Minecraft 1.21 update could be a great opportunity for new village types

Minecraft's 1.20 update, known as Trails & Tales, hasn't been released for long. Be that as it may, plenty of fans are already looking forward to the 1.21 update and what form it might take. Theories have bounced around social media as to what the new version should address. One, in particular, seems to be picking up some steam, specifically, a change targeted at villages and the villagers within them.

Villages and their inhabitants have been an integral part of Minecraft for several years now, but they haven't gotten substantial attention since the Village & Pillage update. Considering it's been four years since that update, it may be time for another look at villages.

While this is all pure speculation for Minecraft 1.21, it doesn't hurt to examine a few reasons why a new village update might fare particularly well.

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Reasons why Minecraft 1.21 should center around renovating villages or adding new ones

Jungle/swamp villages are still missing

There's no disputing that villages are diverse, thanks to the home biomes they come from. However, two biomes possess villagers that can be bred but not villages to accompany them. Specifically, swamp and jungle biomes allow players to breed biome-specific villagers, but fans must make these villagers a custom home to do so.

If a 1.21 update did come along and take a swing at villages, creating swamp and jungle villages that can naturally generate during world creation would be a huge plus. This would save players plenty of time building their own villages to breed jungle/swamp villagers, and frankly, The Wild Update (version 1.19) missed a perfect opportunity to do so already.

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Some villager enchantment trades are still missing

Trading with villagers has become a core aspect of Minecraft for years now, and librarian villagers, in particular, have been beloved for their ability to trade enchanted books. Interestingly enough, Mojang decided to nerf these trades in betas for version 1.20.2, causing some to no longer be accessible or require much more effort.

This is due in part to librarian villagers now having different inventories depending on their home biome and their profession level. As previously noted, some enchanted book trades have been completely removed, and a few enchantments weren't tradeable, to begin with.

If Minecraft 1.21 was indeed a village update, it could then add new village biome types to fill in the gaps concerning missing enchantment book trades. Now that librarian villagers offer defined enchanted books based on their biome and experience level, adding more village types and villagers could be a way to broaden the trades that can be accessed.

Obviously, Mojang would have to decide which Minecraft biomes are suitable for new villages, but it's hardly an insurmountable obstacle. Furthermore, adding new villages/villagers would go a long way in making the Overworld feel like a more populated place to explore.

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Modders have been improving villages for years

It's no secret that Mojang sometimes draws inspiration from the work of Minecraft community members and the many mods they create. Just look at cherry grove biomes in the 1.20 update, which were being used in mods well before Mojang implemented them.

Since that's the case, why not take a look at some of the most popular village mods and see how they could be implemented into vanilla Minecraft? Many fans believe that some mods and modpacks have even better ideas than Mojang at times, so the developer may have a few things to learn in that regard. The best way to do so is to see what is a hit among the community.

Obviously, blatantly ripping off the work of the Minecraft modding community isn't advised in the situation. However, Mojang could still observe what remains incredibly popular among village mods and see how those concepts may apply in vanilla.

Mojang is fully capable of putting its own spin on things, and it surely wouldn't be too difficult to do so.