Vaati

Vaati is the main villain in The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap, The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords and the The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures. Vaati is a Wind Mage in Four Swords and Four Swords Adventures, and is seen taking on two main forms during these games, both resembling a flying eyeball. Vaati is the second most recurring villain in the Zelda series, after Ganon. He also takes a humanoid form in addition to his monster forms in The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap.

The Minish Cap
The origin of Vaati is told in the adventures that Link faced with the Minish Cap. Originally of the Minish race, Vaati was fascinated by the evil that could come from the heart of man. When his master, Ezlo, fashioned a powerful cap as a gift for the humans, Vaati stole the cap, and transformed his master, so that he would not stop him. Then, taking human form, Vaati set out to find the means to allow him to become the greatest sorcerer the world had ever seen. Vaati wanted ultimate power, and sought to obtain the mystical Light Force; a source of limitless magical power contained within Hyrule's princess. When he finally learned of its location he took the princess to Hyrule Castle to complete his plan. There, Vaati managed to steal some of the Light Force from Princess Zelda, using it to transform himself into a god-like being in order to combat Link. He was defeated and, in a desperate attempt to survive, took the form of the one-eyed creature he is most commonly seen as today. However, despite his new found power, Vaati was defeated by Link. What became of him at the end of The Minish Cap is unknown, however it is presumed that he was some how sealed in the Elemental Sanctury with the Four Sword at the end of the game although it isn't really shown.. Alternatively, in the Minish Cap manga, Vaati returns to Hylian, then Minish form, breaks the curse on Ezlo, and the two reconcile and return to the Minish world. The manga explains that he had a hard life as Ezlo's apprentice, for which Link actually sympathizes with him.

Four Swords's back story
Appearing from nowhere, Vaati, now a Wind Mage (unlike in The Minish Cap) and solely taking the form of a flying eyeball-type monster, took to kidnapping any maidens he fancied. A number of heroes fought against him, but they all failed to defeat him. One day a mysterious boy carrying a "cursed" blade used the powers of the sword to split into four beings, and used this advantage to weaken Vaati and seal him inside the blade that the people would eventually name the "Four Sword".

Four Swords and Four Swords Adventures
Released from his prison within the Four Sword, Vaati kidnaps Princess Zelda, forcing Link to go off and search for the princess. After Link rescued Zelda and sealed Vaati within the Four Sword, Hyrule was at peace, until Ganondorf stole the Dark Mirror and created Shadow Link to kidnap Zelda and the Shrine Maidens and trick Link into drawing the Four Sword and releasing Vaati. During Link's adventure to save Hyrule he found out that Vaati was not the real enemy, that Ganondorf created Shadow Link to trick Link into releasing Vaati to distract him so Ganondorf could steal the Trident to transform into Ganon and take over Hyrule. Vaati's fate is unknown at the end of Four Swords Adventures, however. He seems to have died, but his death animation was more similar to being warped into the Dark World than the explosion deaths that are used most often to indicate an enemy has died.

In the Manga adaption, he has a similar role, though it's unknown if he directly worked for Ganondorf was just being manipulated by him. Unlike the video game, it's actually Dark Link (who turned to not be as evil as earlier depicted) who kills him, by destroying the Dark Mirror, which kept Vaati from being killed by the four Links.

Possible Ocarina of Time cameo
In Ocarina of Time, a possible cameo of Vaati can be seen. As an adult, if Link enters the Shooting Gallery in Kakariko Village, looking to the left will show three posters on the wall. These three posters contain an image of a creature strongly resembling Vaati in his wind mage form. However, this might have been a reference to other enemies, like Queen Gohma, who are characterized by their single eye. Furthermore, Ocarina of Time was released roughly five years prior to Vaati's first appearance, in Four Swords. Also, another possible cameo can be seen in the Spirit Temple, above a Hylian inscription on the Eastern wall in the room containing the 'Anubis' enemies. It is possible that this is in fact a cameo of Dethl, the final boss from Link's Awakening, which would fit since Link's Awakening was released prior to Ocarina of Time.

Vaati