Sheik

Sheik (, Sheik) is a character from universe. Sheik debuted in , claiming to be one of the last surviving and aiding Link by teaching him warp songs. In actuality, however, Sheik is the magically-induced alter ego of Princess Zelda.

Origin
Sheik is a Sheikah who debuted in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Contrasting with, the only other Sheikah seen in the game, Sheik's identity and voice are concealed with conservative clothing and a scarf.

Sheik first appears before Link soon after his spirit is unsealed after being contained within the Chamber of Sages for seven years. Upon meeting Link, Sheik reveals to him his true quest: he is now old enough to properly become the, and now that he has acquired the Light Medallion from , the of Light, he must also awaken five other Sages and acquire their respective  in order to become powerful enough to stop Ganondorf and save Hyrule.

Following this, Sheik appears before Link at various instances to teach him warp songs to help him on his quest. Sheik also imparts words of wisdom before mysteriously disappearing each time, typically via the explosive flash of a. When all six Sages are awakened, Link arrives at the near the end of the game and is greeted by Sheik, who uses the Triforce of Wisdom to reveal herself as Princess Zelda. She explains that after Ganondorf conquered Hyrule during Link's absence, she and Impa were forced to go into hiding, and Impa taught Zelda the ways of the Sheikah to both hide her identity and defend herself if she is forced into combat.

Though Sheik has not made another appearance in a mainline Zelda game to date, her design within the Super Smash Bros. series has been updated over time to match the aesthetics of other installments in the series. When Zelda's design was changed to her  appearance in Brawl, Sheik was also altered to match, now using a design based on concept art the development team created specifically for Brawl. Because Zelda and Sheik were split into unique fighters in SSB4, their designs diverged in Ultimate; while Zelda uses her look from , Sheik was given a unique appearance combining the Twilight Princess design with the, armor based on her design which is available to Link in Breath of the Wild.

Sheik is usually depicted as stoic and reserved, rarely showing emotion. The only instances are brief episodes of surprise and concern when herself and the surrounding area are in danger, especially when Link is nearby. Sheik has very melancholic demeanor, often waxing poetic about time and its effect on the mind, particularly with age. This is likely due to herself being partly responsible for Link's involvement in the conflict and his seven year slumber, having used that time to think about those consequences. Sheik is also proficient with a harp, which she uses to teach Link various melodies on his ocarina.

Sheik is occasionally assumed to be male or a male persona of Zelda, but it is the official stance of Nintendo that Sheik is female, just as Zelda is. She merely disguises herself as male, which her trophy in Melee speculates to be the result of magic. The manga adaptation of Ocarina of Time suggests that Zelda uses the Triforce of Wisdom to actually become male while disguised as Sheik, though this is considered non-canon to the games.

The Super Smash Bros. games consistently refer to Sheik as female, but the Super Smash Blog for Ultimate once referred to Sheik as male; however, an official Nintendo Twitter account which reposted the information altered it to refer to her as female, suggesting it to be a mistake. Likewise, while Sheik is referred to with female pronouns in her Ultimate Move List and tips, and Viridi refer to Sheik as male in the corresponding Palutena's Guidance conversation in Ultimate (likely as an intentional joke, since  knows that Sheik's true identity is Zelda).

As a playable character
Sheik is one of the new characters introduced in Super Smash Bros. Melee. Rather than being a full-fledged character, she is a transformation of, which makes them the only characters in Melee to possess such an ability. In addition to her ability to Transform into Zelda, Sheik's Vanish is based on her usage of Deku Nuts in Ocarina of Time.

Unlike Zelda, Sheik boasts very fast attack speed and excellent mobility. When coupled with her deceptively powerful smash attacks and terrific neutral game, Sheik was initially deemed broken by some players, until the evolution of Melee's metagame revealed that she has a poor recovery and a mediocre neutral game. Nevertheless, Sheik's strengths still largely outweighed her weaknesses, reflected by her current ranking being 5th out of 26 on the tier list.

Trophies
As a playable character, Sheik has three trophies - a normal trophy won beating the with Sheik on any difficulty, and "Smash Red" and "Smash Blue" trophies are acquired by beating the Adventure and All-Star modes, respectively.

As a playable character
Unlike Melee, Super Smash Bros. Brawl does not feature the Princess Zelda from Ocarina of Time. Instead, she has been succeeded by her descendant, the Zelda from . Due to this, many debates initially came about as to whether or not Sheik would return.

Many argued that because Sheik did not appear in Twilight Princess, Zelda would not be able to Transform into Sheik. By extension, many cited the fact that the had also been succeeded by his own descendant, the Link from Twilight Princess, who features special moves that were reworked to fit with Twilight Princess' aesthetics. Conversely, others argued that even though the Zelda in Melee was explicitly the Ocarina of Time incarnation, she was not supposed to be based on any specific Zelda, but rather an amalgamation of all Zelda's past and present. As a result, they argued that the Twilight Princess incarnation of Zelda would not be prevented from being able to Transform into Sheik as her ancestor could in Melee.

The debate was settled with the revelation of Sheik's inclusion in Famitsu's review of Brawl. Shortly thereafter, confirmed Sheik's inclusion via its January 16th update. Sheik's special moves have remained unchanged, but much like Zelda, Link, and Ganondorf, she now features an updated design based on Twilight Princess' aesthetics.

Sheik's updated design was created for Brawl to represent the Twilight Princess version of Zelda. Her new design noticeably includes a braided ponytail, similar to Zelda's design in Twilight Princess.

Sheik's playstyle is largely similar to how it was in Melee, though she now has a Final Smash, Light Arrow, that she shares with Zelda. However, her KO potential has been severely weakened, while her endurance has also worsened. As a result, Sheik is currently ranked 25th out of 38 on the tier list, which renders her as a mid-tier character.

Trophy
Sheik has a trophy that is awarded each time is completed with Sheik on any difficulty.

As a playable character
Sheik returns as a playable character in Super Smash Bros. 4. Although she has retained her Twilight Princess design, her overall color scheme is now more vibrant because of SSB4's aesthetics. By extension, she now has an alternate costume that features the color scheme of her attire in Ocarina of Time.

Unlike in previous installments, Sheik is now a standalone character, like and. She has also gained two new special moves, one of which compensates for her independence from Zelda: Burst Grenade replaces Chain (and also results in her side taunt being modified), and Bouncing Fish replaces Transform.

Sheik has been buffed significantly in the transition from Brawl to SSB4, thanks to many of her attacks being partially reverted to how they functioned in Melee, or updated outright. Unlike in Melee, she now has a noticeably better neutral game and recovery. Her neutral game benefits from Needle Storm's faster travel speed and increased knockback, as well as her faster walking, dashing, and air speeds.

In comparison, Sheik's recovery benefits from her much faster airspeed, Bouncing Fish's ability to function as a horizontal recovery option, and the removal of edge-hogging. Outside of these changes, Sheik still boasts unarguably the best frame data among the cast, which results in her retaining an excellent combo game, and makes her exceedingly difficult to punish.

However, Sheik retains a low overall damage output, mediocre smash attacks, unimpressive endurance, a lack of reliable KO setups at high percentages, and only a handful of KOing options (sweet spotted up smash, up aerial, Vanish's disappearing hitbox, and Bouncing Fish). In addition, game updates heavily nerfed some of Sheik's most viable options, such as weakening her forward aerial, hindering her forward and down throws' combo potentials at high percentages, and decreasing Needle Storm's range.

Overall, Sheik's strengths largely outweigh her weaknesses, and she has achieved great tournament representation and results as a result. To reflect this, Sheik is currently ranked 4th out of 55 on the tier list, and she has maintained her status as a top-tier character throughout SSB4's lifespan like in Melee.

As a costume
A Sheik Mask is available as headgear for all types.

As a playable character
Sheik returns as a standalone character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. However, her design has been overhauled to reference ; Sheik now wears the Stealth Chest Guard and Stealth Tights from the Stealth Set, while her mask is now similar to its appearance as headgear in Breath of the Wild. Unlike her previous appearances, Sheik is now an unlockable character instead of a starter character.

As Sheik was top tier for most of Smash 4 even in spite of the nerfs she received in updates, she was drastically nerfed in the transition to Ultimate. Her damage output was severely reduced, forcing her to rack up extremely long strings of hits to deal any notable damage. Her already low weight was also decreased even further, and she doesn't benefit much from universal mobility improvements compared to other characters. Sheik's initially abysmal perception has slowly improved thanks to recent buffs however, and currently she is generally agreed to be mid-tier.

As a costume
The Sheik Mask returns as headgear for all types.

Trivia

 * Sheik and Ganondorf both made their playable debuts in Super Smash Bros. Melee, and both made their playable debuts outside of the Super Smash Bros. series in .
 * Sheik is the only character in the Super Smash Bros. series to have been ranked at the very top of the tier list in two different games; she was ranked 1st on SSB4s first tier list, and was ranked 1st on Melees first seven tier lists.
 * She and Diddy Kong are also the only characters in the Super Smash Bros. series to have been ranked 1st on an installment's respective tier list, and then later lose that position on said installment's subsequent tier list.
 * Sheik is the only playable Zelda character to only appear in her debut game in her home series. Because her design was updated to match the then-latest Zelda game in Brawl and Ultimate in spite of this, Melee is the only game to use a canonical design for her.
 * Strangely enough, despite 3DS featuring the playable Zelda cast introduced in Melee in their Ocarina of Time designs, referencing their appearances in that game as trophies, Sheik was not given a trophy, making SSB4 the only game where Sheik's canonical design is not directly referenced at all.
 * Sheik's appearance in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate marks the first time in any video game where she is shown using her dagger.
 * Ironically, Sheik's dagger does not appear to be equipped in her design.
 * In Ultimate, Sheik is the only character to have her moves written solely in kanji, including her Final Smash.
 * In both Melee and Smash 4, Sheik is somewhat ironically near the top of the tier list, while her true form as Zelda is near the bottom.
 * In fact, the first tier list for SSB4 listed Zelda as the worst character in the game while Sheik was the best.
 * Zelda and Sheik are the only characters whose voice actor remained the same in three installments in a row across all regions before being recasted. If regional differences are ignored, this also applies to Falco (in Japanese) and Marth (in international releases) as well.
 * Coincidentally, all four debuted in Melee.