Long-Forgotten Origins of Herobrine

I'm working on getting my bibliography in a form that's useful for the public - I'll post it here when I'm done! It will be helpful for future investigators to see everything in one place.

I miss the days when he was the scariest thing imaginable. And every time there was a glitch we blamed it on him and abandoned the world.

I was about to buy something, but then my debit card fell out of my hand and i involuntarily walked to my desk and was forced to click this video by the heroic brine himself.

When I was a kid, I believed Herobrine was real and while I was scared of him I also liked the idea of having a withdrawn friend in the Minecraft world. So, anytime I saw something weird or found a glitch, I would always chalk it up to Herobrine. I started leaving things around for him, made a chest specifically to give gifts to him or show him items I was proud of getting (like a god apple), and even though the ambience and music became scary I always thought to myself: "That just means Herobrine is nearby watching out for me." Literally he was the reason I played Minecraft the most back then as a kid. I was so scared of him but also so eager to show off to the mysterious entity that I just killed a skeleton with my bare fists, or tamed my first wolf in the new world I created.

This video should prove to everyone that Minecraft horror shouldn't be about big cave monsters or jumpscares. Minecraft is pure existential dread in singleplayer mode and honestly one of the best sources of psychological horror in a non-horror game. Modders should focus on that.

People have this tendency to underplay the sheer terror of Herobrine that existed back in the day. It was never about how powerful he was, but simply the idea that something just as intelligent, if not more intelligent than you existed in your game, and was actively aware of you. You didn't know its intentions, what it stood for, what it wanted from you. He can build and mine just like you, but his intentions remain unknown. He wasn't like a simple mob that pathfinded toward you and smacked you a few times, he was an intelligent entity that actively wanted to cause mental anguish.

Anyone miss when gaming urban legends like this could spread around and everyone could get lost in the sauce and have fun with this

It's honestly sort of sad that we don't know who created the Herobrine myth. You make the most popular gaming legend of all time, and nobody even knows you who you are.

I wish we could have gaming urban legends back. Herobrine seemed to be the last one before it basically became impossible to make something up because you could just dig through the files. It's a real shame, these little rumors made the game feel much larger and more lively than they really were.

It should be noted that the “Please Wake Up” story that you had to decode on the site is almost a word for word copy-paste of a preexisting Creepypasta. Some interesting trivia on the history of it all

I frankly prefer blank eyes over glowing eyes. The former is more creepy for me. And the idea that something that seems blind to the light of the world is observing you for some reason is unnerving.

31:50 Jeez, the “WAKE UP” variant got me bad back in 2011 and still gets me now. Unnerving

6:45 "Sorry, image is currently unavailable." Also Photobucket, "Protect more of your memories for less". Ironic. Remember to make local backups kids.

I think that the concept of a White Eyes and Herobrine, inspired Notch to make a mob with creepy sounds and glowing eyes, The Endermen.

Seeing copeland's stream after a very loong time makes me feel weird, i always remembered it soo realistically as if that re-textured painting was an actual player, it's interesting how mind can twist memories, haha fun video

If something has white eyes, they've must be related to Herobrine, as a young me thought. There's a reason I stopped playing Minecraft for a while as a kid after encountering a Stray for the first time.

it feels cool to be one of the only people to know about the white eyes myth before a video about it is made

Cave sound mockup: natural, immersive Notch's cave sounds: send shivers up your spine and your soul

Herobrine lore is really crazy

Oh, what’s this? A little gem in my recommended? Minecraft has never been so engaging