Ned Flanders

Biography

Ned Flanders grew up in New York and was the son of "Freaky Beatniks" who did not discipline Ned and let him run wild. Eventually, they took him to Dr. Foster, a psychiatrist, who put the young Ned through the University of Minnesota Spankalogical Protocol, which involved eight months of continuous spanking. The treatment worked so well that it rendered Ned unable to express any anger at all and resulted in his trademark nonsensical jabbering at moments when he was particularly close to losing his temper, causing Ned to unknowingly repress his anger. Flanders got his diploma from Oral Roberts University. Flanders worked as a salesman in the pharmaceutical industry for the bulk of his adult life. Having saved much of his earnings, Flanders decided to quit his job and invested his family's life savings into a store in the Springfield mall called "The Leftorium" specializing in products for left-handed people. He lives at 744 Evergreen Terrace. He attended an all-boys school, where he played Blanche DuBois in a production of A Streetcar Named Desire. Ned's age is uncertain. In "Hurricane Neddy" he is shown as a child in a flashback 30 years earlier, but later, in "Viva Ned Flanders", he states that he is 60 years old. (He attributes his youthful appearance to "clean living, chewing thoroughly, and a daily dose of vitamin church.") Later still, in "Walking Big & Tall", he is once again shown as a child 30 years ago. In the latter appearance, he is shown to be around the same age as Homer and Marge, who are in the same scene as children.

Criminal Record

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Bigamy

In "Viva Ned Flanders", Ned gets drunk with Homer in Las Vegas, and both wake up married to strange women.

Battery of a Police Officer

In "Hurricane Neddy", he pointedly grabs Clancy Wiggum by the stomach to taunt him purposefully.

Personality

Ned is very honest, kind and sincere in carrying out the Christian doctrines of charity, kindness and compassion to an extent unseen within the rest of the Springfield community. He is frequently shown doing volunteer work, and is rigorously honest and upright, even going so far as to spend an entire day tracking down a Leftorium customer in order to give him the extra change that he had forgotten to hand over. He once donated a kidney and a lung out of the goodness of his heart to whoever needs them first. He is also a good neighbour to the Simpsons, regularly offering his assistance. Ned’s dogged friendship inspires the loyalty of others; when his Leftorium appeared on the verge of bankruptcy shortly after it opened, Homer arranged a George Bailey-esque bailout with the help of many people in Springfield. Upon discovering that Bart and Lisa Simpson were not baptized he immediately took it upon himself to (unsuccessfully) conduct the ceremony without their parents' consent. He also was one of the organizers of a mob to remove the La Maison Derrière due to the amoral exploitation of the sexual desires in males (although he notably had to ask for permission to commence a mob to Belle, the owner of the place they were attempting to tear down in a mob frenzy, indicating that he either wasn't completely aware of how a mob was supposed to work or was unwilling to go to the extreme of inciting a mob riot to get rid of the house). In more recent episodes he seems to have gained more tolerance to other religions and homosexuality, as long as the people in question are good-natured. However, his bias and perspective still make him think that they will have a harder time getting to heaven.

Religion

Ned is a devout Christian. Ned's sons have been raised in a strict climate of Christian morality, to which they willingly conform. It is revealed that they "don't believe in flu shots",[13] much as their father considers insurance to be a "form of gambling" and dice games to be "wicked." Rod and Todd go to bed several hours before sunset and are not allowed to consume sugar, (which is ironic because in the movie he gives them hot chocolate. Which you see through the window and then he makes one for Bart). But this could be to the fact only Maude imposed the no-sugar rule. Since her death, it is possible Ned has not seen an issue with sugar.

Speech patterns

Ned has the odd habit of attaching "diddly," "doodly" and other nonsensical phrases to his sentences. "Hi-diddly-ho, neighborino," is a common example. This is the result of sublimated anger caused by his upbringing, anger which has no other outlet. This trait is, strangely, demonstrated by his relatives from around the world. However, one of his relatives; Lord Thistlewick Flanders, does not have this trait other than when pressured by Ned Flanders, which may imply that his relatives might just attach the trait when with Flanders. He also has the habit of saying "Okally-Dokally", when replying to someone - meaning OK. He might also occasionally add a "doo" on the end, for example... "Okally Dokally-Doo". This is more often than not repeated, when Homer tells him to "Shut up" or "Get lost and we don't need your help". He said "Son of a diddly!" in the episode Trilogy of Error. His extreme prudishness makes him averse to saying "sex" aloud, even when there are no children in sight — he either spells it out or sheepishly calls it "doodily". Ned also uses the word "doodle", "Flander-doodle" or "shrinky-dink" when referring to his penis (ironically, he actually shouts "penis" while praying with his kids before eating at Krusty Burger after Bart lands on a window naked in front of him). He wears a bathing suit in the shower or when he takes a bath. He also uses annotated words, when referring to words that could slightly have a bad, injury related, or slightly offensive meaning. An example is when Bart and Homer are on the roof, and Bart is dangling from the guttering. He says the word "parapleig-orino" referring to parapleigic (a person paralyzed from the waist down). Nevertheless, Bart and Homer join a gay pride parade. Then they both reply "Shut up, Flanders..." His speech pattern once got him into trouble with Rex Banner, because the latter thought he was drunk during a time when prohibition was revived.

CareerThe Leftorium

Ned worked as a salesperson in the pharmaceuticals industry for the bulk of his adult life. Having saved much of his earnings, Flanders announced during a barbecue he was throwing for his family and friends that he had quit his job and planned to invest the family's life savings into a new business. After burning his necktie, he proclaimed his intent to open a store in the Springfield Mall called The Leftorium, specializing in products for left-handed people including everything from left-handed can openers to an entirely left-handed car, of which only three were ever made. Many of the Leftorium's products are merely labeled as "left-handed," such as pens and nunchucks. He does not sell, however, left-handed eyelash curlers. The Leftorium faces stiff competition from Leftopolis and Left-Mart. However, an unusually large proportion of Springfield's citizens are left-handed, including Bart Simpson, Mr. Burns, and Moe Szyslak.

Other jobs

Ned began an Internet company called Flancrest Enterprises (which deals in religious hook-rugs) and founded a Bible-themed amusement park called Praiseland, in honor of his late wife (that he would go to such lengths to fulfill her last wish is unsurprising, as Ned had previously exerted himself a great deal in order to avoid disappointing Maude — after accidentally killing Maude's prized ficus plant, he attempted to bury and secretly replace it rather than explain the situation). Ned also spent a stint as principal of Springfield Elementary School, replacing Seymour Skinner (Armin Tamzarian). He, along with his late wife, also worked as a member of the Springfield Volunteer Fire Department, once saving Homer from his burning house. Because of his membership status, he also participates in Fire Safety Day at Springfield Elementary School, once doing an act trying to display the dangers of not taking care of Fire Safety where he acted completely different from himself for the role. He portrayed a pot-smoking, chain-smoking, hog-riding hippie party-goer named MadDog whom, after arriving back home with his girlfriend (played by Maude Flanders), who is also a pot-smoking hippie party-goer, they smoked a cigarette to "make the night complete." His girlfriend suggests that they get another smoke alarm in case their current one "tricks out on them" but MadDog refused as one was good enough for him before telling her that they should "hit the sack." While sleeping, MadDog accidentally drops his cigarette on his pants thus burning them. His girlfriend tries to warn him to stop, drop and roll, but he ignores it as he felt it was for clydes and that "a little fire won't hurt him." The performance turned out awry because Ned Flanders was forced to break character due to the fire spreading fast, and the usual method of stop drop and roll was not successful at all in putting out the fire, and had it not been for Bart Simpson's latest hijinx involving a hose and the gymnasium

Friendship with Homer Simpson

Flanders personality makes him think of Homer as good and friendly, but although they are friends, Homer doesn't like Flanders that much even at times has envied Flanders for having a better lifestyle than him for example before Maude's death homer openly made flirtatious comments about Maude in front of Marge and that in The first three seasons that were focused on how Ned was doing well financially since he was a devout Christian, how his family are well behaved, and how they are more respected than the Simpsons whilst Homer was angry with that on account of the Simpsons being a struggling family, constantly getting in trouble with the law and are mocked by the public of Springfield. The financial issue was largely resolved in When Flanders Failed. Homer has often borrowed many of Ned's possessions, none of which he ever had any intention of returning in the first place. Homer tells Ned to "shut his stupid face" on a regular basis, and has even prayed for his ruin and death — "I've learned that life is one crushing defeat after another, until you just wish Flanders was dead." Ironically, at one time, Homer becomes Flanders' best friend, but becomes so annoying that Flanders starts to hate him, but eventually things go back to the way they were with no explanation as to why. Homer and Ned's relationship has been good on occasions, in which Homer seems to genuinely care for Ned, despite still expressing and often acting on feelings of loathing and envy. Examples of this include Homer comforting Ned following Maude's death seconds after preparing to bash Ned's head in with a rock largely due to Marge's insistence that the Simpson family must now be supportive of the Flanders family in wake

Friendship with Bart Simpson

His friendship with Bart began in The Simpsons Movie. When Bart becomes a camper, he would seem to have taken a liking to his head camper, Ned Flanders. During a time when Homer was being an exceptionally bad father, Ned was his surrogate. This is shown by Bart talking in Flanders normal diddly-doodily fashion. However, Ned reassures Bart that Homer is his true father, and that Bart must be a receptive son in order to help Homer be a concerned father during Springfield's darkest hour.

Appearance

Ned’s usual wear includes a green and pink shirt with gray pants and black shoes, but underneath this he is actually really strong which has been shown numerous times throughout the series He looks seemingly young, but is really in his 60s. He has said that he is able to look so young because of his diet. In one episode, Ned takes a vacation to a town that makes the collectibles that Ned collected. In that town, they made a law against facial hair, so they urged him into shaving it off. Ned doesn’t though and is considered a criminal because of this. This implies that Ned really likes his mustache and doesn’t plan on shaving it off.