the episode "Cartman Sucks" Cartman seeks to humiliate Butters by taking a picture of himself with Butters' "weiner" in his mouth. After being told that being photographed that way is humiliating him rather than Butters, Cartman then seeks to make Butters put his (Cartman's) penis in his mouth, though is not quite successful. In the episode "Proper Condom Use", Butters is putting on a condom, when Cartman is caught by Kyle looking at Butters' penis (Cartman claims he was trying to see how to put on a condom). There is also a less obvious instance where it seems Butters may also have an attraction to Cartman. In "Tonsil Trouble", Butters kisses Cartman to show he doesn't think of him any differently since contracting AIDS. In "Casa Bonita", Butters tells Cartman he loves him, believing that Cartman is protecting him from mutants. In an earlier episode, "Pre-school", the boys fooled 6th graders who demanded a picture of Stan's mom's boobs by actually giving them a picture of Cartman's ass. In "Lil' Crime Stoppers" Cartman is interrogating Butters and tells him that he needs to get a semen sample for the investigation. Butters goes into the bathroom, and stays there until the end of the episode. When he comes out and meets the 4 boys in the basement, he says that he thought of Stan's mom's boobs (Cartman's ass), and "white stuff" finally came out.

However, during the episode "Chef Goes Nanners", Cartman briefly became an object of affection for Wendy Testaburger. After being passionately kissed by Wendy at the end of the episode, he is disappointed at the end when she says that she no longer has any feelings for him. In Tom's Rhinoplasty, Cartman, along with Stan, Kyle, and Kenny were all attracted to the substitute teacher, Ms. Ellen. Although she was a lesbian, and the boys did not understand what it meant, they tried to become lesbians in order to try to win her. In "Stupid Spoiled Whore Video Playset", while all the other boys seem scared at the prospect, Cartman is the only one who shows a desire to be invited to the fourth grade girl's "Stupid Spoiled Whore party", and is angered when they reject him. He later gets a hip make-over and attempts to crash the party. The only other time Cartman was attracted to someone of the opposite sex was Bebe's Boobs Destroy Society, in which he and the other boys were hypnotized by Bebe's newly-grown breasts (much to her chagrin). In a deleted scene from "The List", it is revealed that the fourth-grade girls voted him to be the ugliest boy in the class, leading Cartman to lose self-esteem and hang out with the "ugly" kids in school (as Kyle did earlier). In Le Petit Tourette, Cartman blurts out that he fantasizes about making out with a girl named Pattie Nelson - however, he also blurts out that he once "touched wieners" with his male cousin. However, this type of behavior isn't entirely uncommon for young children (such as "playing doctor").

In the episode Pre-School, Cartman moons Trent while still having nipples painted on, a photo of which the kids had sold as boobs to the sixth graders previously. The sixth graders are so overwhelmed that they take Cartman with them, apparently to abuse the "boobs". Also, in the episode "Cow Days" Cartman suffers a head trauma and thinks he is a Vietnamese prostitute named Ming Li. At the end of the episode, after he is back to normal, Cartman says he had had a weird dream where Leonardo DiCaprio had spanked him for several hours. Right after this, a man drove by and said "Bye, Ming Li, thanks again". In Cartman Sucks he tries to prank Butters by putting Butters penis in his mouth and taking a picture, which of course goes horribly wrong, resulting in the picture being seen on a projector during Show and Tell by the entire class. In Le Petit Tourette, he accidentally blurted out to Butters that he and his cousin "touched weiners". In the movie, Imaginationland, Cartman is constantly making Kyle suck his balls.

Sexual Abuse
Cartman has also had brushes with sexual abuse. In the episode "Cartman Joins NAMBLA", his attempt to find older friends winds up with him almost being raped by members of the North American Man/Boy Love Association. In the episode, "Simpsons Already Did It", after discovering that semen will fertilize his Sea-People, he goes to a sperm bank to collect more. At the sperm bank, he pretends to test a semen sample by smearing it on his fingers. When Cartman later empties a bowl of semen into the tank, he tells Stan and Kyle that he got some of it from a man named Ralph in an alley, who told him to "close his eyes and suck it out of a hose".

In episode AWESOM-O, a movie producer asks Cartman (who’s disguised as a robot) for summer blockbuster suggestions if he is a pleasure model. Cartman does not understand him until he takes his pants off, at which point, he runs out screaming bloody murder. Also, in the episode "Fat Butt and Pancake Head", Cartman convinces Ben Affleck (among others) that his left hand is an actual woman named Jennifer Lopez; Affleck later has a sexual encounter with "Miss Lopez", leaving Cartman’s hand covered with his semen. J-Lo is furious, hunts them down and breaks Cartman's hand with a baseball bat.

In the episode Pre-School, Cartman moons Trent while still having nipples painted on, a photo of which the kids had sold as boobs to the sixth graders previously. The sixth graders are so overwhelmed that they take Cartman with them, apparently to abuse the "boobs".

Also, in the episode "Cow Days" Cartman suffers a head trauma and thinks he is a Vietnamese prostitute named Ming Li. At the end of the episode, after he is back to normal, Cartman says he had had a weird dream where Leonardo DiCaprio had spanked him for several hours. Right after this, a man drove by and said "Bye, Ming Li, thanks again".

In Cartman Sucks he tries to prank Butters during a sleep-over at his place by putting Butters penis in his mouth and taking a picture. He believes this proves Butters' gay. His friends have to explain to him this proves vice-versa. He attempts to destroy the picture, but it vanished. Cartman threatens to beat the hell out of Kyle and photoshop the picture to make it look like it's Kyle sucking Butters' penis. Of course being Cartman, it all goes as horribly wrong as can be for him, resulting in the picture being seen on a projector during Show and Tell by the entire class.

In Le Petit Tourette, he accidentally blurted out to Butters that he and his cousin "touched weiners". In the movie, Imaginationland, Cartman wins a bet with Kyle and Kyle is now required to suck his balls. Thoughout the course of the picture, something constantly prevents Cartman from getting Kyle to comply. Jimmy asks Cartman why he's so intent on getting head from Kyle--and asks the inevidable question, "Why are you obsessed with getting Kyle to suck you balls? It seems kind of... faggy." Cartman simply and angrily explains that it isn't about sexual pleasure, it's about rubbing Kyle's nose is his awesome rightness. "He must now kneel before the Sultan and kiss his ring. The ring, being my balls." Eric's greatest goal and pleasure has always been making Kyle suffer. We see a nightmare at one point where he's in a big wheat field and joyfully demands Kyle perform, but Kyle's mouth has been stitched shut. And so dear Eric Cartman floats away with dry balls with explode into dust. At one point in "ImaginationLand," Cartman makes his dream a physical reality.

Family
Cartman's mother understood a German-speaking man in South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, indicating that he may be of German descent. He has some Dutch and Irish descent, as in "Tom's Rhinoplasty", he mentions that his grandmother (Mabel) is Dutch-Irish.Also when Sheila Broflovski started the war between America and Canada and th organization "Mothers Against Canada", He become much more abusive towards Kyle proclaiming a hatred campaign against all filthy untrustworthy Jews and constantly calls Kyle's Mother a bitch as well as browbeating Kyle for not standing up for himself against his mother.

Cartman is the only boy in the series who does not have a normal father. This is because of his hermaphroditic mother (Liane Cartman), who fathered him with another woman. This shocking twist is revealed at the end of the two-part story arc, "Cartman's Mom is a Dirty Slut" and "Cartman's Mom is Still a Dirty Slut", though the identity of Cartmans biological mother is never revealed (but a few possibilities are given, in that episode and in later episodes.

A recurring joke throughout the series is that, despite his mother's sweetness and wholesome demeanor, Liane Cartman is in fact a promiscuous, oversexed, crack-smoking, scheisse porn queen and prostitute.

Cartman's extended family is shown in the episode "Merry Christmas Charlie Manson!", where he and the others go on a trip to Nebraska to visit them for Christmas. Most of his relatives appear to be similar in manner to him; all fat, with the same speech accent and catchphrases. The family is seen again in the episode "Cartmanland," at his grandmother's funeral — where she leaves her estate (valued at $1,000,000) to Eric, citing that all the other family members would have spent it all on crack.

In the original, unaired pilot episode, Cartman was shown to have a father and sister, but these characters were cut out in the official pilot. In "Le Petit Tourette", he accidentally revealed that he cries at night because he does not have a real father.

Possible biological mothers of Cartman

 * Sheila Broflovski
 * Veronica Crabtree
 * Mayor McDaniels
 * Principal Victoria (In a later episode, upon someone questioning who hasen't had sex with Ms. Cartman, Mayor McDaniels and Principal Victoria give guilty looks to each other, indicating that the principal has also had sex with Liane.)

Pets and toys
Cartman has a cat named Mr. Kitty, and a pot-bellied pig named Fluffy (Mr. Kitty and Fluffy have never been seen together in the series thus far). He also has a stuffed frog toy named "Clyde Frog." Other beloved stuffed animals include Wellington Bear (a take on Paddington Bear), Polly Prissypants the rag doll, purple lizard Rumpertumskin (a take on Rumpelstiltskin), and Peter Panda. Cartman nearly always plays with these toys by himself, perhaps out of embarrassment or (just as likely) mean-spiritedness. Occasionally others are allowed to play with him, such as Bebe in "Bebe's Boobs Destroy Society". Not surprisingly, Cartman's games with these toys can demonstrate his vindictive and cruel nature; one of his games, as seen in aforementioned episode, is "Lambs", in which Cartman reenacts scenes from "The Silence of the Lambs" with his dolls, such as placing a doll in a pit in his basement and then voicing the doll begging to be released while the doll holding it prisoner threatens the pit-bound doll. Often Cartman's games involve the toys telling him how cool and smart he is, and he directs towards them an affection which is not seen towards any other person except his mom. In "Die Hippie, Die", when a group leaves to conduct a rescue mission, all the group members say goodbye to a person close to each of them, except Cartman who bids farewell to Clyde Frog. Cartman: "I...don't want you to worry about me, Clyde Frog." (Clyde Frog just sits there) Cartman: "Hey, you're the best stuffed animal I ever had."

In the season twelve episode "Tonsil Trouble", although Cartman had given Kyle AIDS as punishment for Kyle laughing at him for having HIV, Kyle angrily breaks many of Cartman's toys in reaction. Among these toys, he rips off Clyde Frog's head. Whether or not Cartman has since gotten Clyde's head sewn back on is unknown at this point.

Liane Cartman
Main Article: Liane Cartman

Liane dotes on her son endlessly, beyond simply spoiling him. Cartman usually gets whatever he wants simply by whining in his signature style. He also frequently insults her in her presence, which she accepts without question. Although Liane possesses a social and moral conscience, Cartman is usually able to manipulate her into doing even morally reprehensible things for him. In Up the Down Steroid Cartman is able to have his mother sign him up for the Special Olympics, even though Cartman was not disabled. It appears that Liane appears convinced of her son's goodness and accepts any excuses or stories he makes up, no matter how improbable. The relationship between the two has shown a significant change in Tsst. To manage Cartman's behavioral issues, she hires Cesar Milan. Cesar's methods work, and Cartman becomes a normal, good natured, well behaved boy. Liane tries to form a relationship with Cesar, but he turns her down as she is just a client, and she soon begins to spoil Cartman again.

Kyle
Main Article: Kyle Broflovski

The rivalry between Cartman and Kyle has been a recurring theme from the beginning, but has become significantly stronger since Season 4. Cartman appears to have a very strong hatred for Kyle, and shows that he has no tolerance for Kyle's Jewish faith. Kyle hates him in turn. However, neither one of them seem to realize the effects of their almost poisonous relationship, and continue to live in close contact with each other.

In season 5, Cartman and Kyle's relationship has met a turning point, going from a relationship of them constantly ripping on each other to hatred. However, it is seen they still have some of their friendship left. Since season 11, it can be certain that they lost all of what they called a "friendship".

Kyle is often put in the shoes of the protagonist to Eric Cartman's antagonist. For Example, in Cartoon Wars, the two of them work against each other; when Cartman tries to get Family Guy canceled, Kyle tries to stop him. The two of them often have arguments about morals, like in Up The Down Steroid, where Cartman decides to pretend to be mentally handicapped so he can win the prize money.

In South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, when they were facing certain death, Cartman tried to atone for all the times he called Kyle "A big dumb Jew", telling him "I didn't mean it. You're not a Jew". Bewildered, Kyle replies that he is indeed a Jew, and Cartman tells him not to be so hard on himself (implying that Jew was an insult rather than a religion...or that Eric already knew that Hittler is realy a jew). Cartman also has attempted to murder Kyle more than once, the most significant incident being in a scene from "Toilet Paper," in which he lures Kyle into going rowing with him to the middle of Stark's Pond, and then, when Kyle's back is turned, attempts to bludgeon him to death with a wiffle bat, without comprehending the stupidity of the plan. When he learns someone has confessed to the crime he, Kyle, Stan and Kenny had conmmitted, thus eliminating the need to kill Kyle who was going to confess himself, Cartman pathetically asks Stan if he can still kill Kyle.

However, in Smug Alert Cartman saves Kyle and his family when a large storm is about to go towards their house in San Francisco. Cartman finds Butters as too boring a nemesis since he will simply accept anything Cartman directs at him, and realizes that in order to have someone with which to argue incessantly again he must get Kyle back. At the end of the episode he hides the fact that he was the savior of Kyle's whole family, opting to insult Kyle again instead; Kyle replies angrily and storms off, to Cartman's satisfaction. In the episode Le Petit Tourette when Kyle (unintentionally) saves Cartman from shouting out all his secrets on TV, Cartman hugs Kyle and thanks him, even saying "I love you, man." In the episode Prehistoric Ice Man, when Kyle falls into a cavern and asks from the bottom 'Is Cartman there?' he responds with a sincere 'I'm here, Kyle!' In the episode Imaginationland Cartman wins a bet with Kyle which requires Kyle to suck his balls, and goes to various extreme measures throughout the Imaginationland trilogy to make Kyle do so, including going to the Supreme Court and breaking into the Pentagon (twice). In the end of the trilogy's first part, Cartman is seen with a photo of an innocent looking Kyle. The scene ends with Cartman dragging his finger slowly across Kyle's mouth in the photo, which could be interpreted as an act of lust. At the end of the trilogy's third part, Cartman conjures up an imaginary Kyle to suck the balls of an imaginary Cartman. Cartman also, in the episode Go God Go XII, offers to suck Kyle's balls (after Kyle said "Suck my balls, Cartman"), in exchange for Kyle's help in getting Cartman back from the distant future. In the episode Fatbeard, Kyle encourages Cartman to run away to Somalia, hoping that he will die. Cartman also seems to have no qualms about seriously invading Kyle's personal space, as shown in a scene from Manbearpig wherein Cartman, whilst contemplating his hatred for Kyle, looms a mere inch or two from Kyle's face as he sleeps; soon Kyle wakes up and yells "Dude,get away from me!" In any case, considering all of this it is quite conceivable that Cartman is in some perverse way sexually attracted to him (rather sadistically), as he seems to get an intense, almost sexual pleasure out of Kyle's misery or humiliation. It may, however, not be Kyle himself that Cartman is "attracted" to at all: Cartman may simply be a sexual sadist, aroused by dominating and humiliating others - things which coincide with his goals concerning Kyle, as he hates Kyle more than anyone else.

Butters
Main Article: Butters Stotch

Butters has become Cartman's most frequent victim. Butters sees Cartman as his good friend and treats him as so. But, Cartman takes advantage of this and finds Butters extremely easy to manipulate and convert to his point of view, or get him to do what he wants. In "Douche and Turd" Cartman easily gets Butters to vote for his idea of a "turd sandwich" simply by describing the candidates in a certain way. In "Go God Go" he gets Butters to bury him in snow so that he can be unfrozen three weeks later in time for the release of the Wii video game console.

In many episodes entire plots are centered around Cartman's antics against Butters. In "Casa Bonita", Cartman faked an apocalypse so Butters would hide in a bomb shelter for over a week, so Cartman could go with Kyle, Stan, and Kenny to Casa Bonita instead of Butters. In "AWESOM-O" he dressed as a robot to trick Butters, but in the end this failed miserably and Butters happily showed a tape of Cartman dressing like Britney Spears in front of everyone for revenge, seeing how much Butters wanted to get back at Cartman. In the episode " Christian Rock Hard ", Butters does another one at Cartman by farting on his face and giving him the finger for swearing Jesus's name in front of everybody and ruining their band. He also taunts Cartman for being the real 'ugliest' kid in their class and mocks his neo-Nazism in a deleted scene in the episode "The List". In "The Death of Eric Cartman" all of the people in South Park decide to ignore Cartman because they feel he is a "son of a bitch". Unlike the other boys, Butters isn't aware of the plan and Cartman believes that Butters is the only one who can see him now that he is dead. In "Cartman Sucks" he repeatedly invited Butters over to spend the night to play pranks on him, until it backfired on him and he made an inappropriate picture which featured him putting Butter's penis in his mouth, and which ended up being showed to the entire fourth grade class, humiliating Cartman instead of Butters. In the episode Breast Cancer Show Ever, after Cartman gets brutalized by Wendy, Butters agreed with Craig that he always hated Cartman with everyone else. However, "Eat, Pray, Queef", Cartman shows as much compassion as the other boys towards Butters after he is queefed upon, and even gives him a present, as well as participating in a state-wide attempt to ban queefing with Butters as a mascot, suggesting some liking for Butters although he, also like the others, refuses to go near Butters after he was queefed on.

Kenny
Main Article: Kenny McCormick

Because of Cartman's selfish personality, his bestfriendship with Kenny isn't as obvious as Stan and Kyle's, and it sometimes looks fake, but it is clearly just as strong and existent. They're also shown to share a sense of humor, as can be seen in the episode "How to Eat with Your Butt" when Kenny and Cartman continue an elaborate joke despite Stan and Kyle's objections.

However, Cartman has at times displayed a special dislike for Kenny, often without any reason; most often, he shows contempt for Kenny's family living in poverty. In two separate episodes, Chickenpox and A Ladder to Heaven, Cartman is heard singing the song "In The Ghetto" in order to tease Kenny. In "South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut" Kenny and Cartman are alone in the scene, and Cartman blurts out "I hate you, Kenny" out of nowhere. In the episode, “Jakovasaurs,” Cartman makes up a song called "I Hate You Guys" where he sings: "I hate you guys / you guys are assholes / especially Kenny / I hate him the most." (This is before the hatred him and Kyle had started.) In the episode Lice Capades he attempts make Kenny a scapegoat for the class's lice problem, and upon "proving" Kenny's guilt with an elaborate, phony experiment, Cartman then organizes a cruel "sock bath" for Kenny. It is possible that Kenny is Cartman's only real friend and he does not understand how to react to having such a friend, or the oppisite since Stan and Kyle at some points have stated that Kenny isn't really their friend and that they don't give a crap about him. In the episode, "Kenny Dies", Cartman proclaims that Kenny is his best friend among the three boys, but at the end of the episode it is implied that Cartman is Kenny's "worst friend" since they assumed he exploited Kenny's illness for personal gain. However, he cried over Kenny's illness before discovering the possibility of making his own Shakeys. Kenny has generally taken Cartman's side. Cartman is the only person who seems to take Kenny's deaths seriously. In the episode "Best Friends Forever", Kenny states in his will that he felt sorry for Cartman because of his inability to feel compassion and empathy. But, Cartman proves that he is Kenny's BFF or best friend forever by combining his half of his necklace with Kenny's. Also, in the episode "Cherokee Hair Tampons", the two are shown playing with spaceships without Stan or Kyle. And in the episode, "A Ladder To Heaven", when Kenny is found to be ashes from the urn, Cartman drinks Kenny's soul mistaking it for chocolate milk, leaving Kenny's soul trapped in his body, until the episode The Biggest Douche in the Universe. Kenny also chooses to appear to Cartman as opposed to Stan or Kyle in "South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut" Cartman is the only one who is aware of Kenny's deaths telling the IRS that Kenny "dies all the time." in Cartmanland. Kenny was the only one out of the four main boys (excluding Butters) to enter his theme park. At the end of the episode Pink Eye Cartman was the only one sobbing over Kenny's death. In fact, in the The Succubus, when Cartman was blinded by the bandages at the end of Chef's wedding ceremony, he was sincerely concerned asking "Is Kenny OK?" Cartman even showed concern for Kenny when he found out his new girlfriend was a whore. In the episode " Chinpokomon ", after Kenny has a seizure and is rendered unresponsive after using the Chinpokomon video games, Cartman was the only one of the three who seemed to notice that rats were swarming over Kenny and attempting to eat him, and the only one to detatch them, telling them "bad rats, he isn't dead yet", and unlike Stan and Kyle (who laughed), he was disgusted when it was discovered the rats had actually eaten him from the inside out.

Stan
Main Article: Stan Marsh

Cartman and Stan's friendship is clearly existant but it is very tense. In fact, when Kyle and Kenny aren't around, he and Stan often even show a close friendship with each other. In Two Days Before the Day After Tomorrow, Stan and Cartman hang out at the boating rack, just the two of them, and Cartman even comments that it is great that they are hanging out with each other without Kyle. In Fat Butt and Pancake Head, while Kyle is immediately distrustful of Cartman's truthfulness in his claim that he cannot control the actions of his hand (which has seemed to take on a life of its own), Stan gives Cartman the benefit of the doubt and admits that, with all the stuff that happens in South Park, Cartman could be telling the truth. In Woodland Critter Christmas, Cartman made Stan the protagonist of his Christmas story (he is described as 'the boy in a red poof-ball hat'). Everyone but Kyle likes the story. To Kyle's disgust, Stan likes the story also. In Douche and Turd, Stan votes for Cartman's mascot instead of Kyle's, much to Kyle's dismay. Also, in the episode "Are You There, God? It's Me, Jesus", when Stan appears to be the only boy who hasn't gotten their period, Cartman reassures him that he will get it one day. However, in Osama Bin Laden Has Farty Pants, Cartman declares that he hates Stan because Stan loves animals. Even so, In the episode Trapped in the Closet, all three boys de-friend Stan after he becomes the leader of Scientology. As the boys leave, Cartman turns to Stan and says, "I still hate Kyle more than you." In some episodes Stan is shown having a strong hatred for Cartman even if Cartman isn't doing anything. In Trapper Keeper when the cyborg says he has to kill Cartman, Stan asks if he can do it, and prepares to shoot Cartman before the cyborg decides against the idea. In Spooky Fish Stan is fully for sending Cartman away forever. Although Stan is much more tolerant of Cartman than Kyle is, he often holds Cartman in very high contempt for his unacceptable behavior.

Wendy Testaburger
Main Article: Wendy Testaburger

Cartman is known to taunt Wendy for her liberal and environmentalist views, and often refers to her as a hippie or a tree hugger. However, In "Chef Goes Nanners", after they were working together on the flag debate, he entertained her by talking through two action figures. He and she then found out that they had a lot in common with each other. When Wendy kissed him at the presentation to get her emotions out of her system, he was pleased (albeit surprised) and facially bragged to Stan about it. He later seemed dejected when Wendy told him her feelings for him were gone.In the episode "The Breast Cancer Show Ever," Cartman treats Wendy's plea for breast cancer awareness as a joke, and subsequently she beats his ass. However, Cartman may have a hidden crush on her, as seen in Fishsticks, during the inaccurate flashbacks of who wrote the "Fishsticks" joke, Wendy is heard praising him, as Cartman basks in the praise.

Chef
Main Article: Jerome "Chef" McElroy

Although Cartman doesn't generally like anyone in particular, he was very fond of Chef, as seen in "The Return of Chef" where Cartman was crying in front of Butters and even admitted that he was going to miss Chef, but didn't know how to tell him. He normally used to go to Chef with his problems, and Chef was always willing to help him. It should be noted that before Cartman found out that Liane was his father, he had been told that Chef was his father.

Clyde
Ever since "Cartman's Silly Hate Crime," Clyde seems to show great respect for Cartman, since he went through everyone calling him fat ass. Everyone seems to be shocked whenever Clyde stands up for Cartman, especially Cartman. Clyde joined Cartman's pirate crew probably fearing that if Cartman left, he would be the fattest kid.

Bebe
Wendy's best friend, Bebe, often shows hatred for Cartman, as he does for her. In "Raisins", Bebe tells Stan that Wendy wants to break up with Stan, leading to a heated argument between Cartman and Bebe; Cartman calls Bebe a whore numerous times to which Bebe calls Cartman as fat ass. In "The Ungroundable" at the beginning of the episode, all of the kids are seen playing Call of Duty: World At War. Cartman is shot and killed by someone within the game and he says, angry: "Ah! Who just shot me!", and Bebe leans away from her computer and flips Cartman off, saying that she killed him within the game, when Cartman's character respawns, he immediatly attacks Bebe and refers to her as a "bitch". In Bebe's Boobs Destroy Society Cartman roleplays Silence of the Lambs with his dolls with Bebe and the two seemingly get on well together without anyone else around.

Cats
Cartman, though incapable of empathy towards people, exhibits a strong bond with cats. In the recent episode Major Boobage from season 12, cats are made illegal because Kenny, along with other kids around the country, begins using male cat musk as a hallucinogenic drug. Cartman lies to the police, claiming that he had his cat put down when he really is hiding his cat in the attic. Throughout the episode he collects abandoned cats in his attic out of sympathy. His cat has been on the show since the series began, and his love for cats probably developed due to his lack of other family members besides his mother, as he has no father or siblings. This empathetic relationship is reserved for cats and not humans; he does not recognize a parallel between his cat safe-haven to the history of Jews hiding from Nazi soldiers during the Holocaust, which Kyle points out.

However, it should also be noted he was very hostile to his cat, "Mr. Kitty", in earlier seasons, often yelling at it, refusing to give it some of his food and so on.

Clyde Frog
"Main Article: Clyde Frog"

Clyde Frog is Cartmans favorite toy. Cartman is seen playing games with Clyde Frog, and talking to him for advice. In the episode when Cartman has AIDS, Cartman is very upset when Kyle rips Clyde Frog's head off.

Manipulation and leadership ability
Although having his origins as little more than a comic foil, Cartman has evolved into a character of stunningly articulate manipulative talents. His abilities are deeply Machiavellian in nature, and his character follows closely in the footsteps of other famous manipulators such as the character Iago from William Shakespeare's Othello. In several episodes throughout the series, he employs this skill to get what he wants. His most frequent targets are adults in general, and Butters Stotch, though he often targets other children for more personal purposes, including convincing Butters to "take one for the team" and be anally gang-raped by men from NAMBLA in Cartman Joins NAMBLA, and repeatedly convincing Kyle that he is doing good, only to exploit Kyle's help later on. He was able to get Congress to lift the ban on stem-cell research in the episode Kenny Dies and talked the ginger kids out of killing all non-gingers after Kyle told him that they had played a trick on him in "Ginger Kids".

Earlier in that episode he had rallied all the gingers to exterminate all non-gingers in a Hitler-esque way. Along the same line, in "The Passion of the Jew", he is able to rally all the members of the Mel Gibson fan club to march through the town while yelling "Wir müssen die Juden ausrotten!" (The Jews must be exterminated!). However it should probably be noted that they were ignorant of the true meaning of this phrase, mistaking it for Aramaic. In the episode "Tsst", Cartman was able to drive several nannies from his house with insults and insinuation (even causing one to be put in a mental hospital and eat her own feces from a toilet).

Cartman's perceived stupidity by his friends can be attributed to his sometimes naive behavior, however his uncanny skill at manipulation, bilingualism, and ability to create elaborate schemes which are often effective imply a surprisingly high intellect. Cartman seems to have no problem talking to people and speaking in general. He has an uncanny way with words and uses that to his advantage whenever he plots an idea. For example, in Kenny Dies, Cartman delivers a speech to the United States House of Representatives convincing them to vote in favor of stem cell research. He also appears to be multilingual (though not very well). He claims to be able to speak Spanish in Rainforest Schmainforest when he tells a Costa Rican freedom fighter that he wants burritos, and in My Future Self n' Me, he actually speaks Spanish to the Mexican workers hired to smear Butter's home with excrement. In D-Yikes Eric Cartman again demonstrates his proficiency in Spanish when hiring Mexicans to write an "essay" (which the immigrants mistake for the Spanish informal word for a friend, ese) on The Old Man and the Sea. In The Passion of the Jew, Cartman speaks German (but most of his words are mispronounced).

In "Cartoon Wars", he exploited a controversy involving the appearance of Muhammad on FOX's Family Guy to try to get the show off the air; he pretended to be the hapless victim of an Islamic terrorist attack to try to discourage the FOX president and the Family Guy staff writers from airing the Muhammad episode. On another occasion he was able to convince the majority of the adults of South Park to nearly take over the U.S. via an out-of-hand re-enactment of the Civil War, as long as he kept them drunk so they wouldn't realize what they were doing.

Cartman's shining accomplishment (according to Comedy Central's list of "Cartman's 25 Greatest Moments") came in the episode "Scott Tenorman Must Die.", a testimony to Cartmans hidden ingenuity and cunning, as well as the full extent of his evilness. Scott Tenorman continually defeats Cartman's attempts at retrieving a sum of money Scott tricked him out of throughout the episode, humiliating Cartman and elevating his hatred and desire for revenge. Finally, Cartman gets the last laugh, as he indirectly coerces Scott's parents into a situation where they are trespassing, and are consequently shot and killed. Cartman then steals the bodies and makes them into a chili which he promptly feeds to Scott. Cartman then cooly tells Scott how his parents died, hints at what happened to their remains, and inquires about his chili: "Do you like it? Do you like it Scott?". Scott is traumatized and horror-stricken, and Cartman gloats and laughs hysterically at the inconsolable Tenorman, while licking Scott's "tears of unfathomable sadness" off his face with intense pleasure.

Music
Cartman appears to be very musically talented. He plays the piano quite well in the episode "Christian Rock Hard" (although the piano plays by itself whilst he is singing), the violin in "Something Wal-Mart This Way Comes," the French horn in "Summer Sucks," the drums in "The Red Badge of Gayness," the harmonica in "Jakovasaurs," the recorder in "World Wide Recorder Concert," the acoustic guitar in "Chinpokomon," and pan flute in "Pandemic".

His Christian rock group "Faith + 1" sold 1,000,000 copies of its album in the episode "Christian Rock Hard." In the film South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, Cartman is shown singing in mock versions of Chinese, French, Dutch and an unidentified African language by singing "Kyle's mom is a Bitch". In "Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics", Cartman sings, "O, Holy Night" (despite several interruptions). In Chef Aid, he sings and does a German dance to raise money for Chef's legal fees. He also leads a boy band in the episode "Something You Can Do With Your Finger"

Cartman's musical tastes run toward progressive and arena rock in general and maudlin power ballads in particular. "Cartman's Mom Is Still a Dirty Slut" shows for the first time that Cartman has the uncontrollable urge to finish singing Styx's "Come Sail Away" whenever he hears any part of the song, which he can do, under pressure, in 27 seconds (possibly a sign that he has a very minor case of OCD based on the fact that he mentioned it was not only songs he had to finish). In Kenny Dies, Cartman sings "Heat of the Moment" to the United States House of Representatives convincing them to vote in favor of stem cell research. Cartman also appears to enjoy teen pop, as demonstrated in his Britney Spears dance sequence in "AWESOM-O". He also quotes, "Haha charade you are" from Pink Floyd's song, Pigs (Three Different Ones).

Cartman frequently bursts into song spontaneously, sometimes with melodies and topical lyrics of his own devising. He often uses this skill in order to persuade others by using the song to manipulate their thoughts and emotions. This penchant for ad hoc songs was specifically mentioned in "Ginger Kids". This also happened in the episode "Cherokee Hair Tampons" when Stan asks Cartman to donate a kidney to a very sickly Kyle, Cartman replies by singing "No no no no no no no no no no!" to the tune of "Comedy tonight" from "A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum"

In a mean-spirited feeling, Cartman begins singing an Elvis version of "In The Ghetto" When in Kenny's neighborhood, namely, the ghetto.

For Rush's Snakes and Arrows tour, a short animated clip was made to introduce the song "Tom Sawyer," featuring the boys from South Park as a band attempting to perform the song. Cartman is featured as the lead singer.

Cartman has also been featured on several tracks on all three South Park albums.

Foreign languages
It would also seem that Cartman, though not known for his academic prowess, has exceptional skill with regard to language. In a number of different episodes, including "My Future Self n' Me," it is shown that he is near fluent in Spanish. In "The Passion of the Jew," he speaks German reasonably well in his Hitler-like tirades. His use of Japanese is also essentially flawless in "Chinpokomon". The same is true of his Mongolian in "Child Abduction is Not Funny. He could also speak some degree of French as seen in "Make Love, Not Warcraft" when he taunts Clyde to fight along them (but uses a wrong T-V distinction).

Photography
Cartman knows a lot about Photography, as shown in a few episodes. In "Christian Rock Hard", he demonstrates his knowledge of the nature of music artist's album covers, such as how the members of a band are mostly in random places looking in other directions and never smile. Also, in Cartman Sucks, Cartman takes up his hobby of inviting Butters over, just to take embarrassing photos of him. He is also shown presenting a slideshow in class, and comments about them skillfully. Also, in Imaginationland II and III he is talking about how he should take his picture of Kyle sucking his balls. He even has professional help with his photo shoot in Part III. Also he is good at photoshop,(though his art skills are very first grade like) as we can see from Mystery of the Urinal Deuce, when he is framing Kyle.

Sporting Abilities
Cartman seems to lack any sporting ability, however he has been seen on the dodge ball team in the episode "Conjoined Fetus Lady" and playing center in "Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat Ride". He also plays shortstop on the baseball team, as seen in "The Losing Edge". In later episodes ("ManBearPig" and "Guitar Queer-o" Cartman is seen to be playing basketball with the other boys, however he isn't nearly as talented as he seems to think. He often cries out 'Stop cheating you black asshole!' when an opponent beats him, or 'You tricked me!' as if this was illegal.)

Cartman also made a special appearance at the Nebraska and Colorado college football game on November 23, 2007. Cartman introduced Colorado's offensive and defensive players.

Quotes

 * "You guys, I'm seriously!"
 * "Shut up Kenny you poor piece of crap!"
 * "Screw you guys, I'm going home."
 * "Respect mah authoritah (authority)!"
 * "Damn Hippies!" (Used in a variation of ways)
 * "I'm not fat, I'm big boned."
 * "Ha, ha charade you are! (from Pink Floyd's Animals)"
 * "No kitty this is my pot pie!"
 * "Hella cool."
 * "I'm not fat! I'm festively plump!"
 * "But, Meeeeeehhhhm!"
 * "Sweeeet."
 * "Shut your God damn Jew mouth!"
 * "Mom, Kitty's being a dildo!"
 * "Okay, that does it! Why has everything today involved things either going in or coming out of my ass?"
 * "Weak."
 * "Kenny's family is so poor that yesterday they had to put their cardboard box up for a second mortgage."
 * "Yeah I want Cheesy Poofs!"
 * "French people piss me off."
 * "You're breaking my balls."
 * "Kyle, you're being a Negative Nancy. Stop it."
 * "Okay, old people need to be quiet now."
 * "You seem a little irritable Kyle, whats the matter, you got a little sand in your vagina?"
 * "Seriously, I'm getting pissed off right nah (now)!"
 * "I hate you guys so very, very much."
 * "Sticks and stones may break my bones but I’m Jesus, and you aren't."
 * "Nya, nya, nya, nya, nya, nya! Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!
 * "Too bad drinking Scotch isn’t a paying job or Kenny’s dad would be a Millionaire!"
 * "Remind me to cut your balls off when we get back."
 * "I'll roshambo you for it."
 * "Naw dude, Independent films are those black and white Hippie movies. They’re always about gay cowboys eating pudding."
 * Kick ass."
 * GOD DAMN IT!"
 * I was just layin’ down some rhymes, with the G-folk, you know, kickin’ it on the west siy-eede."
 * Son of a Bitch!"
 * Anyway Kenny, Yellow MegaMan is only $8.95, so maybe your mom can put it on layaway and make payments for a year or two."
 * Yeah, if some girl tried to kick my ass, I'd be like, 'Hey, why don't you stop dressin' me up like a mailman, and making me dance for you while you go and smoke crack in your bedroom and have sex with some guy I don't even know, on my dad's bed!'"
 * My mom says if you want to become a lesbian, you have to lick carpet."
 * It's a man's obligation to stick his boneration in a women's separation; this sort of penetration will increase the population of the younger generation."
 * Kyle's mom is a big fat fucking bitch!"
 * Yeah, well I sneaked around my mom's closet too and saw what I'm getting. The Ultravibe Pleasure 2000."
 * Beefcake!"
 * "I don't want to be friends with midgets. Midgets piss me off."
 * Kenny said in Hell people speak Spanish and there is water there, but if you drink it you pee blood for 32 hours."
 * Do British people count as an ethnicity for hate crimes?"
 * Hmm. Work for you, have my penis cut off. Work for you, have my penis cut off. Hmm, let's see…"
 * Jesus was made... of crackers?"
 * When I get down from here, I'm gonna kick you square in the nuts!"
 * Whateva! Whateva! I do what I want!"
 * Lame!"
 * "I'm telling my mom I'm staying at Stan's house. Stan's telling his mom he's staying at Kenny's house, and Kenny isn't telling his parents anything because they're both alcoholics and they don't care.
 * "Eew, this place smells like Kenny's house!"
 * A famous moment from the movie where the boys get in trouble
 * Kyle: I think I know the answer Mr. Garrison!


 * Cartman: (mocks Kyle)


 * Kyle: Shut up, fat boy!


 * Cartman: Hey, don't call me fat you fucking jew!


 * Mr. Garrison: Eric! Did you just say the F-word?


 * Cartman: Jew?


 * Kyle: No he's talking about "fuck". You can't say "fuck" in school you fucking fatass.


 * Mr. Garrison: Kyle!


 * Cartman: Why the fuck not?


 * Mr. Garrison: Eric!


 * Stan: Dude, you just said fuck again!


 * Mr. Garrison: Stanley!


 * Kenny: (muffled) Fuck.


 * Mr. Garrison: Kenny!


 * Cartman: What's the big deal? It doesn't hurt anybody. Fuck, fuckity, fuck fuck fuck.


 * Mr. Garrison: How would you like to go see the school counselor?!?


 * Cartman: How would you like to suck my balls?


 * Class: (gasp)


 * Mr. Garrison: WHAT DID YOU SAY?


 * Cartman: Oh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Actually, what i said was... (clears throat and takes a megaphone out of nowhere) "HOW WOULD YOU LIKE TO SUCK MY BALLS, Mr. Garrison?"


 * Stan: Holy shit, dude.


 * Kitty: meow


 * Cartman: No kitty, this is my pot pie!


 * Kitty: meow


 * Cartman: No kitty, that's a bad kitty!


 * Kitty: meow


 * Cartman: NO KITTY, THIS IS MY POT PIE! BAD KITTY!(FART!) s'cuse me kitty!


 * I'm not just sure, I'm HIV positive.
 * How do I reeeach thiiis kids?
 * Stop your bitching, Kenny.
 * "Fuck you Millie, fuck you Annie, fuck you Bebe, fuck you whatever-your-name-is and FUCK YOU, bitch!"
 * The Fuck!

Address
In the episode "Jakovasaurs", Cartman's backpack is shown with a tag that reads "E. Cartman, 28201 E Bonanza Cir, South Park, CO."

Heroic Moments

 * In Weight Gain 4000 Cartman got so fat that he saved Kathie Lee Gifford from being shot by a bullet.
 * In the episode “Die Hippie, Die,” his intolerance of hippies saves South Park from a drug-filled hippie music festival.
 * In the full-length feature film, South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, his frequent use of vulgarity, after getting electrocuted by a power box, coupled with the experimental V-chip implanted in his brain to stop him swearing (which gave him temporary electrostatic powers), deliberately helps save the world from Saddam Hussein.
 * Episode 100 by filling his Tivo with the history channel and dropping it and himself into a pool he able to travel back in time to 1776, where he is able to institute the American tradition of Ice Cream Thursdays and return to South Park with a special 100th episode message about war and peace.
 * In the episode Snuke Cartman's intolerance against Muslims and his use of racial profiling save the day!
 * In episode #710, Grey Dawn, Cartman is the boy that figures out that by shutting down Country Kitchen Buffet the Elderly won't have anywhere to get food.
 * In episode #906, The Death of Eric Cartman, Cartman is under the belief that he was a ghost trapped on Earth until things where made right. He distracts three escaped convicts who were holding ten people hostage at the Red Cross while Butters lets them escape.
 * In the episode Smug Alert! he saves Kyle's family from a smug storm (however, this is due to the fact that Cartman had no one else to taunt and insult).
 * In Make Love, Not Warcraft, Cartman, Stan, Kyle and Kenny logged into World of Warcraft together to kill the player killer Jenkins' character. First, Stan retrieves the Sword of a Thousand Truths from his dad. Second Kenny shoots his arrow and Kyle uses magic to paralyze Jenkins' character. And finally, after Cartman says "Looks like you're about to get pwned," he crushes the player killer's head with his war hammer.

Accomplishments
Over the course of the series, Cartman managed to accomplish a wide range of achievements more than any other characters of South Park. Some of them are a success or failure.
 * Scott Tenorman Must Die - Had Scott Tenorman's parents killed, grounded them up into chili, and fed it to their son. (Success)
 * Cartmanland - Bought the theme park with one million dollars he inherited by his dead grandmother. After selling it back to the original owner, he blew all his money. (Failure)
 * Red Hot Catholic Love - Proved to Kyle that it is possible to defecate out of the mouth after putting food up the anus. (Success)
 * The Passion of the Jew - Attempts to start a second Holocaust. (Failure) But, succeeds trickin a big crowd on his side for a while.
 * Christian Rock Hard - Forms a band to make a platinum album, but only gets "myrrh." (Failure)
 * Red Badge Of Gayness- Tries to win a bet over Stan and Kyle, so that they have to be his slaves for a month. (Failure)
 * FatBeard- Attempts to become a Somalian pirate. His entire pirate crew (apart from Ike, Clyde, Butters, and Kevin) were shot in the face by Americans. (Failure)

In popular culture

 * Cartman was placed tenth on TV Guide's 2002 list of the "Top 50 Greatest Cartoon Characters".
 * In 2003, he was chosen as one of "VH1's 200 Greatest Pop Culture Icons", at number 198.
 * Also, in 2005, Cartman was ranked number nineteen on Bravo's 100 Greatest TV Characters.
 * ABC used Cartman to introduce the lineups of a Colorado Buffaloes game.
 * Cartman also appears on screen between play at Los Angeles Kings games.
 * In "Futurama: Bender's Big Score", he has a small cameo as a head in a jar.
 * In the late 90's, there was a pro wrestler in the WWF (Now WWE) named Golga (John Tenta), who had a gimmick that had an obsession for Cartman holding a doll and wearing a t-shirt.


 * In the Powerpuff Girls episode "Imaginary Friend", when Blossom was tripped and landed in the coat rack, she ended up dressed like Cartman. She also said "Uh he tripped me seriously"; a similar way Cartman says his lines.
 * Cartman's "You Will Respect My Authoritah!" in the Chickenlover episode May 20, 1998. is covered by The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.
 * Cartman's head can be seen in the ACT Easts picture under the name adam doyle.25 "Greatest" Moments (October 2005)
 * lmost exactly one year after the "Top 27 Episodes" marathon was broadcast, a marathon was put together focusing on the character of Eric Cartman. Like the previous marathon, the episodes that were shown were chosen by voting on Comedy Central's website. These episodes were shown on the weekend of October 14, 15, & 16 in a countdown to the number one episode.


 * 501 - Scott Tenorman Must Die
 * 101 - Cartman Gets an Anal Probe
 * 803 - Up the Down Steroid
 * 902 - Die Hippie, Die
 * 107 - Pink Eye
 * 709 - Christian Rock Hard
 * 802 - AWESOM-O
 * 705 - Fat Butt and Pancake Head
 * 113 - Cartman's Mom Is a Dirty Slut
 * 906 - The Death of Eric Cartman
 * 213 - Cow Days
 * 102 - Weight Gain 4000
 * 804 - The Passion of the Jew
 * 109 - Starvin' Marvin
 * 807 - The Jeffersons
 * 711 - Casa Bonita
 * 601 - Freak Strike
 * 617 - Red Sleigh Down
 * 302 - Spontaneous Combustion
 * 314 - The Red Badge of Gayness
 * 506 - Cartmanland
 * 607 - Simpsons Already Did It
 * 406 - Cartman Joins NAMBLA
 * 303 - The Succubus
 * 608 - Red Hot Catholic Love
 * he breakdown of episodes per season were:


 * Season 1: 5 episodes
 * Season 2: 1 episode
 * Season 3: 3 episodes
 * Season 4: 1 episode
 * Season 5: 2 episodes
 * Season 6: 4 episodes
 * Season 7: 3 episodes
 * Season 8: 4 episodes
 * Season 9: 2 episodesDeaths
 * He first died in The Spirit of Christmas, in which he is thrown and killed by the killer snow man. However, he was named Kenny instead of Cartman.
 * He is later killed in Go God Go, when he freezes himself to go into the future to get a Nintendo Wii. He is revived by the Unified Atheist League.
 * Cartman also is killed in Imaginationland Episode III when Al Gore, breaks the Imagination door way, and sends him, Kyle and every one into Imagination Land along with a nuclear bomb killing Cartman, Stan, Kyle, Jesus and everyone still alive in Imagination Land after the large battle between the good and evil characters. He and everyone else is revived by Butters.
 * Cartman has nearly been killed on numerous occations, and nearly kills himself afew times. He originaly dies in South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut by a fatal electrical shock, but it was removed from the film.References External Links


 * Cartman's Quotes
 * South Park Biography
 * Cartman magically appears on a sofa.
 * The Lyrics to songs Cartman has sung, including the famous "Kyle's Mom is a Bitch"
 * Eric Cartman at the Internet Movie Database
 * The United Kingdom's Eric Cartman Fansite
 * {Main Characters}}