What Happened to Minecraft’s Ancient Builders?

Minecraft lore is very mysterious and ambiguous. There are tens if not hundreds of differing theories and new explanations for game mechanics arsie all the time. But above all one question about Minecraft remains unanswered. A looming mystery that is arguably the most important thing in the whole story of the game.

Let’s assume for a second that there was once an ancient race of builders like you and I who constructed all the structures we see in the world. They made great technological advancements and shaped the world forever with their buildings. However they’re not here anymore. We are the only players in this vast world.

The ancient builders underwent some sort of extinction. A3 catastrophic event that drove them to be no more. But what? What could have possibly happened to this superior ancient race of people that made them go extinct. Well that is the question I’ll be answering today.

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While everyone has a different version of Minecraft lore in their head there’s one main aspect that almost every prominent theory agrees upon. The ancient race of Minecraft builders. A group of people just like you and I that constructed all the structures we see in the game.

While there’s obviously no verbal confirmation for this theory, it would explain so much and things make a lot less sense without it. For instance if there wasn’t an ancient race how would all the structures get here. They certainly don’t just appear randomly.

So with that assumption in mind, the next logical question is where are they now. A technologically advanced race doesn’t just disappear off the face of the earth. Something happened, some extinction event that caused them to seemingly vanish before we, the player, got here. And this is where theories begin to diverge.

To my knowledge there are 3 leading theories as to what happened to this race. In this video I intend to examine all of them and look for evidence and flaws proving and disproving these theories. The three theories to what happened are as follows. The first is the creation of the wither.

The second is some sort of plague, specifically a zombie outbreak and the third is some sort of world war or man induced conflict. These are all somewhat different but each have merit in their own right. Let’s begin with the most popular one. The Wither.

This is by far the most popular of the 3 and is often talked about by matpat, myself and more recently Sipover. It pretty much argues that at some point in time the ancient builders while conducting experiments accidentally or purposefully summoned the wither. A destructive behemoth that drove them to extinction.

Whether that be by killing all of them, sending them to die in the end or sending them into the end where they turned into endermen. That part is less important. The first strong piece of evidence in accordance with this theory is an anecdote from a book, the mobestiary.

The mobestiary is an official book released by Mojang and is the closest thing we’ll get to actual written lore. In the section on the wither we get this little quote. “There is something to be said about the curiosity of explorers that leads them to try anything, even if it ends in their doom.

A group of settlers tried to recreate what they saw in the painting, using four blocks of soul sand and three skulls of the wither skeleton. They found terrible success… and so the battle had begun” So an official lore book about Minecraft outright states that the ancient builders summoned the wither.

Well that just straight up answers our question right? Not exactly. Because while we do now know the ancient builders definitely did encounter the wither, we don’t know if it wiped them out. The wither is by no means an easy boss to combat. But wiping out an entire race of people.

I’m not sold on that just yet. Attentive viewers might have also noticed and questioned the line about the painting. What exactly did the builders try to recreate? Well this actually raises way more questions than answers. In the intro paragraph on the wither we get this mysterious text.

“It’s existence was theorized by scholars before it was witnessed. Soon after, a bizarre painting began to appear, showing a T-shaped group of brownish blocks topped by three white eyed heads. Thus the search began for information as to what this creature may be.”

Ok who the heck made a painting of the wither before it was even summoned. Regardless I’ll revisit this later as it actually isn’t that important to our overall goal. Another piece of evidence in favor of this theory is the condition and location of the nether fortresses and strongholds.

Nether fortresses are built high up in the air and their bridges look like they were hit with some sort of explosive. Maybe they were built as a place of defense to guard against wither attacks. Similarly the stronghold is built deep underground in a place where the wither probably wouldn’t get to that easily.

The builders could have been using it as a place of refuge while working on the end portal. But the wither theory isn’t without flaws. For one thing the wither isn’t that hard to kill. If you had a whole race of technologically advanced builders it’s hard to believe that

With all of that diamond armor they still couldn’t defeat a singular wither. However a counterargument to that is maybe more than one was summoned. For some reason or another. The second condracticing aspect of this theory is the aftermath.

As you probably know when a wither kills a mob a wither rose is dropped or placed. Players are no exception to this rule. If the wither did end up killing the ancient builders why are there no wither roses left behind as evidence. Furthermore, how did the villagers survive?

In a story by the game theorists that I agree with, they point out how the villagers are most likely descendants of the ancient builders. If that’s the case though how did they end up surviving the withers? It seems unlikely that they would remain while the other builders got wiped out.

The final problem I have with this theory is where is the wither now? The wither is one of the few mobs that doesn’t despawn even if you unload it’s chunks. So theoretically it should still be somewhere out in the wild if the builders failed to kill it. Which it isn’t.

So there’s definitely an argument to be made but I’m not sold on it just yet. But that’s just the first theory, let’s now turn our attention to the plague. A zombification outbreak. Somehow through natural causes or man made experiments a zombie virus was unleashed upon the Minecraft world.

Taking the lives of the majority of the ancient builders and driving the rest into exile in the end. I myself have also played on this hypothesis and it definitely is a strong candidate. For one thing it’s undeniable that zombies look like us.

They wear the same clothes as default steve and have the same physique as the player. This on its own already presents a strong case for the ancient race turning into zombies. The same mechanic is also present in villagers. Zombies have the ability to convert villagers into zombie villagers, proof of the zombification

In action. Additionally zombie villagers spawn naturally, supporting the claim that some villagers were converted in the past along with the builders. Furthermore there’s the whole mechanic of anti zombification. We have the ability to cure zombie villagers and the builders were aware of this too.

Why else would there be an anti zombification study in the basements of igloos if the virus wasn’t a problem. Likewise it would explain the prison cells found in strongholds. Perhaps zombies or zombie villagers were kept there to study upon.

But I think one of the strongest pieces of evidence in favor of a zombie virus is the zombification mechanic of piglins and hoglins. When these nether mobs enter the overworld after a bit of time they begin getting the nausea effect and convert into zombified versions of what they once were.

As if there is some airborne virus infecting them. However while this definitely is a strong case this theory is not without many flaws. For one thing we aren’t affected by the zombie virus. If this plague is still airborne you don’t see the player turning into a zombie every 5 minutes.

In the theories’ defence it’s not that much of a stretch to assume that Steve along with the villagers and other overworld mobs have developed some sort of immunity to the virus. The nether being such a hot environment kills the airborne plague thus it’s mobs have no immunity since they don’t need it.

And when they travel to the overworld their lack of immunity renders them helpless to the plague. All that’s to say the fact that we aren’t affected by the virus isn’t that big of a deal breaker. However, that’s not the only problem with this theory. That comes in the form of skeletons.

If the ancient builders died and turned into zombies, what does that make our bony pals over here? One argument is that skeletons are decomposed zombies that no longer have a desire to eat brains, hence why they don’t care for villagers. If that’s the case though, why do they attack us?

Another possible argument is that this is proof of a second race of people. One that was killed by something completely different. That said, both of these solutions are pretty spineless and only thrive on speculation. With all that in mind though you may be beginning to see why a zombie outbreak seems much more

Likely as an extinction event as opposed to the wither. But we aren’t done just yet. A war. A battle between two species of intelligent lifeforms that ended up leaving both of them forgotten. How likely is it? Well, while it isn’t necessarily a cause for extinction it might explain a motive if

There was a second civilization combating the builders. As I mentioned previously it could explain what the skeletons are. It could also be what was in the prison cells of the strongholds and what drew the original painting of the wither.

Not only that if there was a war going on between these two civilizations, it could be that one of them in an effort to win ended up summoning the wither or creating zombie virus. As for who this race could be we already have two solid contenders in the game.

If you’re willing to consider RetroGamingNow’s interpretation of the lore, the ancient builders and endermen are two completely different races, which could have been two warring civilizations. Even more likely however are the illagers. These things have always seemed like the villains of the game and I don’t think it’s unreasonable

For them to be an opponent that our ancient builder race was facing. Look no further than zombie interaction. Illagers while being almost completely identical to villagers in physique and structure are ignored by zombies. It might be that the illagers in an effort to wipe out the villagers or the builders

Were the ones that made a zombie virus. However as you might be able to tell I have very little evidence for and against this theory. It’s just all in my head. So with all of that said and done, where does that leave us now?

Well with the provided evidence considered, I give to you, the story of the extinction of the ancient builders. Getting more and more technologically advanced as each day passed the builders continued to thrive. With invention after invention their power grew stronger. Eventually though some didn’t want to continue.

They were satisfied with their comfortable way of life and just wanted to settle. Eventually these two groups of people diverged. The majority of the builders who remained continued to go forwards, pushing the overworld to its limits and discovering alternate dimensions. While the second smaller group settled down, building towns defended by robotic golems

To protect them from incoming spiders and phantoms. But life wasn’t perfect forever for the villagers. Eventually some got frustrated, they wanted to come back to their adventurous way of life. They wanted to do stuff again. However this belief was not shared by the majority of the villagers.

It had been a while since other builders contacted them and they were content without outside interruption. So these wanna be adventurists were exiled out of the village. Becoming outcasts and establishing their own huts, and outposts. Shunned and ridiculed, the outcasts began to work together.

To pile up their resources and construct their own homes. Giant mansions where they would plot their revenge against the villagers. And after months of experimentation, they did it. A plague engineered to wipe out the villagers. A zombification virus. They wreaked havoc on the villages.

Many of the civilians were wiped out and converted into zombified versions of what they once were. Thought this wasn’t the end. The builders came back just in time. They brought their armies to fight against the zombie plague, knowing it may soon come for them too. As well as to protect their lost relatives.

But it wasn’t enough. Soon the armies of builders also fell victim to the plague. The airborne virus infected their systems and converted them too into mindless warriors. Quickly the armies began constructing fortresses in the nether and shelters in igloos. Places where they could experiment on curing the zombification.

They managed to find a cure for the villagers, but it was too little too late. Day by day more and more builders succumbed to the plague. A last ditch effort was made, an underground base was constructed with a portal to flee this virus.

And when the zombies arrived, the last of the builders jumped into the end. Greeted with a fate arguably even worse. And that is the answer to Minecraft’s Biggest Unsolved Mystery. Or at least it’s my answer.

It’s the one that I think makes the most sense but I encourage you to look at the evidence and draw your own conclusions on what you think happened to the builders. The villagers to this day are still plagued by the zombies, and we as the player are the

Last builder who can protect them. But with all that said, thank you so much for watching, please consider subscribing, and as always peace out, have a good one, I’ll see you next time.