Kyle Broflovski

Kyle Broflovski is the overall deuteragonist of the South Park franchise. He is the deuteragonist of South Park, and one of the two main characters (alongside Eric Cartman) of South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut.

He is usually the show's deuteragonist, with Stan as the main protagonist in the earlier episodes, but they often change roles, depending on the episode.

Religious Beliefs

Kyle is of the Jewish faith, but this detail is not officially revealed until "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo", despite having been mentioned briefly in the second The Spirit of Christmas short (which pre-dates the television series), and in "Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat Ride". It was also mentioned in "An Elephant Makes Love to a Pig". Cartman regularly makes derogatory remarks about the Jewish people, often directly in Kyle's presence specifically to aggravate him.

Kyle appears to have mixed feelings toward Judaism, and there is conflicting evidence as to the religiosity of his family - for example, while they dress similarly to many religious Jews (Gerald, for example, always wears a yarmulke), they apparently do not keep the Sabbath or follow very strict sexual lives (Sheila Stone, mother of Matt Stone, was herself a secular Sephardic Jew). Kyle's apparent indifference to religion may be part of his effort to fit in with his friends, who are mostly Roman Catholic. Kyle is more often defensive than proud of his faith, and though he regularly attends such functions as "Jew Scouts", he often has a poor grasp of the history, traditions and rituals of his religion. He's very naive. This could be the fault of his parents, who, in a misguided attempt to shelter their son, generally do not discuss with him the finer points of their religion. For example:

• When he heard that his adoptive brother Ike was going to have a bris, he was under the misapprehension that it involved cutting off the entire penis rather than just the foreskin. This was despite the fact that Kyle got circumcised himself - though he was too young to remember this and did not realize that he was circumcised.
• After seeing Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ, he conceded to Cartman that Cartman was right about the Jews all along and stood up in his synagogue to demand that the Jews apologize for the death of Christ. Ironically, he personally killed Jesus in "Fantastic Easter Special", though the act was not due to malice but Jesus' own request (so that he could resurrect himself and save Stan and the "Hare Club for Men" from being boiled alive like rabbits). Kyle was initially reluctant to agree to Jesus' request and, concerned as to the implications of a Jewish person killing Christ, only ultimately agreed provided that Eric Cartman would never know about it, this also echoes the unproven and highly controversial claim that Judas betrayed Christ upon request, not for malicious reasons.
• When he learned of Catholicism's conditions for getting into Heaven, he renounced his faith on the basis that if the Jews were right about the matter, it would make no difference if he were a Catholic, but if the Catholics were right, he would go to hell for not accepting Christ (see Pascal's Wager).
• In the early episode, "Chickenpox", when his father told him about how society works, he thought of a "better idea", which involved sending all the poor people to concentration camps so only rich people would live. Gerald quickly realized he was being intolerant of people less fortunate than himself and stopped this right away. This indicates that, at least early in the show's run, Kyle did not have a very clear grasp of the Holocaust or other forms of genocide.
• Despite being Jewish, Kyle seems very excited about the Baconalia event going on at the local Denny's. Cartman used "Bacon filled Pancakes" as an enticement to get Kyle involved in the Crack Baby Basketball League. Although Kyle is not seen eating bacon, his enthusiasm calls into question if he keeps Kosher as part of his Jewish faith.
• In Cartmanland, Kyle briefly denounces his faith after getting a hemmorhoid in the ass while Cartman inherits a million dollars and buys a theme park. He realizes to himself that there is no god because god is supposed to watch over you.

Talents

According to Mr. Garrison, Kyle is a "smart" and "A+" student. Also Kyle, along with the other boys, is portrayed as having multiple useful and trivial talents. However, at rare times, like most of the children, he is also portrayed as being ignorant.

Knowledge of the Universe

In "The Tooth Fairy Tats 2000", Kyle begins to question reality once he discovers the Tooth Fairy is not real. He reads what seems to be every book on psychology, reality, and science ever written. In the end of the episode, Kyle goes into a god-like state for a while; disappearing and making a giant squirrel-chicken hybrid appear. Subsequently towards the end of the episode "Cartman's Incredible Gift" Kyle screams at Cartman and the other "psychic" detectives, causing the lights to go out and the shelves behind his hospital bed to shake and their contents to fall.

Video Gaming

Kyle is often seen playing video games with Stan, Kenny and Cartman, and owns an Xbox. In the episode "Guitar Queer-O", the boys compliment Kyle and Stan's skill on Guitar Hero 123, and later in the episode they pass the million point mark together in co-op mode - a feat that was thought to be practically impossible. In the episode "Whale Whores", Kyle is shown playing guitar or bass in Rock Band for the song Poker Face.

Sports

Kyle has played numerous sports including Basketball, Football, Baseball, Soccer, Hockey, and Dodgeball. He is very talented athletically. Kyle is known to be the best basketball player at South Park Elementary, one of two sports at which Stan isn't the best (the other being Dodgeball, at which Pip is considered the best). However in the episode "Mr. Garrison's Fancy New Vagina", he goes to the all-state game tryouts and is rejected not because of his skills, but because of the fact that he's short and Jewish (rather than tall and black). Oddly, Kyle was not in the basketball team in "Elementary School Musical", though this was probably to avoid Kyle being active in the fad. Kyle has stated that he wants to play in the Denver Nuggets someday. On the football team however, he is very talented. He made a touchdown, which remarked his skills. He played as a Guard in Basketball, a Wide Receiver in Football, and Second Base in Baseball.

Music

In "Hooked on Monkey Phonics" Kyle plays the guitar to serenade home-schooled Rebecca, who responds by throwing him money. He also performs with the boy band Fingerbang in "Something You Can Do with Your Finger". And accompanied Stan in their attempt at reaching one million points in co-op mode on Guitar Hero, in the episode "Guitar Queer-O". And is seen performing a musical number in "Elementary School Musical". He also played bass in the boys' band Moop. He does not appear to have much sense of rhythm in terms of dancing however, as in "Rainforest Shmainforest"; he kept messing up every time the group performed (although in 'Elementary School Musical' this was contradicted by the fact the main boys performed a long and complicated dance routine perfectly). Kyle also shouts after Robert Smith in the episode "Mecha-Streisand" that "Disintegration is the best album ever!"

Computer Skills

Kyle is shown to have relatively strong computer skills, as shown in "The Snuke" wherein he uses various public resources to thwart a terrorist threat from a Soviet style militant. In the film he initiates research on the clitoris and accidentally stumbling on pornography featuring Liane Cartman. When arrested by the Japanese government for ecoterrorism in "Whale Whores" Stan enlists the help of Kyle (who remained in South Park) to manipulate an image showing a dolphin and whale in the Enola Gay to a cow and chicken. Kyle is also shown to be active on social media websites such as Facebook and using popular electronic devices such as Apple's iPad in "HUMANCENTiPAD". During the events of "Bass to Mouth", he solved the mystery of who was behind the Eavesdropper website scandal by tracking the IP address within the school.

Writing & Poetry

Kyle occasionally phrases what he says in a somewhat poetic way when he speaks philosophically, questioning reality and why things are as they are. In "Roger Ebert Should Lay Off the Fatty Foods" Mr. Garrison begins to explain haiku's (a form of poetry) to the class, but stops on noticing Cartman wasn't in the classroom. Kyle shortly after came up with three haiku's on the spot which were all used to insult Cartman. Also, in "The Wacky Molestation Adventure" Kyle is informed that Cartman had three extra tickets on the 28th row at the Raging Pussies concert, but Kyle's mom tells him he cannot go to see it unless he done all his chores and brought democracy to Cuba (assuming it to be an impossible task). This prompts Kyle to write a letter to Fidel Castro, who is actually convinced to bring democracy to Cuba after reading Kyle's innocent, persuasive rhymes, lyrics and words. Kyle also seems to take a leading role in writing the book The Tale of Scrotie McBoogerballs with the other boys in "The Tale of Scrotie McBoogerballs".

Languages

In "Cartman's Silly Hate Crime 2000," Kyle seems to speak pig-Latin extremely well, even losing Stan in conversation. He can also speak and understand Marklar well.

Superhero Alter-Ego

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Kyle as the Human Kite

The Human Kite is Kyle's superhero alter-ego, who appears in the superhero arc. He is a member of Coon and Friends. Human Kite's imaginary superpowers include the ability to fly and shoot lasers out of his eyes.

Health

Kyle becomes sick more often than any of the other boys, despite Kenny dying repeatedly. He experiences a painful infectious hemorrhoid when Cartman inherits $1 million from his grandmother and uses it to buy his own amusement park in "Cartmanland". He also experienced renal failure and needed a kidney transplant in "Cherokee Hair Tampons." In the episode "Guitar Queer-O", sickness apparently prevents Kyle from practicing Guitar Hero as much as Stan does. By contrast, in "Chickenpox," he is the only person in his class who doesn't easily catch the illness, even after playing a game in which Kenny spit into his mouth and he had to swallow it while saying, "Ooky Mouth". He ultimately catches it after prolonged exposure to Stan and Cartman, and contracts a more severe case than any of the other children.

Kyle and Cartman share the AB negative blood type, as revealed in the episode "Cherokee Hair Tampons". It was also revealed in "Cherokee Hair Tampons" that Kyle is diabetic, which may be the root for his many health concerns.

He is also shown to not have great oral health after getting two dental fillings in "You Have 0 Friends".

List of Health Issues

• Chicken Pox (possibly Shingles) in "Chickenpox" (semi serious, passed out and collapsed backward, but he was stabilized at the hospital.)
• Kidney Failure in "Cherokee Hair Tampons" (fatal unless he received a kidney a that matched his AB- blood type; Stan tricked Cartman into donating a kidney)
• Type I Diabetes, mentioned in "Cherokee Hair Tampons."
• Hemorrhoid in "Cartmanland" (infection was to be fatal due to Kyle giving up on life after a religious crisis. Stan wheeled Kyle to the amusement park; he regained hope when he witnessed Cartman's tantrum).
• Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS) in "Make Love, Not Warcraft".
• AIDS in "Woodland Critter Christmas" (Cartman's story) and "Tonsil Trouble". He was cured of the AIDS though with a cash injection.
• Was sick with the common cold during the events of "The Snuke", but grew better at the end of the episode.
• Was diagnosed with sex addiction in "Sexual Healing".

While not directly related to his health, the following events jeopardized his life:

• Almost died in a Smug Storm in "Smug Alert!". However, he was saved by Cartman.
• Died in "Imaginationland, Episode II" from a ManBearPig attack. However, he was revived by Cartman.
• Died in "Imaginationland, Episode III" from missile fired by Al Gore (re-imagined by Butters).
• Bashed his head in "Cartman's Incredible Gift".

Grounded Moments

Like the other boys, Kyle is rarely grounded. He does regret most of the things he is grounded for. Kyle has been grounded on the following occasions:

• South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut - Kyle was grounded for two weeks with the other boys for going to see an R rated Terrance and Phillip Movie, which caused Kenny's death.
• "Fun with Veal" - Kyle, along with the rest of the boys, was grounded for keeping calves from being slaughtered and sold as veal.
• "Butt Out" - Kyle was grounded for three weeks for smoking outside school with the other boys and for accidentally starting a fire on the school.
• "Major Boobage" - Kyle was grounded by his parents in this episode because they caught him hiding a cat and thought that he was cheesing when in fact, Kyle was keeping the cat away from Kenny. His grounding was later lifted after his father, Gerald, who later cheesed and was caught in a huge scandal.

Appearance

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Kyle without his hat in "Elementary School Musical"

Kyle wears a greenish lime ushanka, a bright orange jacket, dark green pants, and lime-green mittens. Kyle weighs 83 lbs. as stated in "HUMANCENTiPAD". Underneath his hat, he has red hair, much like his mom's in Spanish culture Jews such as Judas Iscariot were depicted with red hair. This was first shown in "How to Eat with Your Butt;" he is seen without his hat in "Lil' Crime Stoppers", "South Park is Gay!", "Quest for Ratings", "Mr. Garrison's Fancy New Vagina", "The Losing Edge", "Elementary School Musical", "W.T.F.", "It's a Jersey Thing", and the Coon and Friends arc (as his vigilante alter-ego The Human Kite). His hair is a nod to Matt Stone's (his creator) old hairstyle, as well as his character in "Cannibal! The Musical".

In several episodes, he has appeared in different outfits other than his, such as in "Margaritaville", when Randy recommended that the townspeople wear bedsheets instead of normal clothes (and riding llamas, among other things) to propitiate the economy's anger, Kyle wore a red bed sheet in the form of a robe. Also, on several occasions, he has altered his Jewfro stylishly, as shown in "South Park is Gay!" (when he briefly followed the metrosexual fad), "Quest for Ratings" (in an exaggerated anchorman coif), "Elementary School Musical (in the style of Corbin Bleu), and in "It's a Jersey Thing" (when he 'transforms' into a Jerseyite). In "Free Willzyx", a photo-realistic image of him is drawn by the police (along with the other boys); his mother Sheila comments that it's "kind of a bad drawing".

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Kyle in the original Christmas short

In "The List," Kyle was voted the ugliest boy in class out of the 16 students attending the class. This shakes Kyle's confidence; he stoops down to the level of the ugly misfit kids at school (who are so ugly that he still stands out), who constantly talk about burning the school down. Eventually, Stan and Wendy informed Kyle that the list was the result of a corrupt compromise just before Kyle set the school on fire, relieving Kyle of his status as ugliest kid.

In the original Christmas short, Kyle's appearance was drastically different: Instead of his orange jacket, he wore a green jacket, and instead of an ushanka, he wore a yellow baseball cap and looked very similar to Stan.