Minecraft – Why does half of the nether portal lead to a different portal

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In the nether, I have a 3×3 portal. The left side takes me to my base, as I would expect. The right side, however, leads to a completely different portal. Is there a reason it's acting this way?

Best Answer

Inside of the game's coding, the nether portal itself is merely a type of block, and the different blocks of the same portal are only connected inasmuch as they were created by the same ring of obsidian.

A nether portal takes you to the nearest available portal in the other dimension (or the one it was originally tied to when it was created), and if there is not one available, one is made. This is tracked by block, and not by portal, so in rare situations, it can create the effect you describe.