Minecraft wiki entry for Defeating_the_ender_dragon, associated text: Perhaps the biggest reward of defeating the ender dragon is the end gateway portal, which generates after the dragon dies. The player cannot walk through it normally because it is too narrow to walk through. The easiest way to enter it is to throw an ender pearl through it, but it is also possible to sprint-swim through it in if the player has a water bucket or fly through it with an elytra if the player already has one. In Village and Pillage, the player can also use trapdoors to crawl through the portal. This portal is sometimes considered the only reason to need to fight the dragon, because it gives the player easy access to the End's outer islands, which is the only place where the player can find end cities, shulkers, chorus trees, the elytra and the dragon head. Without the end gateway, they are about 1,000 blocks away from the main fighting area against the dragon (in any direction). Note that you can live in the outer islands and just wander around, and you can find a lot of treasure. If you go too far and you want to get back, you can jump into the void as long as you have "keep inventory" on.