Happy Ghast

It has been suggested that this page be split into Happy Ghast and Ghastling.

 ^[discuss]

If this split affects many pages, or may potentially be controversial, do not split until a consensus has been reached.

Happy Ghast

View all renders

Health points	20HP × 10
Behavior	Passive
Mob type	Animal
Hitbox size	Happy Ghast: Height and width: 4.0 blocks Ghastling: Height and width: 0.95 blocks
Speed	0.05
Spawn	When a dried ghast is rehydrated in water (as ghastling)
Usable items	Ghastling: Snowball Lead Happy Ghast: Harness Shears Lead

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A happy ghast is a passive counterpart of the ghast that can be harnessed and ridden by up to four players at once as a flying mount.

Spawning

Happy ghasts can be spawned by waterlogging a dried ghast for about 20 minutes. The block will transform into a ghastling. The ghastling cannot be harnessed or ridden until fully grown. Feeding it snowballs accelerates its growth. Unlike other mobs that can be fed, happy ghasts cannot be bred.

Drops

Happy ghasts drop their equipped harness on death, if any, plus 1–3XP experience orbs when killed by a player or tamed wolf. Killing a ghastling yields no experience.

Behavior

Home location

Happy ghasts are bound to a home. This home is initially set as the location where it spawns, and is updated to its current location whenever any of the following events happens:

• A harness is equipped on or removed from it.
• A lead is detached from it.
• It is dismounted.
• It is no longer tempted by a player with a snowball or a harness.
  • This can happen by the player switching to a different item, or leaving the radius where the happy ghast can be tempted.
• The ghastling stops following a mob (see § Ghastling).

Unharnessed happy ghasts roam within a 64-block radius of their home, while harnessed happy ghasts and ghastlings roam within a 32-block radius of their home.

Healing

When not at full health, happy ghasts regenerate at a rate of 1HP every 30 seconds. However, if they are between Y-levels 187 and 196 (corresponding to the cloud level), or if it is raining or snowing, they regenerate at a rate of 1HP per second.

Ghastling

A baby happy ghast is called a ghastling. Ghastlings require 20 minutes (24000 ticks) to grow up into adult happy ghasts. This process can be sped up using snowballs. In Bedrock Edition, it takes 10 snowballs for a newly-spawned ghastling to become a happy ghast ; in Java Edition, each snowball fed to a ghastling reduces its remaining growth time by 10%.

Ghastlings occasionally follow nearby players or specific mobs within a range of 16 blocks. They move toward their target with a slight speed boost (× 1.1) and stop once they are within 5 blocks of it. They prioritize players but can also follow the mobs listed below, provided they are not babies:

Ghastlings, unlike adults, do not drown when submerged underwater.

Ghastlings do not have a separate spawn egg, since they are technically baby happy ghasts. They can be spawned specifically using commands. In Bedrock Edition happy ghast spawn eggs have a 5% chance to spawn a ghastling.

Happy ghast

Happy ghasts fly around aimlessly and are passive to players and other mobs. Unlike most passive mobs, they do not panic when damaged.

They follow players holding snowballs. They also follow players holding a harness, if they do not have one already equipped. They can also be leashed.

Unlike regular ghasts, happy ghasts are not immune to fire and lava damage, and cannot shoot fireballs.

Happy ghasts are unaffected by speed potions.^[1]

Riding

A happy ghast can be ridden and piloted by the player when equipped with a harness. Only adult happy ghasts can be equipped with a harness and ridden. The harness can be taken off using shears to retrieve the item.

Up to four players can ride a happy ghast. The first player that mounts a happy ghast controls it, sitting in the front just above its face. Players that mount after the piloting player sit in a spot on the remaining sides, starting clockwise from the first player. When one of the players dismounts, the next players are rotated counter-clockwise, filling in the empty seat. While the happy ghast is being ridden, its goggles lower to cover its eyes.

When riding, the player can fly both horizontally and vertically, allowing for more precise movement in the air. A happy ghast is controlled with the standard directional controls; pressing forward moves the happy ghast in the direction the player is looking. Pressing jump moves the happy ghast straight upward. There is no dedicated control to move downward; in order to do so, the player should look down and press forward, or look up and press backward. To move the happy ghast in a way that doesn't increase nor decrease height, move sideways.

A ridden happy ghast moves at about 3.6 m/s when going the direction the pilot is looking in.

Dismounting a happy ghast places the player on top of it. Players can stand on top of a happy ghast (both harnessed and unharnessed) in the air as if it were a solid block. While players are standing on it, the happy ghast becomes stationary and aligns to one of the cardinal directions, making it easier to mount and dismount and to build structures high above the ground. Reloading the chunks causes the happy ghast to realign and face south. Other entities (such as other mobs and items) also sit on top of the stationary happy ghast, and mobs make little to no attempt to pathfind while standing on it. When there are no longer any players standing on the happy ghast, it becomes mobile again and loses this collision. Any entities left on it are flung off, which can indirectly cause mobs to fall to their death.

Carrying leashed entities

Happy ghasts can also be used to carry and transport entities in the air using leads.

The player can attach a leashed boat, boat with chest, or specific leash-able mobs too large to fit in boats (horses, donkeys, mules, skeleton horses, zombie horses, camels, and sniffers) to a happy ghast (both harnessed and unharnessed). Although only one lead is required to suspend an entity from a happy ghast, the carried entity appears to be hanging from four leads.

Any other leashable entity not listed above can also be leashed to the happy ghast, but they do not gain the 4-leash design, instead using one leash, and can therefore become detached more easily.

While the player is sneaking and holding an entity's leash, pressing the Use key on a happy ghast attaches the leashed entity underneath it. This secures the carried entity for safe transport while flying. The leash can be removed later by using shears on either the happy ghast or the carried entity, separating them.

While most mobs can safely sit in a boat or boat with chest while it is being carried, players cannot. If a player enters the boat, it becomes immovable by the happy ghast, eventually resulting in the lead snapping.

Sounds

Happy Ghast

Despite being a solid surface, walking on happy ghasts is completely silent and does not produce footstep sounds.^[2]

Java Edition:

Bedrock Edition:

Ghastling

Java Edition:

Bedrock Edition:

Data values

ID

Java Edition:

Name	Identifier	Entity tags	Translation key
Happy Ghast	happy_ghast	fall_damage_immune dismounts_underwater can_equip_harness	entity.minecraft.happy_ghast

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Identifier	Numeric ID	Translation key
Happy Ghast	happy_ghast	147	entity.happy_ghast.name

Entity data

Happy Ghast have entity data associated with them that contain various properties.

Java Edition:

Advancements

Icon	Advancement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)
	A Throwaway Joke	Throw a Trident at something. Note: Throwing away your only weapon is not a good idea.	Hit a mob with a thrown trident.
	Adventure	Adventure, exploration and combat	Kill any mob, or be killed by any living entity.
	Arbalistic	Kill five unique mobs with one crossbow shot	Armor Stand also counts for this advancement. This is a hidden advancement, meaning that it can be viewed by the player only after completing it, regardless of if its child advancement(s), if any, have been completed.
	It Spreads	Kill a mob near a Sculk Catalyst	Kill one of these 73 mobs near a sculk catalyst: Armadillo Axolotl Bee Blaze Bogged Breeze Camel Cat Cave Spider Chicken Cod Cow Creeper Donkey Dolphin Drowned Elder Guardian Enderman Endermite Evoker Fox Frog Ghast Goat Glow Squid Giant Guardian Hoglin Horse Husk Illusioner Llama Magma Cube Mooshroom Ocelot Panda Parrot Phantom Pig Piglin Piglin Brute Pillager Polar Bear Pufferfish Rabbit Ravager Salmon Sheep Shulker Silverfish Skeleton Skeleton Horse Slime Sniffer Stray Spider Squid Strider Trader Llama Tropical Fish Turtle Vex Vindicator Warden Witch Wither Wither Skeleton Wolf Zoglin Zombie Zombie Horse Zombie Villager Zombified Piglin Mobs that drop no experience as well as the ender dragon are ignored for this advancement.
	Over-Overkill	Deal 50 hearts of damage in a single hit using the Mace	Damage can be dealt to any mob, even those that do not have 50 hearts of health overall.
	Take Aim	Shoot something with an Arrow	Using a bow or a crossbow, shoot a mob with an arrow, tipped arrow, or spectral arrow.

Videos

History

2020s							Concept art is created for a rideable ghast mount intended for implementation in Minecraft Legends.[3]
March 12, 2025							The Minecraft Instagram account releases a post teasing happy ghasts, asking, "how did Steve get up there?"
March 22, 2025							Happy ghasts are revealed at Minecraft LIVE – March 2025.
Java Edition
1.21.6			25w15a				Added happy ghasts.
			25w16a				Boats and large mobs that can be leashed but not fit in a boat can now be leashed in a 4-leash configuration to a happy ghast.
			25w18a				Ghastlings can now follow happy ghasts.
			25w19a				The scale attribute for the happy ghast now has a limit of 1.0.
			pre1				Happy ghasts ridden by a player can no longer completely fly through another happy ghast ridden by a player.
Bedrock Edition
1.21.80 Experiment Drop 2 2025			Preview 1.21.80.25				Added happy ghasts.
			Preview 1.21.80.27				Health reduced from 40HP × 20 to 20HP × 10.
1.21.90			Preview 1.21.90.20				All features behind the "Drop 2 2025" experimental toggle have been fully implemented.
							Boats and large mobs that can be leashed but not fit in a boat can now be leashed in a 4-leash configuration to a happy ghast.
			Preview 1.21.90.21				Ghastlings can now follow happy ghasts.
							The collision box of happy ghasts and ghastlings has been changed.
			Preview 1.21.90.26				A sound now plays when removing a harnesses from a happy ghast using shears.
Upcoming Bedrock Edition
1.21.100			Preview 1.21.100.22				It now drops 1-3 experience orbs when killed by a player.
							Increased volume of happy ghast ride sound.
Minecraft Education
1.21.90							Added happy ghasts.

Issues

Issues relating to "Happy Ghast" or "Ghastling" are maintained on the bug tracker. Issues should be reported and viewed there.

Trivia

• The first concepts of the happy ghast came from Minecraft Legends concept art of a flying ghast mount.^[3]
  • A similar concept is used in A Minecraft Movie, where some piglins rode ghasts in a more abusive manner.
• While working on the happy ghast, a Mojang designer compared all existing transportation methods in Minecraft, in order to determine when in the game progression the happy ghast can be obtained, as well as its speed.^[4]
• The texture of both adult happy ghasts and regular ghasts is more detailed than the previous ghast texture. However, it's still not consistent with the core texel size (16/m), using half density as the compromise between two tex.^[5]
• During Minecraft LIVE, Agnes Larsson advised the community to construct designated "Ghast Stations" at their high-altitude builds, to allow for safe boarding of happy ghasts.
• In the alt text of an image on a Minecraft.net article, the collective noun for a group of happy ghasts is "a chuckle of happy ghasts".^[6]
• In Java Edition 25w15a, if a happy ghast has a harness and is turned back into a ghastling (by editing NBT data using /data), the harness remains visible and even shrinks to fit the ghastling.
  • This can still be done in Bedrock Edition by using /event with a repeating command block.
• Ghastlings undergo the largest relative size transition when growing into an adult, increasing their hitbox size by over 4.2x.
• Happy ghasts have shorter tentacles than their hostile counterparts.

Gallery

Renders

• 
  Happy ghast nonmoving
• 
  Happy ghast harnessed nonmoving
• 
  Happy ghast harnessed leashed nonmoving
• 
  Ghastling nonmoving
• 
  Ghastling without its outer skin nonmoving (this state cannot be seen in-game)
• 
  Happy ghast with blue harness leashed
• 
  Leashed happy ghast without harness (this state cannot be seen in-game)

Happy Ghast with all harness colors

Mojang screenshots

• 
  Happy ghast in a plains
• 
  Noor standing on top of a happy ghast
• 
  Dried ghast, ghastling and happy ghast with blue harness
• 
  Multiple happy ghasts and players with the Vibrant Visuals shaders enabled
• 
  Steve next to a harnessed happy ghast in a badlands
• 
  A happy ghast flying over Steve in a frozen ocean
• 
  Steve riding a happy ghast in a badlands
• 
  Steve riding a happy ghast in a forest
• 
  Agnes, Felix, and Snifferish riding a happy ghast wearing a red harness, and happy ghasts wearing green, blue, and lime harnesses
• 
  "A chuckle of happy ghasts floating through the air in the sunset"
• 
  Ari riding a happy ghast
• 
  Ghastlings following Efe
• 
  A ghastling following a chicken
• 
  Zuri and Kai riding a happy ghast
• 
  Ghastlings following a warm pig
• 
  Happy ghast carrying a wolf in a boat
• 
  A bunch of leashed ghastlings carrying a cow

Concept artwork

• 
  An animated concept art of a happy ghast carrying villagers in a boat

Screenshots

• 
  A ghastling on a beach
• 
  A player feeding a ghastling with snowballs in the frozen ocean biome
• 
  A ghastling next to a player in a beach
• 
  A ghastling leashed to a harnessed happy ghast
• 
  A ghastling with the leashed texture. This is only possible in-game with commands.
• A video showing a player harnessing and riding a happy ghast on a touchscreen

Textures

• 
  Happy ghast texture file
• 
  Ghastling texture file
• 
  Black happy ghast harness texture file
• 
  Blue happy ghast harness texture file
• 
  Brown happy ghast harness texture file
• 
  Cyan happy ghast harness texture file
• 
  Gray happy ghast harness texture file
• 
  Green happy ghast harness texture file
• 
  Light blue happy ghast harness texture file
• 
  Light gray happy ghast harness texture file
• 
  Lime happy ghast harness texture file
• 
  Magenta happy ghast harness texture file
• 
  Orange happy ghast harness texture file
• 
  Pink happy ghast harness texture file
• 
  Purple happy ghast harness texture file
• 
  Red happy ghast harness texture file
• 
  White happy ghast harness texture file
• 
  Yellow happy ghast harness texture file
• 
  Texture for leash ropes on a Happy Ghast

Official artwork

• 
  Zuri riding a happy ghast
• 
  Kai and Noor leading a chuckle
• 
  Ghastling pixel art
• 
  Happy ghast with the Tiny trio
• 
  Cutout of the stylized happy ghast
• 
  Cutout of the ghastling pixel art

In other media

• 
  A Grow' A' Ghast Product
• 
  A happy ghast coloring the world with real paint
• 
  Dried ghast and ghastling
• 
  A happy ghast carrying a giveaway flag, showcasing igloo coolers and thermos

References

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