Game Theory: The LOST History of Minecraft's Enderman

Minecraft has reclaimed its position as the most popular game, surpassing Fortnite. Despite being 10 years old, the game's complete lore remains unsolved with only speculation and partial theories existing.

Rather than claiming to solve all mysteries, the goal is to propose evidence-based theories about the Endermen and invite collective analysis from the community to piece together the game's deeper backstory.

The Endermen are the cornerstone of Minecraft's lore. Understanding what they are is essential to solving the game's hidden backstory.

Drawing from game design, survival mode mechanics, and canonical content like the Mobestiary, a theory will be presented proposing that Endermen are not aliens or ghosts, but transformed humans who suffered a catastrophic fate.

Endermen are neutral mobs that only attack when provoked, meaning they come in peace. This distinguishes them from nearly all other creatures in the game, which are either docile animals or actively hostile.

Endermen are the only creatures besides the player character capable of moving blocks. They selectively pick up clay, dirt, sand, flowers, plants, and TNT, suggesting either play or attempts at communication.

• Endermen possess the ability to speak a comprehensible language, far beyond other NPCs like villagers • Identifiable phrases include: 'Hey', 'Hello', 'What's up?', and 'Look for the eye' • This suggests they retain human-like communication capabilities

These characteristics—peaceful disposition, block-moving ability matching the player, and human language—create striking similarities to human builders, hinting at a deeper connection.

The End consists of end stone and purpur blocks with huge chunks of missing landscape, creating an eerie wasteland. Giant cities stand in the distance, eerily empty and uninhabited despite being Endermen's supposed home.

End cities contain chests filled with enchanted swords, saddles, armor for horses, and other items that are completely useless to Endermen—they don't wear armor, wield weapons, or ride animals.

Endermen cannot pick up chests or any items stored within them, yet the cities are designed with chest storage. This indicates the cities were built by and for someone other than the Endermen.

The End cities were constructed by an ancient civilization of advanced builders—a group remarkably similar to the player character who somehow managed to reach this dimension.

In survival mode, the player is the only one of their kind, while villagers are a fundamentally different species. Zombies, Drowned, and Husks—undead enemies—are the only creatures resembling humans, implying a past population died en masse.

• Pre-existing structures like mineshafts, desert temples, and underwater monuments dot the world, all abandoned and lost to time • Only the player can build in this world, yet did not create these structures • Desert temples contain elaborate booby traps with pressure plates and TNT grids, indicating advanced architectural knowledge

An advanced society of builders once lived in the Overworld but has since disappeared, suggesting they either all died or escaped to another location.

The existence of Strongholds—structures containing massive portals to the End—proves this ancient civilization achieved technological advancement beyond even the player's capabilities, as End Frames cannot be crafted in Survival Mode.

The name 'Stronghold' refers to a highly secure structure built for defending against attacks, suggesting this ancient civilization was threatened and needed an escape route from a dying Overworld.

The civilization created a portal to the End as a one-way escape from whatever was killing them in the Overworld. They brought swords, armor, and horses—effective against earthly threats but completely inadequate for their new environment.

The portal closed behind them, leaving them stranded in a barren wasteland guarded by the Ender Dragon. They were safe from their original threat but now faced an unstoppable otherworldly foe they could not defeat.

Since the only way out of the End is through defeating the Ender Dragon, and the ancient civilization could not achieve this, they became trapped for generations with no escape.

• Over generations, the trapped civilization adapted to their strange new environment • They learned to live in harmony with the dragon, building homes from end stone and purpur blocks • With no food sources, they turned to consuming chorus fruits found in the End

The civilization evolved to grow taller, making it easier to reach the tall stalks of chorus fruit, similar to how giraffes developed longer necks. They retained human brains and facial features but became increasingly tall and dark in appearance.

Chorus fruits possess teleportation properties that gradually influenced their biology. Instead of relying on Ender Pearls, they naturally gained teleportation abilities through their diet over time.

• They slowly forgot their ability to build, as there was no escape and few resources to craft with • Their advanced speech abilities degraded into the distorted, rudimentary language heard today • Only the ability to pick up blocks remained of their former builder nature

Generation after generation, the once-great builder society slowly transformed into the Endermen—creatures so far removed from their human origins that they no longer recognize or appreciate their former way of life.

A curious detail: wearing a pumpkin on your head prevents Endermen from becoming aggressive. This might trigger deep memories of a simpler time or remind them of the friendly golems they once constructed in the Overworld.

Most Endermen remain trapped under the rule of the Ender Dragon in the End dimension. Some are able to teleport into the Overworld or Nether, but most are forced to live their existence as oppressed creatures.

The achievement 'Free the End' acknowledges that defeating the Ender Dragon brings closure to this oppressed civilization. Though they are too far gone to appreciate their freedom, the player has broken the chains of their ancient oppressor.

The player is a builder following in the path of the ancient civilization. You discover their abandoned work, learn about their enemies, unlock their technology, and ultimately free them from their greatest oppressor.

A challenging aspect of this theory: how did the ancient civilization obtain Ender Pearls to craft Eyes of Ender needed for the portal if they themselves became the Endermen? This requires explanation.

The civilization likely learned to create Ender Pearls before arriving in the End. They had access to the Nether, where Blaze materials required for Eyes of Ender are found, allowing them to harness teleportation powers in portable form beforehand.

• Why do Endermen hate Endermites? • Where did the Villagers come from? • What is the origin of the Zombie Pigman civilization? • These mysteries suggest much more remains to discover about Minecraft's complete lore