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'{{Refimprove|date=July 2009}} {{Cleanup|date=November 2008}} '''Wendy Moira Angela Darling''' is a fictional [[hero]]ine and female [[protagonist]] in the ''[[Peter Pan]]'' stories by [[J. M. Barrie]], and in most of their adaptations in other media. Her exact age is not specified in the original play or novel by Barrie, and varies in various presentations and adaptions from the ages of 11 to 16; in her most widely known portrayal in the 1953 [[The Walt Disney Company|Disney]] film, she appears to be about 12. (On the stage, she is often played by a young adult woman, meant to appear to be an adolescent girl.) Likewise, her hair color has variously been [[blond]]e, [[brown hair|brown]], or [[black hair|black]]. Wendy is majorly portrayed in a blue ribbon in her hair and blue night dress. Wendy expressess an innoecent adoration for Peter as soon as they meet, and is honest to herself and company throughout the entire book, play or movie. As a girl who is beginning to "grow up", she stands in contrast to Peter Pan, a boy who refuses to do so, the major theme of the Peter Pan stories. In the beginning, Wendy hesitates to escape to NeverLand, to take care of her brothers and accompany her mother, but in time, she shows passion for a short adventure and magical events and adventures. ==Background== In the novel ''[[Peter Pan]]'', and its cinematic adaptations, she is an [[Edwardian period|Edwardian]] schoolgirl on the brink of (or during) [[adolescence]]. She belongs to a [[middle class]] [[London]] household of that era, and is the daughter of [[George Darling (Peter Pan character)|George Darling]], a short-tempered and pompous bank/office worker, and his wife, Mary (in ''Starcatchers'' it is implied that Molly Aster will someday marry George Darling, taking the place of the name Mary). Wendy shares a [[Nursery (room)|nursery]] room with her two brothers, Michael and John. However, in the Disney version, her father decides that "it's high time she found a room of her own" and kicks her out of the nursery for "stuffing the boys' heads with her lot of silly stories", but changes his mind at the end of the film after he returns home with his wife after the party. Thus, despite her assertion that she's ready to mature, Wendy stays in the nursery to take care of her two brothers. ==Character== Wendy is the most developed character in the story of Peter Pan, and is often considered the central protagonist. She is proud of her own [[childhood]] and enjoys telling stories and fantasizing. She has a distaste for [[adulthood]], acquired partly by the example of it set by her father, whom she loves but fears due to his somewhat violent fits of anger. Her ambition early in the story is to somehow ''avoid'' growing up. She is granted this opportunity by Peter Pan, who takes her and her brothers to [[Neverland]], where they can remain young indefinitely. Ironically, Wendy finds that this experience brings out her more adult side. Peter and the tribe of [[Peter Pan's Lost Boys|Lost Boys]] who dwell in Neverland want her to be their "mother" (a role they remember only vaguely), a request she tentatively accedes to, performing various domestic tasks for them. There is also a degree of innocent or implied flirtation with Peter (thereby forming a [[love triangle]] with Peter's sometimes-jealous [[fairy]] friend [[Tinker Bell]]). In the Disney version she also becomes jealous of Princess Tiger Lily after the Princess kisses Peter. (In fact, she becomes so jealous she turns on her heel and marches back to the "Tree House"). In the original script of Barrie's book, ''Peter and Wendy'', Wendy asks Peter, towards the end of the book, if he would like to speak to her parents about 'a very sweet subject', implying that she would like him to speak to her parents about someday marrying her. Wendy eventually learns to accept the virtues of adulthood, and returns to London, having decided not to postpone maturity any longer. In an episode included in the novel and later incorporated into some productions of the play, Wendy has grown up and married, and has a daughter, Jane. When Peter returns looking for Wendy (not understanding that she would no longer be a young girl, as time escapes him while he is in the Neverland), he meets Jane; Wendy lets her daughter go off with him, apparently trusting her to make the same choices. The same scenario later plays out between Jane's daughter, Wendy's granddaughter, Margaret. (We don't actually see this happen. Barrie states [at the very end of the book] that Jane has a daughter, Margaret, who will one day go to the Neverland with Peter Pan, and that the same thing will happen with Margaret's future daughter and future granddaughter, and on and on, for as long as children believe in fairies.) WENDY IS SOOOOOOOOOOO COOL GO TO PETER PANS PAGE TO READ MORE! ==The name ''Wendy''== The first name ''[[Wendy]]'' was very uncommon in the [[Anglosphere]] until after the ''Peter Pan'' mythos became well known, and its subsequent popularity has led some to credit Barrie with "inventing" it. Although the name ''Wendy'' was used to a limited extent as the familiar-form of the [[Welsh language|Welsh]] name [[Gwendolyn]], it is believed that Barrie took the name from a phrase used by Margaret Henley, a five-year-old girl whom Barrie befriended in the 1890s, daughter of friend [[William Ernest Henley|William Henley]]. She called Barrie her "friendy-wendy", which she pronounced as "fwendy-wendy".<ref name="The History of Wendy">{{cite web|url=http://www.wendy.com/wendyweb/history.html|title=The History of Wendy|accessdate=2009-07-25}}</ref><ref name="Cwinn">{{cite book |last=Winn |first= Christopher |title=I Never Knew That About England}}</ref> She died at the age of five and was buried, along with her family, in [[Cockayne Hatley]].<ref name="The History of Wendy" /><ref name="Cwinn" /> ==Portrayal in film== [[Image:DisneyWendy.JPG|thumbnail|250px|Wendy Darling as portrayed in [[The Walt Disney Company|Disney]]'s ''[[Peter Pan (1953 film)|Peter Pan]]''.]] *''[[Peter Pan (1924 film)|Peter Pan]]'' (1924 silent live-action film) - [[Mary Brian]]. The actress was 18, but publicity materials claimed she was 16. *''[[Peter Pan (1953 film)|Peter Pan]]'' (1953 animated film) - [[Kathryn Beaumont]] (Voice). [[The Walt Disney Company|Disney]]'s Wendy is portrayed as being a mother first and foremost, with all the classical ideas of how to be a mother and care for people. She appears bossy but well-meaning, and slightly taken with Peter. She also appears at the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts as a [[meetable character]]. *''[[Hook (film)|Hook]]'' (1991 live-action film) - [[Maggie Smith]] plays a very aged Wendy, who is being honored for her lifetime of work in finding homes for orphans. Her granddaughter Moira is the wife of Peter Banning ([[Robin Williams]]), the former Peter Pan who has grown up and forgotten his life in Neverland. During a flashback to Peter's childhood, a younger Wendy is played by [[Gwyneth Paltrow]]. (Peter's and Moira's daughter, Wendy's great-granddaughter, is Maggie [a common pet name for Margaret, the name of Jane's daughter, Wendy's granddaughter, in the original book by Barrie].) (The real-life Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital, to which Barrie bequeathed the Peter Pan royalties, is also mentioned briefly in the movie.) *''[[Peter Pan (2003 film)|Peter Pan]]'' (2003 live-action film) - [[Rachel Hurd-Wood]]. In this film, as in Barrie's original treatment, Wendy easily falls into a mothering role with her male companions, but is conflicted by her romantic feelings towards Peter, who reacts with incomprehension and annoyance. She is also more adventurous than in most adaptations, taking part in the conflict with the pirates including the [[sword fighting]]. The film also develops Barrie's hint that Wendy has incipient romantic feelings for the more mature and virile Hook, showing that she is growing up in spite of her intentions. (Note: According to other interpretations of the book, Barrie is not hinting at Wendy's having that sort of feeling for Hook, but simply can't help feeling slightly drawn to him in a frightened-yet-fascinated way, perhaps somewhat as a fly might be drawn to a spider, or a mouse to a cat. Barrie adds, "She was only a very little girl", suggesting that Wendy cannot help feeling this way because she is still an impressionable child [quite the opposite of having or beginning to have a "grown up" type of "romantic" feeling]. [Hook holds out his hand to Wendy, acting frightening and charming at the same time, and Wendy is, Barrie tells us, so startled and so innocent that she accepts. Perhaps some readers interpret Barrie's use of the word "fascinated" to mean "romantically attracted". There is no "romantic attraction" between Hook and Wendy even slightly or potentially implied at any other point in the story. And by "fascinated" Barrie may well mean "transfixed with horror" or "awestruck with fear". Wendy is probably "fascinated" by the startlingly horrifying contrast of Hook's charming manner and appearance compared with his evil and creepy personality. Barrie consistently portrays her as finding Hook intensely unpleasant and repulsive, so it isn't likely that her momentary "fascination" is at all a pleasant feeling.]) *''[[Return to Never Land]]'' (2002 animated film) - [[Kath Soucie]] voices a grown-up Wendy who has raised her children in the tales of Peter Pan. Her role is minimal in this portrayal, but at the end of the film she is briefly, but happily reunited with Peter. *Wendy appeared briefly in ''[[Shrek the Third]]'' as a resident of Far Far Away. *She can also be seen at the end of the computer animated film [[Tinker Bell (film)|Tinker Bell]], as the recipient of a long-forgotten ballerina music box which Tinker Bell has repaired. She is much younger than her appearance in ''Peter Pan''. ==Portrayal in television== In the [[anime]] series ''[[Peter Pan no Boken]]'' (''Adventures of Peter Pan''), which is a part of the [[World Masterpiece Theater]], a rather [[tomboy]]ish Wendy has a pivotal role in the second part of the series, which depicts a completely original story where Peter Pan, the Lost Kids and the Darling siblings must save a young witch named Luna from the clutches of her evil grandmother, the witch Sinistra, and Wendy is the one who truly saves her. She's also shown directly antagonizing Captain Hook when he kidnaps her in the first part, yelling at him and even impersonating his mother at some point to manipulate his fears against him. A black-haired Wendy starred in Fox's ''[[Peter Pan and the Pirates]]'' played by [[Christina Lange]] (Sister Bear from the [[Berenstein Bears]] 1984 CBS animated series). She was portrayed without a british accent and wore a crown of flowers in her short hair. Her appearence looks similar to Jane's in Disney's ''[[Return to Neverland]]'' as far as facial and hair features (sans hair color). (Interesting note: Jane herself also appears in an episode of Fox's ''[[Peter Pan and the Pirates]]''.) Wendy herself is voiced by veteran voice actress [[Naoko Matsui]], who provides her voice in the [[Japan]]ese version of the Disney film. The Disney version of Wendy was featured as one of the guests in ''[[House of Mouse]]''; however, despite the fact that Kathryn Beaumont was credited as providing Alice's voice, Wendy said nothing. ==Portrayal in other media== *The Disney version of Wendy is featured in the video-game ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]''. In the game, Captain Hook believes she is a princess of Heart and is displeased when it turns out she's not. *In [[Alan Moore]] and [[Melinda Gebbie]]'s adult [[graphic novel]] ''[[Lost Girls]]'', first published in full in 2006, Wendy is re-imagined as a middle-aged woman who (in an encounter with [[The Oz books|Oz]]'s [[Dorothy Gale|Dorothy]] and [[Alice's Adventures in Wonderland|Wonderland]]'s [[Alice (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland)|Alice]]) recounts her sexual encounters with a local homeless boy who represents the "real" Peter Pan. The graphic novel faced disapproval from the [[Great Ormond Street Hospital]], which denied permission to publish the book in the [[European Union]] while their copyrights were still in force (through 2007). *In 2008 Disney campaign "Year of a Million Dreams", Wendy was portrayed by supermodel [[Gisele Bündchen]] *[[The Wendy Trilogy]], a feminist-minded retelling of the Peter Pan story as a three-song cycle, shows Wendy accepting, rather than refusing, [[Captain Hook]]'s offer to make her a pirate, and subsequently becoming mistress of the [[Jolly Roger]]. * Alternative rock band from Sisak, Croatia is named Wendy Darling after this fictional heroine. * In the book [[Peter and the Starcatchers]] series, Wendy Darling is the daughter of Molly Aster, whom Peter has encountered while first discovering Neverland. I <3 PETER PAN ==References== <references/> ==External links== {{Peter Pan}} {{Disney Princess}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Darling, Wendy}} [[Category:Peter Pan]] [[Category:Child characters in written fiction]] [[Category:Disney's Peter Pan characters]] [[Category:Kingdom Hearts characters]] [[es:Wendy Darling]] [[eu:Wendy]] [[fr:Wendy Darling]] [[nl:Wendy Schat]]'