Game Theory: The Lost History of Minecraft's Wither

Endermites are the smallest hostile mobs in Minecraft and possess the 'Ender' designation, yet they attack Endermen despite both being End creatures, which is unusual since most End spawns don't attack each other.

• Both endermites and silverfish are exactly the same size: 0.3 blocks tall and 0.4 blocks wide • Both are the only two hostile mobs that suffocate to death in soul sand • Both qualify for the Bane of Arthropods enchantment, placing them in the same taxonomic phylum • Early Endermite designs were identical to silverfish before being changed in Java edition 1.8

Strongholds always contain both a portal and a silverfish spawner, suggesting silverfish can traverse End portals just as ancient builders could.

If Endermen were an ancient race of builders, silverfish would have been their old enemies, and that ancient rivalry persists as Endermites attacking Endermen across generations.

• Endermen speak English and hold rudimentary blocks • Strongholds are named 'strongholds' and contain advanced construction • Underwater monuments, old mineshafts, and other structures exist but no other creatures can mine or craft • End cities contain abandoned chests with supplies inappropriate for the End's hostile purple environment

Endermen are an evolved form of an ancient race of builders who fled to the End to escape something dangerous in the overworld.

The world's standard hostile mobs like zombies, creepers, and skeletons don't seem significant enough to force this civilization deep underground near bedrock into massive fortresses.

These ancient builders likely accidentally summoned the Wither, which decimated their established society by the hundreds, forcing them to flee to the End.

Defeating the Ender Dragon grants 'The End.' achievement, while summoning the Wither grants 'The Beginning?' with a question mark, and defeating it grants 'The Beginning.' with a period.

The Wither can be summoned anytime, often after defeating the Dragon, so it doesn't represent the beginning of the player's adventure in the traditional sense.

The Wither represents the beginning of the story for the ancient builders themselves, not for the player's journey through Minecraft.

The achievement naming mirrors the Dragon achievements but inverts their meaning, suggesting this is the true beginning of the lore that set all subsequent events in motion.

Strongholds are buried absurdly deep underground with no surface trace, functioning as bomb shelters and safety bunkers against threats far more dangerous than regular mobs.

• Only underwater monuments, underground mineshafts, and secluded desert temples remain on the surface • These structures avoided destruction because the Wither couldn't easily reach them • Any above-ground structures would have been destroyed by the Wither's devastating power

The Wither flies and destroys nearly any block it touches, making underground escape the only viable defense strategy for the ancient builders.

End portal blocks and End portal frames are witherproof, along with bedrock, command blocks, and extended pistons—making them the perfect materials for a last-ditch escape route.

Chiseled red sandstone decorations in desert temples and underwater ruins display hieroglyphics that clearly depict the Wither with its straight body and three skeletal heads.

The ancient builders clearly knew the Wither existed, but why would anyone intentionally summon such a destructive beast?

The fact that they carved its likeness into their structures indicates they had direct experience with this creature's existence and power.

The builders' knowledge of the Wither suggests either an intentional summoning or a catastrophic accident that they documented for posterity.

Soul sand is found throughout the Nether and is composed of the souls of the damned, evidenced by screaming faces visible in its pattern that pull you downward as if lost souls are dragging you into them.

Three withered skeleton heads are required, not regular skeleton heads, indicating a specific type of undead is needed for the summoning.

• Withered skeletons are exclusive to Nether fortresses • These fortresses contain chests full of gold, diamonds, iron, saddles, and horse armor—materials not naturally found in the Nether • These supplies had to be brought and stored by the original fortress builders

End city chests contain identical loot to Nether fortress chests, suggesting the same people carried their supplies between different realms and constructed both types of structures.

An ancient race of builders descended into the Nether to harvest its resources and constructed fortresses to defend against the hostile environment and store supplies.

Over time, members of the civilization died in the dangerous Nether environment, and when their bodies were buried in the ground, the Nether's unique properties transformed them.

The soft ground in the Nether sucked the souls out of dead bodies, creating soul sand, while leaving the corpses as undead husks—withered skeletons programmed to defend their fortresses.

The builders realized that soul sand contained lost souls and somehow gave rise to skeletons, leading them to theorize they could combine these two elements to bring their dead friends back to life.

• The builders were a proud people who conquered the earth and conquered the Nether • They believed they could conquer the one thing impossible to man: death • They theorized they could construct life itself using soul sand and withered skeleton bodies

Items in Nether chests are not enchanted, but items in End chests are, showing the ancient builders escalated their magical knowledge from simple construction to playing with mystical forces.

When their initial attempt failed, the builders became obsessed and began exploring darker supernatural paths, including magic, enchantment, and potions, possibly consulting with witches who used soul sand for their brews.

Instead of bringing new life to a dead friend, they accidentally created the Wither—a hideous and destructive beast meant to punish them for tampering with the laws of nature itself.

• The Wither was an unstoppable force that destroyed blocks and cursed anything in its path with decay • Great buildings that the ancient race once constructed were gone overnight • Only temples in deserts, mineshafts deep underground, and monuments under water remained

One by one, members of the civilization were consumed by the Wither, a disease literally eating them away from the inside, leaving friends and neighbors dead and decayed.

Some of the fallen were brought back to life in the form of skeletons and zombies, which became the living undead that roam the Minecraft landscape to this day.

The remaining ancient people hid deep underground in fortified strongholds near the bedrock, far below where the flying Wither could reach them, planning their final escape.

The remaining survivors decided to use portal technology to escape to a different realm, just as they had hopped between realms before using portals.

This time they built the portal to be witherproof, which is why End portal blocks are the only block type outside of bedrock immune to the Wither's attacks.

They successfully made the portal and escaped to the End, but it turned out to be a one-way trip as the portal became inaccessible behind them.

Upon arriving in the End, they encountered something completely unexpected that may have been even worse than the Wither: the Ender Dragon.

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