Our tale begins with Link attending the Picori Festival. Held once every 100 years, the festival commemorates the sealing of an evil force by the Hero of Men, but the hero was not alone. According to Hyrule Historia, the Minish tribe descended from the heavens and gifted the Hylians with the Picori Blade and the Light Force. Armed with these tools, the kingdom defeated the dark beings and sealed the evil within a chest.
To celebrate the accomplishments of both Hylian and Minish, the festival’s main event is a sword-fighting tournament. Competitors from all over the world compete for the honor of touching the Picori Blade that sealed the darkness so many years ago.
It is during the Picori Festival when we first meet Vaati. The King of Hyrule proudly announces that Vaati has won the sword-fighting tournament and beckons the champion to touch the Picori Blade. As his shadowy figure entered the screen for the first time, I immediately sensed that Vaati had ulterior motives. His mysterious design reminded me of previous Zelda villains, so I braced for the inevitable. As Vaati approaches the pedestal, the guards feel that something is afoot. Desiring the contents of the chest, Vaati attacks the guards and breaks the Picori Blade, which releases the evil beings from the chest.
To Vaati’s dismay, the chest does not contain the power that he seeks. My first impression was that this new villain simply lusted for power, but I was clueless as to his underlying motivation. As Zelda is about to intervene with a mysterious power of her own, Vaati seems to acknowledge her strength. In an attempt to prevent a future distraction, Vaati uses his magic to turn the princess into a stone statue. Link is also knocked unconscious, and Vaati leaves the ceremony determined to locate the sacred power.
Link recovers and learns that the Four Elements harness the power to restore the Picori Blade and save Zelda. But what was Vaati’s true intentions? Did he simply want to send the kingdom of Hyrule into chaos, or was his quest more personal in nature? Our hero soon teams up with a talking hat named Ezlo and sets off on a quest to save the princess. After obtaining two of the elements, Vaati makes another appearance. It is here that we learn Ezlo and Vaati are more than just acquaintances.
Ezlo reveals that he is a renowned Minish mage and Vaati is his former apprentice. Ezlo created a magical cap that he intended to present to the King of Hyrule during the Picori Festival. Vaati, knowing that the magical cap could grant the wishes of its master, claimed the cap and its power as his own. In a power-induced rage, Vaati transformed Ezlo into a green cap.
As the cutscene progressed, my assumption was that Vaati simply lusted for power to control the world. Vaati’s ambition had combined with the opportunity to steal Ezlo’s magical cap, which created a combustible situation. I soon learned that Vaati’s motivations were much more complicated.
As Ezlo begins to explain Vaati’s underlying desires, I was immediately reminded of the movie Inception. The stories in The Minish Cap and Inception explore a similar topic: The power of a single thought. The movie’s protagonist, Cobb (played by Leonardo DiCaprio) explains, “An idea is like a virus. Resilient. Highly contagious. And even the smallest seed of an idea can grow. It can grow to define or destroy you.” In the case of Vaati, the latter comes true.
The idea that poisoned Vaati’s mind was none other than a fascination with the wickedness of men. What likely began as a light-hearted study into anthropology turned into an obsession. As Vaati’s knowledge of evil men increased, so did his desire to harness their power. The scholar began to crave that which he studied. The seed had been planted. The seed that would ultimately destroy a promising sage.
In the case of Vaati, his ambition collided with opportunity to steal Ezlo’s magical cap. Once he decided to claim the power as his own, Vaati’s ensuing actions seemed to grow erratic. Like a snowball rolling down an embankment, every step from this point forward is another step toward Vaati’s eventual demise. As time continues to pass, Vaati’s craving for the Light Force intensifies.
No longer content to search the realm on his own, Vaati possesses the King of Hyrule and commands the guards to scour the land for the hidden power. The seed of destruction grows as Vaati commands the guards to imprison all who stand in their way. The guards reluctantly comply as Link and Elzo continue to search for the remaining two elements.
As erratic as Vaati appeared, I was caught off-guard by his patience. Upon obtaining the Four Elements, Link and Ezlo return to the Elemental Sanctuary to unlock the Picori Blade’s true power. A secret door opens, revealing a set of beautiful murals that tell the history of Minish and man. Vaati, hiding in the shadows, discovers that the Light Force has been hiding in plain sight all along. The Light Force is contained within Princess Zelda!
Vaati sweeps Zelda to the roof of the castle and begins extracting the Light Force from her body. With each passing moment, Vaati descends further into the abyss. The point of no return quickly approaches, and with the ritual almost complete, Link enters the sanctum to prevent Vaati from stealing the entirety of Zelda’s Light Force. Confident that he could defeat a simple boy, Vaati stops the ritual to battle Link and Ezlo.
Finally possessing what he craved from the beginning, Vaati transforms into a majestic sage titled Vaati Reborn. With the Light Force flowing through his veins, Vaati had become the wickedness that he studied for so long. Memories of Ezlo’s kindness begin to fade and are replaced with thoughts of hatred and anger.
Despite the superior magic and beams of light emitting from his eyes, Vaati slowly begins to fall at the hand of Link and the Picori Blade. With each sword strike, Link chips away at the remaining pieces of Vaati’s own humanity. As Link deals what appears to be the final blow, Vaati seems to be given one final chance: die as a human villain or shed his mortal body in favor of supernatural evil.
Ambition and opportunity collide once again, and Vaati’s choice seals his own fate. As he sheds a human form in favor of a demonic beast called Vaati Transfigured, Vaati embraces the abyss. There is no turning back. What began as a promising career is now destined for tragedy. Link cannot save him. Ezlo cannot save him. All that can be done is to seal the darkness. Link and Ezlo, channeling the power of the Picori Blade, defeat Vaati Transformed and save Princess Zelda. In his dying breath, Vaati attempts to bring the castle down on Link and Zelda.
Remembrance of his former life as a Picori is all but gone. The friends he had made and the relationships he had built are all forgotten in a lust for wicked men’s power. In a last-ditch effort to stop our heroes, Vaati unleashes the remainder of the Light Force and transforms into Vaati’s Wrath. Link descends into the depths of Hyrule Castle to stop Vaati one last time.
No longer capable of cognitive thought, Vaati attacks our hero in a fit of rage. With a final sword blow, Link defeats Vaati’s Wrath. The magical cap that Ezlo created for the Picori Festival is removed. Ezlo is restored to his true form and enlists Zelda’s aid in restoring the kingdom of Hyrule. Using the final powers of the magical cap, Zelda and Ezlo rebuild Hyrule Castle and restore the kingdom to its former glory. Vaati is presumed to be dead.
A single idea embedded within a talented apprentice proved to be the ultimate destroyer. The virus won. The Minish Vaati is no more.
