Falkor, the Luck Dragon in The Neverending Story | Dragon Vibe
Falkor, the Luck Dragon in The Neverending Story

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Falkor, the Luck Dragon in The Neverending Story

The NeverEnding Story crystallizes to perfection everything that was the spirit of family cinema in the 80s. Between magical adventure, sweet reverie, tenderness and innocence, a flood of emotions ranging from humor to the hardness of heart-breaking sequences, perfectly adapted to impress the target audience by touching it without shocking it. Cinema as no one does anymore, one might say, not without a gentle reactionary grumbling.

By the way, did you know that we have a very special selection of clothes and jewelry dedicated to the universe of The Neverending Story ? Check them out here:

Who has never vibrated, with a heart full of emphasis and ecstatic peepers, before the adventures of the intrepid Atreyu, with his steed Artax and the gentle dragon Falkor with his reassuring voice? Who has never been amazed and never wanted to be in Bastian's place, at the dawn of an incredible adventure? Who has never heard about the imaginary world of Fantasia, his beautiful young princess, Moorlah the benevolent turtle, the terrifying Gmork the wolf dog, the stone-eating Golem or the Southern oracle?

Fantasia

The NeverEnding Story belongs to this cinema of travel, the one capable of transporting its audience far, very far, in an imaginary going beyond the mere cinematic framework, beyond the narrative strings and the confection manufactured according to codes. This cinema of sincerity, of constant wonder, entirely devoted to the spectators, without cynicism, without marketing, without rigidity or charter, guided only by passion and the absolute quest for the Holy Grail of entertainment cinema: "selling dream". Wolfgang Petersen has fully embraced this quest to deliver a monument that has become a cult, a kind of unavoidable tale of childhood. The kind you would find in the depths of your attic, lying on a dusty old book, the pages of which would illuminate your eyes in search of the marvelous in a world of brutality.

An initiatory tale that is both moving and transcendent, The NeverEnding Story is undoubtedly the most beautiful parable about the melancholy surrounding the loss of innocent childhood dreams. The collapse of Fantasia's world is nothing more and nothing less than an illustration of the end, not only of a blessed era for humanity with changing societies, but also of the end of a personal era. It evokes the passage from childhood to adolescence and the sad deliquescence of the touching naivety of the imagination. Beautiful and poetic, with its undeniable visual charm, this classic with a pure soul is capable in the blink of an eye of bringing us back to childhood at any moment.

The Neverending Story (1984) Poster

1. The NeverEnding Story is 35 years old: a look back at a great adventure film

Thirty-five years ago, The NeverEnding Story was released in theaters, a cult film for a whole generation hungry for adventure. Between wonderful worlds and fantastic creatures, the film adaptation of Michael Ende's book has made young and old dream and cry. Let's come back to this feature film that you can watch with your whole family.

a) Magic in your eyes

Based on the first half of Michael Ende's novel, The NeverEnding Story (Die unendliche Geschichte) is a 1984 German-American film directed by Wolfgang Petersen. It follows the life of Bastian (Barret Oliver), a lonely, introverted ten-year-old boy who has had a complicated relationship with his father since his mother's disappearance. Harassed by his classmates, Bastian finds refuge in a bookstore where he finds the novel The NeverEnding Story. It tells the epic tale of Atreyu, a child warrior who is supposed to save the world of Fantasia by finding a cure for the Empress.

Die unendliche Geschichte book

The young boy goes through many hardships, as The Nothing disintegrates Fantasia more and more, and ends up falling on Gmork, an enemy of the shadows. Atreyu learns that only a human child can save the magical world by giving the empress a name. It is then that Bastian intervenes and helps Atreyu (Noah Hathaway) to save Fantasia. The whole film is based on representations of the magical worlds in the real world. Thus, Fantasia represents the hopes and dreams of humans - which they forget as they grow up - and the Nothing is a means for evil to make people lose hope and subjugate them.

The NeverEnding Story allows the hero Bastian and the audience to feel involved in the plot, which contributed to the film's success. The fairy-tale universe and the different creatures also made many spectators dream... And the most dreamy of them all, Steven Spielberg, retrieved the medallion representing the Auryn as a souvenir of the shooting and keeps it under glass in his office!

b) A huge production

Nominated at the Saturn Awards, including Best Fantastic Film and Best Music (played by Limahl, the leader of the band Kajagoogoo), The NeverEnding Story leaves with an award for Noah Hathaway as Best Young Actor. The interpreter of Atreyu had a few days of bad luck on the set. He was slightly trampled by his horse, drowned in the swamp scene and almost lost an eye during the fight with Gmork. While in the book this character has green skin, it was decided not to follow this idea, as the make-up tests proved inconclusive.

On the set of The Neverending Story at Bavaria Studios

The film was shot in English at Bavaria Film studios in Munich and Vancouver for the city scenes. The production of this ambitious project required filming accommodations, especially since the summer of 1983 was one of the hottest in Germany, and major construction work. Thus, the dragon Falkor is a 13-metre long motorized creature covered with 6000 plastic scales and pink fur. For the sake of international understanding, the name of the magical universe where the story takes place has been renamed Fantasia, whereas it is called Fantastica in the original book.

A sequel inspired by the second half of the book was released under the direction of George Trumbull Miller in 1990 with a brand new cast: The NeverEnding Story II: The Next Chapter. A third and final sequel was directed by Peter MacDonald in 1995: The NeverEnding Story III: Escape from Fantasia. It is a totally new plot that has nothing to do with the original diptych. Finally, Michael Ende's novel was also adapted into an animated series composed of 26 episodes (for the 26 chapters) in the same year.

2. The Real NeverEnding Story

a) The novel

Strange coincidence: writing a novel called The NeverEnding Story when his own surname, in the language of Goethe, means "The End"... When The NeverEnding Story (Die Unendliche Geschichte) was published in 1979 in Germany, its author, Michael Ende, then in his fifties, was not at his first attempt. He had already written eight novels for young people, including Momo (1973), a novel with a good reputation and also adapted, first for the theatre in 1978 (based on a libretto by the author) and then for the cinema in 1986. Momo (whose full title is Momo or the Strange Story of the Time Thieves and the Child Who Returns Time to People) tells a story that criticizes the frenzy of the modern world. After The NeverEnding Story, Ende will publish a dozen more novels for young people as well as novels and collections for a more adult readership. He died of cancer in 1995.

Michael Ende, the author

Let's turn to The NeverEnding Story. The story we are interested in is the story of Bastian Balthazar Bux and the very special day he will live. Chased by classmates eager to throw this shy and chubby boy into the nearest dumpster, Bastian finds refuge in the lair of a bookseller, Karl Konrad Koreander. The man, grumpy as can be, seems allergic to children... and it is understandable: driven by some impulse, Bastian runs away with the book the bookseller was reading, The NeverEnding Story. Arriving too late at school, Bastian takes refuge in the attic, where he immerses himself - at first metaphorically - in reading the book.

This is the beginning of the Fantasia story, threatened by The Nothing. Whole sections of Fantasia disappear entirely, leaving... well, nothing, and be careful not to sink into it. The Little Empress, who reigns from the Ivory Tower over this infinite empire, is dying, and only a great warrior will be able to find the cure that can heal her. This warrior is a young green-skinned hunter from the plains, answering to the name of Atreju. The boy will travel through Fantasia, crossing the path of strange creatures, including a Dragon of Fortune named Fuchur. He will have to face trials that will test his mettle... and understand that his quest has no resolution, at least not within the borders of the Fantasy Empire. And while this shimmering universe certainly knows no physical limits, there is one, unbreakable one, of which Atreju has no idea.

As the hours go by and night falls, Bastian gradually understands that the book he is looking at has an unusual character: his actions are not without consequence on the story and he himself appears in it. The stories of Atreju and Bastian become intimately linked when, at the stroke of midnight, Bastian literally enters the book to save the Little Empress by giving her a new name.

Then begins the second act of the book. Fantasia is now safe and sound, and from one end to the other it rushes with legends about the Savior who, in the immemorial past, protected him from annihilation. Invested with Auryn, the emblem of the Little Empress, Bastian experiences wonderful adventures in Fantasia, soon meeting Atreju and Fuchur. Auryn allows the young boy to do whatever he wants, absolutely anything. Isn't that what is written on the pendant, "Do whatever you want"? But beware... every wish granted takes away a memory from Bastian, who gradually forgets the world he comes from. If he forgets it completely, he'll remain a prisoner of Fantasia. Will Atreju and Fuchur manage to save the hero from himself? Nothing is less sure, especially when Bastian falls little by little under the control of the deceitful magician Xayide...

Fantasia is therefore a world that has no other boundaries than those of the imagination. The author takes great pleasure in evoking, sometimes only on a line or two, the beginnings of stories featuring secondary characters. He systematically concludes with this sentence:

"But that's another story, to be told another time."

Let's put that sentence aside, we'll come back to it. The English title of the novel omits a slight detail: the full title of the work is "Die unendliche Geschichte von A bis Z", for the German edition of the book. Yes, the book takes the form of an alphabet book.

Divided into 26 chapters, introduced by illuminated manuscripts adorned with each letter of the alphabet, The NeverEnding Story is best appreciated in its two-color version. In this one, blue-green characters are used for the passages taking place in Fantasia, and are brown for the real world. An alphabet book, which finds its justification in a passage which is not without reminding this parable based on monkeys equipped with typewriters and from which we expect a rewriting of Hamlet obtained by chance :

"If you think about it, you will agree that all the stories of the world are ultimately limited to twenty-six letters. The letters are always the same, only their combination changes."

A novel in the form of an alphabet book, with a precise breakdown: from chapters A to L, we follow the course of Atreju and Bastian's progressive involvement in the fabric of the story he reads. From the letter M to Z, we follow the young hero in his adventures in Fantasia. In the real world, this story essentially takes place over the course of a day: it is in the morning that Bastian steals the book of The NeverEnding Story, and midnight rings when he enters the book. The second half is a kind of night-time itinerary, where Bastian is going to lose himself... before finding himself again, then coming out of it in the early morning.

Twenty-six letters, twenty-four hours, a double quest, first diurnal and conscious, then nocturnal and unconscious. From Fantasia's rescue to Bastian's inner quest, the result is this double moral: humans need dreams and imagination, but we mustn't get lost in them. The two worlds balance each other. History is characterized by a finely thought-out structure, where form and substance meet. We doesn't hesitate to call it a true masterpiece!

b) The film

Visually and narratively rich, it is natural that Michael Ende's novel has been brought to the screen several times. The first adaptation, by Wolfgang Petersen, was released in 1984. It was the director's first "American" film, though he was already praised for his previous feature film Das Boot (1981). Although the film is produced by Bavaria Film and shot mainly in Germany, the cast is American.

In a few scenes, context, characters and issues are posed; all you have to do is sink into your armchair like Bastian under his duvet and appreciate the story... The story faithfully respects the book, except for a few details: Atreju (Atreyu) is not green-skinned, Fuchur is renamed Falkor (which has, more class, after all), and a handful of events are avoided (in particular the way Bastian enters Fantasia, and the name he gives to the Little Empress).

It's an endearing feature film, although it has aged a bit in some aspects (some special effects, and the music especially). Nevertheless, Michael Ende would have hated it, going as far as to qualify it as revolting. The main reproach addressed to Petersen is to have not understood the meaning of the novel and to have omitted Bastian's contribution to Fantasia: his creative force. But this is an aspect present especially in the second half of the novel, which the film does not address.

Bastian in the attic, reading the book

In any case, Barret Oliver is as endearing as he is unforgettable as a boy who finds refuge in books. As for Noah Hathaway, he plays a more than convincing Atreyu. The inventiveness of the film still works. This is particularly evident in the scenes on the Ivory Tower's platform, where we see dozens of different creatures, using several special effects techniques, but which we will not see again afterwards. The NeverEnding Story movie version also knows how to be moving: the death of Artax, damn it! In the book, Atreju's horse doesn't matter much and disappears in the swamps, without much emotion being aroused by his death. In the film, between the moment when the steed makes its appearance and the moment when it dies, no more than half a dozen minutes pass, a short enough lapse of time to arouse attachment. Yet this scene is poignant as hell.

c) The sequel

As we saw above, the novel is quite long and dense: no wonder that Wolfgang Petersen's film only covers the first half and ends with the rescue of Fantasia. Released six years later, George Miller's "The NeverEnding Story II: The Next Chapter" logically focuses on the second half of the novel, although in a looser way. This sequel is getting a bad reputation, rather justified.

The story? Bastian is humiliated at school, goes to the Koreander bookstore to look for books on courage... and leaves with a copy of The NeverEnding Story. Tired, the words fade from the book. Soon, the boy plunges back in, his fingers clenched on the Auryn emblem. Arriving at the Silver City, he meets Nimbly, a big, clumsy bird, who urges him (heavily) to use Auryn to make wishes. Bastian hesitates. It turns out that Fantasia is once again in danger, threatened by horrible creatures that tend to appear out of nowhere. Valiantly, Bastian decides to save Fantasia, and receives the valuable assistance of Atreyu and Falkor. While Falkor remains the lucky dragon he's always been, Bastian discovers that using Auryn is much more practical. But Nimbly has failed to explain two crucial details: that he is in the service of Xayide, an evil witch who dreams of nothing less than taking power, and that, for Bastian, making a wish makes him lose a memory. At the rate at which Bastian is wasting his memory, is Fantasia doomed?

Jonathhan Brandis as Bastian

The film begins with a horrible casting error: Jonathan Brandis (who had been seen in the TV adaptation of  "It" in the same year 1990) replaces Barret Oliver and, in a small minute, manages to make himself detestable. The Bastian he plays is devoid of the touching naivety of his predecessor, and proves to be an appalling slapstick. Worse, the character seems to have regressed: the first film left us with a self-confident Bastian who manages to communicate with his father and seems to have gotten over the trauma of his mother's death. Back to square one in this sequel. In the role of Atreyu, Kenny Morrison is transparent; no alchemy is created between him and Brandis.

Note the presence of Thomas Hill, who takes over the role of Karl K. Koreander and that of John Wesley Shipp, interpreter of Flash in the eponymous TV series, who adopts here the role of Bastian's father. If, in the book, Xayide is an antagonist who takes advantage of Bastian, she becomes here, in the guise of Clarissa Burt, the willful instigator of the evil striking Fantasia. In the novel, the void that fills Bastian functions perfectly as the stake of the second half, Bastian having to save himself after having saved Fantasia. This dimension is not really apparent here, the stake consisting of the eternal struggle of good against evil. As for Bastian's creative force, it only appears tangentially, with the wishes. Just to continue spoiling the film, the special effects have taken a nasty blow (Falkor, ouch), but this time they are not caught up by the charm of the film. And the humor is barely hitting the bull's eye.

d) Another sequel, another fail!

All right, then. If "The NeverEnding Story II" proves to be difficult to watch again (so many scenes made me grind my teeth, it's so mediocre), it's nothing compared to the third part: "The NeverEnding Story III: Escape from Fantasia". Released in 1994, this film by Peter McDonald (who made Rambo 3, and who worked mainly as a second team director) offers a new scenario based very loosely on the novel by Ende. And which turns out to be an insult to both good taste and the senses.

The NeverEnding Story III: Escape from Fantasia

Bastian's father moves in with his son to his new wife and daughter. For the young boy, this means a new school. On his first day, Bastian is angry with the Bad Boys and has no choice but to take refuge in the library, where he comes across Mr. Koreander and a copy of The NeverEnding Story. And our hero to run away in the book. Bad luck: the Bad Boys vandalize the library and find the book, which causes Fantasia a lot of trouble. Bastian must return to the real world... and finds himself propelled there with Falkor, a young Rockbiter, and a bush-man, Barky.

All right. How do I put this? "The NeverEnding Story III" is a turd, the kind that makes a few purges like "Troll 2" look like honest, watchable films, ones behind which there's an intention other than mere mercantilism. This third opus of the series shits blithely on the two previous ones, without shying away from splashing. In fact, after the first quarter of an hour and as soon as Bastian arrives at Fantasia, the film ceases to be an illusion and turns into a festival of horrors. The special effects are quite ugly; the actors are, for the most part, mediocre: Jason James Richter (Save Willy 1 & 2) is as slapstick as his predecessor in the role of Bastian.

There's hardly anyone who can be saved from disaster except Jack Black, head of The Bad Boy - but because he's Jack Black and we like him. For the rest... the humor is appalling, the puns are appalling, the supposedly comic scenes are appalling. The Rockbiter daddy sings rock music (hey, hey, did you understand the pun?), we feel like sticking our ears in concrete; the Rockbiter baby, who already sucked in "The NeverEnding Story II", makes us want to do bad things with a jackhammer. And seeing what Falkor, the wise creature from the first film, is reduced to, a neurasthenic flying poodle trying to break the fourth wall, one comes to wish him a quick euthanasia. A detestable horror, which insults both Michael Ende's work and the viewer.

e) The TV series

Nevertheless, the three films form the basis of the animated series, a Franco-German-Canadian production whose 26 episodes were broadcast in 1995 on French television. Fantasia has a problem? Is Xayide still acting up? Bastian comes to the rescue, and morals are saved in the end. The only notable point: Atreju has green skin, just like in the book.

The book was last adapted in 2002 as a thirteen-episode television series in real life: The NeverEnding Story. A faraway adaptation, which does not keep much of Michael Ende's novel.

A rumor of a new adaptation ran a few years ago, but it seems that the question of the novel's rights has become complicated since the author's death. In 2011, producer Kathleen Kennedy, who has been at the helm of LucasFilms since 2012, spoke of the impossibility of sequels or remakes. Is this necessarily an evil?

f) New books

"But that's another story, to be told another time..." This is a stubborn leitmotiv, which almost makes you regret that Michael Ende did not give substance to all these draft stories. Almost: after all, isn't it up to the reader to be active in his reading and to imagine what these adventures might be? Between autumn 2003 and autumn 2004, six authors worked on developing Ende's universe within the collection "Die Legenden von Phantásien". Fantasia, The Little Empress and The Nothing form the ingredients for this.

Peter Dempf's "Die Herrin der Wörter" (The Mistress of Words) takes place as Atreju is searching for Fantasia's savior. During his peregrinations, he meets Kiray, a dwarf of the mists whose people are responsible for watching over words.

  •  Problem #1: Kiray is a stutterer.
  •  Problem #2: she is being chased by a "Mare" (Alp in German, half Alptraum - nightmare), who has the power to make the poor fog dwarves lose their words - and make them stupid and violent.

When her entire village is turned into wild beasts, Kiray has no choice but to go in search of the Mistress of Words...

Tanja Kinkel's "Der König der Narren" (The King of Fools) is set in the town of Siridom, where carpet weavers live - carpets with motifs representing the history of Fantasia. The young weaver Res discovers on a carpet the story of an ancient king who saved the Empire from a peril worse than The Nothing.

The plot of Ulrike Schweikert's "Die Seele der Nacht" (The Soul of the Night) features the young Tahâma, who also has to save Fantasia from a danger worse than The Nothing.

In Peter Freund's "Die Stadt der vergessenen Träume" (The City of Forgotten Dreams), a boy must set off for the City of Forgotten Dreams to try to save his mother. But the road is long and changeable, especially since Bastian saved Fantasia.

Exactly, in the batch, let us note "Die geheime Bibliothek des Thaddäus Tillmann Trutz" (The Secret Library of Thaddeus Tillmann Trutz), a novel by Ralf Isau which tells how Karl Konrad Koreander becomes the owner of this bookstore. The story begins during the darkest hours of Nazi Germany. The young Karl applies for a job as an assistant to the old bookseller, but finds himself unwittingly a putative owner of the shop when Trutz disappears into the depths of the shelves. Searching for him, Karl arrives in Fantasia and lives many adventures - including the Little Empress and Ediyax, the no less evil double of the witch Xayide.

This is a nice adventure, full of adventures, which however struggles to find the same grace and inventiveness as the original novel; the structure of the story does not have the relevance of that of Ende, and the setting of the Second World War is only partially exploited. Finally, while this novel explains the origin of The NeverEnding Story, it is silent on how old Trutz himself came into possession of this famous bookstore. A relative disappointment.

Finally, Wolfram Fleischhauer's "Die Verschwörung der Engel" (The Conspiracy of the Angels) takes place in the town of Mangarath, built to fight The Nothing; a young butterfly-wing painter discovers a terrible peril (it's all in the title). These novels explore the Fantasia nooks and crannies, but often omit this crucial detail: it only exists in connection with the real world.

Twelve volumes were initially planned, but only half of them were published - which gives an idea of the critical and public success of this collection. In any case, did The NeverEnding Story need such a development?

As mentioned above, The NeverEnding Story celebrates the powers of the imagination, leaving the reader free to imagine the appearance of characters and settings, as well as the sequence of story beginnings. So grumpy minds (including yours truly) might think that adapting a work based primarily on the powers of the imagination into images is, at best, a bad idea. Quite a paradox. And yet Wolfgang Petersen's film is still very enjoyable - but isn't that due to nostalgia? The following feature films hardly deserve any attention, and the same goes for later novels. The NeverEnding Story is rich enough to be self-sufficient. An ode to the imagination, precious as anything else.

3. The emblematic characters of The NeverEnding Story

a) Morla:

Morla, known as "The Ancient One", is such a monumental turtle that Atreyu, confusing it with Shell Mountain, unknowingly climbs its thick wooded shell. Frozen for centuries in the Swamps of Melancholia, Morla itself seems to be prey to the sadness and bitterness of the place, to the point of appearing indifferent to the dangers threatening its world. In her eyes, she likes to repeat slowly, "it doesn't really matter". Moreover, allergic to Atreyu's youth, she is caught in such violent sneezes that the young warrior, caught in the turmoil, must cling firmly to the trunk of a tree to avoid flying away.

Morla, the giant turtle

Despite these obstacles, the stubborn Atreyu obtains from Morla the key to save the World from The Nothing: the little empress of Fantasia must be given a new name. Exhausted from having been so brutally brought out of her torpor, Morla gives one last piece of advice to the young warrior to help him in his quest before falling back into his lethargic sleep: join Uyulala, the Southern Oracle, in order to get "an answer".

b) Gmork:

Gmork is a creature from Nothing whose destructive plans she serves. Under the appearance of a giant wolf with huge fangs, she works hard for the annihilation of the World. Her primary mission is to hunt down and kill the young warrior Atreyu, considered the only real threat against The Nothing. Gmork only appears physically in the last part of the film, after having been present there only subjectively. In the final scene, exhausted by his mission, the frightening creature hides in a cave, waiting for his fate in front of the advancing chaos. Gmork then appears not only as the servant of The Nothing, but also as its victim. In front of him, Atreyu, ashamed of having failed to save Fantasia, keeps his name silent.

Gmork, the fearsome wolf

Touched by his opponent's courage, Gmork makes key revelations to Atreyu. Before throwing himself into a final battle against the young warrior, the beast gives him his thoughts: "People have begun to forget their dreams, so The Nothing invades everything. Those who have lost hope are easy to subdue." Words that echo Bastian and Atreyu, and make the audience meditate!

c) Pyornkrachzark aka the Rockbiter:

Pyornkrachzark is not the sound of a sneeze, but the name of the famous stone giant riding his enormous bicycle-roller. This creature belongs to the "Rockbiter" community because of its diet. This character with an unpronounceable name would damn himself, for example, for a granite steak!

Pyornkrachzark the Rockbiter

Attaching and clumsy, he tries to escape from The Nothing by destroying, paradoxically, everything in his flight. In the course of history, the Rockbiter, who is also a messenger, fails in his attempt to save one of his companions. Shot down, and having lost his self-confidence, he warns Atreyu and advises him to flee.

d) The messengers:

It's at the beginning of the film that we meet the three messengers: Gluckuk, Whooshwoozool, and Blubb. Ambassadors of their kind, they unite in their journey to go to the Ivory Tower, meet the little empress and ask for her help against The Nothing.

Gluckuk and his racing snail

Thus Gluckuk, a little man proudly riding his racing snail, Whooshwoozool, the Nightbob flying as best he can under his narcoleptic bat, and Pyornkrachzark on his rock bicycle closing the convoy under huge clouds of dust, all travel together.

e) Engywook and Urgl:

Engywook and his wife Urgl are a couple of quarrelsome gnomes, but very funny! These creatures live as hermits near the Southern Oracle where the hero must go. Engywook is a scientific researcher who has spent his life studying the Oracle and its three Gates, without ever having passed through one.

Engywook and Urgl, the little gnomes

His wife Urgl likes to get on his nerves while busy concocting curative potions. Atreyu's arrival will change their monotonous lives. Exhilarated at the idea that their work can finally be used, the couple of gnomes are agitated around the young quester. It is by instructing him on the different doors and by healing him that Urgl and Engywook allow Atreyu to meet the Oracle.

f) Falkor:

Falkor is a 13-metre-long lucky dragon. His body is covered with both pearly scales and ivory fur. He is one of the main characters in the film. Endowed with great wisdom, always benevolent, he proves to be a friend and a precious ally for Atreyu. He always gives his best advice and words of wisdom to those who lose hope. "Never give up and happiness will find you" is the speech that Falkor has preached throughout history.

Atreyu riding Falkor

This lucky dragon is a friendly being who always speaks from the heart. No being in Fantasia has an aversion to Falkor, except The Nothing itself. This endearing character seems to dislike solitude, as he seeks the company of others. Adored by his fellow man, he has only loyal friends who respect his great wisdom. Falkor is also a protector for the characters mistreated by The Nothing. He makes it a point of honor to keep them under his protection, as when he literally broods Atreyu under his huge, bushy paws after rescuing him from the Swamps of Melancholy.

So many memories that resurface! Even if we don't want to meet some of them at the bend in the street, how can we not be touched by their memories? Who hasn't dreamt of snuggling up to Falkor's silky coat or riding a snail running at full speed? If they are not, for the most part, the main characters of the film, the fact remains that their roles within our imagination remain indispensable and have made it a cult film. Among these creatures, which one has made the biggest impression on you?

We are very proud to present you our special selection of clothes and jewelry dedicated to the universe of the film:


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