“The house is the key element which separates it from its more primitive descendants. No other creature goes to such length to create lasting permanent shelter for itself nor regards it with such reverence and importance.”
~ Anatomy
Many of you know of the Creeper, the hostile mob from Minecraft whose modus operandi is to approach the player and then explode in their vicinity. No one really likes them but I genuinely believe they are misunderstood, that we are blaming the victims of this narrative and that just like many other wild animals, that they’re reacting to the encroach of civilisation.
What we are starting to see as we destroy the last wild places on this earth is the conflict between the human and the animal. We see this the best in the expansion of humans into habitats of large carnivores like bears or wild animals and these are the animals that are ‘blamed’ the most. Most animals do not hunt with any sadistic intentions but instead are a threat because they either hunt for food, feel threatened or their young are threatened. A rattlesnake only becomes dangerous if they consider you a threat.
These humans modify the landscapes which these animals used to live in. And as terrifying as a bear swiping at a domesticated dog in someone’s garden is, you have to remember why this all came about. The largest threats to bear populations are human settlements, availability of human food (they are drawn into civilisation by these food sources), the density of traffic including railways, and various recreational and industrial activities (Morales-González et al., 2020). And when these brown bears and humans co-exist, it results in human-bear conflicts, human-caused mortality, and altered behaviour of animals among many other things (Morales-González et al., 2020).
Another example of this human-animal conflict is the encroachment of humans into the habitats of tigers. According to Dixit (2018), in the Dudhwar-Pilibhit area of Uttar Pradesh, there have been 156 human mortalities between 2000 and 2013 due to tigers and leopards. But these mortalities did not come from the encroachment of tigers into human civilisation but from people venturing into these wild spaces where the wild cats reside. And it was also found that the number of attacks increased during winter due to an influx of people collecting firewood from these forested areas.
There were also 474 cases of livestock deaths between 2006 and 2012 but these were said to be caused by a low prey base. And that 50% of the targets of leopards were children and smaller animals like sheep and goat whereas tigers went for bigger livestock like buffaloes, horses, or cows.
And this is where Minecraft becomes relevant again. One spawns in the wilderness and quickly attempts to set up a base or find a village to reside in. Your village will have an Iron Gollum tasked to protect you from the nightly onslaught of hostile mobs like zombies and so on. Most of these die once the sun rises but the creeper does not. It aimlessly gliding through trees and wilderness, close to civilisation. Or the Creepers exist deep underground in natural caverns but only pose a threat once you start mining and disrupting their wild spaces. Well, if you didn’t want the creeper to attack you, you should have avoided it and it would have gone away on its own. They are simply reacting to what it sees as a threat in their own wild space, as they go about, minding their own business. They are the beer. They are the tiger. They are the leopard.
What all of this reminds me of the Leshen from the Witcher 3 and the Leshy from Slavic folklore which it was based upon. In the official description of the Leshen from the Witcher 3, they’re simply described as the heart of the woods but as humans encroached into the forests, their wrath grew. They are nature’s way of protecting these wild spaces, protection of them with violence.
The Leshy from folklore goes by many many names. Borovoi (he of the forest), Gayevoi (he of the grove), Miško velnias (forest devil), and so on. But oftentimes, the meanings of their names are very similar and related to the woods. They act as protectors of all the animals and the birds in the wood and are the tutelary deity of the woods. And it reminds me of something that someone once said, “if the Leshy is armed, the trees cannot be harmed”, referring to an environmental internet slogan involving the Lorax.
They (Leshys) can be friendly and teach those who befriend it the secrets of magic or one can make pacts with it to protect their crops and sheep. But they can also lead peasants astray, make them sick, or killing them. But they’re not actually evil beings, just mischievous and can have completely neutral opinions on individuals (as their opinions are judged by their behaviour) or on the local population (the opinions of the local population stem from their treatment of the forests).
And one could argue that these Creepers act as the protectorate of the woods. Just like the old deities, they’re neutral until angered. Their stealth is akin to the mischievous of the Leshy, and just like the Leshy, they can be life-threatening. This sets it apart from the Lorax who is purely benevolent and doesn’t cause any harm to others, instead acting as a character who warns those of the impending effects that capitalism has on the environment. Whereas the Leshy plays the role of defending the already existing woods, the woods as their ‘sacred’ territory which you should respect. But the difference between the Leshy and its descendant (the Creeper) is that the Leshy is oftentimes respected but feared whereas the Creeper is simply feared. The Leshy is called forest uncle or forest grandfather or the righteous one of the forest. He is a deity but the Creeper who fulfils the same purpose is treated as a threat that one must kill just like a regular animal.
But one could argue that in the modern post-feudal world that these industrial factories need villains to fit their narrative, and no one fits this bill as well as the personification of the wild spaces they seek to exploit. Feudalism spawned neutral and revered characters which protect the woods whereas capitalism has spawned protectorate characters that are passive or villainous. Feudalism is still linked to natural cycles. Farming and the feudal lifestyle are heavily linked to the cyclical nature of farming whereas capitalism is freed from these constraints. It is primary production focused with agriculture coming second. All things are subsumed under the cycle of economics and production instead of the cycle of death and life in a natural motion.
Feudal peasants had to create deities that protected these woods as, without them, they would quickly find themselves starving and dead, but we can villainise these deities as the destruction of these forests has no visible impact on our day to day lives. The peasants needed balance with what surrounds them, they couldn’t destroy their forests, and these cycles and rituals concealed an enchantment and alluring secrets. Which is radically different from the cold segmentation and structure of production. It seeks to consume rather than to seduce and enchant. This is why the feudal forest is revered and respected like an elder of the village but why the Lorax has no strength or why the Creeper is a threat.
In Minecraft, causing significant environmental harm is required and encouraged. Industrialisation, exploitation, and conquest are rewarded and encouraged by game mechanics while punishing ludic tendencies. It is almost like you are a priest of sorts driven by the logic of consumption for survival. You are moral and good. You are plunging into the unknown to spread civilisation. And anyone who opposes you, is a ‘hostile’ mob, a threat. But you MUST farm, and you MUST domesticate, and you MUST chop down wood. You have to exploit to live in Minecraft and any other avenue of existence which doesn’t rely on this exploitation is barred and treated as an impossibility. You cannot live in harmony with the woods, in the natural cycle of life and death.
And the protectorate of the woods becomes your biggest and most notable enemy. This is the enemy that is featured in almost all advertising concerning Minecraft and is an iconic pop culture enemy with many songs written about them describing how terrifying they truly are, instead of acknowledging they act as protectorates or are confused animals in the animal-human conflict. It has a cult status and the treatment of what a Leshy would receive in the 21rst century. It is the modern descendant of the Leshy but without the reverence.
Sources
- A, Morales-González, H, Ruiz-Villar, A, Ordiz, V, Penteriani. “Large carnivores living alongside humans: Brown bears in human-modified landscapes” https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351989420300160
- K, Dixit, 2018. “Human Encroachment Major Cause of Conflict With Tigers, Leopards, Says Report” https://www.indiawest.com/news/india/human-encroachment-major-cause-of-conflict-with-tigers-leopards-says-report/article_a1854184-44e4-11e8-afdd-d79905acfffc.html
