Sheikah

[MiniMeMilo]

Maybe the Sheikah can asexually reproduce... It makes sense if you think about it. They're not actually human, so it could be possible. Not to mention that there is only one proven Sheikah in the whole series so far: Impa. I've only seen 3 others who could be Sheikahs, and if there's more please feel free to add to my list:

-Impa is a proven Sheikah, no discussion needed here.
-Sheik could possibly be a Sheikah, but being a member of the royal family it is unlikely.
-Impaz has a strong resemblence to the stereotypical Sheikah; white hair and red eyes. She also has a name that resembles Impa, the only proven Sheikah thus far.
-Madam Fandi, the fortune teller in TP, has the Sheikah emblem on her forehead and red eyes.

 

[Kybyrian]

Impaz actually IS a Sheikah. Sheik is not a Sheikah, as it is Zelda's disguise. She disguises herself as a Sheikah, but doesn't become one. Impaz and Impa are the only 2 known Sheikah in the series that it comes out and shows.

 

[Twili123prince]

Maybe bongo bongo killed all the sheikah.And if that did happen since impa was the only one left maybe thats why shes a sage......

 

[Brandon]

That is interested, I don't remember reading about the Sheikah almost entirely dying out during the Imprisoning War. Any clarification on when/where this was said. I'd like to go back and check it out myself, seems interesting.

Seriously though, where did Impaz come from? I mean, there had to be more Shekiah around somewhere in Ocarina of Time. Lets say Impa was a Shekiah. I mean, there is a basic survival problem here. There needs to be more than one of a race for it to survive. Unless of course Impa is a blood relative to Impaz, and there was a non-Shekiah male involved. Although it seems there are at least a few generations between the Ocarina of Time and Twilight Princess so I'm not sure how reliable it is.

My theory is that while the Shekiah might be low in numbers, there are definately more than just Impa and Impaz. Perhaps some of the Kakariko Village characters in Ocarina of Time. Maybe some of the Market townsmen. Even characters that live lands that we have not been to.

The Shekiah could not have been nearly killed off during the imprisoning war because that would mean ganondorf was imprisoned before OoT which can't be true because OoT is supposed to be Ganon's first appearance.

Also, Impaz can be a descendent of Impa without being a Sheikah. Actually since we are told that man built the village, Impaz is probably not a descendent of Impa at all unless Impa herself is a descendent of the man who built the village. In either case the name is likely of cultural significance and may be very common among Shekiah and their descendants. The name also does not in itself show or even suggest that Impaz is Sheikah since we have characters named Impa in the oracles games and the AoL intro which all would have happened much much after the shekiah were gone. Impa may well have been the last true Shekiah, but that doesn't mean she didn't make provisions for her descendents to preform certain duties.
Since Minish cap is supposed to happen earlier, I think we should look for evidence of the Shekiah in it. It is pure speculation, but the Shekiah may be related somehow to the sky tribe. I have little foundation for this however other than the fact that it could conveniently explain a lot.

 

[MajoraKing12]

Sheikah is princess zelda in orcania of time.and to me she is just awesome! but that is just me.

 

[Inflexus]

If you look, she has the eye of truth symbol on the back. I don't know if it's there in TP, but assuming it is, it is possible that the Sheikah bloodline never died out because it was passed on through Princess Zelda.

That's a good way of ensuring it's survival, actually. It also shows that sheikah are not necessaraly pure-blooded.

 

[blackice_cc]

Huh, well that's very interesting. If somehow the Royal family interbred with the Sheikah then that would be a good way to keep the Sheikah's species alive. Maybe Zelda in OoT is actually Impa's and the kings daughter, and that is how she is able to turn into Sheik at will, as well as why the TP Zelda has the eye of truth symbol on her back. If you remember Sheik from OoT, he/she (Maybe Sheik is a male alter-ego of Zelda, or maybe Sheik is just Zelda's disguise) had the Eye of truth sign on his/her chest.

 

[Onilink89]

i had to post this, i was reading at zeldawiki about MM when i came to an article about kafei. not at wiki it said kafei could possbly be a sheikah, because of its red eyes. now i don 't see any connection with sheikah and MM but you also find the mask of truth and the lens of truth in the game.

here is the link.
http://zeldawiki.org/Kafei

 

[Mike Pothier]

The only two logical explanations I can think of:

1) Not all the Sheikah were killed off before OoT, but enough were that the remaining members went into hiding, and Impa remained as their representative to the Royal Family. If this is true, then it would be a good explanation of where Zelda has been hiding and apparently training. She was a convincing Sheikah during the later years of OoT.

2) Perhaps, and this is going out on a limb here, the Sheikah are not a race but a group of learned people who use shadow magic, and using it turns their eyes red and hair white.

 

[Chris]

Now, I am pretty sure that the Sheikah race was wiped out when Ganondorf took over. He probably killed all the members of the Sheikah race except for Impa who got away.

 

[angelkid]

This is a very interesting topic. I'd never really thought of this before. I thought perhaps the riddle was explained in another LoZ game which I hadn't played yet.

Well I have a few theories.
MY first, is that, perhaps it is possible to become a shiekah Rather than having to be born one. I actually always thought of them as some kind of super human. So perhaps Zelda actually becomes a sheik and is not just disguised.

Another fairely solid theory is just that the surviving sheikahs were all in hiding, as someone said earlier.

As for Kakariko village. I believe it was made by perhaps Impa's father, and she inherited it from him, therefore becoming the guardian of the village. This is when the shadows Come and Impa seals them in the well.

 

[Zemen]

That symbol (eye of truth) on the back of Zelda's robe IS there in the actual game. I was playing it yesterday and noticed it and thought it was very interesting that it was there. Maybe this is a hint of things to come, a VERY subtle hint.

 

[Shadsie]

Here's a question:

Are Sheikah essentially Hylians or are they a seperate speices? I've seen a lot of people (in disscussion, fanfiction and such) treat the race as a seperate speices, and personally, I disagree with this theory. I've always thought of them as Hylians, but in an ethnic minority. Beings such as Gorons and Zora are clearly seperate speices, but I have the thought that Hylians, Humans and Sheikah are all a part of a single spieces (Hylians having the genetic glitch/breeding/ethnicity to give them pointed ears and magic-infused blood, humans being pretty much normal, boring humans like the majority of us are, and Sheikah being Hylians that are in a particular cultural group). It's much like how a Native African, an Inuit, a Chinese person and a person of Caucasian decent are, while in different racial and ethhnic groups, all human. We may have a lot of difference in physical trains and loads of cultural differences, but we're all the same speices.

Something which you may or may not find intersting - in the big fanfic I'm working on with a co-writer, we've made "Impa" a title rather than a name. Our particular "Impa" character carries it as a title rather than a name and the title basically means "royal teacher and bodyguard." We haven't gotten to the point in writing where a Sheik makes an apperance - I believe my co-writer wished to make "Shiek" a title, as well. I shall have to consult with her on that.

As far as I figure it, the Shiekah are either a titled cultural order that certain people are born into or allowed to join, or... it's a minority (same species) race/ethnic group.

But I guess any speculation is good, as Nintendo seems to like leaving lots of things a mystery.

 

[MrMosley]

This is a pretty interesting thing to think about. I used to just think that they were another race. Which still in itself is a easy explanation. Considering there isn't a whole lot of in game information to go on, thats what most people would consider anyways. But I think to have them be an elite group, or regular Hylians who have to train to become Sheikah and learn their magics, would be a better story for them. In that case, there could possibly be Sheikah of other races as well, such as Zoras, instead of just Hylians.

 

[bellum]

Y'know what happened at the Well. I think that monster in the well that impa was worring about wiped out the Shiekah. I do believe the Impaz is somehow related to Impa in OoT.