Cole

Chancellor Cole is a government official in Hyrule and one of the antagonists of Spirit Tracks. He is also a servant of Princess Zelda and the country's matriarch. He is a small man dressed in green attire befitting a member of Hyrule's government and is revealed to wear two green tophats on top of his head (which are later revealed to hide two horns). The Chancellor appears to be an advisor of to the princess and seems to act as a sort of guardian to her as well (not too unlike Minister Potho in The Minish Cap), as it is revealed that he does not like her leaving Hyrule Castle unattended. This creates problems when Zelda wishes to leave the castle for reasons she does not want the Chancellor to know about, necessitating a stealthy escape from the castle should the occasion arise.

Princess Zelda becomes suspicious of Cole when the Spirit Tracks begin to disappear, causing her to slip a note to Link requesting his presence so they may investigate this conspiracy together. In a confrontation between Alfonzo, Link, and Princess Zelda, Chancellor Cole orders Byrne, to knock Link and Alfonzo out and strikes Princess Zelda with dark magic that causes her to fall to the ground lifeless. Cole has her body recovered and taken to the top of the Tower of Spirits, where he reveals his plan to use the body of Hyrule's princess to restore Malladus to his former strength. In the final battle, Malladus swallows Cole and uses it as a vessel for his power. After Link and Zelda force the Lokomo Sword into Malladu's head, he is destroyed, taking the chancellor and his body with him, thus ending the pair's plans to destroy Hyrule.

Appearances
Cole has only made one appearance thus far in the series, in Spirit Tracks, where he serves as the kingdom's Chancellor and is one of the major antagonists of the game.

Spirit Tracks
By the beginning of the story of Spirit Tracks, Cole, Chancellor of the Kingdom of Hyrule, has secretly been causing the Spirit Tracks to vanish all across Hyrule. His devilish nature causes the matriarch of the kingdom, Princess Zelda, to distrust him greatly and to grow suspicious of his intent. Cole makes his first appearance when reluctantly guiding Link through Hyrule Castle's halls to his graduation ceremony to become a Royal Engineer to be presided over by Princess Zelda herself in the Throne Room. The Chancellor rudely interrupts the ceremony several times, calling it a waste of time and telling the princess that there is not time for such things as this. Zelda secretly slips Link a note with directions to her private quarters and warning him to beware of Cole. In her quarters, Zelda confides her suspicions of Cole in Link and requests that he take her in secret to the Tower of Spirits to investigate the disappearance of the Spirit Tracks. The secrecy is due to the fact that Cole will not permit Zelda to leave the castle unattended due to "security concerns" though this is in reality so he can spy upon her. The pair escape the castle and go with Link's mentor, Alfonzo, aboard his train toward the Tower of Spirits with Link conducting. On their way there, the Spirit Tracks vanish beneath them, causing the train to come to a screeching halt in the field separating Hyrule Castle from the tower. The trio then witness the fragmentation of the Tower of Spirits by dark magic before being confronted by the mastermind behind this: Cole himself, accompanied by his henchman, Byrne. Cole reveals he is a monster masquerading as a human and speaks of how difficult it was to keep up his guise while decrying his position as Chancellor being nothing more than a "royal babysitter". He then reveals his true plan: to resurrect the Demon King Malladus, with the unwilling help of Princess Zelda herself. Cole has Byrne knock Link and Alfonzo out cold before using his dark magic to separate Zelda's spirit from her body and having Byrne carry the princess's vacant body to the Tower of Spirits. At the top of the fragmented tower, at the Altar of the Demon King, Cole plans to use Zelda's sacred body as a vessel for Malladus to inhabit. He remains here for much of the early part of the game while Link and Zelda's spirit go to restore the four temples, restore the Spirit Tracks, and rebuild the Tower of Spirits in order to reach the top and stop the Chancellor's evil plot.

Eventually, the duo succeeds in restoring the tracks and the tower and ascend the tower to reach the top and stop Cole. They confront Byrne in battle in the chamber just beneath the Altar of the Demon King, where they best him and follow him to the altar at the top of the tower where Cole is found to be performing the ritual to infuse Malladus into Zelda's vacant body. They arrive just too late to stop Cole, and Malladus is infused into Zelda's vacant body. With a blatant betrayal of Byrne, Cole flees with Malladus aboard the Demon Train back to the Dark Realm, warning of the darkness Malladus will unleash upon the land once he gets used to Zelda's body. Following these transgressions, Cole is not seen again until Link and Zelda retrieve the Bow of Light and the Compass of Light and pursue the Chancellor and the Demon King into the Dark Realm, where they damage the demonic train just enough to where they can climb aboard and confront the villains. Cole berates the efforts of Link and Zelda while requesting that the Demon King use his power to destroy the two.

The Chancellor then floats around the moving train's roof as Link tries to help Zelda reach her possessed body at the head of the train, sending demonic rats to try to attack Zelda so he can take control of her Phantom body like an evil puppeteer. Eventually, Zelda is able to reach the head of the train and seizes Malladus, and Link shoots the Demon King with an arrow from the Bow of Light, ending the battle and causing the Demon Train to crash back in Hyrule. Once Zelda reclaims her body, her great gain becomes Cole's loss as Malladus chooses to take possession of Cole's body, transforming him into a gigantic, boar-like beast. Although Cole's body is rejecting Malladus's spirit due to his own spirit still being present within it, Malladus threatens to use Cole's body to reduce the world to ruin in the little time he still has to control Cole. Link and Zelda ultimately prevail however, thrusting the Lokomo Sword into the crystal on the possessed Cole's head and shattering it, killing both Cole and Malladus for good and restoring peace to Hyrule.

Personality
According to the game creators of Spirit Tracks, Chancellor Cole seems to be the embodiment of the so-called "crooked politician" stereotype. He appears to do things for the greater good that really are only being pursued to further his own personal agenda.

Name Etymology
The Chancellor's latter name Cole is thought to perhaps be a play on the word "coal".

His name in Spain, Makivelo, is a reference to Niccolò Machiavelli, a politician from sixteenth-century Florence. Macchiavelli was infamous for his ruthless and unscrupulous governing style. The modern term "Machiavellian" is used to describe politicians with a cunning and deceitful approach to politics.