Helga G. Pataki

**Helga Geraldine Pataki** is one of the main protagonists, as well as usually the main antagonist (but sometimes anti-villain) of the hit Nickelodeonanimated television series *Hey Arnold!*

## Biography

Helga could be classified as a tomboy, as evidenced by her interest in playing contact sports alongside her male classmates and disregard/dislike for stereotypical female behavior, although this is countered by her fondness of the color pink and otherwise girly clothing choices. She can also be very cynical, tough, and bossy, bullying her classmates with an iron fist, and often taking advantage of her best friend, Phoebe, making her a bit of a spoiled brat. She also tends to reply sarcastically to express her annoyance, and usually mocks her classmates by calling them nicknames. However, Helga also has a much softer side, which becomes apparent when she is alone and involved in her school work. She is very emotional, poetic, sometimes caring, and as such, able to comprehend a spectrum of emotions such as love and hate. This emotional extremity is a running joke throughout the series; although Helga is seen as a "tough girl" by her classmates, she is frequently the first to go into hysterics in times of crisis. She has also been known to be somewhat materialistic.

Helga is occasionally clumsy, but is also a genius. In the episode "The Aptitude Test", in which the class takes a standardized exam, it is eventually revealed that she achieved a perfect score on the test and the most outstanding result since her perfectionist sister, Olga Pataki, took the test. Presumably, however, the types of grades she receives on an average basis in school vary from low ("Quantity Time") to high ("A Day in the Life of a Classroom"). Her bad grades are most likely caused by her lack of motivation, attention, and academic concern. Helga appears to excel academically in literature classes as evidenced by Mr. Simmons' constant praise of her literary work, though he always withholds her name possibly out of respect as she gets embarrassed when he reads them aloud. Helga displays a remarkable gift for poetry, and is able to create, often on the spot, dramatic soliloquies expressing a situation or feeling with an impressive use of vocabulary, especially for someone her age. These poems and monologues were simpler in the earlier episodes, but grew in their intensity as the series progressed. Aside from poetry, Helga exhibits further evidence of cultural experience, being able to identify the work of Edward Hopper and make reference to George Orwell's *1984* in "Helga on the Couch".

Helga's catch phrase is "criminy", which she apparently picked up from her father. She is allergic to strawberries (see "Quantity Time"), which cause her to break out in hives. As seen in "Downtown as Fruits", she names her fist "Old Betsy".

## Relatives

* Robert Pataki (father)
* Miriam Pataki (mother)
* Olga Pataki (sister)

## Trivia

* It is currently unknown how she feels about Reggie Rocket.
* She makes cameo appearances in Mike at the Nicktoons Summer Beach House and its sequel when Maxwell breaks up with Cindy.
* According to an interview with Spanish language website *El Estímulo*, Craig Bartlett revealed that Helga's appearance was based on a photograph of a young Frida Kahlo.
* In the episode "Road Trip", Helga turns on the car radio to a Hard Rock music station, suggesting that she enjoys music within the Rock genre.
* In "School Play", Helga's mother, Miriam, yells into her bedroom and asks her if she remembered to take her constipation medicine in which Helga responds with a yes.
	+ According to Sheena in "Phoebe Skips", Helga has a gastrointestinal disorder.
* In "Student Teacher", Olga tells Mr. Simmons' students a story about a little girl who was a bedwetter overcame her problem. It is at the end of the story that Olga reveals to the students that the story was about Helga, who was a bedwetter until the age of 7.
* In the *Angry Beavers* episode "Dumbwaiters", the beavers showed a Helga Pataki mask within a set of scary masks.
* Several episode plots revolve around Helga trying to recover something that outwardly states her feelings to Arnold, and ended up in Arnold's hands.
* Helga has broken into the boarding house 7 times: in "The Little Pink Book", "Helga Blabs It All", "Helga's Parrot", twice in "Helga Sleepwalks", and twice in "Helga's Locket".
* Youtuber Bo Burnham mentions Helga Pataki in the line "Hatin' other rappers like I'm Helga Pataki" of his song "Words, Words, Words".
* The names Helga gave her fists, "Ol' Betsy" and "The Five Avengers", don't make much sense because everyone has three fingers and one thumb.
* Though Helga's huge crush on Arnold was initially a secret, over time, more characters learned about it.
	+ **Brainy**: He knows about her secret because he's stalked her for years and hears her soliloquies.
	+ **Big Patty**: She figures out the truth on her own in "Helga vs. Big Patty"; she asks Helga if she and Arnold "have a thing for each other", and the two smile knowingly.
	+ **Phil and Gertie**: In "Girl Trouble", Phil speculates (from personal experience) that the reason Helga picks on Arnold is because she has a crush on him, and mentions he always sees her outside Sunset Arms waiting for him. And Gertie heard Helga's voice message in "Helga Blabs It All", though she did not properly relay it to Arnold. Also, the two have seen Helga in the boarding house, such as in "Helga's Parrot" and "Helga Sleepwalks".
	+ **Lila**: Helga admits her secret to her in "School Play", and Lila mentions she already "had a funny feeling" Helga liked him.
	+ **Phoebe**: In earlier episodes such as "Operation Ruthless", "Roughin' It", "Helga's Love Potion" and "School Play", Helga went out of her way to avoid revealing her secret to Phoebe (though Phoebe seemed to pick up on the secret in "Helga's Love Potion"). In "Dinner for Four", "Helga Sleepwalks", and "Married", Phoebe is already aware of her best friend's secret.
	+ **Dr. Bliss**: Helga reveals her secret to her during their session in "Helga on the Couch".
	+ **Arnold**: Needless to say, Arnold conclusively found out Helga's feelings for him in *Hey Arnold! The Movie*, even if he wasn't ready to hear the revelation at the time. Before he found out Helga has a crush on him, Arnold had wondered about the possibility (*Hey Arnold! The Jungle Movie*) and subconsciously knew it to be true ("Married").
	+ Gerald: By *Hey Arnold! The Jungle Movie*, Gerald seems to already be aware of Helga's secret, as he grins knowingly with Phoebe while Helga stumbles trying to make an excuse for helping Arnold go to San Lorenzo. (Also, the other kids entered Helga's tape-filled basement. Do they know as well?)
* Helga said in the episode "Arnold's Valentine" that she likes a man who's honest "love-wise", possibly because she doesn't want to end up with a dysfunctional marriage like Bob and Miriam.
* Even though she wants a family who would pay attention to her, when they do she mostly tends to brush it off or isolate herself by saying that they're either embarrassing her or making her miserable.
* Though Helga is mostly a tomboy, she has been shown to be feminine at times.
* Helga may be mean, but whenever the situation is right, she can be characterized as caring, deep, and serious towards the people she's close to like Phoebe, Arnold, Olga (once in a while) and her parents (to some extent).
* In the episode "April Fool's Day", Arnold mentioned (when giving a gag present to Helga) that Helga's birthday was "last week," which means that her birthday falls on a day between March 19 and March 31 (which makes her an Aries). Among fans, Helga's birthday is most often considered to be on March 26th, Francesca Smith's birthday. This also means Helga turned 10 in "April Fool's Day".
* Helga seems to be a fan of Nancy Spumoni clothing and other items. Nancy Spumoni is a loose parody of Roxy clothing.
* A Disney character, Isabella Garcia-Shapiro from *Phineas and Ferb*, has a similar outfit to Helga Pataki's. Also Dan Povenmire who worked on Hey Arnold! is one of the creators of Phineas and Ferb creating another connection.
* Grandpa sometimes calls her Arnold's "ugly friend with the one eyebrow" (in reference to her monobrow).
* Helga appears to like the color pink, because throughout the show, almost all of her outfits are pink. This contradicts with her image as a tomboy because pink is usually considered a girlish color. This could be because when Helga first met Arnold, he complimented her bow saying it was pink like her pants and she most likely adopted the color pink as her favorite because of this.
* Helga states that she hates rats in "Das Subway".
* There are only 3 half-hour segments that Helga does not appear in: Arnold Saves Sid/Hookey, Big Gino/Jamie O in Love, and Veterans Day.

## **S**imilar Heroes

* Alice *(Disney's Alice in Wonderland)*
* Wendy Testaburger *(South Park)*
* Lois Griffin*(Family Guy)*
* Megan *(My Little Pony G1 series)*
* Dorothy Gale *(The Wizard of Oz)*
* Belle *(Disney's Beauty and the Beast)*
* Ariel *(Disney's The Little Mermaid)*