Lasombra is the main antagonist of the Nickelodeon animated Hey Arnold! franchise, serving as the overarching antagonist of the animated series Hey Arnold! appearing as a minor yet pivotal antagonist in the hour-long series final episode ''The Journal'' and the main antagonist of the 2017 TV film Hey Arnold!: The Jungle Movie.
He is a river pirate who sought to steal the Corazon (a highly valuable ancient artifact) from the Green-Eyed People tribe and was successful until Miles and Stella Shortman stole it away from him. His ongoing quest to retrieve the stone came to fruition as he lures Miles and Stella’s son Arnold there while posing as their friend Eduardo under the pretense of helping Arnold find Miles and Stella, only to take him and his class hostage and threaten them all.
History[]
The Journal[]
Lasombra briefly appears in the two part series finale.
As stated in "The Journal", Lasombra was a greedy river pirate who stole the Corazon from the fabled Green-Eyed People for his own selfish purposes. What he did not count on were a pair of adventurers named Miles and Stella Shortman. They were both successful in saving the Corazon from Lasombra, who swore revenge.
Hey Arnold!: The Jungle Movie[]
Lasombra returns in the 2017 television movie as the main antagonist. At one point, he disguised himself as Miles and Stella’s close friend, Eduardo, so that he could trick Arnold into leading him to the Corazon.
He is first seen watching Arnold from his computer screen and recognizing Arnold by his football-shaped head, he chuckles evilly to himself, realizing that his plan is working.
He is next seen on his ferry boat on the docks of San Lorenzo, disguised as Eduardo and pretending to be him by quickly recognizing Arnold. He invites Arnold and company aboard his boat and introduces them to his crew, one of which Olga falls in love with, much to the irritation of Helga Pataki. Once they sail down the river, Lasombra/Eduardo sees Arnold's necklace glow and confirms him to be chosen by the green eyed people, according to the ancient prophecy. He proposes they find the green eyed people and find out the answer the disappearance of Miles and Stella.
He then talks with Arnold about the threat of Lasombra, and that he was not happy that Miles and Stella stole the Corazon from him. When Arnold says they are in danger, La sombra/Eduardo says that while they could turn around and head back to safety, they could also continue ahead and maybe find out about his parents. He then tells Arnold not to tell the others, under fear that they would get worried.
Later that night, while keeping a lookout, Lasombra/Eduardo is smelled by Abner, Arnold's pig. Abner doesn't smell anything good and tried to warn Arnold, but to no avail, deciding to leave the ship so that he could warn Arnold's grandparents. Arnold then tells La Sombra/Eduardo that a ship is following them, which turn out to be river pirates. He makes Arnold believe that Lasombra is attacking them, and orders Arnold to stay down while he fights the pirates off and to forget about his friends. He then steers the ferryboat into dangerous rapids, confident that the pirates would not follow them through there. He succeeds in outrunning the pirates, at the cost of wrecking the ferryboat on some rocks.
The next morning, the wrecked ferryboat explodes, leaving Arnold, Lasombra/Eduardo, and the entire class "literally up the creek without a stinkin' paddle", according to Helga. He assures them that he will lead them through the jungle to his hideout.
When asked by Helga who attacked them and why, Lasombra/Eduardo explains to the group of the river pirates threat, and their and La Sombra's vendetta against Arnold. Sid then asked why La Sombra is after Arnold, to which Lasombra/Eduardo says it is only Arnold's business and leads the group into the jungle.
Lasombra/Eduardo leads the group to his hideout. He then reveals to them, via taking off his fake mustache, that he is not Eduardo, but actually Lasombra. He then proceeds to take everyone prisoner and reveals that he was the one who arranged the class trip to San Lorenzo to lure Arnold there. He then reveals to everyone that he and Arnold had a deal, that they would go look for the green eyed people, much to everyone's shock and anger. He then has his men lock the group and Arnold away.
Later that night, Arnold, with the help of Gerald and Helga, sneak past a guard and escape. Lasombra isn't angered, however, as he put a tracking device on Arnold so he could lead him to the green eyed people, knowing they would show themselves in his presence.
As Lasombra and some of his men pursue Arnold, he lets them die as a result of booby traps, intent on catching Arnold by himself.
A short while later, Lasombra arrives at the village of the green eyed people, and spots the Corazon with greedy eyes. He then reveals the tracking device on Arnold's necklace, using the green eyed people's own treasure against them in the process. He then shows surprise that the only green eyed people awake are children, and decides to take the treasures in the kingdom, and bring people there to sell it to them. He is then attacked by the Green-Eyed children, Gerald, Helga, and Arnold. He then breaks out, grabs Arnold, and flees the scene.
He then leaves Helga and Gerald to die hanging from a broken bridge, and forces Arnold to open the Corazon's box, or else they'll die, to which Arnold complies. Once the Corazon opens, Lasombra pushes Arnold aside and tries to take it.
But before he can even touch it, the box shoots Lasombra in the forehead with a poisonous dart, causing him to fall off the cliff and into the canyon. Lasombra later climbs back up, his skin green from the poison. He then finds the real Eduardo and mocks his mustache. He then attacks Eduardo, trying to stab him with the dart from his head. But in the struggle, the Corazon is knocked down and rolled off the cliff.
Furious at losing the Corazon again, Lasombra grabs Arnold by the shirt, and orders him to go and get it back. Before he could let Arnold go, the poison of the dart finally got to him, resulting in him staggering back. Before he falls, however, he grabs Arnold's amulet, and falls into the canyon to his death, ending his evil reign in San Lorenzo once and for all. After he falls, Eduardo notes that he died the way he lived, full of poison.
Trivia[]
- He will be Tino's enemy in Tino Tonitini Says Hey Arnold! The Jungle Movie.
- Lasombra is the first and only villain on Hey Arnold! to die in the series.
- He was also one of the four characters to die on screen. The other three were Angel the fish from "Eugene's Pet" who was eaten up by a shark, Helga's Parrot from the episode by the same name that was eaten by a Monitor Lizard, and one of La Sombra's men who was used as a human shield against the Green-eyes' trap.
- Lasombra turns out to be the central villain of the whole Hey Arnold! series as he is responsible for the disappearance of Arnold's parents.
- Lasombra hates Arnold. He wanted to kidnap Arnold by treating him as his "partner" and get revenge on his parents.
- Lasombra is considered the true archenemy of Arnold and he is also an extreme threat to Arnold, his friends (Gerald, Helga, Pheobe, Harold, Stinky, Sid, Eugene, Rhonda, Nadine, Curly, Brainy, Mr. Simmons, Olga and Abner), his family and the Green Eyed People.
- He strongly resembles Percival C. McLeach from The Rescuers Down Under.
Gallery[]
