Enderman
From The Character Database
The Enderman is a tall, neutral mob that can appear in all three dimensions—Overworld, Nether, and End. Endermen typically ignore players, wandering slowly and aimlessly. However, they become aggressive if provoked, either by being attacked or if a player makes direct eye contact with their face. When hostile, they quickly pursue the player and teleport frequently, especially to avoid water (which damages them), sunlight, and projectiles. They are also known to occasionally pick up certain blocks and may teleport more often during the day.
| Names | Enderman, Endermen |
| Gender | Genderless |
| Race | Ender |
| Occupation | Mob |
| Origin | Minecraft: Beta 1.8 - The Adventure Update (September 14, 2011) |
| Alignment | Neutral |
| Age | Varies |
| Height | Normal:
Height: 2.9 Blocks Angry: Height: 3.25 Blocks |
| Created By | Markus "Notch" Persson |
| Personality Type | INFJ, 4w5 (Enneagram) |
Appearance
Endermen are tall, shadowy, and slender humanoid figures standing approximately three blocks high. They have elongated limbs—both arms and legs—and deep black skin contrasted by glowing pinkish-purple eyes. Endermen continuously emit a trail of swirling purple particles, identical to those seen around Ender Pearls, End Portals, and Nether Portals, enhancing their mysterious and otherworldly presence. In Story Mode, true to its name, the Giant Enderman is an oversized, more menacing version of the standard Enderman. It retains the same general shape but features several distinct differences:
- A glowing, purple mouth
- Exposed ribcage visible through torn flesh
- A unique texture overlay, blending a 32x noise pattern atop the standard 16x body texture
Personality
Endermen have a unique personality compared to most mobs:
- Provocation: They become aggressive when directly attacked or stared at for 5 game ticks (¼ second) from up to 64 blocks away. In Java Edition, they open their mouths and tremble when provoked, emitting eerie, loud sounds. If the player keeps eye contact, the Enderman will remain still (in Java Edition), but once eye contact is broken, it will sprint behind the player to attack.
- Teleportation: Hostile Endermen teleport frequently, including to avoid danger or reach targets. They can teleport up to 32 blocks away. They will also flee when taking damage from environmental sources such as rain, sunlight, lava, or fire.
- Combat Resistance: Ranged attacks are largely ineffective. Endermen will teleport when struck by projectiles, avoiding the damage entirely. In Java Edition, arrows and tridents bounce off Endermen that cannot teleport. In Bedrock Edition, arrows pass through them, but effects from tipped arrows may still apply.
- Mob Interactions: Endermen ignore most mobs unless provoked, but they are naturally hostile toward endermites within a 64-block radius.
- Environmental Interaction: They can climb one-block-high ledges without jumping. If standing in partial blocks like soul sand or mud during daylight, they may teleport as if in darkness.
- Sleep Disruption: Endermen prevent players from sleeping when nearby and can even teleport onto beds, waking players by nudging them off.
Spawning Behavior
General Requirements: Endermen spawn on solid blocks with at least three air blocks above. They require light level 0 in the Overworld and End, or light level 7 or lower in the Nether.
- Overworld: Endermen are uncommon and can spawn in nearly all biomes except the mushroom fields and deep dark. They appear in groups of two, occasionally three.
- Nether: They spawn rarely in soul sand valleys, uncommonly in nether wastes, and most frequently in warped forests.
- End: Endermen spawn abundantly in groups of up to four, appearing throughout the dimension.
Story Mode
Much like regular Endermen, the Giant Enderman can teleport. However, due to its massive size, it exhibits enhanced abilities, such as lifting and hurling large chunks of terrain or structures. It is also capable of swallowing players whole. Unlike its smaller counterpart, this variant is far more aggressive toward humans and will frequently initiate attacks without provocation.
History
During development, Notch initially felt the Enderman wasn’t unsettling enough. To make it more frightening, he introduced the mechanic where players must avoid looking directly at the Enderman’s face, or risk being attacked. This design added suspense and unpredictability. The teleportation ability was also intended to challenge players by making the mob less predictable and harder to confront.
The Enderman debuted in Minecraft Beta 1.8 pre-release, as part of the Adventure Update. In early builds, they had green eyes, emitted black smoke, and used placeholder zombie sounds. Interestingly, in the PAX demo, Endermen dropped diamonds instead of ender pearls.
Upon official release in Beta 1.8, Endermen’s eye color was changed to purple, and they began emitting portal particles. Shortly after, their block-carrying behavior was restricted—they could no longer pick up every block, such as bedrock. Beta 1.9 introduced more changes: Endermen could no longer be harmed by projectiles, they would teleport away from water, and their health was doubled from 10 hearts to 20. Pre-release 4 of Beta 1.9 added their home dimension, the End.
By version 1.0.0 RC1, Endermen received unique audio files, replacing their placeholder zombie sounds. Updates continued over time:
- In 1.7.2, players in Creative mode could no longer provoke them.
- In 1.8, their walking speed increased, and teleportation could spawn endermites.
- In 1.10, they were allowed to spawn in the Nether and carry Netherrack.
Endermen were introduced to Pocket Edition in Alpha 0.9.0.
Story Mode: Episode Appearances
- "Jailhouse Block" The Giant Enderman makes a brief but chilling appearance in the final moments of the episode. The camera slowly pans toward it as it lets out a loud screech.
- "Below the Bedrock" The creature emerges near the tower of the Sunshine Institute, tearing it apart and forcing Jesse, Petra, Jack, Radar (who accidentally provokes it by making eye contact), Nurm or Lluna, and Xara to flee. It later reappears near the Oasis, attacking while the group escapes via minecart. When the party reunites at the portal to exit the Underneath, the Giant Enderman attempts to destroy the portal. Jesse may choose to leave Radar or Fred’s people behind to distract it, enabling the rest to escape.
- "Above and Beyond" If Radar was left behind in the previous episode, the Giant Enderman follows him into Terminal Space. There, it confronts the glitched Prismarine Colossus in a climactic battle. Outmatching the corrupted titan with swift teleportation and raw strength, the Giant Enderman eventually slays it by tearing off its head. After a final screech, the Giant Enderman vanishes—either perishing with Terminal Space or disappearing into the unknown.
Power and Statistics
Tier: High 8-C | At least 8-B | At least 8-B
Key: Minecraft | Minecraft Dungeons | Minecraft Story Mode
Powers and Abilities:
Attack Potency: Large Building level (Can hurt Steve and other endermen, far stronger than Zombies) | At least City Block level (Is vastly superior to Armored Vindicators, Can easily kill Iron Golems and fight with the Heroes) | At least City Block level (Can break off and possibly collapse a building with ease. Should be stronger than an average Enderman. Vastly superior to Jesse)
Speed: Superhuman (Can run at 12.9 m/s) with at least Subsonic reaction speed (Can perceive arrows moving at 100 m/s and teleport to evade them)
Lifting Strength: Class 5 (Can casually lift a cubic meter of soil without any speed or attack reduction. One cubic meter of soil typically weighs between 1.2 and 1.7 metric tonnes) | At least Class 100 (Can pull up large pieces of buildings and has ripped off the head of a Prismarine Colossus)
Striking Strength: Large Building level | At least City Block level | At least City Block level (Snapped off the head a Prismarine Colossus, who are strong enough to easily one-shot Jesse)
Durability: Large Building level (Can survive explosions from Creepers) | At least City Block level (Can take hits from Iron Golems and fight with the Heroes) | At least City Block level (Completely unharmed by Jesse's sword swings)
Stamina: Superhuman ("Endermen will continue chasing the player until they are either killed or become distracted by exterior elements like rain, fire, or sun; they are likely to teleport away to underground locations, such as caves, mineshafts, and strongholds, at daybreak")
Range: Standard Melee Range to Several Meters (Can pick blocks up from 4 meters away). Tens of Meters to Low Multiversal with teleportation (They originate from the End, and can travel between the three universes)
Standard Equipment: None notable
- Optional Equipment: Blocks
- While it makes no difference in their offensive capabilities, Endermen are able to pick up and carry around cacti, clay, coarse dirt, dirt, grass blocks, gravel, melons, mycelium, podzol, pumpkins, red sand, sand, TNT, and netherrack, along with various flowers and mushrooms.
Intelligence: Above Average (They have been stated to be highly intelligent)
Weaknesses: Water will damage and potentially kill it. Sunlight makes it more passive and less prone to aggression
Notable Attacks/Techniques:
- Teleportation: Endermen can instantly teleport, either to avoid damage or close with an enemy. They can also teleport between Mincraft's three dimensions: the Overworld, the Nether, and the End.
Trivia
- Endermen are the first mob in Minecraft to stand three blocks tall.
- They are the only mob that naturally spawns in all three dimensions: Overworld, Nether, and the End.
- In Java Edition, their exact size is 0.6 × 0.6 × 2.9 blocks, but their hitbox can extend up to 4 blocks high when hostile.
- If an Enderman becomes stuck in a cobweb, it won’t teleport unless hit by a projectile or exposed to water.
- Endermen take more damage from water than from fire or lava.
- If killed by an Iron Golem, they always drop an ender pearl.
- Before they die, if their body touches water, they will teleport even if death is imminent.
- Endermen pick up and place partial blocks, like flowers or mushrooms, making them appear to float.
- When angry, their raised head prevents them from entering 3-block-high areas.
- They see the world in inverted colors (observed via Spectator Mode in Java Edition), which may explain their reaction to eye contact.
- Wearing a carved pumpkin prevents Endermen from becoming hostile due to eye contact.
- When invisible, their eyes remain visible—same as other mobs with bright eyes.
- Their idle noises are distorted human phrases like “Hi,” “Hey,” and “Look for the eye,” adding to their eerie aura.
- Endermen were inspired by the Slenderman creepypasta and possibly SCP-096.
- If hit by an Ender Dragon attack or a Ghast/Blaze fireball, Endermen will retaliate against the source.
- Despite teleporting away from arrows, Skeleton arrows can still strike them and cause them to attack the Skeleton.
- Endermen in the End frequently spawn in larger groups than any other mob in the game.
- They aggressively target endermites, especially if spawned from thrown ender pearls.
- Firework rockets from crossbows can damage them.
- In theory, an Enderman could build a Snow Golem or Iron Golem by placing blocks correctly, but this is extremely rare.
- If you stare at an Enderman without moving, it freezes and won’t teleport or attack until you look away.
- Early in development, their ability to pick up blocks was nerfed due to complaints that they were griefing players’ builds.
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