Cotton Hill - Personality

Personality

Cotton was consistently a misogynistic, violent, abusive and intolerant character. He talked down to women, berated his son, was prone to violent outbursts, and on more than one occasion has exhibited homicidal tendencies. His abrasive, misogynistic manner was consistently embarrassing for Hank and usually infuriating for Hank’s wife, Peggy. Throughout his history on the series, Cotton never once addressed Peggy by name, but he instead called her "Hank’s wife", which was used as a running gag, including on the very rare occasion he's trying to be nice to her, (the only other name Cotton had ever addressed Peggy by was "Hillary, in the episode "Shins of the father", Peggy also didn't seem to care being called "Hank's Wife, and never once told Cotton not to call her that). He even passed on some of his sexist and misogynistic traits to Bobby at one point, teaching him that women should be made to cook and clean for their husbands all day long.

On rare occasions, Cotton showed a vulnerable side that he normally kept hidden: he realizes that he was a terrible father and person, hates himself for growing old and becoming disabled, and readily admits that he would die to protect his grandson, Bobby ("Revenge of the Lutefisk").

Cotton also demonstrated a rough, demanding and often abusive but at times inspirational leadership. He admits to Hank that he always wanted to win in battle but accepted defeat when his men did their best. Through tough love and intense physical therapy, Cotton also helped Peggy walk again after a debilitating skydiving accident. Hank Hill was initially wary of this, because he feared that Cotton was simply taking advantage of Peggy's brief disability in order to humiliate her.

It was never revealed throughout the series how Cotton became such a nasty, rude, evil character, or if he ever was a different person. It is most likely his childhood (the only things known about Cotton's childhood are that he started out with a gun at an early age, according to Hank in the episode "How to fire a rifle without really trying", Cotton also attended Fort Birk when he was very young and spent much of his childhood there, as he reveled in "An officer and a Gentle Boy" and he apparently joined the army when he was only 14 years old, Cotton's mother apparently died giving birth to him, as he exaggerates in "Death Picks Cotton", almost nothing is known about Cotton's father, except that he may have German, as Peggy tells Bobby in the episode; "Tears of an Inflatable Clown", and it is possible that Cotton's father may have also been a war hero who may have served in the First World War and is the one who inspired Cotton to become one himself, the only time Cotton ever himself refers to his father during the entire series is when he shouts at Hank: "You ain't my daddy, I'm your daddy!", Cotton also has an unnamed brother who is Dusty's father) or his military service, because in every war flashback Cotton had, he seemed to enjoy killing, and it is also possible that Cotton's war service traumatized him in some ways and made him what he is. Whatever the reason is, Cotton never sought recognition for how he treated Hank, Peggy, Tilly and many others throughout the series. In the episode "Hank gets Dusted" Hank says straight up to his cousin Dusty that Cotton is in fact a jack-ass.