The Sheikah play a major role in Zelda: Breath of the Wild as the overarching plot revolves mostly around their creations. However, the Sheikah that Link actually come across might not be from the actual race.
Who Are The Sheikah In The Zelda Franchise?
The Zelda franchise is known for its diverse races that comprise the economy of the series. These ethnic groups include the Zora, Gorons and Gerudo among others. Similarly, they each have their own distinctive features, personalities and even languages that make them all so unique.
In line with this, there is also the Sheikah that have played a more prominent role among the other races in the franchise. YouTuber AwesomeFaceProd shares that the first Sheikah in the franchise first canonically appeared in Skyward Sword as a woman named Impa. Throughout the span of the series, one thing remained clear about their overall role: they serve the royal family or the Goddess herself.
Similarly, they also share some common traits with the Hylian race like their pointy ears but also have their own set of traits like red eyes. Moreover, they also seem to undergo special combat training and have the ability to use magic like clairvoyance. The Sheikah are also high intelligent as proven by their various technology.
Sheikah Imposters In Zelda: Breath Of The Wild?
In Breath of the Wild, Link comes across Impa and a whole lot of Sheikah living in a town. Although, YouTuber Dr.Wily theorizes that these people might not actually be pure Sheikah or are even from the race at all. The only confirmed members of the Sheikah just seem to be the monks that Link meets after completing a Shrine challenge.
In spite of this, the people in Kakariko Village are also supposedly part of the Sheikah tribe. In addition, Paya even claimed to have a long Sheikah lineage. However, keep note that the people in the village do not have the iconic red eyes, including Impa and Paya. With this in mind, could it be that Kakariko villagers are just plain Hylians?
On the other hand, there is also another supposed group of Sheikah known as the Yiga clan, who have sworn allegiance to Calamity Ganon. Nevertheless, their facial features are covered up with a mask and their ears are pierced so it would be difficult to determine if they share the traditional Sheikah traits. Even so, seeing as how they were originally from the village, it is likely that they are more physically similar to the said residents.
The Familiar Sheikah Traits Missing In Zelda: Breath Of The Wild
With all of this in mind, one could easily argue that these villagers might have lost their Sheikah traits over the years. However, it seems very unlikely for that to happen as even the very first Impa has red eyes. The question now stands regarding who these Sheikah are and where they came from.
It could be that these are actually Hylians, who are merely trying to revive the lost legacy and teachings of the real tribe. Nintendo has yet to actually share anything about this so fans will have to keep speculating until they reveal an official explanation. Fans can play Zelda: Breath of the Wild on the Wii U or Nintendo Switch.
