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Why is shiek a boy?

Perfect patricia

Smash Apprentice
Joined
Dec 12, 2018
Messages
84
Does this make anyone else uncomfortable? Shieks body just resembles a women and you can even see “his” nipples in his character icon. Idk who decided to make shiek a guy at nintendo. Isn’t Zelda a girl why can’t shiek be a girl as well?
 
D

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I always thought of it as the "character" Sheik is a man

Like Peter Pan is traditionally played by actresses, but that doesn't make Peter Pan the character a girl, right?

Likewise, Zelda is playing the part of the "character" Sheik. Zelda is essentially a Peter Pan actress. She's a girl, but that doesn't make the "character" Sheik a girl.
 

Arthur97

Smash Master
Joined
Jun 7, 2016
Messages
3,463
Not in ultimate because the paulenta guidance refers to him as a he
The in game tips would have word with you. Sheik is a girl, they just sometimes use male pronouns since it is potentially OoT's biggest spoilers even if the game is so old. Her identity is a bit of a "joke" at this point, and you have to consider how trolly Palutena and Viridi are.
 
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link2702

Smash Champion
Joined
May 10, 2008
Messages
2,778
The guidance shouldn’t be taken seriously.

Also it’s basically a running gag at this point that “sheiks gender is unknown” even though it really isn’t. Pit himself even states it in that same guidance.


The whole debate has been stupid over the years tbh, but that debate eventually became the gag it is now. People have tried to bring up some ridiculous arguments over the years “proving” sheik is a guy, including “well a sheikah stone said Zelda is a tomboy so that means she was a transgender in the closet and sheik allows Zelda be who she really is” when the reality has always just been simple; Zelda is hiding from ganon so she chooses a disguise that no one would think to look for her. There’s nothing deeper about it than that.
 

Arthur97

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Adding to what's been said, Zelda herself as Sheik to my knowledge never claimed to be or referred to herself as male.
 

Fell God

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I've been enjoying your posts, Patricia, always bringing interesting discussion to the table
 

TheCJBrine

Smash Legend
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Well, you see, Zelda used magic to change her eye color and sorta her skin tone, and then wrapped herself up in bandages and Sheikah clothes to make herself appear as a young man, despite what still seems to be the features of a woman and a feminine voice trying to sound like a man.
 
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Al-kīmiyā'

Smash the State
Joined
Apr 22, 2010
Messages
2,574
Does this make anyone else uncomfortable? Shieks body just resembles a women and you can even see “his” nipples in his character icon. Idk who decided to make shiek a guy at nintendo. Isn’t Zelda a girl why can’t shiek be a girl as well?
Help, I can't find the nipples.
 

Mogisthelioma

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Sheik identifies as male but is sexually female. Sheik is Zelda in disguise so she could hide from Ganondorf and pass off as someone else.
 

Combew

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Dec 11, 2018
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mother
Well I think it was nice of nintendo to show shieks nipples in her his character render.
 
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Oddball

Smash Lord
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Oct 1, 2016
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1,722
let's just compromise and say sheik is Non-Binary.
Let's not.

Sheik is Zelda in a disguise. Zelda is a girl. Therefore Sheik is a girl.

No matter how good or detailed a disguise she's in, dressing up like a man doesn't make her a man anymore than you would be really Dracula when you dress up for Halloween.
 

Khao

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Lying about my country.
To actually address the point of the thread.

I don't necessarily think that Sheik is a man.

But I do find it a bit frustrating that the "Sheik is Zelda therefore Sheik is a woman" is completely freaking ignoring the actual question.

Think about it this way. Sheik, within the world of Zelda, is a fictional character created by Zelda herself. Zelda then, disguises herself as this character. The question is not "Should we consider Zelda a man when she's disguised as Sheik for some moronic reason?", the question is "What is the gender of the character Zelda invented?", and in that question, the gender of the person wearing that disguise is in fact completely irrelevant.

To put it in perspective, let's do the same question with a different feature, like eye color.

What's Sheik's eye color?

I'm pretty sure everyone would agree they're red (unless you wanna be a smartass and bring up a specific shade).

When you use the "But Sheik is Zelda" thing with the gender question, it feels exactly as if you were saying "Zelda's eyes are blue and Sheik is Zelda, therefore Sheik's eyes are blue" in this scenario. The question is not about the real person behind the disguise, but the disguise itself. In this case we're not looking for Zelda's true eye color, but the eyes that was given to the fictional character of Sheik. Just like we're not looking for Zelda's true gender, but the gender that was given to this fictional character. Maybe the intended gender was female. Maybe the intended gender was male. But when even official sources say "what the **** are you asking Sheik is Zelda you dummy", it becomes impossible to find out.
 
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Oddball

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Let's take your eye color thing and run with with it.

Let's say you have blue eyes. Now let's say you have blue eyes but wear colored contact lenses that make your eyes green.

Are your eyes green? No. Even if you never leave the house without putting in your contacts, your eyes are still blue. They may look green but your actual eye color is still blue.

That's the same thing with Sheik. Sheik is not a person. Sheik is a costume. Costumes don't have their own gender, they just look like other things. The answer to the question of "What color are Sheik's eyes really?" would still be blue. That's their real color, not how they look. Likewise, what gender is Sheik really always comes back to "It's just Zelda wearing a costume and she's a girl."
 

papertiger

Smash Rookie
Joined
Nov 17, 2018
Messages
20
its just zelda, a girl, pretending to be a guy under the name of shiek, idk why this is even up for discussion?
 

Kapus

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Sheik never refers to their own gender within their own game (OOT). The only person who does is Princess Ruto, who mistakes Sheik for a man. Sheik is rather androgynous so it's not a big deal. You can make your own head canon about how sheik is genderfluid or identifies as a male or something, but arguing about it is silly. They're officially stated to be a girl and only referenced as a boy to avoid spoilers or as a joke.

Also on that note, Sheik's body doesn't look especially feminine lol
 

Al-kīmiyā'

Smash the State
Joined
Apr 22, 2010
Messages
2,574
Okay, stop rehashing this ****. It's all been discussed ad nauseam from both in-universe and real life points of view on Zelda Universe. This thread isn't even Smash related anymore.
 

Christian_CAO

Smash Apprentice
Joined
Nov 6, 2009
Messages
193
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Saint Augustine, Florida
... why does anyone even care? O-O ...
Zelda masquerades as a dude in Ninja pajamas sometimes, it's not that big a deal.
Don't lose sleep over trivial stuff, life is too short.
 

TheTrueBrawler

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Jul 16, 2018
Messages
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Mystery
Who said Sheik is a male?
Palutena and Viridi both did in their guidance lines. Both of them used pronouns like "his" and "he" to describe Sheik.
Why is shiek a boy?
Does this make anyone else uncomfortable? Shieks body just resembles a women and you can even see “his” nipples in his character icon. Idk who decided to make shiek a guy at nintendo. Isn’t Zelda a girl why can’t shiek be a girl as well?
Shiek is a girl, though...
Not in ultimate because the paulenta guidance refers to him as a he
its just zelda, a girl, pretending to be a guy under the name of shiek, idk why this is even up for discussion?
Pretty sure it's spelled Sheik, but I could be wrong.
 
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Madwario

Smash Apprentice
Joined
Nov 24, 2014
Messages
147
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Third layer of onion
I always thought it was Zelda who drank a potion and transformed her to a tall man to fool guards. If i remember correctly, dont she use a male voice when being hit?
 
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