For this installment on our exploration of Project X, we will finally discuss the protagonist of the story, the last male of the Sheikah Tribe, and how he was meant to transform into the Master Sword.

This post is part 4 of a multi-part series. If you haven't seen the previous two posts, the links are listed below:

Part 1: https://www.reddit.com/r/zelda/comments/1rfylyw/other_retro_studios_project_x_deep_dive_multipart/

Part 2: https://www.reddit.com/r/zelda/comments/1rkf66i/other_retro_studios_project_x_deep_dive_multipart/

Part 3: https://www.reddit.com/r/zelda/comments/1s5tsn0/other_retro_studios_project_x_deep_dive_multipart/

Possible Cut Content from Ocarina of Time:

Left: \"Spirit Style Harp\" by Sammy Hall, Right: Official Sheik art from Ocarina of Time

It's no question that the protagonist of Project X was based off of Sheik, Princess Zelda's alter ego, from Ocarina of Time. The protagonist was designed with a similar costume, body type, and poses as Sheik. There's one piece of concept art, shown above, that even shows the protagonist with a harp, which is also associated with Sheik. According to descriptions by developers and the concept artist Sammy Hall, the main protagonist is the last male Sheikah in existence. Even though the character, being male, wasn't meant to literally be Sheik, the developers often referred to this character simply as "Sheik," leading to some confusion over the identity of the protagonist.

The question is, why base a character so closely on Sheik rather than just making an actual Sheik game? Wading into more speculative waters, I suspect that in the early development of Ocarina of Time, Sheik may have started as his own independent character before it was decided to make him the alter ego of Zelda. One piece of possible evidence is this concept art below, which appears to show Sheik his face uncovered, and evidently is not Zelda.

Ocarina of Time concept art from Hyrule Historia

One common counter argument to my theory is that the person in the picture is actually meant to depict Impa, but thus far I haven't found any Impa concept art that aligns with this depiction above. With that said, I'll leave it to you, the reader, to decide and make your own opinion. I suspect that Project X was actually second attempt at making the idea of a male Sheik character work. With that, now lets get back to the concept art for Project X.

The Protagonist's Weapon:

Left: \"Hatch Intro Sketch\" by Sammy Hall, Right: Official Master Sword art from A Link to the Past

Just as important as the protagonist himself, is his weapon, since the protagonist was meant to merge with his weapon to eventually become the next Master Sword. The image above has two pictures. The first is a piece by Sammy Hall called "Hatch Intro Sketch." Based on the name of this piece, it appears to be a sketch of what would have been the intro sequence for the game. It shows the protagonist's main weapon, an armblade, stuck into a rock in a grassy field with trees off in the distance. This appears to be clear foreshadowing of it's eventual transformation into the Master Sword and it's pedestal. The second piece, which I placed for comparison purposes, is official art from A Link to the Past, that I accessed through the History of Hyrule website, showing the Master Sword in it's pedestal in the Sacred Grove within the Lost Woods. Though his weapon is clearly an armblade, some of the art shown in the previous installments that I've posted seem to indicate the weapon could transform into a longer-range polearm.

The Spirit of the Master Sword:

Left: \"Spirit Style Ortho 01\", Right: \"Spirit Style Color\" by Sammy Hall

When looking at the concept art for the protagonist, I noticed a pattern. The artist Sammy Hall, when coming up with file names for the concept art of the protagonist, often included the term "spirit." An example of this comes from the image above, which is a combination of two of Sammy Hall's pieces. The first (left to right) is called "Spirit Style Ortho 01," and the second is called "Spirit Style Color." My interpretation of this is that this is a reference to the protagonist being the "spirit" of the Master Sword. This idea of the Master Sword having a spirit would eventually be reused by Nintendo to develop Fi from Skyward Sword.

Looking more closely at Spirit Style Ortho 01, the protagonist has a Sheikah eye symbol on his chest. His armblade, when not in use, is kept on his lower back using some sort of circular contraption that holds the blade in place. The hero also has a cape with an "M" shape on it, likely another reference to the Master Sword. In Spirit Style Color we see the color version of this concept art. The color palette is about what one would expect for a character based off of Sheik. His hair is depicted as purple in this piece, but it appears there was difficulty in settling on an exact hair color. Some of the pieces also show him with dark purple hair, but others show him with the standard Sheikah white hair. Others still, depict him with the blonde hair of Sheik/Zelda.

The next image I have is again a combination of two of Sammy Hall's works. The top half of the image is "Spirit Style Ortho 02," while the bottom half is "Spirit Style Ortho 05." These images are more sketches of the protagonist and his proportions. Here we have another detailed look at the protagonist's costume, including his high collar that covers the lower half of his face, and his turban-like head covering.

Top: \"Spirit Style Ortho 02\", Bottom: \"Spirit Style Ortho 05\" by Sammy Hall

This next set of images is "Spirit Style Ortho 03" on the top half of the image, and "Spirit Style Ortho 04" on the bottom half of the image. Both of these images show more fleshed out sketches of the protagonist. Spirit Style Ortho 03 shows how the protagonist would wield and carry his armblade in more detail, showing how it fits on his arm when fighting, and how it rests against his back when not in use. Spirit Style Ortho 03 also shows the protagonists cursed cape, which is a feature I will discuss in more detail in the next installment of this series. Spirit Style Ortho 04, on the other hand, shows more concept art for the device that holds the protagonist's armblade in place when resting it against his back.

Top: \"Spirit Style Ortho 03\", Bottom: \"Spirit Style Ortho 04\" by Sammy Hall

In the next set of images below we have concept art of just the protagonist's face. The left side of the image is called "Ghost Face," while the right side of the image is called "Ghost Face Thumbs." The term "ghost" used in naming these images appears to be a play on the concept of "spirit," again going back to the concept that the protagonist will eventually become the spirit of the Master Sword.

Left: \"Ghost Face\", Right: \"Ghost Face Thumbs\" by Sammy Hall

This last set of images of the protagonist contains three works by Sammy Hall. All three show the artist Sammy Hall experimenting with depicting the protagonist as an older, grittier figure. In all three the protagonist is bearded to convey his more advanced age. The first image, in the upper left, is a rough sketch called "Spirit Raw." On the upper right, is a color version of the same sketch called "Beard Color." The bottom image shows a closeup of the protagonist's bearded face, called "Spirit Raw Face."

Top Left: \"Spirit Raw\", Top Right: \"Beard Color\", Bottom: \"Spirit Raw Face\" by Sammy Hall

Forge Shrines:

The protagonist, while on his journey to forge himself into the next Master Sword, has to find "Forges" to progress forward towards this goal. This appears to be very similar to how the Sacred Flame Sanctuaries are used to upgrade the Goddess Sword in Skyward Sword. In fact, the Sacred Flame Sanctuaries may have been inspired by these forge shrines. Below is a picture with four separate images. To the left, there is a piece of concept art of one of these forge shrines, simply named "Forge Shrine." To the right are the three Sacred Flames from Skyward Sword for comparison:

Left: \"Forge Shrine\" by Sammy Hall, Right: Sacred Flames from Skyward Sword

The forge shrine pictured above appears to have been hidden within a mysterious spectral castle. Below is an image of the castle itself, with the file name "Spectral Mood."

\"Spectral Mood\" by Sammy Hall

Next is an image of more concept art of the castle. The left half of the image below is named "Spectral Castle Thumbs 01," while the right half is named "Spectral Castle Thumbs 02."

\"Spectral Castle Thumbs 01\" and \"Spectral Castle Thumbs 02\" by Sammy Hall

Besides the forge shrine shown above, there is one other image of a forge shrine. The image is simple named "Forge," and features a giant flying white sperm whale.

\"Forge\" by Sammy Hall, with the caption \"Kindlerfish\"

Hanging below the flying whale is the forge that the protagonist must reach to continue his quest. This forge in particular emits a blue flame, which is a color typically associated with the goddess Nayru. Being a white sperm whale, it's fairly certain the artist, Sammy Hall, was inspired by the famous white whale, Moby Dick. The original caption for this image before Sammy Hall deleted his Artstation account, was "Kindlerfish," which appears to be a riffing off of the Windfish from Link's Awakening.

The Kindlerfish may have played a part in inspiring another flying whale found in the Zelda franchise, that being Levias. On page 39 of Hyrule Historia, it notes that the developers considered basing Levias on a few different creatures, including a catfish, a dugong, and a turtle. But the version the developers went with is specifically referred to as "Sperm Whale Type." Another white sperm whale that appears in Phantom Hourglass is Oshus the Ocean King. Though, the similarity of the Ocean King to the Kindlerfish may simply be due to both being inspired by Moby Dick.

A Possible Antagonist

\"Seeker Counter Speedpaint\" by Sammy Hall

In the image above, named "Seeker Counter Speedpaint," a white figure is shown in the background with a Sheikah symbol on his chest. This may be the protagonist himself, either in a powered up form, or further along in his quest to become the next master sword. In the foreground is a dark hooded figure with tentacles emerging from his cloak. In his hands are similar weapons to the protagonist's armblade, and the two characters seem to be in a standoff.

My assessment of this image is that this dark figure may be this game's equivalent to Ghirahim. This figure seems to be in league with the Dark Gerudo in attempting to resurrect a new form of Ganon. He or she may be an opposing figure trying to become a weapon for Ganon. In Skyward Sword, Ghirahim is revealed to be the spirit of Demise's Sword, and a sort of mirror opposite to Fi. Below is some concept art for Ghirahim's transformation into a sword from Hyrule Historia, but accessed through the History of Hyrule website:

Ghirahim concept art from Hyrule Historia

That's it for this installment. For the next installment, I'll discuss battle stages, wolf enemies, and the protagonist also transforming into a wolf.