this magical tale about the power of
storytelling and faith has so many
messages that like the neverending story
itself are timeless let's hop on Falkor
and explore this is the ending of the
neverending story finally explained the
neverending story takes the
tried-and-true formula of the hero's
journey and gives it an interesting
narrative twist by doubling up on
protagonists Atreyu is tasked with
finding a cure for the childlike Empress
who's deathly illness threatens the
fabric of Fantasia while a dark force
called the nothing eats everything in
its path from the ivory tower to the
swamps of sadness the southern Oracle
and the ends of Fantasia itself Atreyu
searches for a cure at great personal
loss he loses his horse and his best
friend
artax which threatens the courage and
resolve that got him on this journey in
the first place
fortunately he makes a new friend in
luckdragon Falkor who helps him get back
on track at the first gate of the
southern Oracle Atreyu faces another
test this time he must confront his own
sense of self worth proving he believes
in himself he then has to confront the
vision of his true self in a mousy
little boy named Bastian who is reading
a book far far away part of a tre whose
journey is complete when he learns the
childlike Empress needs a new name and
only a human child can bestow it but
there are more setbacks in store Atreyu
loses Falkor and his magical talisman
and is forced to confront the Nothings
minion with nothing but his own wits and
strength meanwhile Bastian has his own
part to play in the neverending story at
first it seems like a simple framing
sequence with Bastian reading a
storybook about the events unfolding for
a Trejo and Fantasia he's grieving the
loss of a mother who seemed to support
her son sensitivity and daydreaming and
his escape into flights of fancy are his
coping method when a tre you loses artax
Bastian weeps along with him because he
has felt that loss himself my horse died
I nearly drowned
I just barely got away from the nothing
as he reads Bastion realizes that he
might be the most important hero of them
all and to honor his cherished mother
and her memory he even gives her name to
the childlike Empress saving her in
Fantasia
it seems silly that a new name might
save someone's life then you haven't
considered the power of what we call
things Bastian is called terrible names
by the school bullies which certainly
affects how he feels and sees himself
with the arrival of the nothing the
childlike Empress also loses an aspect
of herself that must be reinvented her
new name is a new start not just for the
Empress but for her whole world as
Bastian makes his wishes he ensures that
all the friendships made before the
Nothings rampage remained intact he
ultimately gets to experience a ride on
Falkor firsthand and even gives his
bullies a taste of their own terrible
medicine as the nothing sweeps across
Fantasia a ragtag bunch meets in the
howling forest on their way to the ivory
tower the rockbiter the night hob and
his stupid bat as well as teeny-weeny
and his racing snail they are all
members of different fan tation groups
with the same mission of beseeching the
childlike Empress for help restoring
their lands this unlikely group quickly
becomes friends as they realize how each
can help the others the night hob is
able to fly to the top of the ivory
tower and hear the news
the rockbiter offers all the little ones
protection and the racing snail is here
to shatter preconceived notions of what
certain kinds of creatures can do what
Bond's them is the shared lost of their
ancestral lands through the power of
dark forces which brings a theme of
colonization into the neverending
stories mix leads to a very grim moment
when the nothing snatches The Rock
biters friends right from under him like
a big good strong hands don't
the rockbiter gives up hope and allows
the nothing to take him but because of
bastions clever wishes he and his
comrades are eventually reunited and
continued their shared friendship
through the collective trauma they all
survived
one of the most satisfying things about
a fairy tale like the neverending story
is how far into destruction we travel
before the world is restored to rights
the nothing destroys all of Fantasia
except for a single grain of sand before
Bastian heals the Empress with her new
name the forces of darkness are defeated
but there's still work to do to properly
restore all that's been damaged Bastian
has a huge job ahead of him now that
he's no longer just an armchair hero and
when the Empress grants Bastian all the
wishes he needs to recreate Fantasia
it's a victory against hopelessness when
we see Fantasia rebuilt in a new form of
glory it reminds us that maintaining
hope and even the bleakest of
circumstances is a life-affirming act
and one we should strive to cultivate as
Bastian does Falkor might be the single
most beloved character in the
neverending story between his hearty
chuckle and friendly canine features
Falkor is a reminder that we must always
fight against the kind of hopelessness
embodied by the nothing while many times
luck is actually a product of good
circumstances timing and privilege the
look symbolized by Falkor is about the
faith that goodness and good people will
ultimately prevail even when a Trejo is
convinced that he failed to find the
human child who could give the Empress a
new name
Falkor comforts him and reminds him that
he did his very best and that kind
reminder is what draws viewers to the
luckdragon
in a scene that has been traumatizing
children alike for decades
Atreyu loses his beloved horse in the
swamps of sadness even today people who
have seen the neverending story a
hundred times know it is the most brutal
scene in the film and some will even
leave the room to avoid shedding tears
looking at the big picture though the
terrible events in the swamps of sadness
are a perfect metaphor for grief loss
and childhood trauma this is probably
why adults still have a visceral
reaction to the incidents even years
later because we remember being at Rao's
age and having to navigate our own
losses in different ways what ends up
being beautiful about this painful scene
is how it shows us that even a warrior
isn't immune to
grief for Bastien the moment allows him
to feel his own grief and began to
process the trauma of losing his mother
and teaches him one of the movies
lessons because it's avoidance doesn't
make wounds go away and pain has the
power to remind us we are still alive in
healing sometimes people become more
cynical as they get older and this can
quickly turn into bitterness and
resentment it certainly does with
bastions father who is all business and
can't understand why son can't move on
from his mother's death as quickly he
sees Bastian sensitivity as weakness and
so does the nothing because people who
have no Hobbs easy to control this is a
scarily true statement in our own human
world where everyday people lose hope
and turn to all kinds of ways not to
care about others moral of the ancient
one embodies this despair constantly
saying that nothing matters echoing the
apathy and cynicism that we often see in
adults
Atreyu and Bastian however both refused
to accept the supposedly grown-up truths
one of the neverending stories most
important messages is having faith in
the competence of children just because
someone is young doesn't make them
incapable of great feats he simply can't
imagine that one little bullet could be
that important
sadly Bastian has been bullied for the
traits that make him the ideal child to
help save Fantasia so he has no idea how
much power he holds in his heart and
imagination when he learns his own
strength though it's a lesson he'll
hopefully never forget the neverending
story is packed full of important themes
and messages but one of the most
fundamental is about the dangers of
bullying including the way that parents
treat their children the bullying that
bashed and deals with from his
classmates is awful and humiliating the
quiet bullying he endures from his
father is far more insidious than being
tossed into a dumpster by his classmates
he berates his son for his keen
imagination and the way he expresses
himself in ways that are all healthy
coping mechanisms for a child grieving
the recent loss of his mother
this is one of the more painful aspects
of the film and explains why Bastian
wouldn't want to come back to earth so
quickly once he finally visits Fantasia
many kids who are sensitive and
imaginative find sanctuary in books and
stories on their best days on a bad day
however like the one that sees Bastian
bullied by both his father and the
regular trio of tormentors at school a
book is an even more valuable tool of
escape he simply cannot deal with the
real world and the only thing that makes
sense to him is digging into a book he's
never read before there's an almost
religious kind of sanctuary in the way
the film presents the act of reading
there's more to it than just escapism as
the bookseller mr. coriander says a safe
book allows you to return to yourself
unscathed by the end but a dangerous
book will change you and fundamentally
change how you see and experience the
world the neverending story also
introduces young audiences to the notion
of metatextual 'ti stories within
stories just as he is sharing all your
adventures others are sharing his this
narrative trick can draw readers and
viewers even deeper into a story by
making us a part of it and that's a huge
reason why the neverending story still
resonates with audiences today as a film
the neverending story focuses on
adapting the first half of mikael and
does beautiful book about how a little
boy saves the world through reading the
neverending story to the next chapter
was released in 1990 with an entirely
new cast except for grouchy bookstore
owner Carl Conrad corriander in this
sequel Bastian is trying to get over his
fear of heights which he does not have
when he's riding on the back of a love
dragon when the Orang the mystical
talisman carried by a tray you calls to
him he returns to Fantasia where a new
evil the emptiness is being fueled by a
sorceress she tricks Bastian into making
wishes all the while stealing his
memories of Earth and home 1994 is the
neverending story three diverges
completely from indice buck and returns
with yet another new cast this time
Bastian battles the nasty played by Jack
Black in one of his first major roles
and reunites with many characters from
the original film when a TRAI reaches
the boundaries of Fantasia
finds the temple in ruins with elaborate
paintings he's shocked to see the
paintings are of him and everything he
survived the neverending story suggests
that a tray used journey like the
classic heroes journey structure that it
follows has happened many times before
and will probably happen again the cycle
of life and destruction and life
emerging again is in fact a never ending
story but more than that the fight
against apathy and hopelessness and
replacing them with hope and faith is a
story without an ending - like the
symbol of two snakes entwined eating
their own tails these important themes
from the story continue to be relevant
in the human world the fact that after
so many decades people still watch
engage with an ad or the neverending
story is simply a testament to the
everlasting power of this triumphant
tale check out one of our newest videos
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