Herobrine (a.k.a. "HIM") is a mythical Minecraft character whose origins can be traced to a piece of "creepy-pasta" believed to have come from 4chan. According to the hoax, Herobrine is supposedly the spirit of Minecraft creator and former lead developer Markus "Notch" Persson's deceased brother, who now haunts the Minecraft world, appearing at random and constructing traps for the player to eventually fall into, among other odd behavior. It should be noted that Notch has no brother, deceased or otherwise.
Although Herobrine has never officially existed in any version of Minecraft, the character has become a well-known meme within the player community, and mods exist that attempt to replicate the effects described in the original "creepy-pasta" story. Even Mojang, the company behind Minecraft, has somewhat accepted the character, to the extent that most changelogs for updated versions of the game include the line "Removed Herobrine" as a joke.
Herobrine is usually represented as the default Minecraft player skin, Steve, with pupilless and/or glowing white eyes.
