Minecraft:Mythology

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The narrative elements and ethos of the Minecraft franchise are described as a "mythology." There is no officially established lore of Template: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, Dungeons and Minecraft:Legends, and in other media, such as Template:AMCM and the many 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>Template:Bluesky</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>"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."
- Jeb</ref> All games are understood to belong to the same Minecraft multiverse.<ref name=":0">Template:Bluesky</ref> Minecraft:Marc Watson, a product manager at Mojang Studios, also notes that the studio avoids the term "lore" in favor of "mythology."<ref>Template:Bluesky</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">Template:Tweet</ref> Marc Watson explicitly compares this structure to Template:Wikipedia, a compilation of various stories set within a single universe.<ref>Template:Bluesky</ref> The development team takes the entire Minecraft universe into account when creating updates.<ref>Template:Bluesky</ref>

The universe is not limited to vanilla Minecraft<ref>Template:Cite Discord</ref> however, the absence of elements from other games in a given title does not imply contradiction but rather selective focus.<ref>"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”."
- 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 Template:MCD from Template:MCD.<ref>Template:Bluesky</ref><ref>Template:Bluesky</ref>

Mojang adheres to a policy of providing no canonical answers to questions about mythology. This position is consistently affirmed by Jeb<ref>Template:Bluesky</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and Marc Watson.<ref>Template:Tweet</ref><ref>Template:Bluesky</ref><ref>Template:Bluesky</ref><ref>Template:Tweet</ref>

Multiverse

File:Minecraft Game Design Page 31.png

Page 31 of Minecraft Game Design, a book written by Jens Bergensten and published by Minecraft:Mojang AB in 2019.

Template: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>Template:Tweet</ref><ref>Template:Bluesky</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>Template:Tweet</ref><ref>Template:Bluesky</ref><ref>Template:Tweet</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>Template:Tweet</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>"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."
- Marc Watson</ref>

Internal canon

File:Canonicity table.png

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>Template:Tweet</ref> Beginning with Template:MCD, Mojang would begin developing a series of spin-offs referred to as their canon, continued with the spin-off games Template:MCL and Template:MCD2, and elements being adapted in Template:AMCM. To coincide with the release of the games, each received a singular tie-in novel, expanding on story present in their narrative.<ref>Template:Tweet</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 Template:MCD, shown reacting to story events and recounting events over showing conventional dialogue, while Legends is an in-universe story being told by Template:MCLs.<ref>Template:YouTube link</ref> Template:MCE was originally intended to include story content, but was unable to release prior to its closure.Template: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 Template:Wikipedia.<ref>Template:Citation</ref><ref>Template:Citation</ref>

Continuity

Even within specific iterations of Minecraft, certain material can be designed to be non-canon. The episode Template:Story Mode episode of Template:MCSM ends with a monologue from Template:MCSM which could not have happened in-universe, even commenting on his death.<ref>Template:Tumblr</ref> As a promotion for Season Two, a series of videos was made featuring an Template:MCSM. During a promotion for Minecraft: The End, the novel was singled out as non-canon, though in relation to what is unclear.<ref>Template:Mcnet</ref>