| 1 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 2 | ---- |
| 3 | !Heroes |
| 4 | [[folder:Bastian]] |
| 5 | !!Bastian Balthazar Bux |
| 6 | [[quoteright:291:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/4_2_7057.jpg]] |
| 7 | ->'''Played by:''' Barrett Oliver (first film); Creator/JonathanBrandis (second film); Jason James Richter (third film), Christopher Bell (animated series), Mark Rendall (live-action series) |
| 8 | |
| 9 | TheProtagonist and AudienceSurrogate, Bastian borrows/steals the book ''The Neverending Story'' from Mr. Coreander and discovers its wonders and how it is actually a real MagicalLand, learning of his required involvement to keep it alive. |
| 10 | ---- |
| 11 | * AbsurdlySharpBlade: He owns the Light Blade Sikanda, a magic sword that can cut whatever she is asked to cut. |
| 12 | * TheAce: Turns himself into one when he enters Fantastica. Over the course of his adventures there he becomes a BrokenAce. |
| 13 | * AdaptationalAttractiveness: In the book, he's fat, pale, bow-legged and awkward, but in the movies he's slim and fairly good-looking. The live-action series, ''Tales from the Neverending Story'' keeps him rather pudgy, but not overtly so. |
| 14 | * AdaptationalHeroism: Zig-zagged. Unlike in the book, he never tries to take over Fantasia in any adaptation. However, he does [[spoiler:kill Atreyu in the second film while suffering from increasing LossOfIdentity. Atreyu gets better]]. |
| 15 | * AlliterativeName: Thrice over even: '''B'''astian '''B'''althazar '''B'''ux. |
| 16 | * AllOfTheOtherReindeer: One of his biggest grievances outside of the loss of his mother is the fact he's bullied mercilessly at school. |
| 17 | * AudienceSurrogate: The story of Atreyu fascinates Bastian as it does the reader. That was the whole point of the Empress sending Atreyu on an adventure. |
| 18 | * CharacterDevelopment: A big difference between the book and the movie is that in the book focuses on Bastian's development from a [[LoserProtagonist timid, insecure bully victim]] who uses stories to escape from his harsh reality, to a self-assured boy who instead uses what he learned from stories to make things better. Almost as important is that he starts out as rather [[ItsAllAboutMe selfish and self-centered]]. While not a bad kid at heart and certainly not without sympathy for others, he tends to be mostly concerned about himself and about what ''he'' can get out of a situation. After various adventures and many near-disasters in Fantastica, where selfish wishes almost destroyed him, he returns to the real world far more caring and compassionate. |
| 19 | * TheChosenOne: Shared with Atreyu. He is chosen to name the Childike Empress, while Atreyu is chosen to draw him in Fantastica in more ways than one. |
| 20 | * DangerousForbiddenTechnique: Bastian attempts to wield Sikanda without its permission. |
| 21 | * DeconstructedCharacterArchetype: Of TheAce, WishFulfilment and even the MartyStu trope long before it was codified. Bring any child to a magic world where they are a RealityWarper, and no matter how well-intentioned they get, they invariably treat it as a game where they can do whatever they want and lose their footing in reality. Bastian very nearly loses himself to a FateWorseThanDeath (among many problems like the trope right below). In fact and per the creators, the point of bringing TheChosenOne to Fantastica with unlimited wishes is to help them find their true calling and drive them to better their life. Many of them fail, and Bastian is shocked to learn their fate -- they stay in Fantastica but have lost their identities and their minds. He only narrowly manages to avoid this fate himself, and only because of a HeelRealization and ThePowerOfFriendship.[[invoked]] |
| 22 | * DrunkWithPower: The inevitable result of giving a depressed and victimized child unlimited wishes in a Fantasy land. Bastian's ego becomes so inflated that he comes to believe that having infinite power means he can do no wrong, and he eventually marks Atreyu and Falkor as his enemies for trying to show him he is headed on a direct course for self-destruction. It takes nearly killing Atreyu and losing his mind to teach him the hard way that RealityWarpingIsNotAToy. |
| 23 | %%* {{Expy}}: Of Theatre/{{Peer Gynt}}, no less. |
| 24 | * AGodAmI: [[spoiler:Bastian goes power-mad thanks to excessive wishing, memory loss and Xayide's manipulation, planning to make himself the Emperor of Fantastica.]] |
| 25 | * HeldBackInSchool: The novel reveals that had to repeat a grade the year prior due to poor academic performance. This isn't brought up in the film, but Bastian's father states that his teachers have told him that he is failing because he's drawing and daydreaming instead of doing his schoolwork. |
| 26 | * TheHero: He ''tries'' to turn himself into this upon entering Fantastica, but while he manages to keep up the role for a while, he falters and fails entirely too much to ever become a true example of the trope. In this, he's a contrast to Atreyu, who is ''always'' TheHero. |
| 27 | * HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: The novel version of Bastian is completely taken in by the sorceress and all-round [[ManipulativeBastard manipulative bitch]] Xayide because she does nothing more than pledge to serve him when he initially defeats her. Bastian pays absolutely no heed to her immediately ordering Atreyu and Falkor around, both of whom defy her at every turn because they can clearly see she hasn't suddenly become a good person. |
| 28 | * ItsAllAboutMe: In the novel, 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. |
| 29 | %%* {{Jerkass}}: In the second half of the book, and notably in the second film. |
| 30 | * LoserProtagonist: Bastian starts out this way, being hopeless at physical activities, a dunce in the classroom, and too much of a wimp to stand up for himself. Carl Conrad Coreander even muses that the boy is a failure "all along the line". It's this powerlessness that drives Bastian to such opposite extremes as a conquering hero once he arrives in Fantastica. |
| 31 | * MissingMom: Not long before the beginning of the story, his mother died. |
| 32 | * MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Bastian has this [[spoiler:upon realizing he could have suffered a FateWorseThanDeath upon finding the City of Old Emperors, and also realizing he very well might have killed Atreyu]]. |
| 33 | * NighInvulnerable: While he wears the AURYN. Grograman the Lion even warns him never to take off the AURYN while in his presence because without that protection he'd instantly burn up in the terrible Desert of Colors. |
| 34 | * RefusalOfTheCall: In the first movie, even when he believes Fantasia is real, he tries to deny it at first because his dad told him to "keep [his] feet on the ground". In the book, his fears and shame get the better of him; just as he starts realizing that he is indeed the savior everone's talking about he starts imagining how, if he answered the call, everyone would just laugh at the fat, wimpy dork who showed up and the Childlike Empress would reject him, and so he does nothing. It takes the Childlike Empress' OmniscientMoralityLicense to force Bastian to give her a new name or go mad in his refusal. |
| 35 | * SaveBothWorlds: Saving Fantastica from [[EldritchAbomination the Nothing]] saved humanity's imagination and life from [[GreaterScopeVillain the Manipulators]]. Coreander notes that he will help humanity by rekindling their hopes and dreams. |
| 36 | * TheStoryteller: In the book, this is his primary (and, he would say, his ''only'') talent. He can make up stories, words and names from scratch; in the real world this got him a reputation as a hopeless daydreamer, but in Fantastica he's revered because as a human he's the only one who can create new stories and as such ensure that Fantastica continues to live and thrive. Eventually, he creates a story about an ancient library containing all of his stories, so that the people of Fantastica can find the library and read all the stories he's ever dreamed up. |
| 37 | * TookALevelInJerkass: |
| 38 | ** Famously in the second half of the book, as he gets increasingly DrunkWithPower and gets manipulated by Xayide, becoming more and more haughty, egocentric and plain ''nasty''. Luckily, after [[BreakTheHaughty a lot of hardships]] he TookALevelInKindness again and ends up a better, kinder and more considerate person than he was even in the beginning of the story. |
| 39 | ** Unfortunately, this didn't translate well to the movies, meaning that Bastian comes across as a sweet kid in the first movie before he turns into a selfish jerk in the second, and finally a spineless coward in the third. |
| 40 | * TookALevelInKindness: At the end of the story, all of Bastian's experiences have shaped him into a much better person, especially after he discovers that what he really wants, and his true calling, is to love and care for other people. |
| 41 | * TrappedInAnotherWorld: Several variants of this during the second half of the book. At first he can't leave Fantastica because he doesn't ''want'' to leave, and the Auryn can't grant him anything he doesn't actually want. After a while he gives up his half-hearted attempts to return to his own world and tries to pull an IChooseToStay, which is when things ''really'' take a bad turn. When he's starting to realize that staying in Fantastica for so long is slowly destroying him, he's forgotten so much about himself that he doesn't even remember where he's from or how to get back there. Finally, at the end of the book, the Water of Life initially won't let him return to his own world before he's finished all the stories he started in Fantastica. Fortunately Atreyu and Falkor are there and take it upon themselves to finish all the stories in Bastian's place. |
| 42 | * UnfortunateName: You try carrying a handle like "Bastian Balthazar Bux" in our real-life, modern day world. Is it any wonder the kid's constantly got bullies hot on his tail? |
| 43 | * WhatTheHellHero: His actions in the second half of the book. Atreyu and Falcor try to call him out on his increasingly atrocious behaviour, though they're being very gentle about it. |
| 44 | * WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity: Being essentially omnipotent in the world of Fantastica as his wishes and ideas come true there, Bastian gradually lose sight of his originally good intentions and begins to turn into an unhinged megalomaniac in the second half of the book. |
| 45 | [[/folder]] |
| 46 | |
| 47 | [[folder:Atreyu]] |
| 48 | !!Atreyu |
| 49 | [[quoteright:243:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/g99_2_2177.jpg]] |
| 50 | -> '''Played by:''' Noah Hathaway (first film); Kenny Morrison (second film), Dominic Zamprogna (animated series), Tyler Hynes (live-action series) |
| 51 | |
| 52 | The {{Deuteragonist}} and in many ways TheHero of the story. A skilled huntsman from the Greenskins of the Grassy Ocean, Atreyu is selected by the Childlike Empress to go on a quest to find a cure to her illness and save Fantastica from the Nothing. Atreyu acts as TheHero, shared with Bastian and becomes the SupportingProtagonist in the second half of the book. |
| 53 | ---- |
| 54 | * TheAce: Is seen as this by the people of Fantastica. |
| 55 | * AdaptationalBadass: In the film, he gets to show his warrior cred by killing Gmork himself, who in the book is already chained up and dying when Atreyu finds him. |
| 56 | * AdaptationDyeJob: His ''skin'', which is not green in the movie. His hair is also somewhat less blue-black, though by comparison that hardly seems like a big deal. IN the animated series, both his hair and skin color are kept intact. |
| 57 | * AmazingTechnicolorPopulation: Atreyu and his people have green skin. |
| 58 | * AudienceSurrogate: In-universe, he is one for Bastian. This is made unambiguously clear in the scene with the Magic Mirror Gate, when he's supposed to see his "true self" and sees an image of Bastian. It's also underlined several times when Atreyu says and does the things Bastian wants him to say and do -- most notably in the scene where he talks to the Childlike Empress, and asks the exact questions Bastian wants to ask, just moments after Bastian has thought of them. It's hinted, but not directly stated, that the Childlike Empress specifically picked him for the quest because he was a person Bastian could see himself in. |
| 59 | * BadassAdorable: A sweet and cute kid, who can kill freakishly huge wolves in a SingleStrokeBattle. |
| 60 | * BadassBoast: He gives an epic one to Gmork [[PreMortemOneLiner before killing him:]] "If we're about to die anyway, I'd rather die fighting! Come for me, Gmork! [[MyNameIsInigoMontoya I AM ATREYU!!!"]] |
| 61 | * BadassNormal: No powers or chosen one status but can still do great things. |
| 62 | * BestFriend: After Bastian arrives in Fantastica, Atreyu quickly becomes his best friend, [[spoiler:at least until Bastian goes on a power trip and tries to usurp the Childlike Empress's throne and to kill Atreyu when he objects. The two reconcile again in the end, after Bastian almost loses the last shreds of himself]]. |
| 63 | * BewareTheNiceOnes: He's sweet and friendly, but he's still a warrior and no one to mess with, as Gmork learns the hard way. This is particularly the case in the extended version where Gmork initially asks to be left alone, but once Atreyu realizes how evil he is he's in no mood to let him live. |
| 64 | * ABoyAndHisX: His horse Artax is clearly his best friend, [[spoiler:until his death, which makes it all the sadder]]. |
| 65 | * TheChosenOne: The Chosen One of Fantastica, chosen to get the Chosen One of Earth involved in the magical world. Both play a huge part in saving the two universes. |
| 66 | * ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: Atreyu is absent in the third film. That might be a good thing to some people though, regarding the film's poor quality. |
| 67 | * DemotedToExtra: Minor example in the book and the first two movies; in the first half of the book, and for most of the movie, he's arguably the main character and it's mainly his story we follow (through AudienceSurrogate Bastian). In the second half of the book, and the second movie, Bastian becomes the main character and Atreyu, while still a major and vital character, is no longer the main focus and spends large parts of the story off-screen. A more major example in the animated series, where he's a recurring character but not really a major one. |
| 68 | * TheDreaded: For The Nothing and Gmork. |
| 69 | * DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:Artax somewhat does this in the Swamps of Sadness.]] |
| 70 | * EvenTheLovingHeroHasHatedOnes: He's friendly and compassionate to nearly everyone, but when he meets Gmork in the film, Atreyu is horrified at how evil he is, and is more than willing to kill him to save Fantasia. |
| 71 | * FreakOut: Twice in the film. Once when he sees Bastian in the Magic Mirror Gate, and again when he learns he is part of a storybook. |
| 72 | * GoodIsNotSoft: He has no problem killing Gmork when he realizes how evil he is. |
| 73 | * TheHero: While Bastian is the main protagonist, and ultimately the one who saves Fantasia, Atreyu is very much TheHero, who never falters, never gives up, and in the end is there to save Bastian from himself. |
| 74 | * HotBlooded: He seems this way in the film, being very emotional and prone to anger when provoked. |
| 75 | * IncorruptiblePurePureness: He's portrayed this way in the film, as he's brave, compassionate, and selfless in his quest to save Fantasia, and he only kills Gmork upon realizing he's pure evil and can't be reasoned with. |
| 76 | * KidHero: Twelve years old at most, and the saviour of Fantastica. |
| 77 | * MagicalNativeAmerican: A green-skinned Native American who hunts purple buffalo. |
| 78 | * MeaningfulName: An in-universe example: "Atreyu" means "son of all" in his language. He was raised by the village after his [[ParentalAbandonment parents died when he was a baby]]. |
| 79 | * TheMirrorShowsYourTrueSelf: Atreyu sees Bastian through the Magic Mirror Gate, and is freaked out by it. The same happens to Bastian. |
| 80 | * NavelDeepNeckline: A rare male version. His outfit exposes his entire chest and most of his abdomen. |
| 81 | * NeverLearnedToRead: He didn't know what the words on the back of AURYN meant until Bastian told him, since he comes from a tribe of hunter-gatherers who never developed a writing system. |
| 82 | * RaisedByTheCommunity: Atreyu was raised by all the men and women of his village together after he was orphaned, which is why he's named "Atreyu", meaning "son of all". |
| 83 | * SapientSteed: Artax the horse, in the book, as Fantastican animals can talk. Falkor the luckdragon, in both book and movie. |
| 84 | * TranquilFury: When he confronts Gmork, he's at first horrified by how evil he is and shouts most of his lines. However, once he hears Gmork's motives for helping the Nothing and realizes he has to be stopped, he suddenly turns very quiet, gives Gmork a long, hard stare, and asks him who he really is in a deadly calm voice. This signals to the audience that Gmork has pushed him too far and Atreyu is going to kill him. |
| 85 | [[/folder]] |
| 86 | |
| 87 | [[folder:Moon Child]] |
| 88 | !!The Childlike Empress (Moon Child) |
| 89 | [[quoteright:961:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/childlike_empress_moon_child_the_neverending_story_tami_stronach.png]] |
| 90 | ->'''Played by:''' Creator/TamiStronach (first film); Alexandra Jones (second film); Julie Cox (third film), Lisa Jai (animated series), Audrey Gardiner (live-action series) |
| 91 | |
| 92 | The [[GodEmperor God Empress]] of Fantastica, the Childlike Empress never ages and can only be met once in a person's lifetime. She becomes deathly ill during the novel, sending Atreyu on a quest to find a cure and a way to stop the Nothing. However, the quest is a BatmanGambit to get Bastian to Fantastica so that he can cure her and their world by giving her a new name. |
| 93 | ---- |
| 94 | * AboveGoodAndEvil: She is completely TrueNeutral and draws no distinctions between anything, never judges anyone, and almost never actually uses her power. In her view, good and evil are ''both'' important parts of Fantastica's existence. [[note]]Justified, since humans would not care for a Fantastica without dangers.[[/note]]She also doesn't warn Bastian about the fact that wishing will make him lose memories, and several of her past saviors have ended up in [[FateWorseThanDeath the City of Old Emperors]]. [[invoked]] |
| 95 | ** The only time she says "that's bad" about something is when Bastian says he can't think what to wish for. It seems that to her "good" means Fantastica's continued existence and "bad" means anything that threatens it (like Gmork or the Nothing, both of which come from outside Fantastica), but within the natural operation of Fantastica, all creatures, be they virtuous or wicked, wise or foolish, ugly or beautiful, are "good". Which makes sense, as many stories need villains and monsters as well as heroes. |
| 96 | ** The dark creatures of Fantastica likewise respect her. Ygramul will not harm someone who wears AURYN, and among the 499 doctors who had been to see her at the beginning of the story are witches, vampires and ghosts, who are noted not to usually be considered conductive to good health. |
| 97 | * AdaptationalHeroism: The movies and the animated series remove all the morally ambiguous elements from her personality, giving her a more conventional BigGood role. |
| 98 | * AdaptationalWimp: In the second movie, animated series and live-action series, where Xayide is able to pose a threat to her. In the novel, this wouldn't be possible by anything less than the destruction of Fantastica by the Nothing. |
| 99 | * AnthropomorphicPersonification: She is the embodiment of inspiration, dreams, hopes and fantasy. |
| 100 | * BatmanGambit: The Empress uses this to bring Bastian to Fantastica. She sends Atreyu on a quest for no real purpose but to give Bastian a story to follow, and then [[spoiler:ventures to the Old Man of Wandering Mountain to read out the Neverending Story's contents to her in a literal neverending fashion until Bastian names her and comes to the MagicalLand]]. |
| 101 | * BigGood: She rules all Fantasy and wants it to thrive, and her plan brings both heroes to better themselves. |
| 102 | ** Mostly in the films, but as the benevolent ruler of Fantastica she fits the bill. |
| 103 | ** Plays the trope straight in the live action mini-series, in which she personally assign quests and [[ItMayHelpYouOnYourQuest grants items her chosen will need]]. She even goes straight to the BigBad camp to demand she stops. She doesn't, but the Empress knows the outcome and leaves her to face it. |
| 104 | * BlueAndOrangeMorality: Fantastica is made of human fantasies and the Empress is Fantastica personified. She does not differentiate between good and evil and never interferes, since that would make Fantastica boring and humans forgetting Fantastica is what causes the Nothing. She only jumps into action when Fantastica itself is threatened, and then she seemingly does not care that the saviour risks a FateWorseThanDeath, though she trusts them to do the right thing. |
| 105 | * DamselInDistress: Despite being supremely powerful in her world, she needs saving from the Nothing and, in the movies and series, Xayide (in the novel, Xayide isn't really a threat to her). Justified as despite being pretty much the Goddess of Fantasy, she remains vulnerable to external forces threating Fantasy itself, that only human imagination can dispel. |
| 106 | * DissonantSerenity: No matter what happens or what she sees, she is always poised and tranquil. Sometimes her serenity becomes stern and severe, but she is always calm. |
| 107 | * FisherKing: Without her, Fantastica cannot live. Her illness and the destruction of Fantastica are one and the same. Despite being called "Empress", she doesn't actually rule, though all the kings and lords of all the various lands of Fantastica would heed her if she ''did'' issue a proclamation, since everyone in Fantastica knows instinctively that their existence is tied to hers. |
| 108 | * GodEmperor: God Empress. She rules the world as a monarch, though she rarely involves herself, and rules fantasy in general as a PhysicalGod. |
| 109 | * GoodCounterpart: The live-action series makes her this to Xayide. |
| 110 | * GuileHero: She clearly wields incredible powers, but in the movies she does nothing against the evil threatening to devour her kingdoms aside from guiding heroes to do what is needed. |
| 111 | * TheOmniscient: She knows everything about her world and Earth. |
| 112 | * OmniscientMoralityLicense: Mostly in the books, in which knowing everything leads her to do questionable choices. She means well though, and counts on her choosen ones to chose right. |
| 113 | * PhysicalGod: Pretty much the goddess of Fantasy stories in general, and of imagination, inspiration, hopes and dreams in particular. |
| 114 | * ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: She takes the form of a ten-year-old girl, but is much older than even Morla or any other of the ancient inhabitants of Fantastica. Her appearance may be AFormYouAreComfortableWith, especially since both Atreyu and Bastian are also young children of about the same age that she appears to be. |
| 115 | * SayMyName: Forces Bastian to shout out a new name for her to save her kingdom: Moon Child. |
| 116 | * ShiningCity: The Ivory Tower. |
| 117 | * SlidingScaleOfBeauty: She is a Divine Level beauty. |
| 118 | * StealthMentor: She sends both Atreyu and Bastian in paths where they can discover themselves and overcome their doubts. |
| 119 | * SupernaturalGoldEyes: Showcasing her nature as the living embodiment of imagination. One of her titles even is "the Golden-Eyed Commander of Wishes". |
| 120 | * TimeAbyss: The Empress and the Old Man are some of the oldest residents in Fantastica. |
| 121 | * YouWillKnowWhatToDo: Her modus operandi with all her successive chosen ones, encouraging them to trust in themselves, think on their feet, and above all, write their own stories. |
| 122 | [[/folder]] |
| 123 | |
| 124 | [[folder:Mr. Coreander]] |
| 125 | !!Mr. Coreander |
| 126 | [[quoteright:256:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/carl_conrad_coreander_karl_konrad_koreander_the_neverending_story_thomas_hill.png]] |
| 127 | ->'''Played by:''' Thomas Hill (first and second films); Creator/FreddieJones (third film), Chris Wiggins (animated series), John Dunn-Hill (live-action series) |
| 128 | |
| 129 | A mysterious but MagicLibrarian (actually a bookstore owner), in whose store the titular book appears. He once went to Fantastica himself. |
| 130 | ---- |
| 131 | * AdaptationalNiceGuy: The live action mini-series drops all his {{Jerkass}} characteristics, befriending Bastian instantly and being a full-on CoolOldGuy and an EccentricMentor for both Bastian and Atreyu. |
| 132 | * AlliterativeName: Carl Conrad Coreander (or Karl Konrad Koreander in German). The alliterative name foreshadows that he and Bastian have more in common than his abrasive behavior suggests. [[spoiler:Mr. Coreander has also been to Fantastica.]] |
| 133 | * AncientKeeper: Subverted; when Bastian tries to apologize to him at the end for losing his book, he claims that he has never seen or heard of it --- which confuses Bastian, as Mr Coreander was described as holding the book and had "clearly been reading it" when Bastian entered the store. Even when he admits that he has been to Fantastica, Mr Coriander insists that he has never seen nor heard of that book, but that there are many different routes to get to Fantastica. |
| 134 | -->"Every real story is a Neverending Story." He passed his eye over the many books that covered the walls of his shop from floor to ceiling, pointed the stem of his pipe at them, and went on: "There are many doors to Fantastica, my boy. There are other such magic books. A lot of people read them without noticing. It all depends on who gets his hands on such books."\ |
| 135 | "Then the Neverending Story is different for different people?"\ |
| 136 | "That’s right," said Mr. Coreander. “And besides, it's not just books. There are other ways of getting to Fantastica and back. You’ll find out." |
| 137 | ** Played straight in the film, where he is very obviously reading the book when Bastian comes in, and even "warns" him about it (see BriarPatching below). |
| 138 | * BriarPatching: In the film, he makes a point of warning Bastian that ''The Neverending Story'' is "not for you" because it is unlike the "safe" normal books that Bastian is familiar with. Unlike in the original novel, the film's Coreander seems to have done this for the express purpose of getting Bastian interested enough in the book to swipe it while Coreander's back is turned. |
| 139 | * ChildHater: When he first meets Bastian, he explains that he can't abide children, because they're only good for "screaming, torturing people, smearing books with jam and tearing the pages." When Bastian reveals that he's being chased, Coreander immediately assumes that the police are after him. |
| 140 | ** He quickly revises his initial negative opinion once he learns that the kid is an avid {{Bookworm}}. |
| 141 | ** By the end of the novel, they bond over their common visit to Fantasia. |
| 142 | * CompositeCharacter: [[spoiler:In the live action mini-series, he is the Wizard, the counterpart of sort to the Old Man of Wandering Mountain.]] |
| 143 | * GrumpyOldMan: He's introduced as one in both book and movie, essentially acting like a huge grouch to Bastian. At the end of the book we see a different side to him, and he's revealed to be more a JerkWithAHeartOfGold. |
| 144 | * IntergenerationalFriendship: They form one at the end of the novel. |
| 145 | ** As the second movie unfolds, he seems to have become rather close to Bastian, who is now a regular customer. Enough for Bastian to seek advice from him and not from his FantasyForbiddingFather. |
| 146 | ** In the live action mini-series, he quickly becomes a grandfather figure for Bastian. |
| 147 | * JerkWithAHeartOfGold: When Bastian tells him about his adventures on Fantastica, Coreander noticeably listens to him quite eagerly and even reveals to Bastian he was on Fantastica at some point before him. When he sees Bastian and his dad walking back home, Coreander smiles and proudly remarks that Bastian will surely help other humans find the way to Fantastica. |
| 148 | * LoonyLibrarian: He is a loony... bookstore owner, but still fits the trope, ''especially'' in the movie and the stage play, where he more explicitly comes across as a grouchy TricksterMentor. In all versions he's a bit of a ChildHater who neverheless warms up to Bastian when he discovers Bastian's passion for books, but in the movie he quite [[LargeHam ham-fistedly]], warns off Bastian from reading ''The Neverending Story'' because it's "not safe". However, when Bastian takes the book, Mr. Coreander doesn't mind, hinting that his speech was a ReversePsychology gambit. The book confirms that at least some of his quirks are the result of having had his own adventures in Fantasia when he was younger. |
| 149 | * MagicLibrarian: Although he actually isn't a librarian, but a bookstore owner. |
| 150 | ** Much more so in the mini-series, where he has books about ''everything'' and many strange trinkets. It is also all but stated to be a front for his activity as keeper of the Neverending Story book. |
| 151 | * {{Retgone}}: In the second film, Bastian's father Barney visits Coreander's bookshop in his search for his son. Upon having a EurekaMoment a few hours later, Barney goes back -- only to find Coreander and his books are totally gone. A cop who is helping with the search for Bastian remarks that it looks like whatever store was there has been closed for a long time. Considering that the Emptiness eats away at Fantasia and erases the words of the ''Neverending Story'' book, it's implied that it also removed Coreander and his books from reality. With Xayide's defeat, though, everything is back to normal for the third movie. |
| 152 | * ReversePsychology: In the movie, he uses this to perk Bastian's interest in the Neverending Story book in the movie. By pretending to discourage him, he prompts him to take it and read it. |
| 153 | * StealthMentor: In the movie, he encourages Bastian to read the book with ReversePsychology, knowing that it will help him in the long run. It is hinted that he recognized the boy as the one whose love of stories could save Fantastica. In the second movie, he subtly pushes Bastian's father to get interested in Fantastica and reconnect with his son, the same way Bastian connected with Atreyu in the first. |
| 154 | * SteppingOutForAQuickCupOfCoffee: A variant -- Coreander goes into his office to answer the phone, conveniently leaving ''The Neverending Story'' within Bastian's reach. As mentioned above (see BriarPatching), in the movie and the stage play it's made pretty clear this was intentional --- in the stage play he even tells the person on the phone that "Bastian has the book." |
| 155 | [[/folder]] |
| 156 | |
| 157 | [[folder:Falkor]] |
| 158 | !!Falkor the Luckdragon |
| 159 | [[quoteright:500:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/falkor_fuchur_the_neverending_story.jpg]] |
| 160 | ->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/AlanOppenheimer (first film); Donald Arthur (second film); William Hootkins (third film), Howard Jerome (animated series) |
| 161 | |
| 162 | A luckdragon who befriends Atreyu. He is very courageous and upbeat, believing luck is a wonderful thing. As a GiantFlyer, he spends most of his time flying. He is a shining white Eastern-type dragon with leonine features. |
| 163 | ---- |
| 164 | * AdaptationalWimp: In the third film he becomes a complete coward who is afraid to make any actions even when something is no more than a rumor. |
| 165 | * BigDamnHeroes: After Atreyu's meeting with Gmork, Falkor shows up to save him from the Nothing at the last minute. In the movie he's even ''introduced'' as a Big Damn Hero, showing up like a DeusExMachina to rescue Atreyu from the Swamps of Sadness -- though this is inverted in the book, where it's Atreyu who ends up saving ''him'' from Ygramul the Many, and Falkor becomes his companion out of gratitude. |
| 166 | * BigFriendlyDog: His design in the films evokes one, what with his fur, his fleshy nose, and his loose, drooping ears. |
| 167 | * BornLucky: He at least claims to be this, and it's true that things tend to work out for him -- and for the people he's around. |
| 168 | * CharacterCatchphrase: "With luck!" or variations thereof, whenever someone asks him how some big or impossible task can be done. |
| 169 | * DelightfulDragon: He's a dragon and a NiceGuy who becomes Atreyu's loyal companion. |
| 170 | * DemotedToComicRelief: Whereas the book, as well as the first two movies, portray Falkor as a courageous and intelligent dragon, the third film strips away any semblance of seriousness he had and turns him into a bumbling coward who seems to only exist to provide comedy. |
| 171 | * DubNameChange: His name is Fuchur in the original German novel. |
| 172 | * FriendToAllChildren: He is benevolent to everyone, but especially likes children. |
| 173 | * GiantFlyer: Which enables him to become Atreyu's CoolHorse. |
| 174 | * IOweYouMyLife: In the book, this is the main reason for his UndyingLoyalty to Atreyu. In the movie, he just decides to help him out because he's a NiceGuy. |
| 175 | * TheLancer: To Atreyu. |
| 176 | %%* LargeHam |
| 177 | * NiceGuy: In the book and in the first film, Falkor is optimistic, wise, and friendly. |
| 178 | * OOCIsSeriousBusiness: If he loses hope or is unable to see the positive in a situation, you ''know'' it's bad. |
| 179 | * OurDragonsAreDifferent: He's an eastern dragon, and distinct from the more western dragons like the one that Bastian creates. When he's introduced, the narrator even says that when you read "dragon", you should not think about a nasty, fire-breathing, winged creature. In the film, his head is reminiscent of a dog. |
| 180 | * ThePollyanna: He's the quintessential "glass-half-full" character, always looking on the bright side and always certain that everything will work out in the end. |
| 181 | * SeriesMascot: He is probably the most instantly recognizable character from all adaptations, and the movie posters from the first and second film feature him prominently. |
| 182 | * TookALevelInDumbass: He is supposed to be a very ''smart'' character. He is a smart character in the first film and still somewhat smart in the second. In the third film, however, he becomes a downright moron. |
| 183 | * UndyingLoyalty: To Atreyu, whom he will follow through anything and everything -- but also to Bastian, to a lesser extent. |
| 184 | * WindsOfDestinyChange: He enjoys supernatural good luck in the end no matter how bleak things appear, and so do his companions. For example, even after he was bound and bitten by Ygramul the Many, he chanced to hear her telling Atreyu the secret that her venom allows her victims to teleport, and used this knowledge to follow Atreyu to the site of the Southern Oracle, where Urgl cured them both. |
| 185 | [[/folder]] |
| 186 | |
| 187 | [[folder:Pyornkrachzark]] |
| 188 | !!Pyornkrachzark |
| 189 | [[quoteright:531:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pyornkrachzark_rockbiter_the_neverending_story.jpg]] |
| 190 | ->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/AlanOppenheimer (first film); Dan Fincher (second film); Creator/GaryMartin (third film), Harvey Atkin (animated series) |
| 191 | |
| 192 | A rock chewer, although known in the film as the Rockbiter, Pyornkrachzark is one of the travelling companions on their way to visit the Childlike Empress for help against the Nothing. A giant man made of rock, Pyornkrachzark enjoys eating rocks and rides on a large stone bike. |
| 193 | ---- |
| 194 | * AscendedExtra: In the book, he only appears in one chapter and is mainly used, along with his companions, to introduce Fantastica and the Nothing to Bastian and the other readers. He has a somewhat bigger role in the movie, essentially becoming the BreakoutCharacter and going on to have more substantial roles in the sequels and the shows. |
| 195 | * BigEater: The fact that he eats his own bicycle is even more shocking in light of the fact that Rockchewers can usually live for weeks on a single mouthful. |
| 196 | * CoolBike: Made of stone. He eats it in a fit of hunger. |
| 197 | * DemotedToComicRelief: Whereas the book, as well as the first two films, overall portrays him as a serious character, the third film has him [[TookALevelInDumbass Taking a Level in Dumbass]] and turn into a stereotypical BumblingDad, seemingly only existing to provide comedy. |
| 198 | * GentleGiant: It's clearer in the movie, where he's shown as soft-hearted and soft-spoken. He's as big as a building, but he has a kind personality, apologizing when a "crumb" from a rock he's eating lands on the Racing Snail's head, and then later being DrivenToSuicide when he fails to save his companions from the Nothing. |
| 199 | * MightyGlacier: Though he is pretty fast on his bike. |
| 200 | * PowerfulAndHelpless: Laments in the film about how, even with his "good big strong hands", he couldn't keep his friends from being sucked into the Nothing. |
| 201 | * RockMonster: He doesn't just eat rocks, he's made of rock. |
| 202 | * TookALevelInDumbass: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVV3MDJp5Xo In the third film]], he's reduced to a stereotypical BumblingDad. |
| 203 | [[/folder]] |
| 204 | |
| 205 | !Villains |
| 206 | [[folder:The Nothing]] |
| 207 | !!The Nothing |
| 208 | |
| 209 | The BigBad of the first half of the book, the Nothing uses ThePowerOfTheVoid to erase Fantastica from existence. Created from the forgotten hopes and dreams of mankind, the Nothing is used by the unseen Manipulators to destroy human imagination so that humanity will be more controllable. |
| 210 | ---- |
| 211 | * AbstractEater: It consumes imagination and everything that comes from it. Which makes it even more terrifying in a world made of the stuff. |
| 212 | * AllegoricalCharacter: More of a cataclysm than a character, but still. At first glance, the Nothing is just a GenericDoomsdayVillain destroying a Fantasy world, but it is fact a representation of the damage made by cynicism, apathy and the negation of dreams on imagination, and the human psyche in general. As if every child stopped dreaming by growing up and focused only on the material aspects of life, resulting in a joyless, boring world, filled with soul-crushed drones doing what they are told. Which is exactly what the GreaterScopeVillain desires. |
| 213 | * BigBad: Of the first half of the book, and the first movie. |
| 214 | * BodyHorror: The Nothing can erase body parts by mere touch, causing hell for a trio of Bark Trolls. |
| 215 | * TheDreaded: Everyone in Fantastica is terrified of it. |
| 216 | * DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:The Nothing can make Fantasticans literally suicide jump into nothingness.]] |
| 217 | * EldritchAbomination: In the book, it is a formless and indescribable void. This is also indicated to be true in the dialogue amongst the travelers at the beginning of the film, which makes an explicit point of the fact that things devoured by the Nothing don't leave behind an empty space in any way the mind can comprehend, because even a hole or a dry lake bed would be ''something''. However, there's no way to depict this on film, so the movie mostly represents the Nothing via footage of roiling storm clouds. |
| 218 | * GenericDoomsdayVillain: It exists solely to destroy and to threaten the world, and is more of a force than a character. Justified by what it represents. |
| 219 | * ImaginationDestroyer: The Nothing is an eldritch force that represents the opposite of humanity's imagination. It is empowered by things like apathy and cynicism and it threatens to erase Fantasia out of existence, which would leave humans' ability to imagine forever heavily damaged if such a thing came to pass. |
| 220 | * MadeOfEvil: It is made of everything that kills imagination and creativity. |
| 221 | * TheNothingAfterDeath: [[spoiler:Fantasticans who jump into the Nothing become lies in the human world.]] |
| 222 | * PersonOfMassDestruction: It's more a cataclysm born out of human apathy than a person, but it can and does destroy a world. |
| 223 | * ThePowerOfTheVoid: It covers the land in a mist that erases it. |
| 224 | * PragmaticAdaptation: The book describes the Nothing as literally the absence of ''anything'', even a hole, with one character equating it to what you would "see" if you had gone totally blind. Such an abstract and alien thing would be difficult to depict that way in visual media, so the movie uses storm clouds to signify its presence. |
| 225 | * AStormIsComing: In the movie, the Nothing is represented by storm clouds. |
| 226 | * SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: ''Film/TheNeverEndingStoryIITheNextChapter'' features a new threat called the Emptiness, which functions very similarly to the Nothing in the way it consumes Fantasia and its inhabitants. The main differences are that Xayide is the one directly controlling the Emptiness, and that it can also affect the real world by erasing the words from the ''Neverending Story'' book and apparently even pulling a {{Retgone}} on Mr. Coreander and his bookshop. |
| 227 | [[/folder]] |
| 228 | |
| 229 | [[folder:Gmork]] |
| 230 | !!Gmork |
| 231 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gmork.png]] |
| 232 | ->'''Played by:''' Creator/AlanOppenheimer (first film), Creator/DonFrancks (animated series), Edward Yankie (live-action series) |
| 233 | |
| 234 | TheDragon to the Nothing, Gmork aids the destroyer of worlds to prevent Atreyu from finding a way to defeat it. A servant of the Manipulators, Gmork appears as a wolf and relentlessly hunts Atreyu through the book and film. |
| 235 | ---- |
| 236 | * AdaptationalBadass: While a deadly servant in the book, the movie makes him even scarier and more of a StrawNihilist which is indeed more terrifying. When he meets Atreyu in Spook City in the movie, he is not bound and is still in good health, able to pounce on him in a final struggle, whereas when they meet in Spook City in the book, Gmork has been chained up by the Dark Princess Gaya for days if not weeks and is on his last legs, with no direct physical confrontation between them. |
| 237 | ** In the cartoon, he has the power of the Nothing and is so dangerous that Bastian, who is not afraid at all of [[HumanoidAbomination Xayide]], can only flee before him. |
| 238 | * AdaptationalVillainy: In the book, Gmork had a somewhat sympathetic, if petty, backstory, wherein he never had a home, and, as a result, wanted Fantastica and the human world destroyed so others could suffer like he did. The film, on the other hand, removed this motivation, instead giving him his StrawNihilist characterization, in addition to simply being hungry for power. |
| 239 | * AdaptationalWimp: The mini-series on the other hand decreases his threat. He remains highly dangerous and driven, but almost comedic by moments. Even his wolf form is merely the size of a large dog instead of a terrifying monster. |
| 240 | * AdaptationDyeJob: In the animated series, he is depicted with white fur and red eyes. |
| 241 | * AllegoricalCharacter: Especially in the film, if the Nothing represents despair, Gmork is the embodiment of nihilism. |
| 242 | * BackFromTheDead: Downplayed. [[spoiler:After he dies, his body springs to life and wounds Atreyu.]] |
| 243 | * CanisMajor: "The size of an ox," according to the book's English translation. |
| 244 | * ChainedToARock: Thanks to Gaya, the Dark Princess of Spook City in the Land of Ghosts. |
| 245 | * CompositeCharacter: He is one and the same with the Nothing in the cartoon. |
| 246 | * DarkIsEvil: He sports a dark coat, is portrayed hiding within dark places to the point he blends with the darkness, and works with the Nothing in order to bask in the potential benefits of ruling over the unimaginative masses left in the wake of the Nothing's destruction. |
| 247 | * TheDragon: He describes himself as: "I am the servant, of the power behind the Nothing." |
| 248 | * EvilCounterpart: To Falkor. They are both faithful furry dog-like creatures. But while Falkor is loyal to Atreyu that is genuine without ulterior motives and helps to save Fantasia, Gmork is loyal to the Nothing and those behind the Nothing- though only for the promise of power and authority for aiding them, aiding in Fantasia's destruction. Falkor is white with human-like eyes and expressions while Gmork is entirely black. |
| 249 | * EvilSoundsDeep: He speaks in a low, intimidating voice in the movie. |
| 250 | * FangsAreEvil: Unlike a typical wolf, Gmork's front incisors are prominently displayed to the point where he appears almost vampiric. |
| 251 | * GreenEyedMonster: His reason for wanting to destroy Fantastica is envy. His kind can travel between Earth and Fantastica, appearing human on Earth and in Fantastican form while in Fantastica, but they are not of either world for they have no world of their own. Fittingly, in the film, he has green eyes, but is downplayed in that his motivations are much more egotistical in nature compared to the book. |
| 252 | * TheHeavy: In the movie, he does most of the on-screen villain work- being the one who gives the motivation of the Nothing or rather the power behind the Nothing, attempting to kill Atreyu before he can complete his mission, and give a tangible antagonist for Atreyu to fight. Justified due to the Nothing being an abstract concept of nothingness with no characterization, thus needing a physical entity with a personality for the audience to root against. |
| 253 | * HellishPupils: His cold reptilian eyes further enhance his monstrous appearance. |
| 254 | * HoneyTrap: How Gaya loosened his tongue about the Manipulators' plans and then tied him up. |
| 255 | * HopeCrusher: His true purpose in the film. Humans who have forgotten their dreams have no hope, those who have no hope are easy to control, thus Fantasia would die and in its place, Gmork would reign over humanity as a demon god. |
| 256 | * InformedAbility: In the book, Gmork mentions to Atreyu that he can go to the human world and appear in the form of a human being there, but he is only encountered in Fantastica during the events of the story so we never see him do this, nor do we learn about any aliases used or actions taken by him on Earth in the past. In the live-action TV adaptation ''Tales from the Neverending Story'', however, he actually gets to use this power onscreen and his human ''alter ego'' Mr. Blank is a SadistTeacher who menaces Bastian at school. |
| 257 | * KilledOffForReal: [[spoiler:In both the book and the movie. In the book, he starves to death, laughing, after being chained by Gaya, and despite his jaws closing on Atreyu when he approaches because even a dead werewolf is full of lingering malice, he does not come back to life. In the film, he is killed by Atreyu, and while Bastian wishes back most of Fantasia at the end, this presumably doesn't include him]]. |
| 258 | * KnightOfCerebus: While the situation was already grim with the Nothing gradually destroying the world of Fantastica/Fantasia, his introduction causes the narrative, especially in the film, to go from hopeful into the nightmarishly nihilistic deconstruction of stories it's best known for, with his scene with Atreyu revealing Gmork as an opportunistic nihilist working with the Nothing to destroy Fantastica/Fantasia in order to rule over the unimaginative masses left in the wake of the oblivion, proving to be an even more vile entity than the calamity destroying Fantasia. |
| 259 | * NiceJobFixingItVillain: [[spoiler: After Gmork dies in the book, Atreyu gets too close and Gmork's jaws clamp down on his leg, holding him tight, unable to move. Intended to keep Atreyu from leaving as the Nothing moved in, it also helped to keep him from walking into the Nothing, which attracts Fantasticans when it comes closer. This allowed Falkor to find Atreyu and save him.]] |
| 260 | ** In the film, he gives Atreyu some useful information, such as the fact that he's the only one who can stop the Nothing, which helps motivate Atreyu to fight him. His attempts to kill Atreyu also cause Bastian to empathize more with Atreyu and his quest. |
| 261 | * OhCrap: The one time he loses his composure in the film is when he realizes he's facing Atreyu. |
| 262 | * OurWerewolvesAreDifferent: Creatures that appear human on Earth and appear like Fantastican monsters in Fantastica. |
| 263 | * RedEyesTakeWarning: In the animated series, his eyes are red instead of green. |
| 264 | * {{Sadist}}: He clearly enjoys taunting Atreyu and telling him that his quest has failed, as well as the despair the Nothing causes its victims. |
| 265 | * SavageWolf: Gmork is a hitman sent by "the power behind the Nothing" to kill Atreyu and thereby doom the world. |
| 266 | * TheSociopath: He's definitely this in the film as he tries to ensure Fantasia's destruction simply because he enjoys the despair it causes its victims, his intent being to rule the unimaginative masses left in the wake of the Nothing's destruction, and is willing to murder a child to ensure this happens. |
| 267 | * VillainsNeverLie: He's not wrong about Fantastica having no boundaries. |
| 268 | -->'''Atreyu:''' That's not true. You're lying!\ |
| 269 | '''Gmork:''' Foolish boy. Don't you know ''anything'' about Fantastica? It's the world of human fantasy. Every part, every creature of it, is a piece of the dreams and hopes of mankind. Therefore, it has no boundaries. |
| 270 | * VillainousValor: Even though he thinks he's failed in his mission, he's content to die believing that Fantasia is doomed, and when Atreyu reveals himself in the film, Gmork tries to take him down despite knowing that Atreyu is the one person who can destroy him. |
| 271 | * WouldHurtAChild: He has no problem trying to kill Atreyu to help the Nothing destroy the world. |
| 272 | [[/folder]] |
| 273 | |
| 274 | [[folder:The Manipulators]] |
| 275 | !!The Manipulators |
| 276 | Gmork's employers. Mysterious beings who wish to use the Nothing to turn Fantasticans into delusions and lies, wherein they will be set loose in the human world, driving humanity further wayward. |
| 277 | ---- |
| 278 | * AdaptedOut: Their existence in the movies is reduced to an even vaguer reference by Gmork to "the power behind the Nothing", which seeks to control people by destroying their hopes. |
| 279 | * AllegoricalCharacter: They represent the dark side of human imagination. Whereas Fantastica is filled with dreams and stories that inspire goodness in humanity, the Manipulators twist those dreams into illusions and fears that cause chaos in the human world. |
| 280 | ** It is possible that they are not symbols, or even a real group of characters, as much as they are simply [[HumansAreCthulhu a collective name for any people in the story's human world who use imagination solely for manipulation, and frown upon it being used for other purposes]]. Gmork describes them as having fairly diverse mundane goals like selling things people don't need (false advertisement) and making them hate things they don't know (propaganda). Under this interpretation, the Nothing is not truly part of the Manipulators' EvilPlan as much as it's a byproduct of people in general shunning "innocent" imagination, such as for storytelling, and using it only to dominate others. Hence Fantastia, the embodiment of positive imagination being suppressed by Manipulators, being slowly consumed by the Nothing and turned into nothing but a series of lies and manipulations. Of course they still somehow sent Gmork after Atreyu which implies some kind of intent. |
| 281 | ** The apparently unrelated schemes may be part of a far-reaching plan to lure each person into committing whatever unethical act they are most prone to do, no matter how seemingly petty, until it becomes a habit, then a belief which will serve as a window to induce further corruption. With the gradual weakening and eventual loss of morality in human-kind, their utter downfall will be all but ensured. |
| 282 | * EldritchAbomination: ''What'' they are is never elaborated upon, but one can assume they are this trope. |
| 283 | * EvilIsPetty: For being a group of [[OmnicidalManiac Omnicidal Maniacs]] their objectives are ridiculously petty. According to Gmork, their ambitions include selling people things they don't need and teaching them to them hate things they don't know. Though it's implied that it's all part of a larger scheme. |
| 284 | * EvilPlan: Turn Fantasticans into lies and delusions with the Nothing, and then use them to plague humanity. |
| 285 | * TheGhost: They are never seen, only vaguely alluded to, to the point of who or what they really are is left to the audience to decide. |
| 286 | * GreaterScopeVillain: A textbook example really. They control the Nothing, and hired Gmork to take out Atreyu. Given they work through the Nothing their involvement is quite indirect. They're only mentioned in the book once, and never play any role in the story after the Nothing is defeated. |
| 287 | %%* HumansAreCthulhu: Possibly, see RuleOfSymbolism below. %%This does not makes sense, as there is no RuleOfSymbolism entry in this folder. |
| 288 | * NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Does "The Manipulators" sound ''at all'' like a group you'd trust? |
| 289 | * OurArchonsAreDifferent: Supernatural beings devoted to keeping humanity unimaginative and boring. |
| 290 | [[/folder]] |
| 291 | |
| 292 | [[folder:Smerg]] |
| 293 | !!Smerg |
| 294 | [[quoteright:522:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/smerg_the_neverending_story_dragon_ii_the_next_chapter.png]] |
| 295 | |
| 296 | A dragon that Bastian wishes into existence soon after arriving in the Silver City. In the novel, he does so to give Hynreck a threat to defeat and and thus a way to save face with Princess Oglamar. In the second film, he intends for it to be a flying steed. In both cases, it ends up being more dangerous than he anticipates. |
| 297 | ---- |
| 298 | * DiesDifferentlyInTheAdaptation: In the original book, Smerg is killed by Hynreck in a quest that is [[HeroOfAnotherStory described in the barest details]]. In the second film, in contrast, it flies away from the pursuing Bastian and Falkor only to get vaporized by Horok Castle's laser defenses. |
| 299 | * DragonsPreferPrincesses: InvokedTrope. Bastian deliberately sets up this situation with AURYN, wishing up a dragon that will kidnap Princess Oglamar so that Hynreck can SaveThePrincess and win back her affection. |
| 300 | * MediumBlending: In the second film, Smerg is initially birthed as a cel-animated creature before shifting to an animatronic. |
| 301 | * OurDragonsAreDifferent: In the novel, Smerg is a [[MixAndMatchCritters conglomeration of different creatures]] in the basic shape of a dragon, having a scorpion tail, back legs of a grasshopper, body of a rat, and the heads of an old man and old woman instead of eyes. The second movie instead depicts him as a generic Western dragon with bulging eyes. |
| 302 | [[/folder]] |
| 303 | |
| 304 | [[folder:Xayide]] |
| 305 | !!Xayide |
| 306 | [[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/xayide_the_neverending_story_part_ii_the_next_chapter_clarissa_burt.jpg]] |
| 307 | ->'''Played by:''' Clarissa Burt (second film), Janet-Laine Green (animated series), Victoria Sanchez (live-action series) |
| 308 | |
| 309 | An evil sorceress who serves as a villain in the second half of the novel, while pretending to be Bastian's humble servant after he defeats her on her home turf. She manipulates Bastian to siege the Ivory Tower, planning to use him to take over Fantastica. She dwells in the hand-shaped castle Horok, and controls an army of empty iron minions. |
| 310 | ---- |
| 311 | * AdaptationalAbomination: In the novel she is a "normal" [[EvilSorcerer Evil Sorceress]] who controls Emptiness. In the film, she is Emptiness personified, an eldritch force under a normal-looking guise who needs to use her magic to look like someone. |
| 312 | * AdaptationalBadass: While immensely powerful in the novel, she remains a regular witch. In the film, she becomes a HumanoidAbomination able to confine the [[PhysicalGod Childlike Empress]] to her room like an unruly brat and threaten Fantastica by herself. The cartoon makes her magic pretty much limitless. |
| 313 | * AllegoricalCharacter: Like every villain of the story, especially in the movie. While the Nothing destroys dreams and creativity for the Manipulators to make people materialistic and unfeeling, Emptiness represents both the disinterest and boredom that keep dreams but disconnect people from them. Even her looks seems normal but are anything but. She somehow represents what looks innocuous but is in fact harmful, even faking friendship to better mold Bastian into something like her. |
| 314 | * AnthropomorphicPersonification: Of Emptiness in the movie, hinted to be a remnant of sorts of the Nothing. Less outright scary as what's empty still looks normal, but no less dangerous. |
| 315 | * AnticlimaxBoss: In the novel, as soon as Bastian comes to his senses, she is trampled to death by her own monsters that she no longer controls. Averted in the film, in which she is not fought in the proper sense but defeated after a tense mental confrontation. |
| 316 | ** In the mini-series, she is [[HoistByHisOwnPetard defeated due to her own actions]] without any hero involved. To the point that the in-universe AudienceSurrogate demands Bastian invent an epic showdown. |
| 317 | * AffablyEvil: She is rotten to the core and fakes all demonstration of niceness, but she is genuinely polite. Averted in the live action mini-series, in which she rarely bothers to be even FauxAffablyEvil. |
| 318 | * AscendedExtra: The second film, the animated series and the live-action series ''Tales from the Neverending Story '' largely expand her role as the BigBad. |
| 319 | * BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: In the novel, Bastian wishes her up with the AURYN because he wants a powerful and cunning villain to defeat and to prove his gusto. Xayide ends up having so much manipulative guile that she helps turn ''him'' to evil. |
| 320 | * BigBad: Averted in the book; she's the closest thing to an antagonist in the second half, but since she's killed off before the climax and never comes to blows with Bastian, she's not really Big enough a BigBad. She plays the part straight in the second film, as well as the animated and the live-action adaptations. |
| 321 | * BreakoutVillain: As stated above, every adaptation would almost let audience forget about the Nothing. A RealLife explanation could be that the disembodied Nothing and the unseen Manipulators are harder to adapt and less suited for long-running series, leaving Xayide to fill the spot. |
| 322 | * ColdHam: Subdued and creepily collected, but larger than life nonetheless. Averted in the mini-series, in which she is ChewingTheScenery with gusto, and more than a bit unhinged. |
| 323 | * CompositeCharacter: In the live-action miniseries she has the title of "the Dark Princess", which in the novel belongs to Gaya, the unseen ruler of Spook City who traps Gmork. |
| 324 | * TheCorrupter: She successfully accelerates Bastian's FaceHeelTurn in the novel, and turns him against his friends in the movie. Until he snaps out of it with a MyGodWhatHaveIDone moment. |
| 325 | * DefeatMeansFriendship: Or so she'd like the heroes to believe. She pretends to submit to Bastian after he defeats her, but actually uses her position as his servant to manipulate him. |
| 326 | * DevilInPlainSight: The narration of the novel and the movie blatantly scream that she is up to no good, but Bastian is too proud and too trusting to see it. |
| 327 | * DroppedABridgeOnHim: [[spoiler:She was killed by her own soldiers, when they kept moving and crushed her as she threw herself in front of them, screaming at them to obey again. The narration goes as far as stating that no one knows how it happened. Possibly either because Bastian escaped her influence and she granted him shared control, or because Fantastica itself gets rid of characters who no longer fit in their story.]] |
| 328 | * EmptyShell: In the film, she is Emptiness incarnate. [[spoiler: And if she ceases to be one, she ceases to exist.]] |
| 329 | * EvilCounterpart: The live-action series makes her this to the Childlike Empress, being her sister who used to rule equally with her. |
| 330 | * EvilGenius: Noted in the novel to be very cunning, able to plan for most situations. Both her EvilPlan to remove Bastian as a threat and make him her PuppetKing, by making him devoid of memories and thus under her control, and the ease with which she plays him like a fiddle speak volume of her IQ. |
| 331 | * EvilSorceress: In fact, the text specifies that she is Fantastica's wickedest and most powerful sorceress. |
| 332 | * ExtremeDoormat: She acts this way in order to manipulate Bastian. |
| 333 | * HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler:Her death is actually something Bastian inadvertently causes due to an evil act he performs.....and Bastian is only being evil because Xayide has manipulated him into being so.]] |
| 334 | ** [[spoiler: In the novel, she is destroyed by her monsters as they escape her control.]] |
| 335 | ** [[spoiler: In the film, she wanted Bastian to make his last wish and he did...]] |
| 336 | * HotWitch: She's described as very beautiful in the book, and does not disappoint in all adaptations. |
| 337 | * HumanoidAbomination: In the film, she's the living embodiment of Emptiness. She even needs a special salve to give herself a face, symbolising how monstrosity can look normal at first glance. |
| 338 | * LadyOfBlackMagic: A beautiful, lavishly (if gaudily) dressed, EvilSorceress and the extremely powerful main villainess who has the PowerOfTheVoid. |
| 339 | * ManipulativeBastard: "Bitch" in her case. She masterfully (albeit helped by a dose of IdiotBall on his part) plays on Bastian's desire to be the hero of his story to subtly corrupt him, and push him to waste his wishes and want to rule Fantastica. Even when she drops the pretence, she knows what button to push to make him say his last wish. Fortunately, he takes a third option. |
| 340 | * MarkOfTheSupernatural: She has one red and one green eye in the novel. |
| 341 | * MyGodWhatHaveIDone / VillainousBsod: [[spoiler: In the film, Bastian used his last wish to give her a "heart"/"conscience", which results in her shedding a SingleTear presumably of remorse (or perhaps budding compassion) shortly before dying in a PuffOfLogic.]] |
| 342 | * NonActionBigBad: Xayide never fights Bastian nor Atreyu directly, using her Giants to do the heavy lifting. Not that she lacks power mind you, quite the contrary. But she is smart enough to deal with someone who could just wish her gone in a heartbeat in subtler ways. |
| 343 | * NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist: In the film, she claims that her goal is to bring order to the unruly and wild imagination. But it is clear that what she really wants is power and control and the heroes are quick to remind her of that. |
| 344 | * PowerOfTheVoid: Her will can control anything that is empty. Things and people affected by Emptiness are still there and keep functioning, but are voided of meaning and essence, barely existing any longer. |
| 345 | * PuffOfLogic: [[spoiler:Her death in the film--Bastian wishes that she has a heart and she gains one. However, gaining a heart means that she's no longer empty, which defies her very existence as the living embodiment of emptiness. This results in her (very violently) ceasing to exist.]] |
| 346 | * TheSociopath: Let's see: ConsummateLiar, [[ManipulativeBastard casual manipulation and gaslighting]] of Bastian, superficial charm and charisma, [[LackOfEmpathy remorseless violation of the rights of others]], [[{{Narcissist}} pathological egocentricity]], [[EvilCannotComprehendGood and an inability to understand what is good?]] Small wonder Bastian wished for her to have a heart in the film's version of events. |
| 347 | * SorcerousOverlord: "Overlady" but same difference, and one of the mightiest in fiction to boot. Xayide is an extremely powerful Evil Witch with an army of monsters, ruling from a BigFancyCastle that just screams "Beware of super evil inside". |
| 348 | * TokenEvilTeammate: She travels with Bastian to the Star Cloiser and Ivory Tower as part of his company on their quest, and, as her advices make clear, is still evil. No one but Bastian trusts her. |
| 349 | * TreacherousAdvisor: To Bastian, as part of her ManipulativeBastard schtick. |
| 350 | * WalkingWasteland: In the movie, Xayide spreads Emptiness all over Fantastica, leaving everything apparently intact, but completely devoid of substance and meaning. She wrecks the wondrous Silver City and the outside of the Ivory Tower without lifting a finger. |
| 351 | * WorldOfSilence: What Xayide plans to make of Fantasia, and by extension the world, voiding them of all beauty and creativity to leave only unfeeling, almost mechanical "efficiency". |
| 352 | [[/folder]] |
| 353 | |
| 354 | !Supporting Characters |
| 355 | |
| 356 | [[folder:The Travellers]] |
| 357 | !!The Travellers |
| 358 | ->'''Played by:''' Creator/DeepRoy (Gluckuk, first film), Tilo Prückner (Vooshvazool, first film), John Stocker (Gluckuk, animated series), Adrian Truss (Vooshvazool, animated series), John [=McGrath=] (Blubb, animated series) |
| 359 | |
| 360 | A group of Fantasticans who are travelling together to the Ivory Tower as messengers from their far-flung regions of Fantastica to ask the Childlike Empress for help with the Nothing, only to learn she herself has fallen ill. They consist of Pyornkrachzark the rock chewer on his stone bike, the WillOWisp Blubb, the night hob Vooshvazool (and his stupid bat), and the tiny man Gluckuk with his racing snail. |
| 361 | ---- |
| 362 | * AdaptedOut: Blubb doesn't appear in the movie. |
| 363 | * BatOutOfHell: Vooshvazool's mount. |
| 364 | * CharacterCatchphrase: In the movie, Vooshvazool has a tendency to speculate if someone is a "nutcase." |
| 365 | * DarkIsNotEvil: Vooshvazool is a Night Hob, a type of [[OurGoblinsAreDifferent goblin]] with an ugly, freaky appearance who rides around on a bat. But aside from speculating if people are "nutcase[s]", he doesn't come across as evil. |
| 366 | * HorseOfADifferentColor: Gluckuk's racing snail and Vooshvazool's bat. |
| 367 | %%* IncredibleShrinkingMan |
| 368 | %%* TheNapoleon: Gluckuk |
| 369 | * RagtagBunchOfMisfits: With good reason. They come from vastly different parts of Fantastica, and have almost nothing in common, but are united by their quest to see the Childlike Empress. The book notes that they remained friends even after Fantastica was saved. |
| 370 | * SpeedySnail: Gluckuk's racing snail is capable of moving at high speeds. |
| 371 | * TeamPet: Gluckuk's racing snail and Vooshvazool's bat. |
| 372 | * WillOWisp: Blubb is a will o' wisp. |
| 373 | [[/folder]] |
| 374 | |
| 375 | [[folder:Cairon]] |
| 376 | !!Cairon |
| 377 | ->'''Played by:''' Moses Gunn (first film), Tyrone Benskin (live-action series) |
| 378 | |
| 379 | A black zebra-centaur who is the last and greatest of the five hundred doctors summoned to examine the Childlike Empress. She gives him AURYN and sends him to find Atreyu and put him on his quest. |
| 380 | ---- |
| 381 | * AdaptationSpeciesChange: In the book, he is a black centaur with a zebra body while in the film, he is more of a humanoid [[OurMermaidsAreDifferent merman]] with a ridge on the top of his head, and can breathe on dry land. |
| 382 | %%* TheChooserOfTheOne |
| 383 | %%* CoolHorse |
| 384 | * MeaningfulName: His name originates from Chiron, the Greek centaur sage and physician who taught many heroes. |
| 385 | * NationalAnimalStereotypes: His human part resembles an African man, whereas his equine part resembles a zebra, which is an animal native to Africa. |
| 386 | * OurCentaursAreDifferent: He's a black one with the body of a zebra. |
| 387 | * OurMermaidsAreDifferent: In the film, he is a merman who is able to walk and breathe on dry land. |
| 388 | [[/folder]] |
| 389 | |
| 390 | [[folder:Morla the Ancient One]] |
| 391 | !!Morla the Ancient One |
| 392 | [[quoteright:1000:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/morla_the_neverending_story.jpg]] |
| 393 | ->'''Voiced by:''' Robert Easton (first film, uncredited), Pam Hyatt (animated series), Robert Jadah (live-action series) |
| 394 | |
| 395 | The oldest being in Fantastica, discounting the Childlike Empress and the Old Man of Wandering Mountain, who are ageless. Morla is a tortoise of fantastic size, who has been inert in the Swamps of Sadness for so long that she has become a landmark, Tortoise Shell Mountain. |
| 396 | ---- |
| 397 | * AbnormalAllergy: She is allergic to youth. |
| 398 | * FisherKing: It's [[ImpliedTrope Implied]] in the book version that the swamps of sadness cause despair in anything that ventures into them because Morla is perpetually sad and uncaring, rather than Morla's attitude being a result of the swamp's effects. |
| 399 | * IAmLegion: She refers to herself as We because of her split personality. |
| 400 | * SneezeOfDoom: Being giant and having allergies will do that to you. Her sneezes are so powerful that Atreyu has to hold on for dear life in the tree he's in. |
| 401 | * SplitPersonality: Morla has been alone with herself for so long that she's separated herself into two distinct identities and often talks to herself, calling herself "old woman." |
| 402 | * StrawNihilist: As a result of living in Fantastica so long, and coming to believe that life is meaningless and simply repeats itself. She doesn't even care whether Fantastica is destroyed or not. Then again, what would you expect from someone living in the ''Swamps of Sadness?'' |
| 403 | * ThatsNoMoon: When Atreyu first finds her, it takes him a fair bit to realize that she doesn't ''live'' in Tortoise Shell Mountain -- she ''is'' Tortoise Shell Mountain. |
| 404 | * TimeAbyss: One of the oldest beings in Fantastica -- in fact, the only beings older than she are the Childlike Empress and the Old Man of Wandering Mountain, who are as old as the world and eternally unchanging. |
| 405 | * TurtleIsland: A variant on dry (mostly dry) land. She's grown to be so big as to be easily mistakable for a hill, which combined with her habit of rarely ever moving has led to her being named Tortoise Shell Mountain. |
| 406 | * ScrewPolitenessImASenior: An extreme case. She is the only Fantastican who threatens Atreyu despite him bearing AURYN. |
| 407 | * WiseOldTurtle: She's far more cynical than is usual for the trope, but she's nonetheless the oldest living being in Fantastica besides the Childlike Empress and Old Man of Wandering Mountain, who are eternal and undying, extremely knowledgable, and offers useful advice to Atreyu at a key point. |
| 408 | [[/folder]] |
| 409 | |
| 410 | [[folder:Ygramul the Many]] |
| 411 | !!Ygramul the Many |
| 412 | ->'''Voiced by:''' Marilyn Lightstone (animated series) |
| 413 | |
| 414 | A feared and powerful monster that lives in the deep chasm. |
| 415 | ---- |
| 416 | * AdaptedOut: She doesn't appear in the movie, meaning that Atreyu never rescues Falkor from her or gets bitten to get teleportation powers; instead Falkor just shows up to save Atreyu from Gmork in the nick of time, and flies him directly to the Gnomics. |
| 417 | * TheDreaded: Called the Horror of Horrors by the Greenskins, who consider meeting her to be AFateWorseThanDeath. |
| 418 | * EvenEvilHasStandards: Will not harm Atreyu because he wears AURYN, and helps him on his quest to find a cure for the Childlike Empress by telling him how he can take a shortcut to the Southern Oracle (a journey which would otherwise last him a lifetime) by letting her bite him so that her venom will allow him to teleport. She won't comply when Atreyu asks her to release Falkor from her web, however, as she knows the Empress wouldn't interfere with her hunting that way. |
| 419 | * LogicalWeakness: Her venom gives whomever she bites the ability to teleport, which of course would lead to all prey escaping if it were known. Downplayed because, fortunately for Ygramul, it doesn't occur to most of her victims that being bitten would give them extra powers, so they remain in her web and get devoured. Falkor only escapes the web because he overhears her when she tells Atreyu he can get to the Southern Oracle this way, and thanks to the good luck that accompanies the luckdragon they meet Urgl when they arrive there, perhaps one of the few people in Fantastica skilled enough in medicine to cure them. |
| 420 | * ThirdPersonPerson: Ygramul talks this way, perhaps due to her HiveMind nature. |
| 421 | * TheWormThatWalks: Ygramul is composed of a swarm of steel-blue insects that move to compose a shapeshifting form. |
| 422 | [[/folder]] |
| 423 | |
| 424 | [[folder:Engywook and Urgl]] |
| 425 | !!Engywook and Urgl |
| 426 | [[quoteright:702:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/engywook_urgl_the_neverending_story_sydney_bromley_patricia_hayes.png]] |
| 427 | ->'''Engywook played by:''' Creator/SydneyBromley (first film); Creator/TonyRobinson (third film), Creator/WayneRobson (animated series) |
| 428 | ->'''Urgl played by:''' Creator/PatriciaHayes (first film); Moya Brady (third film), Barbara Bryne (animated series) |
| 429 | |
| 430 | The Gnomics. Engywook is a gnome scientist who lives near and studies the Southern Oracle, and Urgl, a gnome healer, is his wife. |
| 431 | ---- |
| 432 | * AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: They always argue and insult each other, but whenever one is acting particularly badly, the other is always quick to insist that "s/he really means well." Urgl also comforts Engywook when he is at his lowest point. |
| 433 | * AudienceSurrogate: InUniverse, Engywook is strongly implied to be [[spoiler:Mr. Coreander's Fantastican avatar]], the same way Atreyu is Bastian's own. |
| 434 | * FantasticScience: Engywook is a scientist trying to figure out how the Southern Oracle works. |
| 435 | * GlorySeeker: Engywook's goal is to become the most famous gnome in Fantastica. [[spoiler:According to one of the "but that is another story and will be told another time" hooks, he succeeds, but not in the way that he thought that he would]]. |
| 436 | * GrumpyOldMan: Engywook. Urgl is a Grumpy Old Woman. |
| 437 | * HauntedHouseHistorian: Engywook provides exposition about the Southern Oracle to Atreyu. |
| 438 | * MadScientist: Urgl seems to think that Engywook is one. |
| 439 | * MotherNatureFatherScience: Urgl is a medicine woman and Engywook is a scholar who studies the Southern Oracle. Played up in the animated series particularly, where Urgl criticizes Engywook for trying to create a weather-controlling machine, saying that Mother Nature doesn't mix with "your scientific mumbo jumbo". |
| 440 | * OurGnomesAreWeirder: The text notes that there are many different types of gnomes in Fantastica and the branch Urgl and Engywook belong to are called Gnomics. |
| 441 | * TheProfessor: Engywook. |
| 442 | * SupremeChef: Urgl. The food she makes for Atreyu is described as so delicious that Bastian's mouth waters just reading about it. Averted in the film, when Urgl reveals her healing potion has all kinds of gross stuff in it ([[EyeOfNewt a newt's eye]], tree mold, old lizard brains, scales of a rancid sea serpent). |
| 443 | [[/folder]] |
| 444 | |
| 445 | [[folder:Uyulala the Southern Oracle]] |
| 446 | !!Uyulala the Southern Oracle |
| 447 | ->'''Played by:''' Ellen-Ray Hennessy (animated series), Jane Wheeler (live-action series) |
| 448 | |
| 449 | A legendary being known to be able to answer nearly any question, but can only be met by those who can pass three magic gates to reach her. |
| 450 | ---- |
| 451 | * AdaptedOut: |
| 452 | ** In the first movie, Uyulala is replaced by a second set of sphinxes who answer questions instead of posing a threat like the ones at the Riddle Gate. |
| 453 | ** The movie also omits the third gate, the one that can only be passed through if a traveler's mind is a complete blank (which fortunately Atreyu's is, after passing through the Magic Mirror Gate). |
| 454 | * MadeOfAir: Her body is a living construct of pure sound; her body ''is'' the melody that she sings. |
| 455 | * TheOmniscient: She is borderline this, as people from all over Fantastica travel to speak to her and she can give answers to just about anything. |
| 456 | * PaletteSwap: The movie version looks like a blue version of the Sphinx Gate Atreyu encountered earlier. |
| 457 | * RhymesOnADime: In fact, she ''can't'' speak without rhyming, and also cannot hear people if they do not talk to her in verse. (Atreyu manages to get a knack for it rather quickly, despite lamenting that he's never had to make up rhymes before.) |
| 458 | * SensibleHeroesSkimpyVillains: The blue sphinxes that serve as the Southern Oracle in the movie are otherwise identical to the dangerous gold ones at the Riddle Gate, except they have their breasts covered. |
| 459 | [[/folder]] |
| 460 | |
| 461 | [[folder:The Old Man of Wandering Mountain]] |
| 462 | !!The Old Man of Wandering Mountain |
| 463 | ->'''Played by:''' Creator/FreddieJones (third film) |
| 464 | |
| 465 | An ancient being of the same kind as the Childlike Empress. While she will never be old, he was never young. The Old Man of Wandering Mountain writes the Neverending Story, recording every event that has ever happened into the book, in absolute solitude. |
| 466 | ---- |
| 467 | * AnthropomorphicPersonification: He is the counterpart of the Childlike Empress: where she is the personification of inspiration, he embodies the practice of writing down and recording stories so they become fixed and unchanging. |
| 468 | * BecauseDestinySaysSo: Legend says that the only way to meet him is by fate. |
| 469 | * TheOmniscient: He writes down ''everything'' that happens in Fantastica. The only thing that he doesn't seem sure about are the Childlike Empress's motivations when she seeks him out. |
| 470 | * RewritingReality: For the most part, reality and the book he writes are indistinguishable and simultaneous, so the fact that everything he writes into the book becomes real doesn't matter, since everything that happens is written, by him, into the book as it happens. However, when the Childlike Empress makes him recite the book to her, he writes the words he says as he says them, which causes the events described to repeat themselves, up to his own recitation of the book. This would have gone on without end without outside intervention, forcing Bastian's hand. |
| 471 | * TimeAbyss: He is as old as the Childlike Empress, and Fantastica itself. |
| 472 | * VoiceForTheVoiceless: An interesting variant. While writing his responses to the Childlike Empress, she only hears his voice in her mind as if remembering what he just said despite the fact his mouth never moved. |
| 473 | [[/folder]] |
| 474 | |
| 475 | [[folder:Grograman the Many-Coloured Death]] |
| 476 | !!Grograman the Many Coloured Death |
| 477 | ->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/GaryKrawford (animated series) |
| 478 | |
| 479 | The Many-Colored Death, Lord of the Desert of Colors, and the deadliest creature in Fantastica. He is a lion whose fiery aura causes everything around him to crumble into colorful ash and dust, creating Goab, the Desert of Colors. He turns to stone at night, and the sands of Goab grow into Perilin, the Night Forest, until he awakens again in the morning. Bastian is one of the few beings who can be around him and live, thanks to the protection of AURYN. |
| 480 | ---- |
| 481 | * AdaptedOut: None of the movies have included him, only appearing in the novel and ''WesternAnimation/TheNeverendingStoryTheAnimatedAdventuresOfBastianBalthazarBux''. |
| 482 | * BackFromTheDead: He dies with every nightfall, but is resurrected in the morning. |
| 483 | * CatsAreMean: Subverted. Grograman, despite his very presence being deadly, is very helpful and wise. |
| 484 | * FieryLion: He's a lion with a deadly, fiery aura that burns away everything that comes near him. |
| 485 | * FisherKing: He fulfills this role to the desert Goab itself, feeling it as he feels his own body. When he dies, the desert becomes a forest. |
| 486 | * SuperStrength: He is capable of wrestling with enhanced Bastian on an even footing. |
| 487 | * WalkingWasteland: Everywhere he goes, all the land around him turns into desert and all living things die, because he is the deadliest creature in Fantastica. |
| 488 | [[/folder]] |
| 489 | |
| 490 | [[folder:The Four Heroes and Princess Oglamar]] |
| 491 | !!The Four Heroes and Princess Oglamar |
| 492 | ->'''Played by:''' Marcel Jeannin (Hynreck, live-action series), Fernando Chien (Hysbald, live-action series) |
| 493 | |
| 494 | A group of travelers that Bastian meets shortly after arriving in Fantastica. Hero Hynreck is a knight determined to be the greatest and impress Oglamar, the Princess of Luna, who is only interested in the very best of heroes. Hykrion, Hysbald, and Hydorn are wandering knights looking to prove themselves as the strongest, swiftest, and most enduring of all knights, respectively, who met up with Hynreck and Oglamar by chance and became his friends. |
| 495 | ---- |
| 496 | * BadassNormal: All four heroes. |
| 497 | * BreakTheHaughty: Both Hynreck and Oglamar. Bastian doesn't think too much of Hynreck's boasting and deriding of how saving Fantastica "didn't require much of a hero," and soundly defeats him. Oglamar, who is only interested in the best, leaves Hynreck because of this. To remedy the situation, Bastian then invents a story about Oglamar getting kidnapped by a dragon (which of course comes true [[RealityWarper thanks to AURYN]]), getting her into a situation for Hynreck to rescue her from. In both cases, Bastian realizes afterwards that what he did was DisproportionateRetribution. |
| 498 | * DamselInDistress: Oglamar, after Smerg kidnaps her. Bastian then wonders if it wasn't DisproportionateRetribution to get her into such a situation just because she'd been haughty. |
| 499 | * DefrostingIceQueen: Oglamar. |
| 500 | * HumanAliens: The five of them seem human, but can't be, as they are from Fantastica. |
| 501 | * InHarmsWay: How Hynreck wants to live. His greatest frustration is that Fantastica has become too boring by the time he's alive and doesn't have enough monsters, demons and wars left anymore, thus depriving him of opportunities to demonstrate his skill. His reaction to hearing that his girlfriend has been kidnapped by a dragon is to jump up and clap his hands with joy. |
| 502 | * KeepTheReward: According to one of the "but that is another story and will be told another time" hooks, after Hynreck saves Princess Oglamar from the dragon Bastian creates just for him, she's more than willing to give him the StandardHeroReward, however by that point Hynreck isn't interested in Oglamar anymore and returns her to her father instead. The reason for his change of heart remains unknown as it's part of the untold story. |
| 503 | %%* KnightInShiningArmor |
| 504 | * KnightInSourArmor: Hynreck views himself as a FailureHero after Bastian defeats him and gives up on his relationship with Oglamar, but when she is kidnapped, he rescues her anyway. |
| 505 | * KnightErrant: Hykrion, Hysbald, and Hydorn become this. At one point, however, after getting lost several times, they declare that they are absolute failures at it. |
| 506 | * MasterSwordsman: All of them, but especially Hysbald and Hynreck. |
| 507 | * WorldsStrongestMan: Subverted with Hykrion, who claims to be the strongest, but is later outperformed by Hynreck, who is then outperformed by [[SuperStrength Bastian]]. |
| 508 | [[/folder]] |
| 509 | |
| 510 | [[folder:Yikka]] |
| 511 | !!Yikka |
| 512 | |
| 513 | An elderly, talking mule in service to Hykrion, Hysbald, and Hydorn, who later becomes Bastian's mount. |
| 514 | ---- |
| 515 | * AdaptedOut: None of the adaptations have included her so far. |
| 516 | * ButICantBePregnant: Her regret, as she tells Bastian, is that mules are sterile, but he finds a way around this with his power of storytelling by giving her a magical mate who can father a child with her. |
| 517 | * InterspeciesRomance: She meets a pegasus stallion whom Bastian conjures for her. They fall in love and later Yikka gives birth to a winged mule named Pataplan who has adventures of his own. |
| 518 | * MoralityChain: She's the only creature Bastian is consistently nice to even after he shuns Atreyu and Falcor. When Xayide tricks Bastian into getting rid of Yikka, Bastian makes sure the old mule gets a happy ending by pairing her with a pegasus, and her departure makes Bastian so unhappy, causing him to go further downhill just as Xayide expected. |
| 519 | * NiceGirl: She's gentle and understanding, and loves to converse with Bastian. |
| 520 | * TalkingAnimal: Like the book version of Artax, Yikka can talk and converse as well as anyone. |
| 521 | [[/folder]] |
| 522 | |
| 523 | [[folder:The Acharis / Shlamoofs]] |
| 524 | !!The Acharis / Shlamoofs |
| 525 | |
| 526 | The saddest, ugliest, and most depressed creatures in existence, who weep endlessly and fashion the indestructible silver that composes the City of Amarganth from their tears. Later, they are transformed by Bastian into their polar opposites, the Shlamoofs, a race of butterfly clowns and everlasting laughers. Unfortunately, it's not an improvement. |
| 527 | ---- |
| 528 | * AdaptedOut: They never had any apparition in the movies or in the animated series. |
| 529 | * TheEeyore: The Acharis to the extreme. |
| 530 | * {{Gonk}}: The reason why the worm-like Acharis are so depressed and constantly crying -- they're so completely ugly they can't bear to look at themselves, and later beg Bastian to help them. [[spoiler:His attempt to do so has nasty consequences.]] |
| 531 | * OcularGushers: The Acharis constantly cry an endless amount of acidic tears. |
| 532 | * PluckyComicRelief: The Shlamoofs are created to be the embodiment of laughter and comedy. [[spoiler:{{Deconstructed}} in their second appearance; the Shlamoofs are incapable of taking anything seriously and can no longer do anything remotely practical, with the result that they've destroyed all the beautiful things they made while they were the Acharis and can't make anything new.]] |
| 533 | * WhatTheHellHero: [[spoiler:When they meet up with Bastian for the second time, they reveal just what happened as a result of Bastian's well-intended wish and demand he change them back into Acharis, which he can no longer do at that point.]] |
| 534 | [[/folder]] |
| 535 | |
| 536 | [[folder:The Old Emperors]] |
| 537 | !!The Old Emperors |
| 538 | |
| 539 | While Bastian and several others before him eventually returned to Earth from Fantastica after learning the appropriate lessons, some of the former human saviors of Fantastica never made it back out to the real world. They inhabit the City of Old Emperors, and are looked after by Argax the monkey. |
| 540 | ---- |
| 541 | * AdaptedOut: They never make any apparition in any of the media inspired by ''The Neverending Story''. Their role in the story is also omitted, and there is no mention in the movies or animated series of Fantasia having other saviors besides Bastian. |
| 542 | * EmptyShell: Every one of them. They lost themselves by abusing their wishes in Fantastica and wasting away their memories of the real world. |
| 543 | * FallenHero: Every single one of them saved Fantastica at some point. They also succumbed to the temptation of becoming Emperors of Fantastica and caused great chaos before losing all of their memories and ending up trapped in the City of Old Emperors. |
| 544 | * FateWorseThanDeath: Their punishment for failing to return to the real world and attempting to overthrow the Childlike Empress is to spend eternity as {{Empty Shell}}s in the City of Old Emperors, never being able to go back home and performing pointless mockeries of menial tasks. |
| 545 | * IronicHell: What they get to live. For abusing their power given as bearers of AURYN, now they don't get any control over anything, and they can now only create stories by randomly throwing dice. |
| 546 | * MonkeysOnATypewriter: One of the many pointless things they do is constantly throw dice with letters on them instead of numbers. As explained by Argax ([[{{Irony}} a monkey]]), most of the time the dice spell gibberish, but since they throw the dice time and again and they'll keep on doing it for eternity, sometimes coherent phrases and even whole stories turn up. Shame no one will ever read them. |
| 547 | * RummageSaleReject: They wear random things instead of clothes, such as barrels and lamp screens. |
| 548 | [[/folder]] |
| 549 | |
| 550 | [[folder:Argax]] |
| 551 | !!Argax |
| 552 | ->'''Voiced by:''' Andrew Sabiston (animated series) |
| 553 | |
| 554 | A talking monkey who looks over the inhabitants of the City of Old Emperors. |
| 555 | ---- |
| 556 | * AdaptationalSpeciesChange: He is an orangutan in the animated series. |
| 557 | * CharacterCatchphrase: "In a manner of speaking." |
| 558 | * {{Jerkass}}: Through and through a very unpleasant character. Beyond a couple of small PetTheDog moments (see below) he shows very little sympathy for the Old Emperors and is positively giddy about telling Bastian that his ultimate fate is to become one of them. |
| 559 | * ManiacMonkeys: He takes a sick pleasure in watching the mindless Old Emperors going around with their meaningless lives. |
| 560 | * NightmareFuelStationAttendant: Argax's job is to oversee the City of Old Emperors and keep all of them occupied for eternity. He is endlessly amused by it, while Bastian is suitably horrified. |
| 561 | * OrderliesAreCreeps: Although not exactly an orderly, he has shades of this as the overseer of a city full of incoherent, mindless humans. He also finds sick amusement in watching the Old Emperors live out their pointless existence. |
| 562 | * PetTheDog: {{Jerkass}} that he is, Argax did do one nice thing for the Old Emperors by inventing the "word game" for them. Since they no longer have any language, the word game (which consists of throwing dice with letters intead of numbers on them) allows them to occasionally make some words and, after playing the game for an eternity, even [[MonkeysOnATypewriter a poem or a story]]. He's actually quite encouraging with them here, telling them to "keep at it." |
| 563 | ** He also lets Bastian go after showing him the City of Old Emperors, as Bastian still has a few wishes left in AURYN and because Argax develops a soft spot for the boy. He's also the one who teaches Bastian how to go back to the human world. |
| 564 | * SillySimian: Thoroughly and mercilessly ''[[SubvertedTrope subverted]]''. While Argax himself certainly thinks he's funny, he is sadistic and unpleasant, and his domain is utterly depressing and creepy. |
| 565 | [[/folder]] |
| 566 | |
| 567 | [[folder:Ilwan]] |
| 568 | !!Ilwan |
| 569 | |
| 570 | The prince of the djinn, who seeks out Bastian and becomes one of his most trusted administrators. |
| 571 | ---- |
| 572 | * HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:He dies in the Battle for the Ivory Tower in order to save the invisibility belt Ghemmal for Bastian.]] |
| 573 | * SenselessSacrifice: [[spoiler: After his HeroicSacrifice, Bastian loses the belt the very next day.]] |
| 574 | [[/folder]] |
| 575 | |
| 576 | [[folder:Dame Eyola]] |
| 577 | !!Dame Eyola |
| 578 | |
| 579 | An immortal plant woman who lives in the House of Change, repeatedly dying and being reborn. Her desire and purpose is to have a child to love. |
| 580 | ---- |
| 581 | * AdaptedOut: Like many other characters from the book, she never has appeared in any adaptation. |
| 582 | * IJustWantToBeLoved: She wants to be a mother and truly love a child; [[DiscussedTrope she even discusses with Bastian]] whether she truly ''loves'' him, or if she just wants someone to spend her affection on. |
| 583 | * MeaningfulName: The original spelling of her name, "Aiuola", is Italian for "garden". |
| 584 | * ParentalSubstitute: Becomes one for Bastian for a while, as the embodiment of the mother he misses. |
| 585 | * PlantPerson: She's a living plant; she "eats" by watering herself, and even bears fruits. |
| 586 | * WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Dame Eyola is one of the few side characters who does not get the promise of "But that is another story, and will be told another time." |
| 587 | [[/folder]] |
| 588 | |
| 589 | [[folder:Yor]] |
| 590 | !!Yor |
| 591 | ->'''Voiced by:''' William Colgate (animated series) |
| 592 | |
| 593 | The blind miner, who spends his days going deep underneath Fantastica to harvest the forgotten dreams of humanity from the Picture Mine. |
| 594 | ---- |
| 595 | * AdaptedOut: Another character from the book whose role is omitted in almost all the adaptations. |
| 596 | * DarkIsNotEvil: He has totally black eyes, dark clothes, and an overall ashen and gloomy appearance. He's still nothing but kind and helpful to Bastian. |
| 597 | * InnateNightVision: Yor is only blind in the light. In the total darkness of the Picture Mine, he can see perfectly. |
| 598 | * TheMentor: To Bastian, in the difficult task of forgetting himself. |
| 599 | * OneNoteCook: The only food Yor ever makes and eats is some kind of salty soup. |
| 600 | * TheQuietOne: Since loud noises smash the pictures he digs up, Yor rarely speaks and even when he does, he only whispers. |
| 601 | * TheStoic: Yor rarely shows emotions. He smiles only once in the story, when Bastian finally finds the picture of his own dream. |
| 602 | [[/folder]] |
| 603 | |
| 604 | [[folder:Bastian's Father]] |
| 605 | !!Bastian's Father |
| 606 | ->'''Played by:''' Gerald [=McRaney=] (first film); Creator/JohnWesleyShipp (second film); Kevin [=McNulty=] (third film), Geoffrey Bowes (animated series), Noel Burton (live-action series) |
| 607 | |
| 608 | Bastian's father, a dentist, who became depressed and distant from his son after the death of his wife, Bastian's mother. |
| 609 | ---- |
| 610 | * AdaptationalJobChange: In the novel, he's a dentist. In the second film, he repeatedly brings up that he's an engineer. |
| 611 | * AscendedExtra: The novel sporadically talks about how he is processing his grief over his wife and how that affects Bastian, with he and his son only resolving things in the very last chapter. In the second movie, he has his own fairly extensive B-plot in the human world where he tries to figure out Bastian's whereabouts using clues from ''The Neverending Story'' book, reads along with Bastian's adventures in Fantasia, and ultimately calls his son back to the real world. |
| 612 | * TheEeyore: He's introduced at this, as a result of losing his wife. He gets over it at the end, when he gets back his son. |
| 613 | * FantasyForbiddingFather: Not in the book, where he is too lost in his own depression to notice what stories Bastian makes up -- but in the opening scene of the movie he tells his son to get his head out of the clouds because he's failing in school as a result. In the end, if not for Bastian's vivid imagination [[spoiler:Fantasia would have been destroyed forever]]. |
| 614 | * NonActionGuy: Understandable though, considering ''he's'' not the one who goes to Fantasia. He is a pretty badass dad when the need arises in the films. |
| 615 | %%* PapaWolf |
| 616 | * ParentalNeglect: Bastian's father is obviously well-intentioned and cares for his son, but he has gotten caught up in his sorrow from the loss of Bastian's mother and grown somewhat distant towards Bastian as a result. |
| 617 | * UnnamedParent: We never learn his name in the book; he's just "Bastian's father". The films and animated series name him Barney, while the live-action series names him Michael. |
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/context.php
FollowingContext Characters / TheNeverendingStory
Go To
- Show Spoilers
- Night Vision
- Sticky Header
- Wide Load
