WMG / Minecraft: Story Mode

Gabriel replaced Ivor in the legends.

It is not that there are five members in the Order of the Stone; it is one of the members was replaced when the Order's ordeals were passed down in history. If you notice the Scandinavian name scheme of the Order's members (a nod to the source country and founding staff of Minecraft), Gabriel is the Odd Name Out but Ivor stays within the theme. While Ivor specialises in crafting potions, working on enchantments, assembling mobs and programming command blocks, those are added very recently into the game relative to the specialisations of the Order which are more of core Minecraft features; Ivor's specialisation as part of the Order has yet to be revealed. Ivor also has a prominent blue belt standing out from his robes. Later on, when Jesse and Lukas (if he stays) find out in an Order of the Stone Temple book that there were five heroes, Ivor seemed to directly replace Gabriel's place in their gathering spot and has much more blue highlights. Gabriel definitely has some blue in his outfit but not in the standard shade of blue.

After slaying the Ender Dragon, it appears that the Order members have retired humbly into full dedication of their specialisations (or even disappeared, like Soren) but only Gabriel seems to have enjoyed staying in the limelight. Gabriel has yet to show creative combat techniques to properly subdue the Wither Storm and ends up in the tough decision between taking Petra or Gabriel from the Wither Storm's tractor beam. Ivor demanding Gabriel "the real story" could actually be exposing Gabriel as a charlatan and Ivor the true Warrior instead of the Five Heroes story back in the temple, which might be deliberately left to tone down In-Universe the worse implications of Unperson. Instead of Ivor wanting to simply cause chaos in the Endercon hall, he could have tried to program the Wither to only absorb blocks around Gabriel to maybe put up a substantial fight, putting Gabriel's actual combat abilities to the test if only it didn't go South. The Wither Storm probably was merely following its working programming tracking on Gabriel even as it malfunctioned and absorbed everything on its way!

On Ivor being a Dirty Coward evading the Wither Storm, he is probably being more realistic when the weapons and commands he can use against it are expended and ineffectual and there is no clear method to placate it so finding other ways in a backup base as any sensible Minecraft player would have been more tactical in terms of combat instead of futilely trying to strike on repeatedly the Wither Storm as Gabriel tried to do. The world is quite big and Ivor should have enough time in a faraway base to formulate a plan that the Wither Storm isn't going to pose a problem for a few days.

• Jossed in episode 2, sort of. If you saved Gabriel rather than Petra, his beam on the map appears as Light Blue, coming from the top of the medallion, while Ivor's appears as regular Blue, coming from the center, and Soren's as white from the bottom. Also the rest of the team (Elegard and Magnus) react like Gabriel's one of the team whether they meet him again or find out he didn't make it. This means that the long time symbol of the Order of the Stone (the amulet) was always five colors, five heroes. They really lucked out that it was the hero in the center of the symbol that they needed to unperson. (Alternatively, Soren could have rearranged the Amulet colors after Ivor left—since he built it, as shown in the intro, presumably he'd know how to do that.)
  • Completely jossed in Episode 4, the "real story" turns out to be that the Order of the Stone lied about how they slayed the Ender Dragon. Soren's flashbacks also show that both Ivor and Gabriel were in the group during this time, so Ivor wasn't replaced in the legends, he was written out. Though, it is worth noting that the point on Ivor's cowardice actually being a misunderstood pragmatism while he looks for a backup plan to slay the Wither Storm was correct.

The game takes place on a very elaborate roleplay server.

With mods.

• And it's in Adventure Mode, explaining why the protagonists can dig through a stone floor without trouble, but don't think to do the same to a wool or stone brick wall later in the game—only the former blocks are tagged as "Can Destroy".
• It's also in Hardcore Mode, explaining why the concept of "Respawning" is so new to them in Episode 8—you can't respawn in Hardcore Mode.
• On that note, the different worlds we hear of from Episode 5 onward could be different servers with different rules, hence why there's at least one where you can respawn.
• Not an outright confirmation, but the concept of "Admins" in Season 2 could be alluding to this. We see an admin that was stripped of their powers(demoted to a normal player), and hear of an admin who died(any player who dies on a Hardcore Mode server is perma-banned). Meanwhile, the remaining Admin seems to be skilled at using WorldEdit and utilizing Creative Mode. And all three admins once created a world(or server) long before the events of the first game, with the remaining admin creating the world as Jesse and the gang know it. Without an Admin keeping watch, the remaining players on the old server fell into anarchy.

The Big Bad is really the Narrator.

The fact he lied about a major detail in the lore seems suspicious enough as is.

Jesse will ascend to a higher plane of reality... ours.

Supported by the trophy/achievement names in Episode 5 being lifted directly from the poem seen upon defeating the Ender Dragon in Minecraft proper.

• Probably Jossed, as those names were placeholders.

Ivor was the alchemist of the Order of the Stone.

When you fight him in Episode 2, he uses potions to empower himself. He also tried to destroy the Wither Storm with a potion when it first goes out of control. His armour in the book in Episode 1 is also gold. Gold is linked to alchemy.

In a future episode, Reuben will be turned into a zombie pigman

Allowing some of the choices made in relation to him to come back to haunt you.

• Seemingly Jossed: Reuben is killed off in Episode 4 after helping Jesse defeat the Wither Storm.

Petra may replace Gabriel as one of the five members of the Order of the Stone.

If you saved Gabriel instead of Petra, in the trailer for Episode 3, he appears on the amulet on the light blue portion when the Narrator talks about his Wither Sickness revealed earlier in Episode 2 can be cured. If you saved Petra, she appears on the amulet instead, since she is the one whom has gotten the Wither Sickness from the Wither Storm instead, suggesting that she may replace Gabriel as one of the five members of the Order of the Stone.

• Jossed as of Episode 3: Petra/Gabriel is still alive, they just have amnesia.
  • Double Jossed: The Order was a fraud, actually using the Command Block to do anything. Either way, Jesse's gang becomes the new Order of the Stone.

Jesse and co. will have to defeat the Wither Storm from the inside.

While rescuing Petra/Gabriel on the way. They will have to get to the command block, fight some kind of evil minion, possibly Wither Skeletons or even full-on Withers on terrain absorbed by the Wither Storm, and rig up the Formidi-Bomb to destroy the command block. They will also hijack the Mighty Mechmaster Nine Million seen in Episode 2 in Redstonia to get out.

• Jossed: The F-Bomb fails, and the Storm splits into three parts. They do seem to be setting up 4 as a bleak final battle, while 5 will probably go meta.
  • Semi-reconfirmed: Using an enchanted superweapon, Jesse (and Reuben) go inside the Wither Storm and destroy the command block.

Episode 4...

will be an attempt to find or create another one of the Order's devices to destroy the Wither Storm. At the end, they will need to draw the Storm towards a location in the Far Lands (Telltale said the Far Lands would be in the game) for the final battle in Episode 5. Along the way, they will find a cure for the Wither Sickness.

• Semi-confirmed. There is something stated to be in the Far Lands that can destroy the command block, although Episode 4 will be the end of the Wither Storm arc.

The Wither Storm's two smaller pieces are controlled by the larger one.

The two smaller Wither Storms don't have command blocks controlling them. The larger Wither is controlling them with its command block, similar to a hive mentality.

Whichever Order of The Stone Member died will be replaced in the order by who ever was closest to their role in Jesse's group.

For example, if Magnus died then Axel would replace him in the order, but if Ellegard died then Oliva will replace her in the order.

• Jossed: Jesse's gang replaces the three remaining members of the Order as the new Order of the Stone.

The true leader of The Order of the Stone is Ivor.

Going with the idea that each member of Jesse's gang is supposed to reflect a member of the Order, you have Axel = Magnus, Olivia = Ellegaard, Lukas = Soren, and Petra = Gabriel. That leaves Jesse and Ivor, who so far have no connection whatsoever. But if Jesse's gang to supposed to mirror the Order, Jesse has to represent Ivor, since they're the only ones left. The dilemma of them having basically nothing in common would be solved neatly if Ivor was the leader. Also, Lukas fights with Jesse over leadership of their gang, and Lukas mirrors Soren, whom we are told is the leader of the Order. Possibly Ivor and Soren had a situation similar to Jesse and Lukas in that they were fighting over who got to lead, and when Ivor got erased from the legend Soren took over the role of leader. In the trailer for episode 4, when the narrator says 'untangle bitter rivalries', it's a scene of Soren and Ivor arguing. So they're rivals, like how Jesse and Lukas are also rivals when it comes to building. Also, Ivor's place in the amulet is the center. If you have five slots, four around one in the center, you'd naturally put the leader in the center, no? If Soren is truly the leader, then it doesn't make sense to put his place off to one side while another seemingly not-particularly-special member gets the center, unless they knew in advance that they'd have to erase Ivor from the legend, which I find unlikely.

• Seemingly jossed: Lukas leaves the group in Episode 4, making him the "Ivor" character of the new Order, while Jesse takes the role of Soren.

Soren will become the Big Bad of the final episode.

He's nowhere to be seen during the celebrations, was far more reluctant than Ivor to admit the past and is the one who first began abusing the Command Block in the first place. With the block destroyed it's quite possible the Enderdragon has returned, so that may somehow feed into Soren's plans for revenge driven by envy of genuine heroes (and would have the pleasant irony of flipping the Big Bad and Big Good roles of the first four episodes potentially, with Ivor and Soren)

• Jossed. Aiden and the Ocelots are the villains of at least episode 5.

The final episode will deal with a resurrected Ender Dragon.

It was revealed that the Command Block was used to erase the Ender Dragon, and now it's been destroyed. The Ender Dragon will resurrect as a result.

• Jossed. Order Up will involve the NEW Order going to the "Sky Kingdom"
  • Unjossed, as Order Up is not the final episode anymore.
    • Rejossed; The Ender Dragon not make an appearance in any of the subsequent episodes.
    • Unjossed again, as 5 more episode have been announced.
    • Rerejossed? (Or at least far less likely) If you look closely in the new Order's treasure room in the Adventure Pass, you can spot an Ender Dragon egg, implying that they already killed it offscreen.

The Wither Storm DID go according to plan

Note, Ivor mentioned he programmed the storm to follow the amulet. And we never see how they fix the GIGANTIC HOLES IN THE WORLD. In reality, Ivor had planned most of the game, the storm betraying him and everything. He designed it specifically to reveal the order as frauds to his successors, hence the layout of his lair. And about the holes, they were all undone once the Wither Storm got destroyed.

Later episode plot theories

The name of Episode 6 is "A Portal To Mystery." The newly revealed episode slides show Jesse, Lukas, and Petra in a sort of portal room. Episode 7 is named "Access Denied." On the episode slide, Ivor and Petra are keeping Jesse from entering a red portal. Perhaps something dangerous is behind it? I believe that a Wither Storm entity is behind it. At the end of Episode 7, it may be released. Episode 8 is named "A Journey's End?" The episode slide shows Jesse, Lukas and Petra running toward a light blue portal, perhaps the portal to the Overworld. Jesse has stopped to look at what may be the gang's fate. However, what he/she is looking at is unknown. I believe it could be another Wither Storm, or even an Ender Storm, caused by an Ender Dragon respawning procedure (four Ender Crystals, one on each side of an End Exit Portal) modified to include a Command Block. The Ender Crystals could even be the original Order's Ender Crystals, stolen from Ivor's Far Lands laboratory. Which leads into...

• Jossed. Episodes 6 through 8 actually focuses on Jesse and co.'s attempts to get home through the Portal Network. The Wither Storm and Ender Dragon are not involved in these episodes at all.

Jesse will sacrifice himself/herself in the final episode.

To allow the rest of the Order to escape to the Overworld, leaving Jesse to defeat the Wither Storm/Ender Storm mentioned in the previous theory in a similar fashion to the final battle at the end of Episode 4. Everyone will think our hero died, but he/she secretly escapes through another portal leading to the Nether, and then taking one of the Old Order's portals to Redstonia/Boom Town (whichever you didn't go to in Episode 2).

• Jossed. This theory feeds directly into the above one which is already jossed.

Eventually, someone will swear by the name of Steve?.

Hey, it's WMG here.

Based on the names, Episode 7 will be in a sci-fi-ish genre

Episode 6: A Portal to Mystery is in the mystery genre so one can assume that Episode 7: Access Denied will be in a sci-fi genre, specifically something to do with robots or an AI. Another is that each Post-Wither Storm episode has some unique callback to something popular in Minecraft. Episode 5 is Skyblock, 6 are the Youtubers, and perhaps 7 are online gaming servers. Not sure what Episode 8 will be though.

• Alternatively, it'll be based on prison servers.
  • Seemingly confirmed.
    • Confirmed. 7 appears to be based on AI with a dash of redstone engineering.

Episode 7 will feature a major choice that will severely damage Jesse's friendship with either Petra or Ivor

.Because it looks like the two are arguing over Jesse in the episode's "thumbnail".

• Jossed; While some signs of tension between Jesse and Petra occur at the beginning of the episode, it's patched up by the end of it.

The Ender Dragon will be the Big Bad of the finale.

Hijacked by Ganon in a sense.

Soren is an Old Builder.

Just bear with me here. In "Order Up," if you look at the bookshelf in the Sky City Palace throne room, the Founder has a book written by Soren, who's from Jesse's world. Then, in "Access Denied," you find another one written by the architect himself in Harper's lab, right next to Ivor. Two books in two different worlds, and the only way to get there is having a portal key and jumping into the said portal. Tell me that's not a coincidence.

• There's also a book by Soren in "A Portal to Mystery", Running with the Endermen, at the skull bookcase at the White Pumpkin's base. So that's three different worlds with a book by Soren.
• Not to mention, two of them are in the libraries of two old builders (Harper and Cassie Rose). It could be possible that the Founder of Sky City is also an Old Builder or is descended from one.
• At the end of Episode 7 is a ridiculous length of stairs, and Soren is known for his style of building to have a lot of stairs. Harper's book on the Redstone Heart is ALSO written by Soren.
• In Episode 8, yet another book by Soren is on Hadrian's bookshelf.
• This gag continues into Season 2 because a book by Soren can be found in Fred's shack. However, this is notable as this book is being found in an ancient civilization that is "Below the Bedrock" (pun intended).

Should the Command Block make another appearance, Jesse will consider using it to bring back Reuben.

Of course, it'll be up to the player if it actually happens or not, given it's a Telltale game and all.

Steve and Alex are descendants of Jesse and Petra.

• Given that Steve and Alex have brown and orange hair like Jesse and Petra respectively.
  • Some variants of Jesse (black male, and the white and black females) have black hair though, not brown.
  • The white male Jesse with brown hair is presumably the canon Jesse. Also, given the somewhat primitive setting in Minecraft compared to the slightly more technological advanced Story Mode, i'd say it's the other way around. Jesse and Petra are the descendants of Steve and Alex respectively.

A Journey's End won't be the last episode

Note the question mark in the title, along with the fact the first 5 episodes are officially classed as "season 1" but everything afterwards is labeled part of the adventure pass.

• Confirmed! It was revealed on June 2nd that the next episode would be "Hero in Residence", but on June 7th it was officially confirmed.

The MC Story Mode world/multiverse exists in a server similar to TRON's Grid.

It explains why certain aspects of the world run on Video Game logic (the crafting tables, the Command Block, and the respawn mechanic in Episode 8). Each of the portal worlds represents a different game server, and the Old Builders have semi-admin privileges, allowing them to essentially mod the game to create new items, recipes, and mechanics.'

Isa (the Founder) is also an Old Builder.

In Episode 8, if you offer the Eversource Crown to the Old Builders in exchange for the Atlas, they'll recognize it and say that they put the crown on the Eversource chicken to tell it apart from the other chickens(Jossing Ivor's initial assumption that the Crown contained the Eversource power, not the chicken wearing it). If they had the Eversource at some point, how else could Isa have gotten it?

• Jossed. It is revealed in Episode 7 that the Portal Network was made by the Old Builders, but when Isa finds a portal alongside Jesse she does not know what it is.
  • She could have been ousted by the others or just left the group, similar to Harper, prior to the Portal Network's construction.

The Old Builders created the original Command Block.

The Witherstorm is so different from normal Withers because...

it absorbed the Ender Dragon's essence from inside the Command Block, giving it the purple and black aesthetic and the ability to move blocks. It takes its ability to absorb blocks from the Command Block being able to destroy things, and its invincibility from a constant Resistance effect caused by what would in Minecraft terms be the /effect command.

In season 2, the real identity of the Admin is Fred.

(Spoiler from season 2 episode 3): Fred knew how to strip off an admin from their powers, and apparently the Admin like to take other people's identity. So it's possible that Fred killed Romeo to take his identity.

• Jossed in Episode 5, When Romeo's powers are removed, that isn't Fred left behind.

Season 2 is Romeo's hijacked fanfiction.

• For Romeo, the events of Season 1 were all fiction of some kind (perhaps an animation or Machinima series), and Jesse, his favourite character, was someone he found relatable, and possibly used Jesse as an escapist character of some sorts because this.
• Season 2 is then Romeo's attempt of making a fanfiction, wherein Jesse found a mysterious gauntlet and, with a few original characters created by Romeo, confronted the prismarine titan of a new antagonist called 'The Admin' on this big adventure. However, Jesse dealt with the titan much more quickly than Romeo expected, and so Romeo decided to retcon a few things, resulting in the idea of the Icy Palace of Despair.
• Then of course, Jesse cheated their way through, and so a frustrated and angry Romeo decided to add FURTHER retcons, changing it so that Vos had died many years ago, and creating his own self-insert via the 'true' form of the 'Admin'. Hoping the whole 'Sunshine Institute' thing would set Jesse straight, he just gets fed up with Jesse's antics, gives up on trying to achieve his goal of 'Jesse and I are best friends', and then attempts to turn Jesse into his own Author Avatar by having his pre-existing self-insert steal Jesse's identity and outright replace them.
  • I guess Xara could be a sister or something who shares the computer with him (and Fred being a friend who moved away or died in an accident or something)? Just whatever makes her work into this, I suppose.

Axel and Olivia got settled into Boomtown and Redstonia, respectively, during/after the events of Season 1 Episode 5.

With Jesse and company gone, but no idea where they went, Axel and Olivia just had to wait for them to return. To keep themselves busy, and possibly distract themselves from missing their friends, they returned to their favored cities to partake in what they liked. This might have also made them the first ones to drift away from Petra between Seasons 1 and 2—they might have missed them, but it didn't take them much longer to learn to live without them.

The only way Petra knows how to relate to others is via Fire-Forged Friends

By Season 2 Episode 1, she's more upset that she can't adventure with her old friends as often anymore, but it never occurs to her to try and join them with what they're doing(she even scoffs at what Jesse does for running Beacontown). Nor does she seem to think of adventuring on her own, despite being good at adventuring, until Character Development sets in by the end of Season 2 Episode 4. Going on adventures seems to be the only thing she seems to enjoy doing with others.

Anthony is from the Youtuber dimension.

Between the design, name, and having a thing for cookies, he's a clear Expy of Bigbst4tz. Bigbst4tz even did Anthony's voice, just like how the Youtubers from Season 1 Episode 6 did their own voices.

---