Vaati: Hyrule’s First Villain - Lore and Origins (Legend of Zelda)

[Music] the history of hyrule is also the history of ganon the primal evil to which the kingdom is inextricably linked across generations reincarnations and resurrections the king of the gerudo has plagued hyrule and the people who come between him and his ultimate goal the triforce this eternal conflict with ganon is of course the central narrative of the zelda series in all timelines in the distant past or the far future the shadow cast by the demon king is the longest and the darkest but it's not the only one another powerful sorcerer threatened hyrule long before ganondorf was born another individual driven mad by a lust for power today let's look at the origins and story of varti the wind mage vati's story begins with the story of the pikori detailed in 2004's diminish cap sometime after the events of skyward sword and the founding of the kingdom of hyrule the land was suddenly cast into darkness countless monsters appeared from nowhere as powerful as they were violent in hyrule's darkest hour when all hope seemed lost the minish appeared from the sky bringing with them a sword and a golden light a courageous hero of men took up this blade and drove back the monsters sealing them within a chest and locking it with his sword peace was restored to hyrule for a time the minish known by hylians as the picori are a mythical race of tiny people originating from the enigmatic minish realm this place is connected to hyrule by a door in the castle courtyard that opens only once every century by the time of the minish cap various picori can be found living all across hyrule in tiny homes and villages but the race seemingly originated from their own separate world it's unclear why the minish first traveled to hyrule to save the land from monsters but it's almost certain that without them the kingdom would have fallen not long after its founding some time before the events of the minish cap a picori sage known as eslo crafted a hat known as the mages cap intended as a gift for the humans it was made with exceptionally powerful magic allowing it to grant the wishes of its bearer however eslo didn't work alone his apprentice was vati a young minish boy over time varti had become more and more fascinated by the wickedness in the heart of men and sick of being a meek miniscule servant he plotted to use the mage's cap to grant himself power one day eslo entered his workshop to find varti with the cap using it to transform himself into a powerful sorcerer the wind mage cursed eslo imprisoning him in the form of a hat and revealed his plan when the minister opens and connects the worlds as occurs once every century vati would travel to the world of men and take the light force for himself the same golden light that the minish had gifted to the hero of men countless years earlier this light force was a source of limitless magical power and with it varti would be unstoppable in hyrule the picori festival began celebrating a century since the last time the minish d'or opened hyrule towns swelled with music the streets of the capital draped in bunting and teeming with celebration traditionally a sword-fighting tournament was held at every festival with the victor granted the honor of touching the sacred picourie blade which still remained fastened in the bound chest this year though a strange cloaked figure from beyond hyrule entered the competition and proved himself a warrior without equal in the melee the victor none other than vati himself approached hyrule castle and the piccori blade but his plans involved more than just touching the sword he announced that he will open the bound chest believing that it held the sacred light force hylian soldiers moved to defend the chest but their spears were no match for the abilities granted to vati by the mage's cap with a spell the wizard snapped the pcori blade in two and for the first time in centuries the bound chest burst open and the countless monsters that have been imprisoned within by the hero of men poured out into hyrule once again lincoln zelda challenged the wind mage but a spell knocked the hero unconscious and turned the princess to stone despite his victory though varti found the bound chest empty the light force was nowhere to be found but this setback didn't stop varti he knew that the light force was given to the hylians long ago and he knew that it remained still hidden somewhere in the kingdom with zelda petrified the king of hyrule sends link to the minish woods to repair the broken picori blade the only weapon capable of breaking varti's curse it's here that link meets eslo struggling to adjust to life as a hat the two decide to travel together and learn that to repair the picori blades they must find four mystical elements meanwhile varti began to set his plan into motion using the powerful magic granted to him by the mage's cap he teleported inside hyrule castle and disguised himself as the king as the king varti ordered hyrule soldiers to find the sacred light force and to imprison anyone who refused to help lincoln eslo journey across hyrule eventually infusing the picori blade with all four elements transforming it into the powerful four sword a weapon that allows its wielder to split themselves into four copies as the four sword awakens a door opens inside the elemental sanctuary and the pair discover stained glass windows revealing the truth the light force resides within princess zelda passed down through the royal bloodline but by forging the four sword and opening the door eslo and link had unknowingly played into varty's hands the windmage ambushes them thanking his former master for leading him here he had allowed the pair to find the four elements and it had led him to the location of the light force vati returned to hyrule turning everyone inside hyrule castle to stone and filling it with his army of monsters he took the petrified zelda to the roof to extract the light force from her a process that would kill the princess despite the castle now crawling with enemies eslo and link fought their way to the roof to confront the windmage arriving just minutes before the ritual was complete varti had only extracted some of the light force housed within zelda but even this was enough to grant him unimaginable power he transforms into a tall sinister new form vati reborn and brings his new might to bear against the hero and eslo the minish apprentice had become a nearly unstoppable wizard fueled by the might of this golden power gifted to hylian centuries ago but even this newfound strength wasn't enough link wielding the four sword defeats the mage in a jewel furious vati transforms again this time twisting into a form beyond comprehension a horrific mass of eyeballs and darkness known as vati transfigured but again the four sword is able to defeat him link and eslo rescue princess zelda from the roof just as hyrule castle begins to collapse around them the trio make their escape fleeing through crumbling stone halls but just as they reach the elemental sanctuary a familiar voice echoes through the castle the light force had imbued varti with the power of a god with mastery over the very fabric of reality he was varti master of this world and he refused to let zelda escape with what remained of the light force he teleports link to a stone platform floating among the cosmos and reveals his final form varty's wrath an eldritch monstrosity so far from the minish he once was a floating eyeball with bat-like wings and huge dark arms the pair duel amongst the stars but despite the power of the light force vati is finally defeated the mages cap that eslo had crafted the artifact varty had used to grant himself magical powers falls to the ground with varti destroyed eslo transforms back into his true form and apologizes for the trouble his creation caused he explains that the mage's cap mirrors the heart of its bearer varty's heart was filled with darkness and this was reflected in what he became when he used it zelda's heart was pure however and so with the cap she was able to undo varti's evil restoring hyrule to its former glory and destroying the artifact in the process with this the story of varti's rise to power ended but he wasn't gone for good at some point after the events of the minish cap vati returned somehow cheating death the wind sorcerer terrorized the people of hyrule and kidnapped beautiful girls from their homes taking them away to his palace of winds strangely vati had no memory of his life as a picori he had become entirely consumed by this maddening lust for power hyrule was once again within his grasp but once again a courageous youth wielding a sacred blade arose to stop him with the legendary four sword this mystery hero split himself into four and these four links defeated the wind mage and sealed him within the blade here varti remained for generations imprisoned within the sword the royal family watched over the blade wary that one day the sorcerer might break free to threaten hyrule once again and sure enough just as a new incarnation of link and zelda examined to the weakening seal varty broke his binds and snatched the princess taking her to his palace of winds just as he had done with fair maidens long ago the humanoid body of the minish apprentice forgotten vati remains in the monstrous form of a floating winged eyeball his kidnappings reveal a strange character trait not seen in the minish cap he doesn't kidnap zelda to obtain the light force he kidnaps her to make her his bride and to celebrate his resurrection link pulled the four sword from its pedestal and his body was shattered into four the four heroes proved themselves to hyrule's great fairies and just as their mysterious predecessor had done the lynx entered the palace of winds to confront varti atop the palace vati possesses a statue of himself and battles the links before fighting them in his true form despite his considerable power he is once again defeated and imprisoned within the four sword from here hyrule's history splits into alternate timelines following the events of ocarina of time in two the downfall timeline which details an alternate series of events where link is defeated by ganondorf and the adult timeline which is the continuation of the future in which ganon was defeated and sealed by the sages we never see varty again in these timelines he presumably remains sealed within the four sword forever never breaking free to terrorize hyrule poetically varti remains imprisoned within the blade his own people once forged for the hylians a history the wind mage has long forgotten but in the child's timeline the timeline created by link travelling back in time and warning zelda of ganondorf's betrayal and thus preventing most of ocarina of time's story from happening we see vati once again ganondorf was killed by the hero of twilight impaled by the legendary master sword but centuries later a new ganondorf was born a reincarnation of the gerudo king who broke into an ancient desert pyramid and stole the trident a powerful relic capable of transforming its wilder into the demon king ganondorf now the boar demon ganon used an artifact known as the dark mirror to summon shadow link and captured the six maidens the descendants of sages whose purpose was to watch over the four sword and varti's seal through shadow link ganon manipulated link into pulling the four sword releasing vati on hyrule once again the wind mage alongside shadow link brings destruction upon the land through which the four links journey to collect force gems to power the four sword and royal jewels necessary to access the realm of the heavens and the palace of winds where vati resides despite his long imprisonment within the four sword vati's strength has not decayed and the sorcerer battles the lynx with darkness and wind magic throwing tornadoes and shadow spells through the halls of his palace again though the might of the four sword in the hands of the links proved too great for varty to handle and the wizard was destroyed this time it seems for good ganon was defeated in a climactic battle and he himself was sealed within the four sword which is again laid to rest in its sanctuary four swords adventures is the last time we see varty countless centuries after his first appearance in the minish cap and it's presumably the last as ganon takes his place sealed in the four sword and the wind mage is entirely destroyed vati's story echoes that of ganondorf he too was a man driven mad by his desire for power who sacrificed everything to make himself stronger in his own words vati was once a meek miniscule nothing he despised being the mere apprentice of the great sage eslo his fascination with the darkness in the hearts of men led him on a path of destruction that twisted him into something completely unrecognizable as the simple minish boy he once was obsessed with the flaws of men the windmage vati was created by his abuse of minish creations the mages cap and the light force and then defeated by a minish creation the four sword it's unclear whether varty's descent into madness was a result of demise's curse which we know is the origin of ganon's malice and his eternal conflict with hyrule it's possible but i think it's more likely that vati is a villain who's completely independent of this a darkness that would have arisen even without the demon king's curse just like the triforce an omnipotent artifact that has been the center of countless bloody conflicts vati's story warns of the dangers of relics with limitless power like the mages cap and the light force he's a really interesting villain especially his origins in the minish cap and i'd love to see him return in a future game we only see the end of his story in the child's timeline he remains sealed within the four sword in the adult and downfall timelines waiting to be released or for the seal to break and even though he was presumably destroyed in four swords adventures this doesn't mean it's the end vati mysteriously resurrected between the minish cap and four swords so it's possible that he will again what do you think about varti the wind mage would you love to see him return in a future game or would you rather see more ganon or different villains entirely let me know in the comments if you liked this video leave a like or subscribe if you haven't already for more zelda content cheers guys and i'll see you next time [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Zeltik

Views: 363,697

Keywords: Zelda

Id: Qi5UHXWoSdQ

Length: 16min 5sec (965 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 29 2022