Sheik

A mysterious warrior with great wisdom and strength, Sheik (pronounced ) is one of the last surviving Sheikah in Ocarina of Time. He[0] aids Link on his quest without really describing who he is or why he is doing so. He has great advice, wisdom, and knowledge of the world, making him an invaluable ally for Link. Sheik also teaches Link various warp songs with the use of his harp.

All of the quotes from Sheik can be read here.

Ocarina of Time
Sheik reveals himself to Link shortly after Link is freed from the Chamber of Sages after his seven year imprisonment. He informs Link that he must awaken the seven sages in order to bring peace back to Hyrule. Alerting him of the need to possess a new tool in order to enter the temples, Sheik stays in front of the pedestal. He then later appears when Link arrives at the Sacred Forest Meadow. He tells Link about the warp songs used to warp to temple entrances and teaches him the Minuet of Forest before disappearing again. Further along, Sheik approaches Link at the Fire Temple entrance in the Death Mountain Crater, teaching him the Bolero of Fire before walking away, using a wall of flame to halt Link's inquiring advance.

Sheik once again mysteriously appears in the Ice Cavern to inform Link of the fate of the Zoras and to teach him the Serenade of Water. He then awaits outside the Water Temple for Link to free the temple from Morpha's influence and awaken the Water Temple sage before disappearing once again.

When Kakariko Village comes under attack from a mysterious force, Link discovers that Sheik is already there. Together they encounter and are defeated by an invisible monster thought to be the Shadow Spirit. Sheik teaches Link the Nocturne of Shadow and urges Link to help Impa fight the Shadow Spirit. When Link discovers that he must venture back in time in order to do so, Sheik offers a helping hand informing Link on how to use the Master Sword and the Pedestal of Time in order to travel back and forth through time. He teaches Link the Prelude of Light then once again vanishes.

At the entrance of the Spirit Temple, Sheik appears to have been waiting for Link from atop a large rock formation, and once again, informs Link that he must enter the temple as a child, utilizing the Pedestal of Time in the Temple of Time. He gives Link a lesson on performing the Requiem of Spirit before using the desert winds as cover to vanish. 

With all six sages freed, Link is instructed to return to the Temple of Time where none other than Sheik awaits. Sheik congratulates Link on his efforts and offers an explanation on what exactly happened to Hyrule during Link's disappearance before finally revealing his true identity as Princess Zelda.

Twilight Princess
According to the Super Smash Bros. Brawl official site and Hyrule Historia, a design of Sheik was drafted as he might appear in Twilight Princess, but this idea was later scrapped. His Twilight Princess model was used in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

Ocarina of Time manga
In the, Sheik first appears to Link having tended his wounds after being defeated by Volvagia. Sheik is a spy for Ganondorf and later shows up to tell Link a rumor that Princess Zelda had been spotted in the Desert of Illusions, before vanishing again. On Link's way through the Desert, he nearly succumbs to blistering sands before Sheik pulls him out and continues to travel with him. Later that night, Link is attacked by illusions and images of his past, but Sheik is unaffected; Link wonders if it could be due to a lack of past in Sheik's life. Once reaching the Gerudo Fortress, Sheik knocks Link out, and the Hero is captured.

Once Link frees himself, he fights through the ranks of Gerudo, before Sheik comes to him with his sword and shield. Throwing them to Link, Sheik attacks the invisible Twinrova, who were watching nearby. They accuse Sheik of being a traitor. Sheik replies," A traitor? I was never one of you!" The Twinrova then blast Sheik into unconsciousness.

After escaping with the unconscious Sheik, Link finds a cave to rest in. He leaves to find water, flustered after getting too close to Sheik. He returns to find that Sheik, having awoken with the face wrappings off, appears to be female. Fully transforming, Sheik is revealed to be Zelda, who later explains that she had Impa lock her consciousness away and assume the disguise of a Sheikah boy.

Super Smash Bros. Series

 * See SmashWiki's article on Sheik for more information.

Sheik first appears in the Super Smash Bros. series in Super Smash Bros. Melee. As Princess Zelda, the player has the option of transforming into Sheik by pressing down the analog stick while holding the B Button. Sheik has a completely different moveset than Zelda that are not based on magic, as her moves and weapons are quick and similar to those of a ninja. Sheik is an extremely speedy character and for this reason she could be a bit difficult to control. Interestingly, in this fighting series, Sheik is always referred to as a female.

Sheik appears again in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Although she did not appear in Twilight Princess, the character model was based on a design drafted during the game's development. She has mostly the same moveset from Melee, and shares a Final Smash with Zelda, the Light Arrows, although Sheik's deals more damage. In addition, Sheik can now crawl, wall jump, and use her Chain move as a tether recovery. In the Subspace Emissary mode from Brawl, Sheik is first introduced after Solid Snake saves Zelda and Peach when they are captured inside the Halberd. Although he orders them to stay put, Zelda transforms into Sheik to escape along with Peach to the battleship's front deck. Eventually, they reach their destination when suddenly Fox in his Arwing destroys one of the airship's turrets, shooting near where Peach was walking. Thinking that Fox was aiming at Peach, Sheik teleports onto Fox’s Arwing and, using her hand, shatters the cockpit window. This forces Fox to eject out of the Arwing and land on the battleship’s front deck along with Sheik. Although the two begin to fight, Peach stops them by offering a cup of tea to Fox. Confused at first, Fox looks over to see that Sheik has already begun drinking the tea, thus realizing that Sheik and Peach are not his enemies as he accepts Peach's offer and joins them.

Special Moves
Needle Storm is Sheik's neutral special move. By pressing the B Button, Sheik will grab some needles into her fingers and then throw them at the opponent. The longer the B Button is held, the more needles Sheik will hold between her fingers, with the maximum amount of five. Each needle does approximately 3% of damage, allowing this move to deal a maximum of 18% worth of damage. Sheik can save the needles for a short time by pressing the shield or grab button, and they can be fired by pressing the B Button again. Depending if Sheik is in the ground or not, the needles will strike horizontally or at a 45 degree angle.

Chain is Sheik's side special move. When used, Sheik will pull out a chain and throw it across the stage. Tilting the analog stick gives the player full control of where the chain moves: sideways, up, and even behind Sheik, damaging any opponent that makes contact with the chain. Although it has poor damage and is sometimes inaccurate, the Chain is a good long-range move. In Brawl, the Chain now electrocutes any nearby foe and it can now be used as a tether recovery.

Vanish serves as Sheik's up special move. By pressing up in the control stick and the B Button, Sheik will disappear and then instantly reappear high above in a cloud of smoke. The position in where Sheik will reappear can be determined by tilting the control stick in a certain direction. Although Vanish does not travel as far as Zelda's Farore's Wind, it causes more damage than the magic spell.

Transform, which is Sheik's down special move, allows her to transform back into Princess Zelda. The transformation is faster in Melee than in Brawl; however, in the former, it can be interrupted by any regular attack, and in the latter, Zelda and Sheik are invulnerable as long as it lasts.

Debate on Sheik's gender
Sheik's gender is one of the most controversial subjects within the Zelda fandom, the mere mention of it enough to bring about long and heated debates. Some will vigourously insist Sheik is a female due to being the alter ego of the female Zelda, while others will vehemently insist that the primary purpose of Sheik is not being Zelda, so the latter won't be hunted.

Sheik has canonically only appeared in Ocarina of Time. Within that game, Sheik's gender was referred to once, by Princess Ruto, and she referred to Sheik as a "a young man" and "him". The Official Nintendo's Player Guide describes Sheik as "a young man" too and Sheik's art displays a significantly more masculine build than Zelda's. Therefore, it would seem that Sheik within the context of Ocarina of Time at the very least is supposed to be perceived as male, regardless of what "he" may truly be. For that reason, Zelda Wiki has opted to refer to Sheik as male, because the perception is the only certainty about the character's gender.

As to what Sheik's true gender is, the sources are contradictory and what significance a source holds is up to debate. Within the game, Sheik is never unambiguously indicated to be of either gender. "He" may very well be merely a well-done disguise that had Ruto fooled into thinking "he" was a guy. And in that vein, the Official Nintendo's Player Guide is likely written as it is in order to not spoil the revelation of Sheik's true identity to the readers.

The Ocarina of Time manga states, however, that Zelda's mind was sealed away so she would believe she is a boy and take the identity of Sheik. Though the manga contradicts the game on various points, Eiji Aonuma has said that "the manga makes up for [the game] by filling the gaps "precisely"." However, he later stated that players preferred female characters that were more independent, like Sheik and Tetra. Alternatively, the Super Smash Bros. series follows the stance that Sheik is female, referring in the trophy descriptions to a "her". While a sub-discussion may exist over whether or not Brawl Sheik counts as evidence, as she is the non-canonical alter ego of the Zelda from Twilight Princess, Melee Sheik is based on the Ocarina of Time version and is also called female. She retains the masculine appearance of her Ocarina of Time self.

A sort of third option to the debate is that Sheik originally may have been meant as a male character, but has been recast as a female in recent years to better appease to the market. As the debate proves, the idea of gender as an inherent and vital component of an individual's being is deeply ingrained in the (Western) mindset. Nintendo has over time made Ocarina of Time less controversial, such as by recoloring Ganon's blood from red to green, removing real-life religious symbols, and for what it was worth, writing the ReDead trophy description in Super Smash Bros. Melee to destruct the implication that the ones in the Hyrule Castle Town ruins were some of the previous inhabitants. It may be that Sheik as a secret male alter ego to a well-known female character originated as a creative story element, but that such a character would be difficult to market as a multiple-times gender-swapping combatant in the Super Smash Bros. series. Also, Nintendo does not have a large cast of noncontroversial, famous female characters, which makes a female Sheik more interesting from a marketing perspective.

Trivia

 * In the game , released two years after Ocarina of Time, there is a Little Mouser king named Moustafa. To keep himself from being found, he disguised himself as a information dealer named Sheek, most likely a reference to Sheik.