The Illagers are a group of people that I've really wanted to talk about ever since the beginning. They are heavily influential in Minecraft's lore, and they are a surprisingly complex group (hence why I haven't covered them up 'till now). Im starting this blog on the 21st of February, but I don't expect it to air for even a few months. Anyway, for convenience, I'll restate what I've stated in previous blogs regarding Illagers (so you don't have to search through old blogs).

In my blog about Witches, I briefly mentioned that the Illagers were kicked out of villagers for helping fight in the war between the Piglins and the Overworld (the events of Minecraft Legends). I also mentioned that the Witches were less upset by this, while Illagers decided to seek revenge, or, as I put it there, vindication.

In my blog about Heroes, and how they died I mentioned that Illagers were the first people to really learn magic and use it. I claimed that they possibly helped the Builders resurrect their fallen comrades--creating an undead virus in the process.

Now that some basic background has been mentioned, we can start actually making a timeline, ans gove them some real history.

First of all, the Illagers were first created back during the Piglin war in Minecraft Legends. I want to address the note that Legends isn't canon, and it is possible that the Illagers weren't started then, but for the purposes of thos blog, and others, I am assuming that it is canon, as ive no better alternative theory (I'm working with what little Mojang has given me).

I believe that immediately after Legends, the Villagers kicked the Illagers (and Witches) out, building dungeons to imprison them.

After the events of Legends, it is hard to tell what happened. By the time that the canon novel Rise of the Arch-Illager takes place we know the Illagers and Villagers has gained enmity, with the latter raiding villages consistently.

In the beginning of the novel, we see that Illagers live in mansions, and in small outposts, but aren't really united under one flag. They are simply led by a "leader", Walda, until they are united under Archie, who now has the Orb of Dominance. Of course, Archie later is dethroned, after the events of Dungeons.

After Dungeons, Illagers seem to keep raiding villages, though they are significantly weaker without The Orb or Archie. They no longer have the power to make redstone golems, and they seem to have lost lots of variety, without Enchanters, or Armoured Pillagers--though that may just be to keep the Main Game simple.

Now that we have a simple timeline set up, we can start to analyze what exactly the Illagers are doing now, in the Minecraft present day.

Evoker mobs are known to carry the treasured totems of undying, which are able to prevent death. Oddly, the Evokers don't use these totems when they are being killed, instead allowing them to be dropped. This leaves 2 options. Either Evokers are stupids, which we know isn't the case, or they know that the totems are better used for something else, other than life saving. Now, take golems, which were the backbone of the Illager army in Dungeons, and how the Illagers no longer have access to them because they lost The Orb of Dominance.

What if the Illagers are using their totems to try creating golems? Some people think that the Ravager is a golem (I don't subscribe to this idea). We know that the Illagers are rich, and don't get worth-while loot from raiding. Instead, they kill Villagers for seemingly no reason. What if they recognise the fact that to create life with Soul Magic life must first be sacrificed? The pieces are coming together. The Illagers kill Villagers so they can get a sort of sacrifice, so they can then create life! They want to bring back the Redstone Monstrosity!! Either that or they are just creating red sheep.

Before I go, I want to address the theories that other more famous people have made. Mostly the theory that the Vindicators are made with lapis lazuli in their heads and that ravagers are golems. I believe that the Vindicators aren't brainwashed Villagers, and Minecraft Legends somewhat proves this, and the idea of Ravagers being golems is absurd for other reasons.

Thank you for reading this blog, please look at my otgrt ones, and make up your own theories, not taking my word as canon. There will be more theories on the Illagers, but in the meantime this is all I can give you. See ya!