Mat: Fearing that he will start controversy after debunking the "Phantoms are hallucinations" theory The Actual Controversy: *Mat's pronunciation of "Elytra"*

Mat: trying to solve Minecraft lore Also Mat: "Ellitra"

“As humans, we require sleep” Me sitting at my desk at 2am

The elytra's were also probably made with part of the dragon's bones, making them much stronger than just a bunch of phantom membranes. When your elytra breaks, all your left with is the dragon bone and a bit of remaining dragon wing. Now you can add phantom membrane back to it so it actually can provide enough lift to fly again, but you can't make it completely out of membrane because it falls apart without something stronger like dragon bone to keep it together. Kind of surprised you skipped over this possibility, as it makes even more sense.

I was skeptical with the dragon connection, but when Mat said the Illagers were trying to recreate something they had never seen in full, _that_ made sense.

An important detail against the hallucination theory is also, that while phantoms only spawn when the player hasn't slept for at least three days, they do attack other players as well.

The part that makes Matpat more believable than others is that, HE ACTUALLY connects everyone of his theorys

One bone I have to pick with the illager conclusion is that Mat thinks they heard the tales of the dragons. If what Mat said about Enderman being ancient builders who were trapped in the End, how would it be possible for the illagers to hear about what they did in the End?

"Let's talk about every KZfaqr's favorite hobby - Sleep Deprivation" I heard that's a hobby of college students as well.

I actually thought of my own theory as to why the phantoms look so different from the ender dragon. I believe that the reason why they’re smaller and look different is because the phantoms are the dead zombies of the male drone dragons. See, it’s important to note that the only ender dragon we ever see is a female, as shown by our prize once defeating the dragon: an egg. I believe that this species of dragon reproduced similarly to bees, where they would once in a while purposely produce males to send their genes to another female. Evidence of being able to control what gender an unborn baby will have is seen in real world crocodiles, where the temperature of the burrow incubating the eggs will determines if it’s a boy of girl, and I think the dragons can do the same. This would also explain their presence in the over world, as the males would be able to fit through the portals while the females are much too big. However, going between dimensions can cause a creature to zombify, like with piglins. This would also coincide with your theory about how they sense the player, but also explain why they attack the player instead of normal mobs, because they were trying to defend their queen from the old builders. But that’s just a theory, a GAME THEORY! Thanks for reading.

Don't forget that phantoms don't just appear for one player as all players in a server including non-sleep deprived players can see them.

I was waiting for Matt to point out the fact that Phantoms spawned in The End in snapshot 18w07a, a very early 1.13 snapshot and this alone almost confirms the theory. Even so, I never thought about they being related lol

The most chilling thing I’ve learned this game theory is how MatPat pronounces Elytra Edit: It’s been almost a year now, you can stop replying with how you personally pronounce Elytra. After 385 replies to date, I GET IT.

"Mom, can we get an Ender dragon?" "No, we already have an Ender dragon at home" The ender dragon at home: A phantom named Chombi

You know what I find interesting? Creepers (among other hostile mobs perhaps) aren't hostile to the villagers. Might make you ask what differentiates them from the player in the eyes of an overthinker.

At first when I heard "Geico" I thought it was a joke- Congratulations theorist team! I didn't believe this was possible...

Phantoms are scared of cats, just like creepers, so it makes sense that they are creations as well.

Can we just point out for a second how MatPat says "Elytra"?

Man has litterally gotten so big, GEICO sponsered him. Well done. Well done indeed.

Hey MatPat here's another peice of phantom evidence to back up that Phantoms are not hallucinations. Phantoms are incapable of spawning when a player is under a block. This backing up the idea of heat/heartbeat seeking undead dragons. Therefore they couldn't be hallucinations, because it shouldn't matter where the player is for them to spawn. Unless they are heat/heartbeat seeking monsters.

I’ve literally never seen a geico sponsor on youtube lol. And you did it fantastically

I’m surprised you didn’t mention the fact that the phantom’s wings look torn, since your theory was that Ender Dragons were hunted mainly for their wings

i have one theory of my own that might also work. The phantoms are yes, the ghosts of the dragons, and meant to be the dragon, or what was left of it. For an idea, the builders hunted the dragons, they would've torn off the wings, taken the tail for somn, taken meat and limbs from it, took the neck part for some things, an either parts of the head or the whole head. The phantoms are just what the dragons ended up looking like after a hunt was done. It was possible that the builders would've taken parts like that back to the overworld as trophies or to use the tools of the overworld to further take apart the bodies. The illagers would've found what was left of these bodies and tried to make a dragon themselves from it, like you said, to try to bring the builders back, but this would've been an entirely new experiment, and one that wouldn't've gone to well. The dragon body would've tried to rebuild itself but missing so much would be unable to, the skin would come back differently shaded from trying to regrow, the dragons would've lacked muscle tissue leading to bones being visible, an all the missing limbs would be too far damaged to come back, and the mind, being broken and misshapen, would lead it to have a hunger for insomnia. also, phantoms do stop attacking entirely 11:41, idk if it was just the server i was in but if you sleep for 6-10 seconds, they quit attacking. This could connect to the broken mind part.

ok, here me out, what if the phantoms are soul-powered creations? if you look at 9:23, you can make out the same soul design as soul sand

Matpat: You’ll never see this twist coming! Also Matpat: makes it the title and thumbnail 👍

The fact they actually got a sponsorship from Geico is blowing my mind

You keep commenting on the fact that the Enderdragon is the last of its kind and that there are no resources to make the elytra for that reason, but what about the fact that you can canonically respawn the Enderdragons using 4 End crystals? Maybe there is a connection between the two? Maybe Enderdragons are made of End crystals? Either way I think this creates a problem somewhere in your reasoning.

Personally I think the Eytra are simply repaired by phantom hide because they have similar wing membranes, and that the phantoms are from the mysterious dimension discovered by the builders that the warden is from

The scariest thing in this video is the fact that MatPat pronounces Elytra as El-eh-tra

To Mat pat there's a minecraft book named "THE END" its jam packed with lore, and I think it could help you on your journey to discover the lore of minecraft.

It feels like the phantoms were meant to have those characteristics that suggest them as hallucinations, because when you think about it, all of the damning evidence against the theory are things that make the game easier. If dogs couldn't attack them, if they didn't give drops, if cats didn't catch their drops, they would seem a lot more pointless and needlessly difficult. So I kinda headcanon the hallucination theory as the original intention

I remember when the phantom came out, I was so confused and terrified to continue my survival world

Phantoms originally spawned in The End in snapshots but they changed that because it made the end fight too hard. There is clearly a relation between the Phantom and The End, and them being the undead version of Ender Dragons is not too much of a stretch. However I do feel that your illager interactions with the ancient builders creates a little too many loopholes within your own theory since you earlier said that the end portal was one-way so illagers should not know about what is in the end.

This whole series is just “We’re gonna make you feel terrible for killing this random mob”

the number 3 matches up. after all, it does take 3 days of no sleep to go insane from what I heard.

I would think that maybe they are some sort End of birds that no longer exist. It's weird how the dimension that has floating islands has no native flying mobs other than the one remaining ender dragon. Many islands are well over 32 blocks away from each other (the maximum distance than an enderman can teleport.) So a flying mob would have a great advantage compared to the fauna that we know of thus far.

phantoms were originally suppose to spawn in the end, but was too much for players to handle, making them originally a end mob

11:10 The way I personally see it is that really they're attracted to insomnia simply because it's easier prey. Something that hasn't slept much would be tired and weary and much easier to take down than something that's well-rested. This can be seen with almost all predators in the real world which prefer to target weaker game, such as the old, young, injured and sick.

I havent played Minecraft in years, kinda cool they're still adding things to this day.

That jumpscare at the end almost gave me a heart attack

Hi ! Just wanted to say that, in the last snapshots, we can found piles of different shades of blue wool in the ancient cities, and these colors are kinda reminiscent of the warden, so I think your theory about the warden being built by men is getting more and more accurate ! (And also I just wanted to mention the giant fossiles that we can find everywhere in the soulsand valleys and very rarely in the overworld, and the size if these kinda matches the enderdragon's size...)

Man's got a Geico sponser. Actually this is so funny I watched the whole sponsership for once

Hey MatPat! Love where everything is going with Minecraft lore and all the things with the Deep Dark, it’s amazing! One thing I would LOVE to see is a theory on the Ghast, and maybe the Blaze. Anyway, my personal theory on the Ghast is that when about half the builders from all across the Overworld first entered the Nether, the pressure caused the portals to be unstable, and as soon as they entered, the portals leaked, cracked and eventually exploded, resulting in the ruined portals we see now. When they got trapped inside, they tried to make obsidian, but to no avail as the intense heat forbid the existence of water. After a while, they became insane and started to kill eachother for sport. This broke out into a civil war, making the soul sand valleys we see today. Some used the primitive power of magic to combine the souls of their fallen to create the Ghast, a firebreathing abomination to destroy the others. Those who remained met the Piglins, whom they raided and stole obsidian from to get back out. I know that’s a lot to dump, but tell me what ypu think!

The Skelewag from Alex's Mobs also has no living counterpart as well.

Matpat: “we all know what gets my theory brain a runnin!” Me: MUSIC MAN!!! Matpat: LORE!!! Me: “I mean that too…”

How did the Illagers know about the what was housed in the End? (Namely the Ender Dragon). The End portal is one way, thus no survivors could return to tell the story of the Ender Dragon. This lack of a way back is the entire basis for the theory that the Ancient Builders turned into Endermen...

Maybe, it’s smaller because of its decay? It’s a dead dragon, meaning, and think of this, the wings. The wings are a little deteriorated, and of the dragon, they are full. Meaning while dead, it shrunk and it’s wings broke off, and since they might have been made by the Illigers, they have Totems in them, making it so they don’t have to have full wings

Big problem with the theory, how did the Ancient builders return to the overworld and tell others about the ender dragon? Evidence suggest that the Ancient builders were unable to return since if they could, they would certainly bring their elytra technology with them.

To add to this theory, Phantoms used to be able to spawn in the End as well, and were much bigger (and there size can still be increased with commands).

5:47 the other problem is that the damage to the body when sleep deprived happens regardless of hallucinations. Killing all the phantoms stops the damage making them not a product of the brain self explaining why it’s hurting via hallucinating

The biggest twist here is learning how Mat pronounces “Elytra”

One thing i noticed was you said the illagers would hear about the enderdragon and the builders would leave behind scraps of elytra’s but that doesn’t make sense when connected to the main theory we have going. It was theorized earlier that the ancient builders went to the end to flee from something, most likely the warden or wither, and were trapped in the End as a result. If they were trapped in the end, the illagers wouldn’t hear anything about what was going in in the end, and the ancient builders couldn’t bring back any elytra’s because the portal was closed on entry, which makes sense because you can’t find elytra’s in the overworld either otherwise if they did come back somehow you probably would find them in chest loot.

The fact that elytras can be repaired with phantom membranes just tells me that the ancient civilization that travels to The End is probably sleep deprived

6:39 Don't worry Mat, ever since Village N Pillage added Cats coming home with membranes the Minecraft community has thrown "Phantom's are hallucinations" out the window

That ender dragon scream at the end will give me nightmares. I'm watching this at night in the dark right before I go to sleep! 😅 I really love dragons, and so now I hate the ancient builders for wiping them all out.

One thing that doesn’t convince me about this theory (and call me out if we had already figured it out) is that in the first ever Minecraft theory, and through out the journey of Minecraft Theory, MatPat said that the Ancient Builders were escaping from something and in a last ditch effort created the end portal, but when they when through it the portal closed behind them. So how did the Illagers see someone come through the portal and how did the Ancient Builders bring back elytras in order for the Illagers to see them?

I'm always surprised when large companies sponsor MatPat. I wouldn't expect them to go after KZfaq content.

Mat: Today we're going to be getting to the bottom of these phantoms once and for all! In Minecraft! Fnaf: *cries in ghost* or is it *cries in hallucinations* we'll never know!

One thing he didn't include: Phantoms appear when you don't sleep, and the fastest way to kill an Ender Dragon is to go to sleep next to it. Of course they're connected.

Evil Drinking Game: Take a shot everytime MatPat's pronunciation of Elytra annoys you

Also, the Elytra looks extremely similar to the design of the Phantom. the boney look near what would be the bones, and the color.

This man can truly find lore in anything

Their blue color is noteworthy, granting that your theory is true, maybe the Illagers used Lapis Lazuli in the creation of the phantoms? And their eyes are green like those of the villagers, maybe they were sacrificed in the experiment as well. Though in other theories you've said that the Master Builders escaped to the End but didn't realize it would be a one-way trip. They couldn't return to the Overworld and that's why they evolved into the Endermen. Endermen travel to the Overworld, and can teleport, so they must've figured something out eventually, but it doesn't seem like they would've been able to tell the Illagers anything about the End.

Quick cool tip! To determine if a mob is undead or not, undead mobs arent effected by potion of harming. Living ones are. But if u throw regen on those undead mobs they take damage. Cool tip eh

My version of this theory is that the phantoms are the "butterfly" to the ender mite, see ender mite(larva) -> shulker(the cocoon) -> phantom. the phantom(using the corus fruit powers similar to ender mite/shulker) went through the void into the overworld

Judging by how the ancient city has some structures within that seem to resemble pillager buildings there might be a connection

Matpat I got an amazing theory for you. Pillagers made the ancient city. The proof is that in the woodland mansion there is a room that has light blue, dark blue and cyan wool and the ancient city also has that and also the same wood that is in the forests that woodland mansions spawn in

Me watching MatPat explaining sleep deprivation at 4 AM

"They are a hallucination", said the minecraft community. Well this "hallucination" just took a big bite out of my side.

this little thing was just funny to me MatPat: A barn owl can hear a mouse’s heartbeat from over 50ft away! Also MatPat: *shows a rat*

MatPat’s thoughts on the Phantoms reminds me of MechaGodzilla from Godzilla Against MechaGodzilla (the first Gojira from 1954) and Godzilla vs. Kong (Ghidorah’s left head), and Obsidian Fury and the Kaiju drones from Pacific Rim: Uprising.

I love when matpat brings the theory of the ancients builders and the evokers(sorry if I spelled wrong Bec i have no idea how) So wholesome that the evokers care for the ancients builders

New theory for mat: why is it that when you “complete” the game do you respawn back to your bed?

I never thought I’d live to see the day when matpat gets sponsored by an insurance company.

I love your humor and these videos always interest me and bring happiness

Make a book, a book about every minecraft theory you have ever done, it would be a very interesting book, you could name it "Minecraft Lore"

The only thing I find a flaw with is the illagers knowing about the ender dragon. Didn't matpat say that the ancient builders were stuck in the end? If so, how would any news of the ender dragons reach the illagers, if there isn't anyone who can tell them about it?

The last little bit with the ender dragon screaming . . . was surprisingly spooky. And that alone sold the theory for me. The evidence was fitting, but it didn't become secured in my mind until that moment.

The Phantoms being hallucinations reminds me of the shadow beasts in don't starve that would only come if you had low sanity

One thing that doesn't make sense for the way phantoms were created, is that you cannot come back through the end portal. So illagers could only have seen them leave through it. Not come back nor heard the stories about the dragons. Though i do have myself one theory: If, as we see, we can come back to the overworld after killing the enderdragon. What if it's possible only to thoses whom killed other dragons? And so, the zombies are ancient builders whom RETURNED to the overworld. Even better our character could be the only surviving member of the race from having came back from the end! This would explain how our character is able to know all the crafting recipies and even what to look for and where to go back to the end: in search of saving their families and friends from the end. But it's too late, once our player arrives to the end. There's only one dragon left, and everyone has became endermans. Thoses creatures he saw before but didn't quite understand. And that's why the endermans are friendly to our player unless they are looked in the eyes or attacked. They remember, in a part of their changed minds, the friend or family member that was our character to them.

This makes a lot of sense, honestly, scraping together old dragons sounds pretty accurate But this is just a theory because we can't find membrane in chests yet, hopefully as the lore develops more we'll be able to

MatPat: *We as humans need sleep.* Me watching this at 3 AM: *Interesting…*

MatPat, Theres some lore behind Deepslate apparently? If you go into the minecraft java launcher and scroll down it says: Deepslate A Block With A Grim(?) Background

MatPat connecting obscure Update Aquatic toys with the Ender Dragon and somehow making it make sense:

What if phantoms are actually the undead remnants of dragons that once existed in the overworld (but were killed to extinction by ancient civilizations)? It may explain the similarities to the ender dragon and their undead look.

4:12 MatPat: I've cracked it. I know what the phantoms are and you're never gonna guess how they fit in... Me: *Reads the title of the video*

My head cannon for phantoms is this. It's kinda a combination of, it's a hallucination, and it's a real monster. The way I like to see it is like this. They're real. They are real, however. They are attracted to sleep deprived individuals and can only be perceived by those prone to hallucinations. Like a sleep deprived person. That's kinda where I stand on that.

You should do a theory on why do villagers sell weapons and armor they can't use? They sell it before they even see you too so were there other players who used to buy it?

5:55 The way he says Elytra

Never in my life have I ever thought that game theory would get sponsored by Geico... this has made my year way better

New Minecraft theory: allays are just vexes before pillagers do something to make them evil. 1. Similar character design 2. Allays can be found in CAGES at Pillagers outposts

Or maybe phantoms are the undead variation of some other creature hunted to extinction, since Jean doesn't exactly drop anything other than an egg. An egg that can be hatched out into a new ender dragon by placing end crystals on the towers. That and there's far too many structural differences for it to make sense unless Phantoms were all babies.

Although this theory does explain many aspects, it raised a question: “if the illagers made the phantoms from their invision of what they’ve heard about the ender dragon(s), that means someone went into the End, and came back out again” which as we know isn’t possible, considering there’s no portal to go through, once you’re in the End. Unless the dragon is killed. Which it isn’t.

The Ender Dragon we see is the last one, we have no idea if there were different species, which might explain the similar yet different design. Almost like Drake and Dragon, the End could have been swarming with many species, but they were all hunted to extinction, my theory is that they were hunted to create Elytras, the ships we see might have been for hunting them. It seems like the Ender Dragon has some connection to the overworld, some living "phantoms" could have been sent there, and after feasting on undead for so long they were changed to something else.

I love how matpat just talks about the toy just to tell us the phantom is a dead ender dragon

"to make them come back" IDK WHY BUT THAT SOUNDS SO HEART WARMING

I would like to note, that any Ender Dragon corpse that could have been found most likely would be missing it's head do to the fact that they mounted them to the front of the air ships.

i never thought i’d see the day geico would sponsor a youtuber

5:23 OOOOOOOOH That gives “The Phantom Of The Opera” a whole new meaning

Honestly, I used to just see Minecraft as a game, but all these theories make so much sense and give me a max appreciation for the game. You're great Matt, keep it up!