Falkor

Falkor (Fuchur (German), Falcor or Falcore) is a Luck Dragon. He is one of main characters from the Neverending Story.

Appearance
Falkor has a graceful elongated body of 43 feet long, his whole body is covered in a albino light downy/soft fur on the entire length of his body. He also features elegantly shaped paws and tail. along Falkor's back he is covered in pink and white scales. His eyes are the same color of rubies but often are mistaken for deep brown or oak.

Personality
"Never give up, and good luck will find you." - Falkor's wise and most famous line of the movie.

Falkor is very wise, incredibly optimistic, and a very friendly sophisticated being from Fantasia. He gives advice to people when they have lost hope in many things they set out to do whether in a quest for what they seek or in some cases people and beings have given up altogether and lost faith. Mostly during the Nothings destruction of Fantasia he helps Atreyu along the way of his quest to stop The Nothing. Falkor's attitude purely comes from his heart, it is proven that his openess to making friends means a lot to everyone he encounters. Falkor however never wants to make enemies, only those who are generally threats to the land or his freinds, then he considers them enemies.

There is no knowledge of anyone or anything in Fantasia who has been hostile towards Falkor, only The Nothing and G'mork were his only true foes. The other thing to point out is that Falkor never likes to be alone, he is always wanting to be close or even in the company of other beings or creatures of Fantasia, Falkor loves to have friends and ones who he knows will be loyal to him and not betray his good will and open heart. Falkor also likes to look after and shelter those who have been injured or are unconscious or even maybe in general he likes to keep people safe within his reach, this is proven as Atreyu ends up sleeping in Falkors paws within the duration of when Atreyu was in his recovery phase after he was rescued from the Swamps of Sadness by him.

Home/Habitat
Little is known about Falkor's home or where he goes. Other than the fact that he does sleep on the ground either close to civilization or with company (See Personality). It is also known that Falkor can sleep while flying. In non canon Neverending Story material, Falkor came from Sky Haven in Fantasia, a cloud like land that floats above Fantasia itself and this is where Luck Dragons live as well as this is where they are born.

The Nothing and the destruction of Fantasia
Falkor was one of the few beings to survive the first encounters with the Nothing. The Nothing's creation being a result of neglect and forgotten hopes from Mankind's universe. Falkor's main support to trying to stop the Nothing came when he saved Atreyu's life from the deadly Swamps of Sadness. So far the Nothing had continued to destroy the Fantasia world and everything looked entirely bleak. Bastian Bux, who by that time was deep in reading the Neverending Story book wasn't realizing his own powers over Fantasia. Atreyu and Falkor had become very good friends after he had saved his life from the Swamps of Sadness and the two decide to journey together to beyond the boundaries of fantasia from the Southern Oracles guidance. Both of them flying over the mountains, oceans and deserts in quick fashion. However this didn't stop them from encountering the Nothing over the Sea of Possibilities. Falkor and Atreyu were thrown about by the Nothings incredible power and in the unfortunate result Atreyu fell off Falkor's back with Atreyu plunging hundreds of feet into the ocean and being washed on the beach of a ruined city. In amongst the confusion, Atreyu lost the Auryn necklace and without it his mission would be incomplete. In complete despair and worry, Falkor desperately searched the ocean for Atreyu with no success. Falkor took it upon himself to find the Auryn and let it guide him to Atreyu's location. After Atreyu had an encounter with the suffering Rockbiter after he lost his friends due to the Nothings destructive forces he travels into the ruins to find paintings drawn up of Atreyu's quest so far, and this was from the beginning at the Ivory Tower, the death of Artax, the encounter with Falkor and lastly a dark painting of a giant Wolf.

While this was happening, Falkor found the Auryn and risked his safety by plunging underwater to retrieve it, as Luck Dragons can be poisoned by water if underneath for a few minutes. After he finds it, he travels back towards Atreyu with little time left. After Atreyu kills the Servant of the Nothing who is the Wolf G'mork, The Nothing unleashes its final and ultimate power to finally end Fantasia once and for all. Atreyu holds onto a tree for dear life as the Nothing rips away the earth around him with powerful Hurricane force winds. Falkor arrives in the split second of time before the tree gives way and he yet again saves Atreyu's life. After the Nothing finally disintegrates itself, Fantasia is no more. Falkor and Atreyu were the last survivors of the Nothings brutal force. The two fly on in search of the Ivory Tower, where they hope it will still stand. Falkors deep optimism and the Auryns guidance pay off when a meteor moves aside and to their happiness, it still stands. As the two land at the Tower, Atreyu knows within him that Falkor will be the next victim if the Nothing still exists. despite this, Falkor urges Atreyu into the tower by winking and telling him to 'Go on'. Atreyu looks back at Falkor in sadness and proceeds to go inside, leaving Falkor behind for the last time. A few minutes pass when the Empress and Atreyu talk over what went wrong with the quest and Atreyu had not failed. Meanwhile Bastian starts to believe that he is the successor to Fantasia's future. For some unknown cause, which is possibly another form of the Nothing, meteorites and shooting stars begin to destroy the Ivory Tower and the remaining fragments. Little is known however if Falkor survived this final onslaught by the reformed Nothing. When the high winds begin to appear again, and the Ivory Tower disintegrates, Falkor is nowhere to be seen. Yet when Bastian calls out the Empresses new name, Moonchild. The chaos and destruction comes to an abrupt halt. After Bastian and the Empress talk of the future of Fantasia, Bastian is unsure what to do, yet after a few wishes, Fantasia is re born. Falkor, Atreyu, Artax, The Rockbiter, Teeny Weeny and his racing snail, The Nighthob and his Bat, as well as all the other beings and creatures are returned to normal. The last appearance of Falkor comes when Bastian and him cross dimensions and go back to his world, to get revenge on the 3 bullies who had given Bastian problems in the beginning. Falkor sees it with much delight the fun plan. As Falkor and Bastian pursue the 3 bullies Falkor then bursts out with laughter as the 3 boys hide in rubbish to escape Falkor's charge. They then both head back into Fantasia.

Theories/Trivia
In the last scene of the Ivory Towers destruction from the Nothing. Falkor is nowhere to be seen on the stairs that lead up to the Empresses home where Atreyu left him, it is possible that he escaped by flying away from the tower. Or in the sad but inevitable event, that the Nothing eventually caught up with Falkor and destroyed him but this was never shown on the screen. (To prevent upsetting the viewers further who saw the film in Cinemas).

In the German version of the movie (The 97 minute uncut release), Falkors demise is never recorded on this version either, (see reason above).

Falkor remains the only Luck Dragon to exist to this day, many have tried to replicate Falkor with CGI and other computer graphics. But most have failed to bring Falkor back to his original state.

What became of Falkor after the original Neverending Story?
Falkors appearance changed consistently during the other 2 movies.

The Neverending Story II which came out in 1990 saw a third Falkor based on the original design. This Falkor was built specifically for second movie. His head and bodily features were slightly altered, and his soft and sleek appearance was dampened by longer duration materials rather than the natural fibers used to construct his fur coat and his body scales. The original Falkor animataronic puppet was unusable as he was placed on public display in the Bavaria Filmstadt museum in 1985 along with other props that were used in the 1984 movie. (See below third paragraph)

In the Neverending Story III which came out in 1994 his appearance changed yet again, this time ultimately for the worse. Most people who see or have seen the third movie criticize greatly of Falkor's general look as well as his personality. Also in the third movie Falkor's attitude had also been drastically altered from a wise, loving, caring and heavily intellectual being with a lot of dignity. To a creature who's thinking was generally backwards and non inspirational towards the audience of both young and older generations. A lot of people who have seen the 1984 movie will always say that the original Falkor is a very lovable and inspiring character for his attitude as well as his appearance compared to the other 2 types of Falkor designed and used in the Neverending Stories II and III.

In 1985 after the Neverending Story was finished being filmed. The original Falkor creatures was moved into the Bavaria Movie Studios Museum where he is currently on public display. Unfortunately in 1989 the main Falkor puppet was in his worst condition, due to heavy neglect of his body and his features. This had lead to horrible matting of his fur, broken claws, terrible bleaching of his facial features and his animatronics were removed for safety reasons, this being that there was no cooling system within the electrics and also the reason being that they were put on public display to show the technology that was involved in Falkor's movements in order to make him as real as possible during filming. The second 43 foot long Falkor deteriorated far worse than the first Falkor, in this sense most of his frame and interior structure was removed leaving the skin and his fur, which in turn resulting in Falkor 2 to collapse on himself. Most of the plastic or pearl scales that were used on the second model as well broke due to heavy handling as well as neglect. This Falkors current state is virtually the same and he can be seen during the tour. Many have commented that this Falkor should be restored. In 1993 Falkor underwent a massive restoration. This involved a completely re-new'd body and complete with fur similar to the original, however this wasn't easy as the original Falkor was cut in half to be used in the late 80's as an exhibit to show off blue screen technology as well to get to all the animatronics inside. Falkor's restoration by the Bavaria Studios was completed in 1997, but this wasn't an easy task to bring him back to the similar state he was in during the films shooting in 1984. Health and Safety also was involved in some radical changes to Falkors general appearance, most of the teeth, tongue, claws and plastic scales were removed to comply with the new regulations, Falkor's scales are now complete pieces compared to the original separate scales, his teeth are of a safe soft plastic as the original ones were made of clay. Lastly his tongue was made into a soft plastic, whereas the original was of a carbon compound with skin moisturizer sprayed on. In the picture from 1989 (See the first image), his tongue began to rot and turn yellow after being neglected for such a long time. Lastly his claws instead of being made of clay and mod rock, were constructed of the same soft plastic. The last original parts on Falkor today are his pearl plated eyes, and his head in general. Most who visit the Bavaria Studios (Filmstadt) can ride Falkor while projected in front of a blue screen. He is one of the main attractions of the Neverending story history as well as being a main part of the guided tour that is offered there. You can ride him and have photo opportunities whilst being on the magnificent Luck Dragon.

Falkor Merchandise
When visiting the Bavaria Filmstadt, you will have a chance to buy Neverending Story souvenirs and Falkor is no exception. The best gift you can buy is a 50cm (16 inch) soft plush toy of Falkor, it is based on the 1984 movie version so therefore retains authenticity.

However there is a slight drawback, you can only buy these rare plush toys from the Bavaria Filmstadt in Germany, and from what is understood from multiple sources that the studio does not send out Falkors to other nations or parts of the world, these are Western Europe (Except Germany, Austria and Italy), Eastern Europe, Middle East, Asia or the United States of America.

You can find him on places like Ebay etc. however plush Falkors from other countries are very expensive due to their value and where they are limited to originally.