Tinker Bell is one of the most iconic fictional characters in the last seventy years. Mostly connected to Peter Pan’s story, and Disney’s 1953 animated film, Peter Pan. She is quirky, sassy, and quite an expert with magic, and her skills are really useful to Peter and the Lost Boys in the most dangerous situations. One of the biggest mysteries since Tinker Bell has been part of the popular culture is her age. In this article, we will find out how old is Tinker Bell and does she age at all.
We still do not know how old Tinker Bell truly is. Her age is still a mystery, however, fans and other curious people started digging and find out that some books allegedly revealed that some fairies can live to 600 years. Others suggested that fairies, including Tinker Bell, live as long as their partner – in their case, a baby whose laugh birthed them. Lastly, some say Fairies are immortal.
We will explain this topic further and offer some rumors and suggestions on how old is Tinker Bell, talk about her origins, development, and works character was in. We will also offer our reasonings and suggestions on how old is Tinker Bell. If you are interested in this topic, stay with us until the end of the article.
Tinker Bell and Her Adventures
Tinker Bell first appeared in J. M. Barrie’s 1904 play called Peter Pan and its 1911 novelization called Peter and Wendy. Her origin story is similar to the one Disney Fairies franchise showed in the 2000s, where she was described as a fairy who mended pots and kettles – she was essentially a tinker hence the name Tinker Bell. She was born from a baby’s laugh.
Her speech was the sound of, you guessed it, tinking bells, and only the individuals who know fairy language can understand her. She was portrayed as jealous, impulsive, inquisitive, and spoiled at times, but most importantly, Tinker Bell is always loyal and kind to Peter Pan. One of the reasons her moods were quite “dodgy” at times is that, because of her small size, she could only hold one feeling at a time – when she is angry, she cannot express another feeling until she calms down.
All in all, Tinker Bell was always present in Peter Pan’s adventures, however, in the original novel from 1911, at the end of the Peter and Wendy story, Tinker Bell dies in the year after Wendy and her brothers left Neverland, and Peter Pan’s memories of her vanish. This was never replicated again, and we saw in Disney projects that Tinker Bell actually was at the edge of dying but would always pull through.
Also, we did mention a few adaptations of Peter Pan’s stories, including Tinker Bell and with her outbursts, there was a question of Tinker Bell’s feelings toward Peter Pan. However, Margaret Kerry, the inspiration for Disney’s character design of Tinker Bell, immediately denied the rumors that the character of Tinker Bell is in love with Peter and that is why she is constantly showing jealousy toward Wendy. Kerry suggested that Tinker Bell is simply jealous of Wendy because she is taking her friend away from her, and the fact that Tinker Bell is really loyal to Peter, that is probably the most reasonable answer.
Why are we mentioning this? Well, for a good reason, because in the next paragraph we will discuss Tinker Bell’s age even more.
How Old Is Tinker Bell And Does She Age at All?
So, how old is Tinker Bell? Jealousy and character design of the Tinker Bell character has spurred controversy in the last few years. This is not a surprise because older Disney movies and projects were accused of displaying possibly problematic content, like the false depiction of various cultures and races. In Peter Pan’s case, the movie got under a lot of heat because it was the product of that time.
Tinker Bell’s jealousy toward Wendy was depicted as her being in love with Peter Pan, and even questioning her looks at some points in Disney’s Peter Pan movie. The characters of the movie, besides Hook and his henchmen, are all children, and displaying that a little, baby-faced fairy fosters feelings toward the main male character, who is also a kid, was unnecessary and weird for viewers.
Most viewers suggested that Tinker Bell is 12-13 years old, even though she was modeled after a grown woman. This is possible since Tinker Bell dies in the original novel from 1911, however, it seems to us that fact was retconned after the release of Disney’s multiple projects including Tinker Bell.
One of the fans suggested that Tinker Bell lives as long as her partner is alive – the baby from which laugh she was born. This was also unlikely since, in the quite forgotten Peter Pan’s sequel called Return to the Neverland, Tinker Bell is still alive and is responsible for Wendy’s daughter. We know that children of Neverland never age, however, in the original book and its sequel Peter Pan in Scarlett novel from 2006, kids who stay in Neverland age only when they think maturely and when they act like kids, they are kids once again.
This was a very interesting concept that Disney never truly got hold of in their works – in Disney movies, children of Neverland never age at all. However, these two theories show that Tinker Bell and Peter Pan are either immortal while they are in Neverland or their age is between 6 to 6000 years.
While we are here, we will mention another fact from Peter Pan’s books. Peter’s agenda is quite different in the books than in Disney movies – he actually never wants to mature, and if other boys do, he kills them! Yep, that actually happened. We won’t blame Barrie for that because his works were never meant for children.
So, yes, personally, I believe that Tinker Bell either has a really long life span ala Superman under the Yellow Sun, or she is simply immortal which would not be odd at all for creatures like fairies.
Tinker Bell is a truly special character, and she was so special that Disney decided to have her lead special Disney Fairy Princesses – Tinker Bell was an original member of the Disney Princesses.
