“Our dead are never dead to us until we have forgotten them” – George Eliot, English novelist, poet, and journalist.
When someone has passed away the common perception is that they are gone for eternity; however, this way of thinking could not be further incorrect, because people only truly die when there is no memory of them left. With no one to remember or pass on anecdotes and achievements revolving around them, their spirit ceases to exist. Fortunately, people can be immortalized, as long as they are remembered for who they were and what achievements they accomplished. With that being said, it is time to move on to who this tribute is dedicated to, Technoblade.
Technoblade was a gaming YouTuber who created mainly Minecraft content. Today, his channel boasts fourteen million seven hundred thousand subscribers. Unfortunately, Technoblade never saw his channel achieve fourteen million subscribers, nor did he see it attain twelve or thirteen million subscribers. On June 30th, 2022, Techoblade’s family released a video, where Technoblade’s father announces that Technoblade, whose real name was Alexander, had died of stage four sarcoma cancer. Technoblade had notified his fans through a video on August 27th, 2021 that he had cancer, and gave updates on how his treatment was going and how he was feeling. Technoblade was exceptionally positive in all his videos and streams, and that gave the impression that he was going to be alright. This is why when the news of his passing had been released, it was difficult to fathom that he was no longer living. Technoblade’s death and journey with cancer is an important part of his life and legacy, but there is more to him than his tragic demise.
Technoblade was well known in the Minecraft community for his prowess in PVP (Player vs. Player). Technoblade’s first major accomplishment was winning Minecraft Monday, a weekly Minecraft Hunger Games-style tournament hosted by Keemstar, with popular participants like Mrbeast, Ninja, and Vikkstar123. Winning this tournament gave him extraordinary exposure, resulting in him attaining one million YouTube subscribers. He proceeded to be victorious in the tournament three more times, always being supportive to his teammates even if they were not the best or if they tried to sabotage him. He became the player who came first in the tournament the most. This cemented Technoblade as one of the best Minecraft players to many. His next major achievement after this was becoming the Minecraft player with the most potatoes (no, seriously). On the Minecraft server, Hypixel (which is by far the most popular Minecraft server out there) he became the player with the most potatoes, but the reason this bizarre achievement is one of his most prevalent ones is due to a great rival, im_a_squid_kid and Technoblade’s genuine drive in not only becoming number one in terms of the number of potatoes but also keeping that title. I recall a scene in his third installment of the “Potato War” where he said that he was going to call his rival in an attempt to sleep deprive them, which made me laugh so hard because I know he would not do such an action, but the persona he built up would. In the end after a race to five hundred million potatoes, Technoblade was declared the potato king. He then went on to win another Minecraft tournament, this one being Minecraft Ultimate. Minecraft Ultimate was a charity PvP tournament made up of teams of fours, like MCC, however, Technoblade won this tournament on a team of three. He joined because his friends had two of their teammates drop out of their team, and requested Technoblade to join their team. The event organizer Pickaclicks stated that if Technoblade joined their team, he would have to replace both of their teammates. This was due to all three players being exceptionally skilled in PvP, but despite the disadvantage, Technoblade joined the tournament, because he thought that the idea was hilarious. Although they were down a teammate they still went on to win the tournament with ease, raising 36,000 dollars for charity in the process, which came as a shock to me as I was watching his stream of the tournament. . Technoblade’s final major accomplishment was defeating Minecraft Youtuber, Dream in a 100,000 dollars duel hosted by MrBeast.
The aspect of Technoblade that I see throughout his whole YouTube career and all his achievements is optimism and perseverance. Through all his absurd circumstances, Technoblade never gives up hope. In all of Technoblade’s videos. Never in a million years was he pessimistic, or discouraged. He tried his hardest to do what he enjoyed, not letting any disease stop him from performing his passion. His positivity during what would be a dark time for most is truly inspiring, and I believe that I can be as bright as he was during those troubling times. Technoblade showed three major attributes, the first being that you should never throw away an opportunity that life gives you, live life to the fullest, because you never know when it will end, and despite the hardships, life throws at you, always, always give it your all, because in the end that unreachable dream you have will be in your grasps. Technoblade was a kindhearted, determined, intelligent man and the world is a worse place now that he is dead. But, he is not gone, he never will be, his actions, words, and dedication to whatever task he set off for will be remembered.
“You just have to shoot for the stars in every situation” – Alexander, Technoblade.
Gerardo Gil
Fenwick High School – DMSF Class of 2026
Image courtesy of Hypixel and the Hypixel Team