Hero of the Village

Hero of the Village is the friendship between Steve and a Villager from the Minecraft fandom.

Gameplay
Villages were first added in the pre-release version 1.8., Villagers were added later in the Beta 1.9 prerelease, players would notice that they used to have the word "TESTIFICATE" in place of player names. The developers themselves admitted that they were initially "completely useless", as the developers planned for them to trade since the very beginning, but could only program them to "live in villages". Thus, many players didn't bother with them outside of keeping them around as decoration, with Creative Mode giving them a chance to spawn only one of 6 villager professions (Farmer) and baby versions of that profession. Though players could note that Villagers of other professions could also be born naturally, if the player chooses to build enough houses for them to justify them reproducing. A later update allowed for Farmers to change profession to keep the amount of professions in a village balanced, along with Eggs spawning villagers with random professions.

Trading was added soon after, players could mine rare emeralds to give to Villagers in exchange for goods, but could also give them goods in exchange for emeralds. This has been the basis of Villager trading ever since, with the key difference being that Villagers asked far more emeralds for their wares, making long time trading unfeasible. Later, a popularity system was added, with villagers judging the player based on their actions. If they trade well, the Villagers will like them and shorten their prizes, if they hurt or kill a Villager, the Villagers will either hike up their prizes or refuse trade. Should the player's reputation in a village be at an all time low, the village will treat them as an enemy and sent their Iron Golem after them. Villagers themselves can only become hostile against the player through an outside source: Should a Villager be struck by lightning, they will turn into a hostile Witch, should a Villager be bitten by a Zombie, they will turn into a Zombie Villager. Zombification can be cured by spraying the Villager with a Potion of Weakness and then feeding them a Golden Apple, a Villager-turned-Witch cannot be cured, the only response is fight or flight. Later updates add a "gossip" feature to Villagers, with curing a Zombified Villager being considered high karma.

Though professions have been a thing since very early in the Villager's history, it was random and dictated by the color of the Villager's robe or apron, a later update would give the player the option to create jobs for the villagers. For every profession, there is a designated block, which the player can craft and place inside a village, a jobless Villager will then walk up to the block and gain a job thanks to the player. Any Villager with a job (including the ones "born" with one) will trade items fitting of their profession (Fletchers sell arrows, Farmers sell vegetables, etc.). A jobless Villager will only shake their head at the player if they attempt to trade with them. There are also perpetually jobless Villagers called "Nitwits", who are as useless as the name indicates and are based on prototype Villagers with green robes that players summoned with commands. Fascinated by the player's reactions to what is essentially a broken villager, the developers decided to make them into a "feature".

Protecting Villagers has been established since Zombie raids were implemented, with Villagers being incapable of fighting and relying on their Iron Golems and the player for survival. The idea of raids was carried over for the "Illagers", Villagers who had turned to evil, with them sending Pillagers to kill any Villagers in a group large enough to count as a village. Should the player attempt to trade with them during an ongoing raid, the Villagers will be too scared to respond, which is illustrated by them sweating if they are clicked on, though later updates changed this to them still being willing to trade, but still sweating. Should the player successfully stop a raid by killing all of the Illagers nearby, the player will receive the "Hero of the Village" status effect, which causes nearby Villagers to be so grateful for their rescue that they bombard the player with gifts based on their profession (Baby Villagers will throw flowers instead). Should the player attempt to trade while the status effect is active, they will discover that all trades are discounted, the Villagers are willing to give the player whatever they want from them for free.

Fanon
The relationship between the players and the Villagers was quite a journey. Initially, few players liked them for their "ugly" designs, comparing them Squidward Tentacles from SpongeBob SquarePants. Similarly they were often characterized as "greedy" due to their perceived unfairness in trading. This all changed with the various updates, with the "Village & Pillage" update often being credited for making the Villagers lovable and "worth" protecting.

People feel that there's a special connection between the player characters and the Villagers, as the latter are the closest thing the Minecraft world has to friendly humanoids. This is especially poignant with the theory that Steve and Alex are the only actual humans in that setting, with it sometimes being interpreted as an Apocalypse or "Isekai" scenario.

Fandom
FAN FICTION