Childlike Empress

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Childlike Empress
Moonchild
Tami Stronach as the Childlike Empress in The NeverEnding Story (1984)
First appearance The Neverending Story
Information
Aliases Moonchild
Occupation Empress
Title Childlike Empress
Portrayed by Tami Stronach
Created by Michael Ende

The Childlike Empress (Kindliche Kaiserin in German) is an important character in the 1979 Michael Ende novel, Die Unendliche Geschichte (The Neverending Story). She resides in the Ivory Tower palace in the middle of Fantastica, but the length of time she actually appears in the book is brief compared to other characters of similar importance. However, her significance to both the story and the interactions of the characters is vital to fully appreciate the varying messages Ende is trying to convey.

The role was portrayed by Tami Stronach in Wolfgang Petersen's 1984 adaptation The NeverEnding Story, by Alexandra Johnes in The NeverEnding Story II: The Next Chapter (1990) and by Julie Cox in The NeverEnding Story III (1994).

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Contents

[edit] Attributes of the Empress

A wide spectrum of attributes the Empress is described as possessing make her something of an enigma. Different aspects of her personality, demonstrated by quotes from the novel, are provided below.

[edit] Childlike

The name of this character, of course, gives one indication of the type of being the Empress is. However, this is more of a physical description than anything else. According to Ende, she looks "like an indescribably beautiful little girl of no more than ten," who had "long, smoothly combed hair, which hung down over her shoulders" (169). Bastian noted that her eyebrows were "two fine lines that might have been drawn with Indian ink, arching over her golden eyes" (169).

[edit] Gentle

Descriptions of Childlike Empress in Ende's novel frequently imply gentleness. Physically, she was referred to by Falkor the Luckdragon as "infinitely frail and delicate" (165); her head "tilted on slender neck" (169). This attribute also applies to mannerisms. She speaks softly (173, 177, 189, 193).

[edit] Calm

Even when other characters get emotional (angry, anxious, confused) the Childlike Empress remains calm (175, 194, 204-05). Rather than smiling, laughing, or speaking softly, her emotion is conveyed more subtly. More often than not, her expression is "serene and untroubled" (169).

[edit] Serious

When Atreyu gets angry, "the Childlike Empress's eyes grew grave" (175); in reaction to the thought that Bastian might not call her name and save Fantasia, "the expression of her face" conveyed "grandeur and severity" (an expression similar to that which Atreyu had seen on the faces of the Sphinxes)(180); and when the Old Man of Wandering Mountain trembles at the thought of the Circle of Eternal Return, the Empress's voice becomes "as hard and clear as a diamond" (195).

[edit] Of Uncertain Origin

Falkor indicates that, though she is "like a little girl," the Childlike Empress is "much older than the oldest inhabitants of Fantasia. Or rather, she is ageless" (165). Physical traits seem somewhat different from what a human child might typically have. Her hair was "as white as snow," she had "strangely elongated earlobes," and her eyes were "almond-shaped" (169). Beyond this, however, she is explicitly described both as "not human," but also "not a creature of Fantasia" and "of a different kind" (166). While not a part of the world of Fantasia, however, it appears she is still bound to it in certain very real ways (see, for example, the discussion between the Childlike Empress and the Old Man of Wandering Mountain, pages 193-194). The Old Man of Wandering Mountain is her opposite in every way, and thus is thought to be a being of the same kind as she.

[edit] Nameless

The Neverending Story creates a world of which the reader becomes a very real part, so much so that a single reading of the Story includes a lifetime of experiences. Each time a human reads the Neverending Story, the Empress is given a new name. She therefore has a name, but only in the sense that this exists within that reading of the book. Once the reader returns to the real world, she no longer has a name. This is the nameless quality she possesses.

This appears to happen because of the difference in the passage of time within the Neverending Story versus that in the real world. Because time passes so much more quickly there, even failing to read the Neverending Story for a year would cause many years to pass for those living in Fantasia. With the passage of time and the absence of the reader to know her name, this is lost by the people and creatures of Fantasia, who refer to her simply by one of several titles, such as the Childlike Empress or the Golden-Eyed Commander of Wishes.

Thus, initially when Bastian Balthazar Bux reads the Neverending Story, the Childlike Empress does not have a name, but must be given a new name to save Fantasia. When Bastian finally decides to do it, he names her Moonchild (German Mondenkind), this being the name his mother had possessed.

[edit] Elusive

It is stated that one can only meet the Childlike Empress once in one's life. This refers to the Childlike Empress's names. Bastian saw her once, when she had no name anymore and he saw her again, after he named her Moonchild. So, he saw her twice but each time only once in his life. In the novel he tried by force to see "Moonchild" again, but failed because he had already seen her. Mr. Coreander explains this fact to Bastian at the end of the book. If you can give the Childlike Empress a new name, you can see her again. And with each new name, it will be the first and only time.


The Neverending Story by Michael Ende and its adaptations
v  d  e
Book: The Neverending Story
Films: The NeverEnding Story | The NeverEnding Story II: The Next Chapter | The NeverEnding Story III
Television: Animated series | Tales from the Neverending Story
Characters: Atreyu | Bastian Balthazar Bux | Carl Conrad Coreander | Childlike Empress | Gmork | Luckdragon | Southern Oracle | Ygramul
Other: Auryn | Fantastica
In other languages