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Heights of LoZ characters?

Dio

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Zelda has red eyes as Sheik because Sheikah have red eyes. Therefore to impersonate a Sheikah effectively you must also give yourself red eyes which is why Zelda would have chosen to include them as part of the Sheik disguise.

No Hylian has naturally red eyes. It is a Sheikah racial trait and doesn't show up in non Sheikah.
 
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Zelda has red eyes as Sheik because her whole arc in the plot makes zero sense in the first place.

Or she has red eyes because it's Sheikah magic she's using as part of her disguise.

Zelda has red eyes as Sheik because Sheikah have red eyes. Therefore to impersonate a Sheikah effectively you must also give yourself red eyes which is why Zelda would have chosen to include them as part of the Sheik disguise.

No Hylian has naturally red eyes. It is a Sheikah racial trait and doesn't show up in non Sheikah.

This runs across a problem: We have no evidence Sheikah naturally have red eyes either, and plenty of evidence from BotW (nearly every Sheikah in the game) suggests they don't. We know Impa usually has red eyes, but we also know from SS that she is in a reincarnation cycle and is likely a divine blessing (one not present, notably, in BotW). And we know that Zelda has red eyes while disguised as Sheik, but that can easily be magic.

There's absolutely no evidence the red eyes are a Sheikah racial trait. Just that they're a common trait of the most famous Sheikah.
 
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Dio

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Or she has red eyes because it's Sheikah magic she's using as part of her disguise.



This runs across a problem: We have no evidence Sheikah naturally have red eyes either, and plenty of evidence from BotW (nearly every Sheikah in the game) suggests they don't. We know Impa usually has red eyes, but we also know from SS that she is in a reincarnation cycle and is likely a divine blessing (one note present, notably, in BotW). And we know that Zelda has red eyes while disguised as Sheik, but that can easily be magic.

There's absolutely no evidence the red eyes are a Sheikah racial trait. Just that they're a common trait of the most famous Sheikah.

The only Sheikah in OOT was Impa therefore it could well be possible that since Zelda only had Impa as a model of a what a Sheikah should look like she based her Sheik disguise around Impa's traits.

However before BoTW (10,000 years after any game in the series) it could well be possible all Sheikah did have red eyes. The evidence is that all Sheikah that appeared such as Impa in SS and OOT and Impaz in TP, had red eyes so it could well have been a defining racial trait. It certainly isn't seen naturally outside of the Sheikah race.

The change of racial traits over time are evident with BoTW so I wouldn't necessarily say it is indicative of how Sheikah people looked pre OOT. BoTW's Gerudo even appear with green eyes when before yellow eyes was their racial trait and something every member had.
 
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The only Sheikah in OOT was Impa therefore it could well be possible that since Zelda only had Impa as a model of a what a Sheikah should look like she based her Sheik disguise around Impa's traits.

However before BoTW (10,000 years after any game in the series) it could well be possible all Sheikah did have red eyes. The evidence is that all Sheikah that appeared such as Impa in SS and OOT and Impaz in TP, had red eyes so it could well have been a defining racial trait. It certainly isn't seen naturally outside of the Sheikah race.

The change of racial traits over time are evident with BoTW so I wouldn't necessarily say it is indicative of how Sheikah people looked pre OOT. BoTW's Gerudo even appear with green eyes when before yellow eyes was their racial trait and something every member had.

What is interesting to note is that whenever Sheikah are mentioned as a group, they are usually noted for their magic; OoT, TP, and BotW all make this and their connection to the Royal Family a big part of who the Sheikah are.

But, that is the key thing to remember: The Sheikah were magical servants of the Royal Family of Hyrule in the eras and timelines in which they existed. And often, they were servants who had combat capability or did less-than-pleasant things. They are almost always depicted as a group of servants, not as a reproducing race.

So, essentially, we need to separate the Sheikah into two divisions: Those who existed prior to SS, and those who existed after SS. Because there are different purposes, and different uses, of the Sheikah in play in those divisions.

It is quite likely that what we think of as the common Sheikah traits for most of the series are really a series of magical alterations made to Hylians, using Impa herself (likely the founding member of the second group) as the physical basis. This can explain why it is the Sheikah are almost exterminated, sometimes leaving only one member, yet refounded as an existing group multiple times. This can also explain why the BotW Sheikah are so different; Impa herself reincarnated with a much different appearance than she had before, so they had to use white hair instead of red eyes as the marker that time around.

After all, let's not forget the Sheikah were pretty much down to one member in OoT, yet still managed to be refounded enough to be a historical group in TP, where they were down to a single old woman... only to end up an extant group with at least one branch divided off in BotW. Either Impa knows how to party in her incarnations and the Sheikah are all severely inbred, or the Sheikah are not a true race.
 

el :BeoWolf:

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They are almost always depicted as a group of servants, not as a reproducing race
These are not mutually exclusive. They serve the royal family and they have always been treated as another tribe like gorons or zoras.
It is quite likely that what we think of as the common Sheikah traits for most of the series are really a series of magical alterations made to Hylians, using Impa herself (likely the founding member of the second group) as the physical basis. This can explain why it is the Sheikah are almost exterminated, sometimes leaving only one member, yet refounded as an existing group multiple times.
For what purpose though? Why go through the trouble of magically altering your people when you already have a magically gifted race willing to serve you? This seems to make it much more complicated than it really is. OoT shows us how low the Sheikah are willing to go for the royal family so it can be assumed they'd give their lives for them. OoT Sheikah just got through a civil war, the TP rendition had to deal with the shadow beasts or some kind of monsters as it was in decline long before Link's arrival.
Knowing this it seems there are no more true sheikah only hybrids of HylianSheikah. Makes me think of Native Americans in a way
 
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These are not mutually exclusive. They serve the royal family and they have always been treated as another tribe like gorons or zoras.

Save that they have no exclusive homeland, no leader in a position of authority, are not negotiated with, and don't even get to pilot a Divine Beast.

For what purpose though? Why go through the trouble of magically altering your people when you already have a magically gifted race willing to serve you? This seems to make it much more complicated than it really is. OoT shows us how low the Sheikah are willing to go for the royal family so it can be assumed they'd give their lives for them. OoT Sheikah just got through a civil war, the TP rendition had to deal with the shadow beasts or some kind of monsters as it was in decline long before Link's arrival.
Knowing this it seems there are no more true sheikah only hybrids of HylianSheikah. Makes me think of Native Americans in a way

What makes you think that magical race survived? The idea hinges on the possibility the original Sheikah, the ones who are mentioned in SS, are simply extinct; it's not the first time a race from SS ended up dying off. That would be why you would alter your own people. And it's not like it's the first time the Sheikah have died off in the series; we have several games that account for them as "dead, except for this one remnant member" or which simply have the member existing without any mention of the Sheikah at all. It really does seem like they die out on a pretty regular basis, so there's no way to rely on the idea they would have survived long enough into the existence of Hyrule for them to be known as a distinct species.

And even if they somehow lived until OoT's era, they were still effectively extinct as of that game. You don't rebuild an entire species from only one person.

Also, I'm pretty certain hybridization in the world of Hyrule doesn't work like that. By all appearances, the defining characteristics of each species breed true. Humans and Hylians can intermarry, but they don't change ear types. Gerudo can intermarry with Hylians without losing their body build, height, or skin coloration norms. But Sheikah have no defining norm that doesn't change (even the hair color changes, thanks to a certain offshoot) and share pretty much all of their other traits with Hylians; this suggests they are simply Hylians, even if not the standard Hylian we see with Link and Zelda.
 
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Dominant heriditary eye color doesn't equate to a whole new species. And that's basically how we can interpret the red hued eyes, it's a dominant heriditary trait, or at least should be. BotW shows us it's starting to weaken somewhat.

I would say that's due to mixing between Hylains and Sheikahs which weaken the racial trait (red hued eyes) and introduce the diversity of different colored pupils. My main point still stands that I believe all Sheikah have red eyes because it is their racial trait that distinguishes them from Hylians who have more varied physical characteristics such as hair and eye color. Even skin color too, but that might be mixing with Gerudo, so you never know. I believe that the shaman, Renado, from Twilight Princess may be a Hylian-Gerudo mix himself as I also believe Telma herself may be a Gerudo as well. It's interesting how my thread began with height and we are discussing the racial traits of the Hyruleans, namely the Sheikah.
 
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And we're back to the cycle of "and here's this Hylian who has red eyes..." that showed up earlier, as well as the fact that not even the only Sheikah who is consistent in games always has red eyes. In fact. if you see her in the LoZ and AoL artwork, Impa definitely doesn't have red eyes. Impa has also been depicted with hair the colors of red, white, and purple.

Well, let's end this. This is an actual Sheikah (Impa) from SS next to a Hylian (Zelda) from the same era:

a8d96ac67f9ff1fd20ae6a3bf25bfaf8903e5c0f_hq.jpg


Pointed ears, but not as pointy, while being much darker-skinned and much, much lankier. Head shape matches a certain race from TP. Note the hair is blonde, and the eyes shift in shade from dark orange to red based on the surrounding light.

This is Impa from OoT:

195px-Impa.png


Hylian-style ears (exact match for other Hylians in-game, including in the art rendition), Hylian build that verges almost on Gerudo, Hylian skin color, hair is white instead of blonde, and only the red eyes remain. Pretty much, every single feature of her body except her height, sex, and eye color has changed.

Compare Hylians from OoT to Hylians from SS and you'll see they have not changed enough to be notable.

It is pretty obvious that the Sheikah from OoT and beyond are not the same race as the Sheikah from SS. Physically, the only thing they have in common is eye color, which OoT shows can be acquired by Hylians and which BotW shows is not universal to all Sheikah.

Thus, given there's nothing to distinguish them from Hylians after SS as far as what traits are universal, it's pretty obvious the original Sheikah are extinct and the ones post-SS are simply Hylians.
 

Dio

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Let's get back on topic. Impa looks tall in this picture. How tall might Impa be? Based on her height, how tall might Zelda, Link, and Grooss be in relation?
8c08e602181137d84796173f2214da01.jpg

Well as i have pointed out Link measures 5ft 3 in OoT3D against the scale in Lakeside Laboratory. This is consistent when comparing his character model to Ganondorfs who would be around 7 and a half feet by comparison which is stated in Hyrule Historia to be his height.

SS's link is called 'Mr Shortpants' by Scrapper. So he's short. I therefore think it is very unlikely he is above OOT Link's height of 5ft 3. Even more likely he is below but this cant be confirmed.

If we say he is 5ft 3 in SS then Impa is around a foot taller maybe 6ft 3. Groose is of a similar height and Ghirahim looks to be around 6ft 1 by comparison to Impa in this picture. Ghirahim in his final form however appears to be around 7ft
 
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Let's get back on topic. Impa looks tall in this picture. How tall might Impa be? Based on her height, how tall might Zelda, Link, and Grooss be in relation?

I thought that SS Link might have been 5'8 proportionally as he looks below average somewhat but not at all short. He's also not even fully grown, remember that. The Hero's Shade, OoT Link, was head and shoulders taller than his descendant, TP Link, so it can't be said that Link is universally short. We've never seen him as a young adult, only as a teenager and a child. I thought that Groose may have been something like 6'8-6'10. He does seem huge in comparison to Link, and I'm not really sure about SS Impa, I thought she may have been considerably over 6ft herself as she makes Zelda look tiny, even Link, who is taller than Zelda by about 2-3 inches I think. I also don't understand where Deus is getting 5'3 for OoT teenaged Link, he is 5'7, not 5'3. His head goes past the 1.5m line whenever I measure him and his proportions even match that of a 5'7 person. SS Link looks marginally taller by around an inch and I would say that TP Link is the tallest since he has been the oldest incarnation in the series thus far at around 17-18 years old putting him around 5'9 at the shortest up to 5'10 proportionally speaking. We can't argue less than 5'6 for the 16-year-old OoT Link.

Okay, so I tried uploading a good picture of OoT Link being measured under the dive meter at the Lakeside Laboratory but it's too large, so I'll link it here: https://imgur.com/gallery/EPuy8

In the photo, it is very clear that Link's head goes past the 1.5m line and seems to be at the 1.6m line but that's a relaxed stance, if you start walking towards the dive meter, Link will straighten up his posture and his head is clearly hitting the 1.7m line once you do, making Link at least 5'6.5, at LEAST.
 
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Can we please stop using the proportion standards that apply to Homo sapiens sapiens for someone who isn't a member of that species? Even the games themselves, when having Hylians and Humans side-by-side, demonstrate Hylians have a different set of proportion rules than Humans do. Link isn't a member of our species and we need to stop judging his proportions as if he were; his proportions are irrelevant because he does not obey the same biological standards we do.
 

Dio

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I thought that SS Link might have been 5'8 proportionally as he looks below average somewhat but not at all short. He's also not even fully grown, remember that. The Hero's Shade, OoT Link, was head and shoulders taller than his descendant, TP Link, so it can't be said that Link is universally short. We've never seen him as a young adult, only as a teenager and a child. I thought that Groose may have been something like 6'8-6'10. He does seem huge in comparison to Link, and I'm not really sure about SS Impa, I thought she may have been considerably over 6ft herself as she makes Zelda look tiny, even Link, who is taller than Zelda by about 2-3 inches I think. I also don't understand where Deus is getting 5'3 for OoT teenaged Link, he is 5'7, not 5'3. His head goes past the 1.5m line whenever I measure him and his proportions even match that of a 5'7 person. SS Link looks marginally taller by around an inch and I would say that TP Link is the tallest since he has been the oldest incarnation in the series thus far at around 17-18 years old putting him around 5'9 at the shortest up to 5'10 proportionally speaking. We can't argue less than 5'6 for the 16-year-old OoT Link.

Okay, so I tried uploading a good picture of OoT Link being measured under the dive meter at the Lakeside Laboratory but it's too large, so I'll link it here: https://imgur.com/gallery/EPuy8

In the photo, it is very clear that Link's head goes past the 1.5m line and seems to be at the 1.6m line but that's a relaxed stance, if you start walking towards the dive meter, Link will straighten up his posture and his head is clearly hitting the 1.7m line once you do, making Link at least 5'6.5, at LEAST.

It doesn't matter what he looks like to you proportionally. The Zelda characters dont have have proportions like people on earth. Ganondorf does not have the proportions of any 7ft 6 human.

As I have already said link is wearing a hat which is not flat down to his head. I can see his hat comes up to the 1.6 meter line which is about 5ft 3 but I was saying that the hat and hair beneath could make the guy himself around 1.55 which is 5ft 1 at shortest and if he genuinely comes up to the 1.6 he is 5ft3.
 
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