The NeverEnding Story Trivia
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50 free The NeverEnding Story trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
40 free The NeverEnding Story trivia questions with answers. The NeverEnding Story is two things at once: Michael Ende's 1979 German novel, printed in red and green ink and topping the bestseller list for 113 weeks, and Wolfgang Petersen's 1984 film that gave a generation Falkor, the Swamps of Sadness and a synth-pop theme sung by the frontman of Kajagoogoo. This NeverEnding Story trivia quiz covers both: Bastian, Atreyu and the Childlike Empress, Auryn and its inscription, the Nothing and Gmork, the second half of the book the film never reached, Ende's lawsuit against the producers, the two sequels, the Stranger Things revival and the making of the film in Munich, Vancouver and Spain. The 50 questions start with things every 80s kid remembers and end with details only readers of the novel will know. Every answer is checked against the book and documented production history.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01How much was Michael Ende paid for the film rights to his novel?
$50,000
He worked as a script advisor at first, then claimed Petersen rewrote the script without him.
Q 02What is the full name of the boy who steals the book and reads it in his school attic?
Bastian Balthazar Bux
He is grieving his mother and neglected by his father when he hides from bullies in Coreander's bookshop.
Q 03What is the name of the bookshop owner from whom Bastian takes the book?
Carl Conrad Coreander
At the end he denies ever owning the book and reveals he too has been to Fantastica.
Q 04What is the magical land called in the English translation of the novel, as opposed to the film?
Fantastica
The 1984 film renamed it Fantasia, closer to the German Phantásien.
Q 05What is the formless force devouring the land called?
The Nothing
Gmork explains it represents humanity's loss of hopes and dreams; those it swallows become lies in the human world.
Q 06In the novel, what does the young hero's name Atreyu mean in his native tongue?
Son of all
His parents were killed by a Purple Buffalo soon after his birth, so his whole village raised him.
Q 07What is the name of the protective amulet Atreyu is given?
Auryn
Its two intertwined snakes carry the inscription 'Do What You Wish' on the back.
Q 08What kind of creature is Falkor?
A luckdragon
He is the only luckdragon in the story, though five others are mentioned; the film made him white and dog-like.
Q 09From which shapeshifting creature does Atreyu rescue Falkor?
Ygramul the Many
Ygramul is a swarm of hornet-like insects sharing one mind, usually taking the form of a giant spider.
Q 10Which giant turtle does Atreyu consult early in his quest?
Morla the Aged One
In the film she lives in the Swamps of Sadness and sends him to the Southern Oracle ten thousand miles away.
Q 11What is the name of the invisible oracle Atreyu seeks in the novel?
Uyulala
The film calls it the Southern Oracle, guarded by two deadly gates.
Q 12What is the werewolf who serves the destroying force called?
Gmork
He dies laughing in Spook City after Atreyu declares himself the hero, jaws clamped on Atreyu's leg.
Q 13What must a human do to cure the Childlike Empress?
Give her a new name
Only someone from beyond Fantastica's borders can do it, which is why the characters begin to sense Bastian.
Q 14What name does Bastian give the Childlike Empress?
Q 21How many weeks did the novel spend at number one on West Germany's Der Spiegel bestseller list?
113
It stayed on the list for 332 weeks in total and has sold more than eight million copies in 36 languages.
Q 22Who directed the 1984 film, his first in English?
Wolfgang Petersen
He had made Das Boot; Helmut Dietl was originally attached to direct.
Q 23How much of the novel does the 1984 film adapt?
Roughly the first half
It stops mid-way through chapter XIII and tacks on a new ending in which Bastian chases the bullies with Falkor.
Moon Child
He shouts it only after realising the story will loop forever without him.
Q 15Who reads another copy of The Neverending Story aloud, forcing the tale to loop back?
The Old Man of Wandering Mountain
This is the moment Bastian realises he must act or the story will repeat endlessly.
Q 16What is inscribed on the back of Auryn?
Do What You Wish
Every wish Bastian makes with it costs him a memory of his human life.
Q 17What does each wish cost Bastian once he is inside the magical land?
A memory of his human life
He ends up with only two memories, his father and his own name, and must give up his father to find his true wish.
Q 18Which sorceress manipulates Bastian into trying to crown himself emperor?
Xayide
Atreyu fights Bastian and the Ivory Tower is destroyed; she also appears as the villain of the 1990 film.
Q 19What does Bastian discover is his strongest wish, after giving up the memory of his father?
To be capable of love
He must then find the Water of Life to return home with his memories.
Q 20How was the original German edition of the novel printed to distinguish its two worlds?
In red and green ink
Red for the human world, green for Fantastica; Ende insisted on hardcover so it looked like the book Bastian steals.
Q 24How did Michael Ende react to the 1984 film?
He sued the producers and lost
He called it a 'gigantic melodrama of kitsch, commerce, plush, and plastic' after being paid $50,000 for the rights.
Q 25Who plays Atreyu in the 1984 film?
Noah Hathaway
He won a Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Younger Actor; Barret Oliver played Bastian.
Q 26Which actress plays the Childlike Empress in the 1984 film?
Tami Stronach
Alexandra Johnes took the role in the 1990 sequel.
Q 27What is the name of Atreyu's horse, lost in the Swamps of Sadness in the film?
Artax
He is restored when Bastian recreates Fantasia at the end.
Q 28Which voice actor provides the voices of both Falkor and Gmork in the English film?
Alan Oppenheimer
He was also the voice of Skeletor in the original He-Man cartoon.
Q 29Which two gnomes live near the gates of the Southern Oracle in the film?
Urgl and Engywook
Atreyu is nursed back to health there after Falkor plucks him from the swamp.
Q 30What does the Empress give Bastian as the last remnant of Fantasia in the film?
A grain of sand
She tells him his imagination is enough to rebuild the whole world from it.