During one of her passionate monolouges, Helga always pulls this locket out of her jumper to remind herself of her deep love for Arnold and how much she cares for him. Many of the episodes focusing on Helga have her looking at the locket as she soliloquizes about her hidden feelings for Arnold.
It appears to be of great sentimental and emotional value to Helga, as she carries the locket with her at all times, only getting rid of it briefly on "Helga's Love Potion" and The Jungle Movie.
No origin story is given about when or how Helga got the locket on its usual form. As shown in "Helga on the Couch", the locket actually started out as a preschool craft, being a pink laced heart with Arnold's picture taped on it.
Appearance[]
It is a small, gold-plated, heart-shaped locket with Arnold's portrait enclosed inside, which she uses to remind herself of her love for him.
Throughout the series, the locket frequently changes size, from it being enough for just two fingers to big enough to hold in two hands. The Arnold photo inside also tends to change between episodes, often matching Arnold's appearance at the time. During The Jungle Movie, the locket features the original picture it had in the pilot and season one.
In the episode "Helga's Locket", the locket has some features not seen elsewhere:
Helga has the phrase "Arnold, my soul. You are always in my heart. Love, Helga G. Pataki" inscribed inside it (the inscription is shown in black, for animation process reasons).
It has a chain and a clasp hiding the above inscription inside.
Major Appearances[]
Helga finally revealing her locket to Arnold
The locket is prominently featured in the episode "Helga's Locket", as Helga gets her locket engraved with an inscription, pictured on the right. However, Abner takes it into the boarding house where Arnold lives, with Grandpa Phil thinking that the locket is Grandma Gertie's anniversary present for him. The episode then focuses on Helga's attempts to retrieve the locket before it is opened.
In Hey Arnold! The Jungle Movie, after Arnold ignores her second attempt at a confession in the crow's nest, a frustrated Helga gives up on trying to win Arnold's heart, to the point that she tears up her photo of him and then tosses her locket into the river. Brainy, seeing this, jumps into the river and retrieves the locket and the torn-up photo. Later, after the kids are taken prisoner by Lasombra, Brainy returns the locket to Helga, with Arnold's photo put back together. At the end of the movie, when Arnold figures out how he was supposed to activate the machine to cure the sleeping sickness that had befallen hisparents and the Green Eyes, he realizes he cannot do that due to the loss of the Corazón. Helga gives him her locket to use in place of the Corazón, effectively finally professing her love to him, and it successfully spreads the cure all over the village.
