Ned Flanders (seasons 11b-31)

Ned Flanders is a recurring character from the long-running American animated sitcom The Simpsons. He is the next door neighbor of the Simpsons family. He has been badly butchered during seasons 11-31, which is where the term Flanderization originated.

Why He Was "Flanderized" (no pun intended)

 * 1) He originally just enjoyed going to church and was really nice, but then he went from acting like this to being obsessively religious and an obnoxiously intolerant bigot who will lash out at anyone that doesn't support Christianity, such as Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and even Atheists.
 * 2) Not only is Ned obsessively religious and takes his religion way too seriously, he lashes out at and hates anybody who doesn't support Christianity. For example, he once lashed at Apu for his Hinduism in "Midnight Rx."
 * 3) Due to the death of his wives (Maude and Edna) he started to make a punching bag to make jokes about loneliness, depression and melancholy, which instead of serving as a starting point for the development of the character, they use it as a trope of a tragic figure.
 * 4) After Maude's death, he acquired all the characteristics of his wife becoming an extremist religious fanatic, at the same time his role in The Simpsons has changed completely, from being the voice of reason or Homer's friend-rival to being relegated only to make religious jokes or to have a role only related to religion.
 * 5) Ned Flanders mainly bothered his neighbor, Homer Simpson and his son Bart constantly during these seasons.
 * 6) Much like Scrappy-Doo from the Scooby Doo franchise, he is an unlikable character to the point he has a trope named after him.
 * 7) On more than one occasion, he hints that he gets to do at a certain point bisexual by being attracted to many women in the city, but at the same time he feels sickly attracted to his own children like Reverend Lovejoy.
 * 8) The attitude or personality that he has with his children instead of being paternal becomes submissive or pedophile.
 * 9) He's become a short tempered jerk who lashes out at anyone who bothers him in the slightest, it got to the point where he assaulted Homer because he was spending a lot of time with his parents, which is malicious.
 * 10) Depending on your view, his voice can sometimes come across as annoying, despite the fact that Harry Shearer still provides the voice of him.
 * 11) He's one of the few characters of The Simpsons who were still flanderized during season 31.
 * 12) * Speaking of which, he is at his absolute worst in "Todd, Todd, Why Hast You Forsaken Me?" as he kicked Todd (his own son) out of the house, just because he didn't believe in god anymore.

Redeeming Qualities

 * 1) He was a much better character in the first ten seasons and has started to improve since season 32, as he seems to have gained more tolerance to other religions and homosexuality, as long as the people in question are good-natured.
 * 2) When he loses his wife, Maude, fans can feel pity for him.
 * 3) Despite the flaws, Harry Shearer still does a great job voicing him.

Trivia

 * He is the trope namer of Flanderization, a common term for taking a minor action/trait of the character and obsessively exaggerating it to the point where it becomes the character's main personality. Many characters on this wiki have suffered from this trope.