The portal of the ancient city

[unreal pier]

Finally someone aggrees with me!!! 😭

To add evidence to this, I just wanna say that:

1. Hard material thats exclusive to the structure (like the stronghold end portal)

2. Heat, (the soul fire under the portal, which I believe is even hotter due to the increased damage)

3. Mojang has stated in the past that every dimension should feel unique, as to make the player feel rewarded for the challenge of building/opening a portal

along with the fact that sculk is completely alien to everything else in the overworld

4. A loud, portal-sounding noise can be heard in disc 5

5. (The strongest piece of evidence in my opinion) A small replica of the main structure found in the Ancient City was literally called "SMALL PORTAL STATUE".

And yes, I know that this was changed before official release, but I think that's just because we had learned too much.

After all, what did they gain by changing it?

[magic grotto]

I think it was a attempted portal. They tried to make a portal but instead the soul fire created the sculk imbuing it with the souls from the fires.

[trail temple]

that is a very interesting theory as it explains why the portal isn't actually usable.

[magic grotto]

Yeah until we actually see the portal work this is my theory

[unreal pier]

I agree that this is a very interesting theory, my only problem with it is the material properties of sculk.

If a failed portal were to create a mob, I would imagine it to be some kind of more etherial entity more than an organic substance.

The fact that sculk is so organic, with its squishy sounds and incorperation of bone into its structure says to me that it came about naturally in a strange environment.

To be fair, some of the earlier warden designs lean into this, but the final product, at least to me, says otherwise.