Top 5 things beginners should know about Herobrine in Minecraft

Every veteran Minecraft player knows about the terrifying legend of Herobrine.

For beginner and experienced players alike, Herobrine is undeniably one of the creepiest aspects of Minecraft lore. Gamers may recognize Herobrine as looking similar to the classic Steve skin but with bright, glowing white eyes. He is said to wreak havoc on servers and lurk within the depths of Minecraft worlds.

The legend of Herobrine runs deep within the Minecraft community, so those new to the game may be lost about his origins and existence. Here are five interesting facts that such players must know about the mysterious Herobrine.

Herobrine for Minecraft beginners

5) What does Herobrine do?

Herobrine will sometimes stalk players in-game while playing on their servers (Image via Planet Minecraft)

It is said that Herobrine wanders around Minecraft servers with the mission of causing chaos. His abilities include moving blocks, destroying blocks, and building structures.

Players who believe in Herobrine have reported that they’ve found strip mines that they did not make, builds appearing seemingly out of nowhere, and damage to their builds not caused by any known mob.

It is also said that Herobrine will sometimes stalk players in-game while playing on their servers.

4) Does Herobrine exist?

One of the supposed original Herobrine sightings in Minecraft Alpha (Image via Minecraft Wiki)

Albeit interesting, Herobrine’s actual existence in Minecraft has been debated for years now. Some players are adamant that it exists, sort of acting as its own mob. Others claim through and through that Herobrine is simply a myth.

The name Herobrine traces back to an origin on 4Chan, an online forum site. The post was deleted later, but it was originally posted in August 2010.

The first apparent sighting of Herobrine in-game was by BroCraft during a Minecraft stream:

BroCraft’s stream is what sent the Herobrine legend into motion. Back when this sighting happened, the Minecraft community went into a frenzy about whether its existence was real or not. Especially back when the title was brand new, the presence of Herobrine was incredibly terrifying to consider.

However, it has been confirmed that BroCraft’s stream was likely modded. BroCraft would also post images of Herobrine online to perpetuate the rumor, but those images were established to be photoshopped.

The developers at Mojang have gone on record to say that Herobrine has never technically existed in vanilla, un-modded Minecraft.

3) Is Herobrine canon?

Some Minecraft gamers even suspect that Herobrine is some other form of a supernatural entity (Image via Minecraft Wiki)

Some of Herobrine’s existence has technically been confirmed to be canon in the Minecraft universe, but ultimately, it is almost entirely fan-created.

As mentioned, Herobrine was created by BroCraft for a Minecraft stream, but the legend quickly spread and became a community fascination. Since then, there have been numerous claims about what Herobrine even is.

Some claim Herobrine is a ghost of a player who lived in the Minecraft world long before any other players dared to explore it. Others say it is the ghost of Minecraft creator Notch’s dead brother (despite Notch never having a brother in the first place).

Some Minecraft gamers even suspect that Herobrine is some other form of a supernatural entity like a demon or that he is a virus that acts like any other video game bug.

Notch, along with many other Minecraft developers, has explicitly denied Herobrine’s existence. However, they will sometimes play along and further perpetuate the rumor that Herobrine is indeed part of canonical Minecraft lore.

2) Is Herobrine coded into Minecraft?

Could it be that Herobrine is a sentient video game being? (Image via Curtis's Stream Archive on YouTube)

Despite being denied by most Minecraft developers, the word Herobrine does appear in many patch notes for the game’s updates.

In almost every Minecraft update, the term “Removed Herobrine” is included in the patch notes. This implies that the being was part of the game initially as a bug and is continually being removed.

However, this is assumed to be a running gag for the developers to joke with the Minecraft community. Although, it could also mean that Herobrine is a bug that seemingly will not go away no matter how hard the developers try.

This no doubt adds to what makes the legend so creepy to some players. Could it be that Herobrine is a sentient video game being?

1) Can Herobrine kill Minecraft players?

Supposedly, if Herobrine does exist, it is true that he can kill Minecraft players in-game, as seen in the original BroCraft Herobrine sighting.

Herobrine is said to stalk players with the intent to kill them. It has also been rumored that this mob can cause lightning to strike onto players and that he can even possess other mobs as a means of attacking players.

While Herobrine is technically nothing more than a Minecraft myth, the ability to possess other mobs may explain why sometimes players will battle mobs that are usually easy to fight but end up being incredibly difficult to kill for seemingly no reason.

Overall, Herobrine is one of the many wonders of Minecraft lore. Perhaps as the game continues to be played over time, another urban legend as iconic as Herobrine will surface.