End Rod Recipe

The end rod recipe doesn’t make sense to me. How did something made with a blaze rod get to the End? As far as I know... you can’t go from the nether to the end or the other way round, right? Why would something found in the End by crafted with something from the Nether? The blaze rod could be replaced by a bottle of dragon’s breath. As if the glass bottle were elongated and the dragon’s breath was glowing on the inside of it. Then the sound for breaking it would have to be the sound of glass. I don’t know if this would necessarily change whether or not you would need silk touch to pick up an end rod or not. I suppose it could be picked up the same as you can presently by punching the base of the end rod?