The Rift

Season

Season 9

Location

Below Dwayne

People Involved

Creator

Grian

Current Owner

Grian

Dates
Episode Created
Grian's Season 9: Episode 7

The Rift is a portal made by Grian below his mega base, Dwayne.

About[]

Described as a "big wibbly wobbly, timey wimey, swirrely whirly, purple thingy," as well as a weak point between worlds, the Rift appears to be some sort of, as its name aptly describes: a rift. It is unknown if the Rift is connected to The Entity or Dwayne currently, but what is known is it is the source of some strange happenstances, including the arrival of Grumbot Prime. The rift connects the Minecraft multiverse, briefly allowing players to travel between Hermitcraft Season 9 and Empires Season 2.

Appearance[]

It is a custom built portal, with some cracks in the middle of it. When Grian presses the "Begin?" button, it becomes a nether portal with the original design's glowstone lighting still partially visible. The MumboJumbo mustache was briefly visible in the purple fog in episode 7.

Strange Happenings[]

The Rift is the source of several fairly peculiar events, and the Rift is also known to emit particularly strange noises.

Rift-Related Incidents
Event	Episode	Description
MumboJumbo Face	Grian's Season 9: Episode 7	MumboJumbo's face can be spotted in the portal faintly, close to the bottom of it. The cause of this is undetermined.
Grian's Fall	Grian's Season 9: Episode 9	While doing his outro, Grian falls down the hole in his bridge where the beacon beam projects. Due to his broken elytra, he panics as he falls, but he doesn't die of fall damage when he hits the ground. He remarks on his survival and how it is weird. Grian looks at the rift as ominous music is playing, the episode then abruptly ends. When he finishes his intro, he is blinded and attacked by a zombie.
Grumbot's Return	Grian's Season 9: Episode 16 & Grian's Season 9: Episode 17	A silhouette of Grumbot can be seen within the portal when Grian stops to go say hello to the portal. This is followed up by Grumbot Prime debuting in Episode 17. Grumbot Prime should not be confused with Grumbot, the fan-favorite from Season 7. Strange noises are heard as Grumbot makes his arrival from the portal in his debut appearance.
Begin Button	Grian's Season 9: Episode 23	At the start of the episode, Grian discovers an odd deepslate button on a lodestone with a sign next to it saying "Begin." Grian attempts to resist pressing the button, even attempting to ignore generated Grumbot Prime content demanding he press it. He gives in right at the end of the episode, pressing it.
Appearance of the Crystal Cave	LDShadowLady's episode 11 of Empires SMP	On the similar YouTube series Empires SMP, a mysterious crystal cave of identical appearance to the Rift shows up two days after Grian presses the begin button. Many viewers speculated on a crossover for GoodTimesWithScar's Hermit charity streaming event. Almost all Empires members encounter the cave and turn away.
The "Broken" Portal	Grian's Season 9: Episode 24	At the start of Episode 24 of Grian's episode, the Rift has become a "broken" portal that disconnects Grian from the server and forces him to relog, leaving the Rift's destination unknown to anyone. Grian fires TNT into the portal, but what impact this has is unknown.
A "Shocking" Encounter	FalseSymmetry's Season 9: Episode 28	FalseSymmetry pays a visit to Grumbot to tell him about her plan to fulfill her Grumbot Generated Content. However, she sees him staring into the aforementioned broken portal. She gets too close to the portal when she investigates it, only to receive a shock that she blames Grumbot Prime for. She proceeds to leave.
Rift Cannon	Grian's Season 9: Episode 24	Grian decides to "set the record very straight," through the use of a typical TNT cannon. He fires off one shot before a sudden warble noise, with the cannon and the explosive round disappearing right before Grian finishes his intro. Where the TNT round went is anyone's guess.
Hearing Voices	iJevin's Season 9: Episode 27	iJevin, while visiting Grumbot, hears voices coming from The Rift. In fear, iJevin shoots two arrows into it before running, declaring it's "absolutely haunted."
Hearing Voices 2: Electric Boogaloo.	GeminiTay's Season 9: Episode 19	GeminiTay, while working on her megabase, discovers a compass that says "Follow me, 8pm BST." Turns out she was running a bit late to where the compass points, so she rushes there as fast as she could, discovering it points to the Rift. She hears voices... of herself?! The experience is so peculiar, that it does not make any sense to her.
Worlds Unknown	Grian's Season 9: Episode 25	Grian, at the start of his episode, asks Grumbot Prime "What is going on with the rift?" to which Grumbot answers that it does not know. When asked why Grumbot does not know, he answers that the universe the Rift leads to is not registered on his database, as there is no Grumbot located in it. Grumbot instructs Grian to ask the portal, so he throws in a message saying "New portal who dis?" to which he soon after gets the cryptic reply: "Toy Mica Jam Is Nifty."
Into the ~~Unknown~~ Rift	Grian's Season 9: Episode 25	As revealed in this episode, the one who left the compass GeminiTay found was... Grian! Grumbot Prime arranged a mass meetup of hermits at the time mentioned on the compass Gem had found, as he had Grian distribute such compasses to each Hermit's megabase. Everyone who had been present at the meetup ended up going through The Rift to see what was on the other side. We don't see what happens next as it cuts to black.
Incursion	Rift Incursion	All Hermits who entered the portal emerged on the EmpiresSMP, confirming a crossover much to the delight of the audience.
Rift Portal Shutdown	Grian's Season 9: Episode 26	At the end of Grian's POV of the Empires crossover, the Rift Portal is shown to have broken. Concurrently the Rift in Empires went dark, effectively stranding the Hermits in the SMP.
Faulty Multiverse Travel	xBCrafted's Season 9: Episode 48	xBCrafted, after the Hermits vanished through the portal and that rift closed, discovered it had reignited. He attempted to use the portal following instructions from the mysterious Kerwilson. His first attempt took him to Hermitcraft Season 1. The second attempt took him to Hermitcraft Season 7. His third and final attempt took him to Empires Season 1, where he became stranded. In his episode 49, he discovers it was just a vivid dream.
Late Joiners	Rift Incursion	BdoubleO100 and Rendog, despite arriving late to the portal at separate times, managed to get in before it shut down, sending them both to the Empires world as well.
Returned and Followed	Rift Incursion	The Hermits, after a clash with the Empires people attempting to keep them from returning, manage to get through a once again operational rift, returning to Grian's base. Unfortunately, the members of the Empires SMP go through, likely to try to drag the Hermits back, only to have the tables turned on them in the form of the Hermits being fully geared up and the Empires members completely lacking gear.
Shut and done	Rift Closure	The Rift began to shrink shortly after the arrival of the Empires members, gradually becoming less and less accessible each time it had been seen. Several Empires members took a hint at the risk and immediately absconded back home to avoid possibly getting trapped. Shortly before Christmas, the Rift's portal had shrunk to only one block in size, forcing an expedited evacuation of the present Empires SMP members. Once all the Empires members left, Grian covered the singular portal with a birch trapdoor and declared the Rift shut. It is later confirmed to be the case, completely covered in obsidian variants and no portal to be seen.
One Final Opening	Grian's Season 9: Episode 50	Shortly before Christmas, the Rift is reopened by Grumbot at Grian's request, with the AI giving one last message to Grian: "BE GOOD." Grian promises to do so before entering a 3x4 portal that opened up in the Rift's obsidian seal.

Prior Speculation[]

Many viewers have recognized the similarity between the Rift and the Crystal Cave from Empires SMP, with the majority expecting some sort of crossover for GoodTimewsWithScar's live charity event, whose date coincided with that of OrionSound's festival (October 23).

The crossover would instead happen on Thursday of that week rather than on Sunday. Over 13 Hermits passed through the portal, including Empires members FalseSymmetry and PearlescentMoon. GeminiTay, however, missed the crossing.

Grian's 24th episode, which aired on October 17, 2022, was published after the crystal cave appeared on Empires SMP, and after the pressing of the "Begin" Button.
- Within the first two minutes, a fox, a pig and feathers are seen in the background. These could be Gary the Fox, Sniff the Boar, and Pixlriffs' chickens (likely killed by the fox).
- That's one exploratory pig...
  That fox looks a bit like an explorer...
  Looks like the Fox brought lunch... or did lunch get brought to them?
- Later, Grian fires a TNT cannon into the rift. It could be the cause of the explosion fWhip heard in his 13th episode.
- In his 25th episode, Grian sends a message through the portal saying "New portal, who dis?" This message was found in the Empires SMP, with the message "Jimmy is in fact a toy" being sent back. However, the Rift seems to have scrambled up the message into "Toy Mica Jam is Nifty."
  - Within the same episode, Grian, Cubfan135, TangoTek, FalseSymmetry, ImpulseSV, ZombieCleo, iJevin, Docm77, Xisumavoid, PearlescentMoon, GoodTimesWithScar, Keralis, and JoeHills all entered the Rift of their own accord.