Vaati

The villain in the Four Swords subseries of the Zelda games, and the The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap. Vaati is a Wind Mage, and is seen taking on two main forms, a humanoid and a monster (much like Ganon and Ganondorf).

In The Four Swords
Released from his prison within the Four Swords, Vaati kidnaps Princess Zelda, forcing Link to go off and search for the princess.

In Four Swords Adventures
''Long ago in the inner reaches of Hyrule, an evil wind sorcerer known as Vaati began kidnapping beautiful young maidens, one after another. Nobody could stop Vaati, and the people of Hyrule despaired.''

''Then, a brave young wanderer carrying a single sword appeared. When the young lad took out his sword, he split into four seperate beings. The legends say that these beings worked as one and defeated Vaati.''

''The wanderer, united once again, imprisoned Vaati deep in Hyrule and sealed the prison with his own sword. This place became known as the Realm of the Four Sword.''

After that, a long time passed...

''Then the wind sorcerer Vaati broke out of his prison, and snatched Princess Zelda of Hyrule. Zelda's childhood friend, a young boy named Link, claimed the strange power of the Four Sword, and fought Vaati fiercely. In the end, he succeeded in sealing Vaati away once again.''

''And so peace was restored to Hyrule. Or so everyone thought...'' - Taken from ZeldaUniverse

So begins the tale of Four Swords Adventures, and of how Vaati escapes from his prison once more. In his quest to gather the Seven Maidens to gain the power of the Light Force, Vaati has allied himself with Ganon, in the hope that together, nothing can stop them from achieving their goals. How Vaati came into contact with Ganon, however, remains a mystery...

In The Minish Cap
The origin tale 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.