AURYN is a talisman from the novel Die Unendliche Geschicte (The Neverending Story), also featured in the movie as a mystical necklace referenced as “The Gem – The Glory”. A double headed serpent biting its own tail, or two mythological serpents symetrically biting one another’s tail form an oval yet are not intertwined, in the book.

The ancient symbol of snakes biting each other, or ouroboros, is where AURYN is derived from. Various cultures contain the historical accounts of such a symbol. AURYN involves one serpent being white, the other black. One eye red, the other green.

Given the complete version as the infinity knot or grief knot appearing as an intricate variation of the figure “8” infinity symbol, or sign of the ouroboros. Duality is what the two snakes represent. The dual nature of the two worlds, one Phantásien (Fantastica or Fantasia) and the other Reality. Also AURYN stands for the twin nature of the two snakes, and their mutual creation and destruction.

There is an interior of AURYN, mystical with gargantual serpents as statues. One statue shining brighter than white, the other darker than black guarding the Waters of Life consisting of a pool serving as the exit from Phantásien. Bastian is refused passage due to his unfinished stories in Phantásien.