The Neverending Story

Both a powerful medallion bestowed on her followers by the Empress and a design gracing the front of the book that Bastian reads, AURYN is the central symbol of the novel. Described as an oval made of two snakes, “one light and one dark […] biting each other’s tail” (9), AURYN recalls the ancient creature Ouroboros that originated in Greek and Egyptian iconographic traditions. In ancient Egypt, the Ouroboros represented the union of Ra, the sun god, and Osiris, the god of death. For the ancient Egyptians, the merging of these two figures symbolized rebirth and the cycle of life. For the Greeks, the Ouroboros symbolized the god Hermes, the messenger who moved between earth and the realm of the gods, Olympus. Both of these meanings are present in Michael Ende’s novel, for Bastian must be metaphorically reborn in the Waters of Life to return to his realm. Additionally, as Bastian moves between Fantastica and the human world, he functions as a messenger between the two realms.

In the first half of the novel, Atreyu wears AURYN at the behest of the Empress. Cairon explains to the young hero that the amulet will “protect you and guide you, but whatever comes your way you must never interfere, because from this moment on your own opinion ceases to count” (40).