Southern Oracle
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The Southern Oracle is a fictional character created by Michael Ende in his book The Neverending Story.
This character is also called Uyulala.
In the book, the old tortoise Morla told Atreyu that Uyulala (the Southern Oracle) is the one who can know the reason why the Childlike Empress is dying. Only with the help of Ygramul, the Many, Atreyu is capable of aproximate himself near the Southern Oracle.
There, Atreyu learns from the gnome Engywook, a scholar of the Southern Oracle, that in order to speak with Uyulala, he must pass trough three doors:
The first door is watched by two Sphinxes. Nobody knows the reason why some people can pass through this door and other people can´t. The people who try to pass and can´t do it are condemned to resolve all the world´s riddles and questions until the end of the time.
The second door is like a mirror which reflects the true personality of the observer. Surprisingly, some people brave enough to pass the first door between the two Sphinxes, can´t pass this second door through their own reflection.
The third door is made with a strange metal which reacts with people desires. If you wish to pass, the door will be closed. But if you don´t wish to pass, then the door will be open.
Engywook couldn´t tell more to Atreyu because all the people who have passed all the three doors, never wanted to tell him about who or what Uyulala is.
When Atreyu pass the three doors, he discovers that Uyulala is only a voice that speaks in verse, and it only understand the phrases when these phrases are told in verse.
In a very poetic and beautifull conversation between Atreyu and Uyulala, Atreyu learns the reason because the Childlike Empress is ill, and what he has to find in order to health her.
Michael Ende uses this passage to develop the following idea: The human men and women have forgotten Fantasia, and that´s the reason cause the human world and the world of Fantasia are ill both. This is the main idea followed in the first part of the book.
After this conversation with Atreyu, Uyulala dies and the Southern Oracle with its three doors is sucked into the Nothing.
