View source for Minecraft:Mythology

{{Distinguish|Legends:Myth}}{{Stub}}

The narrative elements and ethos of the [[Minecraft:Minecraft (franchise)|''Minecraft'' franchise]] are described as a "'''mythology'''." There is no officially established lore of {{MC}}. Although hints about a backstory are included, the game deliberately avoids any narrative and allow players to interpret it individually. While storytelling is more prevalent in spin-off games, such as ''[[Minecraft:Story Mode]]'', ''[[Minecraft:Minecraft Dungeons|Dungeons]]'' and ''[[Minecraft:Legends]]'', and in other media, such as {{AMCM}} and the many [[Minecraft:Minecraft novels|''Minecraft'' novels]], these stories are not supposed to be considered canonical lore, but mythologies or interpretations, and player can choose to accept them or come up with their own.<ref>{{Bluesky|marc-irl.bsky.social|3lh54xnfyrk2b|I’ll give you a special trivia tidbit though, relevant to you maybe. Mojang avoids saying “lore”, Minecraft has “mythology”. It comes in part from players telling their own stories. People ask if Dungeons is “canon”, we would say “Do you feel Dungeons’ events happened/could happen in your world?”|February 1, 2025}}</ref>

==Mythology==
[[Minecraft:Jeb]] has stated that Mojang does not formally discuss "canon" or "lore"; each game has its own story, but share consistent elements.<ref>[https://bsky.app/profile/jebox.bsky.social/post/3mjebqumyd227 "We don't really talk about "canon" or "lore". Each game is its own story. So the objective is to create consistency among different products. E.g., creepers explode, there are endermen in the End, and so on."]<br />- [https://bsky.app/profile/jebox.bsky.social Jeb]</ref> All games are understood to belong to the same ''Minecraft'' multiverse.<ref name=":0">{{Bluesky|jebox.bsky.social/|3mjeotbdrdk2l|I think that 5 years ago we loosely used "canon" and "shared universe/mythology" interchangeably. The games we design are all Minecraft and part of the mythology.|April 13, 2026}}</ref> [[Minecraft:Marc Watson]], a product manager at Mojang Studios, also notes that the studio avoids the term "lore" in favor of "mythology."<ref>{{Bluesky|marc-irl.bsky.social|3lh54xnfyrk2b|I’ll give you a special trivia tidbit though, relevant to you maybe. Mojang avoids saying “lore”, Minecraft has “mythology”. It comes in part from players telling their own stories. People ask if Dungeons is “canon”, we would say “Do you feel Dungeons’ events happened/could happen in your world?”|February 1, 2025}}</ref>

While lore implies a rigid history with fixed chronology and definitive answers, mythology constitutes a collection of details, leaving specific interpretation to the player.<ref name=":1">{{Tweet|Marc_IRL|1529362729663877120|There aren’t any dependencies on the main story that I’m aware of, so it’s not critical for us to lock the game into a timeline. Us being explicit about things like that is a good way to make things less magical and back ourselves into a narrative corner. 😅}}</ref> Marc Watson explicitly compares this structure to {{Wikipedia|Greek mythology}}, a compilation of various stories set within a single universe.<ref>{{Bluesky|marc-irl.bsky.social|3mjktefhchs2l|I’m won’t do as good of a job as our narrative director, but I imagine lore being an exact chronicling of events and characters, and mythology being more nebulous. Like how Greek gods have conflicting stories but common elements. The player can decide which stories are true for their world.|April 15, 2026}}</ref> The development team takes the entire ''Minecr''aft universe into account when creating updates.<ref>{{Bluesky|jebox.bsky.social|3m5t3bnllnc2o|Are you talking about mobs from Dungeons and Legends? The team always considers the full Minecraft universe when they design updates, but I can't comment on any specifics|November 17, 2025}}</ref> 

The universe is not limited to vanilla Minecraft<ref>{{Cite Discord|title=> <@!727286051709911091> It seems like all the interesting environments from the original game have been added.<br><br>Minecraft isn't the starting line for the Minecraft franchise, things can come in from different directions. So we could make a... I dunno, Twilight Forest, in Dungeons, and it means that it exists in the Minecraft universe, even if Minecraft Java/Bedrock isn't generating that.|channel=2021-03-11|server=MINECRAFT DUNGEONS|user=Marc|date=March 11, 2021}}</ref> however, the absence of elements from other games in a given title does not imply contradiction but rather selective focus.<ref>[https://x.com/Marc_IRL/status/1495025026696888327 "Same reason other things aren’t in the main game. Focus, need, desire, resources. Features are carefully planned, implemented, tested, and released. They’d have to want the focus of a particular release to be that. But there are other considerations than “franchise world parity”."]<br />- [https://x.com/Marc_IRL Marc Watson]</ref> An example given of this is [[Minecraft:ghastlings]], considered by many to be a baby [[Minecraft:ghast]]. However, they are officially considered juvenile instead, to not contradict the prior {{MCD|baby ghast}} from {{MCD}}.<ref>{{Bluesky|marc-irl.bsky.social|3lkyatdrsn22u|Look at that smiling little face! Comes from a dried ghast, and then of course we have the baby ghast from Minecraft Dungeons, so it feels like we've got a whole complex lifecycle of this neat mob.|March 22, 2025}}</ref><ref>{{Bluesky|marc-irl.bsky.social|3ll6wknh5mc26|Seeing lots of great theory posts about the lifecycle of ghasts in Minecraft, but as someone who worked with Minecraft Dungeons, I will not stand for baby ghast erasure! Make sure to fit them in!|March 25, 2025}}</ref> 

Mojang adheres to a policy of providing no canonical answers to questions about mythology. This position is consistently affirmed by Jeb<ref>{{Bluesky|jebox.bsky.social|3m4d26yxhxk2v|Let's say it's my personal headcanon. However, people have been posting timelapses of what happens to your world if you do nothing for a long time. It's slowly picked apart.<br><br>Our current thinking is that if there is no benefit in explaining things we shouldn't explain them. Player stories are better|October 29, 2025}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|chapter=Expand the Mysteries|page=68-69|lastname=[[Minecraft:Jens Bergensten|Bergensten]]|initials=[[Minecraft:Jens Bergensten|J.]]|year=2019|title=[[Minecraft:Minecraft Game Design]]|publisher=[[Minecraft:Mojang AB]]}}</ref> and Marc Watson.<ref>{{Tweet|Marc_IRL|1397454843393069058|We tend not to give a lot of really in-depth answers about lore. Sometimes we know broadly, sometimes we know specifically. The more precise answers we give on relatively unimportant things, the less room we have, and the more we take away from players’ speculation.}}</ref><ref>{{Bluesky|marc-irl.bsky.social|3lostazd2ws2b|Minecraft mythology questions like that fall under #2 (and sometimes #1). It’s not wise for us to answer all specific questions like that because it removes the ability for players to speculate and creatively paints us into a corner. <br><br>What do *you* think they are? 😊|May 10, 2025}}</ref><ref>{{Bluesky|marc-irl.bsky.social|3mnztgtequs2t|I won’t generally answer worldbuilding questions because 1. It’s not my place, 2. Having everything defined becomes boring and stops inviting community speculation. <br><br>Community discussion is usually more interesting than us stopping the discussion. Plus *sometimes* we didn’t have a set answer.|June 11, 2026}}</ref><ref>{{Tweet|Marc_IRL|1782721564892402143|Interesting connection! Hadn’t seen this myself. But you’ll rarely get “canon” answers from Mojang, as our games have hints and story blocks for players to put together as they see them. So maybe this one is up to you!}}</ref>

==Multiverse==
[[File:Minecraft Game Design Page 31.png|thumb|Page 31 of '''''Minecraft Game Design,''''' a book written by [[Jens Bergensten]] and published by [[Minecraft:Mojang AB]] in 2019.]]
{{Expand section}}
As explained in [[Minecraft:Minecraft Game Design]], each ''Minecraft'' [[Minecraft:world]] is considered equal and a separate continuity. At the core, an abstract representation of a universe, up for any one person to define.<ref>{{Tweet|kingbdogz|1449817425952886789|Lore is up to the player, you have to come to your own conclusions :D But we will always sneak in breadcrumbs of hints.}}</ref><ref>{{Bluesky|marc-irl.bsky.social|3lh5fy6e6xc2h|The archie story is kind of a set moment in time, in the dungeons game. But for the structures in it, the background history, everything like that... still up for interpretation and speculation like most everything else!|February 1, 2025}}</ref>  The nine default [[Minecraft:skins]] are used as player placeholders, a way for the player to express themselves through an avatar or their attachment to the character.<ref>{{Tweet|Marc_IRL|1449737734474674177|I may have fought to sneak a certain skin into the seasonal adventure rewards 😂 Mobbo isn’t canon, but neither are Steve and Alex! Skins are how you represent yourself in the games, not all are characters.<br><br>That said, it’d be funny to defeat Archie with this skin and no armor 😂}}</ref><ref>{{Bluesky|marc-irl.bsky.social|3lh55o7bwzc2b|Important to note that the skins are things players can use to represent themselves, and while they have names, we don’t tend to imbue them with character and personality. This is intentional. As the end poem says, “You are the player”. It’s your story, not Steve or Zuri’s.|February 1, 2025}}</ref><ref>{{Tweet|_LadyAgnes|1238087011870924801|The zombies aren't Steve zombies, I know they look like that though. But Steve and Alex are actually not part of the Minecraft world, they are intended to be placeholders for players :)}}</ref> Mojang provides players with mythology and lore hints, and they create the lore - the interpretation of the various things shown in the franchise.<ref>{{Tweet|kingbdogz|1654469971743834113|This is also where for me, internal lore and hints of it work quite well in games like Minecraft, because they provide tools for players to forge their own internal models of the world in order to tell stories. Structured narrative can't really work in this space.}}</ref> The player may choose what constitutes a “canon” for their individual interactions with the product, including the temporal and spatial relationship of their narrative to other stories within the franchise.<ref>[https://bsky.app/profile/marc-irl.bsky.social/post/3mm7vodajlc2z "That’s up to the player. If you only play Dungeons, do you want to feel like it’s part of the wider world? Did Legends happen in that world because of the nether machinery, or is that just standalone? We give you parts to tell stories, Dungeons just has a lot of set story parts on its own."]<br />- [https://bsky.app/profile/marc-irl.bsky.social Marc Watson]</ref>

=== Internal canon ===
[[File:Canonicity table.png|thumb|A fan made graph speculating on Mojang mythology, acknowledged by Jens]]As defined by Mojang Studios, canon refers to elements and a shared universe used in select works by a given company.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Tweet|Marc_IRL|1494981165551431680|Anyway, this wasn’t a dig at vanilla Minecraft, this was a “for those who haven’t played Dungeons, it’s canon to the Minecraft franchise’s mythology, and look at some of the things we added.}}</ref> Beginning with {{MCD}}, Mojang would begin developing a series of spin-offs referred to as their canon, continued with the spin-off games {{MCL}} and {{MCD2}}, and elements being adapted in {{AMCM}}. To coincide with the release of the games, each received a singular tie-in novel, expanding on story present in their narrative.<ref>{{Tweet|mforbeck|1633540266500956160|I'm told the novel is not canon per se, in the same way that most official Minecraft novels are not. They exist in their version of vanilla Minecraft. My Minecraft Dungeons novel is the only canon Minecraft novel to date.}}</ref>

These are designed to follow a consistent setting, but maintain the lack of a conventional, set continuity as the main franchise.<ref name=":1" /> This is demonstrated through the use of framing devices; the ''Minecraft Dungeons'' franchise has a {{MCD|narrator}}, shown reacting to story events and recounting events over showing conventional dialogue, while ''Legends'' is an in-universe story being told by {{MCL|villager}}s.<ref>{{YouTube link|eo-hfihoaRw|Minecraft Legends: Creating a New Game|Minecraft|July 15, 2022}}</ref> {{MCE}} was originally intended to include story content, but was unable to release prior to its closure.{{Citation needed}}

=== External canon ===
Over the years, Mojang Studios has done frequent collaborations with other franchises and brands. In the case of [[Minecraft:Angry Birds]], the collaboration is considered a canon part of their own multiverse, diverging from the events of ''{{Wikipedia|The Angry Birds Movie}}''.<ref>{{Citation|url=https://www.angrybirds.com/ab_angryverse/minecraft|title=Minecraft Archives|website=Angry Birds|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220816174624/https://www.angrybirds.com/ab_angryverse/minecraft/}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|url=https://www.angrybirds.com/explore/hall-of-games/|title=Hall of Games|website=Angry Birds}}</ref>

== Continuity ==
Even within specific iterations of ''Minecraft'', certain material can be designed to be non-canon. The episode {{Story Mode episode|6}} of {{MCSM}} ends with a monologue from {{MCSM|Captain Sparklez}} which could not have happened in-universe, even commenting on his death.<ref>{{tumblr|stirpicus|164739468961|Yeah that epilogue is non-canon. Jordan just has such a great narrator voice we couldn’t resist giving him one last lil’ monologue to finish the episode.”|August 28, 2017}}</ref> As a promotion for [[Minecraft: Story Mode - Season Two|Season Two]], a [[Minecraft:Story Mode:Craft Your Own Adventure!|series]] of videos was made featuring an {{MCSM|alternate universe}}. During a promotion for [[Minecraft: The End]], the novel was singled out as non-canon, though in relation to what is unclear.<ref>{{Mcnet|new-novel--the-end|New Novel: The End|November 28, 2019|[[Minecraft:Tom Stone]]}}</ref>

== Videos ==
{{YouTube|NTcco6ympRk|caption={{Main|The Untold Mystery of Minecraft}}}}{{YouTube|o6j3ctC56Zc|caption={{Main|So You Want to Rule a Game Universe?}}}}{{YouTube|ZY34OTV30Ck|caption={{Main|The Horrors of Minecraft!}}}}{{YouTube|zxUtkNZGWHQ|caption={{Main|Dungeons:Diaries: Lore}}}}

== History ==
{{Expand section}}
{{HistoryTable
|{{HistoryLine||February 10, 2015|link=https://twitter.com/jeb_/status/565200752587448321|[[Minecraft:Jens Bergensten]] comments on lore, saying Mojang prefers to keep it unstated.}}
}}

== Gallery ==
<gallery>
File:Woodsword series.jpg|The {{Woodsword Chronicle|0|1}} series, an example of a source of mythology
File:Rise of the Arch-Illager glow.jpg|{{MCD|The Rise of the Arch-Illager}}, a piece of mythology pertaining to {{MCD}}
File:Marketplace Pass Weekend Header Art.jpg|[[Minecraft:Efe]] and [[Minecraft:Sunny]] interacting with several fan made interpretations sold on the [[Minecraft:Marketplace]]
File:Inside of armadillo shell.jpg|An example of an unconventional yet official interpretation of a [[Minecraft:mob]]
File:Franchise artwork.png|Characters from multiple mythologies coexisting
File:Shapeyourworld header.jpeg|A live action [[Minecraft: Shape Your World|interpretation]] of the ''Minecraft'' universe
</gallery>

== References ==
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{{reflist}}
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==External links==

* [https://minecraftlore.miraheze.org/wiki/Main%20Page Minecraft Lore Wiki] - A wiki that documents the Minecraft mythology.

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