The Graveyard

What happens when you die

Carry a light. Die to a mob, lava or fall damage and your things wait in a grave right where you died until the light burns down. For a while, only you can open it. Die fighting another player and it's plain Minecraft.

3 lights
A grave lasts up to 4 hours
Up to 3 graves waiting

Read the guide Meet the Necromancer Candles and lanterns

How it works

Carry a light
Keep a Vigil Candle or one of the Necromancer's lanterns loose in your inventory, hotbar or offhand. One packed in a shulker box or bundle doesn't count.
You get a grave
A player head appears where you died, holding your things, with your armour in its own slots. The text above it shows how long it lasts, and your light loses one use.
Only you can open it at first
How long depends on your light (the cards below say). After that, anyone can open it until the light burns down.
Come back for it
Right-click the head to take things out, or sneak and break it to get everything back at once, with your armour straight back on. Wait too long and it crumbles: your things drop on the ground and vanish after the usual five minutes.

The rules

No grave in a fight
If another player kills you, or you die within 30 seconds of fighting one (logging out mid-fight counts too), it's plain Minecraft: your things drop where you died and no light is used.
Your lights stay with you
Lights loose in your inventory, hotbar or offhand never end up in a grave or on the ground, even in a fight. Only the one that made the grave loses a use. Lights packed in a shulker box or bundle go wherever the box goes.
Three graves at a time
If three of your graves are already waiting, your next death doesn't make one and uses no light: your things just drop. Empty one first.
Survival worlds only
Graves form in the Overworld, the Nether, the End and the Deeper Dark. There are none in Aldoria itself (the spawn world around Moonfall Castle, dungeons included) or in the Arcade.
No grave in the void
Die in the void and your things are gone, but your lights stay with you and none is used. Die in lava and the grave appears on solid ground next to it.
Dying on the Nether roof
Die on top of the Nether roof and your grave forms far below you, straight down at the first spot with room for it. It uses a light like any other grave. If there's no room at all below, you get no grave, no light is used, and your things drop on the roof.
Remember where you died
/graves lists your graves: which world each is in, how long it has left, and whether it's still locked to you. Nothing shows anyone the exact spot, so remember the way back. Near a lantern's grave you'll see its lantern glowing, and nobody else will.
No light, no grave
Without a light it's plain Minecraft: your things drop where you died, anyone can pick them up, and they vanish after the usual five minutes.

Candles and lanterns

Each grave takes one use from one light. Hold a light and right-click to light it, and that one goes first. Otherwise your cheapest one goes, so candles burn before lanterns, unless you've asked the Necromancer to use your best first.

Vigil Candle
Craft it, or buy it from the Necromancer. He gives you your first one free.
Grave lasts
45 minutes
Only you can open it
For the first 15 minutes
Experience kept
What you'd drop anyway
Uses
One per candle
Price
$250 in-game
The everyday light. Candles stack to 16.
Craft a Vigil Candle
A candle on top, a bone on each side of a gold ingot, and three gold ingots along the bottom. Any candle works.
Reaper's Lantern
Buy it from the Necromancer. It's named for his scythe.
Grave lasts
2 hours
Only you can open it
For the first 45 minutes
Experience kept
20% of your experience
Uses
3, then the Necromancer relights it
Price
60 Coins
A lantern glows over your grave, and only you can see it.
Bound to you
Soul Lantern
Buy it from the Necromancer.
Grave lasts
4 hours
Only you can open it
For the first 2 hours
Experience kept
35% of your experience
Uses
5, then the Necromancer relights it
Price
150 Coins
Your grave lasts the longest, with a soul lantern glowing over it that only you can see.
Bound to you

The Necromancer relights the lantern in your hand back to full, burned out or not: 20 Coins a use for a Reaper's Lantern, 30 for a Soul Lantern. Lanterns are bound to you, so nobody else can use yours.

You never need Coins to stay safe: craft candles, or buy them from the Necromancer with in-game money. Coins only buy lanterns, which keep your things longer. They can't get you a grave in a fight.

The Necromancer

A hooded man in a bone mask stands at the gate of Lantern Hill, behind Moonfall Castle. He's a necromancer, and his craft is what keeps a grave together: a light he made holds your things where you died until it burns down. He gives every new player their first candle, sells candles and lanterns, and relights your lanterns for Coins.

Your first candle is free: just talk to him. It's bound to you, so only you can use it.

What he says

Evening. Still breathing? Good. I've plenty of company up here already.

I'm the Necromancer. The dead are my trade, so I tend their graves and keep their things safe. The scythe's for the grass.

Burned right down, has it? Hand it here. I'll light it again.

Coming to the Graveyard

Gravestones
Later, the hill gets gravestones for deaths worth remembering, like the first player the Warden ever caught or a much-loved dog. A stone is only carved if its player says yes, and it only shows up here if they want it to.
All Souls' Night
Once a year, on the Day of the Dead, from dusk on 1 November to dawn on 3 November, the Necromancer lights every stone on the hill. Come up while they're lit and he'll give you a free candle.

For every rule and command, see the graves guide on the wiki.

Carry a light

You get a grave

Only you can open it at first

Come back for it

No grave in a fight

Your lights stay with you

Three graves at a time

Survival worlds only

No grave in the void

Dying on the Nether roof

Remember where you died

No light, no grave

Gravestones

All Souls' Night