Prince Sidon

Concept and creation

Prince Sidon is a character from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, created by designer Yuko Miyakawa. She was instructed to craft a passionate, dignified, and powerful figure with a physique stronger than that of other Zora. Miyakawa incorporated a hammerhead shark motif into his head design, which ultimately inspired the game's development team to give him an in-universe fan club. Sidon was originally grey, but his color was changed for several reasons: the rainy weather in Zora's Domain when players first encounter him, and a wish to make him look more like his older sister, Mipha.

Like all Zora, Sidon is a humanoid with fish-like features. His body is primarily red or dark pink, and a tail fin rises from the top of his head. He is taller than the average Hyrulean and also tall by Zora standards. Because Zora age slowly, Sidon is considered a young man even though he is over a century old.

He wears minimal clothing, typical of his race, but his outfit includes items that mark him as Zora royalty: a scarf, epaulettes, bracelets, and a belt.

Sidon's Japanese name comes from the solfege notes ti and do. This follows a pattern with his sister Mipha, whose name is derived from mi and fa, and other Zora characters whose names are based on musical terms. Sound director Hajime Wakai and composer Yasuaki Iwata intentionally used these note pairs to create musical themes for the siblings and as leitmotifs elsewhere in the game. As the prince of the Zora and a leader of his people, Sidon has a friendly, brave, and optimistic personality, often striking poses during gameplay.

His muscular build and smile have made him a fan favorite, with many treating him as a heartthrob. Producer Eiji Aonuma and game director Hidemaro Fujibayashi initially found his personality overly enthusiastic, feeling it was too much, but after refining it, they grew to love the character. They were not surprised by his popularity. Sidon is the son of King Dorephan, ruler of Zora's Domain, placing him next in line for the throne.

He shows deep respect for his late older sister, Mipha, which adds an emotional layer to his story. In the Japanese version, Sidon is voiced by Kosuke Onishi, and in the English version by James D. Mortellaro, in both Breath of the Wild and Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity.

Reception

Prince Sidon was first introduced in Breath of the Wild, and the response to him has been almost entirely positive. Polygon placed him among the 70 best video game characters of the 2010s, with one writer noting that he captured the internet's heart more than any other character in the game, praising both his looks and his kind nature. She also liked his dynamic with Link and expressed a wish to see him again in the sequel. Holly Green of Paste listed Sidon among the best video game characters of 2017, calling him amazingly supportive and positive, complimenting his strong build, and comparing his enthusiastic thumbs up and smile to a young Dale Cooper.

Another Polygon writer, Michael McWhertor, highlighted his sex appeal. GameSpot described Sidon as endearing rather than a snobbish royal, and said his popularity was no surprise. CJ Andriessen of Destructoid thought Sidon deserved his own game because he radiated sunshine in everything he did and said.

Sidon's popularity has led to a large amount of fan art, tweets, and memes, much of it focused on his sexual attractiveness. Susanna Polo of Polygon noted that his appeal became obvious to her from the sheer volume of fan art and screenshots on sites like Twitter and Tumblr. In fan fiction and fandom spaces, he is often paired romantically with Link, the male protagonist. This pairing is commonly called Sidlink. Its popularity stems from the friendly and encouraging way Sidon interacts with Link in the game, especially during conversations. When Tears of the Kingdom revealed Yona as Sidon's fiancée, the reaction was mostly negative. Many fans insisted that the character should have remained single or been portrayed as gay or in love with Link.