South Park Archives

South Park (Not Suitable For Children) is now streaming on Paramount Plus!

READ MORE

South Park Archives
Register
Advertisement
Santa Claus


December 2010 Featured Article Winner

Santa Claus, voiced by Trey Parker, is a world-renowned holiday symbol. Santa is a friend and ally of the boys and he usually appears during their numerous Christmas adventures. He is well known for his jolly demeanor and trademark red and white costume. Although Santa has appeared as a living being numerous times in the show, during the events of "Imaginationland", it is said that he is also an imaginary character, and is a friend/rival of Jesus Christ.

Background[]

Santa's very first appearance was in The Spirit of Christmas: Jesus vs. Frosty when the boys beg Santa for help when their friend Cartman, then known as Kenny, dies. However, this Santa Claus was revealed to be Frosty in disguise, who then proceeds to kill the boy resembling Kenny.

Santa 1992 version

The boys begging Santa for help in The Spirit of Christmas: Jesus vs. Frosty.

Jesusvsanta

Santa and Jesus Christ in The Spirit of Christmas: Jesus vs. Santa.

Santa made his first official appearance on South Park during The Spirit of Christmas, in which Jesus appears before the boys, stating that has a bone to pick with "Kringle". According to Jesus, Santa has diminished the memory of Jesus' birthday with his presents. Santa is aware of the feud, and claims that "this time", they will "finish it". The pair then begin fighting Mortal Kombat-style, during which they inadvertently kill Kenny. The boys, uncertain who to root for, ask "What Would Brian Boitano Do?" The figure skater miraculously appears and holds a speech about how Christmas should be about being good to each other. The boys transmit the message to the fighters, who ashamedly agree and decide to bury the hatchet over an orange smoothie.

Santa would later appear in a cameo during "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo", in which he is seen at the mall, listening to the children's present request. Later he swings by South Park to pick up Mr. Hankey who intends to help Santa deliver presents.

Santa and Jesus would then team-up again during "Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics", in which the duo are performing at a night club lounge, and singing jazzy versions of their Christmas Carols. As Jesus however begins becoming more selfish and arrogant during the performance, singing a larger variety of songs dedicated to him, Santa becoming obviously annoyed, hinting at their old rivalry from before. As Santa intends to storm off the stage, however, Jesus calls him back the pair does a melody of songs as friends.

Santa is next seen in "Red Sleigh Down", during which Cartman in the hopes of overshadowing all his naughty behavior with one big good deed, convinces Santa to deliver Christmas to the Middle East. Santa's sleigh however is shot down over Baghdad, his legs are broken and he is taken as a prisoner. The Iraq Soldiers, assuming he's an American spy, begin to torture him, and shocking Santa's testicles in order to get information out of him. The boys, along with Jesus, Mr. Hankey and the Underpants Gnomes, launch a rescue operation. They manage to rescue Santa (Jesus heals his broken legs) and Santa murders the lead Iraq Soldier saying "I couldn't... I couldn't let him live! He shocked Santa's balls!" During their escape, however, Jesus is killed and grieving Santa killed the remaining soldiers, before accomplishing his mission of bringing Christmas to Iraq. He later informs South Park that Christmas would, from that day forward, be a day to honor his fallen friend, Jesus Christ.

Santa then appeared in "Woodland Critter Christmas", during which Stan helps the Satanic Woodland Critters rise the Anti-Christ, resulting in a pentagram in the sky. Santa notices this and learns of the Anti-Christ and kills it.

In "Imaginationland", it is revealed that he is the greatest fighter of all the imaginary creatures. When the wall that separates the evil imaginary characters from the good ones is destroyed during a terrorist attack, Santa was killed in the chaos. However, Butters after much effort was able to recreate Santa with his imagination, allowing for the good characters to get the upper hand. At least until the US Government blew up Imaginationland, and Butters had to re-imagine everything.

In "201", he was wearing a bear mascot costume pretending to be Muhammad, at the suggestion of Mr. Hankey.

In "Let Go, Let Gov", he is being held prisoner by the NSA and made part of a super computer used to track all Americans. Cartman revealed the info on this to the American people however nobody cared, though at some point Santa was freed.

Santa returns in the Season Twenty-Two episode "The Problem with a Poo" to help the town with Christmas presents, but becomes greatly frustrated with them after finding out they got rid of Mr. Hankey simply for posting crude Tweets; as such, he leaves the town to deal with the situation themselves.

Appearance[]

Santa Claus in South Park is depicted very similar to the version of Santa Claus in American culture; a jolly old man with a thick white beard, though he does not smile as much as other incarnations of Santa. He wears a red coat and pants, lined with white fur, as well as a sleighing hat of red and white fur. He wears an oversized black belt around his heavy bellied waist, and black boots.

To see images of Santa Claus, visit Santa Claus/Gallery.

Personality[]

Santa is essentially a kindly father/grandfather figure, whose highest belief is that that there should be joy and goodwill, particularly during Christmas time. Often laughing with his trademarked "Ho-Ho-Ho" and his unwavering desire to give gifts to all the good boys and girls of the world.

However, one should not assume that because Santa is considered a 'jolly old elf' that he does not have a dark side. Santa has become slightly bitter of the years, having to constantly compete with Jesus Christ for the spotlight during Christmas time. In fact, on two separate occasions, the pair have argued and even fought physically over who is the more important Christmas figure. Santa can also hold a grudge against those who mistreat himself and others, as seen when he killed an Iraq soldier, who had spent Christmas Eve torturing him, and shocking "Santa's Balls". He also gets into fights with the Woodland Critters frequently, due to their Satanic behavior, as in "Woodland Critter Christmas", he blows their heads off with a shotgun for summoning the Anti-Christ, and then helps the New Kid fight them again in South Park: The Fractured But Whole.

Powers and Abilities[]

Despite his age and kindly nature, Santa is skilled in martial arts and weapons, as demonstrated in his epic battle against Jesus and more so during the events of "Imaginationland", during which he was one of the greatest fighters of all the imaginary characters.

Trivia[]

  • In "Imaginationland", Santa is said to be imaginary, but in other episodes, he is seen to be an active living presence who interacts with other characters. It is likely that the version in Imaginationland represents an extra mythed-up version of the real deal living outside or it could imply his true origin.
  • The Santa that burned to death in Imaginationland had a much larger beard than the real Santa Claus.

Video Games[]

South Park: The Stick of Truth[]

Santa appears as an NPC in the game, but can only be talked to on the second day. He appears on the roof of the police station, and The New Kid must teleport to the roof of the station with the Anal Probe. Once the player reaches the roof and talks to Santa, he becomes the player's friend on Facebook, so that the New Kid would not tell on the police for him spying on them to check who has been naughty and nice.

South Park: The Fractured But Whole[]

During the Woodland Critters battle in the Farts of Future Past mission, Santa joins the New Kid to help take the critters down. In this battle, Santa becomes a playable character after the New Kid prays for Jesus's help and accidentally crashes his sleigh. After the Woodland Critters have been defeated, Santa offers his help to deal with the chaos happening in South Park, though he would not be seen in the game again.

South Park: Phone Destroyer[]

Santa Claus is a 5-Cost Epic Tank of the Neutral theme. When he uses his Charge skill, he will grant all allies access to using their Charge skills. All of his lines in the game are archived audio from South Park: The Fractured But Whole.

Prominence[]

References[]

Advertisement