When the heat was coming up on her, Lana moved into the Sunset Apartments and became enamored with Arnold. Mr. Smith followed her trail due to a case made by Vail's former victims and moved in for years watching and waiting for her to make her move. Eventually he found evidence to take her in and told Phil and Gertie the truth to shield Arnold from harm. Eventually her trial went underway and she was either arrested or free once again. Smith either left in success or quit in shame.
- Jossed in The Jungle Movie.
- In the episode "What's Opera Arnold?" she imagines/dreams him as being Arnold's competition. She seems to seriously consider his advances on her BEFORE he offered gifts.
- If it's not actually a crush she at the very least finds him attractive.
- Several fanfictions have Helga and Curly being close friends. They do appear to be similar in personality. Both characters make up elaborate schemes to get what they want (even pulling the same prank in "Ghost Bride") and both have unrequited strong feelings (Helga for Arnold, and Curly for Rhonda). Some of these may possibly be why Helga appears to show interest in Curly.
- Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was released just a few months after Hey Arnold! was cancelled.
- Both San Andreas and Hillwood city are on the west coast
- Now for the characters
- Arnold and Gerald are CJ and Sweet. They are the main heroes of their respective stories. Also, Gerald is sometimes the voice of reason on the occasions that Arnold is not.
- Helga is Catalina. Both of them love the main character but don't know how to express their love. Also both are aggressive characters.
- The 4th graders are the Grove Street Families/Varrios Los Aztecas and the 5th graders are the Ballas/Los Santos Vagos. If the 5th graders are in a Hey Arnold plotline, they are almost always the big guys picking on the 4th graders, much like the powerful Ballas having dominance over Los Santos for most of the game.
- Ronnie Matthews is OG Loc. Both are totally fake mainstream artists. Dinomania could also fit the role as OG Loc.
- On a similar note, Dino Spumoni is Madd Dogg. At the time that Arnold/CJ first meet Dino/Madd Dogg, Dino and Madd Dogg both present themselves as has-beens, but both heroes help them make a comeback.
- Mickey is Ryder and/or Big Smoke. He seems to be allied with the 4th graders/Grove Street families but he is working for the 5th graders/ballas.
- Principal Wartz is Officer Tenpenny. Although Wartz isn't evil, he definitely abuses his power a lot.
- Big Gino is Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories. He's pretty much the Italian gangster stereotype to begin with.
- Stinky and his family are reincarnated and multiplied as almost the entire population of Red/Flint Counties, where there are a lot of stereotypical hicks.
- Wolfgang and Chocolate Boy are B-dup and Big Bear. Wolfgang humiliates Chocolate Boy, but he puts up with it because of his chocolate addiction. The second half of Chocolate Boy's episode is Beat Down On B-Dup; both Chocolate Boy and Big Bear have had enough of putting up with their dealers. Also, Chocolate Boy could represent everyone in the Grove Street Families that got addicted to crack. In this representation Wolfgang is Big Smoke; he's enormous, and Smoke is probably the most famous Ballas pusher.
- Oskar Kokoshka is Niko Bellic because he is Eastern European, has a similar accent, and looks very similar to Niko.
- Oskar could also be Roman because they both frequently gamble and often lose and it usually gets them into trouble. Though Roman isn't as bad as Oskar, he at least ran his own business.
- I have also realized this can also explain the absence of Arnold's parents. Perhaps they were killed during the invasion or perhaps they died in Cascade Falls and Arnold survived. Arnold's Grandpa made up the adventurer stories and forged the journal to buy him some time before Arnold finds out how they really died or wait until Arnold is old enough to understand the truth.
- In addition to this, Lila's last name is "Sawyer". Plus her father looks like he could be a related to Colonel Sawyer who successfully repelled the Soviet invasion on the west coast and in Europe.
- That... No. NO. That's just too sad, dammit! What actually happened is that after La Sombra was Defeated For Good, the trip into the mountains delivering medicine went awry, stranding them in a mix of Shangri-La and Brigadoon. Both parents are alive and well, they're just unable to get back to Arnold because the refuge they were given shelter in has yet to return to the Earthly plane.
- Jossed. Arnold's parents are confirmed to be alive by The Jungle Movie.
- There are some moments (though regrettably I can't recall a specific episode) where you can actually hear ice clinking in a glass as Miriam speaks to Helga. These moments generally occur while she is not visible- and if she was drinking something innocuous, why hide it? There are lots of clues- for example, in one episode Helga is looking for Miriam and is told by Bob that "she's asleep behind the couch," whereupon Miriam pops up looking disoriented, glasses askew. She often slurs while speaking, also- the list goes on.
- Makes sense because in one episode, she was looking for Tabasco sauce while making a drink and Tabasco sauce is an ingredient in a Bloody Mary.
- Furthermore, Big Bob's pushy, aggressive personality and (borderline, at best) emotional abuse of Helga while singing the praises of her sister Olga certainly support the idea that he possibly abuses their mother as well (emotionally, if not physically). This may also explain why she became an alcoholic in the first place, and why she never stands up for Helga when Big Bob starts cutting her down.
- Both Helga's and Olga's personalities are reactions to their abusive father; Olga pretends to be the perfect girl to not be pestered by dad, while she does have to walk from problem to problem to keep the facade. The fact that she prefers to maintain distance might make this true. Helga's aggressive personality was the way she found of counter-attacking fire with fire, and even though she doesn't like Olga's way to withdraw from the conflict, she protects the big sister and mom at the same time. She loves Arnold for being the exact opposite of her father, but at the same time, can't keep liking him not only by her fear of bullying, but the fear of what her father would be capable to do to the poor boy if Bob discovers. Her mother's reactions to Arnold memorabilia (throwing it away, burning it in the fire), although mostly because Helga told her to do so, might be for the boy's protection as well. That might be the reason that we never hear Olga talking about boyfriends at all, she might fear for the guys' lives (or maybe she's a lesbian and doesn't even mention girlfriends because Bob is probably homophobic as well). You know what an abusive and jealous guy with an unlimited supply of highly flammable and heavy beepers might do with anybody that makes the family's "harmony" go awry (not to mention he probably has a shotgun somewhere, but Helga might manage to hide the bullets to not see any tragedies).
- I disagree. Bob's main flaw always seemed to be neglect as opposed to outright abuse.
- That, and we have heard Olga talking about not one, yet two, boyfriends in an episode. Unfortunately, I currently do not seem to remember the episode, although I do recall Olga telling her parents that she didn't know which boyfriend to choose because they were both so wonderful, or something.
- Yes, in her first appearance (Olga Comes Home) she was talking about two different boys she was seeing. Additionally, she had given a THIRD boy she met at a mixer her HOME phone number, so she apparently isn't afraid of anyone finding out. Finally, there's a whole episode dated to one of her boyfriends- excuse me... her FIANCE. Miriam and Bob don't have any real problem with him until they find out he asked Olga to marry him after only a couple weeks.
- Both Helga's and Olga's personalities are reactions to their abusive father; Olga pretends to be the perfect girl to not be pestered by dad, while she does have to walk from problem to problem to keep the facade. The fact that she prefers to maintain distance might make this true. Helga's aggressive personality was the way she found of counter-attacking fire with fire, and even though she doesn't like Olga's way to withdraw from the conflict, she protects the big sister and mom at the same time. She loves Arnold for being the exact opposite of her father, but at the same time, can't keep liking him not only by her fear of bullying, but the fear of what her father would be capable to do to the poor boy if Bob discovers. Her mother's reactions to Arnold memorabilia (throwing it away, burning it in the fire), although mostly because Helga told her to do so, might be for the boy's protection as well. That might be the reason that we never hear Olga talking about boyfriends at all, she might fear for the guys' lives (or maybe she's a lesbian and doesn't even mention girlfriends because Bob is probably homophobic as well). You know what an abusive and jealous guy with an unlimited supply of highly flammable and heavy beepers might do with anybody that makes the family's "harmony" go awry (not to mention he probably has a shotgun somewhere, but Helga might manage to hide the bullets to not see any tragedies).
- This is one of the only theories that I've read so far that I could actually see happening.
- It was The Plan by Phil's superiors to adversely affect the Germans' combat effictiveness through mass food poisoning. Why else would they send a truck alone, with only one apparently unarmed driver, through territory where Germans were crawling around if they didn't want it to be captured? Also, they just sent some no-name private who didn't really ask too much questions. Whether the mission worked or not, he would've been no big loss. It just turned out that Operation Chikenshit was more successful than they'd dreamed it could be. The reason why it's not in any major history book was that it all sounded so utterly silly that no historian could bring himself to believe it, let alone write about it.
- I don't believe that Arnold or any of Helga's other friends are ever mentioned by Bob or Miriam, and Olga may just be playing along with Helga.
- This is most definitely not the case for Phoebe, as in one episode, Miriam specifically asked how Phoebe was and was she still Helga's best friend.
- Even the suggestion that Olga would be playing along would not explain her spending so much time with Lila.
- Bob definitely has talked to Arnold before. Remember when he tries to bribe Arnold into losing the Spelling Bee? Or when he made fun of Arnold for having no parents.
- Miriam is a depressive alcoholic miserable person, she wouldn't tell anything she knows to not make things worse, and Bob is just too much stupid to ever notice he has two daughters already in the age of discoveries, and afraid of what a moron like him could do with them, or their mother if they ever told about any friends in particular; or even what could happen with their friends themselves, that is.
- Lila's mother is never shown in the series, she's presumably dead. Plus, Stella and Lila both have slightly similar hair colorings to them and Lila's head does have a somewhat similar shape to Stella's.
- Or perhaps is his twin separated at birth, since they're around the same age, and we never really know what happened when Arnold was born.
- Either of the above theories thus implies that Arnold may have unwittingly attempted to engage in Brother–Sister Incest or Twincest...
- Suddenly Lila's explanations to Arnold that she doesn't "like him, like him" makes a little more sense...
- Arnold's birth was chronicled in the episode "The Journal." He was born during a volcano eruption and there's no mention at any point of a twin. They were also in San Lorenzo at the time he was conceived as it is heavily implied Arnold was conceived on Miles and Stella's wedding day. He was born in San Lorenzo and they stayed there some time before returning to Hillwood. And given their ages are the same, there's little-to-no opening for a second birth.
- This may be why Arnold isn't the "oh-so-special someone" Lila is looking for. Somehow, she's always known...
- If not, there's also the possibility that they could at least be cousins.
- He just told Gerald that he was inept at fighting and got assigned to clerical duties to hammer the point home that serving your country wasn't just about grabbing a gun and going gung-ho action hero on Faceless Mooks since he knew that Gerald, being a young boy, would've missed the point and focused on all the action if he just told him about all the fights he'd ended up in. That, and recalling combat can be pretty hard on soldiers who found the whole thing terrible. He only offhandedly mentioned that he managed to save a soldier from bleeding to death without really going into details so as not to appear to be singing his own praises. Further, the reason he looked so disheartened when he overheard Gerald complaining about how he seemingly hadn't been in combat thanks to earlier his story was because, despite his efforts, his son still missed the point he'd been trying to impart.
- Another possibility is that he was part of MACV-SOG and did top secret missions that he was not allowed to tell anyone about, so his office job was most likely a cover story.
- His Adventurer Archaeologist gig was just a cover for his work with La Sombra's criminal operations. His wife &/or law enforcement started getting suspicious, so he had his associate Eduardo cook up a reason to get them back to South America where he could finish her off & then "disappear" for a while.
- Or, it was a fake created by Arnold's grandfather to not reveal that his parents were kinky bastards, never really wanted a son, and the poor kid was just an accident. The story seems too fantastic to be real. Of course, if Arnold ever knows the truth, he'll become extremely depressed, with suicidal tendencies. His gramps didn't like to lie to the kid, but he was doing it to avoid any more tragedies.
- Seriously, what secret agent would keep all of their plans and family information in one book like that, that they brought on adventures where they could easily be captured? The real journal was in code, with fake names and locations.
- On a happier note, maybe Arnold's Grandfather did know there were codes - he just solved them.
- Since when is Miles a secret agent? He's an anthropologist who keeps getting into adventures nothing secret about them. Also it's unlikely Phil made up and planted the Journal as there's the wedding night sex scene bit in their which clearly made Phil uncomfortable as it's about his son and all... I'd doubt he'd write that. It is entirely possible Miles inherited his Dad's tall tales tendencies so while the base stuff is true (he's an anthropologist, she's a botanist doctor, the met the jungle, they helped develop a major cure to an illness) some of the more outlandish stuff is made up by Miles because he thinks it sounds cool (the cable car incident, the search for the serum ingredients - it was actually much more boring, the volcano and probably most of the green eyes stuff).
- While the end of "Operation Ruthless" was one of the more definite cases of Gerald and Phoebe being an Official Couple while the two were at the Tunnel of Love Phoebe was telling Gerald about what she was doing before her trip on the tunnel with him. While Gerald and Helga never really got along, Gerald knew that if he told Helga that he knew about her secret Helga would jump to the conclusion that its Phoebe's fault that he knew. So in other words he never told Arnold and/or Helga about how Helga is so obsessed over Arnold so he won't get Phoebe in trouble.
- Or perhaps he knows there isn't much point in telling anybody- Helga would deny it and Arnold would as well, so he and Phoebe are, like everyone else who knows about Helga's crush, just sitting and waiting for Arnold to figure it out.
- The first part is seemingly confirmed in The Jungle Movie, when Gerald and Phoebe share a knowing look (and Phoebe suppresses a laugh) when Helga gets flustered over Gerald asking her why she's trying to help Arnold win the contest to go to San Lorenzo.
- Think about it, they lived in the jungle from the time he was conceived until some time after he was born (when, if I remember correctly, Arnold was almost eaten by a snake). While Arnold's parents did love him, they loved their jobs more and weren't great parents while out in the field. Perhaps dropping Little Arnold off with Grandma and Grandpa was the best way for both parties to be happy.
- The H in the exclamation "Jesus H. Christ!" is thought to stand for "Harold," as a reference to a mistaken version of the Lord's Prayer ("Our Father, who art in heaven, Harold be thy name"). The clincher? Harold, like Jesus, is Jewish.
- I doubt that this theory is true; why would Jesus be a thirteen-year old male who bullies others?
- Arnold keeps saying "No" in his sleep during his dream in "Married".
- Interesting to note that Helga and Olga are two versions of the same name.
Quite a few people have noted that Eduardo comes off as strangely suspicious in the episodes dealing with Miles and Stella. This could easily be chalked up to just being part of his personality, especially considering that he is their closest friend, but it is entirely possible that he is something far more sinister than he seems.
As Nyarlathotep, he was the patron deity of the Green Eyes and provided them with unnatural powers in exchange for worship and subservience. As time went on they either turned against him or he grew bored of them, so he began to plot their destruction. Although he clearly had the power to kill them outright, he desired to put them through such incredible suffering that they would yearn for death. He set to work on a lengthy plan that would ensure a spectacularly fitting defeat for the Green Eyes.
The first stage of his plan was to bring in pawns that he could use to orchestrate the destruction of his traitorous followers. Assuming the guise of Eduardo, he surfaced in the United States and searched for possible candidates. He eventually found one in Niles and befriended him in order to earn his trust. After some time passed he told him of San Lorenzo and encouraged him to go there for his research. In a different form, he also arranged for Stella to head to San Lorenzo and orchestrated their meeting. He had specifically chosen someone that Niles would be romantically attracted to, as the final stage of his master plan required a couple to be the harbingers of the Green Eyes' destruction.
Once they were situated in San Lorenzo, he needed the Green Eyes to welcome them into their village. First, he sent Niles and Stella on a hiking trip and used his powers to send them plummeting into the waterfall from the mountains, where the Green Eyes would be waiting to save them. Now that the Green Eyes were aware of them, he enlisted the aid of La Sombra, a mercenary treasure hunter, and ordered him to steal La Corazon, an important relic of the Green Eyes. Since Miles and Stella were indebted to the Green Eyes for their help, he had little trouble in convincing them to take it back from La Sombra.
Now that they had the trust of the Green Eyes, he needed them to form a stronger bond as a couple. He arranged a honeymoon for them in a resort and orchestrated the entire catastrophe with the lifts to test their strength and bring them closer together through a brush with death. Next, he would do the same by spreading a plague among the Green Eyes: by sending them on a mission to cure it, they would not only get more experience as adventurers and grow in their love, but they would become more revered by the Green Eyes, as well.
Next came what would be the most important stage of his plan: he needed them to have a child. Nyarlathotep arranged for Stella to become pregnant, either through continuing to strengthen their relationship and letting it occur naturally or by directly interfering. Once the time came for Stella to deliver, Nyarlathotep led them directly to a sacred sanctuary of the Green Eyes that was located near a volcano. He told them that it was on the way to the hospital, but he needed Stella to give birth in the temple itself, which he knew the Green Eyes would be monitoring from a distance.
Finally, everything would come to fruition: once Stella had Arnold, Nyarlathotep calmed the mountain in order to make it seem like Arnold's birth was divine. The Green Eyes who witnessed it reported it to the tribe, and he would eventually become their new deity, replacing Nyarlathotep. As it would take a great deal of time for Arnold to become the central deity of their culture, he allowed Stella and Niles to return to the boarding house with their boy until he needed them again. In the meantime, he monitored the Green Eyes to ensure that nothing went awry with his scheme.
When the time was right, he came to see Niles and Stella and told them that the sickness had returned in order to get them to return to San Lorenzo. Whether or not he actually caused another disease is uncertain, but his main intent was to bring them back to Central America. Once they returned, he put them into captivity and hid them away, giving Arnold reason to want to find them once he was old enough.
He fell into the shadows after this, monitoring Arnold's growth and the Green Eyes from a distance. Once he felt that Arnold was ready to head to San Lorenzo, he arranged the essay contest and ensured that he would win the trip there, knowing that he would take the opportunity to look for his parents. With Arnold in San Lorenzo, he would manipulate him into unwittingly causing the ultimate destruction of the Green Eyes, who loved him and his parents dearly. In the end, the Green Eyes would fall into unbelievable despair as their savior consigned them to their death, and the malevolent deity would delight in their misery as they withered away. As for Arnold and the others, he would either kill them with the Green Eyes or torture them for his sick amusement.
Obviously Arnold and the other kids would stop him during the movie. As for how that happens, beats me.
- Why would the successor's sexuality have any bearing at all that of the previous one?
- Jossed. Craig Bartlett has repeatedly stated Pigeon Man does fly away and settles in Paris. He was also confirmed to reappear in The Jungle Movie - solely to debunk the theory.
Additionally...
- Torvald's father is never mentioned in the story, and not having a father around is likely to have made him delinquent, or the fact that he know that his father will never claim him in general, let alone publicly. He is dealing with a frustrating truth that patty was saved from by her adoption (or was she?). Looking at Torvald's "house", his mother may have received financial support for her "services" (without being totally dependent on him) up until the birth (young childhood?) of, or pregnancy with, Torvald.
- Patty is possibly adopted due to her large size compared to her "parents", who are literally half her size. It is likely that her birth mother was a customer of Big Bob's and missed one (or a few) payments and he had a few ideas on how she could pay her back. The end result of Big Bob's "revised payment plan" was Big Patty. Ashamed and powerless (he is a powerful town mogul after all), her mother gives her up for adoption, as opposed to carrying the shame of having his "love child". Patty and her parents are not likely to know about this until sometime after the show's cancellation. Also, Big Patty, Big Bob.
- This Troper is fairly certain that Patty's parents are midgets. And midgets can have non-midget children. Doesn't outright cancel this WMG out but it was worth pointing out the "half her size" thing.
- Both of these kids look as similar to Helga as Jamie-o does to Gerald, if not more so. Both are large in stature, mono-browed, and arguably, Big Patty has the same facial design as Helga with Torvald being eerily similar. All three of the children are subject to displaying aggressive behavior, which can be a genetic trait considering Big Bob's behavior. Helga is smaller than the two because Miriam is a fairly small woman, Patty and Torvald either inherited Bob's size or the size of their potentially large mother's. It is likely that Miriam would not have done anything about it seeing that she is an alcoholic and that Bob may be trying not to wreck his already unflattering reputation ("How can I run a beeper emporium with everyone knowing I have all of these kids running around? How does that make me look!")
Curly? Well, considering how insane he is...could it be that he's just Snoopy in human form?
Not to mention that Craig Barlett has spoken about considering Peanuts a huge influence!
- Oh my God, I LOVE this theory! Remember also that adults from Charlie Brown specials have voices that sound like garbled static—and all the adults from Hey Arnold! are incomprehensible in one way or another: Grandma because of her status as a Cloudcuckoolander, Phil because of his tendency to embellish, Mr. Hyunh's accent, Mr. Simmons' repeated use of the word "special"...
- In "The E-Files" book, Brainy emails Helga with loving messages, but will not answer his name, leading Helga to assume that it is Arnold. Considering that Brainy doesn't seem to want to get between Helga and Arnold in the show, his hope to express himself here makes this theory not too far off.
- Apparently Jossed: In one episode they call Arnold's name during an assembly, and of course, his last name is smudged. Stinky notes that it doesn't matter, since there's only one Arnold in the school.
- Not necessarily. Brainy is a loner, so the other kids might all be oblivious to his real name.
- But the staff wouldn't.
- As a corallary, Arnold's cousin Arnie is "weird" because he is actually even further on the autism spectrum than Arnold is.
- So all Neurotypicals refuse to help people?
- Ironically, this is how about 50% of Aspergic people see things - that Neurotypical people are either Jerkasses or mindless sheep, and that Asperger Syndrome is an improvement on current social norms. This belief doesn't make them any more confident in social situations than the 50% who see their Asperger Syndrome as making them inferior.
- In the Arnold shorts on Sesame Street, Arnold spends his time daydreaming, a trait carried over in the early seasons of the show. Perhaps, Arnold does have some form of autism.
- Not forgiving Iggy doesn't make Arnold an Aspie, it means Iggy was such a dick even the All-Loving Hero won't stand for his crap.
Maybe the most friendly one ever in the history of cartoons. Open your mind to this theory real quick. Arnold Shortman was partial to noticing an energy unlike everyone else. Helga was typically resentful of him, yet everybody else was passively scornful of his personality too. His unpopularity might be justified. A key factor to my idea is the flooding accident in the school. When the storm came Eugene transcended being The Jinx. Typically an abomination wouldn't be just a danger to itself, but an abomination to anything and everything opposite to a reckless destroyer. Hence the trope. Eugene is a rare exception where the concept of self destruction is a gateway into others. When Harold and Stinky rigged Eugene's bicycle, not that it was ever necessary in the first place, just to see him intentionally be put into an unlucky spot. However; the aftermath wasn't even what the audience expected. Because we never seen the result of such a prank, it was particularly suspicious that even the two major idiots of the show had freaked out to Arnold. That anyone would eak out over Eugene having a major accident. My grand assumption is that Eugene doesn't vocally or physically plot revenge. Instead he haunts those who interfere with the system of typical bad luck using paranoia and extreme guilt or insanity. The episode where Principle Wartz slips on a facial soap carving towards the end has no connection to Sid's stalker-feuding. But a long-waited Karma trigger which Eugene's everyday life relates to, painfully. In fact how similar the soap incident was is even more relevant. Wartz believes that Eugene is suspiciously (there's that word again) clumsy, as if any medical events had been planned. As a whole, Wartz is the only one to have been unknowingly right. If the series was able to be truly finished, Eugene would have been revealed as less than normal. This entire idea would follow up to the aforementioned Black Hole theory.
- And that's what made Arnold's Grandma so crazy.
- Then why didn't he write his name in Cyrillic when he had to sign for a delivery?
- Because he wouldn't expect anyone in America to have the slightest idea what he wrote, and so he went and made a scribble and hoped for the best.
- This is actually a pretty good theory, but there's just one problem: Tucker looks like Tish. They have the same shaped head and ears. Even their noses, though Tucker's is larger with nostrils, are similar. Years and years ago, there was a fan theory that there may be another Wittenberg child, one who was possibly illegitimate: This fellow right here◊ who keeps showing up in the background. According to the Hey Arnold Wiki his name is Steve, though at the time we called him 'Gus.'
- Unless Stewie and/or Chris are half brothers rather than full brothers. Also, for that to work, Peter and/or Lois would have to be related to Mr. Herbert as well.
Now makes since except two things, Arnold and his Grandpa doesn't seem to have Brazilian blood. This is easily explained, perhaps Grandpa had an affair with a foreign woman and got her pregnant and Grandma just forgave him and helped him raise the child because the mother probably couldn't take care of it. That type of logic being used, Arnold probably only has 1/4th Brazilian genes in his blood so the nationality isn't exactly visible on him.
The other issue is that apparently there's a journal that detail Arnold's parents as some sort of people that explore a jungle. this journal is simply a fake document to protect him from Dahlia.
- Arnold will find out that she is really Helga, but Helga will try to play it off as a practical joke.
- It's more likely that Sewer King jumped bail and fled cross country after dealing with Batman. Also, it's more likely that Arnold lives in the turf of a different member of the Justice League, Green Arrow.
- This explanation almost proves that Monkeyman is redundant, since he attempts to do the same thing as Batman.
- Or perhaps Arnold's city is the on the west coast and its version of Seatlle and Gotham is, as tradition has it, on the east coast (more often than not it actually is New York and Metropolis is Upper Manhatten).
- Iirc, Miriam tells Helga that her father did not believe she would do well as a horseback rider and she told him that she was going to try.
- Eugene even suggests this.
- There have been times where he's gotten injured when Arnold wasn't around, like in "Spelling Bee."
- And the episode, "Snow."
- And I would argue that Eugene seems to have several injuries or problems otherwise due to several people or himself.
- If anything, Arnold is a jinx catalyst but not a jinx himself.
- In that case, no wonder he would've been Put on a Bus at the start of The Patakis. Poor kid.
- Seems kind of jossed if you look very closely to the details. In Gerald's Game when Arnold has a chance of becoming Gerald's slave, Iggy himself of all people is actually concerned for Arnold and begs him not to take his chances. This occurrence, as well as many others, makes it seem that Iggy has already let go of the events of his Day in the Limelight and is completely okay having Arnold around, despite the fact that he believed that he was the one that spilled the beans about his embarrassing secret.
Evidence exists in the form of "Arnold Visits Arnie," where the character of Hilda is just like Helga, only kinder and more mentally stable. Lila's counterpart Lulu, on the other hand, is creepy and oversexed for a nine-year-old. Deep down, Arnold knows that the versions he dreamed of Lila and Helga are truer to life. Word of God even admits Lila has a dark side, to the point that Helga's dream in "Married" paints her as a borderline sociopathic stalker. Arnold only pretends he likes Lila because on the surface, she's safer than Helga. She also embodies the traits he wants in a girlfriend, but again, that's a surface thing. Arnold could also be pretending because he knows what Helga's home life is like. He's afraid that if he got any friendlier with her, he'd have to become more involved in the dysfunction. Being nine years old and having suffered Parental Abandonment himself, he's not willing to do that. Crazy grandparents and a houseful of weird boarders are enough for any kid, even if they are Crazy Is Cool. When Arnold grows up and is able to process this stuff more efficiently, he will dump Lila in favor of Helga.
- Or he just pretends to like her in order to make Helga (or possibly someone else, probably Ruth) jealous.
The rain storm at the end of "Heat" caused the temperature to drop 80 degrees. The kids didn't need to go to school in "Heat" because it was a Sunday. The pool was only open because it was early in the school year and it had not been drained yet, or it was opened because of the heat wave.
As noted, Arnold has several traits that could be construed as Asperger's Syndrome. He enjoys daydreaming, though we see that less and less as the seasons progress. His dream in "Arnold Visits Arnie" is the most complex and vivid version of this, however, implying that the trait not only still exists but has taken on new dimensions. Arnold is also quite mature for his age, as many Aspies are. He doesn't seem to have specialized interests, but maybe he does and just sees the characters around him, who seem to have a few well-defined traits, as sheep. Arnie, on the other hand, has several traits that could be construed as full-blown HFA. Note the monotone voice, the constant counting and reciting of lists, and the specialized, if odd, interests (people with autism, in real life, usually do not enjoy stuff like lint collecting.)
There are those who believe Olga is Helga's invention, born of a desire to see her family in an idealized light with a successful daughter. It's also possible that Helga is Olga's invention. Olga was always the perfect Well Done Daughter Girl of the Pataki family. But as we saw in "Olga Comes Home," she doesn't like that. In fact, she may resent it and suppress the resentment. It's also possible Olga was an extremely lonely only child. As her childhood progressed, Miriam sank deeper into depression and alcoholism while Bob became more of a blowhard. Olga's solution was to imagine Helga—a girl who was brilliant and intelligent like her, but more aggressive and with less superficial feelings. She also gave Helga an entire cast of great friends, including a wonderful boy she loved, out of Olga's own desire for these things. The whole series is Olga's imagination, even "Helga on the Couch," because she wanted Helga to work through the issues she couldn't. Helga, as an imagined persona, also kept Olga from going off the rails when she got a B+ or marrying con artist Doug Le Sham.
If in fact Helga is real, she is certainly everything Olga wishes she could be. However, Olga recognizes that Helga's aggression and decisiveness wouldn't be safe traits for her. She can't risk Helga influencing her or helping her find emotional healing, so her solution is to smother Helga with all that "baby sister" stuff. Olga even uses Lila as a safety net—a substitute, a safer little sister. She also protects herself in "Student Teacher" by using one of Helga's embarrassing childhood moments to push her away, and by blaming Helga when Helga was the one getting teased.
- Think about it:
- Arnold = Psychologist. He's very compassionate who insits on helping others, either it be school work or personal problems. In fact, his wisdom has gone to the point when even the adults ask him for advice.
- Helga = Author/Poet. She has a wide knowledge in old-fashioned English as well as writing passionate poems, especially if they're romantic. Besides, I can see her writing a biography about herself, her home life and how Arnold affected her when she's an adult.
- Gerald = Baskeball/Baseball player (or at least anything sport related). He seems to be the most enthusiastic jock of all the kids in school.
- Considering his talent for telling urban legends, he'd also make a great spoken-word poet.
- Phoebe = Straight A+ College student. If she even gets A in her grades in fourth grade, then that says a lot. Heck, she was even promoted to sixth grade for a while.
- True, but this is not a job, per se. "Aptitude Test" pegs her as a neurosurgeon, which would be accurate. She'd make an excellent doctor in any field.
- Rhonda = Fashion Designer. She's very sentient about her looks and overreact if any of her clothes just get the slighest spot of dirt on them.
- Considering her vanity, fashion model is also highly unlikely.
- Harold = Arm Wrestler: I couldn't think of anything else since he doesn't seem that good at many things.
- Hello? Butcher? He could also own his own restaurant.
- Patty = Arm Wrestling Teacher. Being even better at arm wrestling than above, as well as teaching him her tricks, I see her pursuing a higher life goal.
- Or etiquette teacher. Having done so well in finishing school in "Polishing Rhonda," and having experienced the hurt of being ostracized from other kids, she'd be anxious to see this didn't happen to other kids. She might combine etiquette with self-defense, especially for girls.
- Sid = Paranormal Investigator (like Dib!) = He's extremely paranoid, and in that sense alone, he could get the job done as trying to capture supernatural creatures.
- Stinky and Lila = Farmers, full stop. (I see Lila working with horses, specifically).
- And Stinky specifically grows pumpkins, natch.
- Nadine = Entomologist. Obviously. It's one of the few traits we know about her persona.
- Eugene = Singer or musical actor. He shows deep interest in musicals and is quite good at singing.
- Sheena = Hippie, or like what Eugene is above.
- Costume designer on Broadway (she worked on costumes in "School Play.") This also puts her close to Eugene if he made it to Broadway, thus shipping them.
- Curly = Law-fighting criminal. Which is why he will be locked up in jail for the most of his life.
- If he reforms, he could go into law enforcement.
- Brainy = Poet, like Helga. Since it's one of the few things we seem to know about him.
Some fans have asked why Torvald and Harold are both 13 and in fourth grade, but with Harold, it's accepted as fact rather than made fun of. Besides the fact that Torvald has apparently been in juvenile hall and was never seen outside of "Tutoring Torvald," this WMG could be why. Simmons does not want to place Harold in special education because he seems to do okay socially and is cognitively on par with other kids his age. But Harold does have significant learning difficulties. See "Aptitude Test"; his difficulty with the cafeteria door could've been played for laughs or not. During Curly's flashback in "Ball Monitor," we also see Harold responding to a bonus question with, "I know! I actually know!" Simmons simply modified parts of the classwork for Harold as a lot of teachers do. He also makes the observation in "Aptitude Test" that believing in himself helps Harold do better in school.
- Not that it changes much, but Torvald showed up in "Mudbowl" as a ringer for the Fourth Graders. When Wolfgang calls them on it, he is shown a class picture that has Torvald in it.
Check out the grades he got for his work in Stinky's Pumpkin and Student Teacher. He also does look somewhat older than his classmates (bar Harold and Torvald) being the tallest kid in his class. It's possible he may have been held back like Harold and Torvald also. His Vocal Evolution in later seasons doesn't help the slightest. This may also be the reason for his insecurities, at least in part.<<|Wild Mass Guessing|>>
It's not traditional special ed, which is usually associated with kids who have severe physical, cognitive, and other disabilities. However, within the class, you have Arnold, who may have Asperger's Syndrome. You have Helga, who is extraordinarily gifted but antisocial and eventually under the care of the school psychologist. Harold and Stinky may have learning problems (see above two WMGs). Phoebe is a genius and doesn't need specialized help in the classic sense, but struggles pretty hard emotionally, considering that a fart incident led her to never want to come to school again. Lila, according to Word of God, has a deeply buried dark side. Sid is really paranoid. Gerald has a tendency to give in to peer pressure and act overly mature for his age (see "The High Life" and "Gerald's Game.") Eugene struggles socially and may be on the verge of coming out, which could make his social problems worse. In other words, all these kids have learning and emotional issues to some degree. Simmons, being the Wide-Eyed Idealist and compassionate teacher he is, is very good with them and sets up his classroom to meet everybody's needs, without making them feel singled out. After all, he does have a Catchphrase—the word "special."
- What about Rhonda?
- Rhonda's not exactly 'normal'- whenever she thinks she's losing her wealthy or popularity, she completely loses it and has a Heroic BSoD.
Arnold's world has a lot of modern technology and seems to take place in the '90s. Just look at the kid's room. However, there are theories that the show was supposed to take place around the 1920s. There is still massive evidence of this. Arnold lives in a boarding house (very rare these days) where all the boarders seem to be immigrants of first- or second-generation. His school and neighborhood are reminiscent of New York's old tenement districts. There are more mom-and-pop businesses than there are now, such as Mr. Green's butcher shop. So, Arnold is either a Time Lord or exists in some sort of in-between era. His constant daydreaming seems to support this as well.
The season 3 episode "Arnold's Room" has Sid "borrowing" Arnold's room to impress Lorenzo because his own room is, well, a wreck, while they work on a history project together. This involves the boys needing to use the computer, but Sid doesn't know Arnold's password. He enters about fifty different ones with no success. Why didn't he succeed? Because no one knows the truth - Arnold secretly loves Helga and has used her name as his password. Further details may be in his "top secret" journal, featured in the same episode...but we'll never know.
The idea that Arnold follows any specific religion has no apparent evidence, but he does seem to have a higher and better-functioning moral compass than most of the cast. This explains why he's always the one the other kids go to for help, and why he was the target of several kids' wrath during "Deconstructing Arnold." Arnold may have inherited this tendency from his parents, who may or may not have been Christian or other missionaries. Of interesting note is the fact that his parents only agreed to go on their last mission when Eduardo brought up the fact that village children were dying of a terrible disease. Arnold probably had a lot to do with that; he was only a few months old at the time. Yet, Miles and Stella also could've been thinking about the Bible's teachings on the importance of kids.
This is why Arnold vaguely remembers Ludwig in New Bully on the Block because he remembers Torvald and his departure. Torvald could have been in juvenile hall in between Mud Bowl and New Bully on the Block and at the same time he also could've changed his style and his name to Ludwig. Either that or Ludwig could be his surname. They also do look at least somewhat similar. Look and see for yourself [1]◊.
- If jossed, they could be at least be relatives, presumably either brothers or cousins.
- There is no way they are the same person. First off, they don't look anything alike. Plus Wolfgang seemed to view Ludwig as an equal, where he seemed intimidated by Torvald. Torvald is also older and larger than both Wolfgang and Ludwig.
- If jossed, they could be at least be relatives, presumably either brothers or cousins.
There appears to be a twelve year age difference between Helga and Olga, and Olga did discuss having two boyfriends at the same time in one episode. Olga also seems like the type to be rather gullible, and I imagine that she wouldn't know what sex was at the age of eleven or twelve. It could, on a different note, also explain why Bob and Miriam are such lousy parents to Helga. I don't doubt that Olga was still a perfectionist in her pre-teen years, and if you know what it's like for your daughter to be a teen mom - imagine her being a PRE-teen mom.
In fact, this idea is hinted many times in the series. For example, at the end of "Married" Phoebe has a day dream of Arnold and Helga married and happy together. The sleepwalking episode also provides a few hints. Not only that, yet Phoebe has also slapped Helga across the face whenever she was getting into one of her 'Arnold' moments, from my memory. There, in my opinion, is a good chance that Phoebe knows, and, if she doesn't know that Helga's in love with him, she at least has formed some idea of her having a crush on him. It's practically been confirmed!
- I thought this was a given.
Craig Bartlett did mention that Olga would have a falling out with her family over wanting to become an actress. I imagine that Helga would try to step in and get more attention after this.
You have to remember that Bob and Miriam grew up in different times than Helga did, and most likely had different parents as well. Miriam's probably were, based on who she told Helga she was before she got into "smoothies," the better out of the two. I assume that Bob did not have the best parents, and his father was probably worse than Bob is to Helga, which would explain why he's a meaner person than her in general.
Pretty much everyone who knows of Miriam and Bob in the fandom believe that they are emotionally abuse to either Helga, Olga, or both of the two, which is shown to be true on numerous occasions. Out of the two adults, however, Bob is clearly worse than Miriam is because Miriam expresses more interest in Helga than Bob does. It doesn't explain why Bob is emotionally abusive to everyone, though. I believe that I have a theory for that.
Miriam - Let's start with his wife. Bob, along with Helga, is shown not to think too much of Miriam nowadays. For example, in the episode "The Beeper Queen," Bob thinks that Miriam can't run a beeper empire and, for a second, actually seems to consider Helga over Miriam. It's pretty obvious that they don't have the best of a marriage, and that they don't spend much time together. One of the reasons why this seems to have happened is because Bob is a workaholic and Miriam is, based on the theory above, a drunk. Bob is the type of man who wants to have the perfect, ideal, family. I'm assuming that an alcoholic wife with the memory span of a child is not his 'ideal' wife. Once again going by a theory above, they probably argued a lot when Olga was still a child, which would also lead to her becoming a perfectionist. Miriam was probably the 'perfect' girl like Olga is before she married Bob. Bob, thinking that perhaps she would continue to be the person that he once knew her as, began a relationship with her. However, it was Bob's personality that would eventually bring Miriam down, therefore changing her in quite a few ways. Judging by the way that he treats Helga and Olga, I'd think that he can't stand imperfection. Once Miriam started drinking, she wasn't as perfect as before, which annoyed Bob to deep ends, and began their arguments. That's where his emotional abuse with Olga comes in.
Olga - Now we're moving onto Bob's daughters; why not begin with his eldest daughter, Olga Pataki? Bob's emotional abuse towards Olga is harder to spot than his towards Helga and Miriam. However, it certainly is there, especially judged by the end of the episode "Olga Comes Home." At the end of that episode, Olga told Helga that she feels like a wind-up doll to their parents. Olga is clearly a perfectionist, as shown by the fact that she cried over receiving a B+. It'd also be interesting to note that Miriam was most likely a perfectionist when she was around Olga's age, or in high school. This idea is not only interesting because it shows how comparable Miriam and Olga are (or, in this case, were) considering Miriam's past life, yet also because Bob shows more interest in Olga than both Helga and Miriam. In his mind, it'd seem that Helga is the imperfect girl, and that Miriam is simply a wreck now because of her "smoothies." However, Olga stays pretty, smart, and "perfect" in general. Let's get back to the subject of how similar Olga is to Miriam as a teenager/young adult. Perhaps Bob shows interest in Olga and her talents because she's basically Miriam 2.0. It's theorized here that Bob married Miriam because he wanted the ideal family, and a "perfect" wife is a great way to start, right? Once it didn't end up exactly like that and Miriam began drinking, they probably started arguing more. Olga, not wanting her parents to divorce, possibly because she was a child at the time, tried to be everything that her mother wasn't anymore, and, as shown by episodes, succeeded. That's why Bob favors Olga to Helga; Olga is not only perfect, she's also another Miriam. Helga... we'll get more into her later. However, whenever Bob brags about Olga, he doesn't realize that his bragging is also stressing her to be even more perfect. Olga feels as if she can't be herself, always trying to be perfect and being rather immature if she doesn't get her way, mainly because she feels that she should never use Bob or Helga's way of things, and feels that sadness is better in such situations, and therefore, in it's own way, what Bob does to Olga is also emotional abuse.
Helga - The emotional abuse towards Helga is obvious. In the episode "Helga on the Couch," Helga revealed to Dr. Bliss that she had to walk herself to pre-school. Now, that's pretty dark right there. This all happened because Olga was playing the piano, and neither Bob nor Miriam cared enough to walk Helga. If it's not emotional abuse by having a three or four-year old girl walk to school in the rain,, then let's show a few more hints, on Bob's side, not Miriam's, of emotional abuse. More than half the time on this show, Bob forgets to call Helga by her actual name. Not only that, yet keep in mind that Helga's name is a variation of Olga's. This shows how careless her parents were in actually naming her. Bob is often shown to not care much about Helga unless it's valuing him in some way. For example, in It Girl, I believe, he only felt proud of Helga because she was the 'It' girl. He is also shown to not think much of her, just as he does Miriam. Another example of this can be shown in the episode "Quantity Time," when Helga told him that she flunked a math test, and he either appeared to be ignoring her or just not caring. It's also worth mentioning that he clearly thinks more of Olga. It'd explain why he so often calls Helga by Olga's name, and why he usually compares her to Helga. As I mentioned above, Bob wants the ideal family, which means that everything would be perfect. As a result, he ends up pushing Miriam to drink, pushing Olga to be a perfectionist, and pushing Helga to be such an angry, pessimistic, child. He doesn't understand that no one has the ideal family, as there is on television. Not only this, yet there's a pretty good chance that Bob and Miriam were hoping for a boy, since they already had Olga. That would, in Bob's mind, be the ideal family; the breadwinner (him), the perfect housewife (Miriam), the perfect older daughter (Olga), and... the perfect youngest son (no one). Bob is shown to care about Helga, but very little.
Therefore, Bob is emotionally abusive to everyone in the family, even if he doesn't take his time to realize it.
In an early episode, Harold responds to Helga calling him "Blimpo" with, "Don't call me 'Blimpo'; I have a gland problem." While that's played as an excuse for his weight, it could be true. When compared to obese kids in real life, Harold is actually not grossly overweight. In fact, during "Weighing Harold," he seems to have lost the excess weight he gained on his failed weight-loss cruise fairly quickly. (The Training Montage related to this doesn't give us an idea of how long that took, but the various exercises Arnold used to help him could have facilitated this). Unlike other obese characters and real-life examples, Harold also eats a variety of foods rather than just junk food. The only episode where he was shown overindulging in stuff like ice cream and pizza was "Weighing Harold," which is also the only episode in which the other kids made his weight into a big deal. It could be that Harold's pituitary gland simply doesn't work efficiently, he has a thyroid problem, or he has a genetic issue (both his parents are pretty big too, especially Mom).
- Further evidence to support this is that gland problems associated with weight gain can also cause hair loss, aggression, and sudden and extreme hunger... all of which Harold displays. Maybe this is at least part of why Harold's parents are as permissive as they are.
As noted on his character page, Eugene is very much Ambiguously Gay. However, in early episodes, he shows interest in Sheena. Rhonda even pairs them up with her marriage predictor in "Married." Sheena and Eugene also have a common interest in theater (they sing the theme song from Rats together in "The Flood." Sheena has worked as a costumer in "School Play," while Eugene essayed the lead role in "Eugene, Eugene.") Eugene may be going through an orientation evolution, or he may be an intersexual interested in both guys and girls.
- Possibly confirmed. Craig Bartlett confirmed the possibility of a reboot or continuation of the series, one of those plans was a TV movie. Maybe "The Jungle Movie" will be that TV movie?
- Confirmed, and it will be a two-hour two-parter!
- And The Loud House............is...........Iron Man.
- Confirmed, and it will be a two-hour two-parter!
Lila never forgave Helga for humiliating her at school or Arnold for initially rejecting her. Once she found out about Helga's affections during the school play, she continuously lead Arnold on so both of them would be lonely and miserable. She was also just pretending to like Arnie and Olga because she knew it would upset them.
- It actually makes sense now that I think about it, especially since it was hinted that Lila is a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing.
Aside from the weird yellow skin color the character designs are kinda similar, and both series live on the premise of having their characters go through real-life struggles in one episode but then wacky adventures on the other. Gerald looks like the lovechild of Marge and Carl, and there's the fact that Craig Bartlett married Matt Groening's sister...
- Considering that Toran has been confirmed to be returning, albeit in an unspecified role, it's possible that Wolfgang will at least appear.
[
- He subconsciously knew it was her at least, even if he was consciously ignorant of it.
- She is a country girl, and according to what I've read, her personality and appearance were inspired by Becky Thatcher. To add to that, she has the same last name as Tom Sawyer.
Bob doesn't want his name tarnished, so he had Miriam go through with the pregnancy. If she terminated it, there's a chance it could have gotten out. They kept Helga because if they put her up for adoption, she could have come looking for her real parents, and 'tarnish' "Big Bob's" name. This is why they do the bare minimum to take care of her throughout the show's run.
The fifth season of the show gives us the episode "Eugene, Eugene," wherein Eugene is cast in a musical whose lead is basically a fictional, Broadway version of himself. On the surface, this seems like a coincidence. But how could any student, even one named Eugene, embody the fictional Eugene's traits so perfectly, even if the director wasn't typecasting (which director Likelighter probably was)?
The answer may lie in Eugene's name. According to YouTube series "The Dark Side of Hey Arnold," the name "Eugene" means "born lucky." Our Eugene is, of course, the exact opposite. But when he was a baby, his parents would have no way of knowing that. It's possible then, that the Horowitzes, like their son, were and are big musical fans. They named their baby after a "plucky, positive, and extremely lovable" lead character. What they didn't know was how Eugene's life would progress from there (despite his being born on Friday, March 13, which might have provided some clue). So in summary, maybe Eugene is not a jinx per se as much as, his parents unknowingly jinxed him with an identity that backfired. This would be especially true if Mr. and/or Mrs. Horowitz are also unlucky or clumsy (in trying to "lift a family curse," they actually ensured Eugene would end up on the wrong side of it).