Minecraft Villager

Villager

Health points	20 × 10
Behavior	Passive
Attack strength	Set firework: 5 –6
Size	Adult: Height: 1.95 Blocks Width: 0.6 Blocks Baby: Height: 0.975 Blocks Width: 0.3 Blocks

Spawning

Natural generation

Villagers spawn in the houses with beds of their villages, which spawn in several biomes such as plains, snowy tundras, savannas, deserts, taigas, and snowy taigas.

A cleric villager and cleric zombie villager spawn locked up in the basements of igloos, under the carpet of the floor. In Bedrock Edition, the villager and zombie villager inside igloo basements have random professions instead of always being clerics.

Breeding

For a tutorial on breeding mechanics in Java and Bedrock editions, see Tutorials/Village mechanics. For breeding mechanics in Legacy Console Edition, see Tutorials/Legacy Console village mechanics.

Adult villagers breed depending on the time of the day, and need to be willing in order to spawn § Baby villagers, which also require beds.

If a villager dies to a non-mob, non-player source while a player is within 16 blocks (spherical radius), or if a monster kills a villager, then villager breeding ceases for approximately 3 minutes.

The breeding depends on the number of valid beds. If a villager is "willing" (see below), villagers breed as long as the population is less than 100% of valid beds. All baby villagers are initially unemployed. Willing villagers reproduce as long as there are unclaimed beds available within the limits of the village.

A census is periodically taken to determine the current population of the village. All villagers within the horizontal boundary of the village and within 5 vertical blocks‌^{[Java and Legacy Console editions only]} of the center are counted as part of the population to determine if continued villager mating is allowed. However, any villager within the horizontal boundary of the village and within the spherical boundary of the village will attempt to enter mating mode as long as there is at least one villager within the boundary. If two villagers simultaneously enter mating mode while they are close to one another, they breed and produce a child. The child will be unemployed, and the biome will depend on where the breeding occurs, even if both parents are from a different biome.

Willingness

Villagers must be "willing" in order to breed. After mating, they cease to be willing, and must be made willing again before breeding.

Villagers must have enough beds within village bounds for baby villagers to spawn. The beds must have two blocks of clearance above them, because there needs to be room for the baby villager to jump on them (this means that the baby villager needs to be able to path-find the bed, it can't be in an unreachable spot).

Villagers can become willing by having either 3 bread, 12 carrots, 12 potatoes, or 12 beetroots in one stack in their inventory. Any villager with an excess of food (usually farmers) throw food to other villagers, allowing them to pick it up and obtain enough food to become willing. The player can also throw bread, carrots, beetroots, or potatoes at the villagers themselves to encourage breeding. Villagers consume the required food upon becoming willing. If /gamerule mobGriefing is false, villagers won't pick up food.

Curing

Variants

Zombie villagers

Main article: Zombie Villager

When a zombie kills a villager, it can turn the villager into a zombie villager, depending on the difficulty: 0% chance on easy, 50% chance on normal and 100% chance on hard. Zombie villagers also spawn naturally in the Overworld in the same conditions as a normal zombie, although much less commonly( 5% chance ). Zombie villagers also spawn in zombie villages.

Illagers

An illusioner attacking villagers.

Main articles: Illager, Evoker, Vindicator, Illusioner, Pillager, Ravager, Vex and Raid

Illagers are hostile villager-like mobs that spawn in woodland mansions as well as pillager outposts, illager patrols, or raids. There are four kinds: vindicators, evokers, pillagers, and illusioners along with two associated mobs: vexes and ravagers‌^{[Java and Bedrock editions only]}. Illagers are considered to be outcasts from villages.^[1] In addition to attacking players, they also attack villagers, wandering traders and iron golems. In Bedrock Edition, illagers do not attack baby villagers although baby villagers still flee from them.

Witches

Main article: Witch

Witches are hostile, villager-like mobs, which spawn in the overworld according to the usual mob spawning rules. They can also spawn in witch huts, or spawn when a villager gets struck by lightning. Witches may also spawn as a part of raids.

Wandering trader

Main article: Wandering Trader

Wandering traders spawn randomly around the world in Java Edition, or periodically in village gathering sites in Bedrock Edition. Two trader llamas spawn leashed to the wandering trader. Players may use emeralds to buy items from wandering traders, but cannot trade items for emeralds. Like villagers, wandering traders are attacked by most zombie variants, illagers, ravagers‌^{[Java Edition only]}, and vexes, Wandering traders also drink a Potion of Invisibility at night. In Java Edition, they drink a milk bucket in the morning to remove the Invisibility.

NPC

Main article: NPC

NPCs are villager-like mobs in Education Edition and Bedrock Edition.

Drops

Both baby and adult villagers drop no items nor experience upon death, regardless of the cause.

Behavior

Movement patterns

Nitwit and unemployed villagers leave their homes at day and begin to explore the village. Generally, they wander aimlessly inside the village during the day. They may go indoors or outdoors, and they periodically make mumbling sounds. Occasionally, two villagers may stop and turn to look at each other, in a behavior called socializing, during which they stare at another villager for 4-5 seconds at a time. They continuously stare at a nearby player unless the villager is trying to get into a house at night, farm food, work, or flee from a zombie or pillager.

In Bedrock Edition, villagers do not stop continuously in front of players, though they still do stare as they move. They also sprint away if the player attacks them.

Villagers tend to not travel far from their beds in a large village, unless the job site or the nearest gossip site (Bell) is far from their beds.

Villagers, like other mobs, can find paths around obstructions, avoid walking off cliffs, and avoid some blocks that cause harm. However, in crowded situations, it is possible for one villager to push another off a cliff or into harm's way.

Villagers run inside at night or during rain, closing doors behind them. They attempt to sleep at night, but if they cannot claim a bed, they stay indoors until morning. In the morning they head outside and resume normal behavior, However some villagers will stay outside later than others unless being chased by a pillager or zombie.

Villagers flee from zombies, zombie pigmen, vindicators, pillagers, ravagers, and vexes within 8 blocks, and evokers and illusioners within 12 blocks.

If a villager finds itself outside the village boundary, or a villager without a village detects a village boundary within 32 blocks, it moves quickly back within the boundary. A villager taken more than 32 blocks away from its village boundary forgets the village within about 6 seconds. Whether in a village or not, a villager is never prone to despawning.

Villagers cannot open trapdoors, fence gates, or iron doors, but can open all kinds of wooden doors and can climb ladders. (though not intentionally.)

When moving inside, villagers prefer doors within 16 blocks (Euclidean distance) and also tends to prefer doors with fewer villagers nearby, however "nearby" in this case is only 1.5 blocks and, when moving inside, villagers prefer to move 2.5 blocks inside when the inside is to the south or east and therefore out of range of this check. During the day, it has been observed that villagers tend to cluster near a trapped villager or any existing large cluster of villagers, likely due to the "socialize" AI routine overriding their inclination to wander. Conversely, in Java and Bedrock editions, villagers have a set schedule in which they socialize and mingle at gathering sites (near a bell) at midday.

Job site blocks

For a list of job site blocks and the professions they are required for, see § Professions.

In Java Edition and Bedrock Edition, villagers (other than babies and nitwits) seek employment by searching a 48 block horizontal radius^[verify] for a job site block. An unemployed villager acquires a profession and a job by claiming the first unclaimed job site block it can detect in that area. A job site block can be detected as long as it is in range, not already claimed and the villager can pathfind to the block to claim it. This means if they can't see or get to the block, they won't claim it. When the block is claimed, its owner emits green particles‌^{[Bedrock Edition only]} and no other villager can claim it unless the owner relinquishes it.

If a job site block is broken or destroyed, its owner (if any) emits anger particles‌^{[Bedrock Edition only]} and becomes jobless, but retains its profession if it has been traded with. A villager who already has a profession but no job site attempts to find one:

A novice level villager (one who has only its first tier trades unlocked) can claim any job site block and changes its profession along with acquiring a new job (they will only change profession if they have not been traded with at all).
Villagers above the novice level can claim a job site block only if the block is associated with their profession.

Villagers can change profession only during the day.

Gossiping

This feature is exclusive to Java Edition and PlayStation 4 Edition.

Spreading gossip informs other villagers of the reputation of players. Villagers acquire pieces of gossip through various means, and spread them to other villagers when they converse. There are five types of gossip: major_negative, minor_negative, major_positive, minor_positive, and trading. major_positive cannot be shared.

A villager generates minor_negative gossip if it is attacked by a player, major_negative gossip if it is killed by a player (which is immediately shared with all other nearby villagers), major_positive and minor_positive gossip if it is cured by a player, and trading gossip if a player traded with the villager. Negative reputation cause villagers to increase their prices for the player in question, while positive reputation results in lower prices. Overall reputation also determines the hostility of the village iron golem toward the player.

Each piece of gossip has a type, a target, and a strength or "value". The target is the player who caused the gossip. If a piece of gossip would be generated in or spread to a villager, but the villager already has a piece of gossip with the same type and target, the existing gossip's strength is increased instead. If the gossip has a high strength then villagers are more likely to share that gossip.

When a gossip is shared, it is received at a reduced value. The reduction varies by gossip type (-20 for trading, -5 for minor_negative &minor_positive and -10 for major_negative). Gossips also reduce in value every 20 minutes by various amounts (-2 for trading, -20 for minor_negative, -10 for major_negative and -1 for minor_positive; major_positive does not reduce).

Picking up items

Villagers have eight hidden inventory slots, which start empty whenever the villager is spawned. Villagers do not intentionally seek out items to pick up, but they do collect any bread, carrots, potatoes, wheat, wheat seeds, beetroot and beetroot seeds within range. These are the only items they can pick up, although the player may use the /replaceitem command to put an arbitrary item into a villager's inventory. If a player and a villager are in the pickup range of an item at the same time, the player always picks it up first.

A villager can only hold a maximum of 4 stacks of the same item.

When killed or converted to a zombie villager, any inventory item of the villager is lost, even when gamerule keepInventory is set to true

Villagers cannot pick up items if /gamerule mobGriefing is false.

A dispenser can be used, if adjacent to a villager, to place armor on it. While not visible (except pumpkins and mob heads), the equipment functions as normal; for example, villagers with an armor piece enchanted with Thorns can inflict Thorns damage to any enemy that attacks it.

Sharing food

If a villager has enough food in one inventory stack (6 bread or 24 carrots, potatoes, beetroots, or 18 wheat for farmers only) and sees a villager without enough food in one inventory stack (3 bread,12 carrots, 12 potatoes, or 12 beetroots for non-Farmers; 15 bread, 60 carrots, potatoes, or beetroot, or 45 wheat for Farmers), the villager may decide to share food with that villager.

To share, a villager finds his first inventory stack with at least 4 bread, carrots, potatoes, or beetroot or with at least 6 wheat, and then throws half the stack (rounded down) in the direction of the target villager. When wheat is shared, it is first crafted to bread which may result in 1 or 2 less than half the stack being shared.

Farming

Farmer villagers tend crops within the village boundary. Villagers far enough outside the boundary of any village also tend nearby crops.

Farmland to be tended is found by seeking for certain blocks up to 15 blocks away from the villager in the X and Z coordinates and up to 1 away in the Y coordinate (a 31×31×3 area total).

If a farmer villager does not have enough food in one stack in its inventory (15 bread, 60 carrots, 60 potatoes, 60 beetroot, or 45 wheat) and finds fully-grown wheat, carrots, potatoes, or beetroot, the villager moves to the crop block and harvests it.
If a farmer villager has any seeds, carrots, potatoes, or beetroot seeds in his inventory and finds an air block above farmland, the villager moves to it and plants a crop. They always plant from the first eligible slot in their inventory.
If /gamerule mobGriefing is false, villagers cannot farm.

Baby villagers

Baby villagers sprint around, entering and leaving houses at will. They sometimes stop sprinting to stare at an iron golem. If the iron golem is holding out a poppy, the children may cautiously take the flower from its hands. They tend to group and chase one another around the village as if playing tag. They also jump on beds.

Baby villagers give gifts of poppies or seeds to players who have the Hero of the Village effect.‌^{[Java Edition only]}

Baby villagers in Bedrock Edition have a slightly bigger head than in Java Edition and Legacy Console Edition; this also can be seen in other baby mobs in the game as well.‌^{[Bedrock Edition only]}

A baby villager becomes an adult 20 minutes after birth.

Zombies and drowned

Main articles: Siege and Zombie

Villagers flee from zombies and drowned, sometimes hiding in houses. Villagers also flee from zombie pigmen, although zombie pigmen do not attack villagers.

A villager's only "natural" defense are the iron golems, which attack nearby hostile mobs.

Zombies and drowned seek out and attack villagers within a 42 block radius (even when the villager is invisible). Zombies attempt to break down doors, but only a fraction of zombies have the capacity to do so, and can succeed only when difficulty is set to hard. Zombies who cannot break doors tend to crowd around a door that separates them from a villager.

Both zombies and drowned kill villagers or convert them to zombie villagers. The chance of the villager becoming a zombie villager upon death if the difficulty is set to Easy is 0%, 50% on Normal, and 100% on Hard. Baby villagers can be infected by zombies as well. Drowned can convert villagers to zombie villagers even when attacking from a distance with a trident.

Lightning

When lightning strikes within 3–4 blocks of a villager, the villager is replaced by a witch.

Raids

During a raid, villagers flee from illagers and run to the nearest house, similar to a zombie siege. For a villager to hide, the house must have a door and at least one bed.

Before the first raid wave in Java Edition, at least one villager rushes to ring the bell in the center of the village (if they are close enough) to warn the other villagers of an incoming raid before going into their house. in Bedrock Edition, the bell will automatically be rung regardless if a villager is nearby or not.^{[needs testing]}

A villager often stays in the house it first entered, but may exit the house occasionally. The player can still trade with villagers during a raid.‌^{[Java and Bedrock editions only]}^[verify]

On random occasions the villager displays water particles as if sweating.

Once the player gains the Hero of the Village status after defeating a raid, villagers give them a discount for their trades and throw them gifts related to their profession‌^{[Java Edition only]}. For a list of items they can gift, see Hero of the Village § Gifts.

Schedules

Villagers have set schedules depending on their age and employment status. Schedules define the villager's goals, which mostly determine how they behave throughout the day. However, their goals can be interrupted by higher priority behaviors most villagers have, such as fleeing from an attack, trading, and getting out of the rain.

Time (ticks)	Employed	Unemployed	Child	Nitwit
00000	Work / Breeding	Wander	Play	Sleep
02000	Work	Wander		Wander
08000	Gather
10000	Work	Wander
11000	Home / Breeding	Home
12000	Sleep
13000				Home
14000				Sleep

Working

Employed villagers spend most of their day standing next to their job site blocks. From time to time they "gather supplies" by wandering a short distance away, then returning.

Some professions have additional job-specific goals that are part of their work schedule:

Farmers harvest and sow crops.
Librarians inspect bookshelves.

When a villager reaches its own job site block, it will "work". Two times a day, this action of working will resupply locked trades. Villagers can resupply twice per day, even without having a bed or while sitting in a minecart. A villager can "reach" its job site block if the block is in any of the 8 directly adjacent or diagonal block spaces horizontally around him at the height of their feet, or at the 9 blocks below that. Villagers can still "reach" them diagonally, even if they can't actually see or touch a face of the block.

Wandering

All villagers wander from time to time, but for the unemployed, wandering is their main goal because it maximizes their ability to find a job site block they can claim (thereby becoming employed). A wandering villager chooses a random block and walks toward it, then stands there for a variable amount of time before wandering again. If at any time it detects a job site block it can claim, it does so, assumes the skin for the associated profession, and immediately begins following the appropriate schedule.

A villager attempts to claim a job site block by finding a path to a block next to one, showing angry particles when unable to reach it. After a villager fails to reach the job site block several times, it becomes unclaimed, indicated by showing angry particles on it. The villager loses its job site block and eventually becomes unemployed if the villager is at novice-level and no nearby job site block is available. Any other nearby unemployed villager has a chance to become the block's new owner. If there are no unemployed villagers nearby, then the villager who lost the job site block seeks for another unclaimed one, or tries to reclaim the same unreachable one in an endless loop (this also happens for claiming beds).

The wander schedule includes a job-specific goal called "exploring the outskirts" that causes villagers to wander near the edges of the village. This enables them to detect new beds, job site blocks, and bells that players have used to extend the village.

Gathering

Late in the day, adult villagers (other than nitwits) gather at a meeting place (the area around a bell). When two villagers encounter one another, they mingle (look at each other and "converse" by humming at other villagers). They may also share food, or breed if both are willing.

If a villager isn't close enough to detect a bell, it wanders randomly, searching for one.

Playing

Villager children chasing one another.

Baby villagers wander randomly searching for others to play with. When they find one, the two of them follow each other for a while and sometimes run as if racing or chasing each other.

Baby villagers wander randomly searching for beds to jump on.

They sometimes stop to stare at an iron golem. If the iron golem holds out a poppy, the baby villager cautiously accepts it.

Returning home

All villagers except Nitwits head home a short time before sunset and Nitwits go home after sunset. They roam around for a while, eventually targeting a block beside their bed. Once they reach it, they do not go through a door again before sleeping.

A villager who has no bed simply waits inside a house until morning.

Sleeping

A villager sleeping in a bed at night.

At sunset, most villagers lie down in their beds and remain there until morning. (Nitwits stay up later at night and get up later in the morning.) A villager wakes early if food is thrown at them, they are pushed out of bed, or if their bed is destroyed. In Bedrock Edition, they will also wake up when their bed is used or they are attacked.

If possible, they return to sleeping in a bed after the interruption. When villagers successfully sleep, they immediately heal themselves when waking up at dawn.

A villager who has no bed continues wandering in search of a bed to claim.

When a bell is rung, the villager will wake up.

Professions

All plains biome variant professions (except unemployed) corresponding to their different job site blocks.

Each villager can have a profession, which can be identified by their clothing as well as by the title at the top of the trading interface. A villager can choose their profession by claiming a job site block. When they go to work, they use their daily schedule to get to their claimed job site block. Some professions, like farmers and librarians, do other things. Farmers plant crops, and librarians can inspect bookshelves.

A job site block can be claimed only if it is unclaimed and within a village boundary with at least 1 bed. Removal of a claimed job site block causes the owner to switch to another profession or become unemployed, provided that the villager has no prior trades with the player. If the villager has prior trades, it keeps its profession and claims a new job site block that matches its profession if one is available. So, once a player trades with a villager, the villager keeps its profession forever.

Nitwits and baby villagers cannot change their profession.

Novice-level villagers can lose their profession and change into unemployed villagers.

Unemployed adults actively seek for an unclaimed job site block and change into the corresponding profession.

Below is a table listing the various professions, along with the specific job site block that each profession requires:

Profession	Job site block	[hide]Biome
Profession	Job site block	Desert	Jungle ^{[note 1]}	Plains	Savanna	Snow	Swamp ^{[note 1]}	Taiga
Unemployed	N/A
Armorer	Blast Furnace
Butcher	Smoker
Cartographer	Cartography Table
Cleric	Brewing Stand
Farmer	Composter
Fisherman	Barrel
Fletcher	Fletching Table
Leatherworker	Cauldron
Librarian	Lectern
Stone Mason‌^[BE only] Mason‌^[JE only]	Stonecutter
Nitwit	N/A
Shepherd	Loom
Toolsmith	Smithing Table
Weaponsmith	Grindstone

↑ ^{Jump up to:a} ^b Jungle and Swamp villagers can spawn only in their corresponding biome by using spawn eggs, breeding, or by curing zombie villagers, as no villages generate there. An occasional jungle or swamp villager may spawn in these biomes however, if their village overlaps from another biome.

Nitwit

	“	It started because players could summon villagers without a career by using commands: it was the only way to get villagers with green robes. Whenever we discover we have a bug which is used by the community we just see it as 'undefined behaviour' - and 'fix' it by making it a feature. In this case we just needed a profession for the green-robed villager. I don't remember what name we came up with first - I think it was 'unemployed' or something, but it doesn't really fit in the world, because I don't really think the other villagers are employed by anyone either. So I think the next suggestion was 'village idiot' but I thought 'nitwit' was a more fun name.	„
		— Jeb about the Nitwit^[2]

Nitwit villagers wear green robes. They cannot acquire a profession, trade, or gather around bells. They wander around the village for about 2000 ticks after other villagers go to sleep, before seeking a bed. If they can claim a bed, they arise in the morning 2000 ticks after the rest of the village wakes up. A villager cannot change into a nitwit.

Appearance

Villagers and zombie villagers have seven skin types corresponding to the biome they spawn in. Their appearance also varies based on their profession and their five tiers. They show which trade tier they have unlocked by a badge of a varying material on their belt. A new tier is obtained every time a player trades with a villager and the badge appears as stone, iron, gold, emerald, and finally diamond. In Bedrock Edition villagers have three badge tiers: iron, gold, and diamond.^{[until 1.13.0]}

Villagers have different outfits depending on the biome where they spawned, which are:

Desert outfit: desert and badlands biome and variants
Savanna outfit: savanna biome and variants
Taiga outfit: taiga, giant tree taiga, and mountains biome and variants
Snow outfit: any snowy biomes (including frozen river, frozen ocean (and its variants) and snowy beach)
Swamp outfit: swamp biome and variants
Jungle outfit: jungle biome variants (including bamboo jungle)
Plains outfit: plains and all other biomes not listed above.

Villagers have 15 professions, which are as follows:

Farmer (straw hat)
Fisherman (fisher hat)
Shepherd (brown hat with white apron)
Fletcher (hat with feather and quiver on the back)
Cleric (purple apron and creeper cloak)
Weaponsmith (pirate eyepatch and black apron)
Armorer (welding mask)
Toolsmith (black apron)
Librarian (eyeglasses and book as a hat)
Cartographer (golden monocle)
Leatherworker (brown apron and brown gloves)
Butcher (red headband and white apron)
Stone Mason‌^{[Bedrock Edition only]}/Mason‌^{[Java Edition only]} (black apron and black gloves)
Nitwit (green coated)
Unemployed (no overlay, base clothing of biome without extra features)

Trading

Main article: Trading

The Java Edition trading interface displaying two available trades.

Villager badge changes color depending on the level of the villager. From left to right: stone (novice), iron (apprentice), gold (journeyman), emerald (expert), and diamond (master).

	“	Right click on a villager and you can trade with them, offering them emeralds in exchange for better equipment, maps to notable treasures or food. Unless you are trying to trade with a nitwit, of course, in which case you’re going to get squat. Who’s the nitwit now?	„
		— Marsh Davies^[3]

The trading system is a gameplay mechanic that allows players to buy and sell various items to and from villagers, using emeralds as a currency. Their trades can be good or bad, depending on what the cost is and what items the player might get. Only adult villagers with professions can trade; the player cannot trade with nitwits, unemployed villagers, or baby villagers.

Using an employed villager allows a player to trade, making offers based on the villager's profession and profession level. All offers involve emeralds as a currency and some item related to the villager's profession. Trading can allow the acquisition of items that would otherwise be difficult to obtain, such as enchanted books with "treasure" enchantments (e.g. Mending) and bottles o' enchanting. When villagers get a new trade, pink particles and green cross particles appear. When a villager gives off particles from a new trade, they get 10 seconds of Regeneration I (totaling to 4

of restoration)^[verify].

Completing a trade with a villager increases its profession level slightly. Some trades will grant higher levels to the villager, while others will not. As it advances through its profession, the villager offers additional trades.

after the player has traded for an item a maximum allowable number of times (every item has a specified max amount of trades) the villager's supply of an item is exhausted, and the trade is temporarily locked. A player can continue to trade for the villager's other available items, if any. Exhausted items are restocked when the villager works at a job site, up to twice per day.

In Bedrock Edition the price of an item can rise and fall with demand. If an item is traded then its price rises when resupplied. If the price is higher and the player doesn't trade for that item, then the price will be lowered the next time it is resupplied. Demand is stored per item, not per villager, so a single villager can offer trades where some of the prices are higher than usual while some of the items are cheaper.

Trade offering

Several villagers offering trade items to a player. Note the unemployed villager.

When a player holds an item near a villager who wants that item, the villager holds up an item it offers in exchange. For example, a villager who buys 20 wheat for one emerald will hold up an emerald, offering it to a player holding wheat. If the villager has more than one trade for an item, it cycles through the trades, offering a different item every few seconds. This kind of trading interaction makes it easier to find villagers who offer a particular trade, but the player must still open the trading interface to complete the trade.

Economic trade

Villagers have levels and require experience to unlock the next tiers of trade; level 1 is novice, level 2 is apprentice, level 3 is journeyman, level 4 is expert, and level 5 is master. Villagers can resupply trades by themselves by working more at their job site block. In Bedrock Edition, restocking can be forced instantly using the /resupply command (however this command does not work due to a bug).

Popularity

In Java Edition Villagers increase their prices of trades if a player's popularity is low, (e.g from damaging villagers), and decrease it if their popularity is high (e.g from trading with multiple villagers).

Hero of the Village

When a player receives Hero of the Village, players receive discounted prices on all items traded by villagers. In Java Edition The Hero of the Village also gets showered with gifts, each villager throwing gifts related to its profession.

Data values

ID

Java Edition:

Entity	Namespaced ID
Villager	`villager`

Bedrock Edition:

Entity	Namespaced ID	Numeric ID
Villager	`villager`	15
(New) Villager	`villager_v2`	115

Entity data

Achievements

Main article: Achievements

Achievement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)	Availability				Xbox points earned	Trophy type (PS)
Achievement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)	Xbox	PS	Bedrock	Nintendo	Xbox points earned	Trophy type (PS)
The Haggler	Mine or purchase 30 Emeralds.	Acquire or spend 30 Emeralds by trading with villagers.	Xbox One	Yes	Yes	Yes	30G	Silver
The Haggler	Mine or purchase 30 Emeralds.	Acquire or spend 30 Emeralds by trading with villagers.	Xbox 360	Yes	Alt	Yes	20G	Silver
Treasure Hunter	Acquire a map from a cartographer villager, then enter the revealed structure	Visit the structure indicated while the purchased map is in your main hand (hotbar).	No	No	Yes	No	40G	—
Buy Low, Sell High	Trade for the best possible price.		No	PS4	Yes	No	50G	Gold
Master Trader	Trade for 1,000 emeralds	Obtain 1,000 emeralds from trading with villagers.	No	No	Yes	No	30G	—

Advancements

Main article: Advancements

Icon	Advancement	In-game description	Parent	Actual requirements (if different)	Internal ID
	What a Deal!	Successfully trade with a Villager	Adventure	Take an item from a villager's trading output slot, and put it in your inventory.	`minecraft:adventure/trade`
	Very Very Frightening	Strike a Villager with lightning	A Throwaway Joke	Hit a villager with lightning created by a trident with the Channeling enchantment.	`minecraft:adventure/ver`y_very_frightening

History

Java Edition
1.0.0		Beta 1.9 Prerelease			Added villagers with the same AI as pigs and had the name "TESTIFICATE" displayed over their heads as player names are displayed in multiplayer. They had 5 main professions (0, 1, 2, 3, 4), and other profession numbers were a green-robed unnamed villager.
		Beta 1.9 Prerelease			"We added them in 2011, but in the beginning they were completely useless - you couldn't trade with them, they didn’t have any sound effects or anything. Their only purpose was to live in the villages. We discussed a lot about what they would do - we knew we wanted trading, but we weren't sure about what would happen with the village itself. Would the player do quests around the village? Would it expand?" – Jeb^[3]
		Beta 1.9 Prerelease 2			The "TESTIFICATE" name above villager's heads has now been removed.
1.1		11w49a			Added the villager spawn egg to creative mode. Only farmer villagers are spawned.
1.2.1		12w05a			Villagers can now open and close doors.
		12w05a			Villagers now go inside at night and detect houses.
		12w06a			Villagers can now socialize with each other and passive mobs.
		12w06a			Villagers are now attacked by and run away from zombies.
		12w07a			Villagers now repopulate villages by the number of houses there are.
		12w07a			Villager children now sprint.
1.3.1		12w18a			Villagers spawned via a spawn egg now has a random profession.
		12w21a			Added trading with villagers. Leaving a trading window open cause villagers not to wander under normal circumstances.
		12w22a			Villagers now reassign their profession if there is a lack of a specific profession or if the number of villagers in a profession is unbalanced (i.e., if there are many farmer villagers and no blacksmith villagers, one change its skin, showing it has changed its profession).
		12w22a			Trading has also now been changed, where an extra input space has been added where tools can be placed for buying enchantments and/or repair.
		12w25a			Villagers may now remove a trade option after it has been used at least 3 times.
		12w26a			Although requiring external tools or modifications to apply, spawners can now spawn the previously unavailable green robe villagers in unmodified Minecraft clients.
1.4.2		12w32a			Villagers now like and dislike the player, depending on how they react to them.
1.4.2		12w32a			Villagers can now be infected by zombies, causing them to change their appearance and attack the player and other villagers.
1.4.4		pre			Villager children can now be spawned easily by right-clicking a villager with a villager spawn egg.
1.6.1		13w22a			Added sound effects for villagers. They have different sounds for taking damage, talking to villagers, successful trades, and canceled trades.
1.7.4		?			A bug now causes adult villagers killed by baby zombies to turn into baby villager zombies.
1.8		14w02a			Added careers to villagers, splitting up the trade offers within a profession. This career is shown in the trading interface.
					The trading system has now been reworked to be less random; it is now tier-based instead, and several offers may be generated at one time.
					Due to the changes in the trading system, attempting to trade with generic villagers crashes the game.
					Villagers now breed only when willing. This limits the number of villagers and prevents infinite breeding villages.
		14w02c			Villagers that had professions more than 4 now repeat in 0-4.
		14w02c			Generic villagers can now be spawned only by using negative profession numbers.
		14w03a			Villagers struck by lightning now turn into witches.
		14w04a			Farmer (profession) villagers now harvest fully grown crops.
		14w04a			Villagers can now be made willing using 3 bread, 12 carrots or 12 potatoes.
		14w04b			Villagers now have an NBT tag that allows control over getting experience for trading (reward exp).
		14w20a			The generic villager has now been completely removed. However, the texture still exists in the Minecraft files.
1.8.1		pre4			Villagers no longer ignore data tags or damage values.
1.9		15w31a			Farmer villagers now harvest beetroot crops, but ignore the drops.
		15w38a			Villagers now pick up beetroot and beetroot seeds.
					Villagers now use and share beetroot as food.
					Farmer villagers can now plant beetroot seeds.
		15w39a			Villagers are slightly taller (1.95 blocks tall rather than 1.8, with babies 0.975 blocks tall rather than 0.9).
		15w43a			A priest can be found caged in an igloo basement.
1.11		16w32b			Re-added generic villagers, who are now called Nitwits, as profession 5. However, they can no longer trade, because right-clicking on a Generic Villager does nothing.
		16w32b			The entity ID has now been changed from `Villager` to `villager`
		16w39a			Added a new career for the librarian villager called "Cartographer".
		16w43a			Villagers are now able to draw from their own loot tables.
1.13		?			The weapon smith's career ID has now been changed from 3 to 2 and the Tool Smith's from 2 to 3.
1.13		18w11a			Villagers now run away from drowned.
September 29, 2018					The Village and Pillage update, which improves villagers and villages, was announced at MINECON Earth 2018.
1.14		18w47a			Villagers now hide in houses during raids.
		18w47a			Villagers no longer trade while a raid is ongoing, right-clicking them instead makes them emit sweat particles.
		18w50a			Added new mason profession.
					Villagers now have different skins based on biome (including swamps and jungles, which do not contain villages), as well as profession.
					Villagers now have five tiers and show which trade tier they've unlocked, by a badge of a varying material on their suit. The first trade tier appears as a stone badge, the next iron, then gold, emerald and finally diamond.
					Villagers now run away from and get infected by giants.
		19w03a			Villagers no longer run away from nor get infected by giants.
		19w11a			Added many new villager trades, for each villager profession.
					Villager trading prices now also depend on the player's popularity in the village.
					Villagers now resupply their trades up to two times a day, if they get to work at a job site block.
					The villager trading UI has now been updated.
					Villagers now level up in a new way.
					Villagers now have a daily schedule. They go to work and meet up at the village bell. Each villager tries to find its own bed and job site block. Each profession has a specific block that works as a job site block for them (e.g. lectern for the librarian and cauldron for the leatherworker).
					Iron golems now spawn when enough villagers meet.
		19w13a			Villagers can now trade during raids again.
					Villagers now sweat, only during raids.
					Villagers now hide in houses when a bell is rung by the player.
					Villagers now throw gifts to players with the different Hero of the Village status effects, with the gift item depending on their profession. Baby villagers throw poppies.
		19w13b			Revamped trading UI.
					Available trades are now listed in a left sidebar, similar to Bedrock Edition.
					When players have the required materials, clicking on one of the trades now put the items into the slots automatically.
		19w14a			Nitwits now shake their head and grunt if the player tries to trade with them.
		Pre-Release 1			Fletcher villagers no longer sell luck arrows.
		Pre-Release 1			100% of villager trades are now discounted when the player has the hero of the village effect.
1.14.3		pre1			Panicking villagers now have a higher chance of spawning iron golems.
					Farmer villagers now spend more time farming when they are working.
					Farmer villagers now always give away food even if other villagers do not need it.
		pre2			Panicked villagers now have to work and sleep, so they cannot be in a state of panic all the time.
		pre2			The "last slept" and "last worked" properties for villagers are now saved properly.
1.14.4		pre1			Villagers now voluntarily pick up items.
		pre2			Villagers now stock more items, so they now can trade more items before they lock their trades.
					Villagers now remember their gossip after becoming a zombie villager.
					Gossip about players who converted a zombie villager now last longer.
					Villagers can now work without also restocking at the same time.
					The performance of villager pathfinding has now been improved.
Upcoming Java Edition
1.15		19w35a			Nitwit villagers no longer have a leveling gemstone in their belt.
1.15		19w35a			If a player tries to sleep in a bed that is occupied by a villager, the villager is now kicked out of the bed.
Pocket Edition Alpha
0.9.0		build 1			Added villagers. They have the same level of AI as PC version 1.0.0, as they cannot trade, harvest crops, breed or open doors.
		build 2			Villagers now have sounds.
		build 3			Villagers are now attacked by and run away from zombies.
		build 3			Villager children now sprint.
0.9.2					Villagers now have sounds on iOS and Fire OS.
0.10.0		build 6			The villager walking animation has now been changed.
0.12.1		build 1			Villagers can now open and close doors.
					Villagers now go inside at night and detect houses.
					Villagers can now socialize with each other and passive mobs.
					Farmer villagers now harvest fully grown crops.
					Villagers now repopulate villages by the number of houses there are.
					Villager children now sprint.
					Villagers now like and dislike the player, depending on how they react to them.
					Villagers can now be infected by zombies, causing them to change their appearance and attack the player and other villagers.
		build 10			Villagers now always become zombie villagers in Hard difficulty.
0.13.0		build 2			Villagers now open all wooden doors (rather than just oak).
0.14.0		build 1			Villagers struck by lightning now transform into witches.
0.14.0		build 1			Villagers are now slightly taller (1.95 blocks tall rather than 1.8, with babies 0.975 blocks tall rather than 0.9).
0.15.0		build 1			Villagers now run away from husks.
Pocket Edition
1.0.0		alpha 0.17.0.1			Villagers now spawn in igloo basements.
1.0.4		alpha 1.0.4.0			Added trading with villagers.
					Baby villagers now have larger-sized heads.
					The nitwit villager has now been added for resource packs.
					Villagers can now share food with other villagers.
					Villagers can now be made willing by using 3 bread, 12 carrots or 12 potatoes.
					Villagers now breed only when willing.
1.1.0		alpha 1.1.0.0			Villagers now run away from illagers and vexes.
1.1.0		alpha 1.1.0.3			Added a new career for librarian villager called "Cartographer".
Bedrock Edition
1.4.0		beta 1.2.13.8			Villagers now run away from drowned.
1.9.0		beta 1.9.0.0			Villagers now run away from pillagers.
1.10.0		beta 1.10.0.3			Added nitwit and unemployed villagers.
					Added mason profession, which can be traded with.
					Villagers now run away from the new ravager.
					Added a new type of villager. Both the old (pre-Village & Pillage) and new types of villagers are able to be spawned in-game and have different spawn eggs, although they have the same name and same spawn egg texture.
					Villagers now have different skins based on biome (including swamps and jungles, which do not contain villages) as well as professions. However, villagers spawned in igloo basements still use their old skin.
					Villagers now have three tiers and show which trade tier they have unlocked, by a badge of a varying material on their suit. The first trade tier appears as an iron badge, then next gold and finally diamond.
					Librarian villagers now inspect bookshelves.
					Villagers can now occupy beds to sleep.
					Villagers now have a schedule. Adult and child villagers have a different schedule and fishermen, farmers and librarians have special work schedules.
					Villagers now hold the item they want to trade.
1.11.0		beta 1.11.0.1			Farmer job site block has now been changed from farmland to composter.
					Added economic trades, which makes villagers level up and require experience to unlock next tiers, which makes it possible to instantly change their tiers from iron to diamond.
					Villager trades are no longer instantly refreshed as it now requires to resupply, which can be activated only by using `/resupply`.
					Old villagers convert to `villager_v2` .
					Baby villagers are now ignored by illagers, including ravagers and vexes.
		beta 1.11.0.3			Villager now heal themselves upon waking up at dawn.
		beta 1.11.0.4			Villagers now hide in houses during raids.
					The villager economy trades has now been changed.
					Supply and demand feature now works properly.
					Villagers now make sounds when they work.
Upcoming Bedrock Edition
1.13.0		beta 1.13.0.9			Villagers can now heal if they have bread in their inventory.
Legacy Console Edition
TU7	CU1	1.0	Patch 1	Patch 1	Added villagers. They have the same level of AI as PC version 1.0.0, as they cannot trade, harvest crops, breed or open doors.
TU11					The limit for villagers has now been increased in a world.
TU12					Villagers can now open and close doors.
					Villagers now go inside at night and detect houses.
					Villagers can now socialize with each other and passive mobs.
					Villagers are now attacked by and run away from zombies.
					Villagers now repopulate villages by the number of houses there are.
					Baby villagers now sprint.
TU13					Added a limit to the number of villagers spawned by breeding.
TU13					Added the hearts display when villagers enter 'love mode'.
TU14		1.04			Added trading with villagers.
					Villagers are now assigned random professions.
					Villagers that are spawned from a spawn egg now have a random profession.
					Villagers now make sounds from being hurt, trading & wandering.
					Baby villagers can now be spawned by using on an adult form of that mob using a spawn egg.
TU31	CU19	1.22	Patch 3		Villagers now have additional professions and trading schemes.
					Villagers now harvest crops.
					Villagers now breed only when willing (and can be made willing by giving them 3 bread, 12 carrots or 12 potatoes).
					Villagers turn into witches when struck by lightning.
TU54	CU44	1.52	Patch 24	Patch 4	Added a new career for the librarian villager: "Cartographer".
New Nintendo 3DS Edition
0.1.0					Added villagers.
1.9.19					Added a new career for the librarian villager: "Cartographer".

Issues

Issues relating to "Villager" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.

Trivia

The villagers were inspired by the shopkeepers in Dungeon Master 2.^[4]
Originally, the mobs populating villages were to be pigmen.^[5]
Name tags used on villagers always name the villager instead of opening the trading interface.
After a zombie villager is cured, the villager gets Nausea for 10 seconds (indicated by the purple status effect particles).
When a villager is in love mode, it walks very slowly. However, when a villager runs indoors as the night falls, it runs faster than the player's sprinting speed.
Villagers use their schedules if the village is in the Nether or the End. This is because the day-night cycle continues in these dimensions, even though it is not normally apparent to the player.
- Unlike players, villagers can claim and sleep in beds in the Nether and the End without causing them to explode.
The new villager skins added in the Village and Pillage update were inspired by 2018 fashion shows, such as Gucci's.^[6]
Villagers occasionally sleep in odd ways during the night inside their beds, sometimes hanging halfway off the side of their bed or even glitching into walls.
Similarly to librarians and farmers, fishermen have a custom schedule that allows them to have a job-specific goal. However, currently none is defined.
Although the villages in snowy taiga biomes spawn the snowy villager variant, they use the taiga village variant.
Although there are no jungle or swamp village variants, these villagers can spawn naturally, if another village variant extends into a jungle or swamp.

April fools

Main article: Easter eggs § 2014

This feature is exclusive to Java Edition.

On April 1, 2014, Mojang announced that villagers have taken over the skin servers and content delivery networks (CDN) as an April Fools joke. This caused players's current skin to turn into villager skins, and caused users to be unable to change their skins unless modifying the launcher .json file. Different career villager skins were used, including the then-unused nitwit villager (green robe).

Many of the sounds were also changed, supposedly by the villagers. They seem to be similar to a villager talking (with words, rather than their normal sounds). The in-game music has also been altered to include villager like noises, and also features a villager version of the "Game of Thrones" theme on the title screen. The sounds originate from the sound resource pack created by Element Animation, titled The Element Animation Villager Sound Resource Pack (T.E.A.V.S.R.P.), which is based on the villagers appearing in their fan videos. The villagers were voiced by Dan Lloyd, Director of Element Animation.

The skins and the sounds were reverted to the way they were before on April 2, 2014. However, this update cannot be activated by setting the computer's date to April 1, 2014.

Bedrock and Legacy Console Editions are not affected by this April fools' Joke.

Gallery

The base skin for all villagers. This is never seen in-game.
An unemployed jungle villager.
An unemployed swamp villager.
Creeper face on the robe of a plains biome cleric villager.
Artwork of a snowy villager.
The new Jungle villager textures shown at MINECON Earth 2018.
New villager textures, shown at MINECON Earth 2018, announced as the Taiga biome variants. They were instead used for the Snowy Tundra biome variants.
A group of villagers shown in the Village and Pillage update artwork.
All plains biome variant professions (except unemployed) corresponding to their different job site blocks.
Every villager skin type per profession and biome.
A plains farmer villager holding bread.
A villager sweating during a raid.
An image released earlier by Jeb showing separated villagers.^[7]
Villager in Beta 1.9 Prerelease, when villagers had the word "TESTIFICATE" displayed over their heads.
The strange blue villager found between iron golem and horse in the Java Edition 1.6.1 update poster.
The unused angry villager particle
The unused villager speech bubble
An odd combination of Steve and a villager.^{[more information needed]}