In my head, since Zelda in OOT was presenting herself as a man when disguised as Sheik, to me it always made sense to refer to Sheik as a he, and Zelda as a she separately.
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Do you say "he" or "she" when talking about Sheik?
- Thread starter Fudgepuppy
- Start date
I understood it as a disguise, so it's not really a question of etiquette or anything, she's only presenting herself as a male because it's valuable for her not to be discovered at the moment, and she isn't going to continue using the disguise (in OOT anyway) when it's no longer valuable. We, outside of the game, aren't endangering her or anything by using her true identity.
Nah, I misread it for a second too.
I've literally never thought about this. It seems like a change of pronouns would make change with a change of identity, but not necessarily with a costume, right? If Zelda isn't thinking of herself as a he then the male presenting identity is simply part of the disguise. So, in my head and with people who have played the game, I'd use "she/her". With people who haven't, I wouldn't bring it up and I'd use whichever pronouns they used.
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Similarly, when Link disguises as a woman in BotW I would still think of them as a he.
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Similarly, when Link disguises as a woman in BotW I would still think of them as a he.
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Was Sheik meant to be a man? I thought the character was supposed to be a woman so I've always said 'She'.
He/him until the reveal, then she/her after.
Because I honestly didn't make the connection and thought it was just some badass ninja dude.
Because I honestly didn't make the connection and thought it was just some badass ninja dude.
She, but mainly because my introduction to Sheik was through Melee where Zelda straight up transformed between Sheik and Zelda.
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Oh yeah, sure, because someone deliberately outwardly presenting as male should be treated as female no matter what they try. So much for the forum being so progressive.
He, just like characters in the game do. Particularly princess ruto uses he when you talk with them either in the water temple or right after. Shiek has deliberately been presenting as a male to even people who would otherwise have been close allies and should be treated as such.
I've thought about it as similar to what some male identifying drag queens do. Where they prefer to be called she/her when in drag but use male pronouns when out of drag. At least in ocarina of time that is. To me at least, the Sheik in Ocarina of time presented themselves as male and if I recall correctly, Ruto says this about Sheik "A young man named Sheik saved me from under the ice" so it's clear that the game's intentions were for Sheik to be seen as a boy until the big reveal.
In Hyrule warriors Sheik doesn't make as much of an effort to hide her feminine features tho so I think once the Ocarina of Time twist was revealed Sheik has since identified as female.
In Hyrule warriors Sheik doesn't make as much of an effort to hide her feminine features tho so I think once the Ocarina of Time twist was revealed Sheik has since identified as female.
She/her, since it's a disguise. So unless it's in the context of speaking to someone who isn't aware of her identity (like if we were in the game) then it's still Zelda.
Yupp lmao.
In the game, Ruto references to Sheik as a 'young man'. In the Official Nintendo Player's Guide, Sheik is described as male. Notably, these are the only two canon references to Sheik in the Zeldaverse.
Later however, Bill Trinen said Sheik is just Zelda in disguise, and thus female. Trophies in Smash and other games also use she/her. I guess Nintendo just wanted to hide the true identity of Sheik in OoT even more, but in the end I use she.
Courtesy of the Zelda Fandom articles :P
Later however, Bill Trinen said Sheik is just Zelda in disguise, and thus female. Trophies in Smash and other games also use she/her. I guess Nintendo just wanted to hide the true identity of Sheik in OoT even more, but in the end I use she.
Courtesy of the Zelda Fandom articles :P
It's an interesting question.
If I'm being real here, my actual answer is "I don't really talk about Sheik much, and when I do it's normally in a context where I can transition to talking about Zelda, who is definitely she/her as far as the narrative is concerned". I just use Sheik's name otherwise and that's typically fine.
If I were to go full gender with Sheik though... I'm not sure if the persona is ever gendered with Sheik on screen? Forgive me if I'm forgetting something, but typically Sheik appears, does a monologue at silent protagonist Link, leaves, and then maybe Navi goes "who was that mysterious man?". I don't think Navi's assumptions really count as evidence here, especially when Sheik can't contradict them.
I'd be interested to know what sort of pronouns, etc. Sheik uses in Japanese. Presumably boku or something? If there's something definitive there I might refer to that, but otherwise I might say that Sheik shouldn't be gendered at all.
...Of course this is a pretty in depth reading of a character who almost certainly was designed with the same intent as "what if Samus was secretly a girl" - it's ultimately somewhat naive feminism, not a grand trans narrative or something.
If I'm being real here, my actual answer is "I don't really talk about Sheik much, and when I do it's normally in a context where I can transition to talking about Zelda, who is definitely she/her as far as the narrative is concerned". I just use Sheik's name otherwise and that's typically fine.
If I were to go full gender with Sheik though... I'm not sure if the persona is ever gendered with Sheik on screen? Forgive me if I'm forgetting something, but typically Sheik appears, does a monologue at silent protagonist Link, leaves, and then maybe Navi goes "who was that mysterious man?". I don't think Navi's assumptions really count as evidence here, especially when Sheik can't contradict them.
I'd be interested to know what sort of pronouns, etc. Sheik uses in Japanese. Presumably boku or something? If there's something definitive there I might refer to that, but otherwise I might say that Sheik shouldn't be gendered at all.
...Of course this is a pretty in depth reading of a character who almost certainly was designed with the same intent as "what if Samus was secretly a girl" - it's ultimately somewhat naive feminism, not a grand trans narrative or something.
She, because my intro to Sheik was Melee, where she's explicitly presented as Princess Zelda in disguise. It just makes sense.
Good to know!
If that's the case then, while it's still a little ambiguous, I think the case could be made that Sheik wants to be addressed as a man.
...even if it's in the context of a disguise.
I'm not necessarily going to be passionately making that argument myself, but he/him Shiek fans have my full respect
This, when I was a kid playing OOT for the first time I said He.
Since I beat OOT and found out that Sheik was Zelda, I say She
…because Zelda did not want to be found by Ganondorf. This isn't someone presenting as male because that matches their gender/how they actually want to be seen, it's someone being disguised for their safety.
Like if people want to have that as their interpretation/headcanon, that's valid. But this reaction is reading too much into other people's responses. (EDIT: Well, to be fair: the wording of the post you quoted? Not great. But more generally I don't think this fits.)
Can't say conversations about Sheik have been something that come up frequently…or ever for me but I would refer to Sheik as she since I know who it is. It makes sense for people to use he though, as "Sheik" seems to be presented as a man, at least Navi says that I don't believe Sheik ever actually states anything in the US version at least.
This is pretty much my logic here. Basically whenever I'm referring to the "persona" of Sheik, I say he
I always knew sheik was a woman even before it's revealed who she really is. I don't think she was posing as a man, she presents as femme as far as I can see.
No idea how you could look at those lucious eyelashes and think 'must be a man'
No idea how you could look at those lucious eyelashes and think 'must be a man'
I suppose it would depend on whether I'm talking to someone who hasn't played the game or not. If they have I'd say she, because Sheik never explicitly identifies as male, she's just a mysterious figure of indeterminate sex. If they haven't I'd say he (because troubling myself to say they alone is a bit of a spoiler) or just call her by name.
Lol I voted wrong... I thought this was etcera forum and was talking about Shrek. I have no idea who Sheik is.
