Helga G. Pataki/Trivia

• Helga is the first character to speak in the series.
• According to an interview with Spanish language website El Estímulo, Craig Bartlett revealed that Helga's appearance was based on a photograph of a young Frida Kahlo.
• Helga shares at least three things in common with her love interest, Arnold:
  • 1.) They both have German-origin first names.
  • 2.) They both have blonde hair.
  • 3.) They both love tapioca pudding.
• In the episode "Road Trip", Helga turns on the car radio to a Hard Rock music station, revealing that she enjoys music within the Rock genre.
• In School Dance, it's revealed she dislikes polka music, as she tells Arnold not to bring any polka bands to perform at school.
• Helga often makes literary and cultural references which are a bit strange for someone her age, such as saying "Et tu, Phoebe?" in "Helga's Makeover", a reference to Julius Caeser supposedly saying "Et tu, Brutus?" during his assassination, as well as mentioning Fortuna, a Roman Goddess of Luck. She also tends to have her dreams in paintings (most famously "The Persistence of Memory" in "Olga Comes Home", although she doesn't recognize it). This reveals that Helga has an interest in history, literature and art, which makes sense considering her artistic side.
• In "School Play", Helga's mother, Miriam, yells into her bedroom and asks her if she remembered to take her constipation medicine in which Helga responds with a yes. According to Sheena in "Phoebe Skips", Helga has a gastrointestinal disorder.
• Helga often faints (or at least feels faint) when she’s stressed or overwhelmed. This condition is called vasovagal syncope.
• In "Student Teacher", Olga tells Mr. Simmons' students a story about a little girl who was a bedwetter overcame her problem. It is at the end of the story that Olga reveals to the students that the story was about Helga, who was a bedwetter until she was 7-years-old.
• In the Angry Beavers episode "Dumbwaiters", the beavers showed a Helga Pataki mask within a set of scary masks.
• Several episode plots revolve around Helga trying to recover something that outwardly states her feelings to Arnold, and ended up in Arnold's hands.
• Helga has broken into the boarding house at least seven times:
  • Once each in The Little Pink Book, Helga Blabs It All and Helga's Parrot.
  • Twice each in Helga Sleepwalks and Helga's Locket.
• YouTuber Bo Burnham mentions Helga Pataki in the line "Hatin' other rappers like I'm Helga Pataki" of his song "Words, Words, Words".
• In a flashback in "Helga on the Couch", Helga gave or had given her fists the names "Olde Betsy" and "The Five Avengers".
  • Helga uses the name "The Five Avengers" even though everyone is drawn with three fingers and one thumb.
  • Which fist is which:
    • In "Helga's Show", Rhonda says olde' betsy is Helga's right hand fist.
    • In the same flashback in "Helga on the Couch", Helga says ol' betsy is her left hand fist.
    • In Hey Arnold!: The Jungle Movie, Helga says ol' betsy is her right hand fist.
• Though Helga's huge crush on Arnold was initially a secret, over time, more characters learned about it.
  • Brainy: He knows about her secret because he's stalked her for years and hears her soliloquies.
  • Big Patty: She figures out the truth on her own in "Helga vs. Big Patty"; she asks Helga if she and Arnold have a "thing for each other", and the two smile knowingly.
  • Mr. Simmons: Helga accidentally says something in "The Aptitude Test".
  • Tish Wittenberg: In "Best Man", we find out that she knows. This is indicated by her telling Helga of Arnold's being Jack's best man.
  • Phil and Gertie: In "Girl Trouble", Phil speculates (from personal experience) that the reason Helga picks on Arnold is because she has a crush on him and mentions he always sees her outside Sunset Arms jumping rope waiting for him. In "Helga Blabs It All", Gertie heard Helga's complete voice message confession, though she didn't properly say it to Arnold. Also, the two saw Helga in the boarding house at least twice ("Helga's Parrot" and "Helga Sleepwalks"), while Arnold did not.
  • Lila: Helga admits her secret to her in "School Play", and Lila mentions she already "had a funny feeling" Helga liked him.
  • Phoebe: In earlier episodes such as "Operation Ruthless", "Roughin' It" and "Helga's Love Potion", Helga went out of her way to avoid revealing her secret to Phoebe (though Phoebe seemed to pick up on the secret every time). In "Dinner for Four", "Helga Sleepwalks", and "Married", Phoebe is already aware of her best friend's secret.
    • In "School Play", Helga doesn’t mention Arnold to get Phoebe to drop out of the play. Either Phoebe didn’t know and so Helga didn’t need to reveal or Phoebe knew but Helga manages to avoid playing the truth card, which would amount to playing the friendship card.
  • Dr. Bliss: Helga reveals her secret to her during their therapy session in "Helga on the Couch".
  • Jewelry Store Employee: where Helga got her locket engraved in the episode "Helga's Locket".
  • Arnold: Needless to say, Arnold conclusively found out Helga's feelings for him in Hey Arnold!: The Movie, even if he wasn't ready to hear the revelation at the time. Before he found out Helga has a crush on him, Arnold had wondered about the possibility ("Married") and subconsciously knew it to be true (Hey Arnold! The Jungle Movie).
  • Gerald: By Hey Arnold!: The Jungle Movie, Gerald seems to already be aware of Helga's secret, as he grins knowingly with Phoebe while Helga stumbles trying to make an excuse for helping Arnold go to San Lorenzo. Possibly, Arnold has told Gerald after the events of Hey Arnold!: The Movie.
    • Also, the other kids entered Helga's Arnold-tape-filled basement. It's possible they might know as well (or at least suspect), unless they assume Helga has tapes on a lot of other people as well.
• Helga said in the episode "Arnold's Valentine" that she likes a man who's honest "love-wise," revealing that she doesn’t want to end up in a dysfunctional marriage like her parents, Bob and Miriam.
• Even though she wants a family who would pay attention to her, when they do she mostly tends to brush it off or isolate herself by saying that they're either embarrassing her or making her miserable.
• Helga may be mean, but whenever the situation is right, she can be characterized as caring, deep and serious towards the people she's close to like Phoebe, Arnold, Olga (once in a while) and her parents (to some extent).
• Helga is the only main character not to have 6 letters in her name.
• Helga is a fan of Nancy Spumoni clothing and other items. Nancy Spumoni is a loose parody of Roxy clothing.
• She and Gerald are the only ones of Arnold's friends who have siblings.
• A Disney character, Isabella Garcia-Shapiro from Phineas and Ferb, has a similar outfit to Helga Pataki's. Also, Dan Povenmire who worked on Hey Arnold! is one of the creators of Phineas and Ferb creating another connection.
  • In addition, DW Read from Arthur, also has a similar outfit to Helga Pataki's. Also, both shows had their plot episode premiered on the same day (October 7, 1996).
• Grandpa sometimes calls her Arnold's "ugly friend with the one eyebrow" (in reference to her unibrow).
• Helga appears to like the color pink, because throughout the show, almost all of her outfits are pink. This is revealed when she and Arnold first met back in preschool, Arnold had complimented her hairbow (noting how it was pink like her pants) --Helga adopted pink as her favorite color because of this.
• Helga states that she has Musophobia (the fear of mice or rats) in "Das Subway".
• There are only 3 half-hour segments that Helga doesn't appear in: Arnold Saves Sid/Hookey, Big Gino/Jamie O in Love and Veterans Day.
• Helga has mixed up her roles of bully, hero or villain sometimes.
• The name "Helga" is of German origin, which is derived from the Norse word heilagr, meaning "holy" or "blessed".
  • The Eastern Slavic name Olga pretty much means the same thing
  • While her surname "Pataki" does mean "from the brook" or "from the stream" in Hungarian, Wikipedia states that this Hungarian surname is Hungarian for "from Patak", which Patak is a location in Hungary; while Wikipedia also claims that there is a variant spelling which is "Pataky".
• Helga is very good at sewing:
  • In "School Play", she used a sewing machine to make a ugly Juliet costume so Rhonda would drop out of the role of Juliet.
  • At the end of "Helga and the Nanny", Helga does a needlepoint project that Inga gave her.
  • In "Helga's Masquerade", she hand-sews a Lila-dress to wear to Rhonda's costume party.
• Helga appeared in nearly all episodes that Phoebe appeared in and has appeared in all of those focusing on Phoebe.
• Helga plays soccer, as she indicates when she says her mom sometimes doesn't pick her up from soccer practice (Road Trip).
• In "Weird Cousin", Helga is ticklish on her foot when Arnold massages her foot to make Lila jealous so she would stop spending time with his cousin Arnie.
• She’s similar to Lucy Van Pelt from Peanuts:
  • Both are spoiled, bratty, controlling and vain girls who act as bullies to those around them
• She, Arnold, Harold and Rhonda are the only characters to appears in the claymation shorts.
• Helga has her name in 11 episode titles, the most of any characters which are Helga on the Couch, Helga and the Nanny, Helga Sleepwalks, Helga's Masquerade, Helga's Parrot, Helga Blabs It All, Helga's Boyfriend, Helga's Makeover, Helga's Show, Helga's Love Potion and Helga vs. Big Patty.
• Helga looks very similar to Dorothy Gale from the 1939 musical film, The Wizard Of Oz because their outfits and hairstyles look alike and similar.