Game Theory: The Lost History of Minecraft's Wither

Builder 1 : "Wither's attacking ! What do we do !?"
Builder 2 : "e x t e n d e d
p i s t o n s."

Maybe the fact the villagers are so strict on the “no playing god” rule with the pilligers ect... is because they knew about the fate of the humans: attempting to play god.

I have another theory for the mini theory. The ancient civilization used silverfish to test the portal and that's why the spawner is so close to the portal.

Here’s a theory: if by throwing an ender pearl sometimes an endermite spawns. And by throwing a chicken egg, sometimes a chicken spawns. Maybe ender pearls aren’t pearls but are instead endermite eggs. This would even explain how endermite don’t get along with endermen. The endermite s might be mad at the endermen because they hatched in the rudest way possible. How would YOU like it if you were woken up (I couldn’t think of a better analogy) by being thrown into a wall. I hear you ask about chickens. Chickens irl have been known to hurt people. Chickens in Minecraft don’t hurt people.
Or maybe ender pearls are silverfish eggs with some other element added that lets them teleport and turns the silverfish into endermites. If the stronghold was made by the ancient builders, why would they make a silverfish spawner unless they were farmed for eggs which they could turn into ender pearls or something.

Oh no, the town is being attacked by the Wither! *goes into bunker made of extended pistons*

Soulsand: Literally dust of trapped souls.
Players: Yay, elevator!

Theory: the end ship is something that the ancient builders made as an attempt to get out of the end.

Theory: Steve was one of the ancient builders, however he was knocked out in the battle and never killed by the wither. Steve now wakes up tracing his steps to conquer their world one again.

And here we have MatPat writing the script for the Minecraft movie

That explains why skeletons have bows they literally died fighting the Wither

this theory implies that once you generate a world there is a random wither somewhere in your world

Theory: the fossils found underground are the ancient withers

Can’t believe he called it a MINI theory...what ever happened to a DIET THEORY?

Me: yay minecraft finally a game without a tragedy
Mat pat: no we dont do that here

The end credits scene after killing the ender dragon is very interesting, and possesses some questions.

That actually somehow makes sense when you know that piglins and wither skeletons attack each other.

*MatPat:* Ocean monuments, mineshafts, and desert temples.
*Jungle temples:* Am I a joke to you?

Normal Person: 4 blocks of soul sand.
Matpat, an intellectual: 4 cubic meters of damned souls.

Theory:
The endermite is a parasite that lives inside of chorus (is that how you spell it?) fruit, and when the ancient builders ate the fruit, that's how they became endermen, and that's why there's animosity between the two.

The beginning is where the beginning of the ancient builders somehow creating the wither.
The end is how they ended up in the End.

*human building wither*
“Hey guys look I made a face- OH GOD”

Therapist: Steve with fingers doesn't exist, he can't hurt you
Steve with fingers: 2:14

mojang: hey i got an idea lets make a random strong boss so people can have another intense battle
matt: this is theory

Theory: Ancient builders eat the chorus fruit when they stuck at end and it teleports them like ender pearls. Ender pearls and chorus fruit have small chance to spawn endermite. So there is chance endermites are parasites in some type of "pocket dimension". So if ancient builders eat the chorus fruit they during teleportation go through the pocket dimension and took endermites with them too. Endermites possibly if they are parasites stay in their brain and start parasiting. That means they turned ancient builders into endermen. This explains why they attacks at endermites because somewere deep in endermen is still ancient builder souls they haven't full control over their bodies. It too explains why they are attacking ender dragon. And if endermites took control over ancient builders body and "transformed" them into endermen, endermen are attacking at you, player because you are only what's left after ancient builders and endermites have control over their body and want another host.
BUT IT'S JUST A THEORY !
=D

Wither: I fear no man, but that thing
**Extended Piston**
Wither: It scares me...

@2:14 The steve with fingers is more disturbing than any of the FNAF videos on this channel

"What makes the Wither Skeleton so different from his brethren?"
It's simple, really. he's bl-

Maybe the random holes that generate in a Minecraft world used to be Wither Spawn Sites, but when the withers spawned it left craters where the sites once stood.

Also, a random detail, wither skeletons don’t become hostile when staying on soul sand

My therapist: Steve with human fingers doesn’t exist, he can’t hurt you.
Steve with human fingers: 2:16

The average size of the wither skeletons could also be an indicator of the timeline they would be healthier (and bigger) as at that point that most likely had had more fighting experience having not built iron golems yet

Theory: The reason the Wither was summoned instead of the deceased guards is because the souls being forced into the body of the Wither Skeletons didn’t belong to that body. Instead of putting the Builder back together before they died, several different Builders were being forced into the same body resulting in the Wither, a combo of them.

FNAF has the most obscure lo-
Minecraft: *OBSERVE*

15:05 “and hey, before you disappear off into the nether...” Did MatPat literally just say he wanted to show me a sponsorship before I go to hell?

The amount of lore in this game is melting my mind

MATPAT! Here's a crazy theory for ya on the origins of skeletons. Your zombie disease video makes sense, but doesn't explain the skeletons. No disease is going to keep a pile of bones floating around. You'd need magic to do that. Here's a quote from the Mobestiary, " Some have proposed that skeletons are ancient adventurers raised from death by an evil sorcerer." In the game Minecraft Dungeons there is a group of ancient necromancers who live in a desert temple. They have blue glowing eyes (the color of souls) and when they summon skeletons, you can see small blue souls float away from the summoning area. They even shoot soul fire blasts! But why are they themselves undead? Maybe because when they (or some other humans) summoned the wither, they noticed that it doesn't attack undead things, and they turned themselves undead to protect themselves. I hope you read this!

MatPat: The wither is an unstoppable force.
Steve: *_pathetic_*

Mojang be like: "Write that down! Write that down!"

this is my favorite one of your game theory videos! good job Mat pat

Michael Moorcock's Elric series is such a great story.

Then that means the iron golem and snow golems were prototypes made with magic so that they can test their idea.

builders: **attempt to resurrect dead people with their remains**
**wither spawns**
builders: "That is not the law of equivalent exchange."

The Wild Update and its underground cities might actually confirm this theory.

Game theory: The dragon is more dengerous
The bedrock wither: Am i a joke to you or something?!

Ancient Advanced Civilization :
exterminated by wither
Redstone Enginer :
*proceed to make wither farm*

Never would I have thought that Steve with two real fingers would make me so uncomfortable.

Also interesting to note that Wither Skeletons and Endermen are taller than the player, compared to many of the other ‘humanoid’ enemies like regular skeletons or illigers. I wonder if that means this ancient civilization was taller than the species that we are as players?

How do you manage to turn such a cheerful game into a post-apocalyptic reality that is so depressing...
😃

Bees can kill the wither
They were running away from the bees

Matpat: 6:40 The Wither just gives you a Nether Star that enables you to shoot a lame beam into the sky......
IKEA Tower: *Am I a joke to you?*

Two things to note:
1- If you spawn the wither in the end, and Enderman spot it, they immediately begin to attack it. Almost like they know what it is and are prepared to attack the foe they tried to run and hide from, hmmm....
2-If you spawn the wither in the end and it spots the ender dragon, then you just get a really cool fight.

Okay here's what I'm thinking: A member of the ancient civilization after being forced to attack and kill their undead former friends (in wither skeleton form), gain the wither skeleton's head. They try to use the dropped head as a personal touch to revive them. Why? We know from zombie villagers that certain mobs that have become undead can be "cured", so it makes sense that they'd keep the skull around and try to bring the creature back to life, in hopes that they could preform a similar ritual process to "cure" the wither skeleton and bring back their friend.
In order to bring back the undead mob they'd slain, they form the wither body. It's kinda like building an iron golem, the three blocks across, one on bottom, and a head on top to "bring it life". It makes sense that they'd try to revive their dead friend "bring them to life" with the same method.
I'm guessing the reason they eventually put three heads on the creature, is because the soulsand texture has three obvious faces. (There's 6x3 faces in total across each side of the block, but we could say there's three main souls because the main faces are the same for each side and it's always the same three faces)
I think one head can't bring it to life, because the three main souls fight for control and they cancel each other out in a way. It doesn't seem like there's a way to only take one soul from the soulsand. But soulsand is a vital piece to bringing the creature back to life, so you have to find another way to make it work. Three heads, for three souls. [EDIT: The warden also has multiple souls it seems, but in that instance it seems different from trying to raise a single previously living player-like being, and seems more like a iron golem situation in which it's living but it's not fully player-like and never has been or will be, it's simply a wild creature made up of certain blocks (sculk in this case) and possessed in some sense, most likely by the rogue souls residing within who lost their lives within the deep dark and never got out. While I think the main three player-like souls require specific heads/a vessel to regain control of a body like they previously inhabited, perhaps that's why they struggle against the rest of the souls to get to the surface of the block. They show their strength beyond the others by directly touching the skulls when you place them.] What would make them stronger? Perhaps it's how recently they were killed? Perhaps how strong willed the player-like being it used to be was, or based on experience level?

I think maybe the reason it becomes violent and destructive once given all three heads, is because it's still living it's misery.
1. It picks up where it leaves off, you give the wither skeleton you killed it's life back, not it's humanity. You haven't cured it, you've just brought it back. It goes back to it's basic wither skeleton instincts of attacking, specifically attacking players. Probably extra aggressive towards you since you specifically killed it before.
2. Just because there's three main faces, (this is where 6x3 faces on each block comes in) doesn't mean that's the extent of the souls, especially with the multiple soulsand blocks. The souls from the soulsand don't have a head, or any senses like sight or anything like the main three. So there's tons of souls packed in within the wither, all fighting, all still suffering, all still thinking they're in the fiery and aggressive biome they come from. And lashing out accordingly. I think that's the force behind their newfound destructive powers: Souls in anguish, who've been part of the nether biome, an aggressive biome (known for creatures that fly and use fire attacks), now all constricted into a single bare body. Power bursting at the seams. That would help explain the large amount of health, despite it being a creature that's not super big (such as the ender dragon), and the health amount being far beyond the amount of three wither skeletons put together.
You might be wondering, so where does the wither skeleton head projectile attack come in?
I've got no idea, perhaps it's bone or skulls that "sunk into the sand" (skulls dropped by killed wither skeleton, that weren't picked up) as opposed to skulls being intentionally placed by the player. Skulls that the wither carries and chucks at the player, a grim ironic attack that shows (unknowingly/unintended probably) contempt for killings of other wither skeletons the player has committed or the ancient inhabitants who look alot like the player committed within the nether that where almost wasteful in the sense that the drop loot wasn't picked up (whether intentionally, or due to quick escapes from a greater danger, etc.) and left to sink into the tormented soul filled sands of the nether. Sunken, useless and never to see the light of day till now. The skull life piece, the last chance of redemption for the wither skeleton it was dropped by, gone.
The wither is more alive when compared to a regular wither skeleton, their faces are closer to the players and their eyes and mouths are bright and filled with light as opposed to wither skeletons, because they are so overfilled with souls and life forces. Souls and life forces that are in essence, after years and years of adapting to the nether, part of the nether itself which is why it drops the Nether Star. (A friend explained they believed the nether star to be a thank you to the player for releasing their souls, a heavenly item that starkly contrasted against the hellish nature of the nether, and it's origins)
Or of course this could all be wrong, but it's fun trying to piece together logic behind creatures so deeply ingrained in the in game lore like MatPat was showing!

I'd really like for you to add lightning into your theory of the minecraft lore. Lightning corrupts everything it hits, turning villagers to witches, pigs to zombie pigmen, creepers to a more destructive version of themselves, skeletons and skeletal horses out of nothing (maybe the bones already in the ground), and presumably turning the old race of builders into zombies.

When a whole civilization of ancient builders can't handle a wither
Steve and Alex: Pathetic
Edit: added Alex, for I am a fool to have forgotten Alex

watching these minecraft theories makes me see the game differently and i’m not sure how to feel about it.

The ancient builders could have just trapped the Wither in The End but I guess it's not easy to think rationally when there is an undead monstrosity causing damage everywhere.

Even tho I believe Minecraft wasn’t supposed to intentionally have any story, I do like this theory. Works pretty well

"Becons are just something that shoots lame buffs"
Hermits: *glaring intensifies*

It's scary how relatable Minecraft is to reality human civilizations are quite similar to the ancient builders I their quest to control everything

I love every detail. Every last thought that you have given.

But what about villages because villagers can’t place blocks so how were villages made?

I fear no man
But that thing
*Steve having 2 fingers* (2:17)
It scares me..

I like watching your storys its so satsfiying keep it upppp

This makes sense, although there would have to be some sort of super powerful wither or a lot of them. You would think that a powerful civilization with power to craft end portal frames would be able to defeat one simple wither. So they probably either summoned in a lot of them, or they summoned in some sort of very powerful wither. There is also the question of what happened to the wither and why we cant see it in the world normally.

therapist: Steve with finger doesn't exist, he can't hurt you.
steve with finger: 2:15

Don’t forget that Withers kill every living thing- keyword living, they won’t kill undead mobs.

I think that the “the beginning” achievement is very literal, spawning the wither was not the beginning of the builder’s struggles but instead killing the wither was the beginning of the builder’s prosperity. That’s why it’s only “the beginning?” When you spawn the wither. I believe that the wither star became the foundation for their new technology, their introduction to magic and their foundational exploration of other dimensions. I believe that the reason there are nether portals surrounded by lava and netherak in the overworld is because the nether invaded first and brought with them the wither

I’d love to see a gaming series of the ancient builders

Fun fact: The Wither attacks any nearby mobs of any sort, except for Undead ones.
Yeah.
Edit: Oh yeah, I forgot to mention - whenever the Wither kills anything, it drops a Wither Rose. Don't know the significance of that, but it's interesting.

Matpat: talking about how dangerous the wither is
Technoblade: spawning 15 withers in the corner

Unironically, this would be such a sick movie.

Okay i know I'm so late to this and I'm not sure if it means anything or if anyone else beat me to it. But in the midst of decorating my house and placing paintings I found something interesting. I noticed how some of the paintings had mimicked pictures of notorious paintings and statues, almost like fine art basically. But something that stuck out to me was that one of the other bigger painting options was of the build of the wither. It could be another hint that it was a "great creation" made by the ancient builders. And to note, its not the wither itself. It shows how you make a wither emphasizing that it was one of their creations that they made.

Also the fact that the building structure of the wither and iron golems are the same but with different ingredients maybe they believed that was the formula for creating life through magic.

MATPAT: finds out lore
Mojang: *sweating* HES ONTO US.

I’m currently rewatching all of the Minecraft theories and it just occurred to me with the soul sand and soul soil, the soul soil would work with the idea of them burying their dead in softer soil because soul soil doesn’t have faces in the design.

i have a bit of lore for you MatPat you see in the desert temples the top is the perfect size to make a full sized beacon a beacon is crafted with a nether star found when killing a wither drops a nether star so maybe some of ancient builders had different ideas what if some of the ancient builders crafted a nether star and then put it in there latest experiment with the intention of activating with the power of souls also before the wither skeletons might have been friendly to the builders but then when some of them saw what hey where being turned into the grew hatred and attacked them together with the wither and the wither skeletons they were no match

The real questions are: Who are Steve and Alex? Ancient builders? Villagers without a nose? Where did they come from? Why?

If you listen carefully you here the wither say “Why?” Like a question

5:32 why is there a shadow of a villager on the extreme right lol

Love these videos so interesting

"4 cubic meters of damned souls"
Yep, this is minecraft.

I have a villager theory:
Some builders didn't want to leave their society behind, so they stayed and fled trying to get so far away the wither would never find them
Evidence 1: Village variety
This is small evidence, but it helps my point, different amount of people went off together and form separate villages, which is why there are so many variations
Evidence 2: lack of building knowledge
First up, the villagers CAN craft. If they are experienced enough, they will offer pickaxes or axes to you. But their buildings are simplistic, with basic designs and sizes. They have forgotten advanced building from years of running, and the simple buildings they use are what they crafted knowing it may be destroyed any second
Evidence 3: Rare structure
This one is quick. There is a small chance to find a zombie village, a cobwebbed covered village with only zombie villagers. They are villages that either didn't run fast enough or were left alone too long and when the wither came back, they were unprepared.
Evidence 4: villager posture
This is my final evidence, but notice villagers always keep their hands covered (unless turned zombies, but zombies aren't of right mind so that doesn't count). This is because they are afraid of what they will craft after the wither incident. However, some villages got so big, they were willing to try again. Through trying new things, they used the base of the wither summoning, with something new, to create the iron golem. That is why you need a high population of villagers for them to summon iron golems.
This is all the evidence I have, if you have any arguments or more evidence to prove my point, let me know.

Dawg ain't gonna tell me java wither was that of a threat 💀

God your story telling is absolutely phenomenal

the reason wither didn't destroy the sand temples is that the temples were a tribute to the beast, hence explaining why the wither is ingrained into the sandstone

Mat:Bane of Arthropods only work on spiders, endermite, silverfish. Bees: *Am I a joke to you*

i have an idea
so ender mites are *ender* *mites* and mites are * uncrumples notes *
"Mites are small arachnids. Mites are not a defined taxon, but the name is used for members of several groups in the subclass acari of the class Arachnida. Most mites are tiny, less than 1 mm in length, and have a simple, unsegmented body plan. Their small size makes them easily overlooked; some species live in water, many live in soil as decomposers, others live on plants, sometimes creating galls, while others again are predators or parasites. This last type includes the commercially important Varroa parasite of honey bees, as well as the scabies mite of humans. Most species are harmless to humans but a few are associated with allergies or may transmit diseases."
so since humans, and probably the ancient builders exterminate parasites i wouldnt doubt that the endermen would do the same, since endermites spawn when you throw ender pearls they could have been hanging out on and endermen's... pearls.
so thats why i think endermites are mutated parasites that the builders brought to the end accidentally or not
but thats just a theory! a mini theory, thanks for reading!

Matpat saying mini theory made my day better

Too add a small something to the silverfish theory:
Maybe they crawled through the portal at the same time as the humans and like the humans ate the chorus plants and evolved while eating only them.
The now endermen race's only food source is the chorus fruits so like parasitic mites, they had to get rid of the mites that eat their food supply.
So endermen attack ender mites because they're eating their food supply.

I never thought I’d be addicted to watching a theory series about an ancient Minecraft civilization.

Hey Mat, can you do a video just saying what has happened in Minecraft, like a summary of the LORE

This was probably my favourite theory :0

Notice how both withered skeletons and enderman are taller than all other mobs, perhaps the ancient builder people were a different species, if so further proving your theory

The official Minecraft book "Mobstiery" states that: They were trying to build what they saw in the paintings (the painting Wither varient), and unleased something terrible.

I also like to think that they might've killed the wither in the overworld since when the player spawns, theres no longer a wither, but since it said that the structures they made are destroyed they might've lost the will to rebuild it and just probably go to the end dimension hoping to start a new beginning

Maybe the ancient builders made the wither to bring peace to the overworld. Knowing how to make golems, they might’ve tried to make a more powerful version of it. But it didn’t work, and had to make the strongholds and/or portals to escape. They would end up being the wither skeletons and the endermen. But I think this theory makes more sense. Good job 👍!

People: What religion are you?
Me: It’s complicated.

I would like a new series called “MINI THEORIES”

7:47 id like to add that the dungeons are on the surface, however the actual belongings of the ancient civilization are deep underground.
Just like the strongholds and water temples!

My little theory part 2. I think that villagers are also accent boulders course of the iron golem and the last they got more advanced was when the Villege and pillage update