The End



The End (also known as the Sky) is a dimension with a stark, empty plane containing a single floating island.

Accessing


To access the End, the player must go through the process of finding, repairing and activating the end portal, found within a stronghold.

The player must collect up to 12 ender pearls by killing Endermen, then, using blaze powder, craft them into eyes of ender. They can then use these eyes of ender to locate a stronghold by tossing them into the air and following the direction the eye flies. The player is advised to craft a few spare eyes, as they will occasionally disappear or shatter to pieces. To activate the End Portal, the player must insert an eye of ender into each of the empty End portal frame blocks. Up to 12 eyes may be needed to reconstruct the portal.

An activated end portal will allow the player to enter the End immediately. They will appear on top of a 5×5×1 obsidian platform in the End, generated either on or within the island, or at a relatively small distance from it.

Environment
The starless sky and the Void of the End are both composed of a blank, static pattern. The day-night cycle is absent in the End, similar to the Nether, being replaced by a constant dim light. Most items and blocks function in the End exactly as they do in the Overworld, with a few notable exceptions:


 * Beds will explode and cause fires when one attempts to them
 * Lava flows faster in the End as it does in the Nether, but only to a distance of 3 as in the Overworld.
 * Water flows at the same speed as in the Overworld.
 * Compasses are unable to find the original spawn point, as it cannot be set to a place within the End.
 * Clocks are unable determine the position of the Sun and Moon.
 * Maps made in the End show the same red and gray pattern as in the Nether
 * However, the direction indicator does work properly here.
 * Nether portals will not activate in the End.
 * Fire burns indefinitely on bedrock, but will not naturally spread onto bedrock.

Once one enters the End, the only way out is to defeat the ender dragon, or die. The dragon will spawn naturally and fly around above a number of obsidian pillars, atop of each lies an ender crystal, which will regenerate the ender dragon's health. To destroy these crystals, one must either climb the pillars, or shoot the crystals from afar with a bow. Once defeated, the ender dragon will explode, and create an exit portal, atop of which lies a dragon egg.

When the player enters the exit portal, the "End Poem" and the credits will roll shortly afterwards, thus "completing" Minecraft and earning the player the "The End." achievement.

The player then re-spawns in the Overworld and may return to the End through the same portal. The End remains in the same state after the ender dragon has been slain.

Upcoming


In 1.9, there were various changes made to the End. It is now one large island, surrounded by many smaller outer islands.

The ender crystals now sit on top of a set amount of differently-sized pillars are arranged in a circular fashion. The tallest pillars have iron bars around their ender crystal, which will require the Player to climb some of the pillars. The exit portal is pre-generated, but will only activate and place the dragon egg after the ender dragon's death. The battle with the ender dragon itself has changed, and once defeated, the dragon can be respawned an unlimited number of times by placing four ender crystals upon the exit portal.

The player will also have the ability to enter one of the several End gateway portals that spawn each time the dragon is defeated. These gateways can only be entered through the use of ender pearls. They will teleport the player to the outer End islands, which generate infinitely among a forest of Chorus trees. One may find End cities on these islands, which hold extremely valuable loot.

Naturally generated
Naturally generated includes blocks that are created through the world seed.

Naturally created
These blocks are created through a combination of events that lead these blocks to be placed by natural causes, not by the player.

Structures ()
These blocks are generated as part of end cities, but only when the "generated structures" option is on.

Technical information
The End is saved in the same way normal worlds are, but instead of mixing the world files inside the save folder, the files for the End are stored separately in. Note that DIM1 does not contain its own level.dat file; the level.dat in the parent folder is used for all dimensions.

Deleting the DIM1 folder will reset the End: all of the buildings there will be deleted and the ender dragon will respawn.

Trivia

 * The End—an endless noised sky with a central mass of end stone—appears to be an inversion of the Nether, an endless cave filled with masses of air.
 * Occasionally, smaller islands generate along with the main island. These small islands can even include an Obsidian Pillar.
 * The End has its own soundtrack that you can only hear in the End.