The Sheikah are a race of people found in The Legend of Zelda franchise, including Breath of the Wild. The Sheikah are mentioned in several other games, but their status remains a mystery until Breath of the Wild, where they appear in Hyrule.
As servants to the royal family, the Sheikah serve an essential role in protecting their land. But there is much more to these people than just being protectors. Like many other characters in The Legend of Zelda, the Sheikah have profound lore that explains how they came to be, what they look like, and what their future looks like.
10 Their Religion
The open world of Legend of Zelda allows for all the characters that appear to have backstories and a purpose. The Sheikah’s purpose in life is to serve the Goddess Hylia as she protects their land. They are considered gifted with the ability to speak to the Goddesses and do their bidding.
The Sheikah will not do anything that would upset Hylia and are deeply devoted to their religion. This unique feature of their civilization is not seen in many other games since the regions are not fleshed out as much as they are in Breath of the Wild.
9 How They Look
Despite living on the same land, the Sheikah and the Hylians have distinct features that separate the two groups of people. The Sheikah people have a more elvish appearance than the Hylians. Hylians and Sheikah have engaged in a civil war that divided the people by more than appearance.
Most of the Sheikah have red eyes and white hair. However, some of the Sheikah appear like other characters in the game. Their clothing consists of many layers that resemble the colors of the forest.
8 The Games They Are Mentioned In
The Sheikah appears in many The Legend of Zelda games, creating complicated lore around the characters. They first appear in Skyward Sword, where Impa helps Link and Zelda, giving the impression that the Sheikah people have magical powers.
Orcania of Time also features Impa and is thought to be the last of her people. Breath of the Wild changed the outlook of the Sheikah as they were revealed to be still alive and thriving. This added a new layer of lore to the game and left players questioning how the people had continued living undisturbed.
7 Their Politics And Clans
As an advanced civilization, the Sheikah have a political system that keeps them in order. Rather than living all together, the Sheikah live in small clans that are in charge of themselves and don’t follow one leader’s word.
This is how the Sheikahs under the Yiga clan become aligned with the boss Ganon in Breath of the Wild. With the differences between clans, there is room for group conflicts. The Yiga are considered enemies of the Sheikah because they have abandoned the word of Hylia.
6 Their Advancements
Despite their humble lifestyle, the Sheikah are an advanced people who have developed their own language and technologies. They have their own alphabet comprising 26 letters and two symbols to indicate dashes and stops.
The letters are made of dashes and letters that form intricate symbols and would take a good bit of time to learn fluently. The group has also developed technologies, including the divine beasts, best described as giant machines that resemble animals and are made of gold metal.
5 The Sheikah Slate
The Sheikah people have developed one of the most valuable tools that Link obtains in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. As one of the first items left by Zelda for Link, the slate serves many purposes.
The Sheikah Slate can produce a map of Hyrule which helps players traverse the land, but also open shrines, Sheikah Towers, and many other places that the Sheikah created. The slate is a sort of skeleton key and should be used often when traveling Hyrule. The Sheikah slate is one of many inventions that display how advanced the Sheikah is.
4 Professions
Nintendo has made The Legend of Zelda one of its best franchises by sparring no details when developing characters. This is especially true for the Sheikah, as they are mentioned in many games but are not fleshed out until Breath of the Wild.
As Link comes to Impa’s clan, it is revealed that every person in the clan has a specific profession. Even though the Sheikah are a warrior people, they have more to do in their society than fight, so the people of the clan have other jobs like innkeepers, tailors, and farmers, to name a few.
3 Aging
Time moves differently in The Legend of Zelda, making the concept of aging different for many characters in the game. Impa is first seen as a young woman in Ocarina of Time. In Breath of the Wild, Impa is seen as a small elderly woman who would be around 120 years old.
Her still being alive shows that the Sheikah don’t age like humans and have longer life spans. Other members of the Sheikah also experience a slowed aging process, but this is because of scientific experiments. Impa’s aging isn’t explained.
2 Their Nickname
The Sheikah have a few nicknames that the people of neighboring villages call them. One of their nicknames is the Shadow Folk, and another is the Shadow of the Hylians. Professor Shikashi reveals these nicknames to players in The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time.
They earned these nicknames for their role as the protectors of the royal family and always following them. Their likening to shadows also comes from their roles as spies and hidden guards who quietly follow the royal family on travels, so they can’t be harmed.
1 The Spring of Power
Even though The Spring of Power in Breath of the Wild has a statue of Hylia and is in Hyrule, the Sheikah doesn’t help players get to the shrine. The quest takes place independently of the people who serve the Goddess Hylia. This is important for players to know so they don’t waste time looking for the shrine in the village where the Sheikah resides.
The Sheikah has neither items to give Link to help pass The Spring of Power either, so players can move through the village knowing they haven’t missed anything if they don’t come across the shrine.
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