#minecraft lore theory

[olessan]

During this Live we learned that ghasts:

Are biological creatures

that they have infant forms (that appear to have external gills like salamanders)

that they rely on water for their life cycle to complete

that, related to #3, they like chomping on snowballs

that they're neutral and even friendly when not dehydrated like a frog in summer

In addition to the points in the graphic:

Flat faces with the eyes at the front, like many amphibians

smooth skin

mouth that looks tiny until opened (have you seen an axolotl or caecilian with its mouth open?)

fireballs may be analogous to skin and saliva-based weapons in amphibians

has zero mercy

cannot aim at all

makes sounds quite like the axolotl when you think about it

operates on 1.5-2 brain cells at all times

... We may be able to conclude that ghasts are amphibians.

If we look at this phylogenetically, then we may be able to speculate that ghasts are highly derived (specialized) temnospondyls, which are huge prehistoric amphibians who were like 25% mouth.

[possiblylando]

The Sniffer is really weird [Sniffer Lore Speculation]

I was randomly thinking about the Sniffer for whatever reason and it dawned on me just how weird they are.

Design wise and their in game 'lore'. The thing that got the gears in my head turning are their legs. Unlike every other passive mob in the game, sniffers have 6 legs. Every other standard terrestrial mob has 2-4 legs (cows, pigs, llamas, etc) with the only real exceptions being insects (spiders and bees), and mobs that fly or swim (squids, phantoms, guardians etc.) It also lays eggs, which if it's a mammal, makes it the only monotreme in Minecraft, which is neat, but still very weird. Now beyond the oddity of being a monotreme (which isn't too insane considering we know the Sniffer is meant to be an ancient mob, thus is probably from early into mammalian evolution), the real weird thing is that their eggs are still good? Like they're able to hatch? And like-

They're on a pottery sherd??? which means they co-existed with one of the ancient civilizations?? Which is WILD because that has several potential implications. IMPLICATION 1. The sniffers genuinely did just live with the ancient civilization and were pretty standard farm animals for them. IMPLICATION 2. They PREDATE the ancients and were brought back BY them in the same way the player brings them back, which is why they're on the sherd. Personally, I think this option is FAR more interesting because it aligns with what we see with the rest of the sherds. The number of mobs on the sherds is incredibly limited as they only contain mobs with a notable connection to the ancients, which means the sniffer's existence was NOTABLE to them. The mobs shown by sherds are;

Breezes (Assumably created by the ancients, being a construct mob only found in the trial chambers.)

People (Duh.)

SNIFFERS ? ?

Skeletons (Not sure if we should count this as the mob itself because people still have skeletons, it could be standard death iconography.)

'The Mourner' (Warden seems most likely though it's not 1-1. The warden would be incredibly notable to preserve.)

Wolves (Nest friend, makes sense they get a mention)

Everything here is notable enough to be preserved. If they had discovered a literal ancient mob pre-dating them, that would be notable enough to mention. So I think the sniffer pre-dates the ancient civilization (or civilizations, hard to say if it was one giant civilization or a bunch of disconnected ones throughout time but I'm NOT getting into that here.). Another thing that backs this theory up is the six legs. It's INCREDIBLY weird for a Mammal to have 6 legs, this is because all mammals evolved from the same original 4-legged ancestor. This means Sniffers are from an entirely separate evolutionary branch of land-dwelling animals that went extinct. Which is fucking CRAZY RIGHT??? The fact there was an entirely separate evolutionary tree in minecraft's past is completely fucking nuts like that is such a mind boggling implication to throw into the game. Them being from another evolutionary tree also explains their oddities such as their weird yellow-faces that resemble beaks (but clearly aren't due to how elastic they are) and their aforementioned 6 legs + egg laying. So, next question, Whats up with the green?

The sniffer has nothing textured beneath it's green layer, and there is nothing else shown in game that could refer to what's beneath it. Additionally due to it's green facial markings, I believe it's safe to conclude the green is apart of the sniffer. So what is it? My initial thought was; ''Maybe it's moss.' something along the lines of a sloth, essentially. It does align, sniffers are slow and docile, they'd be able to grow something like moss or algae. I think this is a very valid possibility. But the main thing that sways me from this line is thought is the egg.

The egg is also green. Eggs usually have their markings for; 1. Camouflage, a brown egg in a brown environment is harder to find and thus eat. 2. Distinction, the more complex an egg is, the harder it is to mimic and thus makes it harder for other species to replace with their own. 3. Structural integrity, sometimes markings just make the egg sturdier. I believe the main reason the eggs look like this is camouflage, and the main reason for this is the sniffer's green back and, well, stick with me here; Podzol.

Sniffers are a rather weird red-color. With other mobs we know their colors are like that due to real world influence, (ex. pigs are as pink as they are because of human influence despite it not being good camouflage, but pigs don't have a predator in Minecraft so they don't need it regardless.) but with sniffers the red is weird. I think it's there to blend into their natural environment. It's clear the sniffer has undergone little to no evolutionary changes since it's original environment vanished, so I think originally, Sniffers were from an area with Podzol comprised of brush materials from the biome, which gave it a more reddish-tint than it's brown/green from spruce adjacent biomes. See, Sniffers having green only on their tops reminds me of aquatic camouflage. In the ocean certain animals have darker tops and lighter bottoms because the sun makes water lighter while looking up and darker while looking down. I think the sniffer's green backs are a means to camouflage with the foliage of their original environment. Their diet is comprised entirely of seeds, and due to their VERY large size and slow speed, we can assume this does not give them much energy. They spend a lot of their time just loafing around, they even have a dedicated sitting animation. I think they were originally a large herbivorous prey species, with their main predators being avian. Green backs would let them blend into the foliage and reduce the chances of them getting snatched up (Also these birds would have to be ridiculously huge to carry off a sniffer oh my god can you imagine, that's terrifying). Their eggs are colored this way for the same reason, they're much harder to spot if they blend into the ground and the foliage. Alright time to wrap this together.

[HISTORY OF THE SNIFFER]

The sniffers are an ancient herbivorous prey species. They originally fed on loose foliage to get at their seeds and nuts. Their 'beaks'(?) were used similarly to a birds, being able to crack open a seed's shell to eat the innards. They primarily fed on torch flowers but were not limited to them (But are now, due to their stomachs being specialized for ancient plants, not modern ones). They likely lived in foliage dense zones with a cooler ambient temperature due to their thick fur (something like a taiga biome with entirely different foliage). They had some natural predators, though they could deal with most terrestrial predators due to their large size. Their main predators were massive flying creatures which could swoop down and pick sniffers off one by one. They evolved their green backs to camouflage against these mobs. But we know their fate in these ancients times. Sniffers and every other mob from this period went extinct. Some evolved into the mobs we have now, but the sniffer's entire evolutionary branch of the tree is gone, so far as we know. An unknown amount of time passes and a sniffer egg is discovered by an ancient civilizations. They find a new home in this new age, one without a natural predator. But they could not get their footing as a species due to their stomachs being poorly adapted to newly evolved foliage. Eventually, they would go extinct again, but this time remembered, and more properly preserved. Now in modern day they've been found again by the player and brought back, likely to repeat the same cycle yet again.

[olessan]

In light of recent revelations about the ghast life cycle... amphibian?? ghasts in all their ugly majesty

Theories below:

Toughened skin as adult, to retain water in nether climate

larvae hatch with a small amount of buoyancy - from gas?

ghastlings can still land and spend most of their time consuming water, snow, and ice in order to grow

do ghastlings feed on algae and other microbes, and plankton? Do adult ghasts filter them from the nether's congested air?

ghastlings that don't get enough water become ill and go into a semi-dormant stasis, at which point players find them?

9 tentacles - 2 arms, 2 legs, 1 tail, 2 barbels, and 2 gill appendages

highly derived and in order to float, they have very shortened spines and likely have massive gas bladders deep inside their body, which require water (the gas is a digestive biproduct)

species' eyes are highly light-sensitive after adapting to the nether

[possiblylando]

Biology of the Ghast

several months ago prior to the proper release of the Happy Ghast (soon after it's announcement) I made a short post theorizing about Ghasts.

So, I really like Ghasts from an outside perspective. They're really interesting mobs and they've got a lot of lore going on especially with this new update. That being said I still fucking DESPISE their existences with every fiber of my being going into the nether and being victimized by the quantum ghast (bedrock edition) is infuriating. To start at a baseline here is what we know CONCRETELY about Ghasts (Only stuff DIRECTLY in the game, no speculation yet) [ESTABLISHING EVERYTHING WE KNOW FOR CERTAIN] 1. Ghasts have regenerative properties. Ghast Tears are used for regen potions & Happy Ghasts are able to passive regenerative overtime without the need for food (Which is counter to how almost every other regular mob needs food to heal). 2. Ghasts have a full life cycle but we only see Adult Ghasts in the nether. (Because the Dried Ghast turns into the Ghastling then the Adult Ghast / Happy Ghast) 3. Ghasts are capable of flight because of their body structure, not because of the nether itself*. This is because the Happy Ghast was made for over world usage so can be used as direct confirmation of their flight being biological instead of the result of a nether properly (Such as riding air currents.) *I would otherwise be inclined to stay neutral on such an idea. Because Ghasts are nether creates and taking them out of the nether does not actually tell us if them still being able to fly is lore intention or just a hold over of them being in the nether and not having special coding for the overworld. But the Happy Ghast proves it's a biological function. 4. Dried Ghasts seem to require soul sand to be created.

5. Dried Ghasts ARE NOT rare, as such Ghast Reproduction (However it is done) occurs commonly. Piglins are willing to give the player Dried Ghasts at a roughly 2% rate (So they're uncommon but not exceptionally valuable to the Piglins like magical items such as Potions and Enchants.)

They also have a fairly high spawn rate of 1/3 at nether fossils. Given how common these fossils are in the soul sand valley you're likely to find several Dried Ghasts in any given biome.

6. They drop a music disc, sometimes. Okay so, Dropping the purely scholarly tone for a moment. I do not understand music discs as drops for mobs. Why do Creepers drop them ONLY when killed by a skeleton lore wise? Idk! Why do Ghasts now drop a music disc when killed by a fireball? Idk! Ghasts seem to be biological (or biomagical) entities, not constructs. So them having discs inside them does not make sense. As such I really just have to scratch music discs off as an easter egg thing and not a directly important lore thing. If you disagree feel free to proper an alternative. (I do love the track though Tears is a really good music disc) 7. Happy Ghasts and Ghasts have drop variances which means the regular Adult Ghasts' drops are a result of living in the nether. Ghasts drop Gunpowder, but Happy Ghasts do not. Ghasts drop Ghast Tears, Happy Ghasts do not. [SPECULATION] So what can be established from this information? Well first we can establish that the Ghast in the Nether drops tears because it's a survival mechanism. The Ghast has noticeably more pronounced facial stains than the Happy Ghast. Due to the name ghast 'Tear' and the facial markings beneath their eyes resembling Tear stains, I believe it's safe to assume their tears come from their eyes like other animals. Tears have regenerative properties. Notice how the Happy Ghast still has tear stains? This actually does make sense given it's regenerative properties. We can assume a Ghast is able to heal itself naturally using the fluid that turns into Ghast Tears while it's inside it's body, but it can speed up it's healing by crying; This is why Nether Ghasts have so much more pronounced tear stains than Happy Ghasts (who do not actively need to cry to heal themselves as often). But I also think the tears serve a secondary purpose. They're also reproductive fluid. It's a VERY well established Minecraft lore tidbit that Gender as we have it in the real world just does not exist in Minecraft. Any two creatures of the same species are able to reproduce (given they reproduce in sexual pairs) but Ghasts aren't able to. You can not breed Happy Ghasts together to create a Ghastling. This means Ghasts do not reproduce Sexually AT ALL. As previously established you can craft a Ghastling.

Since Dried Ghasts are always found in soul sand valley biomes it's more than safe to assume Ghast reproduction is tied to this mechanic. I believe the ghast reproductive cycle goes as such; 1. Adult Ghast goes to a Soul Sand Valley. It cries and releases tears into the sand beneath. 2. The sand soaks up the tears and the tears use the energy of soul sand to grow. (Because soul power is a well established energy source in minecraft due to the skulk, enchanting, exp, soul sand, etc)* 3. After consuming enough energy from soul sand a Ghastling (or perhaps the stage of life prior to the dried ghast) comes out of the sand. 4. The Nether Ghastlings are then subject to an immense amount of competition both from other creatures in the nether and their fellow Ghastlings. 5. The Ghastlings that survive early life turn into full Adult Ghasts and the life cycle continues. *This process is forcefully stimulated by the Player adding ALOT of tears to soul sand, which is how Ghasts can be craftable and still biological. Note how Ghasts are not hostile towards each other in game. I believe this is because once a Ghast has reached adulthood it no longer needs to see other Ghasts are direct threats to it's survival. Another thing to note is that Happy Ghasts do not drop Gunpowder. I believe this is due to their environment. Ghasts use their fireballs, for some reason? It's not very clear aside from attacking the player. Maybe they use it for self defense, or to fight other Ghasts? Hard to say. But I think they're able to create their fireballs due to their diet. Ghasts don't show many signs of being carnivorous. Happy Ghasts feed on snowballs and require water to become Ghastlings. I don't think the snowballs are because of a temperature requirement; I think it's because Snowballs are the most easily accessible form of water to feed to a Happy Ghast. The other options would be glass bottles (which aren't really made for non-humanoids to drink from.) So I think Nether Ghasts' diets consist primarily of nether fungus, which is where they get their water from. Since fungus is the primary source of food in the nether it's also safe to assume it's the primary source of water. I could also see Ghasts eating loose rock deposits such as gravel or netherrack (If you subscribe to the theory that netherrack is actually a fungus infected stone block) as a basis for the explosive materials in their fireballs. Now for the main question; Did the ghasts come from the overworld or the nether? Well to put simply, They're from the nether; Just the nether from before it's modern collapse state. I'm not a subscriber of frozen nether theory (I think it's more likely it was something more temperate, perhaps something like a humid jungle with fungus taking the place of regular plants). I think Ghasts are original inhabitants of the nether which fed on the natural foliage of the pre-apocalypse nether (Soul Sand probably? still existed at this point in time). Due to their regenerative properties they were able to survive the nether's mass warming. I imagine the pre-apoc nether would look reminiscent of the lush caves biome. The Lush Cave has similar structural conditions to the nether, being underground, capable of sustaining life, and having it's own semi-enclosed eco system. But the nether would obviously be a far more extreme form of this. There was probably Lava in the nether beforehand and with the modern nether we know fungus isn't a very flammable block, which is why I lean towards it being a fungus based jungle-ish area instead of a plant based one.

So for my interpretation just imagine a lush cave with more lava, the moss is fungus, and instead of regular stones and such there's stuff like black stone and basalt* instead. *I'm not totally sure if Basalt would be there since it requires very cold temperatures to form in the minecraft universe, assumably this pre-apoc more tropical nether would be able to provide that in certain areas. If I had to give them a category animal wise I'm inclined to lean towards some sort of fish. I've heard Jellyfish quite a lot and I think that's a very valid interpretation. But they seem far too cognizant to be Jellyfish due to how sedentary Jellyfish tend to be. I also don't think they're siphonophores (But it's technically possible due to their regenerative properties and their tears acting as reproductive fluid (being smaller ghast fragments in this theory??)). So I'm still undecided beyond them being some sort of classification of fish.