Game Theory: The Lost Cult of Minecraft Illagers

Illagers: We must do everything we can to bring these people back!
Steve: I’m here! You succe-
Illagers: *So you have chosen... death.*

"Why are vindicators eyes blue?"
Snorted too much lapis.

Let’s just be honest if there was a hour long video of these theories we’d probably watch it all

Wow, the cargo cults are really tragic. It's so hard to imagine there are people still living so far from the civilization that we know.

"I'm pretty sure they're just idiots"
That's not even a theory, that's straight facts

I feel like the green eyes are a little nod to emeralds, that means that the vindicator has a connection to... *lapis lazuli* ?

Matpat: My theory is that they are trying to bring the builders back
The player as a builder: *comes
The Illagers: peace was never an option

BrUH That story about the Cargo Cults was genuinely one of the most fascinating things I've ever heard. I need to do some reading about that.

The phenomenon of Cargo Cults is literally the biggest "he's a little confused, but he's got the spirit" I've ever seen

'I'm pretty sure they're just idiots.'
Villagers: *sad huh*

Illagers: We want to recreate the builders.
Steve, a builder: Hey-
Illagers: Violence is the question, and the answer is yes.

Plot Twist: Steve (or the player) is actually an escaped clone creature from the Illagers.

Illagers: **trying to recreate Steve**
Also Illagers: **attacking Steve on sight**

Villagers: Hmmm
MatPat: write that down WRITE THAT DOWN

Wait I may be crazy for this but what if that glass cube filled with lava was them trying to recreate the living magma cubes in the nether???

Maybe they saw the builders go into the portal. I have a feeling that the builders had some kind of connection to the villagers, which is why they're so friendly to us as the player. What if the illagers saw them go into the end portal, and when the builders didn't return they tried to make it again to bring them back.

I just noticed something about the wool statues in the mansions. The animal statues are Cats and Chickens. I belive cats are pretty obvious, witches have pet cats in minecraft and work with the Illagers, but something caught me with the chickens. In the mobestiary they say that Chickens might be spys for dark forces, since they can be ridden by baby versions of zombies. In fact, they're one of the only mobs in the game that can be ridden by a monster such as ravagers, spiders, and skeleton horses. It seems oddly specific for those mobs to be in there as a giant statue rather than any other mob, seems like Chickens in minecraft also have some dark connection lol

Villagers: *Build Beds*
Illagers: We don't do that here.

Matpat: *wants to make these videos shorter*
Everyone: DONT DO THAT

You know, I'm pretty sure Mojang themselves don't have a completely fleshed out set of lore. If I recall correctly in one of their videos (not sure if it was Minecraft LIVE or something on their KRplus channel) they mentioned that they provide just enough lore for the fans to come up with their own ideas, because it inspires creative thinking and new ideas.

Mat: "I have to find a way to make these shorter"
Me: Honestly I like the longer theories

Mojang and notch: family friendly game for everyone
MatPat: *its a cult*

there is a theory I heard that the wool statues in the rooms allow the illagers to spy through the actual mobs, the cat statue would allow them to see through the eyes of actual cats and that is how raids start when the player right away gets to a village after getting the bad omen effect

I'm never seen any of his other minecraft theories and listening to these recaps is bewildering, he just keeps taking so many wild turns.

Mattpat: Brings up Herobrine
Minecraft veterans: Herobrine... I haven't heard that name in years.

Have you ever considered Mojang could just say “you’re right” and you’ve just written the minecraft lore for them

OML THE EVOKERS AND ILLAGERS MUST HAVE LIVED IN TGE CHURCHES- they have brewing stands and other then that they’re empty and kind of out of place being that it’s full cobble and 3 storey while all the other houses consist of wood and have 2 storeys

Does anyone else kinda want a full episode on the cargo cult story?

mojang: minecraft is a fun explorative adventure
matpat: The Lost Cult of Minecraft Illagers

Speaking of the vindicator's having different colored eyes, they can spawn in peaceful mode and they won't attack villagers if it's peaceful mode

So basically it is possible that they saw the ancient race of builders and some of them resembled the clothing of steve and since they already used those outfit colors to make maps and beds, they decided to try use the blue wool to try and summon those builders and essentially create them to understand the stuff but achieved no success repeatedly.

The Herobrine part brought memories back to life and gave me shivers down my spine

Matpat: This is a diet theory
Me: So basically a normal theory with a cool name

MatPat: “Villagers are just idiots!”
*ANGRY VILLAGER NOISES*

Maybe they try to remember what it was like when they used to build and bring life to dead people. Them, unlike Villagers, want to bring the ancient civilization back and they don’t know how, so they use cargo cult to bring them back, so the ones that started to build would show them how to do that, how to creat more advance builds, and bring persons back to life.
I feel like this way it fits with your theory about how villagers and this ancient civilization used to be one. But idk your the expert with theory’s after all.

DONT MAKE THE THEORIES SHORT!!!! I LOOOOOVE listening to them!!!! I dont know why,but im so obsessed with hearing you say all of your discoverings so dramatically :00

Matpat: Herobrin-
Minecraft Veterans: *_WHAT DID YOU SAY_*

Matpat: This might also explain herobrine!
Mojang: [silently crying]

How does this fit in with the villagers and Illagers being related when villagers can create beds?

Vindicator : ight imma put on some eye contacts
MatPat : *Do i hear a theoryyyyyy?*

I just had a few thoughts:
- Why does the End Portal require Eyes of Ender to activate if the Ancient Builders went into it before Endermen existed? How did they first activate it, and who made the mechanism that required the Eyes of Ender?
- Furthermore along this line of thinking, did the Ancient Builders cut the eyes out of people to use to conjure the portal?
- Also, why are the Eyes of Ender so large when placed into the End Portal slots? Is it just an arbitrary thing insofar as graphic design, or is there some other force at work in there?

Matpat: "I need to find out how to make these shorter."
Viewer: "But... we don't want them shorter 😐"

8:00 Camera man: "Me just one of you"

MatPat: "I will not go past the ten minute mark"
Video: 11:52

Game theorist: Illagers are just Cargo Cultists!
Minecraft devs who just wanted to do some wool art: *Confused screaming*

"not gonna go beyond 10 minutes"
Checks time bar, 11minutes and 52 seconds
You were so close mat. but yet so far.

In bedrock edition strongholds have a higher chance of spawning under a village, so I think that one of the “unspeakable acts” was building the end portal and maybe, using the dragon??

Perhaps, the illagers built the giant woolen animals to try and create giant monsters to help them fight or protect their mansions? It would make sense, with the idea they tried to make steve, and the illager beasts

"I'm pretty sure they're just idiots"
*Offended villager noises*

Imagine he is just connecting dots that aren't there, and Mojang is like "OK. we'll take it"

This also explains why the evokers have totems of undying. If the ancient builders really did come in contact with the villages, they would have given some of their items to them just as a normal player would likely build a base in a village. Since the ancient builders were likely experimenting with life and death, some of their magic would have been adapted by the evokers through the totems. This also explains why they don't use the totems to stop themselves from dying, they don't fully understand how those magic items work.

Theory: The Illagers , and specifically Evokers, weren't trying to imitate or recreate Steve specifically when they accidentally made zombies.
They were trying to recreate the ancient builders. *And they succeeded.* Which is where Steve comes from.
Still not quite perfectly. He's not friendly to them, and the creation process winds up causing him to come into existence at some random point in the world. But the Evokers made a Builder.

Matpat : "you don't put something like that arbitrarily."
Mojang : "we just put that arbitrarily."

Illagers: "We live outside a society"

The ENTIRE Halo Covenant is a cargo cult

Imagine if you could activate the wool recreations of the end portal and get teleported to a MSPaint-like version of the End

Matpat: *trying to uncover the lore and insanity of the illagers*
The Minecraft devs when making the Illagers: *Hey you know what would be funny? Thicc Chicken statue hehehe*

omg this is the first time i’ve ever heard of “Cargo Cult” 🤯🤯🤯 absolute mindblown

"vindicator eyes are blue"
My brother: ooh you're a vindicator

I thought that perhaps the illagers grew up with stories of the end portal and people who left with it, maybe seeking knowledge and even family or ancestors they based builds off of those stories. They might have never even seen an end portal that way only made assumptions of what they read in stories. And perhaps when they worked to find out more about those who left for the end, even pushing themselves to the point of doing something with lapis. Maybe that's when the other villagers abandoned them. The Illagers angered by the villagers continue with their experiments falling deeper into darkness. Where in that darkness like the theorists said they kidnapped and changed the villagers into those hulking beasts. I wonder if the illagers are just children who grew up on stories of those theorized ancient builders, and out of curiosity mimicked those builders with their fake maps, beds, and portals. Of course all of this is based off of what the Game Theorists have made.

Matt in the first theory: THEY ARE EVIL
Matt now: Poor illagers want their messiab back

So does this mean that the whole "messing with life and death" thing is them trying to mimic re-spawning? Just throwing out something random.

I think for them going to a stronghold isn't what happened maybe they heard of it from a legend and then tried to recreate it and maybe make a way for the ancient builders a way back

Well there are also the features of evoker like turning blue sheep into red sheep

When he was talking about the tribe and the cargo theory I totally forgot this was all about Minecraft

Mat: " The illagers want to bring the old builders back . "
Illagers when I enter their mansion : *killing intensifies*

5:25 this could help the real world theory of how there are ufos in Egyptians hieroglyphics
They had visitors..

“But they’re missing the point, and about three wood planks” i’m dying this guy’s hilarious

Mojang: do we.... pay him?.... I mean, he IS making theory’s so we don’t have too.

Mojang in a year: releases a book: *The Full Lore of Minecraft*
*Inspired by Game Theory*
Edit, 2023: ....how about in 10 years?

I think that the illagers saw the builder before the ancient builder went through the portal.They were amazed by the builders but when they need to retreat to the end the illagers follow them trying to convince them to stay and teach them how they do what they do but the builders didn’t want to stay longer.They hopped through the portals with the illagers standing behind them.So they went home trying to recreate the portals, the beds,the animals, and the builders themselves with their totems of undying

I would love that every so often minecraft would add a new feature to the illagers or adding a new illager spell as a result of their experiments

Other youtubers: Trying to pass the 10 minute mark
Matt: Trying to go under the 10 minute mark (and failing)

"Mom, can we have End portal?"
"No, we have End portal at home"
*End portal at home: **3:12*

I forgot this was a Minecraft vid halfway thru

This one seems so true but if some one could escape the end then it would contradict enderman being the ancient builder

If they were truly trying to bring back the “ancient builders” why would they be agressive towards somebody who, to them, would mimic the people they were trying to bring back?

When MatPat mentioned Herobrine:
Childhood: Plays back childhood trauma of disks 11 and 13

what if steve and alex were successful illager experiments
it would explain why they’re the only builders in the land

Hi, pls hear me. What if they were they "enemies" that made the race of the first builders flee and try to run away? I mean, IT IS JUST A THEORY but it could be true. The vindicators and the other kind of illagers in mansions ( i dont remember the name) appera to be not "not that much civilizated". So, what if the ancient race pf builders was afraid of them? I mean, evil villagers creating mobsters and playing with life are surely not the best friends. The builders built the strongholds and the portals to get away, and their "enemies" saw the portal. I always say " enemies" and not just enemies because the builders wouldnt probably know if their enemies were enemies or allies that didn't know how to act near them. So, the builders were afraid and made the portal, their fake enemies followed them and saw the portal and since they had access to such magic as life creation understood that the portal was a one way gate. So, with my theory we solve thw "who were the builders' enemies" and how they have seen a portal. Now as a result they are trying to recreate a portal to bring the people they admired so much back. I think that this theory is prwtty much solid but i dont have the time to find evidences. If you actually read this I wont you to know that I admire you and I would like you to answer to this comment, even something like jrjdndjdnsjenskidhn (random keys). I hope that this comment will be helpful

"have you ever heard the tragedy of the evokers?"
"...no"
"I thought not. it's not a story the villagers would tell you. evokers were dark magicians of the iliagers so powerful and so wise, that they could influence the blocks to create, life..."

The big obsidian and glass structure was supposed to imitate a beacon.

I did a little bit of research and Evokers can change sheep wool colors from blue to red. This is directly linking the woodland mansion's wool room to the Evokers even more. Not sure if this is covered in the videos because I am still working through them and I'm two minutes into this video.

I love how just straight happy Minecraft villagers sound

Me: "Imma watch another one of these Mincraft Lore videos because they're cool"
Also me: Learns possibly one of the coolest history facts ive ever heard about Cargo Cults from a YT video about minecraft.

MatPat: "We won't go past the 10 minute mark!"
Me: -checks the length of the video- "Ya failed that, Mat."

Maybe the verry existence of Steve is dark magic form the illagers? Maybe the reson there is fake end portals is because they want to travel to the end but they don’t know how, so they decided to smooth over on there original plan to create life and it actually works

just to let you know, i love the long videos and youre entire cast. keeo the good work going!!!

Actually, this seems more of a way to try to destroy the end portals. Notice the TNT? This makes it appear to be a way to destroy them and the strongholds inside too. If they just saw them, why would they get rid of the lighting? Everyone knows that lights prevent mob spawning, so the builders clearly had light before they got trapped in the end. Man, I hope someone sees this.

Or: The Illagers can't craft beds / maps. They left all the other Villagers who were professional carpenters / cartographers, so they don't know how to make these items.

Mini theory: Assuming you’re right (I think the theory’s pretty good) If the illagers are a cargo cult in the situation of Minecraft they don’t understand the point of building with certain blocks and crafting. So how did they construct their massive wooden mansions? They must’ve-learned how to smelt sand, craft glass panes, mine, and craft logs into planks for many types of wood.

Not sure if it's been mentioned, but maybe they're trying to help the Builders in a twisted way. Think about it! They're trying to create Steves, they create replicas to show and teach them, they have a prison for both mobs and renegade Steves... The only pitfall in their plan was the Villagers kicking them out for experimenting with life.

For some reason, this makes me want to go into creative mode and find their mansion, and give them real beds, real maps, a real end portal. Just to make their dreams come true haha

illagers eyes are probably blue due to their connection to lapis, this might also be the reason why their skín is grey instead of the color of a regular villager

I interpreted their "imitation beds" as the in-game equivalent of a "luxury bed". Makes more sense than them forgetting how to build the beds that they used when they were villagers yet can still build mansions and weapons and use fire and magic, and the devs putting off on designing an actual "luxury bed" block similar to the normal bed. They might as well make it, I think.
MatPat, are you sure that the illagers were inspired by actual contact with the ancient builders and not by going through the books in the stronghold libraries? That would explain how they came to begin experimenting with magic fron the start. I don't think they ever met the ancient builders. And the libraries are likely partly ruined or the advanced books are missing or impossible for the illagers to understand, hence their imitation portals.

My guess as to the giant cats and birds: When the ancient builders described what an Ender Dragon was, they said it “had a long, black body with four legs and a tail, like those of a cat, but it also had wings and could fly like a chicken”. That, or chickens were their primary meat source and they kept cats around to scare off creepers in the builders’ homes.

Illagers: Make cults to appease the builders
Also Illagers: Attack only builder(s) left

Mojang is just gonna give us a link to this playlist when they finally want to give us lore and say “yeah what he said”

My opinion on the illigers is there probably trying to create a being that can do what we can do in creative mode but the reason why I'm not sure of

Great Mat
U shoved a whole minute out of the normal theories