Fantastica

Fantastica (called Fantasia in the first film) is the vast and mystical universe within Michael Ende's novel titled The Neverending Story.

Geography

It is impossible to give a definite Fantastican geography, as it changes often.

Its imperial capital is called The Ivory Tower which is also home to Fantastica's ruler, the Childlike Empress.

During the all life of a human that makes their wishes true using the potential of their imagination and the power of Fantastica, its geography responds to the volition of that human in particular, until that person abandons their dreams and fantasies - an event that causes the slow destruction of Fantastica by The Nothing - or until another human starts to do the same thing with the power of Fantastica. Since that moment, Fantastica's geography suffers several changes, either by destruction or by reconstruction.

Locations

• Ivory Tower - the capital of Fantastica, and the home of the Childlike Empress.
• Goab the Desert of Colors - the home of Grograman, the Many Colored Death.
• Perilin the Night Forest
• Moldymoor - a swampland home to the will-o'-the-wisps.
• Mountains of Death
• Silver Mountains
• Desert of Shattered Hopes
• Crystal Towers
• Swamps of Sadness - a swampland that claims the lives of depressed people.
• Sphinx Gate - a gate that tests peoples' bravery.
• Magic Mirror Gate - a gate that tests peoples' true selves.
• The Southern Oracle - an all-knowing oracle.
• Sea of Possibilities
• Spook City - a ruined city home to dangerous creatures.
• Silver City - a gleaming, lauded port city made of pure silver.
• Horok Castle - the home of Xayide, the human embodiment of The Emptiness.
• Mountains of Destiny - the highest mountain range in Fantasia.
• Wandering Mountain - the highest point of Fantasia, located in the Mountains of Destiny.
• Crystal Cave - the home of the Old Man of Wandering Mountain, the chronicler of the Neverending Story.

Inhabitants

• Atreyu
• Childlike Empress
• Rock Biter
• Falkor
• The Nothing
• The Night Hob
• Teeny Weeny
• Engywook
• Urgl
• Artax
• Racing Snail
• Xayide
• The Manipulators
• G'mork
• Blubb
• Old Man of Wandering Mountain
• Barky
• Mrs. Rockbiter
• Rockbiter, Jr.
• Giants
• Hykron
• Hydorn
• Hysbald
• Grograman, the Many Colored Death
• Ygramul the Many

Novel

Fantastica represents human imagination and survives solely on the dreamers of the world.

The author of The Neverending Story, Michael Ende, describes it:

Once someone dreams a dream, it can't just drop out of existence. But if the dreamer can't remember it, what becomes of it? It lives on in Fantastica, deep under Earth. There are forgotten dreams stored in many layers. The deeper one digs, the closer they are. All Fantastica rests on a foundation of forgotten dreams.

Behind the scenes

The NeverEnding Story (1984)

The Fantasia scenes were filmed on Stage 1 of Bavaria Studios, with additional photography taking place in Spain and California.

The NeverEnding Story II: The Next Chapter (1990)

The Fantasia scenes were filmed on Stage 7 of Bavaria Studios, with additional photography taking place in Argentina.

The NeverEnding Story III: Escape from Fantasia (1994)

All of the Fantasia scenes were filmed at Studio Babelsberg; the Crystal Cave was filmed on Stage 3 of the Marlene-Dietrich-Halle, and the forest scenes were also filmed on the Marlene-Dietrich-Halle.