#grograman

[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.

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(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.

[longroadstonowhere]

I’m gonna be skeptical about this new neverending story movie! *reads article where goab the desert of colors is explicitly cited as a location they’d like to film* aaaaaa…….. I can’t cry I’m at work……….

[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.

[gt-ridel]

Another carousel creature! :)

The last one I did was a non-specific mermaid horse.

I wanted to draw a Lion creature for this, but I didn't want to pick something from mythology per-sey.

Then I remembered there was a fantastical lion character in my favorite book growing up!

So this is a (slightly inaccurate) carousel version of Grograman the Many Colored Death, from The Neverending Story. :)

I don't know how to draw lions, so I just looked up a free to use, solid colored silhouette, sketched it, then made up the rest :/

[tirithssecretgifts]

Grograman's Nook Wooden Book Box Inspired by The Neverending Story Book, Available on my Ebay Tirith's Secret Gifts #theneverendingstory #grograman #tirithssecretgifts

[chazzfox]

I've worked on this on and off a couple of months - this is my painting of Grogaman, the Many Colored Death from the original novel The Neverending Story. He carries with him the Desert of Colors and he himself shows the colors from the sand he touches.

The heat of the desert is so hot that everything it touches is burned to sand, which is why Grogaman has such a title. At night he turns to stone and a rich jungle springs to life around him.

He is my FAVORITE character from the story and if there is ever another adaptation I hope he's in it!

[nalascat]

thinking about trying to design the neverending story characters,,,,,

[doriandrifting]

Every time I remember The Neverending Story was a huge inspiration, I scream a little at how well it fits:

"What do you suppose it means?" he asked. "'Do what you wish.' That must mean I can do anything I feel like. Don't you think so?” "No," Grograman said in his deep rumbling voice. "It means that you must do what you really and truly want. And nothing is more difficult...It's your own deepest secret and you don't know it." "How can I find out?" "By going the way of your wishes, from one to another, from first to last. It will take you to what you really and truly want." "That doesn't sound so hard," said Bastian. "It is the most dangerous of all journeys." "Why?" Bastian asked. "I'm not afraid." "That isn't it," Grograman rumbled. "It requires the greatest honesty and vigilance, because there's no other journey on which it's so easy to lose yourself forever.”

“You wish for something, you’ve wanted it for years, and you’re sure you want it, as long as you know you can’t have it. But if all at once it looks as though your wish might come true, you suddenly find yourself wishing you had never wished for any such thing.”

"I did everything wrong," he said. "I misunderstood everything...All I did was harm, harm to myself and harm to Fantastica." "No," Dame Eyola said. "I don't believe so. You went the way of wishes, and that is never straight. You went the long way around, but that was your way. And do you know why? Because you are one of those who can't go back until they have found the fountain from which springs the Water of Life. And that's the most secret place in Fantastica. There's no simple way of getting there." After a short silence she added: "But every way that leads there is the right one."

[iviarellereads]

The Neverending Story, Chapter 14 - The Desert of Colors

(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 the world expands.

Never(1) had Bastian slept so soundly as in that glowing red blossom.

He wakes feeling rested, and very strong. He begins also to take this for granted, and forgets he was ever weak or clumsy. Now, physical strength and good looks are not enough for him.(2) He wishes to be tough like Atreyu was.(3) Only, how can he become tough in such a lush jungle?

Dawn begins on the horizon, and Bastian decides that to explore a desert would suffice for his needs and make him proud of himself.(4) Suddenly, the great tree quakes, and cracks, and falls to the ground. The jungle has become a desert, the plants all dead and dying and crumbling to dust. The sand shifts before Bastian's eyes, in all shades of the rainbow. He names it "Goab, the Desert of Colors."

Bastian journeys through the desert, where his strength is of no use, though he finds no water nor food. Soon, he learns how to travel the desert, and his will becomes hard as steel. He remembers being discouraged in the past, and giving up at the first sign of difficulty out of fear of hardship. Now, all that is behind him.

No one before him had dared to cross Goab, the Desert of Colors,(5) on foot, nor would anyone undertake to do so in the future. And most likely no one would ever hear of his exploit. This last thought saddened Bastian.

He knows that if he doesn't come to the end of the desert, he will meet his end, but it doesn't frighten him. Still, just in case someone back in his world is reading the book he left behind, he writes his initials in red sand on a blue dune. Someone would know that he had been here.

He sits on the red dune, and rests, and forgets that he was ever a crybaby. And then, his endurance is not enough, and he wishes for an adventure to prove his courage and daring.

Before he can finish saying what he might want to encounter, he hears a roar, and turns, and sees what might be a ball of fire. He hides between the dunes, then overcomes his fear, and climbs back up again to see.

The figure has come near enough to make introductions. He is the lion Grograman, Lord of the Desert of Colors. Bastian asks for help escaping the desert, but the lion carries the desert with him, and cannot leave. Besides, Bastian is the first person Grograman has ever spoken to, because everyone else burns up in his presence, but Bastian is protected by Auryn. Bastian asks to find something to drink, and the lion invites Bastian back to his palace.

Bastian climbs on Grograman's back, and the lion asks him to promise that he will never take off the gem that protects him while he's in Grograman's domain. Bastian promises, and they go across the desert to the palace. When they arrive, it's nearly night, and Grograman asks Bastian to see if he can explain why something happens to Grograman at night. Inside, Bastian finds sustenance, and a bath to wash in. He leaves only Auryn on while he cleans up.

However, as soon as he finishes, dries, and clothes himself again, he hears a cracking, grinding noise. He approaches Grograman, and finds him turned to stone. Bastian looks outside, and finds Perilin regrowing. He can sense that the transformation is connected to the forest-desert cycle, and returns to the cave, throwing his arms around the stone lion.

The lion's eyes were black and as dead as the rock. Grograman had turned to stone. The lights flared for an instant and went out, leaving the cave in total darkness. Bastian wept bitterly.(6) The stone lion was wet with his tears. In the end, the boy curled up between the great paws and fell asleep!

=====

(1) Handsome Bastian in one upper corner, with Grograman the lion below. (2) I kind of want to make a semi-cynical commentary on patriarchy here, but I'm not sure it would land the way I want it to. Like, there does seem to be a bit of a drive, among certain subsets of people, that makes them feel as though they are never enough, no matter their accomplishments or status. They cannot be satisfied with what they have. They will always wish for more. (3) This is both an extension of the be careful what you wish for theme, and an interesting look into different readings of a character. I don't know that I would call Atreyu particularly "inured to hardship". He had a quest and he endured terrible things to complete it, but "tough" carries certain implications to me, which I can believe a child like Bastian would apply to his interpretation of Atreyu but that I know I wouldn't. I'm unsure if this is a translation quirk or a genuine story element, though the final effect is the same either way, because it's the reading I'm getting. (Once again, VERY eager to hear from anyone with another translation!) (4) Would it? Would it really, Bastian? (5) The phrasing of this amuses me, because it wouldn't have been possible for anyone to cross this specific Desert of Colors before, since Bastian just made it up. Part of it is an archetypal part of Fantastica, but it's also his Goab. (6) Why do you think Bastian cries here? Not that "it's been a heck of a dang day" isn't enough, mind.

[longroadstonowhere]

It has been too long since I read le petit prince so I can’t do an actual post about it, but now I’m thinking about grograman and le renard and rotating them in my head together

So that’s fun

[alkemylabz]

ok my dhmis roleswap au has this one aspect of the neverending story (book) that really stuck with me. ill put in the relevant page under the readmore

“Is it true you’ve always been here?”

“Always!”

“And the desert of Goab has always existed?”

“Yes, the desert too. Why do you ask?”

Bastian pondered.

“I don’t get it,” he finally confessed. “I’d have bet it wasn’t here before yesterday morning.”

“What makes you think that, master?”

Then Bastian told him everything that had happened since he met Moon Child.

“It’s all so strange,” he concluded. “A wish comes into my head, and then something always happens that makes the wish come true. I haven’t made this up, you know. I wouldn’t be able to. I could never have invented all the different night plants in Perilin. Or the colors of Goab-- or you! It’s all much more wonderful and real than anything I could have made up. But all the same, nothing is there until I’ve wished it.”

“That,” said the lion, “is because you’re carrying AURYN, the Gem.”

“But does all this exist only after I’ve wished it? Or was it all there before?”

“Both,” said Grograman.

“How can that be?” Bastian cried almost impatiently. “You’ve been here in Goab, the Desert of Colors, since heaven knows when. The room in your palace was waiting for me since the beginning of time. So, too, was the sword Sikanda. You told me so yourself.”

“That is true, master.”

“But I- I’ve only been in Fantastica since last night! So it can’t be true that all these things have existed only since I came here.”

“Master,” the lion replied calmly, “Didn’t you know that Fantastica is the land of stories? A story can be new and yet tell about olden times. The past comes into existence with the story.”

“Then Perilin, too, must have always been there,” said the perplexed Bastian.

“Beginning at the moment when you gave it its name,” Grograman replied, “it has existed forever.”

hope this helps!

[dogcopter]

wow. this is intricate. I can’t say I see it, given the diamonds’ abilities alone seem to be enough to generate life. and I think Lion is Rose primarily because he demonstrates a lot of knowledge only Rose would have - like the location of the Temple, the Moon Base, the armory. It’s hard for me to believe Rose would have previously told a human about her past given she didn’t even tell Greg. And I think Rose caring about Steven, liking Connie, wanting to chase after Pearl when she’s upset, wanting to tell Steven about his mom, that all makes sense. for Buddy or Lion alone these people would really be strangers with the only connection a mutual relationship to Rose. But I appreciate how much thought you put into this, maybe there are connections I just can’t see.

....although the idea of there being additional significance to Buddy Budwick’s adventure is super interesting. Maybe he’ll show up when we get Lion backstory regardless of what the outcome is. And those lizards Lion always eats, dang, forgot about them completely, they might be some kind of mystery with the feathers and all. I love that there’s a mineral called williamsite too. Thank you for expounding!

I have a competing theory about Lion, but your ideas seem really fun anyhow :D

I’m dying to know your Lion theory. Can you summarise? the only lore i found on your blog was intricate william dewey conspiracies (respect)

I 100% think Lion is Rose right now because its the explanation that best fits Lion’s behavior and his use/design as a character based on the information available, but I’m also not married to that being the case if there’s a more compelling possibility haha

[futurezen]

💙 FUTURE ZEN: Sikánda | Die Unendliche Gesschichte | Music for Peace | Z...

[maharelillo]

Bastian and Grograman, the guardian of Goab, the desert of colors 🐾 Wishing you all a lovely Friday and weekend! I'll be at @cymerafestival all weekend with my books and other treasures, 10am-5pm at Pleasance in Edinburgh. Come say hi if you're there ! And a huge thank you to all your words and wishes on yesterday's post. It warmed my heart and I may have shed a tear or two... Still in the process of answering ✍️ Drawing from From The Neverending Story, by Michael Ende, published by and available at @foliosociety #illustratedbook #theneverendingstory #thefoliosociety #dessin #drawing #inkdrawing #bookillustration #maharelillo #traditionalart #illustrationartist #grograman — view on Instagram https://ift.tt/FNcOdKP

[mightymissimouse]

Grograman and Bastian by TomeuRiAm on @DeviantArt