Hey Arnold! followed the daily adventures of fourth-grader Arnold, who lived with his grandparents in an inner-city boarding house, and his friends – but what if the series’ protagonist wasn’t him but Helga Pataki? Hey Arnold! aired on Nickelodeon from 1996 to 2004 and became one of the most beloved Nicktoons from the late 1990s. The series spawned a feature film (Hey Arnold!: The Movie) and a TV film continuation (Hey Arnold!: The Jungle Movie) that gave closure to all main characters while also leaving the door open for a revival, if the creator decides so.
Throughout the series, viewers got to meet a good number of friends, enemies, and other casual characters that interacted with Arnold and impacted his life in different ways. However, there was one character that appeared in almost every episode and had as big of an impact in viewers as Arnold (or even more): Helga Pataki, the bully of the class and the one who was secretly in love with Arnold. Helga had a pretty dramatic backstory and family life, which was the only unresolved issue in the series (without counting the disappearance of Arnold’s parents, as that was resolved in The Jungle Movie).
Helga’s presence in the series was too big to just be another main character, like Arnold’s best friend Gerald, which has made some viewers wonder if the show’s protagonist wasn’t Arnold but Helga.
How Hey Arnold Was All About Helga
The theory, which can be found on Reddit, explains different details from Hey Arnold! that point at Helga being the actual protagonist. First off, the title of the series. Although many characters say “hey Arnold!”, Helga is the one who says it more often, and even in the intro she’s the one who shouts it, making the title a quote straight from her. Helga is also the only character that has monologues in almost every episode, momentarily breaking the rhythm of the story and shifting focus to her. These monologues could be proof of the series being told from her perspective.
Arnold is the voice of reason and the one who brings the moral lesson of the story. Helga idolizes Arnold, and as another Redditor pointed out, she might not only be attracted to Arnold but also to what he has: a loving family, which she (sadly) doesn’t. Arnold always tries to do the right thing and not hurt anyone, and he has only been out of character once (the infamous “bunny pajamas” episode). Taking that into account, it makes sense that the series is being told from Helga’s perspective, and this is Arnold as seen through her eyes. Another detail mentioned by the author of this theory is that Helga bullies Arnold because she has trouble expressing (and processing) her emotions due to her problematic family life, making her the character to root for. That way, Hey Arnold! is a series about a young girl crying out for the boy she’s in love with, prompted by the neglect she’s going through.
Although Hey Arnold! was a cartoon aimed at children and had some light-hearted and funny moments, it also touched on some deeper and more complicated issues, and these were often demonstrated through Helga. Whether that was the intention of the creator or not, truth is that rewatching the series with this theory in mind truly changes it all.
Next: Hey Arnold: Helga’s Parents Were The Real Bullies, Not Her
