The Curse of Vanishing

You've been playing Minecraft for a while now, building your world as it suits you, and there's an enchanting table somewhere, right? We've all been there. Enchantments are awesome! At least some of them are. Others you might have more of a 'it's complicated' attitude towards. And one of those enchantments is the curse of vanishing.

What Is the Minecraft Curse of Vanishing?

There are useful enchantments that make you do more damage or that give your tools a longer durability. These enchantments are not called 'curse' for a reason. In fact, as you can see from the name Minecraft curse of vanishing, it's not something you'd want for your items to begin with. On the contrary, many players try to avoid items on which the enchantment lies.

Basically, it's simple: If an item is enchanted with the curse of vanishing and you die in the game, the item disappears with you. No other player or mob can pick it up. You can drop it yourself, and it will be in front of you, but who would think of dropping their axe in the middle of a fight, for example?

Is the Curse of Vanishing Minecraft’s Hidden Blessing?

While you can't really say that the curse of vanishing is evil, looking at the name, 'curse' doesn't necessarily sound nice either. If you're in the middle of the game and accidentally die because you're not paying attention and fall off an unsecured bridge, it's not ideal to lose your inventory. But you can usually pick it up again. It's too bad if you can't find your new netherite sword. And you can't even blame it on one of the other players. You remember that you didn't know what the curse of vanishing was when you enchanted your sword. Too bad. You'll know better next time. Doesn't necessarily make the curse more useful, but maybe Mojang just wanted to trick us a little with it.

These Items Disappear When Under the Curse of Vanishing

Maybe it's not exactly what you want from the curse of vanishing, but you can actually enchant a lot of items with it! Would probably be too nice if the curse of vanishing items were limited to only a few and worthless ones. Instead, you can enchant the following items and send them to the void after your death:

• armor
• tools
• All weapons
• Various items, e.g.: carved pumpkin, mob heads, jack o'lantern

So you see, it's mostly useful items and the curse of vanishing doesn't stop at light sources or funny decorative blocks.

How to Get Rid of the Curse of Vanishing

How convenient, that you are able to get rid of enchantments! How inconvenient, that this doesn't apply to the curse of vanishing. A grindstone won't do you any good. So in the end, your only choice is to bear it like a true Minecraft Steve; die in-game and lose the item, or cheat a bit and use a chat command that lets you keep your inventory. We don't want to judge anyone, so the decision is entirely up to you.

Why You Should Use It Anyway!

Of course, you may wonder why you should use this curse of vanishing, when it just doesn't bring any positive results. Finding a serious answer seems to be difficult. We've come up with 6 reasons why the curse of vanishing might end up on your item:

You didn't know any better: Everyone tries enchantments and curses a first time. Don't worry about it.
You find the item: Maybe you'll hook an enchanted sword while fishing someday?
For motivation: With the curse of vanishing, you'll be much more alert to avoid dying!
For the thrill: Some people just love the risk
As your own challenge: This way you always have to start from 0 after dying. Challenging, isn't it?
To annoy other players: Hands down, malicious joy is the best. Don't let your fellow players take your sword in multiplayer! If you can’t have your favorite weapon, nobody should have it.

Whether it was meant to be a nasty prank by Minecraft, or to fulfill some other use that is still unknown to us, we have no idea. But one thing is clear: Somehow, you can get something positive out of everything. So go in search of an enchanting table and let's go! Try out the thrill of the curse of vanishing on a Minecraft server from G-Portal! Have fun!