History Characters / HeyArnoldHelgaGPataki

* UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist: She's often abrasive, and gives others (especially Arnold, her secret crush) a hard time. However, many of her flaws stem from an unhappy childhood as TheUnfavourite. Often times, she still remains the OnlySaneMan among classmates, lamenting their stupidity.

* FatalFlaw: Insecurity. She is unable to be her true, kind, articulate and intelligent self due to her fear of being shunned by others. Arnold would more likely than not return her affections if she were to stop treating him like garbage. If she tried harder in school, her parents would probably pay more attention to her (but as we've seen with Olga, that might not be a good thing) and while she might get a few snickers from Harold or the others, she'd be in a much better place and would be happier for it. Her nanny Inga in "Helga and the Nanny" even tells her that she's doomed to suffer as long as she continues to push others away.

* ProgressivelyPrettier: For most of season 1 she is pretty ugly with an ape like face, a thicker unibrow, a big nose, and a big overbite. From season 2 onwards her features are made softer and she gets cuter as a result.

* InformedDeformity: In a universe filled with football heads, unibrows and other whacky features, Helga is usually the one singled out for being ugly.

* ChromaticArrangement: Pink to Phoebe's Blue and Lila's Green.

* FatalFlaw: Her inability to be herself due to her fear of being shunned by others if she does. Arnold would more likely than not return her affections if she were to stop treating him like garbage. If she tried harder in school, her parents would probably pay more attention to her (but as we've seen with Olga, that might not be a good thing) and while she might get a few snickers from Harold or the others, she'd be in a much better place. Her nanny Inga in "Helga and the Nanny" even tells her that she's doomed to suffer as long as she pushes others away.

[[folder:Tropes A to G]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tropes H to Z]]

* {{Deuteragonist}}: The series also takes a heavy focus on Helga, revolving around her home life, friendships, and love for Arnold. One may argue that near the end of the series, she had become the true protagonist.

* MasterOfTheMixedMessage: The audience may know her true feelings, but the other characters don't. Arnold normally buys whatever flimsy excuse she gives when he catches her fawning over him, but even he wised up after a while. In the movie, after he finds out that she was the one helping him defeat Scheck, he asks her why she does so much for someone she claims to hate. Once it's clear that she can't lie her way out of this one, she finally admits that she loves him. Once Scheck is arrested and the town is saved, Arnold gives her an opportunity to take back what she said and she's back to insulting him.

* TheNicknamer: She has a name for everybody. "Football Head", "Arnoldo" and "Hair Boy" for Arnold, "''Tall'' Hair Boy" and "Geraldo" for Gerald, "Pheebs" for Phoebe (a rare affectionate one), "Pink Boy" for Harold, "Princess" for Rhonda, "Granola Girl" for Sheena and "Little Miss Perfect" for Lila.

* DoubleStandardAbuseFemaleOnMale: Zig-zagged. In "Girl Trouble", she tortures Arnold so much that Arnold snaps and throws paint on her in retaliation. Arnold is given detention for his actions while Helga gets no punishment for it. However, "Helga on the couch" features a psychiatrist who sees this as wrong and even tells her that punching Brainy is not okay.

--> (when stuck on the other side of town) '''''"Walk!?''''' It'll take ''days!'' We'll ''freeze to death! '''WE'LL GET EATEN ALIVE BY PIGEONS!''' Or worse... ''rats!"''

* FreudianExcuse: "Helga on the Couch" explains why Helga is the way she is. The reason for her violent behavior is because she feels neglected by her parents and she believes that she has to be aggressive to get any respect.

* TheNicknamer: She has a name for everybody and most of them aren't positive ones. "Football Head", "Arnoldo" and "Hair Boy" for Arnold, "''Tall'' Hair Boy" and "Geraldo" for Gerald, "Pheebs" for Phoebe (a rare affectionate one), "Pink Boy" for Harold, "Princess" for Rhonda, "Granola Girl" for Sheena and "Little Miss Perfect" for Lila.

* ActOfTrueLove: Her sacrifices in "Arnold's Christmas" and ''Hey Arnold! The Movie'' definitely count as this. In the former episode, she gave up her Christmas present, the ultra-rare Nancy Spumoni Snowboots, in order to help Arnold find Mr. Hyuhn's daughter. In TheMovie, she gives up the chance of profiting off of her dad's new Beeper Emporium in order to save the neighborhood from being destroyed by Scheck.

-> Voiced by: Francesca Marie Smith; Katie Bartlett (young Helga in "Helga on the Couch")

* AccidentalPervert: When she snuck into Arnold's room, she was stuck between the the wall the couch folds into. She ended up seeing Arnold disrobe, [[TemptingFate even though she didn't mean to.]]

* BreakoutCharacter: Helga grew in popularity due to her compelling CharacterDevelopment. By the end of the series, most people would think ''she'' was the main character instead of the football head due to how much spotlight she had. In fact, the show was meant to have a spinoff series specifically geared around Helga as the main focus in high school, but it was cancelled before it could air because it was deemed "too dark" for Nickelodeon.
* BrilliantButLazy: Though not a perfectionist like Olga, the aptitude test shows she '''is''' nearly as competent, and she writes some damn good poetry. Unfortunately, her hard life has destroyed her confidence and half the time she doesn't even try.

* FreudianExcuse: The reason for her violent behavior is because she feels neglected by her parents and she feels she has to be aggressive to get any respect.

* SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan: Her feelings for [[HairOfGoldHeartOfGold Arnold]] started when he shared his umbrella with her in the pouring rain and gave her his snacks in preschool. Throughout the series, Helga comments on how she loves his noble, kindhearted side.

* BrattyHalfPint: Nine years old and has a major attitude. It's not entirely unwarranted, however.

* MysteriousMiddleInitial: What precisely the "G" stands for is never revealed in-series; it's actually short for "Geraldine", as a tribute to then-{{Nickelodeon}} executive Geraldine Laybourne. Considering how many times she's diminuatively called Gerald "Geraldo"...

* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent: When masquerading as Arnold's French pen-pal Cecile, she still speaks with an American accent, even when speaking French. She does the same thing when impersonating thr Campfire Lass (especially hilarious when you realize they're both played by the same person.)

-->"Move it, Football Head!"

* TheDreaded: Early on she was this ("Downtown as Fruits"), but as the series progresses, the other students see her as more of a nuisance than a genuine threat.

* TheKlutz: Not to the extent of Eugene, but she tends to become this whenever she's swooning over Arnold. In "Arnold's Valentine", she took one step forward, seemingly tripped over the air and fell.

* LoveMakesYouCrazy: Inverted. While Helga's behavior is a bit unorthodox to say the least, she says that Arnold is the only thing ''stopping'' her from going crazy.

* SingleTargetSexuality: Never shows the slightest interest in anybody but Arnold, though "What's Opera, Arnold?" implies that she might be attracted to Curly. She also seemed to flirt with pop star Ronnie Matthews when she found out that he was rich and famous despite having no actual talent.

* SpotlightStealingSquad: More episodes focused on Helga than any other character except for Arnold, and that's ''not'' including the ''many'' Arnold/Helga episodes. Hell, her list of tropes got so long that it had to be split into its own page. She's that deep.

* ThinkingOutLoud: During her gushing sessions and whenever she's executing one of her "evil plans" she even lampshades it in "The Little Pink Book."
->'''Helga'''(hiding in Arnold's closet): Go! Go!
->'''Gerald''': What was that?
->'''Helga''': I must stop talking to myself.

A resident bully at Arnold's school who actually has a deep infatuation for the titular character, but cannot allow anyone to know about it.

* BrokenBird: She mentions in one episode that she would probably go crazy if it weren't for Arnold.

* CharacterizationMarchesOn: In the first half of the first season, Helga more or less lacked any redeeming qualities (even though it was a throwaway line and PlayedForLaughs, hearing her say she wants "world domination" in "Arnold's Hat" is quite unnerving), her crush on Arnold was more selfish and stalker-like that was also PlayedForLaughs, and the mistreatment she suffered was presented as a straight-up HilariouslyAbusiveChildhood. After that, she developed a HiddenHeartOfGold, performed several [[ActOfTrueLove acts of true love]] towards Arnold and had several PetTheDog moments with Phoebe and various others. By the end of the series, the neglect and abuse she suffered [[CerebusRetcon stopped being Played For Laughs]].

* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent: When masquerading as Arnold's French pen-pal Cecile, she still speaks with an American accent, even when speaking French.

A resident bully at Arnold's school who actually has a deep infatuation for the titular character.

* SpotlightStealingSquad: More episodes focused on Helga than any other character except for Arnold, and that's ''not'' including the ''many'' Arnold/Helga episodes. Hell, her list of tropes takes up about a quarter of this page and is about twice the length of Arnold's.