10 Movie Heroes Who Failed (And Were Saved By Wimps)

The 1984 "family" film based on the novel by Michael Ende is a classic that most people have seen, loved, and been deeply scarred by.

It follows Atreyu (Noah Hathaway), a boy soldier who is on a valiant quest to save his fantasy world from Nothing (it's more intense than it sounds). Meanwhile, Bastian (Barret Oliver), a lonely boy in the real world is reading about Atreyu's adventures in a book. It's no ordinary book either, it's a magic portal into that fantasy world and it's actually Bastian who saves it after Atreyu fails in his quest.

The fact that an immense wimp like Bastian is the one who saves Atreyu and the whole fantasy world is certainly a blemish on Atreyu's heroism CV. Bear in mind that Atreyu is someone who slays wolf-monsters and confronts giant Sphinxes while Bastian would rather hide than confront a few bullies.

For Atreyu, it'll most likely be a source of neverending shame.