Villager

A Villager is a passive NPC that spawns and moves about in NPC Villages. Their characteristic look is dominated by their large, bald heads, unibrows, and long, protruding noses. There are different types, distinguished by their attire and signifying their role in the community. Some spawn around the village, although most spawn inside buildings and leave once the door is opened. They spawn at their respective buildings corresponding to the role they have. As of 1.9 Pre-Release 3, there are 6 unique skins for the villagers which are found in the minecraft.jar file. Another unused villager skin is a file called "villager.png" that appears to be the skin of "Steve" with some modifications.

Behavior
NPCs act more like passive mobs. They will randomly look at the player, and wander the area of the village. They do not attack if attacked, however they will be knocked back. When attacked, they will not run away like other passive mobs, and Hostile mobs do not see them. If you do happen to kill one, they drop nothing. They will leave buildings if the door is open and randomly wander outside. They have the same AI programming as a pig.

Professions
Each Villager's profession can be identified by its clothing: (Note that all Villagers have brown clothing under their robes/aprons)

History
Villagers were first introduced in Beta 1.9 Pre-release 1. They had "TESTIFICATE" over their heads the same way player names are applied in Multiplayer, which was removed in Beta 1.9 Pre-release 2. It seems Villagers will not spawn in worlds created before Beta 1.9

Future
It has been confirmed that there will be more villager AI applied in a future update.

Trivia

 * Originally, Notch had mentioned possibly using Pigman as a possible villager skin, although it seems unlikely now.
 * In Beta 1.9 Pre-release's files, there is a texture for average Villagers, which wear green robes. However, this spot seems to be filled by the Farmer type instead, with no Villager types spawning at all.
 * A texture in the main mob directory of Minecraft appears to be the default character texture reoriented to be a Villager texture. As is expected, applying it to the current Villager model produces a very broken look, as seen above.
 * Although Villager NPCs are currently as simple as other passive mobs, they appear to have very basic intelligent coding already implemented. If the player opens the door to their home and leave it open, they will likely soon move out the doorway. However, once outside, they may wander out into the wilderness, never to be seen again. This may be due to the passive mob attraction to light rather than actual intelligence programmed in.
 * Villagers do not despawn.
 * Villager's arms are implied to be jointed, with two parts each to create folded arms.
 * It has been proven that villagers can climb ladders if they are in their path, like other mobs
 * Due to their peculiar look villagers have been ridiculed by the fanbase, sometimes comparing them to Squidward from SpongeBob SquarePants or Bert from Sesame Street. Notch himself agreed they look like "caveman Squidwards".
 * Jeb has confirmed that more Villager AI will be added in an update some time in December of 2011.