Liane Cartman Gallery

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Liane Cartman is the mother of Eric Cartman. She makes many appearances throughout the series and is considered to be one of the most prominent out of all the South Park parents. She is the possible widow of Jack Tenorman.

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Background

Liane is a good-natured individual but with a definite edge to her. Her voice is usually kind and soft (but sounding even more sweet in the 4th through 7th seasons when she was voiced by Eliza Schneider) and her actions are usually to aid others, particularly her son. She is also a great cook, as implied by Stan and Chef in "Damien".

However, there has been many implications that Ms. Cartman is as racist and anti-Semitic as Eric, who on numerous occasions (at least during the early seasons) quoted his mother on saying offensive and politically incorrect statements regarding black people, gays, and Jews. Despite this, Liane herself has not vocalized these opinions on the show, so it is certainly possible that Eric was lying. An example can be seen in "Good Times with Weapons" when Cartman claimed his mom took him to see the movie The Passion in argument that proves Jews are sneaky liars.

In accordance with her sweet-natured, motherly image, she was originally frequently shown giving people her baking (usually cookies), even in situations where it is inappropriate. For example, in "Cartman's Mom is Still a Dirty Slut" she gives a plate of cookies to Officer Barbrady at the Drunken Barn Dance, and behind the Cartmans' couch is a picture of her and Cartman by Mount Rushmore, in which she is holding a plateful of cookies.

She’s also known to host great parties.

Name Origin

She is named after Liane Adamo, the ex-fiancée of South Park co-creator Trey Parker. The engagement was broken up because she reportedly committed infidelities on Parker during their engagement. Hence, the promiscuous nature. The character of Liane Cartman is one of the characters (another was the horse Liane from Parker's Cannibal! The Musical) Parker created as a bitter "tribute" to her.

Hermaphrodite and Eric's Parentage

In " Cartman's Mom is Still a Dirty Slut ", it was stated that Liane Cartman was a hermaphrodite, meaning that she had both male and female sexual organs and that years ago during the Drunken Barn Dance , she proceeded to have sex with a series of men and women. After it was revealed that Liane was Cartman's father, speculation rose as to who his mother was.

However, in "200", Eric Cartman and Mitch Conner go to Mr. Garrison and Mr. Hat who revealed that the events of "Cartman's Mom is Still a Dirty Slut" were a fabrication and the results for the paternity test were tampered with. However the identity of the father was not told until 201, in which Cartman was captured by his arch-foe Scott Tenorman, who then revealed that Cartman's real father was Scott's own father, Jack Tenorman, a Ginger who played for the Denver Broncos, and who Cartman had arranged to be killed, made into chili, and fed to his half-brother Scott. It is explained that Liane had questioned whether or not to tell Eric, not because of her own personal feelings, but because the Broncos had been having a really good year, and she along with the rest of the town did not want to distract from the game season.

Cartman's Abuse

Liane shows great deference to her overweight son Eric, and has been seen on numerous occasions bowing to his will, constantly spoiling him rotten. She also ignores his obesity (often saying that he is "just big-boned") and will usually give him some normal food smothered in junk food, as seen in the pilot episode "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe", giving Cartman a, "chocolate chicken pot pie with icing on top". Of course, Eric's obesity is at least partly genetic. It is seen that Eric and his mother have a great bond with each other. However, since the episode "Tsst", she has begun to grow resistant to his whining and his demands — seen in "Go God Go" and "Go God Go XII", where she is quite stern with him when he shows great impatience regarding the release date of the Wii console. She shows further resolve in "Coon 2: Hindsight", "Mysterion Rises" and "Coon vs. Coon & Friends", during which she punishes Cartman for his behavior and violent actions against his friends, particularly Clyde and Bradley. She also shows further resolve in the episode "HUMANCENTiPAD", where she refused to buy Cartman an iPad because it was way too expensive and then refused to head back to Best Buy to get a Toshiba Handibook due to Cartman's unacceptable behavior at the store.

Liane rarely raises her voice (the most prominent occasion being in Cartman Gets an Anal Probe, in which she suggests he go out and play with his friends and then shouts "don't be difficult Eric!" when he protests, and in Shots!!!, during a school meeting when Sheila insinuates that Liane doesn't love Cartman enough to vaccinate him, Liana yells at her and the rest of the protesting parents that none of them have had to hold Eric down and go through what she goes through), and the only discipline she dispenses is a very rare slap on the head when Eric embarrasses her in public (in Do the Handicapped Go to Hell? and Quintuplets 2000) and infrequent grounding such as when he tried to exterminate the Jews, or when he saw the Terrance and Phillip movie two times then accidentally made Kenny set himself on fire. She has shown admonishing him not to pick his nose (to which he insists he's only scratching it). In Coon 2: Hindsight, Liane not only punishes Eric for being bad, every time he talks back to her, she would raise her voice. In "HUMANCENTiPAD", Liane again shows a strong stance against her son, as she is seen yelling at Cartman for loudly implying that she was "fucking him" (leading others to believe he means sexually, when in truth he means figuratively). She seems to have no issue yelling at him in public anymore as she berates Cartman's misbehavior on the Dr. Phil show. In Shots!!!, although initially allowing Eric to get away with not receiving his shots and receiving a toy after every visit, she decided not to force her child to get shots, although when he asked to get a toy, she firmly yelled that he would not be allowed to get a toy since he didn't receive his shots, demonstrating she is no longer willing to reward Eric when he doesn't deserve it.

Liane has also supposedly instilled in Cartman some of his bigoted behavior towards the Jews, gingers and black people. Cartman was often heard to quote his mother's supposed beliefs, much to the surprise of his friends and the towns people. Liane however has never vocalized these opinions on camera, leading to questions of whether or not she really said them or if Cartman misquoted her or made it up. However, in Pinkeye, Liane created for Cartman an Adolf Hitler costume for Halloween, which at the time Cartman had no idea who Hitler was. In "Cherokee Hair Tampons", she told her her son to stay away from Kyle because he had AIDS, when Kyle actually had kidney failure. This implies some sort of bigotry or at least ignorance on Liane's behalf. In "Ginger Kids" she screamed when she realized that Cartman turned ginger (though Kyle, Stan, and Kenny dyed his hair and whitened his skin to make him look ginger).

Sexual Appetite

Despite her sweetness, she is extremely promiscuous. Quite early on, it was stated that Ms. Cartman was actually Eric's father, as she was supposedly born a self-fertilizing hermaphrodite with both female and male genitalia (though Dr. Mephesto implies in "Cartman's Mom is Still a Dirty Slut" that she no longer has the latter). However, in the episode "201", it is revealed that she actually isn't a hermaphrodite, and that the town of South Park lied in order to protect the Denver Broncos.

In the early seasons, she was very sexually active and regularly pursued this activity. She was reputedly a crack whore, and has taken part in German scheisse movies. She also had no issue with commencing sexual relations with complete strangers, instead usually inviting them to the home as frequent visitors. This appetite is not strictly for men, for it is hinted in "Cartman's Mom is Still a Dirty Slut" that she had intercourse with Ms. Crabtree, Mayor McDaniels, and Sheila Broflovski.

Although Liane used to constantly have sex, and ignores the presence of anyone around her to sexually persuade men into her bedroom, it is unknown if Cartman knew the full extent to what his mom really did behind closed doors. Eric has come across various numbers of porn sites and so-called "family videos" gone awry, but seems to either ignore the fact that his mom is a slut or looks as it to be just his sweet, loving mother conned out of her own environment, such as when he explains that his mother told him she was young and needed money when she was featured in Crack Whore Magazine in the episode "Pinkeye", to which Stan retorts, "Cartman, those photos were taken a month ago!" Cartman knows not to complain to his mother, probably already figuring out that if he makes her feel bad about hurting her son, she will eventually turn on him and no longer spoil him in the natural way. Even in the episode "Cartman's Mom is a Dirty Slut" and "Cartman's Mom is Still a Dirty Slut" where it is revealed to Eric that his mom has had sex with the entire town, he still has no conversations with his mom about her secret life. Also in "Trapper Keeper", she ends up having sex with the cyborg from the future, Bill Cosby.

In later seasons, her character seems to have changed. For instance, her working as a prostitute has only been occasionally referenced since the fourth season. She is now generally shown to be more responsible with Eric, especially in "Tsst" and "Go God Go". However, in "The Death of Eric Cartman", Cartman mistakes his mom's screams of pleasure for cries of sadness, when in reality, she is receiving sex from a plumber whom she invited to her house. Aside that instance, Ms. Cartman's infidelities have remained virtually unmentioned between the fourth season and "200".

In South Park: The Stick of Truth, if the New Kid hits Liane with a weapon, she will either yelp or moan in amusement or say "Oh, my!" which reveals Liane's sexual appetite.

She can be seen again in South Park: The Fractured But Whole when she decides to start again her "Tutoring classes" in the town, in which she ask The New Kid to help her spread the tutoring business cards in Skeeter's Wine Bar and giving it to three men.

She also appears in South Park: Phone Destroyer as Sorceress Liane, a fighter under the Fantasy theme, with the ability of turning nearby enemies into cocks upon her death.

Appearance

Liane is about average height for an adult female South Park character. She wears a turquoise sweater, and brick red trousers. Her outfit slightly resembles that of Cartman's, in that her sweater is the same color as his toque, and her trousers are like his coat. She has long brown hair which is usually tied back in an old-fashioned bun design, and wears a rosy lipstick, and usually has a sweet, motherly expression on her face.

For special occasions, she wears a black dress with gray lining on the top and large cleavage window. In "Tonsil Trouble", she wears a red version of this dress. When dressed for bed, she wears either a dark cyan nightgown or a pink robe, and often wears a green facial mask.

When outside of the house or re-entering the house, she is often seen wearing a light brown trench coat over her usual outfit, especially in newer episodes from the fourteenth and fifteenth seasons. It is usually buttoned up with a belt around her waist, but sometimes she leaves it open. She wears it most prominently in "HUMANCENTiPAD" where she wears it for nearly the entire episode.

In "Merry Christmas Charlie Manson!", she wore glasses while driving, which implies that she is nearsighted. However, in later episodes such as "Medicinal Fried Chicken" she drives without them.

In South Park: Phone Destroyer, she wears the same black formal outfit as in "Cat Orgy" but with a pointed sorcerer hat and a broom, despite her card artwork showing that she wears a black bikini.

To see images of Liane Cartman, visit Liane Cartman/Gallery.

Family

Liane understood a German-speaking man in South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, indicating that she may be of German descent, though it may just be that she learned the language while filming the scheisse films, which are German. According to Eric, she’s Dutch-Irish on her mother’s side.

Her family is shown for the first time in the episode "Merry Christmas Charlie Manson!", where she, her son, and the rest of the main four, go on a trip to Nebraska to visit them for Christmas. Most of her relatives appear to be similar in matter to her son; all fat, with the same speech impediment and catchphrases such as "Kickass!" and "RESPECT MY AUTHORITAH!!" "No, (Pet's name) that's my Pot pie. No, (Pet's Name) that's a Bad (Pet's Name)!!!". The family is seen again in the beginning of the episode "Cartmanland" at her mother's funeral — where she leaves her estate (valued at $1,000,000) to Eric, citing that all the other family members would have spent it all on crack.

Her parent's names are Harold and Mabel (deceased).

Her brothers are named Howard and Stinky.

Her sister-in-law is named Lisa.

Her two nephews are named Fred and Elvin

She has a teenage niece named Alexandra

And she has a grandmother named Florence.

Various other unnamed members of the Cartman clan were shown in the episode, as well as in "Cartmanland".

Relationships

In terms of friends, she seems integrated into the circle of parents around the town often seen interacting with Sharon Marsh, Sheila Broflovski, Mrs. McCormick and the other parents when they congregate. However, the episode "Tsst" seems to imply that Liane has few or no friends, and that her servitude to her son is a psychological attempt to make up for that. Given how rarely she is seen alone with the other mothers - usually while the children are playing or as a group - it's possible that she does not consider them friends due to their relationships being more related to their children.

Trivia

In the episode "Jakovasaurs", she is seen smoking crack, which is stated by Cartman to be "an old joke". In Season 15's "Poor Kid", she tells police she has not done drugs in a long time.

It has been said that "Liane" is the name of the longtime lover and ex-fiancee of Trey Parker. When he found of her repeated infidelities on him, he was inspired to do this character who promiscuous and a drug addict. Not to mention an inept mother.

Prominence

Liane had a major role early on in the series and was the most prominent of the boys' parents, but over time she gained less spotlight as Randy took on that role. She has had a speaking role in every season to date, as well as in the movie and several video games.