Characters / Bound Destinies Trilogy: Blood and Spirit

Sheik

Impa's successor as leader of the Sheikah tribe, and the leader of the Sheikah that remain loyal to Hylia/Zelda. She serves as the Tritagonist of Blood and Spirit.

• Benevolent Mage Ruler: She's certainly on the side of good, clearly has some magical abilities and is the leader of the Sheikah tribe.
• Canon Foreigner: Word of God makes it clear that this Sheik is a completely separate being from Zelda.
• Deadpan Snarker: Particularly during her conversations with Link.
• Determinator: Much like Link, she never gives up without a fight.

• Facial Markings: She has the Sheikah symbol tattooed on her face.
• Famous Ancestor: She's a descendant of the original Impa.

• Good Is Not Soft: She's as tough as nails and yet also on the side of good without question.
• Go Out with a Smile: She passes away peacefully and with a smile on her face in chapter 37.

• Heroic Sacrifice: When Veress tries one last attack on a distracted Link, Sheik jumps in the path of her attack, getting mortally wounded in the process.
• Honor Before Reason: During a flashback in chapter 14, she calls Veress out for using advanced fighting techniques in a sparring session. Earlier in chapter 13, she also berates Veress for not fighting fair.
• Hopeless Suitor: Because of both her tribe's laws against love and the fact that Link is already in a relationship with Zelda, Sheik never had a chance with the hero, as much as she wished she could have.
• In Name Only: Word of God makes it clear that this Sheik is a completely separate being from Zelda.
• It's All My Fault: Blames herself for the current predicament with Veress and the Interlopers, stating that she should have tracked them down and stopped them when she had the chance. Link, however, reassures her that she is not at fault and couldn't possibly have known what Veress was planning.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: She finds herself attracted to Link in spite of the Sheikah's taboos against romantic love, but when she realizes that Link only loves Zelda, she resolves to be happy for them.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She comes across as this to Link when they first meet.
• Just Friends: With Link, though she wishes they were more.
• Legacy of Service: Much like Impa before her, Sheik views it as her responsibility to protect the goddess's reincarnation.
• Letting Her Hair Down: She lets her hair down in chapter 23.
• Light Feminine and Dark Feminine/Betty and Veronica: The dark feminine/Veronica to Zelda's light feminine/Betty.
• Longing Look: She gives Link a lot of these.
• Love Hurts: Over the course of the story, she starts to fall for Link, only to discover that he's in love with Zelda. Things are only made worse when the couple asks her to put on a marriage ceremony for them, which she reluctantly complies to do, even though seeing them together breaks her heart.
• Not So Stoic: She initially comes across as very cold and aloof, but in chapter 18, as she watches Link and Zelda affirm their love to each other from afar, she silently cries in mourning over the fact that the hero she loves will never return her feelings.
• Now or Never Kiss: She gives on to Link in chapter 22, fearing that she may never see him again as he's about to surrender himself to the Interloper's custody.
• Rank Scales with Asskicking: Badass in charge of the Sheikah tribe.
• Sugar-and-Ice Personality: She is often distant, stoic and duty-bound around most people, but its clear to see that her brighter, more cheerful side often shines when she's near Link.
• Something about a Rose: In chapter 37, during her funeral, it's mentioned that she always liked red roses because they remind her of the Sheikah's red eyes.
• Sour Outside, Sad Inside: While she may come across as harsh and authoritative on the outside, she harbors a lot of inner grief and regret over many things, mainly how she was partially the cause for Veress's Face–Heel Turn as well as over her unreturned affections for Link.
• Sympathy for the Devil: Ends up feeling this way towards Veress upon her defeat in chapter 37, to the extent that she forgives Veress for killing her and that her final request to Link is that they not kill her because she knows that Veress was led astray and that her old friend is still there somewhere.
• Taking the Bullet: When the defeated Veress tries one last sneak attack on Link in chapter 37, she jumps in her way and takes the bullet.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: With Fi, who she first views as an unnecessary addition to her and Link's team in finding Zelda. But they start getting along by chapter 25.
• True Sight: She's mentioned by Impa to have the "Eyes of Truth," making her immune to illusions.
• Tsundere: Type A, through and through.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Her last words, aside from a Dying Declaration of Love to Link, are a Last Request that he spare Veress' life, believing that her old friend is still in there somewhere... which gives Veress the perfect opportunity to cast a Hereditary Curse on both the Blood of the Goddess and the Spirit of the Hero to ensure that her descendants would continue to hound them for all of eternity, before being banished to the Twilight Realm. In effect, by not letting Link kill Veress when she had the chance, Sheik is indirectly responsible for the events of both Wisdom and Courage and Blood and Spirit.
• Unrequited Tragic Maiden: Her unrequited love for Link is ultimately what leads her to sacrifice her life for him.
• What the Hell, Hero?: She calls Link out quite a bit on several occasions, namely about him planning to surrender himself to the Interlopers, as well as on his choice to fight to protect Zelda, even though he's been severely wounded in chapter 26.

Veress

The leader of the Dark Interlopers, a group of traitorous Sheikah, and Veran's ancestor.

• 0% Approval Rating: While her followers are initially loyal, she starts to lose support as her Sanity Slippage takes effect. By the time of chapter 33, she's become so unhinged and violent that all of her remaining followers promptly desert her en masse. When she herself is banished to the Twilight Realm, all of the Interlopers who were sent there first openly shun her, blaming her for their imprisonment.
• Admiring the Abomination: When she meets Majora in chapter 25, she expresses respect for it given his influence over Link.
• All of the Other Reindeer: She was shunned by most of the other Sheikah as a child because she was weak and sickly, with Sheik being her only real friend.
• Amazing Technicolor Population: In chapter 32, she takes in so much power from the Fused Shadow that her skin turns blue.
• Ambition Is Evil: Part of the reason Veress went rogue is because she wanted to become Impa's successor as the Sheikah leader, but was passed over in favor of Sheik.
• Antagonist in Mourning: After her Accidental Murder of Sheik in chapter 37, Veress is left in tearful remorse, as even after everything that's happened, Veress still saw Sheik as a friend and didn't want her dead.
• Backstab Backfire: A variation; upon her defeat in chapter 37, Veress attempts one last sneak attack on Link, only for Sheik to throw herself in the way and take the bullet; Veress is left horrified over this.
• Batman Gambit: Knowing that Link is willing to do absolutely anything to keep Zelda and the surface safe, she makes him an offer he can't refuse: either surrender to her and become her prisoner, or watch as Zelda is killed and the surface is destroyed. Link, not confident that he will be able to stop her if he chooses the former option, goes with the latter and suffers greatly because of it.
• Black Magic: The Fused Shadow, of course.
• Break Them by Talking: She attempts to do this to Link by trying to convince him that Zelda is dead, and it almost works.
• Bond Villain Stupidity: She leaves Zelda unsupervised and alone in the Interlopers' stronghold because she's completely convinced that Zelda would not be able to find her way out alive. Zelda successfully does so.
• Boyish Short Hair: Her hair only goes to the nape of her neck in the back, though her front bang covers one of her eyes.
• Cold-Blooded Torture: She's more than happy to inflict this, both physically and mentally, upon Link after he surrenders to her.
• Combat Pragmatist: A flashback in chapter 14 depicted her using advanced techniques while training with Sheik.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Does this to Link in her first encounter with him. Their final showdown in chapter 37 is far more even, with neither able to get any real upper-hand for much of the fight.
• Dark Action Girl
• Doorstop Baby: Chapter 14 explains that Veress simply appeared one day as a baby, with no recorded birthing mother or father.
• Driven to Suicide: In chapter 39; with her ambitions and Evil Plan in shambles, her former followers ostracizing her, and the death of her Only Friend in the world, Veress concludes she has nothing left to live for and fatally stabs herself in the chest, Laughing Mad all the while.
• Drunk on the Dark Side: Its implied that the power of the Fused Shadow is what has driven her to her immense madness by the climax.
• Dual Wielding: Wields two golden knives.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: In chapter 37, she realizes that, even after everything that has happened, she still cares about Sheik and can't bring herself to kill her even when she has Sheik at her mercy. After Sheik Takes the Bullet for Link when Veress tries one last attack, she's actually left in tearful remorse.
• Evil Former Friend: Sheik and Veress grew up together and were best friends until Sheik was chosen to be the next leader of the Sheikah tribe instead of Veress; thus spoiling the latter's ambitions of leading the tribe into battle against Demise. This bitter jealously and hatred is one of the motivators for Veress breaking off from the main tribe and forming the Dark Interlopers.
• Evil Is Petty: Everything Veress did throughout the story is motivated by petty jealousy over Sheik for being named the leader of the Sheikah tribe over her, as well as over Link for being Hylia's Chosen One. Essentially, her entire Evil Plan, and thus the bulk of the plot of Blood and Spirit, is nothing but Veress throwing a temper tantrum over those two facts.
• Evil Redhead
• Expecting Someone Taller: During her first encounter with Link, she remarks that, for Hylia's chosen hero, he doesn't look very impressive and is Just a Kid.
  • Hypocritical Humour: As Link points out, however, she's not much older than he is.
• Expy: MiniJen states in the author's notes of chapter 33 that Veress was primarily inspired by Azula. The scene where an increasingly deranged Veress hallucinates Impa and Sheik in the mirror directly parallels Azula's own Villainous Breakdown.
• Good Girl Gone Bad: According to Sheik, Veress wasn't always as evil as she is during the main plot. In fact, she once aspired to lead the Sheikah tribe into battle against Demise himself and bring peace to the surface. She only did a Face–Heel Turn after her once-noble ambitions fell through, leading to her rebellion.
• Hope Crusher: Much like Majora, she delights in pointing out to Link (as well as Zelda) that they had no hope in standing against her and her followers.
• In the Back: She attempts to stab Link in the back in chapter 37, but ends up hitting Sheik instead.
• I've Come Too Far: Chapter 32 reveals that part of her does regret everything she's done, but she keeps going because she's convinced she's fallen too far to turn back.
• Mask of Power: Her Fused Shadow, even though she strangely never uses it as a mask.
• Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: Invoked; she turned on Hylia because she believed that, having chosen Link to defeat Demise rather than the Sheikah, Hylia had forsaken the Sheikah. Zelda, of course, insists that this is not the case.
• Never My Fault: In chapter 38, upon her defeat, she actually blames Link for Sheik's death. As Link is quick to point out, it was Veress' own botched attack and blade that killed Sheik in the first place.
• Psychopathic Manchild: The entire reason for her Heel–Face Turn is incredibly petty and childish: she was passed over as leader of the Sheikah in favor of Sheik. Essentially, the entire plotline of Blood and Spirit was kicked off because Veress is an immature brat who didn't get what she wanted.
• Psychotic Smirk: Her grin goes from cruel to crazy after her Villainous Breakdown.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Unlike Sheik's bright red eyes, hers are described as being much darker, to the point that they almost appear to be black.
• Sadist: She takes great pleasure in torturing Link both physically and emotionally while he is in her custody, and later, she gleefully attempts to murder a pregnant Zelda during the climax.
• Sanity Slippage: After Zelda, Sheik and Fi rescue Link from her, she slowly begins to fall into madness until her ultimate Villainous Breakdown in chapter 32.
• Tainted Veins: Due to her heavy usage of the Fused Shadow, blue, line-like markings begin to appear all over her skin.
• Tears of Remorse: She sheds a lot over Sheik's death.
• Underestimating Badassery: She repeatedly refuses to consider Link and Zelda any sort of major threat to her plans, which is a key factor in her defeat.
• Villainous Breakdown: She has a HUGE one in chapter 32.
• We Will Meet Again: She curses Link and Zelda before she is banished to the Twilight Realm, vowing that her descendants will constantly be at war with theirs. This later comes true in both Wisdom and Courage and Light and Shadow.
• With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: In chapter 32, she ends up going insane after getting a power boost from the Fused Shadow.
• Why Won't You Die?: She screams this to Link in absolute fury in chapter 24 after he survives her fatally stabbing him in the chest. Its quickly followed by a What the Hell Are You?:
  Veress: How does someone defy certain death not once, but twice?! Nothing, not even pain or torture, seems to break you... It's like you're not even human... Boy... What are you?