Hey Arnold Wiki
Advertisement

Interwikis:
Wikipedia logo There is article Phoebe Heyerdahl in Wikipedia.
Flag of Spain Hay artículo Phoebe Heyerdahl en Wikia española.

Phoebe Heyerdahl is a fictional character in the Hey Arnold! TV Series.

She is among the smartest children in the school (she was given a free pass to the 6th grade in "Phoebe Skips").

Biography

Phoebe was born in Kentucky and, at some point, moved to Hillwood at a young age.

Her distinctive features include a huge lump of black hair at the top of her head bounded by a small yellow scrunchie, and stereotypes for smart children in animated shows, such as big eyeglasses (in Phoebe's case, with blue monochromatic lenses), a short stature, and squeaky voice. She always tries to be the first one with the answer, and isn't exactly thrilled when someone else does better ("Ms. Perfect", "Phoebe Cheats").

Among her most notable moments was when she won the City Academic Bowl ("Phoebe Takes the Fall"), a competition that she shouldn't even have been in, as Helga, in an attempt to win the only trophy her older sister Olga never won, had won her school's spot at the Bowl by forcing Phoebe to miss the final question (ironically, McAfee did not receive credit for the role in that episode). At the opposite end of the spectrum, she was utterly humiliated in front of the entire student body ("Phoebe's Little Problem") when she was caught passing gas into a microphone on stage as she was receiving an award, and subsequently refused to ever go to school again (somewhat ironically, the award was for her perfect attendance). Among her other achievements are winning the Parents Tournament Weekend with her parents ("Parents Day") and the City Go-Kart Grand Prix with Helga and Harold ("Grand Prix").

She's also pretty good at handling a fencing sword ("Phoebe Cheats"), even when it's a flashlight ("Wheezin' Ed"). There is some evidence that she is musically inclined as well; she's carrying what appears to be a string bass in "Helga on the Couch" and is practicing some sort of large horn in "School Dance". (However, music is one of those disciplines where you need creativity, and that seems to be one of few things that Phoebe lacks, if "Phoebe Cheats" is anything to go by.) Just as Gerald hangs around with Arnold, Phoebe hangs around with Helga, who considers Phoebe her best friend (she even says so in "Magic Show", after yelling at her), mainly because Phoebe is probably the only person who likes Helga the way she is ("Helga's Makeover").

Phoebe is Helga's "shadow", right down to the point where seeing Helga cry made her cry as well ("Downtown As Fruits"). It's hinted that Phoebe has a crush on Gerald.

Crush on Gerald

It is alluded to in several episodes that Phoebe has a crush on Gerald.

  1. When Helga goes into the hall of mirror Phoebe is seen smiling at Gerald.
  2. Before entering the Tunnel of Love, she smiles at Gerald in a somewhat flirtatious way.
  3. Phoebe and Gerald are shown riding the tunnel of love together (Gerald even has his arm around her). When Gerald asks if she is okay after hitting the hotdog stand in the runaway bumper car, she says, "Yeah. I'm okay now.".
  4. At the end of the episode, they walk away from the Cheese festival together holding hands.
  • In "Wheezin' Ed" when Helga assigns Gerald and Phoebe to go together to explore the tunnels, they smile at each other.
  • Also in Wheezin' Ed" she jumps in the hole to try to save Gerald
  • In the episode, Roughin' It, she says to Helga with a somewhat dreamy look on her face that she admires Gerald's survival skills.
  • They share a desk in "Teachers' Strike"
  • They are seen numerous times together at Rhonda's party (including a scene showing Phoebe amused that Gerald is whispering into her ear.) in "Hey Harold!
  • She has his picture in her locker in "Phoebe Breaks a Leg"
  • She gives Gerald an impressed look after his solo in "Gerald's Tonsils"
  • If one observes carefully, at the end of "New Teacher", when the last photograph is taken (the one with the kids in front of the entrance to the park) Phoebe can be seen sitting next to Gerald staring at him with a smile on her face.
  • They once again look at each other and hold hands in "Arnold's Thanksgiving"
  • In Love and Cheese, she and Gerald are seen walking around together and eating ice cream.
  • In Cool Party they can be seen dancing together
  • Had the spin-off starring The Pataki's been made, Phoebe and Gerald would have been an official, background couple.
  • They are seen together in a deleted scene of Phoebe's Little Problem while in her bedroom.
See also "Phoebe and Gerald: Lovers in the Background" published by Shieldmaiden56 on "Hey Arnold! – A Critical Analysis"

Friendship with Helga Pataki

Helga often makes Phoebe her own personal slave, as Phoebe is too nice to resist obeying her every whim. It is possible that she is also one of only five people who know that Helga is in love with Arnold, the other ones being Lila, Big Patty, Brainy, and Dr. Bliss, Helga's psychologist. Still, Phoebe is around when Helga needs someone to talk to ("Operation Ruthless", "Helga's Love Potion", "Monkey Business"), and although Phoebe is smart enough to have figured out how Helga really feels about Arnold ("Helga Sleepwalks"), she's also smart enough that she wouldn't let anybody know that.

Family

There seems to be some question as to how her last name is spelled; her school record says "Hyerdahl", but the credits to "Phoebe Cheats" and the award she gets in "Phoebe's Little Problem" say "Heyerdahl".

Not much is known about Phoebe's family, except that her father Kyo is of Japanese descent. In the Episode "Phoebe Cheats", her father said "Kampai!" (which approximately means "Cheers!" in Japanese) and is good at fencing, and her mother Reba has a strong Southern accent and is most likely from Kentucky. Her parents only had speaking roles twice: "Phoebe Cheats" and "Phoebe's Little Problem".

Gallery

Here are other images on the wiki with Phoebe in them:

Trivia

  • Phoebe is right-handed.
  • Few fans of the show wondered if Phoebe wears shorts or not as it impled that her only clothing is her sweater.

Appears in

Advertisement