If you've encountered a Minecraft village before, then you must've noticed how neatly organized it is. There are houses for all the villagers, each house has its own decoration, there are farms, Iron Golems and, most importantly, there is a bell, usually near the center of the village.
Bells are essential in any Minecraft village. If you've never built one and are planning on doing it, we've written a guide that will help you do so. Once you've met the basic requirements, adding a bell is the last thing you'll have to do.
Updated May 12, 2023, by Sean Murray: There's no village without a bell, which is why we've updated this guide with some formatting tweaks for greater readability.
How To Get A Bell In Minecraft
It's an odd thing, but bells actually have a functional purpose in Minecraft; it represents the gathering site of a village. They can also be rung by the player, which will send villagers running to their houses.
This is usually in case a raid starts, but it will also work if there's no raid. If the villagers are asleep they will be automatically awakened by the sound of the bell ringing.
Unfortunately, you cannot craft bells in Minecraft. This is a bit of a bummer, but don't lose hope just yet. There are three ways to get a bell in-game, and we'll go over all of them.
Stealing
This isn't the most morally correct way to get a bell, but it's effective. Plus, the easiest way to create a village is by kidnapping villagers from other villages. Minecraft is a tough world.
To steal a bell in Minecraft, just find a village. Then, find their bell, it should be in the center of the village, and then mine it.
It is important that you mine the bell with a pickaxe, otherwise, it will just break instead of drop.
Ruined Portals
Ruined Portals are still pretty recent in Minecraft, but you can actually get a bell when you find these places. They spawn with a chest and there is a 1.5 percent chance that there will be a bell inside. This is, of course, very rare but possible, nonetheless.
Trading
Even though you can't make your own bells, thankfully the game allows you to get them through plenty of other methods.
If you happen to have some extra Emeralds that you don't mind using, you can buy yourself a bell without resorting to low percentage RNG. There are three villager professions that can sell bells.
There is still some RNG, but it's much higher.
It also depends on the version of the game you're playing. In Bedrock Editions, apprentice-level Armorer Villagers have a 33 percent chance of selling bells, whereas in Java Edition they have a 50 percent chance.
In Bedrock, apprentice Toolsmiths and journeyman Weaponsmiths will sell bells. In Java, apprentice Toolsmiths and apprentice Weaponsmiths will sell bells. Bells cost 36 emeralds each.