One of Hey Arnold’s darkest theories is not about the titular character nor his best friends, but about a character who only appeared once: the Pigeon Man. Created by Craig Bartlett in the late 1980s, Hey Arnold! made its debut on Nickelodeon in 1996 and came to an end in 2001 after five seasons and one film, simply titled Hey Arnold!: The Movie. Throughout the series, viewers met Arnold’s family, friends, and some very colorful characters from the neighborhood.
There were Hey Arnold! characters who, despite their appearances being one-offs, proved to be unforgettable, such as the Stoop Kid and Monkeyman (although he one can be seen or heard in the background in a couple of episodes), but one in particular made fans come up with a very crazy and depressing theory: the Pigeon Man, a lonely man who Arnold befriends and who some fans are sure had a very dark and sad fate.
Arnold met the Pigeon Man in Hey Arnold! season 1, in the episode appropriately titled “Pigeon Man”. In it, Arnold needs help as one of his pigeons gets sick, and is taken to the Pigeon Man, a lonely man who knows and trusts pigeons more than people. The two become friends and Arnold takes him for a day in the city. In the meantime, Harold and his friends destroy the Pigeon Man’s home. After finding the place vandalized, the Pigeon Man explains to Arnold why he prefers pigeons to humans, and decides it’s time to leave, and so flies away with the help of his always faithful pigeons. It’s that final scene which has made some viewers believe that the Pigeon Man didn’t exactly fly away – he jumped off the roof and killed himself. In front of Arnold.
The theory adds that, because Arnold was too young to cope with an event like that, he imagined a new narrative in which the Pigeon Man simply flew away towards the sun. Craig Bartlett is aware of this and other theories about Hey Arnold!, and has publicly expressed that he hates this theory, saying that he included the Pigeon Man in Hey Arnold: The Jungle Movie just so people would stop saying he killed himself. In fact, the film revealed that the Pigeon Man now lives in Paris, and continues to look after his faithful animal friends.
The Pigeon Man didn’t die, nor was he supposed to: he really flew away, and made it to Paris (hopefully on a plane and not by flying with pigeons attached to him. That’s terrifying), and better yet, he still has a very special place in his heart for Arnold. While it’s true that some children’s shows have hidden messages and inappropriate jokes, that isn’t the case with Hey Arnold!.