What Were Minecraft Fossils? 

"I think you're thinking what I'm thinking" NETHER SERPENT DRAGON? "Wither." oh...

"This skull matches with the silverfish" But... silverfish are invertebrates...

Best theory I’ve heard about the fossils. When I played Minecraft with my friends, I found a fossil, and I was so fascinated, but my friends didn’t seem to care at all. Fossils are so overlooked in this game. Mojang needs to add more lore behind that.

With the addition of the Sniffer, I’ve heard rumors that these are the fossils of a giant species of Sniffer

In reality the minecraft devs were probably like: eh this looks cool

Mojang watching this: Yep that’s definitely what we meant

Interesting fact: Assuming minecraft evolutions functions as real world evolution, if mobs were previously giant, there was likely some kind of predator that made them evolve smaller

This actually makes sense, and gives a reason for why in The Game Theorist theories the ancient builders couldn’t kill the wither while one descendant of them could. The one we fight is far weaker.

"Add them all, let the theorist figure them out." - Some Unnamed Developer.

My head canon for the Nether bones is that they belonged to the unused Red Dragon which was supposed to spawn in the Nether. The differing sizes of the bones could indicate the age of the dragons before their passing. I will say, the idea of an ancient mega Wither sounds gnarly as heck too

Skull 2 can actually be "Dormaalocyon latouri". In our world this animal was common ancestor fot both felines, and canis (cats and dogs). That means that earlier, before player appeared this animal roamed the world, and later this animal would divide into two seperate groups of animals, cats and dogs as we know them today.

I don’t know why it’s so funny that a wither couldn’t kill a strider

so basically what I got from this: *Wither Storms are now part of Minecraft's lore*

With the idea of Soul Valley being the corpses of Mega Withers, let me add the idea of Ghasts being ghosts of them, specifically their heads, since Ghasts spawn there a bunch as well.

The one issue with trying to compare the skulls to mobs is that most parts like the eye structure and mouths aren’t made of bone but flesh. If you were to look at an elephant skull you would think it is a cyclops so I believe skull 4 probably has 2 eyes. Oh he mentioned that it think.

"You guessed it, a wither." Me: Yeah...I definitely guessed wither...

He makes a friendly Block game sound like a horror game

I have three questions. 1: who built the sunken ships? 2: why could they move when our boats can't? 3: most importantly, what sank them?

After just seeing Matt Patt's goodbye video, this one brought a big smile to my face

Creators: *just adds Fossils without any intentions just for fun* Everyone: theory!

If Netherack used to be called Bloodstone, and there are giant fossils in The Nether, that could mean that Netherack is a combination of rock and the flesh of the dead fossilized organisms.

To me it always seemed like some fossils were made spesifically to be a refrence giants as they actually never remove them and they keep getting changed again and again meaning creators of minecraft still think about them even to this day. I for one also connect ghasts to giants too since they feel like dismembered giants heads with tendrils or just souls of giants who are stuck in a state of agony and burning because of the way nether is.

i think its important to note that the nether fossils line up with geniune paleontology, with netherrack being a very weak and easy to mine block, so it makes sense that whatever the fossils belong to sunk in to the ground due to its softer texture

I love how Minecraft has little to no history but this man here is making up a legit history ffor literally everything.

0:18 yoooo the new game theory intro looks cool

8:32 I made a booklet at school detailing the Nether going from a flourishing over-under world to the hellish dimension that we know it as today.

I think the fossils are just mobs that aren't ones that we know. Like something completely new or unique.

10:55 “megawither” this gave me *crazy* story mode vibes

i think the ghasts could tie into this theory aswell, they are basically giant ghosts that look the shape of a minecraft head. if this theory is correct, perhaps the ghasts are the severed heads of the giant withers hence why there are only ribs and no skulls.

Spiders? Spiders don't have bones

THEORY: The Warden also most likely has soul energy too because there are many soul-like things, such as, sculk spreading as it sucks the SOULS of death around it, The Warden, and sculk shriekers having circling SOULS inside of them, the ancient city having the same blue SOUL FIRE scattered around some places, AND not to mention all of these thing have a dark-ish BLUE color. I am almost POSITIVE that the whole ancient city and all of the things that relate to it have soul energy. Just a theory.

Is everyone forgetting that Giants used to be an enemy in the game?

Theory: skull 4 looks like an endermite, right? What if they were something like enderworms? And they could wormhole through demensions like endermen do? It seems kinda far fetched but it just sounds cool lol

Here's a huge theory the bones are Sniffer Bones

Minecraft mysterious fossil: Exist The Sniffer: that's where I get introduce

For the Overworld fossils, it would make sense as there was a time in prehistory where there was so much oxygen that animals were gigantic.

Just imagine a difficulty called prehistoric times on Minecraft that adds all those monsters And everything is abandoned

Watching this immediately following MatPats goodbye video was like a gut punch lmao

bro you have the best theorys while dark it seems very plausible

"Well, I think you're thinking what I'm thinking" Everyone who wasn't thinking of the wither: Mhm yeah I was thinking that

A possible explanation of why they where so huge could be like the history in earth when there was a lot more oxygen and organisms where much bigger.

Mojang has revealed this. The fossils are… the sniffer!

All Wifies research for everyone to be like "guys the big fossil is the Sniffer"

Just adding something to think about: Lightning striking pigs makes piglins.

The fossils were zombie giants. They got removed, so everyone of them is dead.

That intro was EVERYTHING!!!

The Game Theory intro alone has earned the like and sub, the rest of the video is just a bonus after such a great start

That intro is the most brilliant thing I've ever seen in my entire life!

Mojang: adds fossils because it makes mining a bit more special Minecrafters: this is a sign we cant ignore

Your intro was spot on. I thought I was watching game theory for a second.

I just love the fact we are talking about how powerful the wither is, yet fails to destroy a simple strider 12:33

Wifies: it's a wither ancient Minecraft: wait we haven't though about that

I think the nether as we see it today is in the recovery process from the ancient withers. The ancient withers obliterated nearly all life in the dimension and fizzled out since there was no longer any prey, leaving the nether in a state that probably looked like pre-1.16 nether. A few life forms survived and slowly began regrowing, eventually becoming the forests we know today. The dimension is still healing, however, hence the nether wastes that are still barren from this ancient genocide.

Man, you are just turning a cool game into a thriller suspense movie.💀

given minecraft had an "ancient" time with Sniffers, it's not hard to say the 02 levels were lower just like real Earth, causing this, and in the Nether I imagine it's just giant ghasts. Glad I found this, always wondered about the first time I saw fossils.

Theory : the soul sand was formed when the bones/organs crumbled into dust

Fossils: are named by number Wifies: _wait, thats lore_

0:26 Game theory old intro but a remake

Those mega withers are what brought life into the zombie/undead outbrake and destroyed the civilization and brought the builders to exinction and the player was in ice on till you spawn in

I like to imagine it’s what happened to the “giant” mob

"there aren't that many features in Minecraft that scream 'this has lore'." matpat: *observe*

Yes, I'm sure the spider, an arthropod, could've left that skeleton.

I think it would be cool if they added a new dimension called "The Ancient" that has giant mobs roaming the land that could perhaps explain the fossils, perhaps being transported to the overworld where they died off. And imagine an ultimate wither boss being added! Wither Serpent? The Skullless? Summonable by making a skeleton out of bone blocks with a beacon as the heart and surrounding it with soul sand/soil?

That intro was better than a bounty hunter arresting a guy with a samurai sword

“With skull 4, there’s an argument to be made for the spider,“ I’m pretty sure spiders have exoskeletons, not endoskeletons

Bro, I can tell you are definitely a MatPat fan. He's been doing this for as long as I have been middle school even though its only now in good old 2023 that I found out who he is and already I love him. Plus, the intro karaoke song is absolutely on the nose..

I just love the idea that at some point in Minecraft's history, there were massive titans roaming the earth. And the idea of Titans at some point roaming the earth is completely possible because of the existence of the giant zombie (I know it was removed just bare with me here). The Giant zombie could have served as the reanimated corpses of the titans that used to exist. Also I have a theory on what wiped out the ancient wither titans. The Nether dragons. My guess is that Nether dragons were far more abundant in the past and had a massive rivalry with the ancient withers. They would constantly fight and eventually they had Faught each other so much that both of their numbers had dwindled to the point where the piglins were able to step in and take both sides out.

"What could have caused these giant monsters to go extinct?" *Doom theme intensifies*

“Ancient Huge Withers” Me: *thinks* Wait, the wither storm

My theory is that the fossils (at least two of em) originate from 2 specific mobs… 1] The Sniffer: only main evidence we have of sniffers is from the eggs we bring back from the ocean ruins. Sure their size definitely shrunk but my argument is that back then the environment had abundant clean oxygen and giant sized insects and rodents. Skull 2] shows possibly two nostrils and a mouth, with spine 4] to match its large back… just a thought - 2] The Giant: Yes a currently not “in-game” mob however could be summoned without AI via commands. Just think about it their undead, meaning that they must’ve have been alive at one point. Maybe they lived peacefully with the ancient builders till one madman summoned the Wither into the overworld… the only place of shelter for them to access quickly would be the Nether (recall the Large ruined portals) but wandering the Nether wastes without a sustainable food supply caused them to wither away their body forming the very ribs we see in the Soulsand valley. I think Skull [1] or [3] would suit a player head and spine [2] or [3] would fit the giant. - Maybe the Arms up Potery Sherd could reference the Builders seeking aid from the giants for builds and the fact that it’s found in dessert wells is one cool factoid. - I just don’t think a Mega Wither is a plausible creature cause it’s already super powerful and doesn’t necessarily NEED to be gigantic to be a historical threat. The sandstone carvings are enough to prove that one was set loose in the overworld at one point. Great vid tho I enjoyed watching, thanks to those who read this 😊

Now that sniffer is in, we now have new fossil lore

Wifies: the ancient withers made the soul sand Mojang: we thought it looked cool

Fun fact: you can summon giant withers using Commands that would easily fit the size of these fossils.

i very much agree with your theory on the nether side, but my personal idea for the overworld fossils is that they were ancient leviathan beings, maybe used by the ancient builders, it could be that one of them is the origin of the heart of the sea. also i just love your theory's

Herobrine may have defeated the ancient withers (witherstorms) as they possessed the command block which herobrine didn't like. It also makes sense as herobrine spawns with the help of gold blocks and netherrack (abundant in the nether) and the ancient builders summoned herobrine to stop the rampage caused by the Witherstorms. As Wifies mentioned towards the end, that the ancient withers died with the lack of pray, they instead might have used the command blocks to go to the overworld and destroy it and start the raid their, which also explains the fossils in the overworld. Herobrine defeated the ancient withers by that time, thus fossils are rare in the overworld.

If this is true, piglins might be so afraid of blue fire because it reminds them of their past, in which every day was a fight for survival against the giant withers.

"Ancient giant withers" Me who has played minecraft story mode and the titans mod: Now this looks like a job for me

I'm pretty sure why the structures are ruined is because when they died, they'd released a lot of sold energy, also corrupting some of the blackstone and after some time, the black stone rotted away well sol sand rotted away

I have a theory on about how the wither died. According to the theory of Game theory that the nether was once a cold place, we can assume what ever made the nether hot, it killed of the Wither, whether Lack of prey or the heat itself

Mojang: adds fossils because they look cool Wifies: is that a challenge

Okay, remember how MatPat mentions the ancient builders's relation with cats? What if, in actuality, they were around much before we think of, and instead of cats, they were around this ancient, giant, cat-like creature that protected them from many of the ancient dangers, as cats were hunters. EDIT: As pew mentioned in the responses, that would also explain why creepers are afraid of cats (it's an instinctual response given that the giant cats were actually predators) Btw could also explain why pillagers make giant cat statues 👀 But that's just a theory A GAM-

bro this man is just a god to make minecraft teory i would never think about these

Skull 1 is an ancient creeper, skull 2 has no living descendants, skull 3 is an ancient turtle, and skull 4 is an ancient spider

Almost all nether fossils: variety of ribcages That one nether fossil: *F*

I love how he matched a real skull with a shape of a among us character

this video is obviously an elaborate plan to tell us about the wither storm

0:42 I loke how its all mysterious like and the enderman to the far left is just like *W A L L*

Yo, remember that huge wither from the start of mc storymode. Maybe that is the ancient Wither?

This actually make sense.

The red sandstone reveal was so good

There could be a chance that piglins actually took the wither down. Maybe piglins used all the netherite to fight the wither. Netherite mixed with gold is already strong enough, so using the pure counterpart could made it possible to win.

I always associated the large fossils in the overworld with the summonable giant zombies (aka giants). Since they no longer can be discovered in survival besides with commands, I imagined the fossils represented giants and the fact they are now extinct from the overworld.

That's an interesting take, that the soul sand comes from the fossils. I always assumed that due to soul sand's power to drag you into it (it makes you slow, and silverfish suffocate in it) the fossil creatures just got stuck (like real fossils who got stuck in tar) and just died of starvation, then fossilized.

Skulls that could be that big are megalodons, mammoths. Spines, that could be that big are sauropods, mosasaurus, and megalodons.

Fun fact: there’s a popular theory that the origin of the cyclops in Greek mythology is based on mammoth skulls they are known to have encountered. It’s known for certain that most large dinosaur fossils the Greeks found they believed belonged to their ancestors who they believed were giants

Theories: Ancient withers, huge prehistoric animals Developers: “bro, what if there were like, bones?” “sounds cool dude”

I haven't played Minecraft in years, but this was honestly so interesting to watch. Didn't even know they added fossils haha. Imagine if they added a "Age of Goliaths" dimension or something, with giant, new, mobs.

Minecraft 1.22: time machine where you can fight mega withers

your theory of giant withers makes sense, since we can spawn giant withers with commands!

It could be possible that there was something other than the wither, which would explain why there are strange endings to nether fortresses, or why bastions are so heavily protected.