Hello, Ryer here.


As you have probably guessed, this is a Monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey, but it is not the monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey, or the other one from 2001: A Space Odyssey, or the other one from 2001: A Space Odyssey… and it definately is not the monolith from 2010: Odyssey Two, which is really just the second one from 2001. Also, the third one from 2001 may be the second one, idk… they seem to be different sizes.

But no! This is a different monolith, one that remains unknown to humanity. See, the apparent purpose of the monoliths was to almost serve as checkpoints. They were created by a transcendent alien race to monitor humanity's progress and guide them as they explore more and more space. Who is to say that humanity is unique in this project? If there is one alien race out there, who is to say there is, or at least was another that went through a similar fiasco with the monoliths? I almost theorize that there was another race, another civilization that was developing. In a similar manner to what would later happen with earth, there was a monolith placed on their homeworld and in various locations radiating away from it into the vastness of space. Alas, it failed here. It was discovered far too late despite its immense size, only being found as this race colonized this planet, not as it was only beginning. It wasn’t able to guide them as it later would humanity, and the race eventually crushed itself with its own advancement.

This is the monolith from that world. Standing 3.5 kilometers deep, almost 2 kilometers tall, 220 meters long, and 880 meters wide, I had replicated this many dimensional object in four dimensions in Minecraft. Oh, you can’t see the 4th dimension? I had replicated this many dimensional object in three dimensions in Minecraft… forget I said otherwise for now…

This was among my most difficult builds, but I am proud of it. Achieving the right shape was difficult and the coloring of the monolith was a pain, but I did it. The less complicated bit, the terrain I only added as an afterthought. I decided that it would be better to immerse the viewer in the same setting as this alien race did when they discovered this monolith. Don’t follow in all of their footsteps though, that path leads to termination.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy!



Ok, in all seriousness though… why did some of my best renders have to come out of a project like this? It could have been on something incredible, pushing the boundaries of creation in the game… but no, it was on this Monolith.