Classics Corner: The Neverending Story by Michael Ende; The Ultimate Classic Fantasy Travel Into The World of Books
By Julie Sara Porter
Bookworm Reviews
PopSugar Reading Challenge: A book with a book on the cover
Spoilers: Those of us who were children of the '80's had a dark time at the movies, but damn it all, we loved it. If you're anything like me, still do.
Many of the films that we grew up with were darker and in some ways scarier than even some modern horror films. The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth, The Secret of NIMH, The Black Cauldron, The Last Unicorn, Something Wicked This Way Comes, Return to OZ, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, An American Tail, The Monster Squad, Ghost Busters, and Beetle Juice were just some of the many movies that we saw in theaters that fascinated us but still filled our nights with terror. Even our younger siblings and children may yelp with fear when they see our childhood favorites. Some of us may watch them again and wonder however did we survive going to the theater?
Sure we may have played with our Ataris and NESes and never went outside. Sure parents mocked our cartoons as half hour commercials and wondered why anyone would watch music videos. Sure, we were the first generation that was told "You're special" and may have received participation trophies. (Seriously, I used to get them all the time at Field Day events. I was an athletic loser, but they showed I tried. What is the freaking problem?). But when it came to the movies, we walked on the wild side and did so gladly.
One of the best movies from those times was The Neverending Story and my favorite fantasy film from that era. Many of us were in awe of the journey of young Bastian Balthazar Bux as he read about the beautiful fantasy world of Fantasia. We were amazed and sometimes scared of The Rock Biter, Morla, The Aged One, The Night Hob, and Falkor, The Luck Dragon. We cried with Atreyu the boy hero when he lost his beloved horse, Artax to the Swamps of Sadness and cheered him on when he fought Gmork, the creepy wolf, to the death. The fact that an invisible Nothing could destroy our world, probably made us fear thunderstorms for a long time afterwards. Before we may have understood what the terms "meta" and "breaking the fourth wall" meant, we saw it when the dying Childlike Empress revealed that Bastian, the boy reading the book, was the one who could cure her. We saw it even further when she revealed that others, meaning us, were with Bastian when he hid from the bullies in the bookstore and took the book. We debated what name Bastian yelled amid the thunder, lightning, and heavy rain (For the record, in both the book and movie, he said "Moon Child!") Most importantly, we wanted to be Bastian, the kid who found the book and enter that world and have that adventure as scary and traumatic as it sermed. Or at least, I did.
Many fans have less fond memories of the sequel, Neverending Story II: The Next Chapter. Though, some in subsequent years have since recognized it as a decent follow up to the original and while not as compelling or as memorable, was good in its own right. Also, Neverending Story II filled a very important need that those who only saw the first film and never read the book don't know: it covered the second half of the original novel. (The less said about the unnecessary train wreck that was The Neverending Story III: Escape from Fantasia, the better. The only thing that did was waste a perfectly good franchise and an early performance by Jack Black in one of his first film roles.)
While the book had its Readers over the years, it has fallen to the wayside because of the intense popularity of the first movie. For the record, Michael Ende himself didn't like the first movie. He felt it was childish and kitschy and distorted his book. However, that never stopped how loved the movie was. That love is well earned. The movies are well made, beautiful efforts with wonderful performances and scenes. They were huge parts of many's childhoods including mine. However, the book also deserves that recognition as well.
I am not saying either is better than the other. In fact, they are both equally good within their mediums. The book is wonderful for being a literary medium with its haunting descriptions and deep characterization. The first two movies do a good job as visual mediums in bringing those descriptions, characters, and actions to life. Instead of looking at them as separate entities, a competition where one has to emerge the better, look at them as the same entity telling the story in different ways. In a way, that's what makes it Neverending.
I will explain some of the things that are different about the book and how they add to the enjoyment of the films, like two halves that together create a whole. The first half is almost word for word similar to the first movie with some differences making some scenes longer and providing much needed exposition and explanation.
The second movie retains many of the characteristics and themes of the second half of the book. However, the second half of the book is not as linear of a straightforward quest as the first half. It is almost several adventures that are linked by Bastian's struggles within them. It makes sense that the second movie would gather it up in an adventure plot with a clear beginning, middle, and end.
Bastian's backstory is more elaborated upon in the novel making it more apparent why he would want to leave that world and become a hero in Fantastica (not Fantasia in the book). We see him not only bullied by the other kids, but as a complete physical and academic failure in school. (He was held back the previous year.) His only talent is making up names and stories, which comes in handy during his time in Fantastica.
We are aware from the movie that his mother is dead, but the book also emphasizes Bastian's troubled relationship with his father.
Through Bastian's father, the Reader experiences what it is like for a child to live with a mentally ill parent. In this case, his father is gripped with clinical depression, stemming from his wife's death. Bastian is unable to talk to him, as his father has lost interest in any activities and barely speaks to him or to anyone anymore. To Bastian, his father is frozen and numb to him. Bastian feels shut out by his father, so he retreats to his obsession with books and his fantasy worlds. This experience echoes in a later moment in the book when Bastian has a dream that his father is trapped inside a block of ice and Bastian hugs him trying to free him from the ice.
All of this backstory gives us the reasons why Bastian would enter and try to rebuild Fantastica after he names the Empress in the second half of the book. He was long held up for ridicule because of his weight, timidity, fear, and lack of acceptance. When he arrives in Fantastica, Bastian is encouraged to make wishes with the Auryn, a sacred gem that is her personal symbol. The more wishes that he makes, the more Fantastica grows. His first wish is to change his appearance to be taller, handsomer, and braver, like the heroes that he has always read about.
Bastian also names the new locations in Fantastica such as Perilin, the Night Forest and Goab, the Desert of Many Colors. He also creates creatures like Grograman, the Many Colored Death who is a living part of Goab and Smerg, a dragon that is created for a hero to defeat. He also names things like a sword that he calls Al-Tasher and a belt that causes it's wearer to become invisible that he calls Ghemmel. (In the second movie, we only see him create Smerg, give names to some of the areas, and making wishes to protect him and Atreyu during fights.) The longer Bastian remains in Fantastica, the more he becomes part of it. He forgets his home world and the life that he left behind. He eventually forgets he was ever from the outside world.
The book provides us with more information about the Fantasticans. For example, many of the characters who went nameless in the movies actually have names in the book. The first three Fantasticans that we encounter in both the book and first movie are the small man, Night Hob, and Rock Biter. In the book, we learn that the little man is named Gluckuk,the Night Hob is Vooshvazool, and the Rock Biter (called Rock Chewer) is Pyornkrachzark. There is also a will-o-the-wisp, Blubb. It actually makes sense that there are four characters rather than three, coming from all four directions to reveal just how large in magnitude the Nothing is coming from all directions-north, south, east, and west simultaneously.
We also get some insight into Atreyu's home life before he is recruited as Fantastica's book hero, before Bastian's arrival. Cairon, the Childlike Empress' advisor (a centaur in the book rather than a merman in the movie) travels to the Grassy Ocean beyond the Silver Mountains to visit the young warrior. While the book Atreyu and his people are clearly modeled after Native Americans (and both films hired actors who were either full or half-Native Americans in Noah Hathaway and Kenny Morrison), they are actually green skinned.
We learn that they are a nomadic people who are great hunters, but have a strict honor code. We also learn that the purple buffalo that Atreyu name drops in the movie, acts a guide in his dreams. The buffalo leads him to Morla the Aged One and the first clue to the Empress' cure.
Atreyu is almost like the perfect hero because he is written that way. Once Bastian becomes a physical part of the story, he proves to be a contrast to Atreyu in his actions. Atreyu receives the Auryn for his journey and makes the occasional wish upon it, but it has no adverse effect on him. He is a character from Fantastica and also has no hidden demons or longings from which the Auryn removed from him.
Bastian is a more relatable character, because he is understandable. He is an outsider from our world, so he is like us. The more he loses himself in the fantasy world, the more arrogant he becomes. He lost all of the qualities that made him human.
The antagonists are also very different. We learn more about Gmork, the wolfish servant of the Nothing. In his encounter with Atreyu (in which he is left by Night Creatures to starve to death rather than be stabbed by Atreyu), Gmork reveals that he is not from Fantastica. He has no world and has no exact form, taking many. He envies the Fantasticans for having a world. He is supposed to be embodiment of Fear just as Xaiyde the female sorceress in the second half of the book is a living embodiment of Temptation.
The second film makes Xaiyde the primary antagonist who creates and controls the Emptiness. The book appears to be the opposite. Xayide is simply a servant of the Emptiness, formed when Bastian loses more of himself. (In fact there is some indication that Bastian created Xaiyde himself after he expresses a need to have an adventure to prove his heroism.) She subtly encourages Bastian to make more wishes while acting as his subordinate. However, she manipulates Bastian into giving him gifts that increase his power and encourages him to use his wishes to control others, so she can overpower him. She is able to lead empty creatures such as her machine-like soldiers which only move by her will (which leads to her end, when Bastian rejects her manipulations. The soldiers run her over as though she willed them to kill her i.e. committed suicide.). Bastian's Emptiness almost makes him susceptible to her or rather the Emptiness' control.
They are not the main villains but Gmork and Xaiyde are the gateways to the true villains: The Nothing and The Emptiness. It is an impressive feat in book and movies, that the true antagonists in them are abstract concepts rather than actual beings. The Nothing in particular is a scary thought, and becomes more disturbing the older one gets. An entity that can make places, creatures, and things disappear is about as terrifying as it can get. The movie treats the Nothing as a storm that destroys everything in its path. The book is more subtle. Characters describe it as though someone went blind. All of a sudden, something that was there no longer is and is replaced with total blackness. It disappears as though it fell into a black hole, into nonexistence. Also, anyone who looks into the Nothing for too long gives into despair and becomes a part of it.
Another scary aspect that the book reveals is what happens to Fantasticans when they fall into the Nothing. They come to Earth, but they become Lies. They become things that people don't believe in and are simply means of deception. Even heroes like Atreyu become something that one can aspire to, but never become.
As frightening as the Nothing is, the Emptiness within Bastian is just as terrifying because it comes from his own actions. As he forgets about his life on Earth and becomes more arrogant, he becomes more insane with power. When he reaches the Ivory Tower, he sees that the Childlike Empress is gone. He then declares himself the Childlike Emperor and he is defeated by those who used to be his friends like Atreyu and Falkor. Eventually, Bastian loses everything, even his own name before he returns.
The antagonists are almost metaphors. The Nothing leaves sadness and despair on its wake. Bastian's Emptiness is like an insanity that consumes him annhiliating and destroying his mind as he retreats into the world he created. The Nothing could be Depression while the Emptiness could be Paranoid Schizophrenia.
We also get some interesting side quests that were probably removed from the movies either for special effects reasons or to fit the running time. Falkor for example does not enter the story saving Atreyu in the Swamps of Sadness. Instead, Atreyu saves him from a terrifying creature called Ygramul the Many, which is several small wasp like creatures that take one large changeable form. (It is here and not Atreyu's encounter with Morla the Aged One where Bastian screams with fright and Atreyu hears him leading to the first fourth wall break.)
Atreyu also goes through three gates to reach the Southern Oracle, not two. The first two are the same from the movie. The third is called the No Key Gate in which Atreyu must go through by acting like he doesn't want to. The more he fights to get inside, the less the door will open. So, Atreyu must temporarily forget the purpose of his journey before he can meet Uyuyulala, the Southern Oracle. There is also a deep sadness as Engywook, the cheerful scientific gnomic, who helps Atreyu through the gates is left in despair when Atreyu tells him that he will be the last person to speak to the Oracle. Engywook realizes that all his research was for nothing. He finally surrenders to the Nothing while Urgl, his wife remains loyally by his side to the end.
After Atreyu encounters the Childlike Empress to inform him of the results of his quest, she goes on a journey of her own. She floats into a litter to reach the Old Man of the Mountain, who is responsible for setting the Neverending Story to paper. (So he could be Michael Ende, himself.) The Old Man and The Empress read of Bastian's adventures and their own stopping at the exact moment where they are while Bastian writhes in indecision whether to call the Empress' name or not. Unlike the movie, where Bastian responds, because the Empress begs and cries to be saved, Bastian responds because he realizes that he, The Old Man, and the Empress are trapped in an endless cycle of reading the adventures without a resolution.
This adventure gives the Empress a chance to go on a quest of her own, but it slows things down and the telepathic dialogue between the two is shorter and more powerful for a film. (Incidentally, her name Moon Child came from when Bastian first saw her in a vision not from his late mother. Though, subsequent projects reveal that his mother still inspired Moon Child's name because she was named for the Moon Goddess: Selene.)
As I mentioned before the second half of the book features various smaller quests that are tied to Bastian's making wishes and him losing more of his memories of the outside world. He creates Smerg the Dragon specifically so a hero Hyruck can save the princess of his dreams. He encounters the Acharis, who are the saddest creatures in all of Fantastica. He then transforms them into the Shlamoofs, happy colorful but at times irritating butterfly-like creatures.
The majority of these adventures involve Bastian shaping Fantastica to fit his needs and gain heroism. A library is created detailing the adventures and stories that Bastian created. He receives names such as the Hero of Fantastica and the Wise Ones, scholars ask him questions like what is Fantastica ("The Neverending Story" he answers.) He wants to be admired, respected, and treated as a hero and legend. Then when he is consumed with power, he wants to be emperor and god.
One of the most haunting quests occurs shortly after Bastian's failed attempt at becoming Childlike Emperor. He finds himself in a strange city in which several men, women, and children don't speak and spend time doing repetitive mundane tasks. Bastian learns that these are the Old Emperors, humans who had also saved the Childlike Empress but had lost their memories of Earth and their identities. (Scarier still, on Earth there are probably several reports of missing persons over the years, even decades, of people who were never found because they became background characters inside a book.)
This implies that the Neverending Story is a cycle and that people from the outside world have visited it before. We even receive
hints that Mr. Coreander the bookseller, also went to Fantastica himself and had adventures but mercifully emerged unscathed and not a relic at the City of Old Emperors.
Those who have no way of returning to the outside world just exist as background characters in the book, in the City of Old Emperors withiwith no past, identity, or place. After visiting that horrible place, Bastian doesn't remember his home world fully but realizes that he can't remain in Fantastica.
Bastian's final test is his acceptance of love. He no longer wants to be a hero, and recognized for his exterior achievements. He wants, probably what he has always wanted: love and acceptance. He thinks that he has that with Dame Eyola, a sweet woman who could be a stand-in for Bastian's late mother. Bastian is cared for, mothered, and feels loved but something is still missing. He realizes that what is missing is his father. All the time that Bastian dreamt of being a hero, he realized that his most important wish was to rescue his father and to give and receive the love that they used to share.
The most touching moment is when Bastian returns to the real world and reunited with his father. He tells his father of the adventures and he believes him. Bastian realizes that his adventures weren't for nothing. He saved his father after all.
An oft-repeated line throughout the book is "That is another story and shall be told another time." It repeats every time a character leaves the book revealing that they had more adventures. We also learn some interesting things about their later lives such as the four from the beginning became life long friends.Cairon never returned to the Ivory Tower and entered a new life. Engywook did get scientific recognition. Hyruck saved his princess but didn't want to marry her anymore and so on. These mentions remind us that as it's title suggests the Neverending Story truly continues. Adventures happen when we're not looking and exist outside of the plot that we've been reading about. They leave us with many possibilities over what happened to them (and possibly fodder for fanfiction.)
The Neverending Story is a fantasy classic as both a book and two movies. It is a beautiful unique fantasy that one falls into as much as Bastian did. It makes them lose themselves into the adventure and the beautiful and at times disturbing world. As with any good book, we can picture ourselves alongside Bastian embracing this fantasy world and interacting with the characters.
It is just as much a memorable imaginative trip as it would be to read a historical novel that covers several centuries of a real life place like New York and immerse oneself into its history and various people and cultures.
But that is another story and shall be told another time.
