Why YOU Are the Main Character in Neverending Story
That's right, YOU are a part of the Neverending story too.
This particular story is about a boy who borrows a book from a book store. The bookstore owner told him this was a special book, one where you're actually in the story, face the same dangers the characters do.
This book is special indeed, as the story in the book changes depending on the reader. Don't you think it was a coincidence that the hero of the story was a little boy, just like Bastian?
Even Bastian was surprised when he read it.
When the book store owner read the book, I have no doubt the story changed for him as well. Perhaps the protagonist was a book store owner in that particular version.
Even Fantasia came from Bastion's imagination, as he was always daydreaming about it, and riding unicorns and probably other fantastical animals, such as the ones we see in the movie.
Fantasia is the setting of the book...
and we find out that there is a force destroying Fantasia and practically erasing it, along with its inhabitants.
This force, known as the Nothing, seems to be enclosing in on the world at an alarming rate, and some of its people gather at the capitol, the Ivory Tower, where the Empress of the realm resides, to figure out a way to stop the Nothing.
We learn that the only one who can stop Fantasia is a boy named Atreyu, who is given a magical talisman called the Auryn, which also adorns the cover the of the real book. He must leave his weapons behind and go alone.
This is key, because, in the real world, in order to save the fantasy world, Bastian had to make it all the way to the climax of the story to complete his task and save the world.
Bastian had to be sucked in and entertained enough to make it to the end of the story.
That was why Atreyu was told to leave his weapons behind and go alone. Why couldn't he bring even a knife which could have helped defend himself from entities like Gmork, or bring a sidekick like the guy on the racing snail? The reason is because it makes a more compelling story for Bastian, it adds danger, uncertainty, vulnerability.
Bastian also had no weapons when the boys attacked him. Giving Atreyu an army of supporters, an army which Bastian did not have in the real world, having lost his Mother and having seemingly few if any friends, and so that wouldn't pull Bastian into the story.
Atreyu struggles to cross Fantasia. His horse dies, he nearly drowns, and only by luck meets up with a Luck Dragon who rescues him and takes him close to the Southern Oracle, an entity which should know what it is that Atreyu has to do.
The most important part of the movie is when Atreyu makes it through the first gate, which was composed of two inward facing guardians who could see straight into the would-be passerby's heart to see if the person thought he was worthy. It was a test of confidence that his heart was good. The second gate was worse. It was a mirror which showed a person who they really are.
So Atreyu makes it to the gate through a snowstorm which came out of nowhere. As he gazes into the mirror, he slowly sees the image of Bastian reading the book.
Remember this is a mirror which shows you who you really are. And in Atreyu's case, he finds out that he is a character in a book, currently existing in the mind of a boy reading. This was all written in the book Bastian was reading, and it was that moment that he has about had enough. Be he decides to venture onward in the story, as does Atreyu, having passed the test and handled himself well. He was a character in a story, but he knew he had a mission to fulfill. He was sent to find a way to save Fantasia, and so he had to go on.
All of this, Atreyu's adventure and danger, the characters, and even the two antagonists: the Nothing, and the giant wolf Gmork, keep the reader enthralled to get to the end of the story. Finally, when Atreyu gets to the Childlike Empress, and omnipotent ruler of Fantasia.
She knows what Bastian must do. Almost as a test of the power of his imagination and his faith in Fantasia, he must call out the Empress's new name. She knows Bastian has already chosen it, which was the name of his late mother. But did Bastian have the courage and to suspend disbelief that it's “only a story” and would he shout of her new name with the understanding that he is really saving Fantasia?
He barely makes, but does what he knows he must do. He finds himself within the story, or finds himself in a kind of in between place between real and fantasy, and he meets the Empress who gives him the last remaining grain of sand, which is the only remnants of a once vast and beautiful world.
Let me reiterate what the Empress says. We are mentioned in the movie, as the ones who were with Bastian when he escaped from the bullies and took the book.
So does this mean that you too are being watched. I can't answer that. Maybe we see glimpses of the magic mirror gate when we have near death or out of body experiences and experience other phenomena. Maybe, as the title of the movie suggests, the levels of the story (which is all of reality) is neverending...
slow the video down, even singling on one cosmicly colorful GIF, and a layered onion, psychedelic, etc...
...going on infinitely, with no way for anyone of ever knowing how many layers there are. Your dreams are keeping Fantasia from disappearing as well as Bastian's, and you must keep your hopes and dreams alive. Be that as it may, we're here on Earth and as Bastian said, you mostly have to keep your feet on the ground. That is, when you're not doing what you dream.
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