The Neverending Quiz

Answer: He steals it from a shop.

Bastian Balthazar Bux loves books (his surname is even pronounced "books"), and a book with a story that never ends is too tempting to pass up. Because he steals it, he's sure he can never go home, so he runs away to the school attic to read it.

Answer: Green skin and blue hair

His people, the Greenskins, have green skin and long blue-black hair. Right as he is about to lead a hunt where he will become a hunter, the centaur Cairon shows up and gives him the mission to find out how the Childlike Empress can be cured of her illness. Atreyu is upset at first because he won't get a chance to become a hunter for another year.

Then he realizes that finding a cure for the Childlike Empress is much more important than leading a hunt.

Answer: A spider web

Falkor the luckdragon has white-and-pink scales, red eyes, and a mane of white fur that makes his head look like a lion's. His voice sounds like bells ringing. Luckdragons are as light as clouds, fly without wings, speak the languages of joy, and bring good luck wherever they go. Falkor is poisoned and trapped by the spider Ygramul when he hears how he can get free; after this, he and Atreyu become companions.

Answer: Like being blind.

There are not simply holes or black spaces where things once were--nothing is there at all. Atreyu meets various Fantasticans who have lost body parts to the Nothing but feel no pain.

Answer: His identity and purpose

After he passes the second gate, where he sees his true self in the form of Bastian, he forgets everything about himself and his quest. Thus, he nearly walks away from the third gate, which only appears once the second gate is passed. Bastian cries out to him, which makes Atreyu reexamine the gate and then pass through it to meet the Oracle Uyulala.

Answer: They become lies.

Many Fantasticans enter the Nothing willingly. Gmork tells Atreyu that entering the Nothing sends Fantasticans to Earth, but in the form of lies and delusions. They do terrible things, from persuading people to buy things they don't need to starting wars. Gmork has no world to call home and has different forms depending on which world he's in.

Answer: Moon Child

In Fantastica, she is usually called the Golden-Eyed Commander of Wishes. She is ageless but appears as a young girl. Only humans can give her new names, and she has had many over her lifetime. Bastian catches a brief glimpse of her when Atreyu meets her and instantly knows that her name must be Moon Child.

However, he is ashamed of his appearance, so he refuses to name her until she visits a storyteller who throws both worlds into a repeating loop that only ends when he calls out her new name.

Answer: Forest and desert

Perilin, the Night Forest, and Goab, the Desert of Colors, replace each other as the night and day come. The forest is made of phosphorescent plants while the desert's dunes are each a different color. AURYN, the gem the Childlike Empress gives him, lets him turn his wishes into reality. It also protects him from harm.

Answer: Light

Grograman the Many-Colored Death, who carries the Desert of Colors with him wherever he goes, gives it to him. Bastian can never draw his sword willingly--it must jump into his hand of its own accord or misfortune will befall Bastian and Fantastica.

Answer: Memories

AURYN allows him to rebuild Fantastica however he likes, but the side-effect is that he forgets things with every wish. He forgets that he was ever fat and bow-legged when his appearance changes in Fantastica. He knows that he's good at making up stories, but forgets the girl he used to tell them to.

He even forgets that he came to Fantastica through a book. Atreyu and Falkor are concerned that Bastian will use up all his memories before he can get home, and thus be stuck in Fantastica without memories, but Bastian thinks they're just jealous of him.

Answer: Bastian stabs Atreyu in the chest.

Bastian proclaims himself the Childlike Emperor. During the ceremony, Atreyu comes with an army to take back AURYN. Bastian forcibly draws his sword when it refuses to jump into his hand; it makes a terrible sound as it's drawn and its light goes out. Atreyu hesitates to attack Bastian, giving the latter time to stab Atreyu in the chest.

Answer: The City of the Old Emperors

Many other readers of "The Neverending Story" either tried to proclaim themselves Emperor/Empress or used up all their wishes before finding their way back home. They reside in a city run by a monkey; they cannot speak and can hardly take care of themselves. If Bastian runs out of memories before he can find his way home, he will have to live here, too.

Answer: 100 years

Bastian is astonished that Eyola and her ancestors have been waiting for him for over one hundred years, but then feels that it must be true. Bastian's mother has just died, so one of his last wishes is to be loved by a mother again. Eyola is tree-like: she can only have a child by withering and dying, so she can never care for her own child. Caring for Bastian is a joy for her too.

Answer: He must finish every story he started in Fantastica.

Bastian has no memories left, making this feat impossible. Atreyu and Falkor offer to finish the stories for him, and so Bastian leaves Fantastica after bathing. The joy he feels while bathing in and drinking the water stays with him his whole life.

Answer: False

After bathing in the water, Bastian returns to the school attic. He cannot find the book and soon discovers that only hours have passed while he spent years in Fantastica. When Bastian goes to the bookshop to apologize for stealing and losing the book, the man says that he's also been to Fantastica and that the book is probably being read by someone else now.