Game Theory: Minecraft, The Secret Desert Origin of Creepers

i want mojang to watch all ur videos and confirm it. Then i can die peacfully.

“The creeper avoids cats because they don’t want to hurt them”
Okay but that’s kinda wholesome

*theory*: The player is the ancient builders final Creation, that's why you can respawn indefinitely.

I always thought the creepers were made by ancient players to serve as terraformers. I mean luring a creeper to a hill and detonating it is one of the easiest ways to clear land. The fact that iron golems don’t attack them also ties into this because players wouldn’t instruct their guards to kill a valuable mining machine, the same way you wouldn’t instruct a tank to shoot an excavator

String is more used like hair in the minecraft world. Upon killing a strider, they drop string because they have wispy hair. With cats, them dropping string as a gift or as their loot could represent a hairball or whiskers. String is also able to be turned into wool blocks, which wool is sheep hair. Thus string as loot in the same chest as rotten flesh and bones most likely also represents hair.

I love how spread out MatPats Minecraft theories are, and he didn’t just crank them all out during the Minecraft re-hype faze

The lore that Mat Pat puts out: *A whole Essay about minecraft*
Minecraft Devs: we messed up a pig and now it is green and explodes

What’s funny though is that I stopped playing Minecraft two years ago, now with all this lore I find myself playing for 5 hours+ a day! Keep going Mat, you’re amazing!

“Creepers avoid cats because they don’t wanna hurt them”
Aww, that actually kind of wholesome

Don’t hate yourself Mat. Eye conic is a good Dad joke.

the minecraft developer watching this who just thought the pattern was cool: 👁👄👁

“Get it? ‘“Eye”-conic’? I hate myself so much.”
This is such a mood on so many levels lmao

Also the feature that allows you to auto detonate creepers using flint and steel similarly to the actual TNT blocks confirms that creepers are a form of walking TNT (as shown in the Mobestiary)

matpat: "what is string mostly related to"
me: "spiders for sure"
matpat: "cats!"
me: "oh"

I am still surprise that MatPat never mention that a fully active Beacon can fit perfectly in the top of a Desert Temple, which imply that the temples might've been built with a beacon in mind (which does hurt his Wither theory a little bit as it also imply that the builders knew how to get a Nether Star to some degree).

I think another plausible reason for creepers to be green and still be made in an active desert is weaponization. The desert dwellers can send out creeper into the world and their green skin acts as a camouflage to their enemies but stick out in the wasteland of their creators.

So, there’s a couple things I’d like to point out.
1. Creepers are not the only mob afraid of cats. Phantoms are as well.
2. The only thing a creeper attacks is the player, unless a skeleton shoots it or something.
3. Cats also hiss, like creepers
I used to think creepers were blind. When a cat hisses, the creeper is scared because it thinks it’s another creeper, as it can’t see that it is indeed a cat.

I love how he’s giving so much lore to a creature that was created by accident when notch messed up the pig file.

If you look at it, the totem of UNDYING=Eternal life as the same form as the ankh

i want to have this on spotify so while im playing games i can listen to some lore.

MatPat’s Minecraft episodes are so well done. They aren’t just: “Yeah, creepers are made by the ancient builders, good bye.”

“You know what everyone thinks of when they see string: Cats”
Spiders: *Am I a joke to you?*

Awesome video!!! Also I always thought that the Orange symble on the two towers of the Desert Temple was a Villiager head, you learn something new today :)

This might be my favorite theory yet. It really caught me by surprise, and yet it makes so much sense.

Let's not be mad at Mat for telling dad jokes. He's a dad. He's allowed to.

This episode made my Creeper plushie john uncomfortable

Relating to this theory, you could also do some research on the upcoming Archeology update. You may find some very interesting lore there.

This falls apart in a couple of places: creepers and ocelots are natural enemies, and cats used to be tamed ocelots before they were introduced in villages. Hence the fear of cats.
The Mojang team actually wanted the eye of Horus on the temple but couldn't make it work that small, so the Ankh was 2nd choice.
The string in chests along with the flesh, bones and gunpowder are the drops of the OG mobs: spider, skeleton, zombie and creeper.
Didn't know about tnt inside the creeper. That does suggest they're man-made. But that's honestly the only clue along with the creeper face in chiseled sandstone.
This man must do a lot of yoga to stretch this far.

Can we not only appreciate how much effort is put into each theory, but the still improving editing?

I have something to back up this theory. Iron golems don’t kill creepers. It would be strange if you made guards that kill themself right?

“i’ll be here to cover it all” its a lot harder now…

The fact that the totems of undying even LOOK like ankhs just adds more to this theory, like what if while trying to find a new hime form being outcasted. Pilligars found these GOLD SMALL STATUES that represent life? Then found the woodland mansion and started expiremaneting?

“The desert isn’t that green”
Cacti: am I a joke to you?

Notch: Theres not lore in Minecraft
MatPat: So I took that personally...

Something i just remembered regarding the cat connection to ancient Egypt is that in earlier versions cats were just tamed Ocelots, Which are essentially the kind of cats that domesticated the ancient Egyptians.
Only after more development they added cats and made them separate from Ocelots which coincidentally further tells the real world story of cats domesticating/enslaving humans.

I honestly wonder if the devs at Mojang have a story for Minecraft that's in ongoing development, or if these block and structure designs could be chalked up to "cuz it look cool."

Fun fact: the desert temple has just enough room to store a fully powered beacon

Matpat 7 years ago: You see these "creepers" here are actually plants
Matpat in 2021: *desert*

I think the connection with the chicken statues in the woodland mansions are because eggs are symbolic of rebirth and have a connection to the ancient Sumerian goddess of fertility, war, and love--Ishtar. Ishtar also has a connection to death, disaster (landborn plague or worldwide flood if we're going with a minecraft lore), fire quenching (Nether reference perhaps)...and temples.

ancients: builds wither
(wither kills them all)
ancients: let's create more artificial life

What's even more weird is the fact that sand temples are perfect space for a beacon

"Cats drop string when they die. The premise is that cats love playing with string."
Hahaha... haha.... haaaaa..... Mat, you're so innocent...
Dried cat intestines were once used as strings for string instruments, like violins...

Very interesting, I do like this explanation for the connection between cats and Creepers. It's so charming to think they just don't want to hurt the cats when they explode.

Game theory idea: What the heck is the world border (from a lore standpoint), is Minecraft in some simulation, and the ancient builders alive, and simulating this all?!?!? Just an idea. TOTALLY not trying to give you unnecessary suffering.

One more thing to notice: in the early days of Minecraft, back when sheep didn’t drop meat, deserts were filled with small lakes and rivers. Just something to note

The fact that the cat in the woodland mansion has the same position of the Great Sphinx of Giza makes your theory more credible.

8:26- As a Star Wars fan, I thoroughly enjoyed the Anakin Skywalker joke with hating sand. The game theory team’s editing is unmatched

Been playing a lot of Minecraft lately, and thinking about that old Minecraft episode about the creepers, I came up with the idea that, what if the Creeper’s are not only similar to Peat Grass, but are like those carnivorous plants from the movie “Ruins”? 🤔
Mainly a bundle of these sentient plants controlling the remains of a dead body, along with TNTs inside them, not only triggering their spores, but the TNTs to create more of themselves as well too... 🤔

"Hey dude were going to try to make a new creature."
"Oh cool do you have any ideas?"
"Yes, yes we do"
"Alright what is it"
"Ok, so, we put an explosive device inside a living creature, make it run from meow, make temples with their face all over it, and it spontaneously combust when we go near it."
"What's it gonna look like?"
"A failed rendering of a pig"

Mojangs gonna watch this and be like “huh, never thought of that”

The temples make sense a lot because they also store enchanted golden apples and they add more hp to life

I came back to this video to compare from your and our interpretation of your understanding of then to that now, and see the similarities and differences between the all stuff of the years.

Mat pat is the kinda guy to find hidden lore of a whole civilization in Tetris

The employees at Mojang: "MatPat's writing the lore for us! Amazing!"

I love game theory, ive been watching it for two years. And it never disappoint

The artificial creeper theory has to be correct and I have a theory of why the ancient builders did it. They may have wanted better security than a booby trap that destroys the valuables it's protecting when triggered, so they probably designed the creeper to be an extra set of protection but they managed to escape the deserts and explore the world. This means that for the builders the creepers ignored them but they attack us because they view us as hostile since they haven't been explicitly told that we are safe.

The presence of deadbushes also implies that there were once plants or trees in the desert biome, which would require water to grow...but with that water gone, all we’re left with is a dead bush.

"creepers r made by the ancient builders"
that explains why creepers and iron golems dont attack each other

Matpat: "All this amazing cool merch! Although it will be gone in two weeks so buy it quick!"
Me watching this video 3 years after it was posted: "... Can you still buy the watch?"

matpat: this isnt the thing where i put lore where lore shouldnt be.
also matpat: it couldnt be made in the desert, its green
me: ever heard of smelting cacti for dye?

If the chests in temples store human remains like the Egyptians, that would explain the riches like diamonds and gold also found in the chests, as Ancient Egyptians were known to bury people of high stature with jewelry (and even food, like the golden apples.) idk I thought it was interesting and helps further this theory

Matpat. String could easily just be a stand-in for mummy wrappings.

there is a slight problem with this as creepers try to kill us , when we seem to be descendants of the builders , but it could be that since they seem to be robot bombs , maybe the illagers could have broke something? so they would be kind to villagers and illagers as it still recognizes them as builder descendants , well maybe just villagers , BUT they would see other descendants like us as a threat and try to protect , or they just forgot how their masters looked like , and would mistake us as a threat , or their workings failed causing them to be slightly aggressive

Y'know Mat, the only place in the world where you can find cactus is the desert. What does that have to do with anything, you ask? Well, cacti and desert villages are the only source of green dye in the world. Not saying any lore or anything fancy, this is just a nice little detail I noticed.

Not to mention that the Chinese discovered gunpowder when trying to find the elixir of life.

MatPat: “Drier than dunkey’s sense of humor.” That one hit really close to home.

"There are lots of places to put this easter egg"
You would say that no matter where it was, maybe they put it there because it was a giant mansion with a spare room.

The fact that you added a piece of Minecraft string in this video brings a whole new meaning to string theory.

MatPat: “One that I’ve largely ignored up until now is the desert biome”
*Shows badlands*

I wanted to add to this theory by saying that pharaohs were also buried in temples with their riches. That’s why you can find gold, diamonds and gold apples. Also they were buried with scrolls/books that had spells on them to get them through trials on their way to the afterlife. Could these be enchantment books?

Matpat:*creates lots of lore and other stuff related to creepers*
Notch: i just tried to make a pig model and it glitched but okay

A random thought: if the ancient desert dwellers made creepers, they mightve programmed in a fear of cats as a way to prevent the creepers from destroying their own structures.

Plot twist: Anakin made the creepers so they’d blow up the sand because its course rough and gets everywhere.

Matpat after revealing that looting desert temple chests is actually an abhorrent desecration of human corpses:
“Oh no!
Anyway-“

6:13 awww man!

Now that moss blocks are in the game, I’ve noticed walking on them sounds very similar to a creeper.

In all my years of playing Minecraft I never knew Cats drop string.

The water temple looks like a Greek thing, like what most people imagine Atlantis looks like.

this needs an episode where he puts every thing theorised about the minecraft lore into a story

Personal theory. The reason that Ancient Egyptians, and these guys, worshipped cats as protectors was that cats probably killed many snakes and bugs. Big cats would also have been present, but smaller cats could be domesticated. Just a personal theory.

Matpat: Its a symbol of life and this means something
Jeb: We just thought it looked cool

I have a Mobiestary and at the creeper drwaing it says: "The small brain is programmed to sneak up on adventurers and detonate the TNT when it can cause the most damage"
See that PROGRAMMED

Theory: I see the different game modes of minecraft as different timelines regarding the ancient builders. In all three timelines, the builders attempted to create something that surpasses the force of life and death.
1. Hardcore: failure, as Steve only has one life.
2. Survival: success, Steve can respawn indefinitely, effectively being immortal.
3. Creative: complete success, Steve is basically a god with unparalleled power (no mobs can kill him). More importantly, Steven can't be killed (unless you go to the void, which is an interesting detail)

Also, how about stacking 2 CACTUSES and putting a jack o lantern on it to create a creeper? That would explain their green bodies.

8:10 the creeper can easily camouflage in the desert, it literally looks like a cactus

Matpat: talking about how there's no green in the desert
Me, an intelectual: but green dye from the cacti tho?

Matpat : explains how creeper are made, a creation of the ancient builder, correlation with real life symbol, etc,etc...
Notch : I just wanna make a pig

do a theory on the force of the blast from a creeper love the content keep it up !

"but what could have made the creepers green?" me: CACTUS CACTUS

I actually don't think that symbol looks like the ankh. I can see where you're coming from, but I feel like it's not close enough to assume it was supposed to be one. There's the obvious gap in the middle, making it look like it has two "loops" instead of just the one at the top.

"What are creepers?"
Short answer: A pain in the a**

Are we just going to ignore the fact that the totem of undying LOOKS LIKE THE ANK

Block game: exists
The game theorist: I can milk you

the dunkey slam/shoutout was awesome
although I am also expecting an episode of drama mondays about this any day now

Theory: some of the fossils in the nether point towards the stronghold. The fossils are other ender dragons that invaded the nether and over world. They destroyed the parts of the nether fortress and parts of bastions where the ancient civilization lived. The dragons breath turned the crimson forest into warped forest. They were chased back to where they came from and some were killed. This left the fossils and explains why there isn’t more then one dragon yet the dragon still has an egg. This also explains how there is more then one dragon head.

Me: "I swear I won't get political!"
Also me, 64 drinks later:

As an Egyptian I can confirm we have made creepers and are just hiding them from the world

The fact that I never really get any matpat ads outside of matpats videos is eyeconic

I'd like to add about of your theory, the looting dead bodies part. Normally, some people used to have there coffin next to there possessions, so that would explain the horse armor, gold, and other "loot"

So Enderman Sound Like They Are Saying "Whyyyyyy" When They Die.