Death messages

Death messages are broadcast to everyone upon the death of a player, and to the pet's owner upon the death of a pet wolf, cat, or parrot. $$, death messages are also produced upon the death of a pet horse, donkey, mule, llama, or skeleton horse. These messages communicate how the entity died, and some are intended to be humorous.

Java Edition death messages

 * Arrows
 *  was shot by Arrow
 * Appears when the player is killed by an arrow shot from a dispenser or summoned with.
 *  was shot by 
 * Appears when the player is killed by an arrow shot by a player or mob using a bow or crossbow.
 *  was shot by  using 
 * Appears when the player is killed by an arrow shot by a player or mob using a renamed bow or crossbow.


 * Cactus
 *  was pricked to death
 * Appears when the player is killed because they were touching a cactus.
 *  walked into a cactus whilst trying to escape 
 * Appears when the player is hurt by a player or mob then killed by touching a cactus.


 * Drowning
 *  drowned
 * Appears when the player runs out of air underwater and is killed from drowning damage.
 *  drowned whilst trying to escape 
 * Appears when the player is hurt by a player or mob then took drowning damage.


 * Elytra
 *  experienced kinetic energy
 * Appears when the player is killed by hitting a wall while flying with elytra on.
 *  experienced kinetic energy whilst trying to escape 
 * Appears when the player is hurt by a player or mob then hit a wall while flying with elytra on.


 * Explosions
 *  blew up
 * Appears when the player is killed by TNT activated by redstone mechanisms, fire, dispensed out from a dispenser or by an end crystal.
 * <player> was blown up by <player/mob>
 * Appears when the player is killed by an entity that exploded.
 * <player> was blown up by <player/mob> using <item>
 * Appears when the player is killed by an entity holding a renamed item that exploded.
 * <player> was killed by 
 * Appears when the player is killed by a bed exploding in the Nether or the End, or by a charged respawn anchor exploding in the Overworld or the End.
 * Includes a click-event link to.


 * Falling
 * <player> hit the ground too hard
 * Appears when the player is killed by a less than 5 block fall, ender pearl damage, or falling while riding an entity that died due to fall damage.
 * <player> hit the ground too hard whilst trying to escape <player/mob>
 * Appears when the player is hurt by a player or mob then killed by one of the aforementioned fall damage types.
 * <player> fell from a high place
 * Appears when the player is killed by a greater than 5 block fall.
 * <player> fell off a ladder
 * Appears when the player is killed by falling and the block they were in when they died was a ladder.
 * Appears when the player is killed by falling and the last block they touched before reaching the ground was a ladder.
 * <player> fell off some vines
 * Appears when the player is killed by falling and the block they were in when they died was a vine.
 * Appears when the player is killed by falling and the last block they touched before reaching the ground was a vine.
 * <player> fell off some weeping vines
 * Appears when the player is killed by falling and the last block they touched before reaching the ground was a weeping vine.
 * <player> fell off some twisting vines
 * Appears when the player is killed by falling and the last block they touched before reaching the ground was a twisting vine.
 * <player> fell off a scaffolding
 * Appears when the player is killed by falling and the last block they touched before reaching the ground was a scaffolding.
 * <player> fell while climbing
 * Appears when the player is killed by falling and the last block they touched before reaching the ground was a climbable block that isn't one of the aforementioned ones.


 * Falling blocks
 * <player> was squashed by a falling anvil
 * Appears when the player is killed by an anvil falling on their head.
 * <player> was squashed by a falling anvil whilst fighting <player/mob>
 * Appears when the player is hurt by a player or mob then killed by a falling anvil.
 * <player> was squashed by a falling block
 * Appears when the player is killed by a falling block (other than an anvil) modified to inflict damage.
 * <player> was squashed by a falling block whilst fighting <player/mob>
 * Appears when the player is hurt by a player or mob then killed by a falling block modified to inflict damage.


 * Fire
 * <player> went up in flames
 * Appears when the player is killed because they were in a fire source block.
 * <player> walked into fire whilst fighting <player/mob>
 * Appears when the player is hurt by a player or mob then entered a fire source block.
 * <player> burned to death
 * Appears when the player is killed because they were on fire, but not in a fire source block.
 * <player> was burnt to a crisp whilst fighting <player/mob>
 * Appears when the player is hurt by a player or mob then killed because they were on fire.


 * Firework rockets
 * <player> went off with a bang
 * Appears when the player is killed by the explosion of a firework rocket.
 * <player> went off with a bang whilst fighting <player/mob>
 * Appears when the player is hurt by a player or mob then killed by the explosion of a firework rocket.
 * death.attack.fireworks.item
 * Appears when the player is killed by the explosion of a firework rocket shot from a renamed crossbow.
 * This death message is untranslated due to.


 * Lava
 * <player> tried to swim in lava
 * Appears when the player is killed because they were in lava.
 * <player> tried to swim in lava to escape <player/mob>
 * Appears when the player is hurt by a player or mob then entered lava.


 * Lightning
 * <player> was struck by lightning
 * Appears when the player is killed by a lightning bolt.
 * <player> was struck by lightning whilst fighting <player/mob>
 * Appears when the player is hurt by a player or mob then killed by a lightning bolt.


 * Magma Block
 * <player> discovered the floor was lava
 * Appears when the player is killed because they were standing on a magma block.
 * <player> walked into danger zone due to <player/mob>
 * Appears when the player is hurt by a player or mob then killed by magma block damage.


 * Magic (Instant Damage / Evoker Fangs)
 * <player> was killed by magic
 * Appears when the player is killed by a potion of Harming shot from a dispenser, by Instant Damage given with or by an evoker fang summoned with.
 * <player> was killed by <player/mob> using magic
 * Appears when the player is killed by a potion or arrow of Harming shot by a player or mob, or by an evoker fang summoned by an evoker.
 * <player> was killed by <player/mob> using <item>
 * Appears when the player is killed by one of the aforementioned ways but the player or mob is holding a renamed item during the player's death.
 * death.attack.magic.player / <player> was killed by magic whilst trying to escape <player/mob>
 * Appears when the player is hurt by a player or mob then killed by Instant Damage or an evoker fang that didn't originate from a player or mob.
 * This death message is untranslated due to.


 * Players and mobs
 * <player> was slain by <player/mob>
 * Appears when the player is hurt by a player or mob and killed.
 * This death message appears twice in the en_us.json file: as <player> was slain by [mob] and <player> was slain by <player>.
 * <player> was slain by <player/mob> using <item>
 * Appears when the player is hurt by a player or mob holding a renamed item and killed.
 * This death message appears twice in the en_us.json file: as <player> was slain by [mob] using <item> and <player> was slain by <player> using <item>.
 * <player> was fireballed by <player/mob>
 * Appears when the player is killed by a fireball shot by a player or mob.
 * <player> was fireballed by <player/mob> using <item>
 * Appears when the player is killed by a fireball shot by a player or mob that was holding a renamed item during the player's death.
 * <player> was stung to death
 * Appears when the player is killed by a bee (not from its poison).
 * <player> was pummeled by <player/mob>
 * Appears when the player is killed by a snowball, egg, wither skull or ender pearl shot by a player or mob. It works only with wither skulls, as snowballs, eggs and ender pearls don't deal damage.
 * <player> was pummeled by <player/mob> using <item>
 * Appears when the player is killed by a snowball, egg, wither skull or ender pearl shot by a player or mob that is holding a renamed item during the player's death.


 * Starving
 * <player> starved to death
 * Appears when the player plays in hard or hardcore and is killed by hunger damage because their hunger bar was at 0.
 * <player> starved to death whilst fighting <player/mob>
 * Appears when the player plays in hard or hardcore and is hurt by a player or mob then killed by hunger damage.


 * Suffocation
 * <player> suffocated in a wall
 * Appears when the player is killed because they were inside of a non-transparent block.
 * <player> suffocated in a wall whilst fighting <player/mob>
 * Appears when the player is hurt by a player or mob then killed by suffocation damage.
 * <player> was squished too much
 * Appears when the player is killed by the maxEntityCramming gamerule.
 * <player> was squashed by <player/mob>
 * Appears when the player is hurt by a player or mob then killed by the maxEntityCramming gamerule.


 * Sweet Berry Bushes
 * <player> was poked to death by a sweet berry bush
 * Appears when the player is killed because they were in a sweet berry bush.
 * <player> was poked to death by a sweet berry bush whilst trying to escape <player/mob>
 * Appears when the player is hurt by a player or mob then entered a sweet berry bush.


 * Thorns enchantment
 * <player> was killed trying to hurt <player/mob>
 * Appears when the player is killed because they hurt a guardian, elder guardian, or a player or mob wearing armor enchanted with Thorns.
 * <player> was killed by <item> trying to hurt <player/mob>
 * Appears when the player is killed because they hurt a guardian, elder guardian, or a player or mob wearing armor enchanted with Thorns and holding a renamed item.


 * Trident
 * <player> was impaled by Trident
 * Appears when the player is killed by a trident shot from a dispenser or summoned with.
 * <player> was impaled by <player/mob>
 * Appears when the player is killed by a trident shot by a player or mob.
 * <player> was impaled by <player/mob> with <item>
 * Appears when the player is killed by a trident shot by a player or mob that was holding a renamed item during the player's death.


 * Void
 * <player> fell out of the world
 * Appears when the player is killed by being below Y=-64 or by using.
 * <player> didn't want to live in the same world as <player/mob>
 * Appears when the player is hurt by a player or mob then killed by the void or.


 * Wither effect
 * <player> withered away
 * Appears when the player is killed by the wither status effect.
 * <player> withered away whilst fighting <player/mob>
 * Appears when the player is hurt by a player or mob then killed by the wither status effect.


 * Unsendable messages


 * <player> was killed by even more magic
 * Has a hover event, with text Actually, message was too long to deliver fully. Sorry! Here's stripped version: [message]
 * Appears when the regular death message is too large to send. This situation is almost impossible to trigger normally.

NOTE: These death messages appear only in the en_us.json file.
 * Unused death messages
 * <player> was roasted in dragon breath
 * Appeared only in 15w31a and 15w31b, when the player was killed by the dragon's breath.
 * <player> was roasted in dragon breath by <player/mob>
 * Appeared only in 15w31a and 15w31b, when the player was hurt by a player or mob then killed by the dragon's breath.
 * <player> fell out of the water
 * Is unused for now, but will get removed completely from the en_us.json file.
 * <player> was doomed to fall
 * <player> was doomed to fall by <player/mob>
 * <player> was doomed to fall by <player/mob> using <item>
 * <player> fell too far and was finished by <player/mob>
 * <player> fell too far and was finished by <player/mob> using <item>
 * <player> was stung to death by <player/mob>
 * Even when the player is killed by a renamed bee, this message doesn't appear.
 * <player> died
 * <player> died because of <player/mob>

Temporary death messages
These death messages existed only in Java Edition 3D Shareware v1.34.
 * <player> was too soft for this world
 * Appeared when the player was in Obligatory nightmare mode and was killed by the constant damage they took there.
 * <player> was too soft for this world (<player/mob> helped)
 * Appeared when the player was in Obligatory nightmare mode, was hurt by a player or mob and was killed by the constant damage they took there.

Removed death messages
In snapshots 13w02a through 13w04a, a complicated system existed to show death messages for when the player fell to their death or fell and was killed by something else. There were two types of messages, "<player> <first>" and "<player> <first> and <last>".

<first> could be:
 * fell (off a ladder|off some vines|out of the water|from a high place)
 * was (shot|pummeled|blown|fireballed|knocked) (off a ladder|off some vines|out of the water|from a high place)
 * was (shot|pummeled|blown|fireballed|knocked) (off a ladder|off some vines|out of the water|from a high place) by <player/mob>

<last> could be:
 * into a pool of lava
 * fell out of the world
 * into a patch of fire
 * into a patch of cacti
 * got finished off by <player/mob>
 * got finished off by <player/mob> using <item>
 * got finished off using <item>

There were 352 different death messages. (Technically 416, because the verb "blown" existed twice in the en_US.lang file.)

Bedrock Edition death messages

 * <player> was slain by Arrow
 * Appears when the player is killed by an arrow shot from a dispenser or summoned with.
 * <player> was shot by Arrow
 * Appears when the player is killed by an arrow shot by a player or mob.
 * <player> was pricked to death
 * Appears when the player is killed because they were touching a cactus.
 * <player> drowned
 * Appears when the player runs out of air underwater and is killed from drowning damage.
 * <player> experienced kinetic energy
 * Appears when the player is killed by hitting a wall while flying with elytra on.
 * <player> blew up
 * Appears when the player is killed by TNT activated by redstone mechanisms, fire, dispensed out from a dispenser or by an end crystal.
 * <player> was blown up by <player/mob>
 * Appears when the player is killed by an entity that exploded.
 * <player> hit the ground too hard
 * Appears when the player is killed by a less than 5 block fall, ender pearl damage, or falling while riding an entity that died due to fall damage.
 * <player> fell from a high place
 * Appears when the player is killed by a greater than 5 block fall.
 * <player> was squashed by a falling anvil
 * Appears when the player is killed by an anvil falling on their head.
 * <player> was squashed by a falling block
 * Appears when the player is killed by a falling block (other than an anvil) modified to inflict damage.
 * <player> went up in flames
 * Appears when the player is killed because they were in a fire source block.
 * <player> burned to death
 * Appears when the player is killed because they were on fire, but not in a fire source block.
 * <player> went off with a bang
 * Appears when the player is killed by the explosion of a firework rocket.
 * <player> tried to swim in lava
 * Appears when the player is killed because they were in lava.
 * <player> was struck by lightning
 * Appears when the player is killed by a lightning bolt.
 * <player> discovered floor was lava
 * Appears when the player is killed because they were standing on a magma block.
 * <player> was killed by magic
 * Appears when the player is killed by a potion of Harming shot from a dispenser, by Instant Damage given with or by an evoker fang summoned with.
 * <player> was killed by <player/mob> using magic
 * Appears when the player is killed by a potion or arrow of Harming shot by a player or mob, or by an evoker fang summoned by an evoker.
 * <player> was slain by <player/mob>
 * Appears when the player is hurt by a player or mob and killed, or killed by a trident shot by a player or mob.
 * This death message appears twice in the en_US.lang file: as <player> was slain by [mob] and <player> was slain by <player>.
 * <player> was slain by Small Fireball
 * Appears when the player is killed by a fireball shot from a dispenser.
 * <player> starved to death
 * Appears when the player plays in hard difficulty and is killed by hunger damage because their hunger bar was at 0.
 * <player> suffocated in a wall
 * Appears when the player is killed because they were inside of a non-transparent block, or because they drowned in lava with the Fire Resistance effect.
 * <player> was killed trying to hurt <player/mob>
 * Appears when the player is killed because they hurt a guardian, elder guardian, or a player or mob wearing armor enchanted with Thorns.
 * <player> was slain by Trident
 * Appears when the player is killed by a trident shot from a dispenser or summoned with.
 * <player> fell out of the world
 * Appears when the player is killed by being below Y=-64.
 * <player> withered away
 * Appears when the player is killed by the wither status effect.
 * <player> died
 * Appears when the player is killed by.

NOTE: These death messages appear only in the en_US.lang file.
 * Unused death messages
 * <player> was shot by <player/mob> using <item>
 * <player> walked into a cactus whilst trying to escape <player/mob>
 * <player> drowned whilst trying to escape <player/mob>
 * <player> was fireballed by <player/mob>
 * <player> was fireballed by <player/mob> using <item>
 * <player> was killed by <player/mob> using <item>
 * <player> walked into fire whilst fighting <player/mob>
 * <player> tried to swim in lava to escape <player/mob>
 * <player> walked on danger zone due to <player/mob>
 * <player> was burnt to a crisp whilst fighting <player/mob>
 * <player> was slain by <player> using <item>
 * <player> was pummeled by <player/mob>
 * <player> was pummeled by <player/mob> using <item>
 * <player> fell off a ladder
 * <player> fell off some vines
 * <player> fell out of the water
 * <player> was doomed to fall
 * <player> was doomed to fall by <player/mob>
 * <player> was doomed to fall by <player/mob> using <item>
 * <player> fell too far and was finished by <player/mob>
 * <player> fell too far and was finished by <player/mob> using <item>