Top 5 interesting facts about Minecraft's Nether dimension

Minecraft's dangerous dimension of fire and lava, the Nether, has been a part of the game throughout most of its tenure. However, it has evolved substantially since its early inception.

Minecraft's Nether isn't as friendly of a location as the Overworld can sometimes be. However, it can be welcoming, depending on whether players enter the area wearing a little bit of gold. Regardless, there are more than a few fun facts players may not know about this eerie dimension.

It can be interesting to learn some small details to see how far the Nether has come from its original form. Below, Minecraft players can find five fascinating facts about the Nether and the many changes it has met over the years.

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Fun Minecraft facts about the Nether

5) It has ambient lighting

A soul sand valley in Minecraft's Nether (Image via Minecraft Wiki)

Though the Minecraft dimension doesn't possess a day/night cycle or weather, it does offer ambient lighting. It is constant and appears even in areas of the Nether where the light level is zero.

However, the game still operates on the existing light levels, and the Nether's ambient lighting cannot increase that. That said, the ambient lighting can still improve a player's visibility to some extent as they navigate this dangerous dimension.

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4) It alters the properties of certain blocks

Water takes on a dark color when spawned inside the Nether (Image via u/kritomas/Reddit)

As its own separate dimension, the Nether can alter certain blocks' properties. For example, if a player attempts to sleep in a bed block, it will explode with an intensity of five, a higher magnitude than TNT in the Overworld.

Furthermore, wet sponge blocks placed in the Nether will immediately dry out due to the dimension's immense heat. Even stranger, if a player spawns water blocks into the Nether with commands in Bedrock Edition, the water will take on a dark red, almost blood-like, coloration, which is quite eerie to see.

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3) It can be used as a transportation method

Players can use the Nether to cross vast distances in the Overworld (Image via Diamondlobby.com)

Back in the game's early development, Notch had developed a map theme called "hell" (now known as the Nether) and had intended for it to be used as a form of fast travel. The means of fast traveling through this location was based on Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time. In this novel, people can cross vast distances in a matter of days instead of weeks, and one is able to see this in some capacity in the current Nether.

Within the dimension, distance traveled is not the same as it is in the Overworld. What this essentially means is that Minecraft players can move across the Nether and build a new Nether portal while inside. Doing so can lead to them crossing huge swaths of the Overworld even if they're only traversing a relatively small distance within the Nether.

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2) It pauses time in the Overworld

Entering the Nether can pause the flow of time in the Overworld (Image via Mojang)

In Minecraft singleplayer, entering the Nether has a rather unintended side-effect. While a gamer is inside the Nether, the flow of time stops within the Overworld since the former is the dimension currently loaded.

This can be used to a player's advantage in some circumstances, but the effects are negated in multiplayer situations. The reason is that if players are in the Nether and the Overworld simultaneously, both dimensions are loaded into the game at the same time, and time proceeds normally.

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1) Forest biomes decontaminate the environment

A warped forest Nether biome in Minecraft (Image via Mojang)

Ancient debris is one of the rarest materials in the game, but it appears to have a somewhat sinister origin story. According to an article on the game's official site, landfill pollution appears around ancient debris.

The article also states that the fungal forest biomes that exist within the Nether are capable of purifying the pollution within the dimension thanks to the decomposition abilities of the fungi that grow inside the hell-like place. This appears to be a purely lore-related factoid, but an interesting one nonetheless.