History Characters / SouthParkHerbertGarrison

[[center: [- [[Characters/SouthPark Main Page]] | [[Characters/SouthParkTheBoys The Boys]] ([[Characters/SouthParkStanMarsh Stan Marsh]], [[Characters/SouthParkKyleBroflovski Kyle Broflovski]], [[Characters/SouthParkEricCartman Eric Cartman]], [[Characters/SouthParkKennyMcCormick Kenny [=McCormick=]]]) | [[Characters/SouthParkOtherStudents Other Students]] ([[Characters/SouthParkButtersStotch Butters Stotch]], [[Characters/SouthParkWendyTestaburger Wendy Testaburger]], [[Characters/SouthParkHeidiTurner Heidi Turner]]) | [[Characters/SouthParkAntagonists Antagonists]] ([[Characters/SouthParkAntagonistsBigBads Big Bads]], [[Characters/SouthParkAntagonistsSecondaryAndMinor Secondary and Minor]], [[Characters/SouthParkAntagonistsJerksAndBullies Jerks and Bullies]]) | [[Characters/SouthParkFamilyMembers Family Members]] ([[Characters/SouthParkRandyMarsh Randy Marsh]]) | [[Characters/SouthParkElementarySchoolStaff Elementary School Staff]] ('''Herbert Garrison''') | [[Characters/SouthParkOtherRecurringCharacters Other Recurring Characters]] | [[Characters/SouthParkTheStickOfTruth The Stick of Truth]] ([[Characters/SouthParkTheNewKid The New Kid]]) | [[Characters/SouthParkTheFracturedButWhole The Fractured but Whole]] | [[Characters/SouthParkPhoneDestroyer Phone Destroyer]] -] ]]

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!Mr./Ms./President Herbert/Janet Garrison
[[quoteright:320:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/south_park_studios.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:320:''"Now I might not understand politics, or immigration policies, or... the law. Or basic... ideological... concepts. But dammit I understand there there's a bunch of Canadians here and I'm gonna do somethin' about it!"''\\
[[labelnote:Click here to see him as Ms. Garrison]] https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/garrison_sps.jpg]] [[/labelnote]]
[[caption-width-right:320:[[labelnote:Click here to see him as the President]] https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1481277768_donald.jpg]] [[/labelnote]]
[[caption-width-right:320:[[labelnote:Click here to see his Panderverse self]] https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_southparkjoiningthepanderverse20232160pamznweb_dlddp51h265_fluxmkv_snapshot_1954971.png]] [[/labelnote]]
->''"I tell you, there's some crazy stuff going on in this town."''

->'''Voiced in English by:''' [[Creator/TreyParkerAndMattStone Trey Parker]]
->'''Voiced in Latin American Spanish by:''' Antonio Delli (Seasons 1-9 and 16-start of 17), Larry Villanueva (Seasons 10-15 and 2007-2012 redubs), Eduardo Wasveiler (rest of Season 17 onwards and 2015-2016 redubs), Creator/CesarArias (Mexican dub), César Izaguirre (Warner ''Bigger, Longer & Uncut'' dub), Carlos Águila (Paramount ''Bigger, Longer & Uncut'' dub)
->'''Debut:''' "[[Recap/SouthParkS1E1CartmanGetsAnAnalProbe Cartman Gets an Anal Probe]]"

The boys' eccentric homeroom teacher throughout most of the series. He used to carry a sarcastic hand puppet with him (two, actually: Mr. Hat and Mr. Twig), but later left them behind. His gender and sexual preferences have been in constant flux. From the start of the show he was man, but had a sex change in Season 9 where he became a woman and was referred to as Janet Garrison which lasted until Season 12, where she reverted back to a man and has stayed a man ever since. In Season 19, he left his job as a teacher and started a presidential campaign on a basis of "fucking everyone to death". From Seasons 20 to 24, he served as President of the United States, serving as a [[{{Trumplica}} stand-in]] for Creator/DonaldTrump.
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[[folder:A-E]]
* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: Subverted. While Garrison's decision to [[spoiler:nuke Canada]] made him widely hated, he still has an approval rating of 3% meaning there are a few people who support him, like the Whites. [[BrokenPedestal He burns even that bridge]] in "The Vaccination Special" by making a deal to the elites in order to be liked by everyone again.
* AdultsAreUseless: ''Seriously''. While most adults and authority figures in the CrapsackWorld of South Park are too absentminded themselves to enforce legality and morality, Mr. Garrison takes the cake. He's too power-hungry and apathetic to care when his students are in legitimate harm, instead forcing them to suffer from it. He is in fact an exaggerated parody of how teachers in RealLife abuse their authority and occasionally fail to take action against bullying and harassment. It reaches an all-time high in Season 20, where he becomes an in-universe stand-in for Trump.
* AngryWhiteMan: He's been intolerant of pretty much everyone and everything, believing at various points in the series that gay marriage, teaching evolution, wealthy black people and immigrants are all a threat to the American way of life, regardless of how they may affect him. He outright describes himself as "a sick, angry little man" at one point during his election campaign. His status as this is what earns him the admiration of the White Family.
* AntiHero: He assists the town whenever they're in a pickle, but his suggestions are usually quite brutal if not outright nonsensical (such as getting rid of all the Mexicans to save Christmas). Despite this, he has the odd moment when he actively assists in saving the townsfolk from whatever predicament they find themselves in. In "Vaccination Special", he becomes a complete NominalHero, since he does single-handedly put an end to the COVID outbreak in South Park (that ''he'' helped spread while in his last year as president) by hiring Air Israel to get everyone vaccinated. Despite this, it's made clear that he only did this so that people would like him again, as he's quick to burn the only bridge he had created through his presidency (with Robert White), and was willing to work with the deranged Hollywood Elites to get his old life back.
* AntiVillain: After he finds out he might actually win the presidency, he becomes horrified that he could take the job from someone more qualified. He then proceeds to do all he can to sabotage his campaign. [[spoiler:After actually becoming president, he drops the "Anti" part, though part of it remains due to being influenced by the Memberberries.]]
* ApatheticTeacher: When he's not busy belittling his students, he basically phones in his job, and is often more interested in talking about pop culture, his struggles, or his relationship problems than any actual school subject.
* ArchEnemy:
** For PC Principal within a week of the latter's arrival. Unlike Principal Victoria, PC Principal doesn't appreciate his offensive streak and fires him from South Park Elementary as soon as he gets the opportunity. On Garrison's part, once he became president following this, the first thing he does is rub his victory on PC's face and force him to suck his dick.
** Becomes this for Tweek in Season 21, doing everything to terrorize him and ruin Tweek's efforts to forge peace between the U.S. and foreign countries. Likewise, Tweek is the one [[TheDreaded terrified of Garrison the most.]]
* ArmoredClosetGay: It was hinted many times that he was gay, but he would take deep offense and insist he was straight. He would say Mr. Hat was gay and later admitted his second-hand puppet, Mr. Twig, was also gay. Mr. Garrison denied the fact he was gay so much, that he even appeared homophobic and believed gay people were an abomination and weren't human. In one particular episode, he tells Stan, "Gay people are evil. Their hearts pump not blood like yours and mine, but rather a thick, vomitous oil". He did eventually come out and even had a relationship with Mr. Slave. After undergoing a sex change surgery, Ms. Garrison returned to this, fighting against same-sex marriage and homosexuality before eventually coming out as a lesbian, apparently comfortable again with her sexuality. After another sex-change, the creators said that Mr. Garrison "likes everyone", showing no sexuality issues anymore.
* AxCrazy: The fact that he has constant violent mood swings, has no problem raping immigrants and his own employees to death, and nukes Canada over petty reasons, clearly highlights his lack of sanity.
* BadassTeacher: He's had moments of this, but one thing that cements this is during "Where My Country Gone", where he's the first to boldly stand up to PC Principal, and the first to ''get away with it'' (though he ''does'' get fired, he gets to keep his face intact).
* BadBoss: He's been raping his own employees ever since he became President. He also forces Mr. Service to wear a thong in the cold, and shows little remorse when hiss deal with the elites causes him to get turned into Mr. Hat.
* BackForTheFinale: Garrison returns in the Season 22 finale, after being absent and unmentioned throughout said season.
* BadBadActing: His ventriloquist act with Mr. Hat... isn't very convincing, and the only one who believes it (aside from Butters to an extent) is ''himself''.
* BestialityIsDepraved: It was once implied during earlier episodes that Garrison might have had sex with Cartman's pet pig 'Fluffy', meaning he may also enjoy bestiality. In addition, "Jakovasaurs" also suggests that same idea when the people are watching the Jakovasaur and Garrison suggests that they let him keep the Jakovasaur. They replied that he once found a bird that he kept at his house to keep it alive, but he ended up having sex with it, to which Garrison replies that the bird was a total slut and then he tells everyone who didn't have sex with the bird to raise their hands and everyone raises their hands (a reference to "Cartman's Mom is a Dirty Slut").
* BigBad: He has been this for several episodes, with the most prominent being the "Go God Go" two-parter. He becomes the GreaterScopeVillain of five consecutive seasons (from the second episode of Season 19 to the first half of Season 24) when he gets into politics, especially in Season 20 when he's elected president against his wishes and loses all hope in America.
* BigBadEnsemble:
** With Bedrager, the Member Berries, and [[spoiler:Gerald]] in Season 20.
** With Eric Cartman in Season 21.
** With Randy, Mickey, and Yates for "The Pandemic Special".
* BoomerangBigot: He becomes homophobic after his sex reassignment surgery drives away Mr. Slave, then [[DoesNotLikeMen misandric]] once more men are driven away by his sex change (thus turning toward lesbianism), and transphobic when he finally gets the sex change reversed.
* BrilliantButLazy: How else can you explain such an ineffectual teacher building an marketing something that made planes obsolete?
* BullyingADragon: He makes horribly thought-out statements (to the point they're insulting and demeaning) that get him chased by an angry mob armed with chainsaws, axes, bats and guns in "Douche and Danish" and then hurls racist anti-Asian slurs at Kim Jong-un and North Korea angering them to prepare a nuclear attack on South Park.
* TheCameo: [[spoiler: Makes one near the end of Season 22, where he's shown having been captured after a season of being at large.]]
* TheCaligula: After becoming president, he makes the Canadian President look responsible in comparison. He even puts more effort in his "stank face" than on managing his country. Then again, being a giant douche ''is'' what he promoted during the elections.
-->'''Stan:''' You're just going to sit there and not do anything?\\
'''Garrison:''' I'm going to ''actively'' not do anything, and you can just eat shit off my balls and die.
* CardCarryingJerkass: As he makes clear after meeting Richard Dawkins, his life philosophy is "Using logic and reason isn't enough. You have to be a dick to everyone who doesn't think like you". In Season 20, he tries exploiting this to sabotage his election, becoming one of the few times where this trope is used sympathetically, but when it only makes him more popular amongst the audience, [[ThenLetMeBeEvil he eventually embraces it once he's elected, partly due to the influence of the Memberberries]].
-->'''Garrison:''' Everyone, I need to just speak from the heart here. Uhm, I don't know what the fuck I'm doing. I've gotta come clean. Uh, I had no idea I would get this far, but the fact of the matter is, I should not be President. Okay? I will fuck this country up beyond repair. I'm a sick, angry little man. Please, if you care at all about the future of our country, vote for her. Okay? She's the one who at least has some experience. She, she's not as bad as you think, I promise. And unlike me, she's actually capable of running this country.
* CharacterCatchphrase: Occasionally, when he or Mr. Hat is angry:
-->'''Garrison:''' You go to hell! You go to hell and [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment you die]]!
** In Season 20, he starts saying, "Oh, jeez!" in a scared tone frequently.
* CharacterizationMarchesOn: The guy went through one of the most bizarre and convoluted character arcs in animation history: He starts off as a raging homophobe who was also a closeted homosexual himself, with a CompanionCube named Mr. Hat to help him through the grief. He then came out of the closet and ditched Mr. Hat for a masochist boyfriend named Mr. Slave in Season 6, becoming a full blown DepravedHomosexual. Still not content with his new sexuality, he got a sex change operation in Season 9, changing her name to Janet and going back to hating gay people since Mr. Slave ditched her following the operation. She then got together with Richard Dawkins and became a HollywoodAtheist whose influence over her husband became the catalyst of a BadFuture, but these events were reversed by Cartman and she went back to being TheFundamentalist, this time with [[DoesNotLikeMen a newfound hatred for men]] that led to her becoming a PsychoLesbian in Season 11. A season later, she then became disillusioned with her new identity and got her penis reattached, becoming a transphobe after the fact. After 7 seasons of stability, he developed an immense hatred for Canadians that got him fired, which motivated him to run for president. Though he started growing remorseful after the fact and tried to actively sabotage his election, after winning against all expectations and being briefly brainwashed by the Memberberries, he loses all trust in America and [[ThenLetMeBeEvil decides to embrace his new over-the-top persona]], spending most of his time as president being TheHedonist who screws up his own country and others for shits and giggles. When he lost the election, he was freed from the influence of the memberberries and mostly reverted back to his original characterization with the help of the Hollywood Elites. As of Season 25, he's actually trying to get his life together without any further drama with the help of his new boyfriend [[MoralityChain Rick]], though he still has a long way to go.
-->'''Mr. Garrison:''' Well, I just went through a little thing. You know, I... I realized I was gay. And then I realized I wasn't gay, I was a woman. And after I transitioned, I thought it was a little mistake and then I went through a phase of being the President of the United States.
* CharacterDevelopment: Through Season 25 and 26, he tries to refrain from falling back into his {{Trumplica}} persona for the sake of his boyfriend Rick, marking the first time he's actively attempted to take accountability for his actions instead of blaming someone and doubling down. Even when he's standing in front of people who idolize said persona, he turns his reelection speech into a declaration of love for his boyfriend.
-->'''Garrison:''' Rick, I am a giant piece of shit without you. I don't deserve another chance. You have been wronged. You have been betrayed. And the only person who deserves retribution is me. I know you all really want to rally and rage, but the only thing I have to say is that... I LOVE RICK!
* ChronicVillainy: "Spring Break" reveals he can very easily regress to his {{Trumplica}} characterization when prompted, and he likely would if Rick weren't there [[MoralityChain to make him accountable to somebody]]. After his catastrophic vacation in South Carolina, the fear of falling down that path again and being re-elected plagues him more than ever.
-->'''Garrison:''' Oh Rick! I don't want to go through all that again. I just want to stay in South Park with you!\\
'''Rick:''' Well, I guess we'll just have to see what happens.
* CloudCuckoolander: He believes Mr. Hat and Mr. Twig to be sentient beings, for starters. [[spoiler: Though eventually, it turns out ''[[TheCuckoolanderWasRight they are]]''.]] He also needs a CloudCuckoolandersMinder (usually a boyfriend) to keep him in check, and when he doesn't have one, there's nothing stopping him from running loose and [[TookALevelInJerkass taking a level in Jerkass]].
* ComedicSociopathy: His actions, from having sex with Cartman's pig to raping the Canadian President, are all played for comedy.
* CompanionCube: Mr. Hat and Mr. Twig. [[spoiler:Subverted, as they actually are alive.]]
* ConsultingMisterPuppet: Mr. Hat in early seasons. And, after Mr. Hat went missing, Mr. Twig. Particularly interesting since Garrison actually talked through the puppet, yet was still apparently oblivious to the fact that he was arguing with himself, though Mr. Hat seems quite capable of independent mobility. Not only has Mr. Hat kicked Mr. Mackey's ass but he's also an active member of the [=KKK=].
* ContrastingSequelAntagonist: To PC Principal as part of the BigBadEnsemble of Season 20. PC Principle was a new character introduced in Season 19, Garrison was [[HijackedByGanon a long established character]] in a new narrative role. Both were [[AngryWhiteMan angry white men]] but PC Principal [[PoliticalOvercorrectness took political correctness]] [[KnightTemplar to the point of extremism]] while Garrison was [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain openly racist and xenophobic]] and PC Principal figured out at the end of the season he was an UnwittingPawn in a [[GreaterScopeVillain bigger conspiracy]], defeated it and subsequently TookALevelInKindness and became a more heroic figure. Garrison figured out he was being used half way through the season but was [[BrainwashedAndCrazy brainwashed]] by the Memberberries and remained an antagonist for several more seasons.
* TheCorrupter: The "Go God Go" two-parter reveals that, had Garrison (after the first sex change) developed a relationship with evolutionary biologist and known atheist Richard Dawkins, he would've convinced Dawkins to use his beliefs to eradicate religion from the world by being as much of an asshole as humanly possible. This would've created the BadFuture Cartman got stuck in, where Garrison's influence sparked centuries of war and violence across the Earth simply because the three atheist factions followed Dawkins' (and Garrison's) example by insisting they each had the answer to the ultimate question: [[spoiler: what to name the faction of atheists]]. Thankfully, Cartman accidentally stops this from happening.
* TheCorruptible: In Season 20, he falls under the influence of the Memberberries after being elected President and becomes more eager to "fuck the country up beyond repair". It's heavily implied this at least motivated his decision to [[spoiler:nuke Canada]] or [[spoiler:actively make the Pandemic worse]].
* CruelAndUnusualDeath: His victims get raped to death, or "fucked until their spirits leave their bodies". The Canadian President is the only one shown onscreen and it's not pretty.
* DemotedToDragon: To the Member Berries, though he is implied to have broken off from their influence, and by "The Pandemic Special" he's ascended back into being the BigBad.
* DemotedToExtra: Originally the second-most prominent adult on the show behind Chef, he's now limited to a single line in scenes inside the classroom. Subverted in Seasons 19 onward however, when he returns to prominence with a vengeance.
* DependingOnTheWriter:
** Prior to leaving the school in Season 19, his competence as a teacher tends to zig-zag depending on the episode. Most of the time, he's an unprofessional ass who teaches his students about trivial subjects like television shows and popular culture. Other times, however, he becomes realistic and teaches them about normal matters like multiplication problems.
** Likewise, his amount of sympathy for his students also varies. Most of the time, he's a perpetually and unreasonably rude teacher who never ceases to drop his attitude and shows little remorse when his students are in serious danger. A special mention of this trait goes to "An Elephant Makes Love to a Pig", where Mr. Garrison notices Stan has a black eye and jumps to the conclusion that he might be having problems at home, which turns out to be true, but since Stan is receiving the abuse from his sister rather than his parents, Garrison loses sympathy and bluntly discourages Stan's worries about such a serious matter. However, on rare occasions, it's implied that he deep-down cares for his students and wants to have an impact on their futures. This is evident when he teaches them about actually important matters rather than the usual trivial BS.
* DepravedBisexual: He's been a Depraved Homosexual, a Depraved Heterosexual, a PsychoLesbian... He's a depraved ''whatever''-his-orientation-is-at-the-moment. He's had relationships with men, women, tried to look for a young boy online, and had sex with both a pot-bellied pig and a pigeon. As Chef puts it:
-->'''Chef:''' Children, there's a big difference between gay people and Mr. Garrison.
* DespairEventHorizon: He stated that he'll lose all faith in humanity if he gets elected to be president over Clinton. [[spoiler: He wins.]]
* DirtyCoward: In "Super Fun Time" he tries to sacrifice some children to save himself from gunmen, and unsurprisingly, he's at the front of the line while fleeing from them later in the episode.
-->'''Garrison:''' Please, if you're going to take anyone, don't take me. These children are worth more for you!
* DoesNotLikeMen: In "D-Yikes", after getting rejected because of her sex change, Ms. Garrison takes her rage out on all her male students.
-->'''Garrison:''' You boys make me sick! You're well on your way to being men, who only think with their penises! I am assigning all of you weekend homework! You are going to read Hemmingway's book, "The Old ''MAN'' and the Sea"!
* DragonInChief: Garrison may be under the Member Berries' control, but when all is said and done the latter are still just small berries that simply talk about bigotry and nostalgia while the former has all the authority and power as president to do whatever he wants. By Season 21, the townsfolk of South Park are scared solely of Garrison and don't mention the Member Berries at all.
* TheDreaded: Becomes this after [[spoiler:being elected president]]. The people of South Park are horrified at the very sight of him and he even manages to make [[spoiler:'''''PC Principal''''']] tremble in fear with his mere presence. By Season 21, he definitely becomes this for Tweek.
* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: Throughout Season 21 he is referred to as The President rather than be called by his name.
* EvilCounterpart:
** Is hinted to be one for Big Gay Al. While Al is out and proud, stylish and wears a pink shirt, Mr. Garrison is self-loathing, plainly dressed and wears a green shirt. Mr. Garrison made Stan feel like a wuss for getting beaten by his sister, while Big Gay Al taught Stan that being gay isn't a bad thing. Big Gay Al is kind to animals, while Mr. Garrison rammed a gerbil up Mr. Slave's rectum. Mr. Garrison uses ''"fag"'' as a slur against gays, while Big Gay Al wants to reappropriate it to use against Harley riders. Both are mentor figures to the main boys and have had a relationship with Mr. Slave.
** Also one for Tweek Tweak. Both are [[StraightGay Straight Gays]] who are uncomfortable being labeled as homosexuals and are rather mentally unstable. However Tweek's [[ProperlyParanoid mental instability]] comes for being [[AbusiveParents abused by his parents]], while Garrison [[AxCrazy acts]] [[DepravedBisexual the way]] [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil he does]] because he ''wasn't'' molested by his father as a child. Tweek eventually accepts being gay after being in a stable relationship with Craig, while Garrison decision to change into a woman so he wouldn't technically be labeled gay drove his lover, Mr. Slave, away. Likewise, they both set up by a third party into their current predicament, before eventually accepting their role. For Tweek, it was aforementioned acceptance that he was gay; For Garrison, [[ThenLetMeBeEvil it was accepting to become an]] [[PresidentEvil evil president.]]
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: He may struggle with empathy when it comes to everyone else, but when he finds himself a LivingEmotionalCrutch, he endlessly dotes on them.
** CompanionCube or not, he cared a lot more for Mr. Hat than he's ever cared for any human, and had a lot of patience for his evil and racist streak and {{Yandere}} tendencies. This love extended to his ReplacementGoldfish Mr. Twig, for whom he looked after when Mr. Hat tried to kill him, and made sure he was content with his decision to leave him for Mr. Hat before going through with it.
** Though he grew to resent him after he dumped him, he loved Mr. Slave and actually stood by their master-slave dynamic, caring for him and going out of his way to please him the way he liked. By Season 24, he still has some lingering feelings towards him, and a call from him is the only thing that can spur him into action as President.
** She really grew fond of Richard Dawkins after they got together, changing her fundamentalist views into those of a HollywoodAtheist for his sake, and staying by his side for the rest of her life in the BadFuture. It's implied she actually found fulfilment with him in said timeline since she never changed back into a man. Unfortunately for her, Cartman ruined their first date with the crank prank time phone and changed the timeline into one where Garrison's extreme views never influence the future.
** He also cared for Allison (the only woman he's ever significantly felt attracted to) and the rest of the recurring customers at "Les Bos", even declaring war on the Persians when they try to modify the place.
** Despite becoming transphobic after his second sex change, he actually became VitriolicBestBuds with Caitlyn Jenner, and chose her as his running mate when he ran for president, cracking jokes with her and listening to her advice.
** Though he's mostly a BadBoss to him, he still seemed to care about Mr. Service more than any of his other staff members, and shows worry when he says that his balls were freezing.
** Though they still have some rough patches, his latest boyfriend Rick is the only person who has successfully managed to break Mr. Garrison out of his toxic habits, which the latter appreciates. In "Spring Break", he tries everything he can to make their vacation in South Carolina work, and uses his re-election speech to profess his love for him.
* EvenEvilHasStandards:
** Despite his hatred for Kathie Lee Gifford, he cannot bring himself to kill her, instead having [[CompanionCube Mr. Hat]] do it for him.
** He's as politically incorrect as they come, but he's not touching the topic of assisted suicide with a 20-foot pole. He's also uncomfortable with [[CompanionCube Mr. Hat]] joining the KKK.
** Minor example, but despite his hatred for Canadians, he's shocked to see one of them commit suicide by jumping out of a high building out of remorse for having voted for the Canadian President.
** He becomes frightened of the reality of a person like ''him'' [[GoneHorriblyRight being the leader of the entire country]], and the ignorance that is fueling his supporters and campaign. And his efforts to sabotage himself are all for naught because they still soak up his every word.
--->'''Garrison''': I don't know what the fuck I'm doing. I had no idea I would get this far, but the fact of the matter is, I should not be President. Okay? I will fuck up this country beyond repair. I am a sick, angry little man.
* EvilIsPetty: When he [[spoiler:becomes President]] he goes around and tells everyone to suck his dick.
* EvilPuppeteer: Downplayed. He has his puppet Mr. Hat in the first few seasons, but although he's not exactly evil, he's a major {{Jerkass}}.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:F-Y]]
* FatBastard: He puts on weight, starting in "Not Funny", by bingeing on [[ComfortFood ice cream]].
* FirstLawOfGenderBending: Played straight in Season 9's "Mr. Garrison's Fancy New Vagina" where he first gets the male-to-female operation. He changes his mind, but his testicles get destroyed and he is unable to go back to being a man until four seasons later. Then subverted in Season 12, when he gets another operation to go back.
* {{Flanderization}}: After being elected President, his sleaziness and bigotry are turned up and become his defining traits as part of becoming a {{Trumplica}}. At least part of this is implied to be due to the Memberberries' influence, as he spends most of "Spring Break" trying to kick this characterization akin to how someone tries to kick a drug habit.
* FourEyesZeroSoul: He's always seen wearing glasses, even when he becomes President. Oh, and he's a psychopathic rapist.
* FreudianExcuse: Inverted. He has been deeply tormented all his life because his father ''didn't'' molest him as a child, thinking it meant that his father didn't love him. Bizarrely, his ''mom'' also thinks the same thing.
-->'''Garrison's Mom:''' That's not true! Your father ''loved'' you! Often!
* FromNobodyToNightmare: He goes from a simple 4th grade teacher to the [[spoiler:President of the United ''Fucking'' States.]] Canada suffered dearly for this.
* GayConservative: Despite his ever-changing sexual orientation he is generally depicted as being one of the town's Republicans rather than a Democrat. Then again, he is a BoomerangBigot.
* GracefulLoser: [[spoiler: He doesn't seem upset at being arrested in the Season 22 finale, and simply smiles as he watches the bike parade. He's also happy to get back to teaching after losing the presidency.]]
* GreaterScopeVillain: He could be seen as this for Season 23, in regards having ICE raid homes to detain illegal immigrants, while separating the parents from their children. Eventually his most loyal supporters, the Whites, would adopt one of these children and abuse him leading to the creation of "Mexican Joker". In "Season Finale", he also helps get Randy, the season's BigBad, out of jail.
* GreenAndMean: He typically wears a green shirt and is incredibly sadistic.
* HairTriggerTemper: The only person in South Park who is as remotely volatile as Eric Cartman. Exaggerated during the seasons following his sex change, where she becomes a lot more violent towards her students whenever she has a bad day. Being a StrawMisogynist, she probably thought [[HystericalWoman she could get away with it]].
* HateSink: He becomes this after he wins the presidential election and becomes a blatant parody of Donald Trump. He repeatedly rapes members of his cabinet, intentionally exacerbated Tweek's fears over North Korea by lying on Twitter about the cupcakes Tweek sent them, and then launched a nuclear missile at Toronto killing over a million Canadians there just because he finds it sexually arousing. These actions caused almost the whole town to despise him and almost caused the United States to descend into nuclear war.
* HaveIMentionedIAmHeterosexualToday: He was this way before coming out of the closet, constantly talking about poontang that we never see him get. Once he actually becomes TheCasanova in "Tom's Rhinoplasty", he's scared shitless of all the female attention and wants to go back to his old life.
* HeartbreakAndIceCream: Engages in this in "Not Funny" after getting called a little bitch president by Mr. Slave.
* TheHeavy: While Garrison is currently the most powerful and most dangerous man in the world driving most of the conflict in the later seasons, such as [[spoiler:nuking Canada]] in Season 21, he is still just a pawn the Member Berries are controlling.
* HeelFaceRevolvingDoor: It's really hard to know when he's a regular teacher or a sexual depraved SOB. Even as president he can either be an ally to the boys or a threat that parodies Pennywise.
* HeWhoFightsMonsters: After killing the bigoted and xenophobic Canadian President, he goes on to enact the very same policies and ideologies as his late enemy.
* HilariouslyAbusiveChildhood: Mr. Garrison feels that he had a traumatic childhood because his father ''didn't'' sexually abuse him, and to Garrison, this meant that his father didn't love him. Mr. Mackey, the guidance counselor, says that the only way to save his son's life is for the elder Garrison to have sex with him, and he finally [[spoiler:hires Kenny G to pretend to be him and sleep with the younger Garrison.]]
* IncompatibleOrientation: After becoming a trans woman, he got this from men that swing both ways. Mr. Slave broke up with him because the latter is gay, and Richard Dawkins was {{Squick}}ed when Cartman blurted out that he was assigned male at birth.
* InsufferableImbecile: He is an extremely incompetent teacher at South Park Elementary School who puts no effort into actually teaching his students anything. He is also mentally insane, regularly showing severe anger issues, psychopathic tendencies, and delusions that are divorced from reality.
* IntergenerationalFriendship: He's shown to have shades of one with the boys in the earlier seasons. While they don't think highly of him and persist to disrespect his authority as a teacher, they're shown to be on good terms with him outside of school or in both of their free times.
** The earliest instance of this was shown in "Weight Gain 4000", where the four boys and Wendy visit Mr. Garrison at the local mental health institution and express their condolences about his recent PTSD development, encouraging him to get on the road to recovery and genuinely hoping that he can return to his position as a teacher soon.
** In "South Park is Gay!", Kyle and Mr. Garrison sympathize with each other over distaste for the recent fad and book a train to New York to kill the host of ''Queer Eye for the Straight Guy''.
* ItsAllAboutMe:
** Got a sex-change operation because he wanted to be a woman. Mr. Slave was understandably upset, as Mr. Garrison expected him to just turn straight and accept a change he didn't get a say in. It gets worse in a later episode when trying to "take Mr. Slave back," completely failing to once more understand just why Mr. Slave left. And when Garrison learns Mr. Slave was going to marry Big Gay Al, Garrison decided to help make gay marriage illegal just out of spite.
** In Season 25, his "lessons" revolve entirely around discussing his new relationship, with not attempt whatsoever to actually ''teach'' his students anything.
* {{Jerkass}}: He's a short-tempered, foul-mouthed, power-hungry teacher who treats his students with very little respect and rarely gets his head out of his ass to save them in the face of legitimate danger. Though since his second change in Season 12, this has been toned down somewhat. He returns to this role by Season 20, where he becomes the [[spoiler: the '''President of the United States''', with the sole purpose of abusing his power in the most criminal ways possible, with rape and terrorism being his worst offenses.]]
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: It's ''very'' shallow and doesn't remotely excuse the diabolical and criminal acts he's committed, but on rare occasions, he has his moments of showing genuine respect for his students, in that he'll sometimes teach them ideal school subjects, and has been implied to have somewhat of an IntergenerationalFriendship with them outside of his job. By Season 25, he's trying hard to be this again after his tumultuous "sabbatical" as president, with his new boyfriend Rick trying to steer him down the correct path, which Garrison surprisingly appreciates and follows through with despite his innate desires to go back to being a {{Trumplica}}.
* KarmaHoudiniWarranty: [[spoiler: After terrorizing Tweek, raping immigrants and his own staff, nuking Toronto, and escaping capture in Season 21, he's finally arrested in Season 22's finale. Subverted in Season 23 where he returns to the office. Then he returns to his teaching job after breaking the fourth wall to erase his past crimes. Even PC Principal doesn't bring up the time Garrison forced him to perform a sexual act.]]
* KarmicRape: In "Where My Country Gone", he [[spoiler: fucks the [[TheCaligula Canadian President]] to death.]]
* KickTheDog: In TheMovie, calling Clyde "a complete retard" for failing a math question and combating Wendy's complaint of a sexist statement of his with ''another'' sexist statement.
* KnowNothingKnowItAll: Whenever he tries to teach children. From the first episode alone: "UsefulNotes/ChristopherColumbus discovered America and was the Indians' best friend. He helped the Indians win their war against Frederick Douglass, and freed the Hebrews from Napoleon, and discovered France". Becomes a RunningGag in later seasons when he tries to teach the children the plots of various popular plays and television shows, for example presenting the plots of Game of Thrones and Les Misérables as real history. Subverted during his presidential election where Garrison wears his ignorance on his sleeves, but still gets elected regardless because he's honest about it unlike Hillary.
* LackOfEmpathy: Mr. Garrison has little consideration for others' feelings and wears his psychopathic emotions on his sleeves.
* LargeHam: In addition to his HairTriggerTemper, Mr. Garrison has an occasional propensity to yell at his students for no reason and in general lacks an indoor voice.
* {{Leitmotif}}: As of "Members Only", his leitmotif has become a DarkReprise of "Hail to the Chief".
* ALighterShadeOfBlack: The only reason he was elected President despite his active attempts to sabotage his election is because he was running against Hillary Clinton, a fact he laments after hearing her refute his argument despite him having argued ''in her favor''.
-->'''Garrison:''' Oh fuck, oh fuck, why the fuck did it have to be her, I am so fucked.
* LivingEmotionalCrutch: Due to his inner conflicts, he usually attaches himself to his significant others in this way: It started with Mr. Hat, with whom he's been since he was a child, and with whom he stayed until his old age in the BadFuture, then he changed to Mr. Slave for three seasons, then Richard Dawkins, whom she married in one timeline, then the lesbians at "Les Bos", and finally and most meaningfully, Rick, his MoralityPet.
* MoralityPet: After briefly slipping back into a {{Trumplica}} in "Spring Break", he announces in a public speech that his boyfriend Rick is the only reason his rerailment stuck and is terrified of going back should he ever lose him.
* NeverMyFault: Mr. Garrison often gets mad at his students when they show others in the town how little they actually know despite the fact that he's clearly never taught them any actual school subjects.
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: As of Season 20, he's become an {{Expy}} of (or rather a [[TakeThat jab at]]) Donald Trump.
* NotBrainwashed: His behavior as president was implied to be the result of the Memberberries brainwashing him, in "Spring Break" it's instead portrayed as an addiction he has trouble getting over.
* ANaziByAnyOtherName: In the Pandemic Special, he outright states he's doing nothing about the pandemic because there's higher death rates among Mexicans than any other race, and is using the virus as a weapon to indirectly exterminate them.
* NoIndoorVoice: He's rather loudmouthed and short-tempered.
* NotSoHarmlessVillain: From Season 21's "Sons of Witches", it seems that he hasn't really done much while in office, only getting rid of six immigrants and has yet to complete his wall. An episode later, it was revealed that he's been raping foreign diplomats to death as well as his own office so they keep quiet. And that's not getting to two episodes after when he decides to [[spoiler: nuke Canada.]]
* OrcusOnHisThrone: In Seasons 20-24, he spends most of his screentime lounging around in his office and casually fucking his staff. He only gets off his ass to participate in the Witch Week, scare Crystal White and Tweek for no reason, help get Randy out of prison, and kill the pangolin carrying a potential COVID vaccine (and the scientist holding the pangolin).
* PetTheDog:
** He holds the eulogy for Kenny's funeral in "Kenny Dies", and actually plays it straight, moving the townsfolk to tears with his speech.
** In "Best Friends Forever", Mr. Garrison is arrested for trying to bring food and water to Kenny whilst the latter is in the hospital.
** Despite his complicated history with Chef, Garrison still attends his funeral, and sheds a tear at his casket.
** He actually did a surprisingly good job as a teacher during his temporary stint with the Kindergarten class, sparing the kids from his usual bizarre behavior and potty-mouth.
** In Season 23's "Season Finale", he actually listens to Randy's plea for help and does his best to clear his charges and get him out of prison. Of course, his methods were underhanded as can be, and this is still presented as deplorable since Randy was [[BigBad at his worst]] in that season, but Garrison still had no apparent ulterior motive beyond throwing his old friend a bone.
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: He is racist, homophobic, and misogynistic among many other prejudices. In one Christmas special, he travels to non-Christian countries to admonish people for not celebrating Christmas in a particularly hilarious song.
* PresidentEvil: He gains the Republican nomination and eventually wins the 2016 Presidential election on a platform of fucking all the immigrants to death. [[spoiler:Of course, this could also be considered a subversion, as it's the ''Member Berries'' that have infected his mind following his attempts at self-sabotage]]. Played straight in following seasons, where he uses his position of power to rape, murder, and even commit genocide.
* ProtagonistJourneyToVillain: While Mr. Garrison wasn't exactly a decent person before, his StoryArc starts when he grows tired of the immigrants coming to his country. He decides to run for president so that he can establish a law to fuck all immigrants to death. However, he soon realizes that he never really had any plans as president other than fucking immigrants to death, so he tries to foil his own election. His attempts were rendered naught, however, as the Member Berries brainwashed him into accepting the presidency and becoming a SerialRapist towards his own staff and [[spoiler: nuking Canada]]. It is implied he has broken off from their influence, but he has still continued his downward spiral, and the ending of "The Pandemic Special" makes it clear that Garrison is a complete villain.
* PuppetKing: Despite [[spoiler:being President]], he's little more than a pawn for the Member Berries to use. {{Downplayed}} in Season 21, where he seems to have achieved some semblance of power over them, telling them to shut up when they try to make yet another ''Star Wars'' reference.
* PsychopathicManchild: Mr. Garrison is a full-grown adult who lives on his own yet has an unhealthy obsession with rape, has frequent mood swings, has committed several felonies, wants power just to excuse being awful, and has no consideration for others' feelings. Despite his overall sociopathy, he's shown to have a ''slight'' touch of innocence, as he initially relied on a CompanionCube to support him, has occasional moments of being genuinely nice to his students, and in "Ike's Wee Wee" is shown watching ''Series/{{Teletubbies}}'' while high.
* RapeAsBackstory: Averted, [[ArentYouGoingtoRavishMe much to his disappointment]]. His relationship with his father is strained because the latter never molested him as a child. However, since his mother also shared his views on the matter, it's possibly played straight on her side, only exemplified by Garrison's close relationship with her.
* RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil: What makes him bit more depraved than probably anything else in this show. He based his whole presidential campaign on fucking everyone to death, forces people to give him blowjobs as president, and is now raping his own staff.
* RetiredMonster: After losing the 2020 president election, Mr. Garrison returns to being a teacher at South Park Elementary in "South Park Vaccination Special". That said, Mr. Garrison doesn't seem to show any remorse for all the atrocities he committed during his presidency and remains oblivious to the fact that everyone now hates him.
* RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver: Wears a black suit and red tie after becoming President.
* RedOniBlueOni: Becomes the red to Rick's blue after Season 24, with Rick from what little we've seen of him being more quiet, reserved and emotionless, while Garrison is more kooky, emotional, and temperamental. In "Spring Break", it's displayed in full effect, as Rick is the only one who can calm Garrison down whlie Garrison is the only one who can make Rick lose his temper.
* TheRival:
** To Hillary Clinton in 2026 when they were running for president, though halfway through the election process he's tries to get her to win.
** {{Downplayed}} with Joe Biden in 2020. Though he's a GracefulLoser once the latter is elected in his stead, Garrison shows in "Spring Break" that he still thinks he's a lousy president regardless. However, this is all part of his {{Trumplica}} persona so it's not associated to what he actually believes.
* RunningGag:
** "Can we get rid of all the Mexicans?"
** "Fuck them all to death!"
* SadistTeacher: His emotional imbalances cause him to be this quite often.
* SadlyMythtaken: In one episode of an early season, he gets ''homosexuals and vampires'' confused.
* ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem: After being elected president, he uses his position to commit all sorts of horrific crimes with impunity.
* SerialKiller: His victims are all males, consisting of diplomats and his own employees, whose modus operandi involve fucking them all to death.
* SerialRapist: He as President Garrison has gone around, [[InsistentTerminology fucking foreign diplomats and his own employees to death]].
* ShadowArchetype: To Randy, the both have a tendency to go overboard with casual interests and treat everything as SeriousBusiness. But Randy's obsession's seem almost sane and rational compared to Garrison, who can change anything from his gender, sexual orientation and core beliefs at a moments notice and no matter what it is, pushes the thing he's decided is his new identity onto people with Nazi-like forcefulness.
* TheSociopath: He could rival Cartman when it comes to careless immorality. Mr. Garrison has no sense of respect for others' well-being and will willingly murder and rape people without feeling a shred of remorse for his victims.
* SpringtimeForHitler: Has tried this twice.
** In Season 6's "Death Camp of Tolerance", Mr Garrison tries to intentionally get fired by displaying [[DepravedHomosexual exaggeratedly inappropriate homosexual behavior]] on front of his students (and later, their parents) so he can sue the school district for millions for firing him for being gay. All this results in is the adults of South Park [[ComicallyMissingThePoint congratulating him for being so brave in such an unaccepting climate]]. When Mr. Garrison lashes out at the crowd giving him a standing ovation for [[EvenEvilHasStandards how they'd tolerate such behavior]] and asks them to fire him already so he can get his millions of dollars, he's sent to the tolerance camp for [[BoomerangBigot not being accepting of himself]].
** Throughout Season 20, Mr. Garrison tried to sabotage his own Presidential campaign, from sitting during the National Anthem (which backfired due to the Anthem being rebooted by Creator/JJAbrams, allowing the person to either stand, sit, or kneel during the anthem) to telling dirty jokes during his campaign rallies, and ultimately, pleading with his followers to vote for Hillary Clinton. They were all for naught, as Garrison was elected President, due to interference by the Member Berries.
* StraightGay: While he's had his campy moments, he's by and large this, and you probably wouldn't be able to tell that he's gay just by the way he acts whenever he's in the classroom, unlike Big Guy Al, who's obviously gay.
* StrawFeminist: After his first sex change, she constantly preached about girl power and griped about how AllMenArePerverts. She gets worse in "D-Yikes", at least before coming out as a lesbian.
-->'''Garrison:''' Oh, that's too bad, ''dude''!. Maybe if you boys could keep your penises in your pants once in a while you'd get more done!
* StrawMisogynist: Before his first sex change, he mostly spoke about screwing with hot chicks and getting poontang. While running for president, he tries to weaponize this to lose voters, as he was actively trying to throw the election, though it [[GoneHorriblyRight Went Horribly Right]] for him (not that it stopped him from getting elected).
-->'''Garrison:''' Well, I'm sorry Wendy, but I just don't trust anything that bleeds for five days and doesn't die.
* ThenLetMeBeEvil: After despairing at the notion of someone like himself becoming President, he sinks into depression and questions the sanity of humanity. When he is elected, he jumps off the proverbial wagon and abuses his authority every chance he gets... [[SubvertedTrope but he's come under the influence of the Member Berries.]]
* TheyLookJustLikeEveryoneElse: Prior to getting a Trump-esque appearance, he didn't have much distinct features that made him stand out from everyone else in South Park. It didn't made him any less of a deplorable human being.
* TranquilFury: When he sees PC Principal after becoming President, it's shown that he hasn't really gotten over being fired by PC Principal because he didn't want to change. Rather that loudly lashing out at PC Principal over it however, he calmly and softly, tells him to suck his dick.
* TransparentCloset: For the first few seasons. He speaks with a very mincing tone of voice and prefers to engage in celebrity gossip rather than teach real subjects. By far the biggest tell of Garrison's sexuality is when he tried writing an erotic novel and dedicting entire paragraphs to describing male genitals while the female form is barely acknowledged. Even the book's title had the word "penises" in it.
* {{Trumplica}}: His bid for presidency and eventual victory are all thinly-veiled spoofs of Donald Trump's similar aspirations. His appearance becomes more Trump-like and certain personality traits such as his sleaziness and bigotry are flanderized. Ironically, all of this happened [[HeWhoFightsMonsters after Mr Garrison killed another Trump expy]].
* TookALevelInJerkass: He was already a bit of a JerkAss early on, sometimes showing a [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold heart of gold]], but he would get worse in later seasons, especially once he became President. By Season 24, he's even worse than Cartman, as evidenced in "[[Recap/SouthParkThePandemicSpecial The Pandemic Special]]", where he kills the Pangolin that held the cure of the Pandemic for his own benefit while Cartman had actually decided to save it despite its survival going against ''his'' benefit.
* TookALevelInKindness: Though he did have to sink to another depth to be EasilyForgiven after returning to South Park, he actually starts making an attempt to change his ways once he's lost his second election, and is a very grateful and doting boyfriend to Rick, with whom he tries his damnedest to have a healthy relationship.
* TurnInYourBadge:
** PlayedForLaughs in "Cherokee Hair Tampons" when he's fired from South Park Elementary, whereupon he tells the council that he will promptly give them his badge and gun, akin to a retired police officer. The council has to remind him that teachers shouldn't carry guns.
--->'''Garrison:''' Oh, so I can keep it, then?
** When Garrison spouted racist speech toward the Canadian children at the elementary school, PC Principal promptly fired him. [[CreateYourOwnVillain These events led him to become President Garrison]].
** Attempted again in the seventh episode of Season 21, though [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil it doesn't end well for the ones who tried]].
* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: In Season 19, he decides to run for president so he can kick the immigrants out of South Park. This leads to the whole town becoming the laughingstock of the whole country. To counter this, the locals gentrify the town to appear classy and enlightened. The upkeep costs more than the locals can afford and it's not long before the homeless population begins to rise, with Randy and several other people contemplating moving to another town to survive.
* VillainsNeverLie: When his cabinet reveals to Garrison that a Russian diplomat was "''raped and executed''" on US soil, he proudly admits to doing the deed. [[WhatTheHellHero When they call him out for his oath to the office]], ''he reminds them that "his oath to the office was to '''fuck everyone to death!'''.
* VillainProtagonist: Of Season 20 along with [=Skankhunt42=], though he only commits to the role after actually being elected president halfway through the season, unlike [[spoiler:Gerald]] whose more despicable actions are done as a defense mechanism to save his own ass from the consequences of his actions.
* VitriolicBestBuds: After running for president, the only people he has any semblance of a friendship with are Caitlyn Jenner and Rudy Giuliani, with whom he still exchanges insults.
* YouAreWhatYouHate:
** He was quite homophobic in the early seasons before coming to terms with his sexuality. Then he became homophobic again after becoming a woman... until s/he became a lesbian. What's more, his/her lesbianism was spurred on by an acquired hatred of men shortly before deciding to go back to being a man.
** He kills the evil Canadian president, only to become a politician fueled by sensationalist fervor himself. They even share similar stances on immigration.
* YoungerThanHeLooks: His grey, balding head makes him looks like he's in his mid-fifties to early sixties when in reality he's only 41.
[[/folder]]
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* AngryWhiteMan: He's been intolerant of pretty much everyone and everything, believing at various points in the series that gay marriage, teaching evolution, wealthy black people and immigrants are all a threat to the American way of life, regardless of how they may affect him.
* AntiVillain: After he finds out he might actually win the presidency, he becomes horrified that he could take the job from someone more qualified. He then proceeds to do all he can to sabotage his campaign. [[spoiler:After actually becoming president, he drops the "Anti" part.]]

* BigBad: He has been this for several episodes, with the most prominent being the "Go God Go" two-parter.

** With Randy, Mickey, and Yates for "The Pandemic Special"

* StrawMisogynist: Before his first sex change, he mostly spoke about screwing with hot chicks and getting poontang. While running for president, he tries to weaponize this to lose voters, as he was actively trying to throw the election, though it WentHorriblyRight for him (not that it stopped him from getting elected).

[[/folder]]

[[caption-width-right:320:''"Now I might not understand politics, or immigration policies, or... the law. Or basic... ideological... concepts. But dammit I understand there there's a bunch of Canadians here and I'm gonna do somethin' about it!"''[[labelnote:Click here to see him as Ms. Garrison]] https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/garrison_sps.jpg]] [[/labelnote]]

[[caption-width-right:320:[[labelnote:Click here to see him as Ms. Garrison]] https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/garrison_sps.jpg]] [[/labelnote]]

[[redirect:Characters/SouthParkElementarySchoolStaff]]

[[center: [- [[Characters/SouthPark Main Page]] | [[Characters/SouthParkTheBoys The Boys]] ([[Characters/SouthParkStanMarsh Stan Marsh]], [[Characters/SouthParkKyleBroflovski Kyle Broflovski]], [[Characters/SouthParkEricCartman Eric Cartman]], [[Characters/SouthParkKennyMcCormick Kenny McCormick]]) | [[Characters/SouthParkOtherStudents Other Students]] ([[Characters/SouthParkButtersStotch Butters Stotch]], [[Characters/SouthParkWendyTestaburger Wendy Testaburger]], [[Characters/SouthParkHeidiTurner Heidi Turner]]) | [[Characters/SouthParkAntagonists Antagonists]] ([[Characters/SouthParkAntagonistsBigBads Big Bads]], [[Characters/SouthParkAntagonistsSecondaryAndMinor Secondary and Minor]], [[Characters/SouthParkAntagonistsJerksAndBullies Jerks and Bullies]]) | [[Characters/SouthParkFamilyMembers Family Members]] ([[Characters/SouthParkRandyMarsh Randy Marsh]]) | [[Characters/SouthParkElementarySchoolStaff Elementary School Staff]] ('''Herbert Garrison''', [[Characters/SouthParkPCPrincipal PC Principal]]) | [[Characters/SouthParkOtherRecurringCharacters Other Recurring Characters]] | [[Characters/SouthParkTheStickOfTruth The Stick of Truth]] | [[Characters/SouthParkTheFracturedButWhole The Fractured but Whole]] -] ]]

!Herbert Garrison
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/landscape_1481277768_donald.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:As President Garrison.]]
->''"I tell you, there's some crazy stuff going on in this town."''

->'''Voiced by:''' [[Creator/TreyParkerAndMattStone Trey Parker]]
->'''Debut:''' "[[Recap/SouthParkS1E1CartmanGetsAnAnalProbe Cartman Gets an Anal Probe]]"

The boys' eccentric homeroom teacher throughout most of the series. He used to carry a sarcastic hand puppet with him (two, actually: Mr. Hat and Mr. Twig), but later left them behind. His gender and sexual preferences have been in constant flux. From the start of the show he was man, but had a sex change in Season 8 where he became a woman and was referred to as Janet Garrison which lasted until Season 12, where she reverted back to a man and has stayed a man ever since. In Season 19, he left his job as a teacher and started a presidential campaign on a basis of "fucking everyone to death". Starting from Season 20, he's the President of the United States, serving as a stand-in for Creator/DonaldTrump.
----

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:A-G]]

* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: Subverted. While Garrison's decision to [[spoiler:nuke Canada]] made him widely hated, he still has an approval rating of 3% meaning there are a few people who support him, like the Whites.
* AdultsAreUseless: ''Seriously''. While most adults and authority figures in the CrapsackWorld of South Park are too absentminded themselves to enforce legality and morality, Mr. Garrison takes the cake. He's too power-hungry and apathetic to care when his students are in legitimate harm, instead forcing them to suffer from it. He is in fact an exaggerated parody of how teachers in RealLife abuse their authority and occasionally fail to take action against bullying and harassment. It reaches an all-time high in Season 20, where he becomes an in-universe stand-in for Trump.
* AmbiguousSexuality: Due to the fact that he's had both male and female relationships during the course of the series, it is now unclear whether or not he can or should still be considered gay, but rather pansexual. Since Garrison's last relationship was lesbian in nature prior to returning to being a male, it has not been made clear what Garrison's current orientation is.
* AngryWhiteMan: He's been intolerant of pretty much everyone and everything, believing at various points in the series that gay marriage, teaching evolution, wealthy black people, and immigrants are all a threat to the American way of life, regardless of how they may affect him.
* AntiVillain: After he finds out he might actually win the presidency, he becomes horrified that he could take the job from someone more qualified. He then proceeds to do all he can to sabotage his campaign. [[spoiler:After actually becoming president, he drops the "Anti" part.]]
* AnythingThatMoves: He's ''been'' anything that moves and back again at this point.
* ApatheticTeacher: When he's not busy belittling his students, he basically phones in his job.
* ArchEnemy: Becomes this for Tweek in Season 21, doing everything to terrorize him and ruin Tweek's efforts to forge peace between the U.S. and foreign countries. Likewise, Tweek is the one [[TheDreaded terrified of Garrison the most.]]
* ArmoredClosetGay: It was hinted many times that he was gay, but he would take deep offense and insist he was straight. He would say Mr. Hat was gay and later admitted his second-hand puppet, Mr. Twig, was also gay. Mr. Garrison denied the fact he was gay so much, that he even appeared homophobic and believed gay people were an abomination and weren't human. In one particular episode, he tells Stan, "Gay people are evil. Their hearts pump not blood like yours and mine, but rather a thick, vomitous oil."
* AxCrazy: The fact that he has constant violent mood swings, has no problem raping immigrants and his own employees to death, and nukes Canada over petty reasons, clearly highlights his lack of sanity.
* BadassTeacher: He's had moments of this, but one thing that cements this is during "Where My Country Gone", where he's the first to boldly stand up to PC Principal, and the first to ''get away with it''.
* BadBoss: He's been raping his own employees ever since he became President.
* BackForTheFinale: Garrison returns in the Season 22 finale, after being absent and unmentioned throughout said season.
%%* BadBadActing: His ventriloquist act... isn't.
* BestialityIsDepraved: It was once implied during earlier episodes that Garrison might have had sex with Cartman's pet pig 'Fluffy', meaning he may also enjoy bestiality. In addition, "Jakovasaurs" also suggests that same idea when the people are watching the Jakovasaur and Garrison suggests that they let him keep the Jakovasaur. They replied that he once found a bird that he kept at his house to keep it alive, but he ended up having sex with it, to which Garrison replies that the bird was a total slut and then he tells everyone who didn't have sex with the bird to raise their hands and everyone raises their hands (a reference to "Cartman's Mom is a Dirty Slut").
* BigBadEnsemble:
** With Bedrager, the Member Berries, and [[spoiler:Gerald]] in Season 20.
** And with Eric Cartman in Season 21.
* BoomerangBigot: He becomes homophobic after his sex reassignment surgery drives away Mr. Slave, then [[DoesNotLikeMen misandric]] once more men are driven away by his sex change (thus turning toward lesbianism), and transphobic when he finally gets the sex change reversed.
* BrilliantButLazy: How else can you explain such an ineffectual teacher building an marketing something that made planes obsolete?
* BullyingADragon: He makes horribly thought-out statements (to the point they're insulting and demeaning) that get him chased by an angry mob armed with chainsaws, axes, bats and guns in "Douche and Danish" and then hurls racist anti-Asian slurs at Kim Jong-un and North Korea angering them to prepare a nuclear attack on South Park.
* {{Cameo}}: [[spoiler: Makes one near the end of Season 22.]]
* {{Catchphrase}}: Occasionally, when he or Mr. Hat is angry:
--> "You go to hell! You go to hell and [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment you die]]!"
** In Season 20, he starts saying, "Oh, jeez!" in a scared tone frequently.
* CloudCuckoolander: He believes Mr. Hat and Mr. Twig to be sentient beings, for starters. [[spoiler: Though eventually, it turns out ''[[TheCuckoolanderWasRight they are]]''.]]
* ComedicSociopathy: His actions are all played for comedy.
* CompanionCube: Mr. Hat and Mr. Twig. [[spoiler:Subverted, as they actually are alive.]]
* ConsultingMisterPuppet: Mr. Hat in early seasons. And, after Mr. Hat went missing, Mr. Twig. Particularly interesting since Garrison actually talked through the puppet, yet was still apparently oblivious to the fact that he was arguing with himself, though Mr. Hat seems quite capable of independent mobility. Not only has Mr. Hat kicked Mr. Mackey's ass but he's also an active member of the [=KKK=].
* TheCorrupter: The "Go God Go" two-parter reveals that, had Garrison (after the first sex change) developed a relationship with evolutionary biologist and known atheist Richard Dawkins, he would've convinced Dawkins to use his beliefs to eradicate religion from the world by being as much of an asshole as humanly possible. This would've created the BadFuture Cartman got stuck in, where Garrison's influence sparked centuries of war and violence across the Earth simply because the three atheist factions followed Dawkins' (and Garrison's) example by insisting they each had the answer to the ultimate question: [[spoiler: what to name the faction of atheists]]. Thankfully, Cartman accidentally stops this from happening.
* CruelAndUnusualDeath: His victims get raped to death.
%%* DemotedToDragon: To the Member Berries.
* DemotedToExtra: Originally the second-most prominent adult on the show behind Chef, he's now limited to a single line in scenes inside the classroom. Subverted in Seasons 19 onward however, when he returns to prominence with a vengeance.
* DependingOnTheWriter:
** Prior to leaving the school in Season 19, his competence as a teacher tends to zig-zag depending on the episode. Most of the time, he's an unprofessional ass who teaches his students about trivial subjects like television shows and popular culture. Other times, however, he becomes realistic and teaches them about normal matters like multiplication problems.
** Likewise, his amount of sympathy for his students also varies. Most of the time, he's a perpetually and unreasonably rude teacher who never ceases to drop his attitude and shows little remorse when his students are in serious danger. A special mention of this trait goes to "An Elephant Makes Love to a Pig", where Mr. Garrison notices Stan has a black eye and jumps to the conclusion that he might be having problems at home, which turns out to be true, but since Stan is receiving the abuse from his sister rather than his parents, Garrison loses sympathy and bluntly discourages Stan's worries about such a serious matter. However, on rare occasions, it's implied that he deep-down cares for his students and wants to have an impact on their futures. This is evident when he teaches them about actually important matters rather than the usual trivial BS.
* DepravedHomosexual: He's been a Depraved Homosexual, a Depraved Heterosexual, a PsychoLesbian... He's a depraved ''whatever''-his-orientation-is-at-the-moment. As Chef puts it:
-->"Children, there's a big difference between gay people and Mr. Garrison."
* DespairEventHorizon: He stated that he'll lose all faith in humanity if he gets elected to be president over Clinton. [[spoiler: He wins.]]
* DirtyCoward: In "Super Fun Time" he tries to sacrifice some children to save himself from gunmen.
-->Please, don't take me. Take the children, they're worth more for you!
* DragonInChief: Garrison may be under the Member Berries control, but when all is said and done the latter are still just small berries that simply talks about bigotry and nostalgia while the former has all the authority and power as president to do whatever he wants. By Season 21, the townsfolk of South Park are scared solely of Garrison and don't mention the Member Berries at all.
* TheDreaded: Becomes this after [[spoiler:being elected president]]. The people of South Park are horrified at the very sight of him and he even manages to make [[spoiler:'''''PC Principal''''']] tremble in fear with his mere presence. By Season 21, he definitely becomes this for Tweek.
* DynamicCharacter: Of all the cast, Garrison's story is one of the most dramatic in the show, and wouldn't be out of place on a soap opera. Over the course of the series, he's gone from being a closeted homosexual, to an outed homosexual, then got a sex change so he was a heterosexual woman, became a lesbian, and then got another sex change so he's now a heterosexual man. Then he ran for president, then he got afraid of what would happen to the country if he actually won, before admitting to the entire nation that he's not a good person, and went on to become the president-elect.
* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: Throughout Season 21 he is referred to as The President rather than be called by his name.
* EvilCounterpart:
** Is hinted to be one for Big Gay Al. While Al is out and proud, stylish and wears a pink shirt, Mr. Garrison is self-loathing, plainly dressed and wears a green shirt. Mr. Garrison made Stan feel like a wuss for getting beaten by his sister, while Big Gay Al taught Stan that being gay isn't a bad thing. Big Gay Al is kind to animals, while Mr. Garrison rammed a gerbil up Mr. Slave's rectum. Mr. Garrison uses ''"fag"'' as a slur against gays, while Big Gay Al wants to reappropriate it to use against Harley riders. Both are mentor figures to the main boys and have had a relationship with Mr. Slave.
** Also one for Tweek Tweak. Both are [[StraightGay Straight Gays]] who are uncomfortable being labeled as homosexuals and are rather mentally unstable. However Tweek's [[ProperlyParanoid mental instability]] comes for being [[AbusiveParents abused by his parents]], while Garrison [[AxCrazy acts]] [[DepravedHomosexual the way]] [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil he does]] because he ''wasn't'' molested by his father as a child. Tweek eventually accepts being gay after being in a stable relationship with Craig, while Garrison decision to change into a woman so he wouldn't technically be labeled gay drove his lover, Mr. Slave, away. Likewise, they both set up by a third party into their current predicament, before eventually accepting their role. For Tweek, it was aforementioned acceptance that he was gay; For Garrison, [[ThenLetMeBeEvil it was accepting to become an]] [[PresidentEvil evil president.]]
* EvenEvilHasStandards: He becomes frightened of the reality of a person like ''him'' [[GoneHorriblyRight being the leader of the entire country]], and the ignorance that is fueling his supporters and campaign. And his efforts to sabotage himself are all for naught because they still soak up his every word.
-->'''Garrison''': I don't know what the fuck I'm doing. I had no idea I would get this far, but the fact of the matter is, I should not be President. Okay? I will fuck up this country beyond repair. I am a sick, angry little man.
* EvilIsPetty: When he [[spoiler:becomes President]] he goes around and tells everyone to suck his dick.
* EvilPuppeteer: Downplayed. He has his puppet Mr. Hat in the first few seasons, but although he's not exactly evil, he's a major {{Jerkass}}.
* FatBastard: He puts on weight, starting in "Not Funny", by bingeing on [[ComfortFood ice cream]].
* FirstLawOfGenderBending: Played straight in the episode where he first gets the male-to-female operation. He changes his mind, but his testicles get destroyed and he is unable to go back to being a man until the Season 12 episode mentioned above. Then subverted in Season 12, when he gets another operation to go back.
* FourEyesZeroSoul: He's always seen wearing glasses, even when he becomes President. Oh, and he's a psychopathic rapist.
* FreudianExcuse: Inverted. He has been deeply tormented all his life because his father ''didn't'' molest him as a child, thinking it meant that his father didn't love him. Bizarrely, his ''mom'' also thinks the same thing.
-->'''Garrison's Mom:''' That's not true! Your father ''loved'' you! Often!
** Possibly played straight as her reaction [[UnfortunateImplications implied she did molest him]].
* FromNobodyToNightmare: He goes from a simple 4th grade teacher to the [[spoiler:President of the United ''Fucking'' States.]]
* GayConservative: Despite his ever-changing sexual orientation he is generally depicted as being one of the town's Republicans rather than a Democrat. Then again, he is a BoomerangBigot.
* GracefulLoser: [[spoiler: He doesn't seem upset at being arrested in the Season 22 finale, and simply smiles as he watches the bike parade.]]
* GreaterScopeVillain: He could be seen as this for Season 23, in regards having ICE raid homes to detain illegal immigrants, while separating the parents from their children. Eventually his most loyal supporters, the Whites, would adopt one of these children and abuse him leading to the creation of "Mexican Joker".
* GreenAndMean: He typically wears a green shirt and is incredibly sadistic.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:H-Z]]
* HairTriggerTemper: The only person in South Park who is as remotely volatile as Eric Cartman.
* HateSink: He becomes this after he wins the presidential election and become a blatant parody of Donald Trump. He repeatedly rapes members of his cabinet, intentionally exacerbated Tweek’s fears over North Korea by lying on Twitter about the cupcakes Tweek sent them, and then launched a nuclear missile at Toronto killing over a million Canadians there just because he finds it sexually arousing. These actions caused almost the whole town to despise him and almost caused the United States to be in a nuclear war.
* HaveIMentionedIAmHeterosexualToday: He was this way before coming out of the closet.
* HeartbreakAndIceCream: Engages in this in "Not Funny" after getting called a little bitch president by Mr. Slave.
* TheHeavy: While Garrison is currently the most powerful and most dangerous man in the world driving most of the conflict in the later seasons, such as [[spoiler:nuking Canada]] in Season 21, he is still just a pawn the Member Berries are controlling.
* HeelFaceRevolvingDoor: It's really hard to know when he's a regular teacher or a sexual depraved SOB. Even as president he can either be an ally to the boys or a threat that parodies Pennywise.
* HeWhoFightsMonsters: After killing the Canadian President who xenophobic and bigoted, he seems to enact the very same policies and ideology that president had followed.
* HilariouslyAbusiveChildhood: Mr. Garrison feels that he had a traumatic childhood because his father ''didn't'' sexually abuse him, and to Garrison, this meant that his father didn't love him. Mr. Mackey, the guidance counselor, says that the only way to save his son's life is for the elder Garrison to have sex with him, and he finally [[spoiler:hires Kenny G to pretend to be him and sleep with the younger Garrison.]]
* IncompatibleOrientation: After becoming a Transwoman, he got this from men that swing both ways. Mr. Slave broke up with him because the latter is gay, and Richard Dawkins was {{Squick}}ed when Cartman blurted out that he had been born a male.
* IntergenerationalFriendship: He's shown to have shades of one with the boys in the earlier seasons. While they don't think highly of him and persist to disrespect his authority as a teacher, they're shown to be on good terms with him outside of school or in both of their free times.
** The earliest instance of this was shown in "Weight Gain 4000", where the four boys and Wendy visit Mr. Garrison at the local mental health institution and express their condolences about his recent PTSD development, encouraging him to get on the road to recovery and genuinely hoping that he can return to his position as a teacher soon.
** In "South Park is Gay!", Kyle and Mr. Garrison sympathize with each other over distaste for the recent fad and book a train to New York to kill the host of ''Queer Eye for the Straight Guy''.
* ItsAllAboutMe: Got a sex-change operation because he wanted to be a woman. Mr. Slave was understandably upset, as Mr. Garrison expected him to just turn straight and accept a change he didn't get a say in. It gets worse in a later episode when trying to "take Mr. Slave back," completely failing to once more understand just why Mr. Slave left. And when Garrison learns Mr. Slave was going to marry Big Gay Al, Garrison decided to help make gay marriage illegal just out of spite.
* {{Jerkass}}: He's a short-tempered, foul-mouthed, power-hungry teacher who treats his students with very little respect and rarely gets his head out of his ass to save them in the face of legitimate danger. Though since his second change in Season 12, this has been toned down somewhat. He returns to this role by Season 20, where he becomes the [[spoiler: the '''President of the United States''', with the sole purpose of abusing his power UpToEleven in the most criminal ways possible, with rape and terrorism being his worst offenses.]]
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: It's ''very'' shallow and doesn't remotely excuse the diabolical and criminal acts he's committed, but on rare occasions, he has his moments of showing genuine respect for his students, in that he'll sometimes teach them ideal school subjects, and has been implied to have somewhat of an IntergenerationalFriendship with them outside of his job.
* KarmaHoudiniWarranty: [[spoiler: After terrorizing Tweek, raping immigrants and his own staff, nuking Toronto, and escaping capture in Season 21, he's finally arrested in Season 22's finale. Subverted in Season 23 where he returns to the office.]]
* KickTheSonOfABitch: In "Where My Country Gone", he [[spoiler: fucks the [[TheCaligula Canadian]] [[PresidentEvil President]] to death.]]
* KnowNothingKnowItAll: Whenever he tries to teach children. From the first episode alone: "UsefulNotes/ChristopherColumbus discovered America and was the Indians' best friend. He helped the Indians win their war against Frederick Douglass, and freed the Hebrews from Napoleon, and discovered France." Becomes a RunningGag in later seasons when he tries to teach the children the plots of various popular plays and television shows, for example [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments presenting the plots of Game of Thrones and Les Miserables as real history]].
* LackOfEmpathy: Mr. Garrison has little consideration for others' feelings and wears his psychopathic emotions on his sleeves.
* LargeHam: In addition to his HairTriggerTemper, Mr. Garrison has an occasional propensity to yell at his students for no reason and in general lacks an indoor voice.
* {{Leitmotif}}: As of "Members Only", his leitmotif has become a DarkReprise of "Hail to the Chief".
* NeverMyFault: Mr. Garrison often gets mad at his students when they show others in the town how little they actually know despite the fact that he's clearly never taught them any actual school subjects.
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: As of Season 20, he's become an {{Expy}} (or rather a [[TakeThat jab at]]) of Donald Trump.
* NoIndoorVoice: He's rather loudmouthed and short-tempered.
* NotSoDifferent: To the Canadian president whom he fucked to death.
* NotSoHarmlessVillain: From Season 21's "Sons of Witches", it seems that he hasn't really done much while in office, only getting rid of six immigrants and has yet to complete his wall. An episode later, it was revealed that he's been raping foreign diplomats to death as well as his own office so they keep quiet. And that's not getting to two episodes after when he decides to [[spoiler: nuke Canada.]]
* PetTheDog: In "Best Friends Forever", Mr. Garrison is arrested for trying to bring food and water to Kenny whilst the latter is in the hospital.
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: He is racist, homophobic, and misogynistic among many other prejudices. In one Christmas special, he travels to non-Christian countries to admonish people for not celebrating Christmas in a particularly hilarious song.
* PresidentEvil: He gains the Republican nomination and eventually wins the 2016 Presidential election on a platform of fucking all the immigrants to death. [[spoiler:Of course, this could also be considered a subversion, as it's the ''Member Berries'' that have infected his mind following his attempts at self-sabotage.]]
* ProtagonistJourneyToVillain: While Mr. Garrison wasn't exactly a decent person before, his StoryArc starts when he grows tired of the immigrants coming to his country. He decides to run for president so that he can establish a law to fuck all immigrants to death. However, he soon realizes that he never really had any plans as president other than fucking immigrants to death, so he tries to foil his own election. His attempts were rendered naught, however, as the Member Berries brainwashed him into accepting the presidency and becoming a SerialRapist towards his own staff and [[spoiler: nuking Canada]].
* PuppetKing: Despite [[spoiler:being President]], he's little more than a pawn for the Member Berries to use.
* PsychopathicManchild: Mr. Garrison is a full-grown adult who lives on his own yet has an unhealthy obsession with rape, has frequent mood swings, has committed several felonies, wants power just to excuse being awful, and has no consideration for others' feelings. Despite his overall sociopathy, he's shown to have a ''slight'' touch of innocence, as he initially relied on a CompanionCube to support him, has occasional moments of being genuinely nice to his students, and in "Ike's Wee Wee" is shown watching ''Series/{{Teletubbies}}'' while high.
* RapeAsBackstory: Averted, [[ArentYouGoingtoRavishMe much to his disappointment]].
* RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil: What makes him bit more depraved than probably anything else in this show. He based his whole presidential campaign on fucking everyone to death, forces people to give him blowjobs as president, and is now raping his own staff.
* RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver: Wears a black suit and red tie after becoming President.
* RunningGag:
** "Can we get rid of all the Mexicans?"
** "Fuck them all to death!"
* SadistTeacher: His emotional imbalances cause him to be this quite often.
* SadlyMythtaken: In one episode of an early season, he gets ''homosexuals and vampires'' confused.
* SerialKiller: His victims are all males, consisting of diplomats and his own employees, whose modus operandi involve fucking them all to death.
* SerialRapist: He as President Garrison has gone around, [[InsistentTerminology fucking foreign diplomats and his own employees to death]].
* TheSociopath: He could rival Cartman when it comes to careless immorality. Mr. Garrison has no sense of respect for others' well-being and will willingly murder and rape people without feeling a shred of remorse for his victims.
* SpringtimeForHitler: Throughout Season 20, Mr. Garrison tried to sabotage his own Presidential campaign, from sitting during the National Anthem (which backfired due to the Anthem being rebooted by Creator/JJAbrams, allowing the person to either stand, sit, or kneel during the anthem) to telling dirty jokes during his campaign rallies, and ultimately, pleading with his followers to vote for Hillary Clinton. They were all for naught, as Garrison was elected President, due to interference by the Member Berries.
* StraightGay: While he's had his campy moments, he's by and large this, and you probably wouldn't be able to tell that he's gay just by the way he acts whenever he's in the classroom, unlike Big Guy Al, who's obviously gay.
* StrawMisogynist:
-->Well, I'm sorry, I just don't trust something that bleeds for five days and doesn't die.
* SuddenlySexuality: He's the embodiment of this trope, starting out as a [[TransparentCloset closeted homosexual]], [[FlamboyantGay token homosexual]], heterosexual woman (after her [[GenderBender sex change]]), a lesbian, and finally a man again (his current sexuality hasn't been confirmed yet, but the gay men of the town gathered for a meeting in "The F Word" and Garrison wasn't among them, so it is assumed he is a straight man). This is even {{lampshade|Hanging}}d when she tells her class about her sudden change to lesbianism after she comes right out and says she's gay, and Stan asks, "Again?" Chef probably put it best a long time ago: "There's a huge difference between gay people, [[DepravedBisexual and Mr. Garrison]]" since he's also had sex with animals and tried to rape children.
--->[[OhCisco That's our Garrison!]] ''([[EverybodyLaughsEnding laugh track]])''
* ThenLetMeBeEvil: After despairing at the notion of someone like himself becoming President, he sinks into depression and questions the sanity of humanity. When he is elected, he jumps off the proverbial wagon and abuses his authority every chance he gets... [[SubvertedTrope but he's come under the influence of the Member Berries.]]
* TheyLookJustLikeEveryoneElse: Prior to getting a Trump-esque appearance, he didn't have much distinct features that made him stand out from everyone else in South Park. It didn't made him any less of a deplorable human being.
* TranquilFury: When he sees PC Principal after becoming President, it's shown that he hasn't really gotten over being fired by PC Principal because he didn't want to change. Rather that loudly lashing out at PC Principal over it however, he calmly and softly, tells him to suck his dick.
%%* TransparentCloset: For the first few seasons.
* {{Transgender}}: Became a woman in Season 9 and then a man again in Season 12.
* {{Trumplica}}: His bid for presidency and eventual victory are all thinly-veiled spoofs of Donald Trump's similar aspirations. His appearance becomes more Trump-like and certain personality traits such as his sleaziness and bigotry are flanderized. Ironically, all of this happened [[HeWhoFightsMonsters after Mr Garrison killed another Trump expy]].
* TurnInYourBadge:
** When Garrison spouted racist speech toward the Canadian children at the elementary school, PC Principal promptly fired him. [[CreateYourOwnVillain These events led him to become President Garrison]].
** Attempted again in the seventh episode of Season 21, though [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil it doesn't end well for the ones who tried]].
* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: In Season 19, he decides to run for president so he can kick the immigrants out of South Park. This leads to the whole town becoming the laughingstock of the whole country. To counter this, the locals gentrify the town to appear classy and enlightened. The upkeep costs more than the locals can afford and it's not long before the homeless population begins to rise, with Randy and several other people contemplating moving to another town to survive.
* VillainsNeverLie: When his cabinet reveals to Garrison that a Russian diplomat was "''raped and executed''" on US soil, he proudly admits to doing the deed. [[WhatTheHellHero When they call him out for his oath to the office]], ''he reminds them that "his oath to the office was to '''fuck everyone to death!'''.
* VillainProtagonist: Of Season 20 along with [=Skankhunt42=].
* YouAreWhatYouHate:
** He was quite homophobic in the early seasons before coming to terms with his sexuality. Then he became homophobic again after becoming a woman... until s/he became a lesbian.
** He kills the evil Canadian president, only to become a politician fueled by sensationalist fervor himself. They even share similar stances on immigration.
[[/folder]]

* SuddenlySexuality: Averted with his ''homo''sexuality, which was heavily implied from the get-go, but played straight with his ''trans''sexuality, which came out of nowhere by the ninth season, and his ''lesbianism'', which didn't crop up until the twelfth. Of course, being Mr. Garrison, this may be the whole point.

* KarmaHoudiniWarranty: [[spoiler: After terrorizing Tweek, raping immigrants and his own staff, nuking Toronto, and escaping capture in Season 21, he's finally arrested in Season 22's finale.]]

[[center: [- [[Characters/SouthPark Main Page]] | [[Characters/SouthParkTheBoys The Boys]] | [[Characters/SouthParkStanMarsh Stan Marsh]] | [[Characters/SouthParkKyleBroflovski Kyle Broflovski]] | [[Characters/SouthParkEricCartman Eric Cartman]] | [[Characters/SouthParkKennyMcCormick Kenny McCormick]] | [[Characters/SouthParkButtersStotch Butters Stotch]] | [[Characters/SouthParkRandyMarsh Randy Marsh]] | [[Characters/SouthParkWendyTestaburger Wendy Testaburger]] | '''Herbert Garrison''' | [[Characters/SouthParkHeidiTurner Heidi Turner]] | [[Characters/SouthParkPCPrincipal PC Principal]] | [[Characters/SouthParkOtherStudents Other Students]] | [[Characters/SouthParkAntagonists Antagonists]] | [[Characters/SouthParkAntagonistsBigBads Big Bads]] | [[Characters/SouthParkAntagonistsSecondaryAndMinor Secondary and Minor]] | [[Characters/SouthParkAntagonistsJerksAndBullies Jerks and Bullies]] | [[Characters/SouthParkFamilyMembers Family Members]] | [[Characters/SouthParkElementarySchoolStaff Elementary School Staff]] | [[Characters/SouthParkOtherRecurringCharacters Other Recurring Characters]] | [[Characters/SouthParkTheStickOfTruth The Stick of Truth]] | [[Characters/SouthParkTheFracturedButWhole The Fractured but Whole]] -] ]]

[[center: [- [[Characters/SouthPark Main Page]] | [[Characters/SouthParkTheBoys The Boys]] | [[Characters/SouthParkStanMarsh Stan Marsh]] | [[Characters/SouthParkKyleBroflovski Kyle Broflovski]] | [[Characters/SouthParkEricCartman Eric Cartman]] | [[Characters/SouthParkKennyMcCormick Kenny McCormick]] | [[Characters/SouthParkButtersStotch Butters Stotch]] | [[Characters/SouthParkRandyMarsh Randy Marsh]] | [[Characters/SouthParkWendyTestaburger Wendy Testaburger]] | '''Herbert Garrison''' | [[Characters/SouthParkHeidiTurner Heidi Turner]] | [[Characters/SouthParkOtherStudents Other Students]] | [[Characters/SouthParkAntagonists Antagonists]] | [[Characters/SouthParkAntagonistsBigBads Big Bads]] | [[Characters/SouthParkAntagonistsSecondaryAndMinor Secondary and Minor]] | [[Characters/SouthParkAntagonistsJerksAndBullies Jerks and Bullies]] | [[Characters/SouthParkFamilyMembers Family Members]] | [[Characters/SouthParkElementarySchoolStaff Elementary School Staff]] | [[Characters/SouthParkOtherRecurringCharacters Other Recurring Characters]] | [[Characters/SouthParkTheStickOfTruth The Stick of Truth]] | [[Characters/SouthParkTheFracturedButWhole The Fractured but Whole]] -] ]]

* DemotedToExtra: Originally the second-most prominent adult on the show behind Chef, he's now limited to a single line in scenes inside the classroom. Subverted in Seasons 19 onwards however, when he returns to prominence with a vengeance.

** Prior to leaving the school in Season 19, his competence as a teacher tends to zig-zag depending on the episode. Most of the time, he's an uncertified ass who teaches his students about trivial subjects like television shows and popular culture. Other times, however, he becomes realistic and teaches them about normal matters like multiplication problems.
** Likewise, his amount of sympathy for his students also varies. Most of the time, he's a perpetually and unreasonably rude teacher who never ceases to drop his attitude and shows little remorse when his students are in serious danger. A special mention of this trait goes to "An Elephant Makes Love to a Pig", where Mr. Garrison notices Stan has a blackeye and jumps to the conclusion that he might be having problems at home, which turns out to be true, but since Stan is receiving the abuse from his sister rather than his parents, Garrison loses sympathy and bluntly discourages Stan's worries about such a serious matter. However, on rare occasions, it's implied that he deep-down cares for his students and wants to have an impact on their futures. This is evident when he teaches them about actually important matters rather than the usual trivial BS.

** Also one for Tweek Tweak. Both are [[StraightGay Straight Gays]] who are uncomfortable being labeled as homosexuals and are rather mentally unstable. However Tweek's [[ProperlyParanoid mental instability]] comes for being [[AbusiveParents abused by his parents]], while Garrison [[AxCrazy acts]] [[DepravedHomosexual the way]] [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil he does]] because he wasn't molested by his father as a child. Tweek eventually accepts being gay after being in a stable relationship with Craig, while Garrison decision to change into a woman so he wouldn't technically be labeled gay drove his lover, Mr. Slave, away. Likewise, they both set up by a third party into their current predicament, before eventually accepting their role. For, Tweek it was aforementioned acceptance that he was gay; For Garrison, [[ThenLetMeBeEvil it was accepting to become an]] [[PresidentEvil evil president.]]

* FatBastard: He puts on weight starting in "Not Funny" by binging on [[ComfortFood ice cream]].

* FourEyesZeroSoul: He's always seen wearing glasses, even when he becomes President. Oh and he's a rapping psychopath.

* BackForTheFinale: Garrison returns in the Season 22 finale, after being absent and unmentioned through said season.

[[center: [- [[Characters/SouthPark Main Page]] | [[Characters/SouthParkTheBoys The Boys]] | [[Characters/SouthParkStanMarsh Stan Marsh]] | [[Characters/SouthParkKyleBroflovski Kyle Broflovski]] | [[Characters/SouthParkEricCartman Eric Cartman]] | [[Characters/SouthParkKennyMcCormick Kenny McCormick]] | [[Characters/SouthParkButtersStotch Butters Stotch]] | [[Characters/SouthParkWendyTestaburger Wendy Testaburger]] | [[Characters/SouthParkRandyMarsh Randy Marsh]] | '''Herbert Garrison''' | [[Characters/SouthParkHeidiTurner Heidi Turner]] | [[Characters/SouthParkOtherStudents Other Students]] | [[Characters/SouthParkAntagonists Antagonists]] | [[Characters/SouthParkAntagonistsBigBads Big Bads]] | [[Characters/SouthParkAntagonistsSecondaryAndMinor Secondary and Minor]] | [[Characters/SouthParkAntagonistsJerksAndBullies Jerks and Bullies]] | [[Characters/SouthParkFamilyMembers Family Members]] | [[Characters/SouthParkElementarySchoolStaff Elementary School Staff]] | [[Characters/SouthParkOtherRecurringCharacters Other Recurring Characters]] | [[Characters/SouthParkTheStickOfTruth The Stick of Truth]] | [[Characters/SouthParkTheFracturedButWhole The Fractured but Whole]] -] ]]

[[center: [- [[Characters/SouthPark Main Page]] | [[Characters/SouthParkStanMarsh Stan Marsh]] | [[Characters/SouthParkKyleBroflovski Kyle Broflovski]] | [[Characters/SouthParkEricCartman Eric Cartman]] | [[Characters/SouthParkKennyMcCormick Kenny McCormick]] | [[Characters/SouthParkButtersStotch Butters Stotch]] | [[Characters/SouthParkWendyTestaburger Wendy Testaburger]] | [[Characters/SouthParkRandyMarsh Randy Marsh]] | '''Herbert Garrison''' | [[Characters/SouthParkHeidiTurner Heidi Turner]] | [[Characters/SouthParkOtherStudents Other Students]] | [[Characters/SouthParkAntagonists Antagonists]] | [[Characters/SouthParkAntagonistsBigBads Big Bads]] | [[Characters/SouthParkAntagonistsSecondaryAndMinor Secondary and Minor]] | [[Characters/SouthParkAntagonistsJerksAndBullies Jerks and Bullies]] | [[Characters/SouthParkFamilyMembers Family Members]] | [[Characters/SouthParkElementarySchoolStaff Elementary School Staff]] | [[Characters/SouthParkOtherRecurringCharacters Other Recurring Characters]] | [[Characters/SouthParkTheStickOfTruth The Stick of Truth]] | [[Characters/SouthParkTheFracturedButWhole The Fractured but Whole]] -] ]]

* ArchEnemy: Becomes this for Tweek in Season 21, doing everything to terrorize him and ruin Tweek's efforts to forge peace between the U.S. and foreign countries. Likewise, Tweek the one [[TheDreaded terrified of Garrison the most.]]

* TheyLookJustLikeEveyoneElse: Prior to getting a Trump-esque appearance, he didn't have much distinct features that made him stand out from everyone else in South Park. It didn't made him any less of a deplorable human being.

* AxCrazy: The fact that he has constant mood swings, has no problem raping immigrants and his own employees to death, and nukes Canada over petty reasons, clearly highlights his lack of sanity.

%%* AxCrazy: Definitely has shades of this.

* BadBoss: He's been raping his own employee's ever since he became President.

* ApatheticTeacher: When he's not busy belittling his students, he basically phones in his job.thank

* ApatheticTeacher: When he's not busy belittling his students, he basically phones in his job.

* AxCrazy: Definitely has shades of this.

* BadBadActing: His ventriloquist act... isn't.
* BigBad: Of "Follow That Egg", the "Go God Go" two-parter and "Splatty Tomato".

* DemotedToDragon: To the Member Berries.
* DemotedToExtra: Originally the second-most prominent adult on the show, he's now limited to a single line in scenes inside the classroom. Subverted in Seasons 19 onwards however, when he returns to prominence with a vengeance.

* FromNobodyToNightmare: He goes from a simple 4th grade teacher to the [[spoiler:President of the United ''Fucking'' States]]

* GreenAndMean: Typically wears a green shirt.

* {{Jerkass}}: Though since his second change in Season 12, this has been toned down somewhat. He is, however, still incredibly racist.

* KickTheSonOfABitch: In ''Where My Country Gone'', he [[spoiler: fucks the [[TheCaligula Canadian]] [[PresidentEvil President]] to death.]]

* [[PuppetKing Puppet President]]: Despite [[spoiler:being President]], he's little more than a pawn for the Member Berries to use.

* TransparentCloset: For the first few seasons.