WIP http://lilleahwest.deviantart.com/a.....-WIP-194033920
"Dark" bloody version 1 http://lilleahwest.deviantart.com/a.....fice-194122397
"Dark" bloody version 2 http://lilleahwest.deviantart.com/a.....airy-194124526

The everlasting gender debate

Zelda binding her chest? Magical disguise to be male? In a sense it is the same difference. Zelda created Sheik as a male alternate persona, and so can't we just label Sheik as a male in a sort of role-playing sense regardless of what "plumbing" Sheik has? (pffft "plumbing" lol, obscure gender joke) I mean when a girl cosplays (crossplays) as a male character do you not refer to the character costume as a male?

Regardless of gender it has to be a magical disguise to some degree considering the transformation is instant, the arms are more muscle toned, hair and skin are darker and the eyes red...these changes cannot be done like a change of clothes can.

I am for the magical disguise theory, it makes more sense for Zelda to become male via the magic she obviously can use, it is also fail safe should she get caught.
Do I get upset when I see art of Sheik as female, no, in fact some of it I love...however the whole gender debate began because it was hard to tell the gender and I'd like to think that fem Sheik fans find art with big bulbous overly obvious breasts on Sheik as disgruntling as I do.
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short story / Mini Fanfiction

The form of a young Sheikah could be seen perched high in a tree outside the Forest Temple awaiting the arrival of the Hero of Time.

Zelda sighed, though the voice that was heard was not her own. For almost a year now she has been in this form, a form she and Impa had chosen, one best suited to the task at hand. It has been over seven years now since that night when her father was slain and part of the castle lit ablaze. Seven years since she entrusted the young hero with her sacred family relic.

That night years ago Impa whisked her away to safety on horseback, thanks to Link's appearance at that moment in time Gannon was distracted just long enough to let them get away. Impa led the young princess through the Lost Woods and down a secret passage long forgotten to all but the Sheikah, a path that led to another world disconnected from Hyrule. Once they passed into this other world the connection between the three Triforce pieces was severed and the holder of the Triforce of Power was no longer able to sense the location of the holder of Wisdom and thus they were safe in this other land. Impa wished she could just stay in this land with the girl she had regarded as being her own child, having raised her in the absence of her real mother, but alas they both would play a key part in restoring the land of Hyrule and they could not stay in this land forever.

Impa set up residence in an isolated and inhospitable place called Ikana Canyon, a land the Sheikah tribe of Hyrule once shared with the Sheikah of this world...but now the land lay baron and empty, the Sheikah of this world too seemed to have perished...
It was here that she continued to raise Zelda, separate from the people of this land for they did not belong here, she trained the young girl to hone both her physical and magical abilities for she would need both to survive upon return to her kingdom. Honing Zelda's magic abilities was of key importance for later in life she would need to be able to sustain the strain of a deep rooted transformation spell, a spell that would not only change her physical appearance but at the same time shadow the essence of her true self and hide the aura of the Triforce of Wisdom so that the holder of Power would be unable to sense the return of the Princess when she reentered the world of Hyrule.

Zelda was a fine student, always tomboyish in nature she had no qualms about learning the art of stealth and battle alongside living in such a rugged place. After all she had been through she was grateful to have Impa by her side. Zelda relied more on Impa now than ever, both physically and emotionally, she had always looked up to the Sheikah warrior, the last of her kind, as both a mentor and almost as a mother. As long as Impa was there for her Zelda knew she could persevere through this time of hardship.

As zelda matured it came time to choose a disguise for her return to the land of Hyrule, and Zelda knew what form she wanted to take. It was Impa who decided the form should be male and thus Impa had waited until Zelda had matured in both mind, body and spirit before attempting such a transformation. A male form would be harder to achieve but it would be a fail safe way to keep anyone from guessing Zelda's true identity even in the case of capture and direct contact with Gannon. This magic was only known to the Sheikah clan and it was a though one to master, and so Impa felt confident that Gannon would never suspect a young man to really be the young Princess.

It was Impa who decided the form should be male... but it was Zelda who chose to make her new form a Sheikah, for Zelda she would become the child Impa never had.

And so Sheik came into being, Sheik who appeared to be a young male of a race long forgotten. Upon reentering the land of her birth Zelda would hold this form never daring to release the spell. The spell is bound to her very life source and thus will repress her true form and along with it repress the essence of the Triforce of Wisdom., she knew that the instant the spell was released the Triforce pieces would resonate once again and the holder of Power would instantly be able to locate her...and capture her. And while Zelda's magic may be strong the Triforce of Power meant that Gannon would be able to easily overpower her, hence why she must be careful when it finally comes time to reveal her true form to the hero that will save her homeland.

The transformation spell passed down through the Sheikah clan is very powerful and it requires Zelda's constant energy but not her constant focus, for the form of Sheik is bound to and draws its power from her very life essence, even when in sleep or otherwise unconscious the spell would remain in place, her true form could only be revealed if she released the spell...or with her death.

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Done by mouse
With reference for the clothing
Corel painter X
Chalk, smear, eraser, image hose set on leaf and branch (brown tree done by hand)
Added in braid since I like that design addition in Smash Brothers