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Minecraft implemented its third mysterious music disc, Disc 5, in the 1.19 update. The music disc, which is found broken up into nine fragments, is similar in tone to Minecraft's Discs 11 & 13. Instead of emitting pleasant, ambient music, these three discs seem to tell a story through various unsettling sound cues.
Disc 5 is exclusively found in fragments hidden in loot chests in the underground Ancient Cities, which generate in the Deep Dark. None of the traditional methods for obtaining music discs work with this newly added disc, making theorists suspect that the story the disc seems to be linked to the Ancient Cities/Deep Dark.
Theories have arisen that the new mysterious disc could not only be telling the story of the abandoned Ancient Cities, but also the origins of The Warden.
Sound analysis of Minecraft's Music Disc 5
Disc 5 begins with the sound of static, followed by a loud rumble which is cut off by a sped-up sound cue that suggests the quick passage of time. The next set of sounds emits the ominous noise of someone walking underground, specifically on Dripstone.
These sounds of someone walking underground are very familiar to those who studied Discs 11 & 13. As all the individual stories of all three of these discs primarily take place underground.
The sounds of walking underground quickly shift to the character lighting their flint and steel, with the sounds of bats fluttering around them. The chirping sounds of bats further solidifies that this character is, in fact, completely drenched in the darkness of the open, underground cave.
This lone character begins marching and is quickly joined by heavily armored soldiers marching in time together. The sound of their armor clanking around as they march can be heard, accompanied by the sounds of sirens blaring in the background of their march.
The march comes to an abrupt halt when a switch (or lever) is pulled, and the sounds of large doors slowly creaking open followed by the whistle of rushing wind come in.
Dissimilar to the majority of sound cues heard on this disc, there's no direct match between the lever pulling/door creaking sound effects heard in Disc 5 and the current sound cues located in the audio files for Minecraft. It appears there have been new sound cues added specifically for this music disc, or perhaps these cues are hints to items that come in a future update for Minecraft.
The character takes a deep breath, only to hear a monster's shriek emanate from close by. All of a sudden, the disc takes a quick shift in tone as pleasant ambient music plays for roughly twenty-three seconds. This is likely due to the music disc being found in fragments and being combined with other music discs in the process.
After the music ends, bubbling lava can be heard. The character continues to briskly walk underground, towards either a block of amethyst or an exposed Amethyst Geode. They then break a block of amethyst, which immediately triggers what sounds to be a devastating cave-in.
The character quickly attempts to escape the falling cave and their footsteps can be heard transitioning from Dripstone to Stone, and finally to Dirt. The distant cries of Phantoms can be heard all throughout, making it likely that the character is relatively close to the surface of the Minecraft Overworld.
The cave-in appears to have caught the character off guard, as the sound of desperately clanging tools and coughing as the character, who is evidently out of torches, attempts to light fires in order to see their darkened surroundings can be heard.
The character appears to become anxious, attempting to run away before the sound of another monstrous roar rings out.
The disc warps and the scene abruptly changes, with the sound of distant explosions muffled by the confined cave system now playing. The character is heard attempting to start a mythical mechanism as they place down sand and scrape a tool against stone before the sound of a mechanical noise is heard.
This mechanism appears to be more than just a redstone contraption, as after listening to the character fumble with it, eerie voices can be heard whispering in the background. The voices sound similar to that of the whispering noises in the Soul Sand Valleys.
The explosions in the background become louder and more frequent, before one finally bursts into the surrounding area. A monster, of sorts, appears to break in through the crater created by the explosion, but get's interrupted by the reversed sound of glass shattering.
A loud shrieking sound rings out, as if agonizing souls were released upon the reversed sound of glass shattering. Together, the cues sound eerily similar to the humming sound of a portal being opened.
The character steps towards the portal as its hum becomes louder. The chittering sound of a Sculk Sensor plays as the character approaches, which then prompts the mighty roar of The Warden. The roar of this fearsome beast is accompanied by the death-sounding cue of The Wither.
Minecraft's Music Disc 5: The haunting story of settlers summoning a fearsome monster to the Ancient Cities
It's difficult to get a strong grasp on how the story being told in Disc 5 fits into the larger lore of Minecraft. That said, there are a number of theories on how the story being told on this fragmented music disc details the origins of the now-abandoned Ancient Cities and the involvement of The Warden.
Towards the finale of the music disc, the sound of a portal opening can be heard. It's only after this portal opens that the disc plays sound cues from the Sculk Sensor and Warden.
Ancient Cities generate with a large, broken portal near their center. The mouth of that portal is shaped eerily like the head of The Warden. It's likely that this massive portal is the one that can be heard being opened on Minecraft's Disc 5.
In the same vein, it's likely that this portal was able to access the home dimension of the Sculk Blocks and Warden. The settlers that once occupied these underground Ancient Cities opened this portal as an attempt to escape the wrath of The Wither.
When they opened it, however, the frightening Warden (as well as the Sculk Blocks) was able to come through and not only defeat The Wither, but infect the Ancient Cities.
There's evidence around the now-abandoned underground cities that the settlers attempted to continue living in their homes after they accidentally spawned The Warden. Quickly learning that the beast was blind and could only hear footsteps, they placed wool and carpets down in their city to hopefully deafen their presence.
Unfortunately, the simple act of opening their chests could trigger the Sculk Sensor and summon The Warden.
It's unknown what happened to the settlers prior to the complete abandonment of the Ancient Cities. Some Minecraft theories speculate that they then created the Strongholds that lead to The End, while others believe that they were all killed off by The Warden.
