The Childlike Empress

Falkor
"Side view Falkor", an original prop used by Bavaria Film Studios
First appearance	The Neverending Story
Created by	Michael Ende
Portrayed by	Alan Oppenheimer (1st film) Donald Arthur (2nd film) William Hootkins (3rd film)
Information
Species	Luckdragon
Gender	Male

Gmork
Gmork, as he appears in the 1984 motion picture.
First appearance	The Neverending Story
Created by	Michael Ende
Portrayed by	Alan Oppenheimer (speaking;uncredited), Frank Welker (growling effects;uncredited) Edward Yankie (TV) Don Francks (cartoon)
Information
Species	Wolf

This article lists character information from the book The Neverending Story and the film adaptations of the same name.

Bastian Balthazar Bux is the main protagonist of the story. Bastian is a shy and bookish boy around 12 years old who is neglected by his father, who is still mourning the sudden death of his wife (she died of an unspecified illness). He is a dreamer, who is shunned by other children due to his immense imagination. During a visit to an antique bookstore, he steals a curious-looking book titled The Neverending Story, and upon reading it he finds himself literally drawn into the story.

Halfway through the book, Bastian becomes a character in The Neverending Story, in a world called Fantastica ("Fantasia" in the movies, which is closer to the German original "Phantásien"). He is bestowed the magical amulet AURYN, which allows his wishes to be granted. As the story progresses, Bastian slowly loses his memories of the real world as his wishes carry him throughout Fantastica and change him into a completely different person. Deluded by the witch Xayide, Bastian moves to the Ivory Tower and tries to have himself proclaimed Emperor. The ceremony is interrupted by Atreyu, who is nearly killed by Bastian.

Eventually, Bastian realizes that he is beginning to lose himself, and starts a desperate last-ditch quest for his one true desire. In the end he forgets even his name, but with the help of Falkor and Atreyu, who promise to finish the stories he started, he manages to return to the human world with the capability of loving, which was his deepest (and thereto unknown) desire, and bringing to his father the Water of Life, curing him of his melancholy. Bastian and Coreander exchange tales of their adventures in Fantastica, and Coreander reveals that a person can return to Fantastica as many times as they can think of new names for the benevolent Childlike Empress, and predicts Bastian will show others the way to Fantastica.

He has been portrayed by five different actors:

Atreyu (German: Atréju) is the secondary protagonist of the story. He is the protagonist of the mysterious book that Bastian reads. To the readership, Atreyu is a metafictional character, existing fictionally and within the reality of the book itself. He is described as having green skin and blue hair.

He is a young warrior from the Grassy Plains (in German, "The Grassy Sea"). His parents were killed by a Purple Buffalo soon after he was born, and his entire village raised him; wherefore his name means "son of all" in his native language. He is summoned by the Childlike Empress to save the land of Fantasia by finding a cure for her illness, and given AURYN, an amulet that makes whoever wears it the Childlike Empress' herald. During the quest to find a cure, he meets Falkor the luckdragon, who becomes his steed after the death of his horse 'Artax'. Bastian, reading Atreyu's story in the real world, experiences everything Atreyu does; this proves Fantasia's solution and the Empress' cure, in bringing Bastian to Fantastica to give the Empress a new name.