Azrael

Little is known about Azrael, although he has appeared various times throughout history, leading to the suspicion that he is far older than he appears to be. Throughout the years he has dabbled in various occupations, most notably as an assassin following Ganondorf's fall and in the drug trade during the Industrial Revolution of New Hyrule. Though he appears most often as being more or less Hylian, Azrael is notably inhuman - this is made apparent by his abnormally long lifespan and the rare occurrences where he shifts into his true form.

Appearance
Most of the time, Azrael appears as a thin, young Hylian man with black hair, dark brown eyes, and tanned skin. He is quite tall, something he takes pride in as he enjoys intimidating others. Following obtaining his counterpart's eye, he uses his mastery of shapeshifting to disguise it as being a regular blue eye. In truth, it is a milky white and he cannot see with it.

As a Dubharan, Azrael's skin is actually more akin to the dark of the night sky, and his hair is a stark white. His eyes are blood red - one of them appears a solid white after the incident, and the scar tissue glows blue in comparison to the others, which appear grey.

In his full shadow form, he appears to have the tentacles of an octopus and long, deadly clawed fingers. Azrael appears to lose any semblance of a human mouth in this form, and all of his teeth are bared - this makes it difficult for him to speak anything other than dubhteanga while in his full form. All of his scars appear to emanate arcane fire in this form.

Abilities
As a Dubharan, Azrael as a full mastery of shadow magic and is able to manipulate it at will, using it as an extension of himself. He is able to compress himself to hide within a nearby shadow of any size, though he notes that this is uncomfortable with smaller shadows. Azrael is also capable of shadow travel, either through conventionally walking through the surrounding shadows or through teleporting from within one to another. The latter option is particularly draining however, and can kill Azrael if he is not careful.

Origins
The being that came to be known as Azrael was first was wayward entity known as "Dark Link", created by a natural reaction of a being inheriting a piece of the Triforce. As a general rule, a being of opposite attributes and personality traits is created the moment either Power, Courage, or Wisdom is bestowed upon a person after the Triforce splits. In the case of the Hero of Time, his contact with the Triforce of Courage created Dark Link.

Normally, these counterparts are merely negative images of their originals; harmless, simply different. However, upon learning of their creation, Ganondorf saw the opportunity to employ a new ally and took it. “You are Dark Link, and you will destroy the Hero of Time,” he told his new comrade.

After the Imprisoning War
After losing the battle with the being that he was created from, Dark Link fell into a period of disenchantment and identity crisis. He wandered for a few years seeking a way of creating a name for himself, one to replace what he believed was a pitiful nickname. His purpose in life had been to destroy Link, and after failing this he was without a purpose. Thus, he went on a journey to create his own.

It was on this journey that he learned how to alter his physical form*, a way of shielding his true identity as a shadow being. The facade had its flaws - his eyes maintained a frightening scarlet and the amount of energy it took to maintain the image left him unable to fight with his full potential. However, it suited him decently enough for everyday life pretending to be a Hylian. When the time called, he could easily drop the guise and assume his true shadow being identity, in which he became a thing of nightmares.

Following the events of one of his escapades involving a small town and an unfortunate young maiden named Henley, Dark Link became known as “The Angel of Death”, or simply “Azrael”. He took a liking to this title almost instantly, and has been referring to himself as Azrael ever since.

Seeking the Dubhar
Azrael sought information regarding his origins shortly after making a name for himself. After much searching through various libraries, Azrael eventually found traces of a species of shadow folk known as the Dubhar. It took him about a year before Azrael eventually located the race, and when he did he found the reception they gave him quite a stark contrast from what he had anticipated.

Unaware of the Dubhar and their custom involving the Leth - any individual who had been created through means of magic as opposed to being born - caused Azrael to be arrested and taken into custody upon his arrival. He was kept for a time due to his arrogance, but was eventually let off once it became clear he was merely ignorant of the Dubhar customs. Branded with the mark of the Leth, Azrael was permitted to go free but suffered the oppression of the Leth everywhere he went.

Utterly miserable as he was marked as an outcast by his own people, Azrael stayed with the Dubhar only long enough to learn their language and most basic customs before he left to find a place where he was not ostracized.

"An Eye for an Eye"
Working as an assassin, Azrael was eventually hired by another enemy of the hero in their attempts to take over the world. Though he was being heavily manipulated, Azrael was not immediately aware of this; instead, he was blinded by the initial promise of power.

Tasked with killing his counterpart, Azrael met Link on the battlefield and proceeded to down the other man with a slash to his face. He balked at the last moment however, realizing he was unable to kill Link. Instead, he cut out his other half's right eye, hoping that he might be able to return it to his master as proof of killing him. The villain was not fooled, and as punishment he forced the stolen eye into Azrael's face. The contrasting essence of the Hero of Time was nearly fatal, and Azrael suffered severe damage to his face. His life was narrowly saved by the Oracle of Ages, who used her power to fuse the eye properly into his skull, stopping the reaction that threatened to tear him apart.

Effects of the eye
Being a foreign body, the eye has never particularly agreed with Azrael; due to the damage initially inflicted upon it, it is sightless and appears a milky white when Azrael is not utilizing his power to conceal it. In addition to permanently scarring his face, the eye caused Azrael to lose some of his magical abilities and become more human; he notes that following its insertion he now needs to eat and sleep, things he had grown accustomed to not needing. Though Azrael had wished to become mortal, the eye did not grant him this.

New Hyrule's Rebellion
During King Gustaf's reign, Azrael recognized the plight of the non-humans as being very similar to the oppression faced by the Leth. He became actively involved in the resistance by funding the New Hyrule Sage, a rebel newspaper with a surprisingly large following. Utilizing his drug supplier and shipping contacts, Azrael branched out and began recruiting citizens of all vocations and skill sets in preparation for the war to come.