Sheik

(pronounced ) is a recurring persona assumed by Princess Zelda throughout, used to disguise herself as a male Sheikah. In, he claims to be the survivor of the Sheikahs. Sheik aids Link on his quest by teaching him various warp songs with his Harp. He does not reveal his identity or motives to Link until all the Sages are freed.

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 acquire the Hookshot in order to enter the temples, Sheik stays in front of the pedestal. He 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 waits outside the Water Temple for Link to free it from Morpha's influence and awaken the Sage of Water 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 before vanishing once again.

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 Sheik awaits. Sheik congratulates Link on his efforts and offers an explanation on what happened to Hyrule during Link's disappearance before finally revealing his true identity as Princess Zelda.

(Himekawa)
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.

Series

 * See article on  for more information.

Sheik first appears in the in. As Princess Zelda, she has the option of transforming into Sheik by pressing down the 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 referred to as a female in the series (although Sheik is referred to as a male in ).

Sheik appears again in. Although she did not appear in, the character model was based on a design drafted during the game's development. contains designs of Zelda as she would appear as Sheik, drawn specifically for.

She has mostly the same moveset from, and shares a Final Smash with Zelda, the Light Arrows, although Sheik's deals more damage. In addition, Sheik can now, , and use her Chain move as a.

In The Subspace Emissary mode from, Sheik is first introduced after saves Zelda and Peach when they are captured inside the. 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 in his  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.

Sheik returns in as a separate character, no longer being a transformation of Zelda. Due to this, several new special moves exclusive to the series were added to both characters' movesets. These include the Burst Grenade and Bouncing Fish for Sheik, and the for Zelda.

Sheik also appears in several Trophies and a Sticker in, , and the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U games.

Sheik returns as a playable fighter in. His design is now based on the Stealth Set from. He retains all of his basic move set but with a different Final Smash.

Special Moves
Needle Storm is Sheik's. 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. 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, the Chain now electrocutes any nearby foe and it can now be used as a.

Vanish serves as Sheik's. 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, allows her to transform back into Princess Zelda. The transformation is faster in than in ; 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.


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Sticker Information

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Sheik appears as a playable character in. She appears in the story when Princess Zelda goes missing. Unlike her previous incarnations, Sheik does not go to great lengths to hide her feminine physique.

Sheik uses a Harp as her primary weapon, with which she plays the "Song of Storms" along with other warping songs from. As Sheik performs combo attacks, an elemental song note will appear beneath her Special Attack gauge. The notes allows Sheik to perform different charge attacks based on the element. The "Nocturne of Shadows" produces a field of darkness that paralyzes enemies and damages them. The "Serenade of Water" surrounds Sheik in a shield of water that can absorb up to four hearts worth of damage. The "Song of Storms" produces an electric whirlwind that surrounds Sheik even while moving. The "Bolero of Fire" creates a delayed flame geyser detonation. The "Prelude of Light" creates a field of light that will regenerate her Special meter when standing in it. When activating Focus Spirit, Sheik performs "Saria's Song". When deactivating it in front of a group of enemies, sprouts grow from the ground and suddenly burst into trees. Sheik's special attack has her strum her Harp in rhythm, causing a huge wave of notes on surrounding enemies, like in SS undefined. She also uses a kunai for basic, quick attacks.

Sheik is later revealed to be Princess Zelda in disguise during the Lake Hylia stage. She had been in disguise to protect her identity from the enemy forces. From this point in the game, Sheik and Zelda both become options for story stages. If players chose to play as either Sheik or Zelda, Ruto will take Zelda's place as leader of the Hyrulean Army.

In, Sheik appears in a redesign based off the Stealth Set outfit from with all of her basic move set from  but with a different Final Smash.

comprises Sheik's only canonical appearance. Within that game, Sheik's gender is referred to once in the English version, when Princess Ruto referred to Sheik as a "a young man" and refers to Sheik as "him". The Official Nintendo Player's Guide also describes Sheik as male.

Contrarily, Sheik is referred to using feminine pronouns on the official Zelda website. Eiji Aonuma has said that, according to a survey, American players preferred female characters that were more independent, citing Sheik and Tetra as examples.

On August 5, 2014, Bill Trinen, Nintendo's senior product marketing manager and head translator for, stated in an interview that since Sheik is just Zelda in disguise, and since Zelda is female, Sheik is also female.

Matching the pronoun usage in the game, Zelda Wiki refers to Sheik with male pronouns for his appearance in.

(Himekawa)
In the, Zelda's mind was sealed away so she would believe she is male and take the identity of Sheik.

Series
In, Sheik is based on the canonical Sheik. English trophy descriptions in use female pronouns when referring to Sheik.

In and, Sheik is based on an unused design for Sheik in , rather than the canonical  Sheik. Sheik is referred to using feminine pronouns on the Smash Bros. DOJO!! for. Trophy descriptions in also use feminine pronouns when referring to Sheik. Matching the pronoun usage in these games and the only pronouns ever used to refer to this Sheik, Zelda Wiki refers to Sheik with female pronouns for her appearance in and.

The Super Smash Blog for refers to Sheik using masculine pronouns, however the official Nintendo Tumblr, Nintendo Versus Twitter and Super Smash Bros. Facebook all refer to Sheik using feminine pronouns. Sheik is referred with masculine pronouns once again in new voice lines from Palutena's Guidance.

Sheik is referred to as female in promotional material for.

Triva

 * Although Sheik does not appear in, the Stealth Chest Guard and Stealth Tights appear to be based on her. Her mask also appears by chance if her amiibo is used.