Minecraft wiki entry for The_Wild_Update, associated text: Previous names considered for the warden were the "stalker" and the "hollowed".[36]
The stalker iteration was tall, asymmetrical and had a glowing core. It occurred in totems throughout the Deep Dark. The stalker would stand completely still to trick players into taking its core and aggravating it, and could transform into a one block high form to prevent players from digging away. That iteration, specifically its appearance and transformation mechanic, felt too clunky and was more goofy than scary, which is why it was scrapped.[37]
The hollowed was based off of trypophobia and had white flesh with holes in it. That iteration was deemed too gory by the developers and had to be toned down.[38]
In the sixth episode of The Secrets of Minecraft, it was jokingly revealed that the warden’s personal name is William, similar to how the ender dragon, the wither, and player characters all have personal joke names. The word was also jokingly broken down into the words: war and den.[36]
This is the first update to add a 2-dimensional mob, the firefly.
This is the first update that features a losing vote candidate (biome, in this case), the swamp biome update from MINECON Live 2019.
While this update introduces mud as a block, mud has existed in the franchise as a fluid in Minecraft Earth. The properties of mud in this update have not been stated.
Kingbdogz stated in a tweet that the souls in the warden’s chest is incredibly important to its lore.[39]