Wither (Minecraft)

"New Boss: Wither! Better craft a diaper, pal."

- The Pretty Scary Update promo poster on the Wither. "We know what you're doing down here! Soul sand and three wither skulls? You're building a Wither!"

- Jesse to Ivor about the Wither Storm (determinant).

The Wither are major antagonists in the Minecraft franchise. They serve as the secondary antagonists in the original game, Minecraft, and one Wither species, named the Wither Storms, serves as a major antagonist in the Minecraft: Story Mode series, specifically as the main antagonist of the videogame Minecraft: Story Mode, though appearing only in the Season Pass; only one Wither Storm appears in the episodes The Order of the Stone and Assembly Required, while three Wither Storms are shown in the episodes The Last Place You Look and A Block and a Hard Place.

The Wither is one of the most dangerous and aggressive monsters in the game and is the second boss added to Minecraft. However, it does not spawn in any dimension, and actually has to be crafted by the player in order to be fought. It can be considered the boss mob for the Nether due to it being constructed of Soul Sand and Wither Skeleton skulls, items only found in the Nether.

There are two kinds of Wither, the normal variant and the Wither Storm, the more destructive and cataclysmic variant created from the result of a Wither combining with a Command Block.

Normal Variant
The normal variant of a Wither looks like an emaciated creature, and a skeletal beast with 3 wither skulls as heads, and its body consists of a wither spine and prehensile rib-cages. It also has white eyes and white mouths.

Wither Storm
A Wither Storm's behavior is similar to a regular Wither's, but it is on the more cataclysmic and dangerous level. Though Ivor programmed the Command Block that was used for its creation to ensure that his Wither would obey him, it ultimately went berserk and causes destruction as it ignore him. Ultimately, a Wither Storm is a primal living force of destruction that only exist to destroy everything until nothing is left.

In episode 4, Ivor revealed that his Wither Storm does not cause destruction randomly; when programming the Command Block that created the Wither Storm, he also programmed to have it followed the Order of the Stone's amulet, which explained why his Wither Storm followed wherever Jesse and his friends go.

Wither Storm
A Wither Storm is a very powerful creature. It can gain far superior capabilities with the help of a Command Block. Its powers are:


 * Firing Wither Skulls which explode violently on contact.
 * Using a tractor beam, sucking in any mobs or blocks in it and inflicting them with Wither or Wither Sickness.
 * Using its many tentacles to break through obstacles (including Obsidian) and to attack from a distance.

Compared to a regular Wither, a Wither Storm's powers are so immense that it is more like an incarnation of the God of Destruction. Its Wither Skill projectile's firepower are far more destructive than a normal Wither's, and has developed the ability to project powerful tractor beam that sucking in any mobs or blocks in it, and inflicting them with Wither Sickness upon being devoured. A Wither Storm can also display God-like strength and durability, as its tentacles can easily break through Obsidian walls like a twig, even before it reaches its massive size, and is immune to conventional weapons. Its regenerative ability that comes from a Command Block used to create it is so potent that even after being blown into pieces with Formidi-Bomb, a Wither Storm can eventually resusciate in mere minutes as well as allowing some huge chunks of it to grow into entire creature and take on lives of their own, which explained why two smaller Wither Storm can emerge alongside the original one. It means had Ivor's Wither Storm allowed itself to mutilate several times with destructive weapons such as Formidi-Bombs whilst its Command Block remained intact, it would allowed Wither Storm to overrun the whole world (which fortunately never happened).

In spite of the God-like strength it possesses, a Wither Storm can actually be destroyed for good, as it has few weaknesses. It is true that it cannot withstand a Formidi-Bomb's explosion, and can be incapacitated by it, but using such a highly destructive weapon is not recommended as should it blow into pieces, the Wither Storm would split into three or more creatures. First thing that can delay the creature's advance is mutilation by Endermen. An Enderman's ability to dismantle and moving blocks causes rapid and significant harm on a Wither Storm, and an entire horde is enough to keep harming it that it cannot regenerate. The only thing that can destroy a Wither Storm as well as its bretherens is destroying the Command Block used to create it, with weapons that enchanted with the same power with the Command Block itself.

A wither storm has another unique ability: its heads can pop out inside its body, as shown in Episode 4: A Block in a Hard Place, where Jesse went inside Ivor's Wither Storm, and two of its heads attacked him by popping out from the skin.

Summoning a Wither Storm
A Wither Storm can be created with the same materials and same fashion as a normal variant. The difference, however, is that the middle soul sand must be replaced with a Command Block that immediately functions as its heart. Once brought to life, a Wither Storm will at first have a typical Wither-like form, but once it assimilates any objects around it, it evolves into a floating behemoth with long, powerful tentacles, 3 heads, glowing purple eyes, and large teeth. At the end of episode 3, the failed attempt to destroy the Wither Storm created by Ivor caused it to evolve and separate into 3 pieces, 2 that bear resemblance to the original Wither Storm, and one with a giant head.

Order of the Stone
When Ivor puts the Wither Skeleton Skull on top of the Command Block, Ivor tries to prove that he can defeat it, but the potion has no effect due to it not being the correct potion because either Axel or Jesse (depending on Jesse's choice when Axel attempts to take it) stole it earlier. Jesse throws the real potion, however, the Wither Storm covers the Command Block, causing the potion to have no effect.

The Wither Storm continues to follow Jesse and his friends as they head to Gabriel's temple, when they try to escape, it tries to capture Gabriel, but he is rescued by Jesse, but then both Gabriel and Petra and Jesse must choose to rescue one of them and once he makes his decision, he tries to rescue the other one but the Wither Storm knocks him into the nether portal.

Later, at the end of the episode, it appears at the sunset as a warning, and Lukas says, “Please hurry,” to warn Jesse and the others that the Wither Storm is coming for them, but didn't realize at the time that it was tracking Gabriel's amulet.

Assembly Required
The Wither Storm that Ivor created attacks when Jesse and Olivia/Axel try to get Ellegaard/Magnus, later they plan to destroy the Wither Storm with a Formidi-Bomb. If Jesse chooses to rest before heading to Soren's temple, the Wither Storm will catch up with them.

The Last Place You Look
The team attempts to destroy the Wither Storm with the Formidi-Bomb after receiving it, however, the Command Block was not destroyed in the process, allowing it to come back to life. To make matter worse, as the Wither Storm resusciates, some fallen pieces of it also regenerates and turned into 2 new, smaller Wither Storms. The team then flees to find another way to destroy it.

A Block and a Hard Place
The Wither Storms quickly track down Jesse and his friends, but when they meet up with Ivor once again, they flee to the Far Lands and receive a weapon that can destroy the command block. They manage to anger enough Endermen to tear a hole in the main Wither Storm.

After a long, hard battle, Jesse destroys the Command Block in the main Wither Storm, thus finally destroying all 3 Wither Storms. Although, from the victory, comes the great cost: aside many hostile creatures that were killed in its path of destruction, the main Wither Storm has left tremendous damage, caused the death of one of the members of the Order of the Stone (either Ellegaard or Magnus), and indirectly killed Reuben.