The Unnerving Secrets of Minecraft's Illagers | Deep Dive

minecraft is a mysterious and strange game the world has so much to discover including sweeping landscapes vast structures and interesting creatures some of these are hostile such as the zombie skeleton and of course the creeper but there is a group of mobs who are evil in a darker way they don't mindlessly attack the player with arrows or explosions rather they use their intelligence for something much more sinister they push the limits of what's possible no matter the casualties these are the illagers one of minecraft's least understood mobs what are they doing in their outposts and huge mansions in the woods why do they raid villages who even are they welcome to deep dive a series where i explore some of the more obscure and hidden aspects of games tonight we will be examining the illagers looking for clues both obvious and hidden in plain sight hopefully through this process we will learn who they are and how they fit into the lore of minecraft join me for a dive beneath the waves to begin we need to clear up some terminology it's important that we recognize that the term illager represents a group of mobs including the pillager the vindicator and the evoker we'll look at the specific differences between these later on but for now we can talk about the illagers as a group it's clear that the illagers have a close connection to the villagers they share certain physical characteristics including an oblong head and a large nose even their name is a pun on the word villager however there are some crucial differences both in their appearance and their behavior to understand these differences we need to have a baseline idea of who the villagers are let's take a look at them first i'll preface this section with a disclaimer i'm not an anthropologist so i apologize if i make any mistakes in the following analysis anyways villagers live unsurprisingly in villages which are scattered throughout the world they display many characteristics not found in other mobs the villagers have constructed moderately sized settlements and have adapted to many different biome types from scorching deserts to frigid tundras although their clothes and architecture are determined by the specific climate they nonetheless show evidence of a shared culture for example all villagers walk with their arms together hiding the bare skin of their hands from others they also exhibit specialization of labor different villagers have unique professions including farmers and butchers as well as more complicated employment like cartographers and clerics these specializations work together in a bustling economy with emeralds as currency a fletcher may not know how to make food but that doesn't matter because the farmer does and bread is just a few emeralds away so although the various villages may be separated by distance they've collectively learned how to thrive on their own for some reason we don't really see evidence of intravillage communication each town appears to operate independently perhaps a good descriptor would be tribes of villagers they have developed enough domestication and irrigation to settle down but there's no evidence of a power structure between villages there's no nation of villagers just small independent towns scattered about illagers on the other hand play by a different set of rules they are clearly enemies of villagers even to the point of sending out patrols to find and attack villagers illagers occasionally participate in more coordinated attacks against villagers known as raids waves of every type of illager will spawn during these raids both patrols and raids are led by captains carrying the same ominous banner this implies that pillagers vindicators and evokers see themselves as a cohesive group under a flag furthermore they must have a way of communicating with one another across long distances in order to coordinate raids as we'll see the various illager types are quite spread out yet they're still capable of banding together when they want to so it's already clear that there are some fundamental differences in the way the illagers act compared to villagers they have clearly defined leaders and at least some level of strategic planning during the raids more importantly though it would seem as though they are much more capable of accomplishing shared goals the illagers collectively want something but what we'll get to that in a little bit remember how one of the important traits of the villagers is specialization well illagers also exhibit this trait however it's much more extreme for them to the point where their abilities seem almost totally different from one another as i alluded to earlier these specializations are so distinct that the illagers are split into several different mobs let's take a look at one of them the infantry of the group are the pillagers they spawn in outpost structures that can occur in any biome where villages might be found they're quite tall enabling good visibility over a long distance the pillagers complement this with crossbows powerful weapons with higher range accuracy and damage compared to bows they use scarecrows as target practice refining their skills in their free time furthermore some pillagers are sent out on patrol in groups of five patrols wander around killing enemies on foot so what is the role the pillagers well pillagers are experts at keeping unwanted enemies away in this case villagers it seems as though their goal is to establish control over the territory between villages outposts are their hub and patrols are their boots on the ground offering a harsh reminder to any villager foolish enough to wander about the result of this is that villagers are essentially trapped within their own villages have you ever wondered why we don't see villagers traveling i think it's because the pillagers pose such a substantial risk that it's simply not worth it they have everything they need in their villages why risk death just to go on vacation there are some interesting implications of this first it prevents villages from developing a more advanced inter-city society if villages were able to work together and trade then they would have a much better chance of regaining control of the badlands and extinguishing the illidars without that however villagers can't easily evolve as a collective species did a villager just invent a game-changing technology such as explosives it doesn't really matter because they can't communicate it to another village they can't conscript an army using tax money because they can't have a government we're getting a little bit closer to understanding what the illness want we know that it's in their best interest to suppress the villagers and that sometimes they even aggressively slaughter them but the pillagers are just the tip of the iceberg to really know what the illegals are up to we must take a journey to the true heart of their operations the woodland mansion the woodland mansion is an exceedingly rare generated structure inhabited by vindicators and evokers mansions are sometimes found tens of thousands of blocks away from spawn they are built in one of the two dark forest biomes places with wide short trees that create a thick canopy of leaves overhead the mansion towers above all three stories high it's one of the largest and most advanced structures in the overworld its architecture is majestic with wide hallways sweeping staircases and tall ceilings there's an artistic flair to it all subtle patterns on the walls supporting arches in the hallways and in general a high level of craftsmanship throughout it's the mark of a prideful and adept architect sculpting buildings as beautiful as they are practical structurally the mansion is more complex than anything we see in the villages and although it's similar in size to some of the monuments it feels quite a bit different stylistically the mansions contain a huge variety of rooms let's explore and see if we can learn about the vindicators and evokers that live here illagers need to survive just like the villagers and they accomplish this using indoor farms of melons pumpkins and mushrooms there are forages to construct the axes and other equipment we can also find several types of bedrooms much more ornate than the simple dwellings of the villagers some even have closets there are storage rooms libraries and huge tables for discussion a map room offers a clue as to how the illager's plan raids but there are also rooms in the mansion where their purpose is a little less clear a strange pumpkin head surrounded by mine cart reels rooms with no entrances or exits hidden within the walls laven cased in glass and a room with a lone tree whose entrance is sealed off from the hallway a chamber with fences and a checkerboard floor rooms cultivating various types of flowers and then there are the locations that have a more sinister tone to them there are several different types of prisons some of which even have redstone operated locks there's an arena of sorts with tiers of audience seating is it for friendly boxing matches something tells me that's not the case they also have these strange altar type rooms with cold stone and draped banners what are they for it's not immediately obvious our explorations of the mansion slowly paint a picture of its inhabitants the illidars clearly have their own developed culture different from the villagers there's one trait that jumps out to me the illagers are independent thinkers they try new things they discuss ideas and make plans it's already paid off for them they have the most luxurious living conditions in minecraft and they have advanced weaponry they're the most powerful group of overworld mobs there's something else about the illagers that's a bit weird they're very interested in symbols they're rooms with huge wool animal statues such as of a duck or a cat are they just good sculptors perhaps but what's a little bit stranger is they have mini sculptures of themselves we've seen this earlier pillagers had a specific banner on their faces which was draped over the outpost and carried by the raid captain but it's taken to another level in the woodland mansions it's above their staircases in gallery-like rooms and there's a giant three-dimensional statue of one of their heads while holding a torch hidden inside the head is a single lapis lazuli block there must be something special about the graven image of themselves they wouldn't do this for no reason that's the question we keep coming back to why why are they preventing the villagers from developing why do they keep building secluded mansions why are they acting as such a chaotic force in an otherwise mostly peaceful overworld let's take a closer look at the remaining illegals we haven't covered vindicators spawn in the mansion and they wield axes they are the workforce behind the illagers they chop down wood and they're probably responsible for construction of the outposts and mansions like the rest they are more than capable as warriors when the time is right but that doesn't seem to be their main job and then there's the evoker a wizard of sorts in the minecraft universe there's clearly some type of magical force we see it with enchanting and potion brewing the evokers however appear to have a much deeper knowledge of this magic than anyone else they can summon spectral things to attack enemies from the ground as well as vexes which are strange sword-bearing ghosts they're the only mobs known to actively summon other entities for help illagers have discovered something new about how magic works which grants them unique powers maybe we can figure out what that is magic in minecraft has structure to it for example enchanting is not random it doesn't just happen out of nowhere it requires energy in the form of experience and although experience can be gained through actions such as smelting or mining killing a ma produces much more sometimes an order of magnitude higher what we're seeing here is a system where death is the primary commodity to enchant weapons the most effective way is to kill other beings so for those who have no qualms about it destroying other creatures is a great method to gaining magical power i think what's happening is the evokers have realized this and through their studies they found a way to harness this power what's the catalyst though it's the totem of undying [Music] the totem of undying is a very unique item in minecraft it allows the user to survive one fatal blow in some sense it offers control over death the final and most powerful of fates if death truly is a big source of magical energy as i've suggested then finding a way to hold death's restraint in physical form would be an extremely powerful capability i believe that this is a result of the experimentation by the illagers it's one thing they've been able to do that is completely unique to them we may be tempted to think that the primary use of the totem of undying is to escape death and while that's certainly true for the player i'm not sure that tells the whole story for the illidars if the evokers are trying to escape death then why don't they use the totem in battle that's what leads me to believe that the magical capabilities it possesses are much more valuable than simply staying alive sure a few extra hearts is nice but why waste the totem just to delay the inevitable although we don't have an explicit explanation as to how the totem works there are some subtle hints first let's examine its appearance it looks to be a statue of an illager head notice the large nose this would make sense from the clues we've seen in the mansion the totem of undying may be the result of their experimentation using wool statues there's something else about the totem the eyes are green at first that doesn't seem strange as illagers and villagers both have green eyes but the totem of undying has a much brighter tone it's a similar color to something we talked about a few minutes ago experience since experience can take the form of life force draining upon death then wouldn't the totem of undying need to be powered by vast amounts of experience in order to prevent death as i said earlier minecraft magic doesn't just happen it always requires energy from somewhere why would the totem be any different if this is true then the implications are deeply unsettling suddenly the illidar's actions towards the villagers makes sense illagers are so much more powerful in combat than villagers without the player the villagers only have the iron golem to protect them and even that would be destroyed after several waves of a raid if they wanted to the illidars could wipe all the villages off the face of the planet but they don't want to do that why well villages are a great source of experience any player will tell you that trading harvesting crops and smelting all generate experience experience that's ready for the taking when the time is right consider the illness keep the villages separated so they can't develop new technology as a society they do however allow the villagers to survive on their own as small towns farming working and reproducing all the while slowly increasing their total stored experience at a certain point though the illidars band together and form a raiding party releasing the villages experienced through death and powering their totems to the illagers villages are nothing more than farms they need to be self-sufficient but not to the point where they're capable of mounting a collective defense they feel no remorse over destroying a single village as there are many more for the taking but they certainly don't want to extinguish all of them at once as it would spell disaster for their magical quests there's a long-term benefit to keeping some villages alive let's think bigger the totem of undying is very powerful what might they be trying to do with that magic well one option has to do with teleportation i explained in a previous video the timeline of the end you can watch that using the card above to give you a quick recap i think that in the grand scheme of minecraft villagers and illagers are relatively recent developments in the world showing up after all the portals were closed and all the builders died there is evidence that illagers are attempting to find a way to teleport to other dimensions in the enderman video i propose that all interdimensional travel always requires at least two things heat and hard materials the illagers might not have quite understood this but they released on that path such as with the lava encased in glass or the obsidian spheres the smoking gun however is an extremely rare secret room that sometimes occurs in mansions this room is shaped like an in-portal room there's tnt silverfish stairs and a chest with ender pearls were the illagers trying to solve the mystery of the in portal using magical force i think that interdimensional travel was just one of their many projects it seemed as though they managed to replicate a spawner in one of their rooms solving one mystery of the overworld another room is that which has blue wool and piles there's a famous theory that they're trying to create steve as he has the same colors in his clothes the evokers can summon vexes using the totem why not a living breathing character if they had control over death could they create life if we want to take this a step further what if the player is the result of their successful experiment we're starting to get into some of the thorny existential questions about minecraft which are well beyond the scope of this video i don't know for sure if this is what the illagers were attempting to do but i do think that they saw the totem as a tool not as the end goal they recognized its power and enacted control over the villagers in order to maintain that power i can't see your faces right now but i guarantee that some of you are looking at me like i'm a lunatic it's always good to think critically whenever someone proposes a theory don't just blindly accept it as truth as with all theories we need to find any leaps of faith that we've taken or issues with our evidence those of you who really know minecraft will have already found a problem villagers who are killed don't drop experience this would seem to disprove the idea of illidars using villages as experienced farms and from a literal perspective that's true however i'm inclined to believe that this is a gameplay decision not a lore decision hear me out why would every single mob players included drop experience on death except for villagers this is especially weird considering that experience is clearly an important part of the mechanics of villagers i think the purpose of this is to encourage players to trade with the villagers instead of just killing and looting any village they come across i'm not sure why else villagers would be special in this regard maybe that explanation isn't good enough for you but that's my thought let's ask another question if the totem of undying grants magical powers then why can't it be used by the player i think the answer is as simple as the player doesn't know how to cast spells remember the illager's discovered this stuff through years of experimentation i think it's totally reasonable that the player wouldn't know what to do with the totem it's worth thinking about though another thing that i've implied but haven't elaborated upon is the idea of illagers being outcasts it's not unreasonable to think that the villagers whose lives are ruled by routine might think poorly of people who think outside the box there are instances of this beyond just the illagers the wandering traitor for example doesn't follow the rules of the village he wanders about with his llamas selling bizarre items he also displays the skin of his hands something that no quote-unquote traditional villagers do this is same for illagers when attacking we can see their hands it's a subtle detail that i think is important another outcast is the witch probably kicked out for obvious reasons ildras seem to at least tolerate witches they can join patrols and will spawn in raids the witch does not seem to be an illeger though as she has none of their imagery in her hut still witches do work together with illidgers when it benefits them both so there we go that's my theory let me know what you think i'm not claiming that this is absolutely correct rather the purpose of this video is to start a discussion hopefully together we can begin to solve the puzzle that is minecraft if you're interested join the discord using the link in the description we've got a great community and it's a fun place to discuss videos and theories we'll end with that thanks so much for watching and i'll see you all in the next video have a great day [Music] you

Channel: RetroGamingNow

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Keywords: Retro, Gaming, Now, RetroGamingNow, RGN, Let's, Play

Id: MDrlo-z5ttQ

Length: 19min 45sec (1185 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 08 2021