When Bastian refuses to speak the new name, to prompt him into fulfilling his role as savior, the Empress herself locates the Old Man of Wandering Mountain, who possesses a book also entitled The Neverending Story, which the Empress demands he read aloud. Meanwhile, Falkor retrieves Auryn from the sea and arrives in time to save Atreyu from the rapid approach of The Nothing.įalkor and Atreyu go to the Childlike Empress, who assures them they have brought her rescuer to her Bastian suspects that the Empress means him, but cannot bring himself to believe it. However, upon being approached, Gmork's body instinctively seizes Atreyu's leg in his jaws, preventing him from being dragged by the Nothing. When Atreyu announces that he is the hero Gmork has sought, the wolf laughs and succumbs to death. Gmork then reveals that when the princess of the city discovered his treachery against the Empress, she imprisoned him and left him to starve to death. The wolf also reveals that he is a servant of the force behind The Nothing and was sent to prevent the Empress's chosen hero from saving her. There, thanks to the irresistible pull of the destructive phenomenon, the Fantasticans are becoming lies in the human world. Wandering the dangerous city, Atreyu finds the wolf Gmork, chained and near death, who tells him that all the residents of the city have leapt voluntarily into The Nothing. Atreyu lands in the ruins of Spook City, the home of various creatures of darkness. By Uyulala, he is told the only thing that can save the Empress is a new name given to her by a human, who can only be found beyond Fantastica's borders.Īs Falkor and Atreyu search for the borders of Fantastica, Atreyu is flung from Falkor's back in a confrontation with the four Wind Giants and loses Auryn in the sea. In reaching her, he is aided by a luckdragon named Falkor, whom he rescues from the creature Ygramul the Many.

At the advice of the giant turtle Morla the Aged One, Atreyu sets off in search of an invisible oracle known as Uyulala, who may know the Empress's cure.

Upon finding Atreyu, Cairon gives him AURYN: a powerful medallion that protects him from all harm.

The delegates are shocked when the Empress's physician, a centaur named Cairon, informs them that the Empress is ill, and has chosen a boy warrior named Atreyu to find a cure. A great delegation has come to the Empress to seek her help against a formless entity called 'The Nothing'. The story Bastian reads is set in the magical land of Fantastica, a place of wonder ruled by the benevolent and mysterious Childlike Empress.

The neverending story book series