Minecraft Lore: Who were the ancient builders?

When Minecraft players first enter a brand new world, they will discover several automatically generated structures. There are a plethora of different buildings in all three realms. While players usually take them as another feature added by Mojang, they hold certain details that could spark questions. One of the most prominent questions is: Who built these structures and why?

The existence of an ancient civilization that predates a player's arrival is a strong theory that has been widely discussed in the Minecraft community.

Note: This article only discusses theories from the community or the writer. None of it has been officially revealed by Mojang.

---

Everything to know about the theory of ancient builders in Minecraft

Who were the ancient builders in Minecraft?

Ancient City could have been built by a race of builders before the player (Image via Mojang)

According to popular lore, there was a race of brilliant beings that existed before the player entered the world. This race had humble beginnings but progressed through the Stone and Iron Ages and became more advanced.

Hence, ancient civilizations started building different kinds of structures for various purposes — to store valuable loot, safeguard a portal, or even test out secret technologies. These structures are explored by players while they roam the world.

For example, the desert temple was cleverly built, with nothing on the surface but a hidden area with loot and a TNT trap. The jungle temple also has loot and arrow traps.

The newly added Ancient City and Trail ruins in Minecraft directly point towards the possibility of an ancient race that used to exist before the player's arrival. The Ancient City entails a lot about how some beings lived deep underground and tested new redstone contraptions, especially using sculk sensors.

On the other hand, trail ruins are small buildings completely buried underground with dated loot that can be found inside suspicious gravel blocks.

---

Where did Minecraft's ancient builders go?

Enderman are creatures that could be the ancient civilization of builders (Image via Mojang)

Enderman is one of the most mysterious mobs in Minecraft. A tall, jet-black creature with purple eyes, it is the only mob that closely resembles a regular player, at least in terms of anatomy.

Furthermore, the occasional sounds emitted by an Enderman have been discussed in the community for quite some time. Many have tinkered with the sound files and speculated that the creature speaks English words in a distorted tone.

Hence, another popular theory is that the Enderman themselves are the ancient builders. This is further solidified when players head to the last realm in the game: The End. This is the home of Enderman and an Ender Dragon. Players will find multiple tall mobs roaming around, with a vicious dragon flying over them.

When a player defeats the Ender Dragon, the achievement they receive is "Free the End," which is also featured in the theory. The term could mean that the player essentially liberated the Enderman, who were the ancient race of builders. They invented the end portal, entered the realm, and got stuck with the Ender Dragon.