The End



The End (previously known as The Ender) is a different dimension existing in Minecraft worlds, added in Minecraft Beta version 1.9 Pre-release 4 on October 13th, 2011. It was first mentioned by Notch.

This dimension is basically a large empty plane; with nothing but a chain of floating islands keeping you aloft. These "islands" are composed of White Stone with Obsidian Towers strewn across the surface. The End is also home to the Endermen and the rare Enderdragon. While the Endermen continue to exist outside this dimension, the Enderdragon is exclusive to The End.

Terrain and Characteristics
In Beta Pre-release 4, The End appears to be a series of large, floating islands composed entirely of White Stone and Obsidian Towers in the middle of empty space, with the possibility of some small islands existing nearby. The sky and Void are both made of dark static, however there are still void particles within the Void area. There doesn't appear to be anything buried in the White Stone, and there are no cave systems. Portals to the Nether cannot be activated in The End. Liquids function in the End exactly like they do in the Overworld. Like the Nether, Compasses will be unable to find the original spawn point, and Clocks cannot determine the position of the sun. Their arrows and dials will instead spin and flail randomly. Maps seem to only map static. Also, beds explode when attempting to use, and light nearby white stone blocks on fire.

Survival Mode Method
To enter The End, the player must create twelve Eyes of Ender. To do this, they must kill at least twelve Endermen for their Ender Pearls. They then must obtain a minimum of ten Obsidian so as to make a Portal to the Nether. From there, they must obtain six Blaze Rods from Blazes to craft 12 Blaze Powders. By putting the Ender Pearl and Blaze Powder together anywhere in their crafting area, they will create an Eye of Ender, crucial to completing an Ender Portal.

After returning to the Overworld, the player can then use one of these Eyes of Ender to locate a Stronghold by tossing it into the air and following the direction in which it flew, being sure to retrieve the Eye of Ender from the ground. Once inside, the player must search within until they come across an Ender Portal frame. The player must put an Eye of Ender on each of the twelve frame blocks. Once this is accomplished, the Portal will open, allowing the player to enter The End. This transition is instantaneous, unlike a trip to The Nether.

Once within The End, the player will find themselves on top of a five by five Obsidian platform. Currently, a return portal can not be made, leaving the player's only means of escape being death.

SMP Op Method
As an Op, the player can use the /give command to give themselves item number 119, the item version of an Ender Portal. Jumping into one placed will send the player to The End. The player may also use /give to give themselves item number 90, the item version of a Nether Portal, which will allow them to leave The End and then portal back to The Overworld in an unspecified location.

History
In an earlier stage of development, it was known as the Sky Dimension. It had Overworld blocks instead of the current ones, and Overworld mobs spawned there.

Notch tweeted "raqreqentba", which could be decoded using ROT13, translating to "enderdragon." A Reddit user under the name of "cptqwashi" posted the idea that the new dimension accessed by the new "Crystal Block Portal" would be called the Ender, and would be home to the Endermen and Enderdragons. Notch soon gave more information and said that cptqwashi was "100% correct."


 * Responding to a fan's question, Jeb_ recently released a tweet stating that The End is the Sky Dimension, or rather The End is replacing the Sky Dimension.

Trivia

 * Notch first mentioned The End with his comment regarding the name-change petition of the (then-unreleased) Endermen, when people wanted to change the name of the mob to "Farlanders" (a reference to the area nicknamed the Far Lands). He joked that instead of renaming them Farlanders, he was more likely to change the name of the Far Lands to "The End". Now, the Far Lands have been removed and The End is an actual location where the Endermen actually are from.
 * The Enderportal within Strongholds may have been how the Endermen ended up outside of their native dimension.
 * In order to enter The End, you need to have access to both the Overworld and the Nether.
 * Much like how the Sky Dimension was an inversion of The Nether, The End maintains the same parallel. While the latter is an endless cave filled with masses of air, The End is an endless sky filled with masses of stone.
 * Unless the player has an inventory mod or OP abilities, the player will not be able to access The End without participating in some combat beforehand (a number of Blaze and Endermen need to die for you to obtain their respective items).
 * It is impossible to create an Enderportal inside The End even with hacks.
 * Currently, there's no possible way for the player to leave the End without dying or with cheated portal blocks.
 * Upon attempting to entering a bed in The End, the bed explodes and leaves a fiery crater like in the Nether.