Cartman always had a mean streak in South Park, but he was never truly evil until he tangled with Scott Tenorman.
South Park is one of the most popular adult animated series of all time and has been running since the late 90s. The show is famous, or infamous, for its grotesque and raunchy comedy, which is the crux of the series. South Park has gotten progressively more intense with a clear shift occurring in the summer of 2001.
Eric Cartman is one of the most popular South Park characters, and has changed fairly little since the cartoon’s premiere. That said, he wasn’t always depicted as evil as he is today. Before the Season 5 episode, “Scott Tenorman Must Die”, many would’ve thought Eric Cartman somewhat redeemable. Ultimately, the fantastic episode proved once and for all that Eric Cartman was pure evil and would accomplish anything to get his way.
Eric Cartman Is Now Considered Pure Evil, But That Wasn’t Always the Case
On the surface, Eric Cartman is a “big-boned” and loudmouthed fourth grader with a terrible attitude. Diving further, he’s an unfeeling sociopath capable of extreme means to get what he wants. Since the beginning of the show, Cartman has always been intense, but he wasn’t necessarily evil until a little later in the series.
At the beginning of South Park, Cartman is definitely a bad person, but he isn’t necessarily irredeemable. He is most certainly selfish, and that often causes him to misstep, but many could argue that comes from naivety rather than downright sadism. The early show even proves that Cartman might not be capable of kindness, but that’s just because he’s a selfish kid.
It’s very likely this selfish, childlike archetype is what set the tone for Cartman’s personality. That tone quickly shifted and changed over the years as Cartman performed progressively worse actions. Yet, in later episodes, he is nowhere near a normal child. Cartman goes from being an annoying, uncaring brat to a criminal mastermind over the course of several seasons.
