History Characters / SouthParkEricCartman

** During the beginning of "The Death of Eric Cartman", Cartman eats all the skin off of an order of extra crispy KFC for all four of the boys.[[note]]This results in one of the mere two instances in the entire series where Kenny actually cries (the other being "The China Problem").[[/note]] He ends up rupturing his spleen and clogging the toilet when defecating it, causing him to ''actually believe himself dead''.

* BitchInSheepsClothing: He will sometimes try to act nice in front of the adults while hiding the fact he has a notorious scheme on his hands. Then again, with how [[TooDumbToLive dumb]] the [[AdultsAreUseless adults]] are, he doesn't even ''need'' to hide what's up his sleeve.

* AbsurdPhobia: A good chunk of ''Into The Panderverse'' revolves around his fear of being replaced with a diverse woman by Kathleen Kennedy.

** Then there's his relationship with his "friends". They either don't mind his company or they all utterly despise him. Kyle, in particular, gets hit with this pretty bad. He can either be a "sort of friend-ish" to Cartman, (as he describes it in "The Entity") not a friend at all (as he stated in "Casabonita") or outright hating him. As for Stan and Kenny, he's usually closer to them without Kyle around.

* StoutStrength: Usually owed to RuleOfFunny, since he's occasionally surpassed the other fourth graders that are middling-to-good in outwrestling each other; he's knocked out Tolkien and Jimmy in one (sucker-)punch despite them both besting him before, and he's able to carry ''Sheila'' back to South Park along with the rest of the Broflovskis in "Smug Alert!" However, without his reflexes, he's toast.

%%* BroodingBoyGentleGirl: Served as the Brooding Boy to Heidi's Gentle Girl.

** {{Deconstructed}}. Cartman has shown that he does love his mother Liane and girlfriend Heidi. However, he is also so selfish and entitled that he is not above abusing, manipulating, and humiliating them to get his way.

** Though he sometimes yells at her, Cartman never abuses his pet cat Mr. Kitty and was even willing to risk getting arrested to protect her.

* BoomerangBigot: In "Ginger Kids", Cartman, after picking on and fearing gingers for half the episode, falls prey to a prank that convinces him that ''he'' is a ginger and [[spoiler:forms a Nazi-like cult devoted to exterminating non-gingers. And in "201", it's revealed that he actually is half-ginger.]] Also, in a twisted way, it has been implied on numerous occasions that he is possibly a ChildHater.

** Despite the cruelty he inflicts on people, it's implied that he never performs his cruel acts on cats and has even kept many safe and well-taken care of in "Major Boobage".

* InnocentBigot: Cartman doesn't think he's being racist in "Cartman Finds Love" by playing matchmaker between Nichole and Token, the only two black students in the school. He considers what he is doing as helping nature take its course. He spends the whole episode [[{{Determinator}} going to the extreme]] to uphold these views. A rare example of ''[[TheSociopath Cartman]]'' managing to fill a trope with the word "innocent".

* TookALevelInBadass: As The Coon in the "Coon & Friends" trilogy. However, even in his normal persona, he does admittedly have moments where his cunning and manipulation come off as genuinely badass.

** In Season 20, he makes some sincere effort to try being a better person (the sincere part begins after his revelation of looking upon Heidi's vagina- originally, it was to preserve his bullying ways under a PC radar) and is less antagonistic than before. He even gets a girlfriend. [[spoiler:Subverted in season 21. It's also implied towards the end of season 20 that he never really changed.]]

** Unfortunately, [[HappyEndingOverride this is all ruined]] when the future is revoked and his progress is completely erased, eventually devolving into a homeless alcoholic {{Manchild}} whom everyone takes pity on at best. Despite this, Seasons 25 and 26 (both of which set in this revised future) have him display several PetTheDog moments that show that, even though he'll likely never reach the heights he did in "Post Covid", he still might not be ''completely'' lost.

* GreaterScopeVillain: Cartman isn't the BigBad ''WesternAnimation/SouthParkJoiningThePanderverse'', but he is the one who indirectly started the whole plot for that special by sending thousands of hate mails to Kathleen Kennedy, resulting in Kennedy continuously abusing the Panderstone's power until Kennedy that looks like Cartman arrives in Kennedy's universe and takes her place.

** Cartman despises poor people, only for one of his schemes to drive him and Liane into poverty for several seasons.

* YouAreWhatYouHate: In the 200th episode, Cartman is agonized to learn that [[spoiler:Scott Tenorman's dad, the guy he murdered by proxy and force-fed to Scott -- is Cartman's own father]]... but not out of any guilt for what he did to him. Cartman's only upset because this means that he's "half-ginger".

*** Both wear similar clothes, are voiced by Trey Parker, had the same girl (Wendy) be attracted to them, are good at reading people, had shown manipulative skills and have a sensitive side. However, Stan doesn't have malicious intentions, is usually a NiceGuy and KnightInSourArmor and also sensitive in a good way (being an AnimalLover and generally caring towards others), while Cartman is a ManipulativeBastard who is very selfish, inconsiderate, discriminates against a lot of groups and is sensitive in a bad way (being a wimp).
*** They also have shown leadership skills. Stan usually inspires people to join good causes (and even when the cause isn't noble, it's not outright malicious either), is a courageous {{determinator}} and even acts as the TeamDad to the main boys on occasion. By contrast, Cartman often [[TheCorrupter corrupts masses into doing heinous things]] and [[DirtyCoward would often leave when things get messy for him]]. He does sometimes use his leadership skills to help his teammates, but even then he's a NominalHero at best (at least usually). In regards to their relationship to Kyle, Stan is his [[HeteroSexualLifePartners best friend]], while Cartman is his ArchEnemy.

* PrecisionFStrike: See CatchPhrase.

* KarmicButtMonkey: While the four boys are considered {{Butt Monkey}}s in general, Cartman seems to get the worst of it as a result of being a [[EvilIsPetty petty]] and [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain bigoted]] [[TheSociopath sociopath]].

* CatchPhrase:

* CelebrityResemblance: The creators say that Cartman is heavily inspired by Archie Bunker, and the funny thing is that both are very similar both physically and psychologically in {{Jerkass}} tendencies.

* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: [[CatchPhrase "Screw you guys, I'm going home."]]

** In "Up the Down Steroid", he also pretended he was retarded to compete in the Special Olympics and win $1000. The reasons for this are never fully explained, although in "Cartmanland", after inheriting a million dollars from his grandmother, he reveals that he wishes to buy his own amusement park so he won't have to wait in lines for the rides. He also stated that it has been his dream to own a million dollars since he was two years old.

* ObfuscatingDisability: In "Up the Down Steroid", he pretends to be retarded so that he can win the Special Olympics. Unfortunately, he doesn't take into account that while not disabled, he's by no means ''athletic'' like the other contestants are, [[LaserGuidedKarma resulting in him getting last place in every event]].

** In "It's A Jersey Thing", he genuinely views anyone with Jersey blood as a parasitic monster. While [[RightForTheWrongReasons his hostility towards them has plenty of actual merit]], he genuinely thinks blaming the whole thing on ''Kyle'' (who was conceived in Jersey) and locking him in a freezer solely because the former gave him a mild scratch is going to solve everyone's problems, to the point where he actually cajoles several kids into doing it, rather than ambushing Kyle himself like he normally would.

* ObliviouslyEvil: Cartman will sometimes genuinely try to do the right thing, but he's so twisted he'll wind up doing horrible things anyway in pursuit of this. The most notable instance is in the "Coon" arc, he really thinks he is making the world a better place by disposing of the people he doesn't like. Mysterion calls him on this.

** [[spoiler: His warranty completely expires at the end ''Return of Covid'' where he grows up a homeless, lonely, and miserable alcoholic as punishment for all the horrible actions he committed as a kid]].

* ObliviouslyEvil: In the "Coon" arc, he really thinks he is making the world a better place by disposing of the people he doesn't like. Mysterion calls him on this.

* HiddenDepths: Cartman has been repeatedly shown to be a fairly talented photographer. He also takes in the cats of South Park when the town bans them, speaks conversational Spanish and German, has a knack for negotiation and deal-making, and is a decent violinist. He's actually shown to be highly charismatic (if manipulative), creative, and hard-working when properly motivated, but what holds him back is his laziness, ignorance and general refusal to apply himself.