Minecraft Crying Obsidian: The Block That Took Nine Years to Return

Not every Minecraft update secret appears in the patch notes. Sometimes the interesting bits are tucked away in files players were never meant to inspect. That is exactly how crying obsidian first entered Minecraft history during Java Edition Beta 1.3 on February 22, 2011.

The update added plenty of blocks that actually reached players, including slabs, but crying obsidian was not one of them. Community members found only a stray texture file, nearly nine years before the block would officially launch. Theories followed quickly, along with fan names like Bleeding Obsidian, until Jeb clarified the intended name and purpose.

Its original job was surprisingly important. Before beds became the normal way to set a spawn point, crying obsidian was planned as the block players would use to choose where they returned after death. That feature was badly wanted at the time, because walking back from world spawn after a bad cave trip was not exactly peak design.

Beds eventually took that role instead, leaving crying obsidian without a clear reason to exist. The unused texture was removed in Java Edition Beta 1.5, and players were left with little more than a vague promise that it might come back someday.

Mods later gave the lost block new purposes, and fans kept asking for its return. The official comeback finally arrived in the 1.16 Nether Update, complete with a refreshed look and a use that honored its original design.

Crying obsidian became a crafting ingredient for respawn anchors, which let players set a respawn point in the Nether. Considering the Nether is full of lava, ghasts, blazes, wither skeletons, and other polite neighborhood hazards, that function made immediate sense.

How to Get Crying Obsidian Now

Today, crying obsidian can generate naturally as part of ruined portals. Bring a diamond or netherite pickaxe before mining it, because the tears do not make it any less obsidian.

Players can also obtain it by bartering gold ingots with piglins or by looting chests in bastion remnants. Neither method guarantees a drop, so expect a little wandering, bargaining, or mild Nether panic.

Once six crying obsidian are gathered, place three glowstone down the center of the crafting grid to make a respawn anchor. Charge it properly, set your point, and the Nether becomes slightly less punishing. Slightly.