History Characters / HeyArnoldHelgaGPataki

** The Headscratchers page makes a case for Borderline Personality Disorder
*** Uses extreme measures to avoid real or imagined abandonment: The lengths she goes to in order to avoid telling Arnold that she's in love with him because she's afraid he'll reject her. I'd say this is a definite yes.
*** Volatile relationships with others that can alternate between admiration and deprecation: She'll ridicule Arnold for his righteous goody-goody personality and then gush about how much she loves him for it in the same sentence. I'd say this is a yes.
*** Irresponsibility in at least two potentially harmful areas (e.g., spending, sex, substance abuse, reckless driving. binge eating): No.
*** Suicidal behavior, gestures or threats: No.
*** Self-mutilating behavior: No. At least not intentionally...
*** Mood fluctuations with noticeable rapid changes: Yes.
*** Persistent feelings of emptiness: I'm not sure about this one. She's occasionally shown to have feelings of emptiness, such as in "Helga's Love Potion" when she was under a placebo for an "anti-love potion" she was basically just a robot with nothing to live for, I'd say yes.
*** Feelings of self-hate and self-loathing: With how much time she spends comparing herself to Olga and Lila in negative ways and wishing she could be prettier, nicer, funnier, etc., this is likely a yes.
*** Feeling misunderstood, neglected, alone, empty or hopeless: Yes, no question.
*** Difficulty controlling emotions or impulses: She's sometimes shown to be about to be nice to Arnold for a change, only to snap right back into bully mode in an instant. Yet other times, such as "Helga's Masquerade", she keeps her anger in check quite well. One for the "maybe" pile.
*** So that's 6 "yes"es and 1 possible "yes". She may very well have this disorder.

* BigSisterInstinct: Inverted. She's the younger sister and will initially forgo helping her older sister, Olga, but will do what's right in the end and come to her defense when the latter is in trouble. One notable example is when she blackmailed her sleazy fiancé to break up with Olga, after Helga discovered he was a GoldDigger and [[YourCheatingHeart cheating]] on her.

* DumbBlonde: Subverted. Due to her bullying and brash nature, Helga comes off as this trope but episodes reveal her to be a ChildProdigy but she [[BrilliantButLazy doesn't apply herself]] due to her own insecurities]].

** She does some nasty things to Arnold, but takes major offense to her father calling Arnold an orphan within ear shot of him.

--->'''Helga''': I think Miss Rich and Fancy did a number on him. (Referring to Curly.)\\
'''Rhonda''': May I borrow the black paint?\\
'''Helga''': ''(Paints a heart with the black paint.)'' Perfect, it'll match the color of your heart.\\
'''Rhonda''', ''Annoyed'': Excuse me!\\
'''Helga''': You heard me Cruella.

* FoolishSiblingResponsibleSibling: {{Deconstructed|Trope}} with Olga. Helga is the Foolish Sibling -- she cares very little for her academics [[BrilliantButLazy even though she's proven to be quite intelligent]], while also usually showing little to no respect for her family, peers, or anyone in general (this leads to her being TheFriendNobodyLikes except for Phoebe and [[DependingOnTheWriter occasionally]] Arnold). However, [[FreudianExcuse the reason for her gruff personality]] comes from growing up in a dysfunctional household with both of her parents neglecting her in favor of Olga, making it clear to Helga at an early age that she's the unfavorite child. Her older sister, Olga, is the Responsible Sibling -- she's an ace student who is friendly to everyone (making her well-liked not only by her parents, but all of Helga's classmates), but she reveals to Helga that she's a StepfordSmiler who is always trying to keep up her "perfectness" because of the extremely high standards her parents expect her to meet, especially her father.

* TheFriendNobodyLikes: Only Phoebe and Arnold (DependingOnTheWriter) truly consider Helga a friend. Everyone else mostly just tolerates her out of fear and[=/=]or proximity. Gerald especially has made it perfectly clear that he can't stand her, though their antipathy is seldom explored in depth. Ironically, as of ''The Jungle Movie'', Gerald seems to have warmed up to Helga considerably, probably because of all the work she put in to help Arnold win the trip to San Lorenzo.

* GratuitousFrench: She speaks French in "Arnold's Valentine" (where she mispronounced all of her French) and "Dinner For Four", to impress Arnold.

** In "Hey Arnold! The Movie" she attempts to talk her dad out of his part in demolishing the neighborhood, but goes over to his side when she realizes they're going to be rich. Her conscious eventually gets the better of her and she covertly helps Arnold and Gerald save the neighborhood.

* HatesBeingTouched: She tends to get angry when anyone touches her. Though when Arnold does it, she's obviously faking it. Although she sometimes let Arnold to touches her, or not.
-->'''Arnold''': (After Helga finds his hat.) Thanks Helga! Thanks a lot! (hugs her.)\\
'''Helga''': (Sighs dreamily before switches to bully mode.) Yuck! Who said you could touch me?

* HiddenHeartOfGold: Puts the facade of being mean on in order to stop others from bullying her due to her crush on Arnold. Her not so obvious kindness is shown when she sometimes performs sacrifices for Arnold's happiness, or when she shows genuine kindness for Phoebe and her family.
* HilariouslyAbusiveChildhood: Helga's home life was alternately PlayedForLaughs (as in this trope) and PlayedForDrama (especially in [[WhamEpisode "Helga on the Couch"]]). Her father is controlling, a workaholic and uncaring, and her mother is scatterbrained, lazy, seems to have the will to live sucked out of her, and is most likely an alcoholic due to her love of [[FrothyMugsOfWater "smoothies" that contain ingredients commonly found in alcoholic cocktails (such as tabasco sauce and celery sticks)]]. Anytime her beautiful and successful sister (who may have problems of her own, but is so much of a StepfordSmiler, she represses them) shows up, she's overlooked for her.

* IneffectualSympatheticVillain: She tends to be unsuccessful and easy to pity in episodes where she's antagonistic, particularly as the series goes on. Especially noticeable in episodes involving Lila. The series does this especially well: because we know Helga's true insecure reasons for doing what she does, when her {{Evil Plan}}s to humiliate Arnold or Lila or whoever's incited her jealous wrath fail epically and/or backfire hilariously on her the audience laughs, but also feels truly sorry for her.

* TheLadette: A pre-teen version. She's brash, aggressive, spits, plays sports, loves wrestling and doesn't give two hoots and a holler about girly stuff, unless she's trying to impress Arnold (or in "Helga's Makeover").

* LoveAtFirstSight: She fell in love with Arnold immediately after meeting him and still loves him nearly a decade later.

* MeetMyGoodFriendsLeftyAndRighty: Named her fists "Ol' Betsy" and "The Five Avengers."

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

* NotSoDifferent: The whole concept behind giving Helga a mean father was to win her sympathy with the audience, but the biggest tragedy with her character might just be that she basically is her father in a lot of ways. Apart from inheriting his genetics, she's every bit as loud, bossy and often outright mean as her dad. The traits that set her apart from Big Bob are her intelligence, self-awareness, and desire to be kinder.

* ParentalNeglect: Her parents are at best inattentive, at worst unloving and emotionally abusive. Their lack of presence in her life are largely the reason she is such a bully towards her peers.

* PingPongNaivete: The RunningGag of the show is Brainy getting an OffhandBackhand from Helga while stalking her. At the end of ''Helga's love potion'', Helga seems to recognize Brainy's feeling for her and kiss him in the forehead, causing him to faint. However, at ''Helga at the couch'', she seems to forget that when Helga asks Brainy what is his deal with her after Brainy gaves Helga a toy engagement ring. Brainy seems very confused. Then again, Helga has such self-steem problems and she is a {{Hypocrite}} so big [[IRejectYourReality that his relationship with reality could be described as "distant"]] and she could be very well [[BelievingTheirOwnLies believing nobody loves her.]]

-->'''Helga''': ''(cheerfully)'' Look at me! [[AdviceBackfire I'm terrible at helping others]]. I'm the worst! [[BlatantLies I have no moral conscience whatsoever]].

--> '''Helga''': ARNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLD!!!!!!!!!!
--> '''Arnold''' ([[DistantReactionShot on a bus on the other side of town]]): Did you hear something just now?
--> '''Gerald''': Nope.

* StalkerShrine: She has built several shrines of Arnold that provide the Trope picture, including pictures she took of him.
* StalkerWithACrush: To Arnold. She has a shrine, a statue made out of his chewed bubblegum, and written several books of poetry dedicated to him. She also carries around a heart-shaped locket with his picture in it.

* StealthExpert: Has broken into the boarding house a total of ''seven'' times throughout the show's run. All occasions wearing her usual [[HighlyVisibleNinja pink and white clothes]]. There was also the episode where she attempts to sabotage Lila and Olga's friendship where she dressed accordingly.

* StrongGirlSmartGuy: With Arnold. While she's quite smart, Helga is mainly known as a CuteBruiser bully who does not hesitate to use physical force, while Arnold is mature, never resorts in violence, and gives advice to everyone.

* SuccessfulSiblingSyndrome: Her older sister Olga seems to be perfect in every aspect and is the parental favorite. Therefore, Helga has always had to live under Olga's shadow and is jealous of her seemingly perfect life. In the "Olga Comes Home" episode, however, Helga does learn her sister's success isn't as much of a good thing as she thinks; Olga is constantly pressured by their parents' constant attention and ridiculously high standards and she's so obsessed with being perfect at everything that just seeing a B+ on her report card is enough to send her into a severe depression.

-->'''Helga''': The face paint won't come off! What kind did you get anyway?

-->'''Helga''' (hiding in Arnold's closet): Go! Go!
-->'''Gerald''': What was that?
-->'''Helga''': I must stop talking to myself.

* TranquilFury: She's visibly fuming when Arnold accidentally calls her "Lila" in "Helga's Makeover", but she's able to keep that fake smile on her face and talk somewhat calmly. Otherwise, she averts this trope.

** Lila has no idea that Helga hates her at all, let alone why. Ironically she likely wouldn't want to be considered Helga's rival for Arnold's affections at all, since she doesn't reciprocate.

* VitriolicBestBuds: Type 1 with Phoebe. As Helga is bossy, while Phoebe just goes along. The two have a close friendship despite this.

* WellDoneDaughterGirl: She wants her the approval and attention of her parents (particularly Bob), but she rarely ever gets it due to being TheUnfavourite.

* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes?: She appears fearless... unless she's confronted with rats.
* WiseBeyondTheirYears: This girl is shown to possess near-genius level intelligence based on her talents at poetry, impressive vocabulary and score on the Aptitude Test. She could probably surpass Olga in terms of academics if she actually wanted to. It's too bad that life has kicked the crap out of her to the point where she doesn't even try.

* {{Yandere}}: During her worst moments. Helga varies between hating and loving Arnold and is obsessed with him to the point of stealing his favorite hat for her Stalker Shrine made of his bubblegum. She also tends to write poetry about him and swoon over a picture of him in private and has made other shrines of him which she would dance around as if she were worshiping him like he was a God. She shows a slightly unstable side with the lengths she was willing to go to as a way to prevent her parrot (who had heard her say a love poem for Arnold revealing her feelings for him) from repeating the poem to Arnold who had taken it as his pet. She also shows jealousy towards girls Arnold is interested in, like Ruth and Lila, and would occasionally try to sabotage Arnold's relationship/dates with them. She even threatened to strangle Lila if she ever told anyone that Helga liked Arnold because she wasn't ready to tell him yet. She also disguised herself as Arnold's foreign pen-pal in order to go on a date with him.

* AntiVillain: Depending on the episode. She's only become the villain in some episodes, not all episodes because normally was antagonist yet anti-hero. Like in "April Fools' Day" who wants to get revenge on Arnold for blinding her with a gift, also in "Hey Arnold! The Movie" who works with her father, Big Bob to involved in the evil plans of Alphonse Perrier du von Scheck because she refuse of saving their neighborhood until she's now helping Arnold and Gerald save their neighborhood.

* EvilLaugh: She can evil laugh in some episodes, but not all episodes because she's normally antagonist.

* LadyLooksLikeADude: She has been mistaken for a boy a few times due to her unusual features and unfeminine attitude. Inact, this is the reason why she gives herself a makeover in "Helga's Makeover".

* DreamWorksFace: On the promotional materials and cover of "The Jungle Movie" Helga is giving the asymmetrical smirk and cocked eyebrow which tells the audience that she's up to no good. Unlike most actual Dreamworks characters however Helga really lives up to her mischievous look.

* KavorkaMan: Helga Pataki has had at least four boys fall for her over the course of the series (Brainy, Stinky, Arnold's creepy cousin Arnie, and eventually Arnold himself). This is despite the fact that she's scrawny, physically unattractive (Big Ol' Unibrow, potato nose, billy goat-like ears, large overbite and questionable fashion choices) and a bully. While Helga does have a HiddenHeartOfGold, only Brainy knows this from the start and Stinky and Arnie never find this out. Arnold doesn't think much of Helga at first due to her always bullying him to cover up her massive crush on him, but over the course of the series, he gets to know the real Helga and by Hey Arnold! The Jungle Movie they officially get together.

* HairDecorations: She always wears her trademark pink bow, presumably because Arnold complimented it when they first met.

* IconicItem: Her pink hair bow is like [[Franchise/ScoobyDoo Fred's]] ascot. It looks ridiculous but it's strange to see her without it.

* ActionGirl: She's never one to shy away from a fist fight, but in The Jungle Movie she risks her very life multiple times. First she beats a guard unconscious with a stapler, joins in with the other Green-eyed kids in beating Lasombra, and then when When Eduardo is engaged in a life or death fight against Lasombra, Helga is the first of the kids to join in the fray. She throws Lasombra's satchel over his head, climbs onto his shoulders and proceeds to repeatedly punch him even as he pulls at her pigtail and brandishes a poisonous dart.

* HisOwnWorstEnemy: Helga engages in some serious self sabotage, constantly creating scenarios where she can reject others before they can reject her, due to her fundamental fear of rejection. This behavior ultimately isolates her and prevents her from forming healthy relationships.

* Yandere: During her worst moments. Helga varies between hating and loving Arnold and is obsessed with him to the point of stealing his favorite hat for her Stalker Shrine made of his bubblegum. She also tends to write poetry about him and swoon over a picture of him in private and has made other shrines of him which she would dance around as if she were worshiping him like he was a God. She shows a slightly unstable side with the lengths she was willing to go to as a way to prevent her parrot (who had heard her say a love poem for Arnold revealing her feelings for him) from repeating the poem to Arnold who had taken it as his pet. She also shows jealousy towards girls Arnold is interested in, like Ruth and Lila, and would occasionally try to sabotage Arnold's relationship/dates with them. She even threatened to strangle Lila if she ever told anyone that Helga liked Arnold because she wasn't ready to tell him yet. She also disguised herself as Arnold's foreign pen-pal in order to go on a date with him.

* CosmicKeystone: Her locket typically serves as a simple prop, but in "The Jungle Movie" it ends up being of great importance and essentially becomes the lynchpin of the whole series. After the Corazon is lost in a confrontation with Lasombra, she uses her locket as a replacement.

* ActionGirl: She's never one to shy away from a fist fight, but in The Jungle Movie she risks her very life multiple times. First she beats a guard unconscious with a stapler, then when When Eduardo is engaged in a life or death fight against Lasombra, Helga is the first of the kids to join in the fray. She throws Lasombra's satchel over his head, climbs onto his shoulders and proceeds to repeatedly punch him even as he pulls at her pigtail and brandishes a poisonous dart.

* DirtyCoward: Especially in season 1. She's very much looking out for herself and is perfectly willing to use and abuse even her best friend to get what she wants. She constantly talks tough, but whenever things go south and she feels genuinely threatened she's always the first one to shout "We're all gonna die!" or just break down sobbing. After five seasons of character development however, by the time we get to "The Jungle Movie" Helga has grown genuinely concerned for others, loyal and brave.

* TheBully: She bullies others as a way to conceal her true self from the world, since she has always been treated like shit when she tries to be nice. Although she does not always bully rolls during the series, only sometimes she do bully rolls.

* TheDreaded: Early on she was the most feared of the kids (Arnold and Gerald dreading her wrath in "Downtown as Fruits" for example), but as the series progresses, the other students see her as more of a nuisance than a genuine threat, much like what eventually happened to Harold.

The Tritagonist and usually Main Antagonist of the ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'' series and also the {{Deuteragonist}} of the last series of "The Jungle Movie". Helga is a shy, insecure girl who became the resident bully of Arnold's class. She constantly bullies and professes to despise Arnold, yet this is all a cover to hide her true deep feelings of love for him. She also bullies and threatens other people (including her sister Olga, Lila and her own best friend Phoebe to name but a few), but this behavior too comes from her fear that if she showed her true kind nature, she would in turn be bullied. She keeps her crush a secret in order to protect her reputation, often going to insane lengths to do so.

[[/folder]]
* TheWoobie: In spite of her mean behavior, the considerably difficult hand life has dealt Helga elicits a lot of sympathy for her character, even with much of her torment played for comedy.

The Tritagonist and usually Main Antagonist of the ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'' series and also the {{Deuteragonist}} of the last series of "The Jungle Movie". A shy, insecure girl who became the resident bully of Arnold's class. She constantly bullies and professes to despise Arnold, yet this is all a cover to hide her true deep feelings of love for him. She also bullies and threatens other people (including her sister Olga, Lila and her own best friend Phoebe to name but a few), but this behavior too comes from her fear that if she showed her true kind nature, she would in turn be bullied. She keeps her crush a secret in order to protect her reputation, often going to insane lengths to do so.

[[/folder]]

* DirtyCoward: Especially in season 1. She's very much looking out for herself and is perfectly willing to use and abuse even her best friend to get what she wants. She constantly talks tough, but whenever things go south and she feels genuinely threatened she's always the first one to shout "We're all gonna die!" or just break down sobbing.

The Tritagonist and usually Main Antagonist of the ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'' series and also the {{Deuteragonist}} of the last series of "The Jungle Movie". A shy, insecure girl who became the resident bully of Arnold's class. She constantly bullies and despises Arnold, but yet she hides her true feelings of love for Arnold. She also bullies and threats other people (including her sister Olga, and also Lila), when in reality she harbors a deep infatuation for the title character. She keeps her crush a secret in order to protect her reputation, often going to insane lengths to do so.

* TheWoobie: Even when she deserves it, you can't help but feel bad for Helga as the universe constantly punishes her for her jerky behavior.

Tritagonist and usually Main Antagonist of the ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'' series and also the {{Deuteragonist}} of the last series of "The Jungle Movie". A shy, insecure girl who became the resident bully of Arnold's class. She constantly bullies and despises Arnold, but yet she hides her true feelings of love for Arnold. She also bullies and threats other people (including her sister Olga, and also Lila), when in reality she harbors a deep infatuation for the title character. She keeps her crush a secret in order to protect her reputation, often going to insane lengths to do so.