Sheik

Sheik (シーク) is a character from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Sheik serves as Princess Zelda's alter ego in the game; to escape Ganondorf's capture, Zelda passes herself off as a male Sheikah known as Sheik. Throughout the course of the game, Sheik aids Link, who is not privy to Sheik's true identity, by providing him with information and teaching him teleportation songs with a lyre.

Sheik's appearance and frequent usage of Deku Nuts as a means to vanish quickly is decidedly reminiscent of a typical ninja. Possibly owing to this, Sheik has become a popular character in The Legend of Zelda mythos, despite appearing only in one game out of the entire series. Sheik's true gender and the means Zelda uses to change her appearance are heavily disputed among fans.

Biography
After having retrieved the Spiritual Stones in order to prevent Ganondorf from finding the Sacred Realm, Link sees Princess Zelda and her nursemaid Impa ride away from the gates of Hyrule Castle Town. Zelda desperately throws the Ocarina of Time to Link and rides out of sight. Ganondorf appears shortly thereafter, chasing after Zelda and Impa after knocking Link down with magic. Link enters the Temple of Time and opens the Door of Time with the "Song of Time" and the Spiritual Stones. Inside the chamber past the door, he finds the Master Sword, and upon drawing it from the Pedestal of Time, he is sealed away in the Temple of Light for seven years. Seeing his chance, Ganondorf invades the Sacred Realm and steals the Triforce. However, due to his imbalance, the Triforce splits into three pieces, leaving only the Triforce of Power in his possession. Despite this, he uses the power of the Triforce of Power to attack Hyrule Castle and assume control over Hyrule.

After managing to ride away from Hyrule proper, Zelda travels to places unknown and passes herself off as a male Sheikah known as Sheik both to further elude the capture of Ganondorf and to spy on him. Additionally, during this period, Sheik also tries to help the ailing Zora race, whose domain has been cursed by Morpha, an evil being who has taken residence in the Water Temple, a temple holy to the Zora. Sheik manages to rescue Princess Ruto from beneath the thick sheets of ice that eventually covers Zora's Domain. Despite the many hardships that Hyrule goes through under the cruel rule of Ganondorf, Sheik remains confident that the Hero of Time will return to defeat Ganondorf and restore Hyrule.

Seven years after acquiring the Master Sword, Link awakens as an adult. After being sent on a new quest to awaken the Seven Sages, Sheik approaches Link without a sound and tells him where the Seven Sages can be found. Sheik directs Link towards the Forest Temple in southern Kokiri Forest and tells him to return to the room of the Pedestal of Time once he has awakened the Sage of Forest therein. In the Sacred Forest Meadow, Sheik appears before Link and teaches him the "Minuet of Forest", a special song that can teleport him back to the meadow should he wish it. Sheik then uses a Deku Nut to temporarily blind Link and vanish from sight. After awakening Saria as the Sage of Forest, Link returns to the Temple of Time, where Sheik informs Link that the Master Sword that he holds can be used to travel back in time seven years, when he was a child. To help him return to the Temple of Time more quickly than before, Sheik teaches Link the "Prelude of Light". They encounter one another again several times near the entrances to each dungeon, where Sheik relates to him many parables about life and teaches him teleportation songs. Later in Link's quest, Link arrives in Kakariko Village as Sheik is watching over the well to prevent the evil spirit Bongo Bongo from breaking the seal that had placed it there. The evil spirit successfully escapes, and Link tries to attack it just as it lunges towards him and Sheik, but he fails and is knocked unconscious by the spirit. Link is awakened by Sheik, who teaches him the song that transports him to the Shadow Temple, where Bongo Bongo has now taken residence. Link clears the temple and awakens Impa as the Sage of Shadow. Link then travels to the Spirit Temple and defeats Twinrova, awakening Nabooru as the spirit sage. After exiting the temple, Link is telepathically contacted by Rauru, who tells him return to the Temple of Time, where "someone" is waiting for him.

Upon his arrival in the temple, Link finds Sheik, who reveals her true identity as Princess Zelda. Princess Zelda presents Link with the Light Arrows, magical arrows with the power to defeat Ganondorf. Suddenly, the room goes dark, and Ganondorf's voice booms throughout the Temple. From inside his castle, Ganondorf seals Princess Zelda within a crystal, transports her to him, and challenges Link to meet him there; all an elaborate plan for Ganondorf to reassemble the Triforce, whose two remaining pieces had been given to Zelda and Link, and attain the true power of the Triforce. At the very top of the tower, Ganondorf and Link engage in battle, and Link leaves the victor. Zelda is released from her prison, but with his last breath, Ganondorf attempts to bring the castle down and crush them under the rubble, and the two narrowly escape certain death. After a final battle against Ganondorf's beast form, peace reigns in Hyrule once more, and Link is sent back seven years by Zelda.

Super Smash Bros. Melee
Sheik's appearance is based on her Ocarina of Time design, albeit with a more feminine appearance. This is Sheik's only appearance in an original Nintendo GameCube game. In the opening sequence, Sheik is seen playing a lyre. Interestingly, Event Battle #9 (which takes place on the Termina: Great Bay stage) is named "Hide 'n' Sheik" (an obvious play on the traditional children's game Hide-and-Seek), implying how her name is pronounced; however, whether this is how the creators of the character intended her name to be pronounced is uncertain.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Sheik's appearance is based on a design draft that was created during the development of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. Interestingly, Sheik now has what appears to be a Japanese tantō or wakizashi on her back, which is not seen or used in Ocarina of Time and Melee; however, a piece of artwork from Ocarina of Time depicts Sheik wielding a blade of similar length in battle against Ganodorf's minions. Furthermore, Sheik is depicted as wielding such a blade in the manga. Her skin tone is also noticeably paler than her Ocarina of Time and Melee designs, yet similar to her costume change design as seen as her All-Star trophy in Melee. Another interesting detail is that she apparently has her hair tied up in one long braid covered in cloth, which means that Zelda changed her hair's color but not her hair's length.

Sheik is also featured as a sticker. Sheik's sticker gives a +17 bonus to spinning attacks, and can only be applied to Link, Toon Link, Zelda, and Ganondorf.

The Hero of Time
In this fan film based on Ocarina of Time, Sheik is the alter ego of Princess Zelda. After Ganondorf usurps control of Hyrule, Zelda disguises herself and goes under the pseudonym of Sheik and starts a chicken farm near Kakariko. She also assists Link in finding the sages and during his battle against Ganondorf. When the final Gerudo are struck down she reveals her true identity.

The Legend of Zelda: The Abridged Series
Sheik plays a major role in this popular YouTube video series based loosely on Ocarina of Time. He is still the alter-ego of Zelda, but still has trouble with maintaining a masculine identity, and often suffers from bouts of female fantasies. Zelda's dislike of Link is carried over into this identity, and he has mastered several heavy metal and hard rock songs on his lyre.

Gender
Since the release of Ocarina of Time, many arguments have been raised regarding Sheik's true gender. However, as revealed in the ending of the game, Sheik is actually Zelda in disguise and not a separate character. Fans tend to debate about what methods were used by Zelda to make herself appear more masculine. While non-canonical, in Super Smash Bros. Melee, Sheik's trophy information states that the only magic used was to change her skin, hair, and eye color. In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Sheik is referred to as being a woman throughout the entirety of Ocarina of Time. It is now generally believed that Zelda's masculinity as Sheik was merely the product of clothing (breast bindings, shoulder-pads) and not any literal magical transformation, despite the fact that shoulder pads would restrict mobility and breast binding does not explain every physical difference, such as the difference in the shoulder-to-hip ratio and muscled arms shown in the official art.

In Ocarina of Time, the official art of Sheik shows tape around her chest, implying this could be a binding. The official PrimaGames strategy guide also consistently cites Sheik as being female, given that she is merely Zelda in disguise. On the other hand, in the game itself some of Sheik's grunts seem vaguely masculine and when Princess Ruto describes Sheik to Link, she refers to him as a "nice young man"; however, this could be because Ruto did not know of Sheik's true identity. Additionally, Zelda and Sheik do not share physical characteristics, such as Zelda's helplessness when trapped by a ring of fire in Ganon's collapsing castle; this is a jump that she would presumably be able to make as Sheik.

In the Ocarina of Time manga, though also non-canonical, Impa seals Zelda into a male body, telling her to "live as a boy" until the time comes for her to awaken. Other moments in the manga, such as when Sheik remains unaffected by the Desert of Illusions, also hint at the fact that Sheik is a male creation that houses Zelda's soul.