Miles Robert Shortman is a fictional character in the Hey Arnold! TV Series. he is the husband of Stella Shortman and the father of Arnold Shortman
Personality
Despite being somewhat of a goof, Miles is an adventurous, selfless man who is willing to go through danger to help others.
Like his wife, he loves his son and after their reunion, he wanted to spend as much time with him as possible. He also stated that he would wait for him after he is released from school.
Miles is a doctor/scientist in anthropology, which is the study of humanity. According to him, his project in San Lorenzo involved studying the local culture and helping communities improve the quality of their lives. Given this, it can be inferred that he has a social/cultural background in Anthropology.[1]
Miles is shown to be somewhat clumsy and prone to getting injured frequently (similar to Eugene, but less extreme).
Appearance
Miles has blond hair like his mother and his son, and his chin is very similar to that of his father, though much less pronounced. He usually wears an explorer's outfit. In The Jungle Movie, which is his current appearance, Miles has grey streaks in his hair as a sign of aging. Other than that, he looks very much like he did 10 years ago.
Biography
Miles as a child
Miles is the only son/child of Phil and Gertie Shortman and is Arnold's father. Much like his father, Miles grew up in the Sunset Arms. As a child, Miles had a pet snake named Larry. And if you go by what was said in the episode, "Eating Contest", Miles also won Hillwood's Annual Eating Contest when he was Arnold's age.
Miles is a scientist/doctor who visited remote parts of the world, along with his friend Eduardo, to help people who didn't have access to medical help. One of these places was the Central American country San Lorenzo, and he began keeping a journal to detail all the things he did and experienced there. He didn't have much of a love life, as he felt that no woman would put up with all of the travel he had to go through, but then Miles met someone in said country who not only put up with travel but did quite a bit of it herself — a doctor/botanist named Stella.
Miles and Stella soon became a couple and started exploring together, with the first place being a temple that was dedicated to "the sacred spider". During a hike up to San Lorenzo's highest point, they both slipped down into a river and fell down a waterfall, only to be caught in a device set up for catching fish. They discovered that the net had been constructed by the mysterious Green-Eyed People; the original inhabitants of San Lorenzo.
To pay back the Green-Eyes for saving them, Miles and Stella recovered their sacred relic, the Corazón, from the river pirate and treasure hunter, Lasombra. As a reward, Stella and he were accepted as members of the Green-Eye family. Shortly afterward, Miles married Stella in a wedding ceremony at an ancient Mayan temple. Their honeymoon was in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.
The Green-Eyes were then infected with the sleeping sickness and it was up to Miles and Stella to create an antidote for the illness. They were able to do this and saved the Green-Eyes just in time.
Soon after, Miles became a father when Arnold was born, and he and Stella decided to go back to Hillwood. However, over a year later, Eduardo returned to ask them for one more mission back in San Lorenzo. Miles and Stella never returned from their mission, and their fates were unknown over the next 9 to 10 years.
In The Jungle Movie, Arnold, Helga, Gerald, and Eduardo find the Green-Eyes' city, where they discover that Miles and Stella had caught the sleeping sickness before they could distribute the medicine and return home. Although alive, Miles, Stella, and the other adults in the city can only be awakened with help from the now-lost Corazón. However, when Helga decides to use her locket as a replacement, it works, and Arnold and all of the children reunite with their revived parents.
A few months later, Miles and Stella are revealed to truly be alive and back home with Arnold after he wakes up on the morning of his first day of sixth grade. Shortly after Arnold leaves with his friends, Miles and Stella follow them, asking Arnold if they can walk him to school, to which Arnold agrees. When they arrive, Arnold tells his parents that he'll be done at 3:30. Stella assures him that she and Miles will be waiting on the steps before Arnold smiles at them and the school doors close behind him.
Relationships
Arnold Shortman
When Miles and Stella go to the park with Arnold as a baby, he bought Arnold a tiny blue hand that not only fits him, but suits him.
Stella Shortman
Grandpa Phil
Grandma Gertie
Eduardo
Lasombra
Appears in
- 3a. Arnold's Hat (head not shown)
- 60. Parents Day
- 99-100. The Journal
- Hey Arnold! The Jungle Movie
Quotes
Coming soon...
Gallery
Trivia
- While Arnold gets his facial features and head shape from his mother, he gets his hair color from his father.
- Miles is presumably an only child like his son is. It's never been mentioned/confirmed if Phil and Gertie had any other children outside of Miles and the only first cousins of Arnold's that we hear about have all been through Stella's side of the family.
- In "The Journal", it is implied that Miles has arachnophobia, a fear of spiders.