Can you summon Herobrine in Minecraft?

Can I summon Herobrine?

I hate to start an article off with bad news, but no. Herobrine has never actually existed in Minecraft, despite an absolute maelstrom of rumors, legends, and supposed tutorials that all promised just that. The story of Herobrine is undoubtedly a delightful slice of Minecraft's rich decade-long history. It just doesn't end with a set of cryptic instructions and a strange monument you must build, guaranteeing the summoning of Herobrine and your character's eventual demise. So, what exactly is Herobrine, and how did these rumors start?

• We go over how to add Herobrine to Minecraft: Java Edition with mods

Who is Herobrine?

This simple question is a matter that was once hotly debated. While the Herobrine conversation has since died down, this was something that set a fire underneath the entire Minecraft community. There's a lot of speculation about where the Herobrine story came from, and how it started. I'm here to set the story straight.

Herobrine is supposedly a hostile mob that can be summoned to your Minecraft world and wreak havoc. He cannot be defeated or removed from your game. He also leaves a plethora of telltale signs around your world like:

• Strange structures and pyramids
• Random Redstone torches
• Two by two tunnels dug underground
• Dense fog encompassing the world

In doctored screenshots and videos, he looks identical to the default "Steve" skin, except with whited out eyes. The origin of Herobrine ranges wildly from being the brother of Steve, being the brother of Notch (one of the creators of Minecraft), and being essentially the "Ghost of Minecraft."

One popular rumor even mentioned that if Herobrine was summoned, he would stalk the player for three in-game days and nights, before attacking and killing the player. This may be far-fetched, but in a way, Herobrine is the boogeyman of Minecraft. There are a few more fun origin stories you can find in this collection on Fandom if you're interested.

After my extensive perusal of the internet, the most likely culprit of Herobrine's birth was a random post from a Minecraft fan on 4chan, a popular image-based internet forum. A renown streamer at the time took a liking to the post and decided to take it a step further, hosting an elaborate Herobrine-flavored prank during a stream session. Afterward, swarms of people began fabricating a wide variety of stories about the legendary figure. I found a faithful rendition of the original post on Creepypasta if you care to take a gander.

Once more people became involved, the myth became perpetuated throughout Minecraft's history. People have dived deep into the source code of Minecraft, but no mention of Herobrine has ever been found. Unlike Bigfoot and other real-life myths, Herobrine has been pretty much completely debunked.

Fun fact: Notch once mentioned in an interview that he had at one point considered incorporating Herobrine into the game and that he found the rumor to be extremely entertaining. While this never came to fruition, there are mentions of Herobrine in some of Minecraft's early changelogs. Herobrine was even featured on one of the splash screens for the Xbox 360 Edition of Minecraft.

Can I add Herobrine to my game?

Just because you can't find Herobrine naturally in Minecraft doesn't mean it's impossible! If you own the Java Edition of Minecraft on a PC and are willing to mod your game, there are plenty of dedicated developers out there who have brought Herobrine to life. The process of modding Minecraft is a long one, so if you want to dive in, it's going to take awhile. Fortunately, I've written a comprehensive guide on adding Herobrine to Minecraft to walk you through the entire process.

If the legend of Herobrine has entranced you, and you fancy seeing what all the fuss is about, then feel free to install a mod that incorporates him into the game. Like always, I encourage caution and common sense. I've found two mods like this popular mod and this more recently updated mod that both look to be reliable options.