Mage's Cap

The Mage's Cap, also known as the Sorcerer's Cap, is the original source of power of Vaati in The Minish Cap. It has the power to grant the wishes of the one who wears it. Its creator is Ezlo, who had intended it to be a gift for the humans.

The Minish Cap
Prior to the events in The Minish Cap, Ezlo, a Minish, had created a hat that was able to make the wishes of its wearer come true. It was supposed to be a gift for the humans, but Vaati, his apprentice, took it for himself. The first things Vaati did was changing himself into a Hylian and his master into a hat. After that, he planned to use his new powers to obtain the Light Force. He did manage to steal some of it, and as such considered himself powerful enough to take on Link. However, he was defeated, leaving only the Sorcerer's Cap behind. Ezlo told Zelda to combine her power (the part of the Light Force Vaati did not obtain) with the Minish Cap in order to undo all the damage done by Vaati. After that, the cap was overloaded with magic, and as a result it fell apart and lost its power.

Interestingly, when Vaati wears the hat, it turns a dark, near black purple, yet when Zelda wears it, it retains its shape. This may be because Zelda has a pure heart, while Vaati's heart is tainted by evil and greed.

Title Usage
It has been noted by several fans that the title of "Minish Cap" can also apply to Ezlo in his cap form. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the game's logo, which features Ezlo in his cap form in the title of "Minish Cap". Ezlo was the creator of the so-called Minish Cap itself, and the form he was transformed into through its power made him assume a similar shape, but he retained the power to shrink his wearer to Minish size. In the Zelda community however, the title is often assigned to both the cap recovered from Vaati at the end of the story as well as Ezlo in the form he appears in throughout the majority of the game. The cap is never really given an official name throughout the game, although Ezlo at one point calls it the "mage's cap" though this more likely refers to Vaati himself and not an actual title for the cap.