The Ancient Zombie Massacre | Minecraft Deep Dive

There’s something wrong with the minecraft world we don’t usually think about it instead preferring to explore or build or any other number of things to distract us but despite all of this it’s hard to escape a sinking feeling the idea that everything we see is in the shadow of

Some past apocalyptic event there’s evidence wherever we look ancient and abandoned structures decaying in faraway lands a piglen society unable to reach their full potential yet above all else there’s one big problem that becomes more unsettling the more we think about it throughout this world there are undead enemies everywhere zombies

Skeletons during night time an unthinkably large number of them begin to appear they’re very similar in size to the player they can use much of the same equipment it implies that there used to be an ancient species that colonized the entire overworld from the deserts to the

Ice fields yet for some reason every single one of them was infected becoming undead and through this seemingly mundane occurrence hidden in plain sight is one of the most important questions in the entire game of minecraft what happened welcome to deep dive a series where we have been exploring the secrets of

Minecraft tonight we are finally going to look at what may be one of the most important events in the history of the minecraft world what happened to the ancient builders this is a video that will certainly be best if you’re completely caught up on the deep dive series especially with these videos here

However i’ll still bring you along even if you haven’t seen them just know that there will be some spoilers with that out of the way it’s time to get going join me for a dive beneath the waves [Applause] We’re gonna take a journey back in time back before the play responds before the ender dragon before the villagers and the piglens we’re going back to the start of our minecraft timeline the world is a much more peaceful place animals roam the land eating grass and flowers it’s a new world untainted by

The presence of intelligent life it’s balanced and the ecosystem grows and evolves naturally but wait out in the distance there’s a new group they’re humanoid and possess a sharp intelligence and perhaps their most unique trait is their capability of construction these are the ancient builders their

True origin is unknown yet here they are quickly developing a society these builders are extremely curious they analyze the world around them asking tough questions like why and what would happen if we tried this they’re experimentalists at heart not happy with the current state of things instead they

Look towards the future and want to progress themselves it starts out simple the builders discover that wood is a useful material which can be used to create a crafting table this allows for the construction of tools a pickaxe which is suited for breaking stone it doesn’t end there

Stone can be used to make an even better pickaxe or a sword a tool useful for slaying the animals of the land for food it can also create a furnace no longer do they need to cook meat on a campfire the furnace has the powerful property of

Being able to refine special types of rock called ores this produces iron a far tougher and more durable material iron pickaxes chew through rocks they can also mine diamond and even stronger material found deep underground as their society begins to grow they start to become more organized they construct massive underground mines

Necessary to get valuable resources to the surface the builders no longer need to worry about basic needs like food and water they can now afford to experiment with more complex technology for example the builders are discovering that there is a hidden layer to the world a special type of magical energy when harnessed

This energy can be infused into equipment adding unique properties certain materials are more susceptible than others gold appears to be particularly attracted to magical energy such benefits make the builders extremely resilient against the elements and dangers of the world and they can now begin to spread out settling in new places

Saddles coincide with the domestication of the horse providing an effective land transportation method the builders discover how to construct ships which can traverse the vast oceans with ease this is helped by the development of redstone allowing for time keeping and navigational assistance from compasses the builders continue to tinker with

Magic and they start to think about various ways that elements could be combined and in doing so they make a startling discovery obsidian and heat creates a mysterious portal to a new dimension the elements are extremely hostile but it’s worth the journey the nether contains powerful magical components using these the builders

Discover potion brewing a third used for magical energy they construct massive nether fortresses as a place to farm blaze powder but the nether has another draw to it deep underground there’s a new material called netherrite it allows the builders to upgrade their diamond tools it’s so strong that the builders

Begin to construct bastions outposts where they can set up mining operations to bring netherright to the overworld then a startling development pigs brought to the nether as a food source have been transformed by the heat now they’re piglins a sentient species who are similarly intelligent to the builders but the builders don’t care

About that in the piglens they see little more than a group capable of doing the dangerous netherite mining for them so they dominate them redesigning the bastions to make it very dangerous to leave they move their portals to distant locations trapping the piglens and giving them no choice but to mine if

The piglens never know anything else perhaps they won’t rebel back in the overworld the builders are discovering new technology at an amazing rate the eye from an ancient sea beast can be used to construct a conduit which allows for safe building underwater the builders create even bigger ships

Designed to go on deep sea hunting expeditions the group has also domesticated phantoms a flying beast that is attracted to weakness which can be used for search and rescue operations their societies flourishing with new discoveries and then suddenly visitors out of the void a group of mysterious figures

Appears they are tall they can teleport using injured pearls and they’re allergic to water but they’re just as smart as the builders possessing the same instinct to create an experiment these endermen come from a far away dimension they’ve discovered how to get to the overworld but not how to return

The builders however have experience with inter-dimensional teleportation and they know that heat and hard materials are two crucial components working together with the endermen they discover how to create the in-portal using materials the enderman brought with them blaze powder from the nether combined with an injured pearl and a special

Frame is the secret formula the endermen can finally return to their home world and the builders follow them what happens next is a rich exchange of ideas endermen explore the mysteries of the overworld and the nether while the builders discover the bizarre properties of the end it is a period of

Collaboration and unity never before seen in the minecraft world but something is starting to happen some of the builders are transforming becoming grisly half-dead versions of themselves and this is happening in the nether two some of the piglens are exhibiting similar symptoms it could spread very easily a bite from one of

These infected beings would cause similar effects in the victim it appears as though the builders have a novel disease on their hands and they start to realize that this had the potential to become a serious problem if unchecked the play could consume the land a plague so cruel as to

Destroy the mind and flesh of whoever was infected but the builders had overcome problems before they discovered how to reach the nether they’d unlocked the secrets of potion brewing developed magic built the conduit what could a minor sickness possibly do to an indestructible group like the ancient builders

So the race was on to find a cure and the builders put their vast library of knowledge to use the virus while deadly was still relatively contained but they couldn’t delay as it would spread quickly with a bite and the growing number of zombies had the builders cautious for the future

So the builders organized a conference with their best and brightest minds the great scientists and leaders collectively had a chance to solve this problem but how maybe if they could understand the plague they could understand how to exploit its weaknesses the plague seemed to be magical in some

Way it only affected certain beings and while the builders were highly susceptible some mobs were not this included all nether bobs as well as enemies like spiders cows and sheep and other livestock were not affected the endermen were safe as well what if there was a way to use parts of

The mobs that were immune could that possibly lead them to a cure potion brewing of course why not try ingredients of immune mobs rabbits turtles none of these mobs seem to do anything what about spiders they weren’t mammals and were totally safe from the virus a potion of weakness using a fermented

Spider eye would this cause the virus to subside but there was still something missing the status effect wasn’t good enough on its own there had to be a way to augment weakness to destroy the virus to add a kick of magical energy how though so the builders thought back to all

Their magical experiments of the past there was a material that seemed designed to hold magical energy gold could gold be what they were looking for but how to get it into a zombie what if it was edible like an apple and the magical combination worked weakness and a golden apple but not just

Any golden apple the builders dug deep into their archives and produced the recipe for an enchanted golden apple no one knew how to make it except for them just another in their long list of magical advancements their search had reaped its rewards finally a way out a way to save the species

If this plan was going to work the ancient builders would need lots and lots of gold where could they find that gold was everywhere in the nether and a plane started to form what if they could use their piglens stop the netherite mining and now target gold but as we

Learned in the piglen deep dive these creatures were not robots they were an intelligent species with a culture in society yet the builders did not care the builders could very well have traveled to the nether themselves to mine the gold they could have taken responsibility instead of forcing innocent piglets to

Work their whole lives but they didn’t choose that path the bastion infrastructure was in place and the piglens were already sentenced to a life of mining so the command was sent to the bastions mine gold the piglens went into the dark minds and they toiled away working harder than

Ever forced by the ancient builders the builders organized trips moving gold from the bastions to the portal to the overworld where apples could be created they became quite efficient with specialized chests on either side of the portals designed to ease the process yet a question presented itself where

Were the builders going to store this gold anyways vast troves of a valuable material presented a tempting target for thieves and raiders it would need to be kept in a location that was extremely well defended but simultaneously it needed to be very easy to access by an authorized builder during an emergency

And then a brilliant idea the ocean the builders already employed a vast navy could they store the gold somewhere deep underwater perhaps along established trade routes building underwater was not tricky they had been experimenting with a conduit for years which provided protection and oxygen perhaps they could design a

Structure that took advantage of this impossible to access without a conduit and easy with one they could also construct a powerful golem as a defense mechanism a being that would protect the life-saving gold at all costs a guardian it was beautiful it was perfect it accomplished their goals all with the

Signature flair of their construction style this would be a monument to their success against the virus the gold stored within was proof of their superior intellect their inability to fail their control over the natural world the builders were prepared for the worst but they would come out on top

After all what could go wrong But despite their best efforts the play continued to spread it didn’t seem to matter how much gold they brought from the nether the disease always outpaced them so they made the piglets work harder and harder more gold why wasn’t it working why were things getting worse

Was it possible they had made a mistake where’s this virus even from anyways and then it dawned upon them all of their efforts all of their mining operations their vast ocean networks were only creating more issues because the virus wasn’t from the overworld after all no the builders were bringing more than

Just gold from the nether [Applause] A critical mistake all of their efforts to stop the spread of the virus were only bringing it to more places their ships their nether chests oh no it was everywhere the builders were beginning to recognize the true depth of their error their search and rescue phantoms infected their capability to seek out weakness

Only brought the virus to the most faraway lands their horses some of them were infected too Terror began to set in was this the end the overworld was quickly becoming uninhabitable so the builders began to retreat modifying the strongholds deep underground to serve as a defensive location for the time being but this would not work in the long term the disease was still able to get underground

The issue is that the overworld provided the perfect conditions for the disease to thrive while it originated in the nether the heat caused it to be relatively contained furthermore all of the native mobs had developed the natural immunity but in the cooler overworld the virus was no longer

Suppressed it also found a huge population who were susceptible leading to the explosion of zombification but the builders are seeing it in retrospect what good does that do now the world is broken they can’t go to the nether without spreading the virus further the end while safer is still inhospitable to the builders

No they need something else they need to think outside the box what the builders need is another dimension and escape so they turned to the endermen the builders asked if it would be possible to create a portal to a new dimension but the endermen had become wary of the builders

Distrustful of the way they treated the piglens and unamused by their hubris why should the interment risk their own lives to save the builders from a downfall of their own design the answer is no but the billers cannot accept it desperate for survival they turn on the endermen they send whoever they have

Left to the end armed with swords and deadly liquid water they threaten the endermen either try to make a portal or the builders would slay as many of them as they could until they were defeated the endermen are enraged and betrayed by their closest allies but they have to do

It unless they are willing to go to war so the endermen get to work thinking about ways to make a new portal they need hard materials so they collect vast amounts of obsidian they also need heat and magical energy the endermen hadn’t attempted a portal using anything from

The nether so they began to experiment with various items from that dimension and under threat of death they found something eyes of vendor and gas tears could be used to create an in-crystal a new type of magical block this would be the way for the builders to escape this was the ticket out So the enderman construct the portal a huge design with 10 obsidian pillars one by one they placed the in crystals on the towers the builders watched anxiously ready to cheat death and escape their certain doom and enderman places the final crystal What’s happening this isn’t right where’s the portal something is wrong wait a minute what is that oh no what have they done the builders have created a portal but instead of letting them out it’s let something else in it’s a huge dragon from a distant dimension burst of energy destroys the exit portal

And the builders have no choice but to fight but the builders are not prepared for such a battle and the dragon is overwhelmingly powerful it’s only a matter of time before the dragon will surely slay the remaining builders the billers have doomed not only themselves but the endermen too

Endermen in the overworld realize that they can never return to the end so they remove eyes of indra from their portals in order to keep the overworld safe from the dragon they destroy their stashes of gas tears and seal off the stronghold from the surface to prevent anyone from accidentally unleashing the beast

The endermen are exiled but they know that they could at least keep the overworld and its inhabitants safe perhaps one day the dragon could be defeated but they are incapable of doing it themselves it’s a new world There’s an irony here the builders were so intent on doing what was best for themselves no matter the cost to others the piglins suffered the enderman suffered but ultimately the builders themselves suffered as well and the world they left behind was not the world they came into the

Post-builder era was dominated by the plague their actions had fundamentally changed the structure of the world the piglens knew nothing but mining and even without the ancient builders they continued to do the only thing they knew even as the bastions began to deteriorate they grew obsessive over gold a material that was ultimately

Meaningless to them but for the brainwashing of the builders the endermen were cut off from the amazing new dimensions they discovered they became a fractured species pockets of them remained in the overworld and the nether but these endermen would never return home the image of the ancient

Builders was seared into their minds so much so that even a single glance from someone who looks similar would send them into a fit of rage yet despite the betrayal the endermen still had hope that a savior would one day free as time went on evidence of the builders

Began to disappear their cities were washed away their nether portals broke down soon only the toughest structures remained the monuments the pyramids and the preserved ancient shipwrecks but not all hope was lost the world slowly began to heal over the course of thousands of years new societies began to develop the

Peaceful villagers and eventually the witches and illagers these groups learned to survive in this brutal environment the shadow of the builder’s actions remained the zombie plague was now a deep part of the dynamics of the overworld yet there were societies built to overcome such issues it didn’t have to be this way the

Builders didn’t have to abuse the world around them but it happened and everyone paid the price and then one day from the void a newcomer spawns into the world for the first time who are they and why are they here that’s a story for another day There we have it that’s my theory as with all deep dives i encourage you not to think of this as absolute truth instead consider the facts and make up your own opinion i’m really excited to hear your thoughts leave a comment below and tell me if this seems plausible to

You i also want to encourage you to come over to the retro gaming now discord server we have an awesome community and we’d love to have you there this is such a fascinating topic with a lot of room for interpretation what do you think we’re also approaching a pretty big

Subscriber milestone 250k is no joke keep an eye out i want to do something special for when we get there we’ll go ahead and end with that this has been retro gaming now thank you so much for watching and i’ll see everyone in the next video have a great day