Villains in the Legend of Zelda games come in two varieties: the human-sized, talkative ones with specific motivations and personality quirks, and the dark lord types that are generally bestial blobs of evil and darkness with little forethought beyond corruption and destruction.
While the latter is the type that usually ends up playing the curtain-call boss fight for a game, requiring Link to give all he can against overwhelming force and malice, it’s the former that gives their specific games a spark of liveliness. It’s hard to hate a mindless pig monster beyond a basic desire to stop its rampage. But it’s far easier to express distaste for the cackling madman who taunts the hero at every turn. He’s the one that makes it personal.
In The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, this antagonist role falls to the colorful, impish fiend Chancellor Cole. A dapper little man with more than a passing resemblance to a leprechaun, at first the only thing notable about the palace functionary is his odd habit of wearing two top hats on his head. Much like the old adage about not trusting a man who wears both suspenders and a belt (for he can’t even trust his own pants), Cole’s freakish bit of excess haberdashery draws Princess Zelda’s mistrust early, as she asks apprentice train conductor Link to help her sneak out of the palace against Cole’s express orders.
It is quickly revealed that Zelda’s suspicions were well-founded, as Cole reveals his true colors, and literally gives away what’s under his hat(s): two curled horns, the visual proof of his true nature as a demon. A loyal disciple of the Demon Lord Malladus, Cole uses his dark power to expel Zelda’s spirit from her body and absconds with her physical shell, planning to use it as a host form to revive his demonic master so he can plunge New Hyrule into darkness and despair.
What makes Chancellor Cole so interesting is his role as, if this were an espionage thriller, what one would call a sleeper agent. He’s not an evil wizard showing up out of the blue to curse the kingdom or a foreign emissary intent on conquering the land. Cole is, as his title expresses, a member of the royal court of Hyrule, perhaps the highest such person in the land. (Zelda games are never terribly specific on royal politics, after all.) He seems to call all the shots in New Hyrule, even over the young Zelda, appearing to serve as the regent of her reign.
Cole is the true face of villainy in the game: a traitor to the crown, he cackles and gloats over his foes at every opportunity. Unlike his dark master Malladus, who mostly serves as a scary background figure and a final boss, or his loyal minion Byrne, the stoic, noble figure whose reverse heel turn back to help the heroes could have been predicted from the moment he went over to the bad guys’ side, Cole is all personality, almost more so than his diminutive form can hold. He relishes his power over the heroes, specifically in stealing his royal employer’s body for his evil plans.
Cole’s specific malice for the princess helps make the conflict personal in a game where much of the lore has little to do with the heroes. The ancient battle between the Lokomo tribe and Malladus and the very existence of the Spirit Tracks predate the arrival of Link and Tetra in the land they would dub New Hyrule. The current princess and hero are the inheritors of a fight that isn’t theirs, but Cole’s burning hatred and cackling malice bridge the gap in making the quest vital for the young heroes.
As with all such figures, Cole’s hubris can only foreshadow his downfall. When the heroes wound Malldus with the Bow of Light and restore Zelda to her body, the thwarted demon lord looks for a new host and finds it in his tiny minion. Cole seems less than enthused about giving up his body to his master, but it’s far too late for complaints at this point, and Cole’s form is warped and distorted into a hideous behemoth by Malladus’ indwelling. Soon after, Link and Zelda inflict the final blow on the demon lord, and Cole is destroyed by the same power that seals away Malladus once more.
Cole isn’t as dynamic of a figure as Ganondorf, or even Vaati, villains with far more personal reasons for their hatred of the land and the heroes. Once Cole reveals his demonic nature, his quest to restore Malladus is a bit one-note, without the nuance of personal revenge or envious desire to shade his motives. But Cole is still a delightful villain, the type one most wants to defeat for his misdeeds against the hero. And, if all else fails, he’s a snappy dresser, dual hats and all.
