Mob Menagerie: Blaze

Don’t look too closely, though, because blazes are not friendly. They attack any player within 48 blocks, alerting others nearby to attack too. Those attacks come in the form of small fireballs - not always on target, but reliably deadly if they do hit. Fighting a blaze often involves having something to hide behind. And did I mention that they fly and are immune to damage from fire? Make sure to factor that into your combat plans.

One interesting thing to note is that blazes can be damaged by snowball and splash water bottles, which quench their fiery heat. But if you’re lacking a pile of snowballs then don’t worry, arrows and swords work just fine too. 

When killed, blazes will usually drop one of the rods that spin around them. If your weapon has a looting enchant on it, then you’ve got a chance to get more than one. But don’t get distracted trying to pick up drops - blazes almost always come in groups, and there’s almost certainly another one nearby.

If there are blazes in the real world, then no-one has survived the encounter to report it. But there are some similar creatures in folklore. The phoenix, for example, which appears in Greek, Egyptian and Persian mythology, is an immortal bird that catches fire when it dies and then rises again from the ashes. 

In the Zoroastrian religion, fire is considered to represent purity, righteousness and truth - and many of its rituals and festivals revolve around fire. It also plays an important role in other religions - from the yajna ceremony in Hinduism, to the Holy Fire in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.

Even today, fires are an important part of many cultural events - perhaps none more so than the Olympic Flame, which is brought in a relay from Olympia in Greece and burns for the duration of the Olympic Games.

So next time you’re hosting a sporting event on your Minecraft server, consider bringing a blaze with you from the Nether and tying it to a pole nearby (perhaps with a glass shield to protect you from its aggression). It’s not quiiiite as fancy as an Olympic Torch, but it’s the next best thing!