History Literature / TheNeverendingStory

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Gaya, the Princess of Darkness. Though she is never shown as a character, [[spoiler: she sweet talks and capture Gmork for his EvilPlan to destroy her home of Fantastica.]]

** The Childlike Empress. [[spoiler:She doesn't care what happens to a savior afterwards and even encourages him or her to absolutely indulge in YourMindMakesItReal-style wishing, but doesn't warn him that doing so will slowly drive him over the edge. For her as the personification of fantasy itself, what counts is that a fantastic world is created, without considering that escapism taken to the extreme isn't necessarily a good thing.]]

** The top of the Ivory Tower, where the Childlike Empress herself resides, is shaped like an enormous lotus bud. Its petal-wall sometimes "blossom" to reveal the Empress herself seated in the center, a sight Falcor has witnessed.

* EvilIsSexy:

** Xayide is described as very alluring, and is also the closest thing the book has to a villain other than the Nothing itself.[[invoked]]

* AttackOnOneIsAnAttackOnAll: Seen with Gaya, the dark princess of Spook City and the Land of Ghosts. She turns on Gmork when he arrives searching for Atreyu, because he lets slip his true mission to bring about Fantastica's destruction. While it's implied Gaya is an evil or at least foul Fantastican, since she rules over a land of vampires, ghosts, witches and night hobs, she nevertheless defends her world against Gmork.

** Gaya, the Dark Princess, while unseen in the book, is said to have been very beautiful...and both her moniker and her status as a princess of Spook City suggests she was probably not a nice person.
*** Although Gmork said she was attractive to ''his'' sensibilities, so who knows if a human being would agree.
** Xayide is described as very alluring, and is also the closest thing the book has to a villain other than the Nothing itself.

** The name of the Luckdragon. The German name is "Fuchur" Due to the magic that is English pronunciation the resulting name would be more fit for an unintentional ClusterFBomb. The original name is roughly pronounced [[TheUnpronouncable "/foo/-throaty German/Scottish 'ch'- oor"]] in German, and is based on the Japanese word "fukuryu" (meaning "lucky dragon"). The unintentional F-bomb would not be of concern to Germans, as the German F-bomb is "fick".

** The name of the Luckdragon. The German name is "Fuchur" Due to the magic that is English pronunciation the resulting name would be more fit for an unintentional ClusterFBomb. The original name is roughly pronounced [[TheUnpronouncable "/foo/-throaty German/Scottish 'ch'- ooa"]] in German, and is based on the Japanese word "fukuryu", meaning "lucky dragon". The unintentional F-bomb would not be of concern to Germans, as the German F-bomb is "fick".

** The name of the Luckdragon. The German name is "Fuchur" Due to the magic that is English pronunciation the resulting name would be more fit for an unintentional ClusterFBomb. The original name is roughly pronounced [[TheUnpronouncable "/foo/-throaty German/Scottish 'ch'- ooa"]] in German, and based on the Japanese word "fukuryu" ("lucky dragon"). The unintentional F-bomb would not be of concern to Germans, as the German F-bomb is "fick".

** The name of the Luckdragon. The German name is "Fuchur" Due to the magic that is English pronunciation the resulting name would be more fit for an unintentional ClusterFBomb. The original name is roughly pronounced [[TheUnpronouncable "/foo/-throaty German/Scottish 'ch'- ooa"]] in German.

* ShoutOut:

** [[ShoutOut/ToShakespeare Shout-Out: To Shakespeare]]: Quotes the ''Twelfth Night'' song that begins:

Has received [[Film/TheNeverendingStory three major film adaptations]], though only the first film tried to follow the plot of the novel, being an adaptation of roughly the first half, with the second only making a few loose references to the book's plot, and the third one going off to do its own thing entirely. There was also a short-lived AnimatedAdaptation, and a TV miniseries called ''Tales From The Neverending Story'' that created an entirely new plot loosely based on the premise of the book and its characters. More recently, the Creator/WarnerBros fighting game ''VideoGame/MultiVersus'' was announced to have The Nothing as the major antagonist/driving force.

* AliensSpeakingEnglish: Or, in this case, German. When Bastian enters Fantastica, he has no problem conversing with anyone -- which actually makes sense, since Fantastica isn't a self-contained fantasy world separate from ours, but made up of dreams, tales and fantasies complementary to our reality. Of course they'd also speak our language there.

%%* DreamLand: Fantastica, obviously.

* MagicalLand

* NobodyPoops: {{Averted|Trope}}, {{lampshade|Hanging}}d, and {{discussed|Trope}} by Bastian in the real world while reading the book. After he goes into Fantastica, it is then played straight.

%%* PlayingWithFire: You might want to avoid going into the city of Salamander...

The book spawned [[Film/TheNeverendingStory three movies]], though only the first film tried to follow the plot of the book, being an adaptation of roughly the first half of the book, with the second only making a few loose references to the book's plot, and the third one going off to do its own thing entirely. There was also a short-lived AnimatedAdaptation, and a TV miniseries called ''Tales From The Neverending Story'' that created an entirely new plot loosely based on the premise of the book and its characters. More recently, the Creator/WarnerBros fighting game ''VideoGame/MultiVersus'' was announced to have The Nothing as the major antagonist/driving force.

* ItsAllAboutMe: This is Bastian's fatal flaw and the reason why most of his wishes in Fantastica go horribly wrong. Because he starts out as a LoserProtagonist, he wishes for strength, good looks, favorable opinions, to be feared and so forth. Even when Bastian wishes for good things to happen for others, it's always about secretly getting something he wants, or increasing his own appearance of benevolence. The story even points out that the motive behind doing a good turn for someone is as important as the good turn itself. It takes all of Bastian's selfish wishes going wrong to show him how low he has sunk after morally wounding Atreyu and later seeing what becomes of the other humans who went down similar selfish paths and became trapped and mindless in Fantastica. Bastian's last remaining wish breaks this cycle for him, because it's a wish to love someone other than himself and thus put another person first before his own wants.

* SapientSteed: Falkor the luckdragon, who carries Atreyu and on occasion Bastian on his back, and Yikka the talking mule.

A troubled, insecure young boy named Bastian who loves to read happens upon a antique bookstore owned by a Mr. Coreander, when hiding from some bullies. Inside Mr. Coreander's shop, Bastian comes across a book titled ''The Neverending Story'', which claims to have NoEnding. Unable to resist, Bastian steals the book and hides in the school attic where he can read it undisturbed. In the book is the story of an otherworldly MagicalNativeAmerican boy named Atreyu on a quest to save a MagicalLand from vanishing. As Bastian reads more and more of the story, he finds that the book seems to be aware of him. Eventually, it is revealed that the magical land within the book is actually another dimension encompassing all of human imagination, and only a human with creative ideas can save it.

** The Yskalnari, being so much a community that they lack any form of individualism, when a member of the crew dies not only nobody seems to care, nobody even seems to notice.

* InDefenceOfStoryTelling: The human neglect of story-telling doesn't just make Fantasia sick, but our world too. Bastian's job as story-teller is to "make both worlds well".

* MortonsFork: Ygramul offers to bite Atreyu, which is fatal but allows him to teleport to the southen oracle and have an hour or so to live, or he can stay where he is and let the nothing consume Fantastica. {{Subverted}} in that Ygramul pounts out the first option does allow for a sliver of hope for success, which does indeed pay off when the gnomes who find Atreyu at the southern oracle also happen to have a cure for the poison.

** When Bastian arrives at the Ivory Tower, he finds out that the Childlike Empress has not been there "for a long, long time" - even though Atreyu has not aged noticeably since he met her up there.

** The name of the Luckdragon. The German name is "Fuchur" Due to the magic that is English pronounciation the resulting name would be more fit for an unintentional ClusterFBomb. The original name is roughly pronounced [[TheUnpronouncable "/foo/-throaty german/scottish 'ch'- ooa"]] in German.

* WitchSpecies: Witches are mentioned among the doctors who come to inspect the Childlike Empress, and the inhabitants of Spook City. Xayide is also an evil sorceress. Since none of the natives of Fantastica are truly human, they must be this.

* EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys: Inverted. [[spoiler:A monkey named Argax is the "steward" of the City of Old Emperors, and neither he nor his domain are very pleasant or fun.]]

The book spawned [[Film/TheNeverendingStory three movies]], though only the first film tried to follow the plot of the book, being an adaptation of roughly the first half of the book, with the second only making a few loose references to the book's plot, and the third one going off to do its own thing entirely. There was also a short-lived AnimatedAdaptation, and a TV miniseries called ''Tales From The Neverending Story'' that created an entirely new plot loosely based on the premise of the book and its characters.

* MacGuffinPersonReveal: An unusual version when Atreyu realizes that a human is needed to save the Childlike Empress' life by giving her a new name. It wasn't until Atreyu meets with her that she reveals to him that the human in question has been following Atreyu's adventures with him by reading a book chronicling them. In this case, the shock is far bigger for Bastian, the MacGuffin in question than for Atreyu, the one who only had been searching for him for the short time he knew about the cure.

* MathematiciansAnswer: Referred to as dream words for the Childlike Empress' response:

* RealityBreakingParadox: What happens to humans in Fantastica who crown themselves emperor, or try to. Through wishing upon AURYN, they try to use the Childlike Empress' power to take her power away from her which results in their minds utterly breaking from the paradox. AURYN disappears from them and they suffer a complete loss of memory of the human world. This renders them mindless gibbering fools who can never return home. After all, the Empress is called "The Golden-Eyed ''Commander'' of Wishes" for a damn good reason.

** In the end of the first half, Bastian must say the Childlike Empress' new true name, so that she can be healed, the Nothing can be dispelled, and Bastian can be brought to Fantastica. It takes some doing to get him to actually say it.

* FromNobodyToNightmare: Bastian starts out as an overweight, ugly, unathletic scared little boy who tells stories to himself. He reads the Neverending Story and gives the childlike empress a new name, propelling him into the world of Fantastica. He is granted the power to make wishes using Auryn, the symbol of the empress, and his first wish is to be strong, handsome, athletic and brave. This first wish also robs him of the memory of ever being that overweight, ugly, clumsy, scared little boy -- and thus part of the understanding and empathy for what it means to be bullied and downtrodden that comes with it. Each subsequent wish removes his memory of something vitally important to Bastian's character that made him a good person, and so he slowly transforms from the savior of Fantastica to a bloodthirsty conqueror who seeks to depose the empress and sit on her throne.

* NotEvilJustMisunderstood: Ygramul the Many is spoken of as a force of evil by the greenskins, who sing a song about the danger of falling into his clutches if they should venture into the dead mountains. Despite this, he is just a creature who needs food to survive like any other, although his meals tend to be rather large and some of them are sentient, like Falcor. He gives Atreyu some helpful advice; he must measure his quest in terms of The Childlike Empress's life and not his, which means he can't afford to take months or years to find her a cure. He even gives Atreyu the means to reach the southern oracle instantly, although the means are fatal; his poison bite allows the victim to teleport to anywhere their heart desires. Ygramul can't help this as it's simply his nature, and he suggests that it's [[TheEasyWayOrTheHardWay still a better deal]] than sitting around waiting for the childlike empress to die and the nothing to overtake all of Fantastica.

* RealityBreakingParadox: What happens to humans in Fantastica who crown themselves emperor, or try to. Through wishing upon AURYN, they try to use the Childlike Empress's power to take her power away from her which results in their minds utterly breaking from the paradox. AURYN disappears from them and they suffer a complete loss of memory of the human world. This renders them mindless gibbering fools who can never return home. After all, the Empress is called "The Golden-Eyed ''Commander'' of Wishes" for a damn good reason.

** In the end of the first half, Bastian must say the Childlike Empress's new true name, so that she can be healed, the Nothing can be dispelled, and Bastian can be brought to Fantastica. It takes some doing to get him to actually say it.

* DefrostingIceQueen: Hero Hynreck has quested for years to prove himself to Olgamar, Princess of Luna, whose standards are so high that nothing impresses her. Bastian eventually has to invent an impossible peril for Hynreck to save Olgamar from to make her change her mind. [[Spoiler:By that time, though, Hynreck no longer wants her.]]

The book spawned [[Film/TheNeverendingStory three movies]], though only the first film tried to follow the plot of the book, being an adaption of roughly the first half of the book, with the second only making a few loose references to the book's plot, and the third one going off to do its own thing entirely. There was also a short-lived AnimatedAdaptation, and a TV miniseries called ''Tales From The Neverending Story'' that created an entirely new plot loosely based on the premise of the book and its characters.

* FromNobodyToNightmare: Bastian starts out as an overweight, ugly, unathletic scared little boy who tells stories to himself. He reads the Neverending Story and gives the childlike empress a new name, propelling him into the world of Fantastica. He is granted the power to make wishes using Auryn, the symbol of the empress, and his first wish is to be strong, handsome, athletic and brave. This first wish also robs him of the memory of ever being that overweight, ugly, clumsy, scared little boy. Each subsequent wish removes his memory of something vitally important to Bastian's character that made him a good person, and so he slowly transforms from the savior of Fantastica to a bloodthirsty conqueror who seeks to depose the empress and sit on her throne.