Game Theory: The Lost History of Minecraft's Wither 

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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?

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

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

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.

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

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.

one thing important to note: they might’ve used the wither’s creation pattern (2 block high soulsand, 3 across) because it was also the way of creating iron golems. they might’ve put a head on and thought the body needed more bone mass to be completed and accidentally summoned the wither.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Can you explain how villagers came into the picture in your next theory?

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.

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

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

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

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

Something else I think is worth mentioning: the shape of the wither is very similar to the way an iron golem is made. The T-shape with head on top. But instead, it's 3. Consider maybe they weren't just trying to resurrect a fallen friend, but maybe it was closer to the original Frankenstein. They wanted something MORE. Something BIGGER to help them and fight for them. Instead, the corrupted, damned souls turned against them and set off on the path of destruction.

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.

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

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

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

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

For the next theory is that in igloos you find a lab that cures zombie villagers...

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

Theory: the “withered” effect that you get when the wither attacking is actually your character being turned into a wither skeleton

Two words: Woodland Mansions How do those work? How did the illagers survive the wither? And how did they attain magic?

If your theory is correct, then that means there still is a wither on the loose, so where is it? Here is my theory, what if the souls and the bones in the wither started to stabilize and created a new entity, one with no memories of the past since it is a cocktail of hundreds of souls. What if the first wither... Is the player! Adding a new meaning the the advancement "the beginning?" Edit: It would also explain why the endermen become aggressive when you look at them, imagine if a creature of destruction and doom stared right in your eyes.

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

MattPatt explains lore: Minecraft Story Mode: Wait . That’s illegal

2:14 Thanks, I won't be able to sleep with that image in my head now.

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

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.

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

Minecraft: Story Mode actually might have hinted this one, as the gang goes to the end in hopes to escape and defeat the Witherstorm

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?*

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

Woah, this new Minecraft lore is some hardcore stuff.

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!

Is nobody going to talk about how the enderman and wither skeletons are both unnaturally tall?

Extension of the theory: So what if they tested their magic before they used the real deal (soul sand)? First on something abundant yet disposable.. snow. And they made the snow gollums. I mean they even carved faces into the pumpkin heads to make them look like people. Then they wanted to test with something more robust and tough.. iron. They made the iron gollums and realized they were smarter. Having some of the same instincts humans do (like killing zombies) they then moved onto the real deal since these humaniod creations didnt have a soul... they would have to put one in themselves

here is an addition to this theory: in the OFFICIAL Minecraft survival book, it says that large fossils exist in some select caves, I believe that these big creatures (possibly dragons) fended off the wither just enough so that the original builders could escape. The builders decided to honor this beast and too one of their eggs along with them int the end. THe dragon evolved along with the builders, with the builders becoming enderman, and the dragon becoming the ENDER dragon. What's more is that when you defeat the ender dragon, you get an egg, an egg that seems to come from the ender dragon itself, AND with teleporting abilities. also another addition to this theory: what if the wardens were ancient iron golems infected by the essence of the end? The warden's size seem to match with this theory, and the warden's color scheme looks a lot like a portal frame. LIKE SO MAT CAN SEE THIS

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!

1. What happened to the wither they spawned? 2. Why are some of the eyes in the portal missing?

"Zombies, Creepers, and Skeletons aren't enough to warrant building an underground fortress." *laughs in Fallen Kingdom*

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

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

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

WHAT IF THEY USED THAT FORMATION TO PUT THE SOUL SAND AND SKULLS BECAUSE THAT'S THE EXACT FORMATION THAT WORKED FOR THEM TO MAKE THE IRON GOLEM

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

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

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

Theory: the fossils found underground are the ancient withers

who is stronger: A three-headed flying beast that brings death and chaos everywhere it passes Or A blue shirt boi

Now we are all cursed with knowledge. Minecraft will never be the same.

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?

If this theory was real then it would literally be a great Netflix movie

You should try to explain why there is one builder remaining in the overworld

It scares me that these theories make sense

The amount of lore in this game is melting my mind

Ancient humans: Are so advanced they make end portal frames Also ancient humans: Can't beat the ender dragon

Matt you’re posting a lot of minecraft videos recently, please don’t stop

Wither: *Attacks me* Me, in my extended piston bunker: *YOU HAVE NO POWER HERE*

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

The ancient civilization turning into zombies and skeletons from the wither makes sense because they can have enchanted items and the “jail cells” down there were to hold the ones that turned in hopes that they could revert them back

Sand thats relatively unremarkable in every way... Oh yeah except for its composed from *THE SOULS OF THE DAMNED*

Even more proof for this: in bedrock, strongholds usually spawn under villages, almost as if they were once safe havens below towns. Edit: I’ve gotten some comments saying bedrock is non-canon. I have no idea how valid that statement is, but this was just meant to be food for thought.

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

11:09 This would explain why the soul sand biome in Minecraft are littered with skeletons

What if the explosion on the music disk that you thought was a creeper was actually him running from the wither.

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