#Bastian Balthazar Bux

[byler-alarmist]

OK, so as a Stranger Things fan, you know that The Neverending Story has been referenced directly (and indirectly) several times in the show. But have you actually watched it?

[zladdsmith]

I was a little young to grow up with the Neverending Story, but because I had so many older brothers and sisters, things like the Neverending Story, The Hobbit cartoon, and the Goonies were an essential part of my childhood!

[punchitmrsulu]

Re-reading Neverending Story and I just live for every time Bastian tries to give Falkor an order and he looks to Atreyu first and only follows it if Atreyu gives him the go ahead.

He just refuses to take any of Bastian’s bullshit.

Zaldrīzes buzdari iksos daor is true in every story.

[patheticbatman]

Win A Commission! Guess the story by August 7th, win a commission! This is from a German novel. Here we meet our other protagonist - a young boy in the ‘real’ world who has his head stuck in the clouds. His name is Bastian Balthazar Bux.

Those are the actual words from the the book.

[captainpirateface]

Get em' Falkor!!!!

[who-canceled-roger-rabbit]

I need a crossover sequel fic (or sequel comic? I dunno) where Bastian Balthazar Bux starts high school and falls under the wing of Sarah Williams and Lydia Deetz, who are a) officially a couple and b) the de facto den mothers of the school's nerdy autistic misfits

[iviarellereads]

The Neverending Story, Chapter 24 - Dame Eyola

(Curious what I'm doing here? Read this post! For the link index and a primer on The Neverending Story, read this one! Like what you see? Send me a Ko-Fi.)

In which we flash sideways a minute into another part of the untold story.

Xayide's(1) end is soo(2) told, but hard to understand and full of contradictions like many things in Fantastica.

Many scholars and historians have tried to explain Xayide's end, but some deny or try to erase it from memory. The book purports to offer only the facts as they stood.

As Bastian was reaching Yskal, Xayide's giants reached the place where Bastian's horse caught fire. Her suspicions were confirmed when she tracked his footprints to the City of Old Emperors, and she decided he was lost to her plans whether he stayed and lost his memory or he escaped with a newly rekindled desire to go home instead of seek power.

Xayide commanded her giants to halt, but they did not. In the end they trampled her over and over until she died and her will stopped animating them.

The H-friends and the rest of the group arrived much later, and were puzzled at how her will could have allowed her giants to trample her. They leave the problem to the scholars, and think on what to do about their mission.(3) They decide to disband the army, but to stay committed to finding Bastian, just the three of them. They have many adventures on their futile quest, which are a story for another time.

Bastian himself follows the path through the rose garden until he finds the wooden sign from my illustration, reading "To the House of Change." He ambles his way to the silliest house he ever saw, which is ever changing in its features. Soon he hears a woman's voice singing about how the listener must have traveled far and hard, and should take comfort here. Bastian thinks it would be grand if the song were for him, and then the song returns, indicating it very much is for him, if he will be a child again.

Bastian thinks, then knocks at the door, and is invited in by a non-singing voice. He finds a woman who looks nothing like his mother did, but who he nevertheless wants to run to and call mama. She invites him to eat, and after some coaxing, he finds that the fruit on the table is the best he's ever tasted.

The woman tells him a story that mimics the beats of his story in this book so far, how he gave Moon Child her name, and then came to this world and started losing his memories for wishes. The boy in her story came to the House of Change not only because the house changes, but because the house changes any who reside in it for a time. She finally says that the boy's name was Bastian Balthazar Bux, and Bastian is startled. She adds that her family has waited for him for generations. He remembers Grograman's words, and wonders if it has been a hundred years since he arrived.

The woman finally introduces herself as Dame Eyola, and gives Bastian a fruit fresh from her head where it grows. Bastian is worried about eating food that comes from people, but Eyola says babies drink milk from their mothers, and perhaps if it worries Bastian, he can be that small for a time with her.

She suggests they move into the next room because she thinks the house has arranged something for him. They go, and Bastian finds that there's a dining room he hadn't seen before, with chairs so large he can't even climb up into one. Eyola says cheerfully that the house is awake and heard their conversation about Bastian being small, and accommodated. In the conversation about the house that follows, Bastian remarks that the room is too big to fit in the house he saw, and Eyola says the house "is bigger inside than out."(4)

It turns out that Bastian is the first person besides Eyola who's ever been in the house. She waited so long because she wanted a child to spoil and care for, her mother and grandmother did too but she's the first to get one. Bastian finds a flaw in her explanation: surely her grandmother had her mother, and her mother had her? No, Dame Eyola is a plant-thing, she grows old, and then isn't quite Dame Eyola anymore, until she is again.

Bastian starts to fall asleep while she's talking, and she carries him up to a bedroom, and kisses his forehead, and puts him to bed.

The next morning, Bastian awakes in a crib, feeling better than he ever did before. He thinks he should find it foolish, to be treated as a baby again, but he knows that everything is just as it should be with Dame Eyola, so he is unashamed.(5) So much so, he spends weeks letting himself be a child again with her. Being her child for a little while soothes something he was missing for a very long time.

In the evenings, they talk, and eventually Bastian comes to the end of what he remembers of his story. He thinks he did it all wrong, but Eyola says he took a roundabout path, but he can still set it right. Some humans can't go back until they find the Water of Life, the most secret place in Fantastica. The only way to it is the right one, and it's a way to prove that Bastian hasn't done all wrong. At this a weight lifts from Bastian and he cries in Eyola's lap for a long while.

The next day, he asks Eyola how he might find the Waters of Life. She says they're on the borders of Fantastica, which lie not outside but inside, where the CLE gets her powers but where she cannot go herself. Bastian asks how he can find the way, and Eyola says, only your last wish can take you there.

Bastian worries about losing the last of his memories, about what he's already lost that he doesn't know. Eyola knows something he's forgotten, but won't tell him. Bastian asks if he must lose everything, but Eyola says, nothing is lost, only transformed.(6) Bastian wonders if he should be going, but Eyola says when his last wish wakes, they'll both know it.

From that day on something began indeed to change, though Bastian himself noticed nothing at first. The transforming power of the House of Change was taking effect. But like all true transformations, it was as slow and gentle as the growth of a plant.

More time passes, though it's still summer at the House of Change. Bastian comes to crave Eyola's fruit less, though it's still tasty. He needs less the comfort of her mothering, though it's never overbearing. And a new desire takes root. Bastian realizes that he is incapable of loving,(7) and the wish to become so grows stronger and stronger.

One evening Bastian tells Eyola this, and she says this is his last wish, and he won't be able to go home until he drinks of the Water of Life and brings some back for his world. Bastian asks if Eyola has ever drunk of it, but she has never needed to. He asks if what she was giving him was love, if Fantasticans are capable of love. Eyola says there are some Fantasticans who may drink of the Water of Life, and there is a prophecy that someday two humans will bring love to Fantastica, and the two worlds will be as one, though she doesn't know what it means.

Bastian asks if Eyola can tell him, now, what he had to forget to make his last wishes. She tells him, he forgot his father and mother. Bastian says the words, but they're meaningless to him. Bastian asks if he should leave now, but Eyola says he has one more night in the House of Change, and he should sleep it out. Bastian notices that Eyola's flowers have faded. She tells him not to worry about her.

The next day, Bastian finds Eyola standing in the same place he left her, but her eyes closed, and her body withered like a tree in winter. He thanks her and the House for everything, and leaves. The rose garden has been reduced to bare thornbushes, with snow on everything, in just one night. Bastian shivers and wants to go back for his mantle, but the House has closed to him, so the last leg of his journey begins.

=====

(1) Dame Eyola's house below. To the left and right of the X, the summer and winter figures. Above, the pointing hand sign reading "Zum Änderhaus", which I think translates to something like "to the other house", or presumably, the House of Change. This seems to indicate all these images have been German originals, which I didn't realize until this moment! How charming. The images aren't attributed on the copyright page that I can find, only on the title page does it say "Illustrated by Roswitha Quadflieg". (2) I assume this is a typo in my edition. (3) How, pray tell, did they know the mission was ended? Why did they assume Xayide's death was the end of their whole army following Bastian? I feel like there's a leap here that's lost in the cultural and language divide of the translation/localization process. (4) Yeah okay Doctor Who fan. (Oh I'm confident Doctor Who was neither the first nor the only story to use that concept but the timeline is right for it to be a potential reference.) (5) The trust of childhood and the magic of a child's story, truly. Reading as an adult it's tempting to read further into some of this treatment as troublesome, but the narrative is treating it as totally harmless. (6) There's so much power in a transformation. The changes the House of Change works on Bastian, the changes his journey have wrought on him, the changes as he loses his memory and as he seeks a redemption. What might wishes become? (7) You know… this takes on a weird connotation for me. Bastian is a child, and one who was described openly as sensitive and caring at the outset, who displayed much care for his father, even for the little girl he shared his stories with sometimes. I can't tell if we're supposed to think that Bastian was never capable of love, since all his other wishes were for things he never got to do (even belonging to a community, even in a way the sensation of being loved had eluded him in his pre-TNS life since his mother had died at the bare minimum), or if we're to believe that his other wishes and his loss of memory stripped him of his capacity. Or, there's some nuance lost to translation, and "love" in this sense doesn't carry the same context that we assign to it, a whole language and nearly fifty years away from its intended meaning.

[bolcseszgoblin]

I think mine was Bastian Balthazar Bux (Bux Barnabás Boldizsár in Hungarian) from the Never Ending Story - the book of Michael Ende. (the film... not bad not so good. the book is a forever favourite)

the next one was Momo for Momo by Michael Ende I guess.

who was your original blorbo? Like the first ever blorbo that you felt Blorbo Induced Emotions for

[ao3feed-jonmartin]

In Your Hands The Birth Of A New Day

read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/xLDBcEw by jaredhopworthisbabygirlcoded Jon’s office door swung open rather violently making him sit up with a start. A short chubby boy stood in the entrance, staring at the floor in front of him, a book in hand. The boy looked around fourteen years old and had evidently ran here in the rain as he was soaking wet and breathing heavily. Jon straightened his back and quietly cleared his throat in an attempt to prompt the boy.   “Can I help you?” He asked when the boy remained silent.   The boy’s eye shot up up peering through his rain speckled glasses with an intensity Jon had only seen in himself. The boy caught his breathe quietly closed the door behind him.   “I’d like to make a statement.”   “Statement of..?”   “Bastian. Bastian Balthazar Bux.”   Jon and Martin get transported into Fantastica with Bastian. Words: 1246, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English Fandoms: The Magnus Archives (Podcast), Die unendliche Geschichte | The Neverending Story - Michael Ende Rating: Not Rated Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Categories: M/M Characters: Martin Blackwood, Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist, Bastian Balthasar Bux, Atréju | Atreyu, Elias Bouchard | Jonah Magnus, Childlike Empress (The Neverending Story), Peter Lukas, Fuchur | Falkor Relationships: Martin Blackwood/Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist, Atréju | Atreyu & Bastian Balthasar Bux Additional Tags: The Magnus Archives Season 4, Nonbinary Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist, He/Him and They/Them Pronouns for Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist, trans bastian balthazar bux, Autistic Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist, autistic bastian balthazar bux, thats pretty much canon tbh, they are all a little sad but its okay, Light Angst, Happy Ending, No beta we die like bastians mother read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/xLDBcEw

[perfectoffering]

╰     cis man , he/him/his     ☆     𝐎𝐍𝐂𝐄 𝐔𝐏𝐎𝐍 𝐀 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄 …   we’re introduced to SANTOS SALAZAR SANTIAGO , the TWENTY EIGHT year old GUIDE at EMERALD CITY ART GALLERY from enchanted falls who bears a striking resemblance to DARIO YAZBEK. the whispers in the wind tells us of their EASYGOING and IDEALISTIC reputation, that’s why the townsfolk often are reminded of once upon a time are the sweetest words in any world; if you don’t like the person you are, enough time and magic will surely make you a new one; the precocious child with his head in the clouds grows into an adult with rose-colored glasses; i don’t go looking for trouble, it usually just finds me.  they are often haunted by dreams of a life lived as BASTIAN BALTHAZAR BUX / THE SHAGGY MAN ( THE NEVERENDING STORY / THE WIZARD OF OZ ) .

i. it starts on a day like any other, like any good story. he's ten. intelligent, unpopular, being raised by his father: his only surviving parent. a dentist and a man too out of touch with his own emotions to guide his son through grief, bastian is alone most days. so he escapes. he's read every book he could get his hands on, devouring one novel after another with the frenzied desire only accessible to neglected children. and suddenly there's a book unlike any other. when you stop reading those other books, you get to be a little boy again, the grizzled old shopkeeper tells him. those other books are safe. he steals the book when the old man's back is turned, and quickly loses himself in the neverending story. he follows the great hero atreyu on his quest to save fantasia from the nothing, but both protagonist and reader are left utterly baffled when, in the final chapter, the childlike empress herself tells atreyu that he cannot save fantasia. but bastian can. ii. he gives the empress a new name, and she is reborn with a new identity. a new fantasia to rule over. she entrusts bastian with auryn, an amulet which gives the wearer unlimited wishes. it's only after the boy becomes a man while adventuring through fantasia that he learns the cost of bearing auryn. every wish steals a memory from the human who possesses auryn, until they find themselves helplessly lost in fantasia, with no memory of who or where they are. with only his own name and the memory of his father remaining, bastian spends decades toiling to reclaim everything he's lost. the lost memories have to go somewhere, and so they do. a mine, where each memory becomes trapped in the stone as a painting on canvas. by the time he returns to his world as a little boy again, he's lived to be an old man once already. some years go by, and then he meets a girl named dorothy. when auryn reveals itself to her, bastian expects their journey to end in fantasia. instead, he finds himself in a land called oz. ozma takes him in, and in exchange, he donates auryn to the emerald city. in fantasia, he nearly killed his best friend in a fit of power-hungry rage. he would not make the same mistakes again in oz. there, he's known for his compassion and his love. iii. in enchanted falls, truthfully not much has changed for him. while he doesn't have the memories of all he's learned in fantasia, the curse couldn't take from him how tender and full of love his adventures made him. he's a painter in his spare time, and teaches others about art for work. very rarely is he found without at least one other "oz" character, but he's very friendly -- albeit a little awkward -- and loves to help the people around him in whatever ways he can.

[murphymakestherules]

"What do you have there?"

"One grain of sand. It is all that remains of my vast empire."

[punchitmrsulu]

Re-reading Neverending Story and Atreyu adamantly refusing Auryn when Bastian offers it back to him immediately shows why he’s the one who should be carrying it.

Meanwhile, Bastian’s walking around with swords that do the fighting for him, bragging about riding Grograman to anyone who’ll hear him and other various forms of self-aggrandizing.

No wonder everything went south once he was in charge.

[iviarellereads]

The Neverending Story, Chapter 15 - Grograman, the Many-Colored Death

(Curious what I'm doing here? Read this post! For the link index and a primer on The Neverending Story, read this one! Like what you see? Send me a Ko-Fi.)

In which we explore the complex simplicity of children's literature.

'O(1) master,' said the rumbling lion's voice. 'Have you spent the whole night like this?'

After reiterating the situation and how Bastian is also the first to shed tears over Grograman, the lion asks once more, if Bastian knows why he dies each night. Bastian explains the Night Forest, and Grograman decides that if his nightly death has purpose, he can be content.

Grograman retrieves a sword from a dark corner, and Bastian names it, and it leaps into his hand from its sheath. Sikanda, a sword of pure light that nothing in Fantastica can resist.(2) Bastian should never use it by force, only if it leaps into his hand by its choice, for to draw it from its sheath will bring great misfortune. Bastian promises never to forget it.(3)

Grograman invites Bastian to ride him again, and they return to the place they met. Grograman can feel that it's the same, though it looks different, because of the upheaval of Perilin's growth and destruction all over. Bastian asks if Grograman has always been here, and the lion confirms it, but Bastian explains his time with Moon Child and how his wishes built the place. Grograman proposes that it has been forever since Bastian created it, so it's not a contradiction.(4)

It grows late, so they return to Grograman's cave-home. Bastian is less heartbroken over Grograman turning to stone, and spends some of the night looking out at Perilin. The next morning, Bastian asks if he can stay here forever. The lion tells him, no, he has to go live his story soon.

Bastian asks how he can leave, when the desert is so big. Grograman tells Bastian of the Temple of a Thousand Doors. Any door in Fantastica can turn into a door to the Temple, but never lead right back to where it started, and inside is a maze of doors to all places in Fantastica. Only a genuine heart's wish can lead you to what you really want.

Some days later they return to the subject. Bastian shows Grograman the inscription on Auryn, and the lion says that it doesn't mean Bastian can do anything he wants, it means he must do what he really and truly wants the most. He must fulfill his deepest secret wish, and he can only find out what that is by following all his other wishes to their destinations.(5) Bastian says that doesn't sound so hard, but Grograman outlines the honesty and vigilance required, because on such a journey it is that much easier to lose yourself to your own desires. It won't be until much later that Bastian looks back on Grograman's words and understands them.(6)

At this time another change took place in Bastian. Since his meeting with Moon Child he had received many gifts. Now he was favored with a new one: courage. And again something was taken away from him, namely, the memory of his past timidity. Since he was no longer afraid of anything, a new wish began, imperceptibly at first, then more distinctly, to take shape within him: the wish to be alone no longer. Even in the company of the Many-Colored Death he was alone in a way. He wanted to exhibit his talents to others, to be admired and to become famous.

One night, Bastian knows somehow that he's watching Perilin grow for the last time, as something inside him calls him away. He barely sleeps, but he startles at one point like someone called his name, to find the door to the bedchamber open a crack, with light spilling out. He looks at Grograman as the door starts to close again.

'Goodbye, Grograman, and thanks for everything,' he said softly. 'I'll come again, I promise, I'll come again.' Then he slipped through the cleft, and instantly the door closed behind him. Bastian didn't know that he would not keep his promise. Much much later someone would come in his name and keep it for him. But that's another story and shall be told another time.

=====

(1) Below the O, Bastian riding Grograman. Above, a sword. Behind the O, a door, cracked open. (2) TNS came out two years after Star Wars, and I'm not saying this is definitely a direct reference to lightsabers, but the possibility that it COULD be makes me smile. (3) But he can't know what he's already forgotten. ;~; (4) It's technically true. "Forever" is to the beginning of time, and time began at creation. (5) This being a children's story, I think it's reasonably obvious what the truest wish must be. But wouldn't it be magnificent to be wrong? It HAS been a long time since I read this book to the end. But, this is also the simple complexity of children's stories: paradoxes are so often key. How do you win? Figure out the deepest wish of your soul. How simple that sounds to a child, and the more complexly you see the world, the more daunting the task sounds. How many of us are capable of knowing that sort of thing? Then again, the simplicity of a child's world view might make it that much easier, because there's less chaff obscuring the wheat within. (6) Sometimes you just aren't ready for a particular lesson yet.

[windsoflimbo]

RIP to Bastian Balthazar Bux but had I been given the keys to the kingdom of heaven via an eternally youthful monarch I would simply not succumb to my own hubris as I reached godhood, nor would I allow my petty wishes to shape the narrative

[byler-alarmist]

This movie is so good. I'll cry about it forever

And now, a Giorgio Moroder banger from the Neverending Story OST!

[enchantedtm]

𝐖𝐄𝐋𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐄    𝐓𝐎    𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐃    𝐅𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐒        …        toss    a    coin    and    make    a    wish    ,   santos santiago, seigfried eaton, and eleanor fresne  !    the  faceclaim(s)  of  dario yazbek, rahul kohli, and phoebe dynevor  is/are  now    taken    !    please    submit    your    account    within    24    hours    ,    or    the    magic    will    be    lost    !

╰     cis man , he/him/his     ☆     𝐎𝐍𝐂𝐄 𝐔𝐏𝐎𝐍 𝐀 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄 …   we’re introduced to SANTOS SANTIAGO , the TWENTY EIGHT year old GUIDE at EMERALD CITY ART GALLERY from enchanted falls who bears a striking resemblance to DARIO YAZBEK. the whispers in the wind tells us of their EASYGOING and IDEALISTIC reputation, that’s why the townsfolk often are reminded of once upon a time are the sweetest words in any world; if you don't like the person you are, enough time and magic will surely make you a new one; the precocious child with his head in the clouds grows into an adult with rose-colored glasses; i don't go looking for trouble, it usually just finds me.  they are often haunted by dreams of a life lived as BASTIAN BALTHAZAR BUX / THE SHAGGY MAN ( THE NEVERENDING STORY / THE WIZARD OF OZ ) .

╰ cis male, he / him ☆ 𝐎𝐍𝐂𝐄 𝐔𝐏𝐎𝐍 𝐀 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄 … we’re introduced to SEIGFRIED EATON , the 35 years old REPAIR WORKER at SHINING ARMOR REPAIRS from enchanted falls who bears a striking resemblance to RAHUL KOHLI. the whispers in the wind tells us of their SKILLFUL and GULLIBLE reputation, that’s why the townsfolk often are reminded of old leather straps, the glint of dust floating against rays of sun, the bitter reality of waking up from a dream, long walks and the familiar stretch and burn that come with them . they are often haunted by dreams of a life lived as PRINCE SEIGFRIED ( SWAN LAKE ) . / georgie . she/her . est . 26 . none

╰     cs female , she + her     ☆     𝐎𝐍𝐂𝐄 𝐔𝐏𝐎𝐍 𝐀 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄 …   we’re introduced to ELEANOR FRESNE , the 27 years old MAID at MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S INN from enchanted falls who bears a striking resemblance to PHOEBE DYNEVOR. the whispers in the wind tells us of their FORBEARING and IDEALISING reputation, that’s why the townsfolk often are reminded of shards of shimmering glass shattered across a marble floor , ill-intent mistaken for affection and love , a melody once enchanting now turning sweet dreams to nightmares , a cream white apron soiled with cinders , purple shaded bruises on porcelain pale flesh from a pea sized discomfort.  they are often haunted by dreams of a life lived as ELLA TREMAINE ( CINDERELLA ) + THE PRINCESS ( PRINCESS AND THE PEA ) .  /  diana . she + her . pacific . twenty-six . none