The Bug

In Minecraft 1.20.4, and likely other versions, the needle on the compass item spins randomly in both the Nether and the End dimensions.

How to Reproduce

1. Enter the End or Nether dimension
2. Obtain a Compass item
3. In both the inventory and held item view, the clock's needle will spin randomly

Likely Explanation

In Minecraft, the compass points to the world spawn point, unless changed otherwise. In the dimensions besides the Overworld, there is no spawn point; you get there through portals, not dying. As there is no actual spawn point, it is likely that the compass is unable to find where to point and just points randomly.

Notes

• A similar report has been reported (MC-95460)
  • Marked as Fixed as of 1.11+