Nintendo officially ends the Sheik gender debate by giving us the definitive answer.

Since the character of Sheik was first introduced in the 1998 Nintendo 64 game The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, fans have been widely split on the gender of the character.

There are certainly valid arguments on both ends (but more for Sheik being a girl) and after all this time the topic has once again been making its round now that Sheik is a playable character in the upcoming Wii U game Hyrule Warriors. Now it appears that a representative from Nintendo has stepped forward and has given us the definitive answer and put the debate to rest (hopefully). Nintendo's Senior Product Marketing Manager Bill Trinen has clarified that Sheik is in fact female.

"We asked Nintendo if there was an official word on this, and they answered the call. Nintendo's official line, quoted from Nintendo senior product marketing manager Bill Trinen, is this: "The definitive answer is that Sheik is a woman — simply Zelda in a different outfit.""

There you have it! Straight from Nintendo. Sheik is female. This was my opinion as well and always has been. I always thought it was pretty clear. If Princess Zelda was on the run and in hiding it only made sense that she would further the disguise and change her identity as well as sex. As I said before there are many arguments on both sides but Nintendo has cleared everything up.

Source: Polygon