Why Some South Park Fans Absolutely Love Butters

For more than 20 years, fans of the iconic adult animated series "South Park" have followed the exploits of several fourth graders living in the titular Colorado town: mainly focusing on the adventures of Stan Marsh (Trey Parker), Eric Cartman (Parker), Kenny McCormick (Matt Stone), and Kyle Broflovski (Stone). Although these four make up the series' main cast, several of their classmates at South Park Elementary have become increasingly important over the years — the most obvious examples being Butters Stotch (Stone), who has essentially become a main character in more recent seasons.

He was introduced as a background character during the show's first two seasons. The character is defined by his "goody-two-shoes" personality and childish innocence: both of which heavily contradict the crass tone of "South Park" overall. The character steadily grew in importance up until Season 5, when he was given his very own episode and later replaced Kennny as the fourth member of the main cast. Although Kenny eventually returned, Butters would only grow in popularity and importance as the rest of the series went on, becoming nearly as important as the four main characters and featuring prominently in many of his own special episodes and storylines.

In hindsight, it seems obvious why this lovably goofy character has become so important to the world of "South Park" — as fans on Reddit have continually praised Butters as perhaps the best character the show has ever created, particularly due to his hilarious personality and the level of compassion he brings to the series.