(A new, re-edited version of this article is available here.)

An almost completely unsubstantiated Legend of Zelda theory.

In Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, there are Secret Sheikah Ninjas everywhere. I have practically no evidence for this claim but I stand by my assertion. There are Ninjas everywhere! Though my reasons for this claim might initially seem like an unrelated train of thought.

During the 170 hours I spent playing Tears of the Kingdom, a thought crossed my mind. How has Zelda re-established royal authority? Most Hyrulians have no memory of the old monarchical state (Calamity Ganon destroyed it one hundred years prior) and they’ve spent their lives in self-governing communities. We even see them doing it! Every in-game settlement has a local ruler or political system. There are elders, chiefs, and mayors. Some towns have local royalty and others are democratic. So why are they taking orders from Zelda? Some might be royalists and follow Zelda on that basis whilst others might be deeply religious (Hyrule’s religion is closely intertwined with royalty), but I doubt such loyalty would be sufficient to re-establish an absolute monarchy. In a land as big as Hyrule (which encompasses deserts, rain forests, tundra and an enormous volcano) there would be a lot of dissenters. A world in which most people have been self-governing for a century is just not a world in which someone could rock up and say, “Hey guys, let’s create a centralised dictatorship with me at the centre” and expect everyone to just go along with it.

Maybe that’s why Zelda is still a Princess and not a Queen. She’s been acknowledged as royalty and as a descendent/reincarnation of the goddess Hylia but is not recognised as Hyrule’s ruler. The Kingdom doesn’t exist anymore, it’s just a place called Hyrule with various kingdoms and republics that owe her no fealty. Indeed, the people of Hateno, where she lived in a house she stole from Link, seem completely disinterested in her presence (except for the children, who’ve been indoctrinated at the school she built). And why should they care? Hateno is a democracy! But even if royal authority has not been fully restored, it is on its way. Some people follow her orders without question (like the stable well she ordered shut without explaining why). Most notable is Lookout Landing, a large fort in the centre of Hyrule from which she operates a survey core – making detailed notes on Hyrule’s present condition – and is also training a large body of troops… is she planning to conquer Hyrule? I joke. Anyway, the original question resurfaces, how has she acquired this admittedly limited authority? Again, some personal loyalty is probably involved, but the scale of Lookout Landing, the support of far away-located Bolson construction and the loyalty of the Stable Association implies that there’s more going on.

The Selectorate theory of government suggests that dictatorial power, be it an absolutist monarchy or a military dictatorship, is based on monetary gifts/bribes. With adequate wealth, a would-be ruler can buy the loyalty of anyone important (and probably raise an army as well) and this relationship, in turn, shapes political behaviour. The YouTube channel GCP Grey has a great summary of the theory. Applying real-world political economics to a video game is, maybe, a non-starter, but Zelda does seem to be doing this. In Breath of the Wild, people who snuck into Hyrule Castle were called treasure hunters. In Tears of the Kingdom, by contrast, they get called thieves. Zelda clearly understands the political importance of the treasury. The castle’s treasure has undoubtedly augmented Zelda’s forces (one of her main soldiers, Hoz, was called a mercenary in Breath of the Wild). Were I to guess, I’d say that the handful of soldiers wearing proper armour are genuine royalists and the rest are just being paid. The treasure would also pay Bolson Construction for its services and perhaps allow a buyout of the Stable Association (which would also create a source of royal revenue). I don’t think that Lookout Landing is located beside the castle for sentimental value (nor do I think it was a lucky coincidence that they had a huge telescope pointing at the castle just when the game’s events called for one). It’s there to protect the treasury and it’s shown to have sent militia soldiers to do just that.

On an initially unrelated sidenote, why didn’t the Yiga Clan cause more trouble in the century before the games started? Why didn’t they kill Link in his sleep or destroy the Stable Association? Why didn’t they mess with local leaders or attack Robbie at the Akkala Ancient Tech Lab? In Breath of the Wild, they’re completely occupied by the Gerudo and limit themselves to attacking travellers. But now in Tears, with Hyrule rebuilding, the Yiga Clan is suddenly very active. Not only have they occupied the Depths, but they’ve ramped up their assassination efforts (actively setting traps for Link), they’ve kidnapped people and set them to work, conquered the Great Plateau and set up bases across the country. They don’t even bother to stay hidden much anymore (the Yiga Blademaster Station is on a major road). So why were they so comparatively inactive before Hyrule’s restoration? When it was more vulnerable? It could be a social response to Zelda’s absolutist designs. The fact that Hylians are now joining them might be because the Yiga oppose the new monarchical state encroaching on those Hylians (the Yiga are seen as an anti-royalty resistance). This would, naturally, augment the Yiga Clan’s numbers and allow them to expand. But their bases are still poorly guarded and it wouldn’t take much effort to overrun them. That the Yiga can be so brazen speaks to the continued weakness of Hyrule’s new monarchical state, but it still doesn’t explain why they were so inactive when the monarchy’s power was practically non-existent.

What does all this have to do with Secret Sheikah Ninjas? Okay, there would likely have been a moment, in the immediate aftermath of Breath, when Hyrule castle was completely unguarded. The horrifying monster was gone and there weren’t yet any guards to keep out the treasure hunters. So why wasn’t the treasure stolen? NPCs in Breath expressed a lot of interest in the Castle’s treasure; why didn’t they nick it all? Alternatively, why didn’t the Yiga take the treasure? True, Master Kohga was briefly lost (arguably a plus) but the Yiga in Breath were well-organised even after he fell down the hole. If they had seized the castle, they could have taken over Hyrule (or at least tried to). Instead, they continued their strange pre-Tears passivity (sticking to the Gerudo region). There must be more going on and I think the most likely answer is the Sheikah Tribe.

The Shiekah have always been a mysterious group in the Legend of Zelda. Breath of the Wild was the first proper look at their culture and society but, to my mind, left some questions unanswered. Whilst the Yiga Clan, a rebellious offshoot of the Sheikah, has a large force of Ninja-esc warriors, the Sheikah don’t seem to have any. They have a few older warriors guarding their hometown, Kakariko, but aside from a brief flashback in Breath, neither game has any Sheikah warriors in their prime. Rola, in the Sheikah archery shop, even comments on the lack of young archers. Indeed, the Sheikah don’t have many young people generally. There are some, but a lot of the Kakariko people are old. Nor do any of the Sheikah (besides that flashback) wear the Ninja-esc Sheikah armour. But they do still make the armour. They are also considered an adequate threat that, in Breath, the Yiga clan feels the need to spy on them. It’s also implied that the Sheikah do a lot of travelling. Pikango is a travelling Sheikah painter; Rola says she’s from Lurelin (suggesting that her husband Cado has been there) and Dorian, a former Yiga clan member who fell in love with a Sheikah woman, was able to settle in Kakariko without any of the Sheikah thinking “hey, where did this random Sheikah guy appear from?” That’s a lot of travelling for a town initially depicted as quiet and secluded. Then there’s Lasli, a young Sheikah woman who kept her relationship with the now-deceased Jarod (buried in Kakariko’s graveyard and thus likely a Sheikah himself) a secret; indicating that she wasn’t supposed to be seeing him and, by extension, that he wasn’t supposed to be in Kakariko.

To speculate wildly, I think that most young Sheikah spend their days traveling Hyrule as Ninja-esc warriors, gathering information (to keep Impa well informed) and fighting a secret war against the Yiga Clan. It was these Secret Sheikah Ninjas who protected the Great Plateau and kept Link safe from the Yiga, who protected the ancient tech labs and guarded Robbie and Purah. They probably kept the Stable Association safe from Yiga assassins as well. The Yiga, struggling to combat the Sheikah, may have withdrawn the bulk of their strength to the Gerudo desert largely in response to the superior Sheikah fighters. Only after traveling and fighting for many years, do the young Sheikah warriors return to Kakariko to raise and train a new generation of warriors. The Sheikah, moreover, are genuinely loyal to the Hyrulean royal family, requiring no bribes. First, because the Sheikah swore loyalty, directly, to the Goddess Hylia in Skyward Sword and their cultural traditions would probably emphasise that. Second, because the Sheikah leaders and Elders were personal friends and confidants of the Hyrulean royal family and, third, because the Sheikah that disliked the royals stopped being Sheikah and became Yiga. Those that remain Sheikah are probably royalists.

The treasure in Hyrule castle remained safe and allowed Zelda to start rebuilding her kingdom because Sheikah warriors were immediately available to guard it. They probably still are guarding it, to some extent, and acting as informal military police amongst the Hylian recruits. Indeed, Lookout Landing is under Sheikah management, via Purah. This would also explain why the Yiga clan is more aggressive in Tears. Despite the newly forming Hyrulean army, the Sheikah are now overstretched. Where once they could concentrate all their efforts on combating the Yiga, they’re now helping to rebuild the Kingdom. They have to run Lookout Landing, guard the Castle and protect the Stable Association. They would also need to guard (and then later find) Zelda herself. That so many NPCs know Zelda but don’t know Link implies that he often wasn’t with her (Link probably spends his time training troops at Lookout Landing, where the NPCs do know him, and fighting off various monster invasions. Zelda would then need alternative protectors, especially with the Yiga clan expanding, and the Sheikah warriors are the obvious candidates. The Yiga clan has expanded in the face of a growing, but still noticeably weak, monarchical state because the Sheikah warriors are now too preoccupied to contain them.

Going from “How has Zelda acquired all this power?” to “There are ninjas in Hyrule” feels like a bit of a weird trajectory. It might also be weird to apply a real-life theory of dictatorship to a video game (it certainly makes Zelda seem a tad evil). But that’s where my thought process has led and honestly, I’m down for it. The idea that there’s a covert ninja war going on behind the scenes in Breath and Tears makes me love these games even more.

-Dexter