25 Popular South Park Characters Ranked Worst To Best

Great television show characters are often remembered for what they say. A clever catchphrase can generate laughs and create lasting memories, and though "South Park" characters have catchphrases, Timmy is a unique case because his catchphrase is the only word he says — his own name, "Timmy!" He does very infrequently say something else: In his first major episode, Season 4's "Timmy 2000," he becomes a singer for a rock band, and as well as singing his name, he also sings "living a lie." Still, 99% of the time, he only says his name.

Timmy is one of the more compelling characters in "South Park" and is not limited by his ability to only say his name. He's wheelchair-bound, but that never serves as an obstacle for his impressive adventures. Notably, Timmy has a fun relationship with Jimmy, another child with disabilities at South Park Elementary. The two start as enemies, and in Season 5's "Cripple Fight," Timmy's overwhelming jealousy leads him to scheme up Jimmy's demise, but the two eventually reach an agreement and become close friends. He's also something of an entrepreneur, as showcased in the hilarious Season 18 episode "Handicar," in which Timmy creates a ridesharing service that becomes hugely popular in town, drawing the ire of the local taxicab drivers.

The police force often makes for easy fodder when it comes to comedy on television, and officers are regularly shown as incompetent and incapable, vastly preferring eating doughnuts to actually getting their job done. In the early seasons of "South Park," Officer Barbrady is the target of the show's lampooning of the police force. Barbrady seems to have the intelligence of a child and is even sent back to school by the mayor because he's illiterate. He seems completely and utterly incapable of doing just about anything, constantly bungling any and every case.

That said, despite regularly showcasing Barbrady's incompetence, the town can't seem to properly function without him. In the great Season 2 episode "Chickenlover," Barbrady retires, and the town soon launches into chaos, causing him to return and actually have to solve a difficult case. And while he may not be a very good police officer, Barbrady is actually one of the most kind-hearted people in "South Park" and one of the only adults to never be seen as any sort of deviant. He genuinely loves and cares for the people in town, and he's downright heartbreaking in Season 19's "Naughty Ninjas," where he gets fired for shooting a child playing as a ninja who he mistakes for a member of ISIS. Thankfully, Barbrady later gets reinstated, ensuring there'll be more of this wonderful character in the future.

The father of Kyle and Ike Broflovski, Gerald is a pretty minor character for a great deal of the show. Sometimes, his fatherly advice goes wrong, like in Season 2's "Chickenpox," where he inadvertently convinces his son Kyle that poor people should be wiped out. Gerald is also no stranger to a cause, and in Season 10's "Smug Alert!", he becomes a driving force for hybrid cars. He ends up harassing everyone in town for not driving hybrids, even going so far as to move his family out to San Francisco (temporarily, of course). In Season 19's "You're Not Yelping," he becomes a delightfully annoying Yelp reviewer, taking great delight in writing outrageously long and arrogant reviews.

In Season 20, with the show fully serialized, Gerald becomes a major player for the first time, becoming the main villain for most of the season as a vicious internet troll, Skankhunt42. It's a surprising twist, but Gerald actually fits the villainous role well and is particularly frightening because he trolls not to get any sort of revenge or because he is angry, but because he simply finds it hilarious to bully people. The season also gives us Gerald's best moment on the show — a glorious strut through town to the song "Steal My Sunshine."

A character that has been there from the very beginning, Tolkien Black is known as "Token" for the first 24 seasons of the show. In the ingenious Season 25 episode "The Big Fix," it's revealed that Token's name is actually Tolkien, as his parents named him after "Lord of the Rings" author J.R.R. Tolkien. It's a delightfully absurd episode that comments on the meta-narrative of the show as well as the staggering ignorance of some of the characters (and perhaps even the writers themselves). Of course, a child would never be named Token, the episode wittily states, which probably explains why Tolkien Black is anything but a token character.

Despite the joke in his name, Tolkien has never been a stereotype. He is regularly stunned by the ignorance of his fellow classmates, who are all white, and none more so than Eric Cartman. The two find themselves regularly at odds, but unlike Cartman, Tolkien is far more grounded, and despite Cartman's constant efforts, he can never get the best of Tolkien. "South Park" has never been a show to shy away from controversy, and in Season 11's "With Apologies to Jesse Jackson," Tolkien is very much the voice of reason at school. When Stan tries to apologize and make excuses for his father's behavior on TV, Tolkien provides a vital opportunity for Stan to learn from his mistakes. But the show cleverly prevents Tolkien from explaining things to Stan and lets the latter come to his own conclusions.

How exactly did Eric Cartman become such a manipulative monster? Perhaps there's no way of knowing for sure, but the answer may lie in his relationship with his mother, Liane. She's a single mom (the mystery of Cartman's dad was revealed in Season 14's "201") struggling to make ends meet, and she's regularly railroaded by her son's demands. While she initially resists his whims, she always gives in to him, and despite his frequently appalling behavior, Cartman always gets what he wants at home. In Season 15's "You're Getting Old," Liane gives Cartman a present for every gift Stan receives at his birthday party to stop him from getting jealous.

The most important episode in understanding Liane's relationship with her son in Season 10's "Tsst." Liane hires Cesar Millan, the dog whisperer, to try to finally reign in her seemingly unstoppable child from dominating her life. Using the same tactics he uses on dogs, he manages to subdue Cartman, allowing Liane to finally get control over her son and have the opportunity to fix her son's behavior. But instead of following through with Millan's lessons, she goes back on what she's learned and once again starts to give her son whatever he wants. Sure, Liane stands up for herself a bit more after "Tsst," but it's abundantly clear that to Liane, her son's adoration is far more important than him actually being a good person.

"There's too much pressure" is the frequent rallying cry of Tweek Tweak, the 4th-grader who is certainly the single most anxious child in all of "South Park." He's anxious about pretty much everything, ranging from the inconsequential putting a carrot nose on a snowman to the far more dire death of teacher Mrs. Choksondik. The source of his anxiety and paranoia likely stems from the fact that his parents own Tweek Bros., the local coffeehouse, and regularly give their son coffee to help him calm down — to frequently disastrous results. He's constantly jittering thanks to the caffeine coursing through his veins, but he's also one of the sweetest and most innocent boys and South Park elementary.

In later seasons, Tweek comes out as gay (whether he likes it or not, it's a long story) and begins a relationship with classmate Craig Tucker in Season 19's "Tweek x Craig." The poor guy even gets into a scandal with North Korea when the American President constantly tweets that Tweek isn't scared of the enemy nation when in reality he couldn't possibly be more terrified, which leads to the terrific rallying cry song "Put it Down." A charming bundle of nerves, Tweek is one of the show's most endearing characters.

The boy with the deepest timber in his voice, Craig Tucker's tone, distinctive blue hat, and yellow puff set him apart from the crowd. He has a serious passion for giving people the middle finger, which regularly gets him into trouble, and he seems to have no control over it — or maybe he really just likes flipping people off, who can say! In Season 3's "Tweek vs. Craig," it appears it comes from his family, who are all flipping each other off in the episode. He's the most deadpan kid at school, and his vocal inflection rarely shifts, even when he's angry or sad.

Craig is also something of a bad boy, regularly bullying kids and stirring up trouble, though in comparison to a kid like Cartman, he's practically an angel. He's also the leader of his own group of kids, who frequently rival Kyle, Stan, Kenny, and Cartman. In the classic Season 3 episode "Chinpokomon," Craig initially seems unimpressed that Kyle and friends are playing with ninja weapons. But it's not long before his own gang starts playing too, and the rival groups have an epic faceoff in Season 7's "South Park Is Gay." Craig is also one of two openly gay students at school and is in a relationship with Tweek. Despite his father initially being horrified by the discovery of his son's homosexuality, he eventually gets on board and embraces his son for who he is.

Life can't be easy for Sharon Marsh. As Stan's mother, she's constantly bombarded by the outrageous adventures of her husband Randy, who's always getting the family into increasingly implausible shenanigans; her extremely angry daughter Shelly; and her son Stan, who gets into more hijinks than anyone else. Still, despite the incredibly overwhelming madness that could easily consume her, Sharon is incredibly strong-willed and principled and manages to remain steadfast through everything that goes on to her and around her.

Sharon is oft-overlooked, but without her, it's fair to say that Randy and Stan (and Shelly) wouldn't be anywhere near as interesting as they are. In the surprisingly emotional "You're Getting Old," one of the show's very best episodes, Sharon is the emotional throughline that makes everything so effective. She's often the straight-man role next to her family's nonsense, but Sharon deserves recognition for being one of the show's most important characters. Sometimes, she even gets an episode all about her, like the funny Season 14 "Crème Fraiche," where she starts using a shake weight, or the heavier Season 22 premiere "Dead Kids," where she is (rightfully) panicking over the onslaught of school shootings at South Park Elementary. Plus, without her, how would we get so many spectacular renditions of "Hey Sharon"?

Let's talk about one of the show's funniest characters, m'kay? The frequently exasperated school guidance counselor, Mr. Mackey, has become increasingly frustrated over the years at South Park Elementary. In early appearances, he feels pretty cool, calm, and collected, but it's not long before Mackey is visibly frustrated by everything around him. He's very distinctive with his tall, lanky stature and his enormous head that resembles a balloon, and most of his lines are punctured by the word "m'kay," which is used to terrific effect in the "South Park" movie song "It's Easy, M'Kay."

In Season 5's "Proper Condom Use" — in which Mackey dispels myths about sex for the kids at school — he finds himself falling for colleague Mrs. Choksondik, and the two pursue a sexual relationship (though she dies in a later episode). Mackey is easy to love because he has a genuine desire to help and make a difference in the children's lives, but the shenanigans at school make it increasingly difficult for him to do so. In Season 10's "Mystery of the Urinal Deuce," Mackey finds himself on a mission to discover who is responsible for pooping in a school urinal, which drives him crazy. He's perhaps most unhinged when trying to put on a school play about the being Tooth Decay in "Royal Pudding," and his passion for eradicating the disease comes directly at odds with the kids' inability to perform. Still, despite his occasional bursts of anger, Mr. Mackey just wants to help.

Poor Kenny McCormick. In early episodes of "South Park," Kenny is killed off in dramatic fashion in just about every single episode in increasingly nonsensical ways, including being carried off by a dinosaur. He'd always return later, only to be killed time and time again. Kenny is very different from the rest of the kids at school, as he's the poorest kid and lives in a different part of town from everyone else. He also wears an orange jacket that obscures most of his face, causing his dialogue to be incomprehensible, though his friends have no difficulty understanding what he says. Kenny's face is revealed for the first time in "South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut," which remains one of cinema's great face reveals. In Season 5's "Kenny Dies," Kenny actually dies and disappears from the show for quite a while, but when he returns, he is thankfully massacred on a far less frequent basis.

Kenny is actually incredibly caring, especially when it comes to his younger sister Karen. He occasionally adopts the superhero persona Mysterion to take care of his family and fight justice, which leads to some of the most heartfelt moments of the show between him and his sister. Despite us not being able to understand him, Kenny is the star of some of the show's very best episodes, including "Best Friends Forever," "The Poor Kid," and the majestically nonsensical "Major Boobage."

What would "South Park" be without both Stan Marsh and Kyle Broflovski? The two best friends are a vital part of almost every single "South Park" episode, with only a few exceptions. Yet while the two are intrinsically linked together, they are both very different characters, and Stan Marsh is without a doubt one of "South Park's" very best. He's a natural leader, regularly getting the kids together alongside Kyle to try and make a difference, though he's noticeably more apathetic than most kids. This is especially obvious in "You're Getting Old," in which Stan becomes increasingly disillusioned when he turns 10-years-old. Stan certainly feels the burden of the increasingly depressing world around him, which actually makes him one of the more empathetic characters on television.

Despite being a moral compass in the community, that doesn't stop Stan from making mistakes. In Season 11's "With Apologies to Jesse Jackson," he fails to properly understand the severity of his father's live television blunder, and in Season 25's "The Big Fix," he and his father Randy seem to be the only people in town who didn't realize Token's name was actually Tolkien. Like his friend Kyle, he regularly summarizes episodes with a thoughtful speech to a crowd, like in the phenomenal Season 9 episode "Trapped in the Closet," which has great fun mocking Scientology. Stan is a passionate guy who hates seeing people being taken advantage of — especially his grandfather, who suffers from Alzheimer's. Indeed, in "Cash for Gold," Stan comes to his defense against television shopping channels.

Go figure: the most immature parent in "South Park" is also a brilliant geologist. Randy has experienced a meteoric rise on the show, becoming more and more involved, and it's fair to say that Randy is now as integral to the show's success as the four main kids. The ultimate man child, Randy is constantly trying to reclaim his youth, which leads to an endless bevy of outrageous circumstances. Only on a show like "South Park" can Randy face-off with U2 frontman Bono while on a mission to produce the biggest crap and have everything still feel completely believable.

Beat for beat, Randy is definitely the second funniest character, and only our No. 1 pick is funnier. He gets crazily obsessed with things at the drop of a hat, which leads to some laugh-til-you-cry moments in episodes like "Broadway Bro Down," "Crème Fraiche," and "Margaritaville," where he leads the entire town into austerity while he continues to make outlandish purchases.

A lot of Randy's ridiculousness stems from a desire to be a good dad and impress his son Stan (and occasionally, he remembers his daughter, Shelly). He also tries to be a good husband, and his decision to move his family to Tegridy Farms comes from genuinely good intentions, even if the reality is distinctly less positive for the rest of his family. Randy is simultaneously intelligent and deeply ignorant, quick to make judgments, and despite his constant failings, really does care about his family and friends.

Is Eric Cartman both the best — and the worst — character in television history? The argument could certainly be made successfully in either camp, and this endless stirrer of controversy is an easy choice for the very best character of "South Park." He is without a doubt the cruelest, nastiest, most vengeful character on the show, and he takes great pride in his sexism, racism, and antisemitism — he's more than willing to target any minority without a second of hesitation. "South Park" tows a very difficult line, but it manages to take an overweight, angry boy so full of hatred and give him a surprising amount of depth, all while mocking everything he does. This makes him one of television's most intriguing sociopaths.

Cartman is regularly at the forefront of some of the show's best episodes, including his brutal manipulation of Butters in "Casa Bonita," his complete inability to understand race relations in "World War Zimmerman," and when he comes face to face with his own ego in "The Death of Eric Cartman." So it should come as no surprise that the show's single greatest episode — Season 5's "Scott Tenorman Must Die" — centers around Cartman. In the episode, Cartman gets a taste of his own medicine when he is relentlessly bullied by older kid Scott Tenorman. Sick of being tormented, Cartman conceives an elaborate revenge scheme to get back at Scott. What he does is the most shocking moment in the entire history of "South Park" — Cartman kills Scott's parents, cooks them into chili, and feeds them to him. If the episode teaches us anything, it's that Cartman is capable of unspeakable horror, and you better respect his authori-tay.