Minecraft's End Poem interpretation

As many knows, the ending of Minecraft is very cryptic. http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/End_Poem

However, I could salvage some possible feats.

Before we start, STEVE =/= THE PLAYER. No feats from the Player scales to Steve. Bad.

Well now, for The Player.

"But what true structure did this player create, in the reality behind the screen?"

The Player creates a reality behind the screen. The Minecraft world


"Sometimes the player dreamed it was a miner, on the surface of a world that was flat, and infinite. The sun was a square of white. The days were short; there was much to do; and death was a temporary inconvenience."

So the Minecraft world is but a Dream to the Player. So he likely transcends it all. Low 2-C.

Not only that but it proves two gameplay mechanics canon: Respawn and the infinite world.

"Sometimes the player dreamed it was other things, in other places. Sometimes these dreams were disturbing. Sometimes very beautiful indeed. Sometimes the player woke from one dream into another, then woke from that into a third."

Not only is Minecraft a mere dream, it also part of a greater Dream, and this one also being part of a greater one. 3 levels of reality above 3D space. Pretty sure it is Low 1-C.

Assuming a dream is a level of reality (Which seems to be the case often here) and that Minecraft is 3D. It would be this: At least Low Complex Multiverse level (Exists at least 3 levels of reality above the 3D Minecraft world.)


Now the entities that talks to the player.

"Yes. Take care. It has reached a higher level now. It can read our thoughts"

"No. It has not yet achieved the highest level. That, it must achieve in the long dream of life, not the short dream of a game."

"We are the universe. We are everything you think isn't you. You are looking at us now, through your skin and your eyes. And why does the universe touch your skin, and throw light on you? To see you, player. To know you. And to be known. I shall tell you a story."

So. The Player can read minds. And the Entities exists on a higher level than the Player.

They are also everything. So omnipresence.

So most likely: Likely at least Complex Multiverse level (Are on a higher level of existence than the Player)

FINAL TALLY:

The Player: At least Low 1-C

The Entities: Likely at least 1-C

Steve: Same stats, but it is likely that Respawn is canon.

This is, uh, huge. So I need opinions on the matter

on the Wiki it Says Steve and Alex are the "player" it was just a joke by notch to call them the names but they just stuck but i agree the player as different i didnt think you really could give them a level i just always though they where atleast universe or something

Also on another Note

In the Minecraft Mod Titan mobs the Strongest Titan WitherZilla it is called by the maker not a Titan but a god It Talks Like the Entities at the end poem sometimes and Even Knows what you did in order to find it along with constantly mocking the player calling it a simpleton and saying it doesnt understand its problems and and cant be destroyed by the Void(Creative mode people can be destroyed by the void) cant be destroyed by Peaceful mode and Super Weapons From other Mods acording to the mod maker wont work on it

Vortex1000 said:

Also on another Note

In the Minecraft Mod Titan mobs the Strongest Titan WitherZilla it is called by the maker not a Titan but a god It Talks Like the Entities and the end poem some points and Even Knows what you did in order to find it along with constantly mocking the player calling it a simpleton and saying it doesnt understand its problems and and cant be destroyed by the Void(Creative mode people can be destroyed by the void) cant be destroyed by Peaceful mode and Super Weapons From other Mods acording to the mod maker wont work on it

Click to expand...

Mods aren't relevant because they aren't canon.

In the context of this Poem, Steve is just an avatar of The Player.

Mods are non-canon.

i know i was just saying because it just interresting because most mods dont mention the Poem and i dont like that

You should read this interview.

Well, for one thing the poem is supposed to literally explain nothing about the game. So obviously statements from that don't actually make respawning canon.

With that we are left with characters vaguely mentioned and completely unrelated to the stories without feats and completely outside of the verse. Which already disqualifies them from any not completely ambitious profiles (not surprising given that the author made the poem ambitious on purpose).

Well, for one thing the player here is not supposed to be a fictional character, but the actual human is addressed. The poem basically takes place at the point where you are already leaving the story of the game and are supposed to begin spectating it from the view of a real world human again. That is btw. also the reason why Markus is mentioned in the poem, it refers to Markus Pesson aka notch who created the game.

And then we are not really talking about higher realities. The whole thing is a bit of a philosophical story that basically addresses games and stories real life people play as realities. In other words in regard to that story we are talking about minecraft as nothing than a game, likewise we are talking about the dreams as lower realities. Means as much as that the player in this regard is not supposed to be a god like entity. He is just supposed to be a human that dreams himself into stories not different than every other human does.

Hence the description "And the player moves through a story, which is a forest of information planted by a man called Julian, on a flat, infinite world created by a man called Markus, that exists inside a small, private world created by the player, who inhabits a universe created by..."

means as much as: You as the player moves through minecraft created by notch and imagines himself a small private world around minecraft. A story basically.

But that bring us also to the alien entities that speak the dialogue. They are the only characters that are really fictional characters in there. They are called the universe, but have not necessarily created it (the question who is is left open in the poem).

The fact that literally everything after the first part is supposed to be a fiction told by the entities and not the truth doesn't help here either.

All in all they seem to be supposed to be higher entites in regards to some perspective, though this perspective quite possibly is one of enlightment and not higher world existence, as the author mentioned that a moment of enlightment is what is supposed to be archieved by that scene.

Either way we do not know of their capabilities and as said at the beginning of this all of this is featless and ambitious, so I don't think we can rank them.

Yes I did read this interview before.

Pretty interesting stuff, but it's not because the Poem has an intended philospophy that it's simply a random poem shown at the end of the game. Notch "hired" him to write an ending for the game. This poem, no matter how strange or "out of the story" is still the game's ending and is canon (Notch most likely reviewed it beforehand, and accepted it).

Also, it seems like most of your arguments lies on that you don't think the Poem is still in the narrative of the verse, that it's simply a story about the actual player.

However I'm pretty convinced this story is still well into the narrative of the fiction. Note that the Entities directly interact with The Player in ways that obviously wouldn't be possible (Reviving them, giving them a new body).

Much like how Undertale's "Player" or Nintendo's "Player" are fictional versions of you, it seems like this Player is also a fictional version of the actual player. I'd be different if it was the creators or something talking to the Player, but in this case it's two fictional entities talking to the Player.

I agree with DontTalk. Also, please read the Reality - Fiction Interaction page.

"Pretty interesting stuff, but it's not because the Poem has an intended philospophy that it's simply a random poem shown at the end of the game. Notch "hired" him to write an ending for the game. This poem, no matter how strange or "out of the story" is still the game's ending and is canon (Notch most likely reviewed it beforehand, and accepted it)."

The author intended it to not explain anything about the game, as stated in the interview. Hence the "canon respawn" theory doesn't hold. If that information were to be taken like that he would have explained things about the game and added to it, contradicting with his intention.


"Note that the Entities directly interact with The Player in ways that obviously wouldn't be possible (Reviving them, giving them a new body)."

Now this:

"Take a breath, now. Take another. Feel air in your lungs. Let your limbs return. Yes, move your fingers. Have a body again, under gravity, in air. Respawn in the long dream. There you are. Your body touching the universe again at every point, as though you were separate things. As though we were separate things."

Is what you are referring to. And here you have to consider the fact that this is written with a certain philosophy in mind. What is said here is not to be taken literally.

As you notice the beings are not saying that they are doing anything here. What is done is just them telling you to do something. You are supposed to get aware of your body again. Why is that necessary? Well, as the interview said this takes place in the moment were a player basically stops focussing on the game and basically wakes up, in the moment were he wonders which of the realities is more real.

The part here tells you that you are for now supposed to get aware of your real life self (the one in the long dream) and leave the you that imagines itself in the game (the short dream).

The actions like respawning in the long dream are not to understand as a body literally forming, but just as you getting aware of yourself again.

The point of doing this here is that the entities are after that beginning to tell you a story and you are supposed to be a listener to this story, as such you are supposed to find a place outside of reality.

What about the last part?

"And the game was over and the player woke up from the dream. And the player began a new dream. And the player dreamed again, dreamed better. And the player was the universe. And the player was love.

You are the player.

Wake up."

After the ending the game resumes. What it is telling you here is that now you enter the dream, aka the game in this case, again. In other words waking up in the dream that is the game again, immerse yourself in it and let it become your reality again.


This player here is not supposed to be a character it is literally you and interpretation of the content with the dreams not being realities in common sense, but really dreams (even though the philosophical view here might emphasizes that dreams/stories are important and in a sense similar to reality) in relevant to the understanding of what is going on.

This story doesn't have a narrative or visuals, no description of which things are really happening. In other words it doesn't have feats and you have to rely on the statements made for information, but since the statements aren't literal, but have a meaning to them you necessarily have to consider the meaning and find a complete interpretation not only on what is standing there, but also what is meant and what the authors wishes to express.

So no this isn't a story in which two alien entities describe a godly being. This is a story in which two entities talk with a normal human, the literal player in front of the screen, about stories and how one immerses oneself in them. In a story like this you will just not get around a more complete text analysis concerning content, metaphors, illustrative speech, intention of the author and overall message if you want to understand what is actually happening.