• 𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗞𝗘𝗥𝗕𝗘𝗟𝗟
Tinker Bell (also nicknamed Tink or Miss Bell) is the tritagonist of Disney's 1953 animated feature film, Peter Pan. She is a sassy fairy, who serves as Peter Pan’s sidekick. Tink regularly joins Peter on his exploits throughout the magical isle of Neverland. She values their relationship so much, that the presence of other girls (particularly Wendy Darling), causes her to become insanely jealous and spiteful.
Tinker Bell is equipped with Pixie Dust, which grants herself and others the ability to fly, so long as they think “wonderful thoughts”. She is a largely silent character, speaking a fairy language that is unintelligible to most humans. Her vocalizations are instead expressed in the form of a light jingling noise reminiscent of a bell.
Since her inception, Tinker Bell has become one of Disney’s most popular and iconic characters. Known for flying toward the screen and sprinkling it with pixie dust, Tink has featured heavily as a spokesperson for The Walt Disney Company (along with Mickey Mouse and Jiminy Cricket). She eventually became the focus of her own franchise, Disney Fairies, which spun off a series of full-length feature films, beginning with 2008's Tinker Bell.
When the film Peter Pan was in development, the filmmakers knew Tinker Bell couldn't have been a mere spot of light as she was portrayed in all previous Peter Pan incarnations. Tinker Bell was designed and animated by one of Walt Disney's Nine Old Men, Marc Davis. Without the aid of vocal performance, Marc relied on Tinker Bell's expressions for the animation, much like previous pantomime characters such as Pluto, Dopey, and Dumbo. Upon the release of the film, Tinker Bell received critical acclaim and has continued to shine as one of Disney's trademark characters.
Despite her cute appearance, Tinker Bell is very sassy, feisty, stubborn, and hot-tempered. Upon meeting Wendy and other human females, Tink immediately shows disgust and irritation, mostly out of jealousy. This drives Tink to perform acts in both selfish and even murderous ways, much to Peter's annoyance. However, despite her rough interior, at her core, Tinker Bell is devoted and loyal to those she loves and will eventually come to terms with those she initially resents, should they prove themselves worthy of friendly treatment. This can be seen, most notably, in her relation to Wendy Darling in the original film.
One of the first things she does while trying to find Peter's shadow is to admire herself in a mirror, that is until she finds out how wide her hips are.
Some fans have assumed that Tinker Bell has a romantic crush on Peter. However, that theory has been contradicted several times by Margaret Kerry, who has said:
"Tinker Bell was never in love with Peter Pan, she was sort of a groupie. Peter would go on his adventures and she would get to go with him, and what she was really worried about with Wendy was that maybe he wouldn't take her on the adventures anymore, he would take that ugly old girl! So that's what she was jealous of."
As a fairy, Tink can fly and produce pixie dust, which allows other creatures to fly (including an octopus in Return to Neverland). She is described as being a tinker, meaning that she mends pots, kettles, and acorn caps, and is shown to be very skilled, gifted, and talented at it too.
