At some point in the backstory, a villain existed who was the forerunner to the current Big Bad- either because they were both part of a direct line of succession, or just because the Big Bad uses similar methods and espouses similar beliefs. The Predecessor Villain may appear in flashbacks, but will usually have no direct role in the story (unless it turns out to be Hijacked by Ganon, from an in-universe standpoint)- usually, though not always, they are a Posthumous Character. Examples: