One of South Park greatest strengths is having an eclectic, complex group of characters that would make a psychologist intrigued for years.
- Cartman's considered to be one of the most, if not the most complex cartoon character in history. His intricate personality, his multiple mental illnesses, and just being messed up about sex in general thanks to his mom being the town bicycle sometimes leave people pitying him, even when he is showing his Jerk with a Heart of Jerk nature.
- Is Cartman the way he is because he was spoiled rotten by his mother, thus completely depriving him of the discipline required to develop a moral compass, or because his lack of a father left him so traumatized and lonely growing up that he has since been lashing out at a world that he feels abandoned him?
- Others believe Cartman's increasing cruelty is the result of him being aware that he's The Friend Nobody Likes and deciding Then Let Me Be Evil.
- This article analyzing
Cartman's character also notes that he has experienced sexual abuse - not just once but repeatedly and by different people, including his own mother. Furthermore, the fact that his mother is notorious for being a "town bicycle" that is frequently drugged out of her mind... what are the chances that the men she has entertained over the years never molested Cartman? It may be possible that his repugnant behavior is a combination of factors which includes an absent father, lack of discipline, and just plain relentless childhood abuse that just completely sent him over the edge mentally. - Is he a monster at heart, and any evidence to the contrary just him hiding his true nature? Or is he a Jerk with a Heart of Gold who is capable of kindness, as is interpreted in episodes such as "The Death of Eric Cartman" and "Jewpacabra"?
- On another complex note, in "Cartman Finds Love", is he that hellbent on fixing Nicole up with Token due to his belief that they should be together because they’re both black or is he also motivated by wanting to keep Nichole and Kyle apart due to having his own feelings for Kyle? While canon only officially confirms the first interpretation, there are more than a few factors that lead some fans to think the second one as well— the years of Foe Romantic Subtext moments between the two (which very often come from Cartman’s side); that Cartman’s plan to keep Nicole and Kyle separate is... to pretend to be in a relationship with him, rather than any other scheme that could have provided the same result, and despite usually being very adamant and aggressive about insisting that he’s straight, Cartman has no issue spreading rumors at school that he and Kyle are dating and even singing a love song dedicated to Kyle on a Jumbotron at a basketball game. The official synopsis of the episode also gives some weight to the idea.
- Given the many moments after “201” that show Cartman upset at not having a dad (ex: in “Insecurity,” his personal alarm system is triggered when he’s asked by a mall employee where his dad is) and Cartman’s well established Self-Serving Memory (best illustrated in “Fishsticks,” where it drives the plot) some fans believe that Cartman was sobbing at the end of “201” at the realization that he got his own father killed (or just that his father was dead), and his claim that his tears where over the fact that his dad was a ginger was simply him focusing on the smaller issue to feel better or save face. This post summarizes it well.
- Does Cartman hate Kyle for being Jewish, or does Cartman hate Jews due to his grudge against Kyle? In the earlier seasons, while Cartman still has bigoted tendencies, he seems more clueless about what he's saying (his admiration of Hitler in "Pinkeye" appears to stem from thinking he's a cool authority figure, with no idea what exactly Hitler did). The early seasons also depict Kyle as more of a bully, and while all the boys pick on Cartman, Kyle tends to tease him the most. Kyle eventually Took a Level in Kindness, but given Cartman's Hair-Trigger Temper and tendency to misattribute blame, it's not out of character for him to become a full-blown anti-Semite just to further justify his hatred of Kyle even after Kyle became more morally sound.
- Similarly in "Cartman's Silly Hate Crime", when Cartman is gone, the other boys treat Clyde as the fattest kid and lay into him even more aggressively than Cartman unprovoked. After a while Clyde starts to get defensive about it and even taking on traits similar to Cartman in frustration at being bullied. There also several other later instances where Kyle singles out obesity as a particularly disgusting trait or a petty insult even besides Cartman. This could be interpreted as Cartman's Fat Bastard persona leaving the kids contemptuous towards fat people, them just having a petty hatred for them to begin with and embittering Cartman into a jerk as a defensive streak, or a bit of both where some petty digs at each other turned into a deep seated contempt.
- And then there's Season 20 and 21 Cartman. That's the period of time in which he had a girlfriend, Heidi Turner. Things got rocky, and then overtly toxic, by Season 21, and the couple fell apart beyond repair by the end of it. That much is certain. Everything else, from whether Cartman ever loved Heidi, if he ever stopped loving her (in some twisted way), if he'd changed for real or not, and why he became an abuser in the first place, are all sore subjects of debate.
- The most charitable views depict Cartman as a genuinely loving boyfriend who really did care about Heidi, since she was there for him when he was down. Kyle and Butters are (Kyle indirectly, Butters directly) responsible for planting the idea in Cartman's head that Heidi didn't love him, and this resulted in his shift. Even then, he still had some modicum of love for her prior to "South Park S 21 E 6 Sons A Witches", which was the only reason why it took him that long to harm her and stop treating her like a person. This interpretation especially gained fuel after "South Park: Post Covid" and its sequel depicted him as a loving husband to Yentl, with no hints that he was an abuser to her or attempted to do anything he did to Heidi to Yentl. Essentially, under this interpretation, the real Cartman/Heidi pairing was the one from Season 20, and Season 21 is what happens when his love is destroyed by outside influence.
- The most vile views of him depict Cartman as a natural abuser who never loved Heidi, at all, and only targeted her for abuse from the start. Even during the phase where he supposedly cared about her, it was all just a trick to butter her up so he could kick her down for a short and easy ego trip. The kind of Heidi he wanted, was basically an Alexa: somebody who could not say no or stand up to him when he told her to do anything. This interpretation is basically unanimous among people who consider Cartman a "true" sociopath, unable to love anybody but himself. Essentially, under this interpretation, the real Cartman/Heidi pairing was the one from Season 21, and Season 20 was just a trick on Heidi to get her to lower her guard.
- And from there a whole other range of interpretations exist. Did he love Heidi's shadow instead of the real her? Did he only get with her because he had nobody else to turn to? Did he only get with her because she flashed him? Did his love for her peter out across episodes, or did it get abruptly killed in one big burst, if it existed at all? During "South Park S 21 E 7 Doubling Down", was Cartman deliberately attempting to mold Heidi into himself, or was that an accident from him hating her in the first half and loving her in the second? Was the relationship doomed to fail because Cartman was gay the entire time?
- Speaking OF "South Park: Post Covid" and "South Park: Post Covid: The Return of Covid", Cartman there is one again a subject of debate. Did he actually become a kind, caring family man and practicing Jew, was it all just a trick on Kyle as he suspected, or did it start as the latter and snowball into the former? Did he want to stop time travel because it would take away his success and wife, or because it would Ret-Gone his children? Both? Either way, it all somewhat becomes moot seeing his awful, yet undeniably deserved ending as a homeless wreck in the alternate future. Which inadvertedly ties in with the interpretation that the boys themselves are responsible for how bad Cartman is.
- Why are the other boys friends with Cartman, despite them all seeming to openly hate him anyway? Does he just sort of tag along without asking? Is it because he's usually, more or less tolerable (at least to Kenny and Stan) when he's not currently being a huge asshole? Is it because, for better or worse, he can be very useful to them, as shown in "South Park S 6 E 4 Fun With Veal" and "South Park S10 E8 "Make Love, Not Warcraft"", among others? Or maybe, deep down, is their friendship at least a little bit genuine? After all, there are, admittedly rare, moments where they show genuine concern towards each other.
- Kyle, Stan and Kenny themselves. Are they really good boys, but with some Anti-Hero traits? Or are they Enfant Terribles and sociopaths just like Cartman? The fact that they still are Cartman's friends after he crossed the Moral Event Horizon in "Scott Tenorman Must Die" or the infamous attempted genocide in "Coon & Friends" support this interpretation.
- Of course, just because Stan, Kyle and Kenny are friends with Cartman, that doesn't mean they like him per say.
- Kyle is a goldmine of various alternative interpretations. He can range between an up-keeper of civility and the Only Sane Man to Cartman's diabolical behavior, or a hypocritical Knight Templar who hates Cartman passionately either way and isn't above bullying anyone on the chain lower than himself. It's implied in some episodes that, for all of Cartman's negative traits, the main factor in Kyle's contempt for him is still just being a Fat Bastard. Is he really The Conscience and Token Good Teammate, or is he a big case of He Who Fights Monsters? Episodes like "Douche and Turd" and "Ass Burgers" show he's quite willing to throw his "best friend" Stan under the bus, and other episodes like "Fatbeard" and "Good Times With Weapons" show he's willing to kill people if it suits his needs, just like Cartman.
- Branching from that, looking at episodes such as "Cartman's Silly Hate Crime 2000" and "Preschool", Cartman and Kyle's hatred of each other seems to run very deep and begun from a very early age. Did their own sources of contempt (Cartman's antisemitism and Kyle's outspoken disgust for fat people) end up conceived from the constant bullying they received from each other or the other way around? Add to that, who was the initial bully and started the feud?
- Is Stan's increasing Angst and Sanity Slippage the result of being the Only Sane Man who is Surrounded by Idiots in a Crapsack World, an early onset of puberty (as evidenced in "You're Getting Old" and "Ass Burgers") or a response to the gradual decay of his parents' marriage? Another possibility is that this may be hereditary, given what we've seen of his father and grandfather.
- Either The Movie didn't really happen and Sheila Broflovski has just naturally matured or it really did happen and Sheila has been atoning for her actions ever since. Episode like "Super Hard PC-Ness" seem to discourage the former through Continuity Nods to the movie's plot, but whether Sheila consciously changed her behavior in the series proper or it was a simple matter of Depending on the Writer is up in the air.
- Wendy has also been a recipient of this, especially after "The Hobbit" with feuding fan views going to bat: Was she in the right and is she actually a believer in feminism, or is she more of a Straw Feminist only using the cause as her excuse to call others ugly and act superior to them? Was she unfairly ostracized, or was the ending "putting her in her place"? The matter isn't helped by the fact that Parker and Stone's (and Bill Hader's) characterization of Wendy differs heavily depending on the season and episode, and that while they've sometimes had her as one of the few voices of reason in the South Park universe, they've also used her as a way to lampoon feminism and activists. Even the episodes that have her painted as more in the right are subject to dissection as to whether or not she truly is, such as "Breast Cancer Show Ever" and "Stupid Spoiled Whore Video Playset". It seems that while she has good intentions, her approach can be very heavy-handed and she can screw that up like anyone else. Regarding "Breast Cancer Show Ever" and "Stupid Spoiled Whore Video Playset" she approached adult figures who assisted and supported her, often learning an important moral in the process, as both Principal Victoria and Mr. Slave taught.
- The abuse Butters receives from his parents makes more sense when you realize one of them was raised by Butter's bullying grandmother. South Park: The Fractured but Whole adds further fuel to the fire by depicting Stephen having a nightmare about his mother; it's often assumed Butters' grandmother is Stephen's mother, which would explain why he's an Armoured Closet Gay as she teases Butters for being a sissy.
- Speaking of Butters' grandma, when Butters gave his "The Reason You Suck" Speech, she was completely silent. Was the frown on her face the product of a Heel Realization or a Villainous BSoD? Going further with that; was she bullying Butters out of malicious enjoyment or a hugely misguided attempt to teach him to stand up for himself? When Butters did try to confront her as Professor Chaos, she did tell him to fight back against her and she does smile during the brief moment Butters tells her he "got real mean and he beat the snot outta Dr. Oz" and that it felt good before he starts in on his "The Reason You Suck" Speech.
- Gary Harrison (the one-shot kid character from "All About Mormons"): is he a genuinely happy and kindhearted kid who's proud of his family's values, or as in this fic, is he a secret life-hating douchebag who only pretends to be cheerful?
- Is Kenny's dad unemployed because he's an alcoholic? Or is it because he's simply too lazy to get a job? The show has implied both in the past.
- During "Tweek X Craig"'s legendary ending, a subject of debate is why Craig decided to reunite with Tweek in the first place (the relationship itself was confirmed to be real in commentary tracks, then solidified by Season 21). Was it because after his father gave his blessings, Craig no longer needed to deny his love for Tweek? Was it to appease the broken hearted town? Or was it initially faked for one reason or another and became a true love by the end of it?
- In "Sponsored Content", was PC Principal's behavior towards Jimmy due to him being afraid of being labeled a bigot towards handicapped people? Or, considering he never actually interacted with Jimmy before this episode, is he legitimately uncomfortable around them?
- Could Cartman's mom also be anti-Semitic? She never shows any qualms against her son's hatred of Jews and even made him a Hitler costume for Halloween. It would easily explain where Cartman gets his attitude towards Jews from... However Liane has never shown any sign of antisemitism onscreen especially around Sheila, whom she happens to be friendly towards, plus she did ground Cartman for his actions in "The Passion of the Jew" according to "AWESOM-O".
- Is Kyle incredibly selfish for protecting his father's (Gerald) ass from anyone knowing he is Skankhunt42 to prevent his parents from divorcing (or even worse)? And then there's the fact he could end the gender war by revealing Gerald's identity... but of course he doesn't do it.
- Gerald is seen drinking purple wine in some episodes of season 20, which might imply that he's actually drinking the wine of the member-berries and this is influencing his behavior, although as he himself admits this could only be the case because he was a sadistic Troll even as a kid and is just returning to form. The season ends without addressing whether they are affecting him in any way or not.
- Butters in Season 20. Is his "wieners out" movement an example of him hating women and having Took a Level in Jerkass or is he campaigning for a legitimate cause in which only drastic actions could have it be taken seriously? Or is he simply lashing out because he doesn't know how to deal with heartbreak?
- "Doubling Down": Were the girls right that Kyle's motivation for wanting Heidi to dump Cartman was that he had a crush on her? Or did they simply convince him that was his motivation, and his real motivation was his grudge against Cartman?
