Sheik: Boy or Girl?, share opinions or evidence here

I think Sheik is BOTH! Yeeeeees, both. Here's why:

I believe that Zelda changed her body. Completely. She changed her skintone, her hair (she has bangs, before she didn't, so the whole hair-in-turbin thing is out), her eyes, and her body shape. Why wouldn't she just go ahead and change it all? Even her voice is lower. It's not muffled- it's a whole different tone altogether.

Just look at his body shape- both in the in-game models and the official artwork, Sheik's body is different. He has a package for pete's sake. :x The way the muscles form are that of masculinity- lean muscle. A muscular woman would look much, much different. Think of a male gymnast and you'll get Sheik's figure. Sheik does NOT have curves. Where people get that, I have no idea... anybody who's studied anatomy can see that. :x

Also, Sheik is wearing skin-tight clothing, so we can actually see PECTORAL MUSCLES. OoT!Zelda is an A-Cup. Trust me on this. If you're a girl, you know. Now, even somebody with an A-Cup, no matter how tightly you bind the chest with bandages like Sheik's, they will not be able to gain the appearance of pecs. If you really don't believe that, I can prove it. Srsly. I'm an A-Cup myself (woe is me), and have tested this out personally.

SO! Physically, Sheik is a man. But Sheik is still Princess Zelda, and so mentally, he's a she. Male body, female mind. Same person, different forms. Mr. Sheik = Ms. Zelda. ;o So, even when Zelda is disgused as a male and becomes a he, he's still a she. BWAH! They ARE the same person.... with the ability to swap genders. Does that make her bi? o_O
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One thing I'd like to point out: Information in Smash Bros. (such as Sheik being referred to as a "she") is not canon. There's incorrect information about Link in the original Smash Bros- that alone should tell you that stuff in Smash Bros. is not canon. If that isn't enough, the fact that TP!Zelda transforms into Sheik in Brawl is more proof that the series isn't canon.

I'm sure this has been discussed to death, and I know that the release of high-definition images of SSBB of Sheik/Zelda did nothing to settle the debates. But here's my two cents:

Sheik is a man. Zelda is a woman. Are they two separate people? No. But I believe that Sheik was obviously (visually speaking) a man. It doesn't get that much clearer than that. We are looking at a man's body. He even has boyish hips!

But...inside Sheik's body is Zelda's spirit. And that spirit is as feminine as a tomboy's spirit can get. If we look at the manga... http://www.zelda-infinite.com/files/manga/ocarina2/3/13.jpg

We see here in that Impa had the power to transform Zelda's image into that of a man. Basically, what Impa created was a "shell" for Zelda to hide in so that Zelda could keep her physical identity from being given away. Would those who knew her best (i.e. Link, Navi if we are going by the manga) sense that Zelda was indeed inside the Sheik-shell? Apparently, Navi already pretty much knows by the time she and Link are in the Gerudo Fortress according to the OoT manga.

So - Sheik is a male shell that Zelda and her spirit inhabit. When Zelda breaks the shell, her true form is visible and Sheik is no more.

I always thought that Sheik is a girl. Zelda is in disguise as a male. If she wears leather armor and bindings, she can appear as a male and still have full flexibility. All the art that was released makes her look like a male. Why? If nintendo made it look like Sheik is a girl, wouldn't someone have thought that it could be zelda? In SSBM and SSBB, it says that Sheik is a girl. READ THIS: if they were going against what is supposed to be, why didn't they make Yoshi a girl? Or pikachu a girl? Because it's not true. The programmers would make everything based on the game. About the Ruto thing, if you saw a person that looked like a boy, you might call that person a boy. Also, Ruto wouldn't have known if Sheik was a male or female unless Zelda er, sheik, (sorry, I call them by either name) told her. Even if Sheik told Ruto, it might have been dangerous to tell Link in case Ganondorf somehow heard. When she did tell Link, Ganondorf imediately captured Zelda, proving that he was keeping an eye on them. nintendo kept it a secret until the time came for the surprise to be revealed. The guides could call Sheik a male, but it wouldn't make a difference to the argument because if they said "female" it would spoil everything. The whole "Zelda is Sheik" thing is one big surprise for the players, they wouldn't ruin that or make everyone confused when in the game it refers to Sheik as a male (by appearance I might add). In the Manga, did it ever say that sheik is an actual male? It said that she will become a boy. It could mean in appearance and thoughts. Also, here's something to support my argument: http://www.zelda-infinite.com/files/manga/...p?chap=3&page=4 "a surprisingly delicate body" and here: http://rainemaster.deviantart.com/art/Shei...rovery-81195340 the second one is not mine, but it helps with my argument. Read it and read it well. here's also some math. S(sheik) Z(Zelda) G(girl) If S>Z, S, therefore Z by modus ponens. If Z>G, Z, therefore G by modus ponens. S>Z, Z>G, therefore S>G by modus tollens

When I first played OoT, I found that Sheik's body seemed very feminine. Even the way the face was constructed provided a more girlish look than anything. Therefore I believe that Sheik truly is a girl, Zelda in disguise. If it was only a shell, why is her face hidden? Surely if she was able to hide beneath a shell it would enable her to change her form, facial characteristics included.

Exactly.

Excellent point. One thing I'd like to remark on was that despite her face being hidden, the camera seemed to focus on her eyes alot. I think the reason for that was that Sheik had Zelda's eyes. Red yes, but the same look.
Maybe that's precisely the reason why Link tried to approach her several times, especially after they'd been staring at each other. He was recognizing something familiar about her, maybe he just couldn't figure it out.

In the end, I don't think Sheik's gender matters a bit: it's whether Sheik was mentally Zelda that counts. I'm convinced she was. If that's so, you can use many of the scenes for Zelda x Link too. Especially the more "heated" songs involving love. Isn't it possible that Zelda could have been expressing emotion in her duets with Link? I do believe "young love becomes deep affection" and "the power of the heart" could well be a double meaning for Sheik. Yes, it might refer to Ruto, but she might also be talking about how she feels.

Many of my theories surrounding Sheik/Zelda I have gotten from a combination of the game and the manga. I consider the manga an expansion upon the storyline of the game that the developers didn't want slowing down the game. With that being said, here is my argument:

Since his/her face is hidden with the bit of cloth, I tend to think that it was this cloth that held Impa's spell up. You'll notice in the manga that Princess Zelda was revealed ONLY after her face cloth was pulled down. Also, just as Link takes Sheik/Zelda into the Spirit Temple for recovery, HE pulls down the face cloth while he/she is unconscious. It is THEN that he notices "how delicate his (her) body is." Frankly, Link's had a couple of chances to get close and "notice how delicate his (her) body is:" when the demon from the Shadow Temple attacks in Kakariko Village, we see Sheik kneeling very close to Link. I honestly believe that the face cloth was somehow the key for Zelda to switch over to Sheik's shell, and then back out.

What has given me the impression that Sheik is just the physical, outer shell for Zelda's spirit is that Sheik/Zelda played the spy for Ganondorf's court for seven years. I don't think we can call Ganondorf stupid - misguided and evil, yes - but I do believe that Ganondorf might have suspected something if Sheik had looked anything like a female. You'll notice that there were NO females in Ganondorf's court (with the exception of the Gerudo thieves and the witches). I think that this indication may have been part of Ganondorf's screening process. That, and Ganondorf openly admits that Zelda has fooled him for seven years - SOMETHING about Sheik/Zelda had to be convincing enough that he believed in Sheik.

I also believe that Link sensed Zelda's spirit inside Sheik's shell. Did he know that Zelda lived inside Sheik? I tend to think, "No." Since Link and Zelda carry pieces of the Triforce, they are going to feel connected. Ganondorf states several times that where Zelda is, Link is going to be there as well. Their connection would alert Ganondorf to their location and allow him to kill two birds with one stone. But anyways, Link's senses probably told him that there was someone he knew and who was precious to him within Sheik. If this is the case, then Link could have been too wrapped up in trying to discover Sheik's identity to actually listen to his senses and take them into consideration.

In the manga, Link's biggest concern is not WHO Sheik is really, but if Link can depend on him. It isn't until just before Sheik is knocked out that Link realizes he can rely on Sheik. But in the game, Link seems to be attempting to discover Sheik's identity. This is where I believe Link's senses derived from the Triforce were activated - each time he was around Sheik. Link's senses were alerted when their Triforce pieces were in close proximity. Why didn't Link consider that Zelda was living inside the shell that is Sheik? He probably didn't think to consider the possibility. And if he had been aware that Zelda lived inside Sheik, then he would have revealed it, he would keep Zelda by his side for the rest of his quest, and Ganondorf would have likely caught them both. Let's face it: Impa did a REALLY good job of hiding Zelda - better than she could hope for. Not only did they fool Ganondorf while Sheik/Zelda was in his court, by they also managed to hide Zelda from Link, for both Link and Zelda's protection.

I'd also like to point out that SSBM and SSBB were released a couple of years after OoT was released. I am assuming that the developers at Nintendo figured that everyone had played OoT by that point and had revealed Sheik as the physical shell to Zelda, so they didn't see the point in hiding him any longer.

I still believe that Sheik is a girl. The manga essentially follows the same storyline for OoT, but it renders it slightly, tweaking it up a bit for entertainment purposes. In the actual game Zelda is consciously aware of her disguise which is shown to be the opposite in the manga. This can be seen when she continuously hesitates to leave in her confrontations with Link, and even towards the end she appologizes for misleading him. It is merely a disguise used to protect her identity. Nothing more.

Note: Even in the manga, when her face is revealed it is still quite feminine; she looks even more feminine as her actual self because she is wearing make-up.

I always thought that she wears some kinda armour, leather-stuff etc. (bohoo, poor English) underneath the bodysuit to give her a more male figure. But when in the manga Link holds her body, he FEELS the weight and thinks that she has a surprisingly delicate body. He could've noticed it before, if it could've be seen. Also I think that Sheik looks the same through the manga and doesn't change more petite after the shawl is off. Her eyes look a bit different for a one panel when she says "I'm..." but I think that's mostly because she's surprised and that's why her eyes are so wide.

Sheik/Zelda was sort of surprised when she woke up: http://www.zelda-infinite.com/files/manga/...p?chap=3&page=5 It wasn't like that in the game. Zelda knew that she was hiding as Sheik in the game. In the Manga, you could see that Sheik looked feminine. The manga isn't totally following the game, it's making it entertaning. So, the makers of the manga could be illustrating how feminine Sheik is. Showing more than the game to show that Sheik is a female. In the game, there's how the camera kept zooming in on the eyes. It shows something is familiar. Also, has anyone thought that Zelda could use a little magic to make an illusion so that she'll look a bit more masculine? She could also use leather and bandages. I firmly believe that Sheik is a girl.

I could be wrong about this, but didn't Zelda say, in the manga, that she must become a boy when she was speaking to Impa??? Then, Impa said, that pretending to be the last Sheikah, who are servants of the royal family, but betrayed them, would be a good disguise. Wait... What??? Never mind...

I could be wrong about this, but didn't Zelda say, in the manga, that she must become a boy when she was speaking to Impa??? Then, Impa said, that pretending to be the last Sheikah, who are servants of the royal family, but betrayed them, would be a good disguise. Wait... What??? Never mind...

Well, she said "I will become a boy. That could could mean in appearance. Impa said "Now live as a Sheikah boy..!" Thing is, it never said she was going to be an ACTUAL boy physically. Maybe just looking like a boy and acting like one (not like it would be much difficulty since Zelda is a tomboy).

I could be wrong about this, but didn't Zelda say, in the manga, that she must become a boy when she was speaking to Impa??? Then, Impa said, that pretending to be the last Sheikah, who are servants of the royal family, but betrayed them, would be a good disguise. Wait... What??? Never mind...

Well, she said "I will become a boy. That could could mean in appearance. Impa said "Now live as a Sheikah boy..!" Thing is, it never said she was going to be an ACTUAL boy physically. Maybe just looking like a boy and acting like one (not like it would be much difficulty since Zelda is a tomboy).

Well, obviously it's just in appearance...

It's not like she's gonna change her gender for real, and become everything a boy is or HAS. That's awkward.

Anyways, I still think Sheik is a girl, so I agree with you. Sure, she might change her identity, but you know, you could simply change your name and dye you hair a different colour to change your identity, but she one step further with eye-colour!

PS: She could be wearing a body suit, though I highly doubt that, because she doesn't have any boobs as Sheik.!

I'm going to post in this thread again... I had made a pretty large post about this on another forum, so I'll just copypasta:

Heh heh... the ol' female/male argument, eh? I respect the opinions of both sides, but I do have my own opinion as well:

First, it depends on which Sheik is in question. OoT!Sheik is OoT!Zelda, we all know this. But does that mean that when Zelda is in disguise that she's still a female? Perhaps, perhaps not. The real question is, did she use her magic to change her gender, or did she simply change outfits? I lean towards the belief that OoT!Zelda did indeed change her gender. Her entire body changed- everything from her skin color to her musculature. Allow me to explain with some notes:

M1: Pecs. Yes, folks, these are pecs. I've seen 'em, you've seen 'em, we all know. One thing that bothers me is the theory that Zelda wraps her breasts with bandages or whatever. Yes, OoT!Zelda has a small breast size (A cup, clearly. Ladies, you know.). Even somebody with a small A cup can not wrap their breasts and achieve the look of pecs. It is impossible. A woman may be able to minimize the look of her breasts, but she will not achieve pecs. Even a buttload of pushups will not give a woman pecs. Sure they will make the area look bigger, but no pecs would appear, because as the muscle structure of a breast grows, the fatty tissue inside grows along with it, increasing bust size. Obviously, OoT!Sheik has pecs in this picture.

M2: Bulge. I have pointed this out before, and people have actually argued that the bulge shown here is the pelvic bone. No, kids. No. On a woman, even the skinniest of them, the pelvic bone does not show at the lowest point of the crotch. It shows up higher at the hip. Last time I checked, women don't have crotch bulges. And that's certainly not a cameltoe there. Notice you can only barely see the highlighting on the right (Sheik's left) of the bulge, and the rest is covered in shadow. This is common in almost every piece of child-safe artwork where a male's crotch is visible. If the bulge was not there, highlighted and all, there would be no need for dark shadowing. I know, it's not a huge bulge, but you have to take age into consideration. OoT!Link is 17, right? Zelda is around the same age... so if OoT!Zelda transforms but is still around that age, there won't be a huge bulge. Males, don't try to convince me that a 17 year old is going to have a huge wang. They don't even stop developing until early 20's. As much as he may want to, a 16/17 year old male isn't going to have a man-package. This is most likely the reason it's visible, but not "big". Also, notice the hips. See and womanly curves? No, I didn't think so.

M3: Biceps/triceps. Yes, woman can build them, too, but only the very buff and/or lean will be able to have them this accentuated. As we can see, Sheik is built. Slim, but built. Like a male gymnast, yes? Yes. Also, the biceps are a tad bit larger than the triceps. On women, what makes theirs stand out more is actually a larger tricep, as they don't build biceps the same as men.

M4: Legs. What do you notice? Or, what don't you notice? The lack of curves. When it comes to lower body strength and muscle building, women excel while men excel in upper body strength and muscle building. When women gain muscle in their legs, they have a more fluid curve between the calf-ankle/thigh-knee area. In this image, OoT!Sheik's calf muscle sticks out while the rest of the back of his leg remains thin. The muscles in his thigh thing down where they meet the knee. These are characteristics of a male's musculature. When women gain muscle in their legs, their thighs also become thicker. In this case, OoT!Sheik's thighs are still somewhat thin, very much unlike that of a woman's.

M5: Feet. One of the most common characteristics of male characters is larger feet. What do we have here? Large feet! Very unproportional to a female's, these feet are very masculine in shape and size.

Compare OoT!Sheik to OoT!Zelda (http://www.zeldadungeon.net/Zelda05/Characters/OfficialArt/Zelda2.jpg) and notice the major differences in body shape. In her female form, Zelda has hips, thin arms, smaller shoulders, and small breasts. In my opinion, OoT!Sheik is male only in body. Mentally, he is still Princess Zelda, a female. Zelda has merely temporarily changed her body. If she changed her eye color, skin color, hair (color and length- bangs of Sheik's length could not be tied back as they are in Zelda's true form), and muscle structure, why wouldn't she just become male? Even her voice changed. It's not muffled, it's a whole different tone altogether.

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Then we have TP!Sheik. Yes, I know TP!Sheik only appeared in Brawl, but the design was intended for TP (then not used), so it can still be considered canon. This is where I think Nintendo made a great decision- making the new Sheik a female. OoT!Sheik and TP!Sheik are two different Sheiks, as they belong to two different Zeldas (OoT!Zelda and TP!Zelda). Let's look at more notes:


F1: Breasts! Boobs! Whatever. They are there, and they are visible. They are not wrapped, even though there are bandages there. If both Sheiks have their chests wrapped, but only one has boobs, then the other must be male, yes? Yes. TP!Sheik has boobs, kids. That alone should be enough, but I'll continue anyway.

F2: Feet. Look at that! They're not huge man-feet! They are proportionately female. Oh my. They are even feminine in shape!

F3: Butt. Boo-tay. Sheik's got back. TP!Sheik, most definitely, has a nice, round bum. Feminine and proportionate to a female's body shape, Sheik's posterior is nowhere near that of an average male's rear. We even see the dramatic curves between the back and the rear, creating a female figure.

F4: Thighs. Unlike OoT!Sheik's thighs, TP!Sheik's thighs do not become very thin where they meet the knee. They are meaty and shapely. As mentioned before, women with lower body strength have thicker thighs and rears, and this is clearly visible in TP!Sheik's model. The thighs meet up at the rear in a perfect curve, whereas with a male's figure, there would be a slight indentation where the thigh and rear meets.

F5: The calves! Unlike OoT!Sheik's calves, TP!Sheik's calves have more of a curve to them- they don't slim down dramatically as a male's would. They curve elegantly, once again showing off TP!Sheik's athletic, female build.

With TP!Sheik, it's quite easy to tell that she is female. Even the hair remains long, though the eye color and skin color still changes. Her arms are still slender, though the outfit gives off the illusion of larger muscles. Sillhouette the figure, and you will see that the biceps/triceps are much smaller than OoT!Sheik's. With TP!Sheik, we can easily tell that Zelda simply uses magic to transform into a different outfit with slight bodily changes. It would have been nice if they had actually used TP!Sheik in TP, but Midna stole the show, folks! Not that it was a bad thing.

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Nintendo was smart enough, I think, to put an end to the male/female Sheik debate (or at least they tried....) by giving the fans a second Sheik- a female one. This way, F!Sheik fans can enjoy TP!Sheik, while M!Sheik fans can enjoy OoT!Sheik.

I'd consider TP-design Shiek merely as an update on the design of the original. Like Link and Zelda's new costumes. It seems to me too confusing that they'd make two Sheik's: a female and a male. ( Especially since Melee referred to Sheik as "she" )