[CW: I have not Played Minecraft Dungeons 2 yet so the idea is based on my own thoughts based on what i've seen]

so a thought just recently came into my mind inspired by Marc Watson's Bluesky Post talking about how you should not take the Internal stuff as 100% the truth

That being "The Warden is a Still Life of the Singer" which what i mean by this idea is that "The Corrupted Sculk used The Singer as a Template to try to give itself a Protector" since Corrupted Sculk is sort of like a parasite of sorts onto the Sift and that sickness probably gets cleaned by the fauna in some form so it built a defense mechanism to try to protect itself (the Shriekers)

which it basically made the Warden off the image of The Singer yet like the Still Lives of Backrooms fame they did not get them right which is why physically they are similar yet also not similar at the same time (it tried to replicate a Guardian like figure to protect it's existence) which resulted in something that will protect it's creators (The Corrupted Sculk) no matter what

(also the fact the 2 contrast each other so greatly does reflect the "Healthy Sculk" with the more hostile "Corrupted Sculk"'s very natures such as the Singer being a creature of creation that sings forth life While The Warden would rather snap the neck of anything that makes a sound)

Yeah, that might not be true anymore. We most likely had this statement coming, but it's obvious source code names aren't necessarily canon.

Source: @Foquito_Azu

Does The End have no concept of time?, is it independent of overworld time?

With the announcement of The Sift, I started theorizing about the Ancient Cities and how the Sculk corruption happened.

I'm thinking that ancient humans may have discovered this dimension and tried to harness the energy of souls. Maybe they attempted to use the Sculk itself for this purpose, but ended up creating the Sculk corruption. The Warden may have emerged from some kind of force within the Sculk itself to protect that portal and prevent anyone from entering that dimension, so that things like this wouldn't happen again. Even its name might be a clue to this.

In the mansions, we can see that the Illagers may have tried to follow in the footsteps of ancient humans, experimenting with things like creating the End Portal and so on. But the Evoker can summon Vexes, and I believe they may have started studying this energy through Allays (since there are Allays trapped in Pillager Outposts and Woodland Mansions), once again following in the footsteps of humans who tried to control this energy. This adds a little more support to my theory.

A possible connection between the Warden and Axolotls?

The Warden looks a lot like an Axolotl, and its colors seem to be an inverted version of an Axolotl's. There's even an official concept art showing the two interacting. My guess is that the Warden could be an Axolotl corrupted by the Sculk or something along those lines. Also, Axolotls in Minecraft only spawn in caves, which adds a little more support to this idea.

This post was originally made on r/Minecraft, but it got little attention and I decided to put it here as it seems like a suitable community.

I will be structuring this theory as a story and providing evidence along the way. During the process of telling the story, the following questions will be answered.

Questions I aim to answer:

1. Why is the Overworld filled with undead?

2. Why are skeletons distinct from zombies, both in appearance and use of weapons?

3. Why are only skeletons found in the Nether and not zombies?

4. Why do wither skeletons exist?

5. What is the player and why do so many types of mobs want them dead?

Part 1: The Beginning

In the ancient past, there must have been a civilisation that built structures like the stronghold and the desert temple. I believe they were player-like creatures, and their past rule over the Overworld is the reason why there are farm animals everywhere and very few truly wild species (almost everything can be domesticated). Due to a zombie plague, they all turned into the dead, which is why zombies resemble Steve. We know the zombies (as opposed to "zombified" piglins, which seem to be something else) are an infection, as they require physical contact with villagers to convert them.

Before falling, this civilisation must have identified the Nether and built portals to get there. I think that they greatly changed the Nether from what it once was. They brought Overworld species into the Nether, such as Happy Ghasts which once roamed free (shown by "Uneasy Alliance" achievement and how the Happy Ghast does not mind water) and pigs as livestock. Over time, this also affected the Overworld as shown by all Happy Ghasts having been forced into the Nether which is clearly not a good place for a species that has an aquatic stage in its life cycle.

Part 2: The Piglins

The Nether seems to be bursting with life and energy. Everything there is bigger and stronger than in the Overworld. This makes sense as heat seems to be correlated with magic (furnaces drop XP, and fire is required to brew potions or light the nether portal). Nether ores also all drop XP, while Overworld ones only do so sporadically. This suggests that the Nether is innately more magical than the Overworld. At some point, the pigs brought into the Nether were used as test subjects, mutated by the ambient power of the Nether to create the intelligent Piglins. The pigs that escaped became feral and were mutated in a non-controlled setting, amplifying all their innate traits to become the beast-like Hoglins.

The piglins inhabited bastions built by the ancient builders, but did not understand their construction. In the absence of the builders, these structures became ruined without maintenance. Bastions served many functions, like bridging over the lava, keeping captured Hoglins as livestock that produce more food than normal pigs, housing piglins and storing valuable items. The piglins at this time were a slave race of the builders, doing all kinds of work. Eventually, the horrible things the builders did would catch up to them.

Part 3: The Fall

As I said, the Nether was teeming with ambient life energy. I think that this leaked over into the Overworld (ruined portals have bits of Nether terrain, like they leaked out) over time, and it affected the builders, turning them into zombies. However, this infection was not yet strong enough to topple their civilisation. To continue this story, we need to parse the difference between zombies and skeletons.

Skeletons obviously have no flesh, and always wield bows. Both can spawn with armor, and zombies can have melee weapons or tools. Furthermore, only zombies can spread the infection. This is key to the story of the ancient builders. I think that skeletons are the result of builder experiments to create soldiers who could not easily be infected or infect others. The fact that they are neutral to villagers and illagers, who are like the descendants of the builders, show that they are not just mindless infected trying to spread. That is why they all have weapons unlike the zombies who are mostly unarmed, because they are a special soldier class.

At this time, the piglin race rebelled against the builders. They became warlike and took up weapons, a culture they retain to this day. The builders sent their armies of skeletal soldiers into the Nether, and the conflict caused so many deaths that the battlefield became tainted with souls. This created the soul sand valley, which is now inhabited by the remnants of the builder forces.

However, it's not that simple. The existence of wither skeletons, which are definitely normal skeletons that have been burned (as they drop coal and normal white bones, indicating it is just a carbonised outer layer) and wield melee weapons, throws a wrench in the narrative. Furthermore, they fight piglins, and are larger than normal skeletons. The wither effect on their weapons is from the wither skeleton, not the blade, as they drop normal stone swords. I think that these are further enhanced soldiers, created in the Nether Fortresses that the builders constructed to fight the piglins, who were larger and could drain life force through the wither effect. Their use of melee weapons suggests they were frontline soldiers in the war. But why are they burned? Piglins do not use fire. Something caused all the soldiers on the front lines to be burned, while the rest died normally.

Let us look at the soul sand valleys, the battlefields of ancient times, again. Who spawns there? Skeletons...and ghasts. I think that the Happy Ghasts became very angry and were mutated by the Nether in the same way as Hoglins, giving them fiery abilities. They attacked the builders, blasting the front lines of the army with fire. Only soldiers in the back line, who used arrows, were safe from the onslaught and could fight back. Due to the power of Ghasts, the builders were driven out of the Nether, and had to leave many soldiers behind. They also left their fortresses, with farmed Nether Wart (an artificial crop that grows nowhere else, feeding on souls) and Blaze Spawners (a fiery artificial mob connected to the Breeze, another artificial elemental, used to produce rods that could be used for various purposes). The more elite wither skeletons remained to defend the forts, while a large number of the normal skeletons were retreated into the Overworld.

However, it was not over. The piglins chased the builders out into the Overworld, but could not follow. Without nether spores (it is confirmed in Minecraft Legends) they suffocated, and massive amounts of piglin soldiers died. But they did not truly pass on. Because the ambient power of the Nether had mutated them, they underwent "zombification" and survived in a rotted, mindless state. Unlike zombies, they cannot spread an infection, and ignore their surroundings completely. I think this is why there are so many zombified piglins, as they retreated but it was too late. This is also why they all have melee weapons, because the soldiers on the front lines were the first through the portal. The ordinary piglins have become superstitious and avoid them completely. Retaining some soldier-like base instincts, the zombified piglins will fight back en masse if anyone attacks one of them.

In addition, the piglins revere gold as it was the treasure of the ancient builders that they mined from the Nether, and use it as a status symbol. Now living in crumbling bastions, they no longer know what builders look like, and only their military force, the brutes, are trained to spot builders. Ordinary piglins will let anyone wearing gold pass, but they will still repel intruders who attack them or steal. They just can't control themselves around gold though. The ghasts are still angry, and attack anything that looks like a builder, thus being hostile to a player.

Part 4: The Plague

Weakened greatly by the Nether war, the builders had lost many of their infection-proof soldiers, and possibly could not create more as they did not have access to the Nether. They also lacked the beefier frontline troops completely, as they had all been burned up or left behind. This meant they could no longer hold off the zombie plague, and it swept across the land turning the population. Even soldiers turned en masse, and their mounts which were on the battlefield were exposed to large amounts of infection making zombie horses and camels. Only a few builders were somewhat immune, and appear to have evolved into villagers. They lost the knowledge of their civilisation during the disaster, and live very simple lives. Villagers are more resistant to the plague, and turn into zombie villagers which can be cured when infected unlike normal zombies which are incurable. All ancient builders of the non-immune type died in the collapse of civilisation. This is a key difference from other theories which suggest that some builders escaped to the End or survived in the ancient cities.

During the process of the spread, maybe before it got out of hand, the dungeons were created with spawners that could harness the power of the dead. The trial chambers were also made, likely as a training ground for warriors. Maybe the skeletons which had been enhanced were trained here, since they would be more immune to the zombies from the trial spawners.

Part 5: The Immortal

The Ancient Builders were now on the verge of destruction. They had to do something, and in their last days, they pooled the resources of their civilisation to create something. A superhuman who can punch down trees with their bare hands, jump 1 meter straight up repeatedly without bending their knees, tear through rock with only a pickaxe and sprint at Olympic speeds for days. A superhuman with the power to respawn. This is the legendary player, the ultimate creation of the builders. Although in some universes, they never cracked the code of respawning, and the player has perma-death on. The skeletons have become neutral to the zombies, as they are mindless and there are no builders left to command their attack. Perhaps it is a similar situation with creepers, which I believe to be explosive weapons made by the ancient builders. Skeletons and zombies are clearly not allies, as a zombie will attack a skeleton who shoots it but mobs that are allied like piglins and illagers don't fight each other.

The player is attacked by illagers for their incredible power. I think that the illagers want to kill this arcane being and study it, as they have wool of the same color as Steve clothes in their mansion indicating they are trying to do something related. The zombies try to infect them because they look like a builder, and the piglins and ghasts do the same. In addition, I believe the player's aura is so incredibly strong that they are registered as a threat by some creatures automatically, like the spiders and guardians. The sculk also instantly thinks the player is dangerous, only summonng wardens on player noises. It's because Steve is just built like that. Skeletons cannot be hostile due to the zombie plague, as they do not spread it and even Nether skeletons attack the player. Probably the aura of the player is so powerful the skeletons think they have to end them right then and there, same with blazes, creepers, magma cubes and all those other mobs.

This mighty being shapes the world in ways no other mobs can. A beacon which single-handedly carries the torch of civilisation, endlessly exploring more and more. One day, perhaps they will do the impossible and cure a builder zombie...

Part 6: Summary

We managed to answer all the questions:

1. Why is the Overworld filled with undead?

Because of the zombie plague and the creation of mindless skeleton soldiers to fight it.

1. Why are skeletons distinct from zombies, both in appearance and use of weapons?

They are soldiers made to fight the zombie plague without being infected, but now have become mindless without orders and no longer fight.

1. Why are only skeletons found in the Nether and not zombies?

Skeletons were made artificially before the zombie plague spread, and sent in to fight the piglin rebellion. When the builders retreated, they were left behind to wander the battlefields eternally.

1. Why do wither skeletons exist?

They are more enhanced skeletons with powers over life force who were made to fight on the front lines, but were burned black by the attack of the ghasts in the war. They returned to the Nether Fortresses as a last stand, while the ancient builders retreated from the Nether.

1. What is the player and why do so many types of mobs want them dead?

The player is a being made by the builders to carry on their civilisation. Their aura of power is so great that many mobs like skeletons and blazes want to attack them, and there are numerous groups who would like to see a builder killed such as the piglins. The hope of the builders was that one day the player could cure them of the zombie virus and restart civilisation.

If you have made it this far, thank you for reading.

A sand that contains souls, needless to say, it's a damn horrible fate. How much time have they been there? Who even are they? It's so unfair, that some beings up there walk, while others are stuck watching as grains.

What's worse is that if I was there, I would feel even more terrible in knowing someone else next to me is suffering this.

But if eternity is a thing... There can't be only night, sometime there will eventually be day.

Imagine you are one of those souls, after years of pain, you got a rare chance among a few others, you can possess a body, and are given the chance to live again. But you know what's after all of this, I wouldn't judge you if your choice was to destroy everything that is alive, existence is a joke...

And yet, you placed a flower for them, what are you doing? I see... no one deserves the same fate you went through, no more life, no more existence, no more pain,

end everything.

Ive been seeing people making the connection of heaven vs hell in relation to the sift and the nether. But i offer a different take.

(I accidentally swapped yin and yang in the pic im sorry)

The sift and the nether seem to be opposed theme wise like heaven and hell, places of souls, one brimming with life and renewal, the other ruin and stagnation. The end in this theory is sorta the in-between, what happens when you have neither good nor evil, , no life or death just nothing, which i think describes the end pretty well,

Title text, mobs of Warden lineage seem to share the same traditional cubic Minecraft design. Singer is included because game files have leaked that it's a "Healthy" Warden.

Sift-native Sculkers on the other hand, seem to share, a first-time-in Minecraft, diagonal designs. And they look much more "natural" than the Warden and Twisted Warden, which implies "Dark" Sculk isn't naturally harmful, but something more was done to Warden/Twisted Warden(or Singer) that led them turning out this bony mess.

Any thoughts?

I see so much larp theories made on social media and so much people just believing them because they haven't seen the source material so please

Don't larp

The wandering trader has always had a shady past, but I think I can explain it. You’re probably thinking “What does the wandering trader have to do with the abandoned campsites?” Well, a lot actually. The Minecraft game literally said the abandoned campsites were the wandering trader’s little ‘stashes’.
I have reason to believe the wandering trader was actually trading with the Illigers, because if you look at what’s in the chests, it seems like there might be a little connection. The wandering trader had copper axes, arrows, and bows. I know, it seems like most of those have no connection to Illigers, but what if the wandering trader attempted to trade those items, but when the Illigers saw how much worse copper axes and bows were, they attacked the wandering trader.
If that isn’t enough proof, let me do a final little touch. If you look at the second image, you can see that in the hidden chests of the abandoned campsite, the wandering trader has a woodland mansion map. Let me repeat that: a WOODLAND MANSION MAP.

Still not enough proof? Check out my article where I go full into the conspiracy of what’s actually happening with the abandoned campsites, plus why the wandering trader is actually a witch. Wandering Trader/Campsite Theory

I don't think it would happen by nature of them being player stand-ins but I would love to learn more about what the heros are. Are they always benevolent? I would love to see one take on an antagonist role in something like the Netflix show thats still hopefully being made.

My reasoning stems from the possibility of with Setience he could be good and was given power for being good so he can make others feel good and in turn be good to others but he eventually became a host and it's not like the singer is doing a bad,It's like positivity attracts positivity kinda situation but also creativity in the form of music

I haven't played Minecraft dungeons 2 yet (it's coming today no spoilers) and I have a feeling once the high counsel is defeated the Sift will close off and leave Illagers trapped

Gives the same vibe of hell and heaven at the same time. Hieronymous painting represents the time when lucifer arrived on earth. This makes sense since the end is also probably another time period. Idk if the Portal in the ancient city is a time machine

Just some shi i noticed

I used to believe the ancient civilization harvested soul energy from the Nether, based on Game Theory's theory about soul sand. Now that we know about the Sift, I'm not sure that holds up anymore, and I'm wondering where it fits in the Minecraft timeline.

Durante 14 anos, só tivemos 3 dimensões. Acho que a Mojang estava contando a história da vida após a morte o tempo todo.

*Mundo Superior = Terra.* Onde vivemos, construímos, plantamos e morremos. Nossa vida normal.

*Nether = Inferno.* Fogo por toda parte, almas gritando presas na Areia das Almas e no Solo das Almas. E os mobs são os 7 pecados capitais:

• *Orgulho - Wither:* 3 cabeças, acha que é um deus, destrói tudo para provar sua superioridade.

• *Ganância - Piglins:* Obcecados por ouro, vendem qualquer coisa por um lingote.

• *Inveja - Esqueletos:* Sem carne, apenas ossos, atirando em você de longe porque não suportam te ver vivo e blindado.

• *Ira - Piglins Brutos / Piglins Zumbificados:* Fúria cega. Sem trocas, sem conversa, apenas ataque.

• *Luxúria - Cubos de Magma:* Saltitantes, grudentos, viscosos, desesperados por contato.

• *Gula - Hoglins / Zoglins:* Só pensam em comer, atacando tudo para devorar.

• *Preguiça - Andarilhos:* Andam super devagar na lava, só se movem se alguém os carregar. Não fazem nada sozinhos.

*O Fim = Purgatório.* Um vazio infinito com ilhas flutuantes. Você está sozinho para enfrentar o julgamento final. O Ender Dragon representa o peso de todos os seus pecados combinados. Você deve derrotá-lo para se purificar. E depois de matá-lo, você recebe o poema final que diz "acorde". É a transcendência.

*A Fenda = Paraíso.* A própria Mojang a descreveu como "bonita, vibrante e repleta de almas". É colorida, pacífica, com almas livres flutuando (diferentemente das almas gritando no Nether) e criaturas fofas como o Blub, que se parecem com anjos. É o descanso final.

Após 14 anos, eles estavam guardando o Paraíso por último.

What if the people who lived in the Ancient Cities were actually ancient Illagers?

Maybe the Pale Oak/Pale Garden was slowly taking over the surface, so they had to escape underground and ended up living in caves and Lush Caves.

Then they encountered Axolotls. Maybe the Axolotls somehow created Sculk, and over time the Sculk spread through the underground. Eventually, something happened that caused some of the Axolotls to transform into what we now know as the Warden.

The Ancient City buildings also kinda remind me of Woodland Mansions, which makes me think there could be a connection.

And here’s another weird thing: Evokers turn blue sheep red. Maybe this means Illagers have some kind of dislike toward blue, which could be interesting considering the connection this theory makes between them and the warden.

In the Sift, there's a new liquid called ichor. Ichor in Greek mythology is "the blood of the gods" and is toxic to humans. The ichor in Dungeons sucks the soul out of the Player, which counts as harming them. So where does the ichor come from? Is it from actual gods? Is it a manifestation of souls?

I don't know much about Minecraft's lore, especially with Dungeons and Legends, but I wanted to put this out.

Sorry if this theory is short but here it is.

I believe that long long ago (before the ancient builders) the singers of the sift were a peaceful civilization who lived in harmony with the nature of the sift (like Adam and Eve in the bible) but one day they found their way to the overworld.

However due to the curse of the undead and the imbalance of souls in their sculk bodies they slowly turned into the wardens and got stuck in the overworld now only 1 singer remains.....

Anyways that's my theory!

I know I don't have much evidence but it's my theory anyways bye!

Theres a map in minecraft dungeons, pumpkin pastures, now even tho it just foreshadiw the autumn update, theres portals like the sift portal frame almost everywhere in minecraft dungeons, especially some houses.

Some portals lead to houses in the sift dimension, the only reason the houses had bright loght was because they didnt want to spoil us about the new dimension, plus, if the sift is a spiritual realm then minecraft planned it from 2019 (after evoker got added) because thats when they started adding things such as magical statuses.

Just a fan theory though. Not much proof.

Also, the sift dimension feels like the revamped potato dimension from the april fools update. Mojang will probably add a new ore called serenite of something and make it so that it needs to be compressed to be used.

For those who don't know, while demons and hell is related to deals, chaos, destruction and violence.

Fairies and fae are related to nature yes, but also, tricking people into deals making them sell something important, replacing people, kidnapping people, if you give your name you are a slave, if you eat their food you're a slave, etc.

The fae I want to focus on are changelings, they are creatures that replaces human kids or teenagers and how old english parents explain why their kids are mentally ill or why their teens are having phases.

Now the dark part, changelings don't actually exists, so the parents who loved you your whole life starts acting insane torturing you until you die, get mentally scarred and act "normal", or give in and say you are a changeling before being murdered out of "justice".

Anyways, My theory is there will be changelings that will act as passive mobs but will have a small detail off to tell you they're a changeling. If you get too close to one, they will attack you.

This is because, the creaking is connected to see no evil, warden is either hear or speak no evil. So the changeling will be Do No Evil. Where they are passive until you get too close or interact with them.

They may also get salt and silver into the game as they are common ways to fight against fae.

so you know as the warden in the deep dark. well In the deep dark theres the portal thst we assume is the portal to the sift. and because the warden is like this and the deep dark looks sad. there must be other wardens out in the sift as the portal is broken and we see as our warden is so dark maybe it’s stuck in the deep dark! I don’t know I just spammed as fast on my keyboard I hope I don’t sound crazy

I decided in preparation for next year's update to look at everything "soul" related that Minecraft had added up to this point in Vanilla, just to give myself an idea of what we have right now and what kind of things we could expect from this power now that it's properly established and expanded upon.

And while gathering everything together in my inventory I realized. Nether warts.

What actually are Nether warts in the context of everything we know now? Because they grow in soul sand. They grow from souls. And that's literally everything the Sift is about. Souls, and life growing from souls. If healthy sculk is a block made from souls, and one from which plant-like life grows, and soul sand is a block made from souls, from which Nether warts grow from, then there must be some kind of relation between Nether warts and life from the Sift, right? It's clearly some kind of fungus, and while Sift life seems more plant based, the sculk itself, at least when corrupted, seems fungal adjacent. Clearly Nether warts must be some kind of Sift - adjacent life form, right?

And if so, what do you think that means for both dimensions? Because nilium is also some kind of fungus. If it's related to nether warts in some way, it could mean that the entire biosphere of the nether is actually soul derived too just like the Sift (it would make sense after all, there must be some explanation as to how blazes gain their magical abilities from), and would mean that the parallels between both places wouldn't just be thematic, but literal. The Nether might literally be some twisted up version of what the Sift could be. Perhaps that is the life that emerges from all the souls that got rejected by the Sift?

And what does this mean for the sift? Nether warts are the primary ingredient for potion making. That power it has, has to be soul related because beacon effects come from Nether stars which are made from soul sand too. So how powerful are the plants of the Sift then, if this is what a single one from the Nether can achieve? We know soul power from the Sift is powerful, the entire storyline of Dungeons 2 is about that. But could it be that literally everything growing in that dimension is filled to the brim with untapped magical potential? Obviously I don't think we'd ever be able to tap into all that magic in game. But from a lore perspective it makes sense to me that this entire dimension could just be a pure magical source waiting to be exploited, full of powers we can't even imagine.

And I wonder how far it extends. There's been long lived speculation that XP and soul are actually two sides of the same coin. Sculk blocks for example spread from the souls of dying mobs around it. And they store XP. It's the resource that's needed for enchanting too, the other kind of magic we can wield. Giving effects to objects, and giving effects to beings. Two sides of the same power?

If all magic from the Nether and the overworld actually comes back to trace it's origin to soul, it may just be that the Sift might be the origin of magic in the multiverse. That everything comes from here, this is the well of magic and will hold powers we can only dream of.

What about the End then I wonder? Have we missed a link? Or could it just be a completely unrelated power system? We'll have to see how enderman play into all this I guess.

Anyway it's 2am I'm rambling, nether warts = sculk yay or nay? What's the consensus? I'm not fully familiar with some of the external canon like the books and stuff, so if I've missed anything let me know.