1. Strictly chronologically speaking, even though he's physically and mentally only nineteen, he's a few hundred years old. He's just happened to have spent most of those four-hundred-odd years dead.
2. Consequentially, he's seen a hell of a lot of change, whenever he was brought back - he's seen Kakariko Village, for instance, go from a little Sheikah community along their usual travel routes, to a stable Sheikah town, to a small Hylian village. That last change took place only ten years before he was brought back this time, and he's still not used to the idea of Hylians in Kakariko.
3. When he was younger, he trained as a musician, but instead, he was one of those selected to become a Royal Guardian when he was thirteen (he left a little after his fourteenth birthday - technically it was a great honour, but he resented it for at least a few months).
4. His death at the age of nineteen, in saving the Prince of Hyrule's life, was actually preventable (had the Prince just used the red potion he had in his pack). But it was a clean, relatively non-traumatic death, and he was still fairly lucid even after being run through with a sword, so the Prince found it best for Sheik to be sworn in as a Shadow Guardian instead.
5. His role as a Shadow Guardian means that he can be brought back by members of the Royal Family to serve, in between stints on the River of the Dead. It generally only lasts a few months before the magic decays, but if he's sustained with another's form, like with Zelda, it can be maintained for years. He doesn't know the upper limit of that.
6. 'Sheik' isn't his real name - it's the name given to any Sheikah who's either a) a royal servant (this later changed so that higher-ranked servants, like Impa, could use their own names), or b) Shadow Guardians. Sheik has been both of these, and has no idea what his original name is.
7. Two or so hundred years ago, he had a short, intense affair with the princess he had been brought back to protect. The contract ended and Sheik returned to the River before he found out she had fallen pregnant. The princess miscarried a few months later, which was... probably for the best, as red Sheikah eyes tend to be a dominant trait.
8. As a rule, Shadow Guardians aren't supposed to remember any of their previous lives. But the longer these lives last, the better chance there is of remembering ones that came before it. Having been around for seven years this time, he's started remembering... a good number of these. The only one he has absolutely no recollection of is his first, living flesh-and-blood life.
9. As a result of remembering dying a few dozen times, sometimes quite painfully, he has a few... uh, issues. This mostly manifests in the form of bad nightmares - Zelda is learning how to suppress and soothe these for him, since she'd share them as well.
10. He had always known that Link would be sent back to his own time - despite that and the notable handicap that he won't live to see the end of his quest, he still has feelings for him. Oops.
no subject
1. Strictly chronologically speaking, even though he's physically and mentally only nineteen, he's a few hundred years old. He's just happened to have spent most of those four-hundred-odd years dead.
2. Consequentially, he's seen a hell of a lot of change, whenever he was brought back - he's seen Kakariko Village, for instance, go from a little Sheikah community along their usual travel routes, to a stable Sheikah town, to a small Hylian village. That last change took place only ten years before he was brought back this time, and he's still not used to the idea of Hylians in Kakariko.
3. When he was younger, he trained as a musician, but instead, he was one of those selected to become a Royal Guardian when he was thirteen (he left a little after his fourteenth birthday - technically it was a great honour, but he resented it for at least a few months).
4. His death at the age of nineteen, in saving the Prince of Hyrule's life, was actually preventable (had the Prince just used the red potion he had in his pack). But it was a clean, relatively non-traumatic death, and he was still fairly lucid even after being run through with a sword, so the Prince found it best for Sheik to be sworn in as a Shadow Guardian instead.
5. His role as a Shadow Guardian means that he can be brought back by members of the Royal Family to serve, in between stints on the River of the Dead. It generally only lasts a few months before the magic decays, but if he's sustained with another's form, like with Zelda, it can be maintained for years. He doesn't know the upper limit of that.
6. 'Sheik' isn't his real name - it's the name given to any Sheikah who's either a) a royal servant (this later changed so that higher-ranked servants, like Impa, could use their own names), or b) Shadow Guardians. Sheik has been both of these, and has no idea what his original name is.
7. Two or so hundred years ago, he had a short, intense affair with the princess he had been brought back to protect. The contract ended and Sheik returned to the River before he found out she had fallen pregnant. The princess miscarried a few months later, which was... probably for the best, as red Sheikah eyes tend to be a dominant trait.
8. As a rule, Shadow Guardians aren't supposed to remember any of their previous lives. But the longer these lives last, the better chance there is of remembering ones that came before it. Having been around for seven years this time, he's started remembering... a good number of these. The only one he has absolutely no recollection of is his first, living flesh-and-blood life.
9. As a result of remembering dying a few dozen times, sometimes quite painfully, he has a few... uh, issues. This mostly manifests in the form of bad nightmares - Zelda is learning how to suppress and soothe these for him, since she'd share them as well.
10. He had always known that Link would be sent back to his own time - despite that and the notable handicap that he won't live to see the end of his quest, he still has feelings for him. Oops.