One of the most beautiful things about Minecraft is its environmental storytelling. There is simultaneously so much yet so little lore to the game—there's no defining characters or plot, but players can find tiny details which imply that there's more to it than just a sandbox. Fans have made many theories over the years about possible past events and civilizations after piecing together small things about certain structures, blocks, and mob behaviors.

Alongside other useful features like the player locator bar, the next mob coming to Minecraft has recently been unveiled. It's already endeared itself to players, but also seems to finally confirm many suspicions players have had about the origins of the Nether. What is this new mob, and how has it changed the viewpoint many players had of the world of Minecraft despite its incredibly short time in the spotlight?

The Ghastling And Happy Ghast Are The Next Addition To Minecraft

The New Ghast Variants Are Going To Be As Cute As They Are Useful

In fossils in the soul sand valley biome, and picked up like a block. When returned to the Overworld and placed in water, they grow up into a balloon-like companion.

These mobs aren't just for flavor, and it appears the future update will be a massive improvement when it comes to quality of life. Players can ride a fully grown happy ghast, which, in addition to being amazing for building on a large scale in survival mode, has the potential to be much more convenient than a horse or boat when it comes to traveling long distances. They're also going to make it easier to adventure with friends, since up to four players can fit on one ghast. However, this is only scratching the surface of this update's implications.

Ghasts Were Never Meant To Live In The Nether

The Ghasts Aren’t Evolved For The Nether’s Current Environment

The main implication which you may have already picked up from the trailer is that the ghasts don't seem to belong in the nether—at least not the nether in its current state. This has been an idea which has floated around in the fandom space for quite some time, but the existence of the ghastling may essentially confirm it. The ghastlings, aside from just being smaller, younger ghasts, are visually different to their adult counterparts in the sense that they have what appear to be gills. This is extremely curious for a species that lives in a fire-wrought hellscape.

The reason why ghasts found in the Nether are always crying might be due to them not being properly adapted to shooting fireballs out their mouths and being consistently dehydrated.

These gills are lost when ghastlings reach adulthood, so this could suggest that ghasts have a similar lifespan to many amphibians, and need water to grow. This would explain why there is a lack of younger ghasts, since it would be incredibly hard for a member of a species with that kind of biology to survive in the Nether. The fossils that dried ghastlings can be found under may even be the remains of other ghasts—perhaps deceased parents—whom their children refused to leave. Either way, it's clear that the environment of the nether is not kind to them.

One of the most iconic features of the ghast is their tears. A heartbreaking theory is that ghast children are only able to survive in the Nether with the moisture of their parents' tears.

If ghasts are native to the nether, the fact that ghasts can even "dry up" at all is puzzling. Many people have noted ghasts to look like squids or jellyfish, and this seems to be evidence that they are genuinely somewhat aquatic—their limbs are even described as "tentacles" in the recent trailer. All points seem to lead to the same conclusion—ghasts don't actually belong in the hot, dry Nether. They're unlike anything players will encounter in the Overworld, but the existence of the happy ghast shows that they are much more at home there.

The description of the "Uneasy Alliance" achievement in Minecraft is "Rescue a Ghast from the Nether, bring it safely home to the Overworld... and then kill it." The phrasing of "rescue" and "home" is extremely notable. Whilst "home" could refer to the Overworld as being the player's home, why would it be considered a "rescue" to take a ghast from its homeland? Happy Ghasts will have 40 HP compared to the regular ghast's 10—whether native to the Nether or not, a happy ghast appears to be much healthier than a regular one.

The Addition Of The Ghastling Might Confirm Old Fan Theories

Several Older Fan Theories About The Nether's Past Hold More Weight Than Ever Before

Though it definitely does seem to be implied that the ghasts don't belong in the Nether, the truth may actually be that they don't belong in the current Nether. Another stance that could be taken when it comes to the true origins of this minecraft mob backs up a popular fan theory that the Nether was once frozen over. This idea has been around for a while— gergfigter on Reddit shared a post in 2021 noting that ice is required to craft Basalt, a block only naturally found in the nether.

The happy ghast can be fed snowballs, supposedly as an alternative to fireballs. However, the ghastling is still obtained from the nether, so it's unlikely that the regular and happy ghast are very biologically different. This leads players to make the sad assumption that ghasts are supposed to feed on snow, but are forced to live off of something else—perhaps any scraps of moisture they can find. If the Nether was once frozen over, it makes sense that they would be adapted to a world full of ice and water.

Fire charges can be obtained from trading items with piglins—this is evidence of another popular idea, which is that the piglins are the reason ghasts shoot fireballs. Instead of feeding them the snowballs they are supposed to consume, they instead fed them these fire charges.

The reason why ghasts found in the Nether are always crying might be due to them not being properly adapted to shooting fireballs out their mouths and being consistently dehydrated—the way they wail when attacking the player might be a tragic scream of pain. Something to note is that ghasts are portrayed as being mechanical in the Mobestiary—assuming they're still sentient beings, it may be a case of them being not built to produce fire. It is unclear whether this is canonical to the game, since the update appears to frame them as being biological creatures.

In early development, ghasts were originally intended to be able to spawn around Nether portals in the Overworld. This was evidently never implemented, but could have possibly inspired the modern lore. These theories about the Ghast's origins may clash with the idea held by many that Ghasts are lost souls, deduced from their presence in soul sand valleys and the name "ghast" being derived from "ghost." It's unlikely that Minecraft players will ever get a direct answer to the question of the ghast's origin, but that won't stop anyone loving their own ghastling pet.

Source: Minecraft/Youtube, gergfigter/Reddit