Liane Cartman is the mother of Eric Cartman. Her Birthday is April 12th, presumbly 1967, and her zodiac sign is Aries.
Appearance
Liane is about average height for an adult female South Park character. She wears a turquoise sweater, and brick red trousers. Her outfit slightly resembles that of Cartman's, in that her sweater is the same color as his toque, and her trousers are like his coat. Her hair color may also be compared to his pants. She has long brown hair which is usually tied back in an old-fashioned design, and wears a rosy lipstick, and usually has a sweet, motherly expression on her face.
For special occasions, she wears a black dress with gray lining on the top and a huge cleavage. In "Tonsil Trouble", she wears a red version of this dress. When dressed for bed, she wears either a dark cyan nightgown or a pink robe, and often wears a green facial mask.
In Merry Christmas Charlie Manson, she wore glasses while driving, that could mean she has bad eyesight and can't see far.
Character
Liane is a good-natured individual but with a definite edge to her. Her voice is usually kind and soft (and sounded more sweet in the 4th through 7th seasons when she was voiced by Eliza Schneider, and her actions are usually to aid others, particularly her son.)
There has been however, many implications that Mrs. Cartman is both racist, homophobic and anti-semetic, as Cartman has on numerous occassion (at least during the early seasons), quoted his mother as saying offensive and politically incorrect statement regrading black people, gays, and Jews. Liane herself however, has not vocalized these opinions on camera.
Before the episode "The Passion of the Jew" Liane is usually seen driving a generic family sedan just like everyone else in South Park, but in that episode, the boys are seen playing 'ShuttleCraft' in her brand-new silver minivan, a 1st-generation Mazda MPV.
Cartman's Abuse
Liane shows great deference to her overweight son Eric, and has been seen on numerous occasions bowing to his will, constantly spoiling him rotten. She also ignores his obesity and will usually give him some normal food smothered in junk food, as seen in Cartman Gets an Anal Probe, giving Cartman a "chocolate chicken pot pie with icing on top". Of course, Eric's obesity is genetic. It is seen that they have a great bond with each other. However, since the episode "Tsst", she has begun to grow resistant to his whining and his demands — seen in a way in "Go God Go" and "Go God Go XII", where she is quite stern with him when he shows great impatience regarding the release date of the Wii console.
She rarely raises her voice (the most prominent occassion being in Cartman gets an Anal Probe, in which she suggests he go out and play with his friends and then shouts "stop being difficult Eric!" when he protests), and the only discipline she dispenses is a very rare slap on the cheek when Eric embarrasses her in public, an infrequent grounding such as when he tried to exterminate the Jews and three weeks when he saw the Terrence and Phillip movie two times then accidentally made Kenny set him self on fire. She has shown admonishment not to pick his nose (to which he insists he's only scratching it).
Liane has also apparently instilled in Cartman some of his bigot behavior towards the Jews, gays and black people. Cartman was often heard to quote his mother's supposed beliefs, much to the surprise of his friends and the towns people. Liane however has never vocalized these opinions on camera, leading to questions of whether or not she really said them or if Cartman misquoted her or made it up. However in Pinkeye, Liane created for Cartman an Adolf Hilter costume for Halloween, which at the time Cartman had no idea who Hitler was. This implies some sort of bigotry or at least ignorance on Liane's behalf.
Sexual Appetite
Despite her sweetness, she is a prostitute. Quite early on, it was revealed that Mrs. Cartman was actually Eric's father, as she was born a hermaphrodite with both female and male genitalia (though Dr. Mephisto implies in "Cartman's Mom is Still a Dirty Slut" that she no longer has the latter).
However, the final scene in 200 states she was never a hermaphrodite, the DNA test was altered, and only Mr. Hat knows the truth...
In the early seasons, she was very sexually active and regularly pursued this activity. She was reputedly a "crack whore", and has taken part in German "scheisse movies". She also had no issue with commencing sexual relations with complete strangers, usually visitors to the home.
Although Liane used to constantly have sex, and ignore the presence of anyone around her to sexually persuade men into her bedroom, it is unknown if Cartman knew the full extent to what his mom really did behind closed doors. Eric has come across various numbers of porn sites and "family videos" gone awry, but seems to either ignore the fact that his mom is a slut or looks as it to be just his sweet, loving mother conned out of her own environment. (Such as when he explains that his mother told him she was 'young' and 'needed money' when shown in 'Crack Whore Magazine' to which Kyle retorts "Cartman, those photos were taken a month ago!") Cartman knows not to complain to his mother, probably already figuring out that if he makes her feel bad about hurting her son, she will eventually turn on him and no longer spoil him in the natural way. Even in the episode "Cartman's Mom is a Dirty Slut" and "Cartman's Mom is Still a Dirty Slut" where it is revealed to Eric that his mom has had sex with the entire town, he still has no conversations with his mom about her secret life. Also, in Trapper Keeper, she ends up having sex with the cyborg from the future, Bill Cosby.
In later seasons, her character seems to have changed. For instance, her working as a prostitute has only been occasionally referenced since the fourth season. She is now generally shown to be more responsible with Eric, especially in "Tsst". However, in "The Death of Eric Cartman" Cartman mistakes his mom's screams of pleasure (she was having sex and a sensual massage with a plumber) for cries of sadness.
Name Origin
She is named after Liane Adamo, the ex-fiancée of South Park co-creator Trey Parker. The engagement was broken up because she reportedly committed infidelities on Parker during their engagement. Hence, the promiscuous nature. The character of Liane Cartman is one of the characters (another was the horse Liane from Parker's Cannibal! The Musical) Parker created as a bitter "tribute" to her.
Hermaphrodite & Eric's Parentage
In Cartman's Mom Is Still a Dirty Slut it was stated that Liane Cartman was a hermaphrodite, meaning that she had both male and female sexual organs and that years ago during the Drunken Barn Yard Dance, she proceeded to have sex with a series of men and woman. After it was revealed that Liane was Cartman's father, speculation rose as to who his mother was.
Family and relations
These are only some of Liane's relatives
Liane understood a German-speaking man in "South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut", indicating that she may be of German descent, though it may just be that she learned the language while filming the scheisse films, which are German.
Her family is shown for the first time in the episode "Merry Christmas Charlie Manson", where she, her son, and the rest of the main four, go on a trip to Nebraska to visit them for Christmas. Most of her relatives appear to be similar in matter to her son; all fat, with the same speech impediment and catchphrases such as "Kickass!" and "RESPECT MY AUTHORITAH!!" "No, (Someones name) that's my Pot pie. No, (Someones Name) that's a Bad (Someones Name)!!!". The family is seen again in the beginning of the episode "Cartmanland" at her mother'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.
- Her parent's names are Harold and Mabel (both deceased).
- Her brothers are named Howard and Stinky.
- Her sister is named Lisa.
- Her two nephews are named Fred and Elvin
- She has a teenage niece named Alexandra
- And she has a grandmother named Florence.
Various other unnamed members of the Cartman clan were shown in the episode, as well as in "Cartmanland".
Friends
In terms of friends, she seems integrated into the circle of parents around the town. She is often seen with Stan's parents among the others when they congregate. However, the episode "Tsst" seems to imply that Liane has few or no friends, and that her servitude to her son is a psychological attempt to make up for that.
Episodes in which She is Prominent
- "Cartman's Mom is a Dirty Slut" - Liane starts a chain of stories involving the occurrences of a party in which someone supposedly impregnated her with Cartman.
- "Cartman's Mom is Still a Dirty Slut" - Liane finally decides to admit to Cartman that she is not really his mother, but actually is his father.
- "Fat Camp" - Liane has Cartman sent away to a fat camp, in an effort to make him lose weight. Later, is overjoyed by the "results" the camp had on him.
- "Cherokee Hair Tampons" - Liane is one of the women buying into Miss Information's herbal medications.
- "Freak Strike" - Liane helps her son lie to get on the Maury Povich Show.
- "Tsst" - Liane tries to control Eric Cartman's bad behavior by getting the help of several nannies, before finally turning to Cesar Milllan for help.
She has had various other brief appearances with and without speaking lines in other episodes.
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