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Neverland
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Never Land or Neverland is a fictional world, often depicted as a magical island featured in the works of J. M. Barrie, and is the dwelling place of Peter Pan.
Neverland was introduced in the theatre play Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up by Scottish writer J. M. Barrie, his subsequent novel Peter and Wendy, and later works by others. While sojourning in Neverland, people may cease to age; therefore, Neverland is often seen as a metaphor for eternal childhood (and childishness), immortality, and escapism.
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Encyclopedia
Never Land or Neverland is a fictional world, often depicted as a magical island featured in the works of J. M. Barrie, and is the dwelling place of Peter Pan.
Neverland was introduced in the theatre play Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up by Scottish writer J. M. Barrie, his subsequent novel Peter and Wendy, and later works by others. While sojourning in Neverland, people may cease to age; therefore, Neverland is often seen as a metaphor for eternal childhood (and childishness), immortality, and escapism. In the earliest drafts of Barrie's play, the island was called Peter's Never Never Never Land, a name possibly influenced by the contemporary term for outback Australia. When the play was first performed in 1904, the island was referred to as the Never Never Land. In the 1923 published version, it was shortened to the Never Land. In the 1911 novel, it was spelled as one word: the Neverland.
Peter led Wendy Darling and her brothers to Neverland by flying "second to the right, and straight on till morning," though it is stated in the novel that Peter made up these directions on the spot to impress Wendy. In the 1953 Disney film, Peter Pan, the word "star" is added to the directions Peter speaks, "second star to the right, and straight on till morning." That phrase was also kept in the 1991 movie Hook.
The novel explains that Neverlands are found in the minds of children, and although they are "always more or less an island", and they have a family resemblance, they are not the same from one child to the next. For example, John Darling's "had a lagoon with flamingos flying over it" while his little brother Michael's "had a flamingo with lagoons flying over it".
Nature of Neverland
According to Peter Pan in Scarlet, the island was pushed up from the ground by imagination. And in Peter Pan, it's shown that whatever a child dreams and wishes for will come true in Neverland. But according to Peter and the Starcatchers, the island is a normal island; it was named by Peter in memory of the Neverland, a boat he was sent on along with his gang of St. Norbert's boys. (In the Disney movie they were really Lost Boys)
There is a Fabric that exists between the Neverland world and ours. It is broken in Peter Pan in Scarlet by grown-up mess. This causes the dreams in Neverland to leak out. Then, the Darling children begin having dreams of Neverland. Only children are let past the fabric of Neverland. In Peter Pan, it shows that no one could go to Neverland without the island looking for them.
The journey to Neverland is portrayed in many ways. In the James Barrie novel, the island was found by the children when they flew onward for days. They wouldn't have found it if it weren't for the island moving toward them. In Peter Pan in Scarlet, they get to the Neverland world by flying on a road called the High Way. In many movie adaptions, they find the world by flying into a star.
In Peter Pan in Scarlet, it says that treasure in Neverland is whatever you wish it to be. Some people had wished for food, fairydust, firewood and other things.
In the world of Neverland, they say that time is told by either the Crocodile's clock or the suns and moons. It is mentioned in the novel Peter Pan that there are many more suns and moons there than in our world, and this reference was shown in Hook. In Peter Pan in Scarlet, it says that time froze to the children as soon as they got into Neverland.
Imagination seems to have great dominion over Neverland. In the novel Peter Pan, it says that a map of a child's mind would resemble a map of Neverland. It also shows that what you wish for ends up in Neverland. And J.M. Barrie also says that the island has no boundaries at all, probably metaphorically stating that a child's imagination has no boundaries either. The belief in fairies and Neverland seems to regenerate Peter and the fairies.
According to Peter Pan in Scarlet, Neverland resides in a sea known as the Sea of One Thousand Islands. In the book, Peter explores some of this sea, passing by islands of various sizes. The most amazing thing encountered on this adventure is Lodestone Rock: a magnetic rock that destroys the Jolly Roger and the SS Starkey along with it.
However, the true nature of Neverland is that it is a normal island that can be reached by only Peter Pan by going high enough into the sky to enter a magic portal type feature that leads to Neverland. People can only go this route if they are with Peter. Otherwise, they have to sail to Mollusk Island, also known as Neverland.
Locations
Most of the adventures in the stories take place in the Neverwood. The Lost Boys build the Wendy house here, and it also the location of the Home Underground, where Peter and the Boys reside. There are many entrances into the underground home. Hollowed-out trees are made to fit every Lost Boy in Peter's ranks, and there is a small Nevertree in the middle of the large room that grows every day. Peter and the children use it as a table to eat on, then they cut it when it has grown too large. In Peter Pan in Scarlet, Peter lets the Nevertree grow too large, and it grows out of the roof. It then picks up the Wendy House and lifts it into the air.
The mermaids lounge around in the Mermaid Lagoon without a care in the world. This is also the location of Marooner's Rock. It is not safe for mortals to visit Mermaid Lagoon at night. This is the most dangerous place in Neverland.
Neverpeak Mountain is the huge mountain that is right in the middle of Neverland. According to Peter Pan in Scarlet, when a child is on top of Neverpeak Mountain, he or she can see over anyone and anything and can see beyond belief.
The Maze of Regrets is a maze in Peter Pan in Scarlet where all the mothers of the Lost Boys go to find their boys. This was thought to be a maze of witches before the League of Pan ran into Mr. Smee.
Pixie Hollow is where Tinker Bell and her tiny fairy friends live and dwell. In Fairy Dust And The Quest For The Egg, it is known that, as they said in Peter Pan, Tink did not die, she came to Pixie Hollow.
Inhabitants
Fairies
There are fairies in Neverland, and they are the primary magic users of Neverland. They are allied to the Lost Boys and against the pirates. It is hinted that the fairies actually created Neverland. The most famous is Tinkerbell, the companion of Peter Pan.
In the part of the story where Peter Pan and the lost boys built a house for Wendy on Neverland, Peter Pan stays up late that night to guard her from the pirates, but then the story says: "After a time he fell asleep, and some unsteady fairies had to climb over him on their way home from an orgy. Any of the other boys obstructing the fairy path at night they would have mischiefed, but they just tweaked Peter's nose and passed on." Disney Fairies Never fairies and sparrow men live in a little place called Pixie Hollow in the heart of Never Land. After Wendy left, Tinker Bell was still a little mad at Peter so she went back to her old home in The Pixie Hollow.
Lost Boys
The Lost Boys are a tribe of orphan boys brought to Neverland by the fairies by using their fairy dust and flying there. Lost Boys do not want to grow up and so remain in Neverland, where time has no meaning. They reside in tree houses and caves, and live for adventure. They are a formidable fighting force despite their youth and they make war with the pirates, although they seem to enjoy a harmonious existence with the other inhabitants of Neverland. Their leader is Peter Pan.
Pirates
The crew of the pirate ship Jolly Roger have taken up residence off-shore Neverland, and are widely feared throughout Neverland. Their captain is the ruthless James Hook. How they came to be in Neverland is unclear; they may have simply sailed off the edge of the map and found themselves in Neverland.
Redskins
There is a tribe of wigwam-dwelling American Indians who live on the island, who refer to themselves as "Redskins", although Barrie himself referred to them as the Piccaninny tribe. They have an imposing tribal chief, whose daughter, the princess of the tribe, is called Tiger Lily, and she has a crush on Peter Pan. The Redskins are known to make ferocious and deadly war against Captain Hook and his pirates, but their connection with the Lost Boys is more lighthearted. For "many moons" the two groups have captured each other, only to promptly release the captives, as though it were a game. It is also unclear how the Redskins came to be in Neverland; they may have got there through shamanistic rituals. They have apparently been in Neverland for some time though, as it is stated they know Neverland better then anyone.
Mermaids
Mermaids live in the lagoon. They enjoy the company of Peter Pan but seem malevolent towards anybody else, including the fairies. In J.M Barrie's world mermaids are not as they are in story books, they are "dark and dangerous creatures in touch with all things mysterious".
Animal Kingdom
Anthropomorphic animals live throughout Neverland, such as talking bears.
Other Residents
Other inhabitants of Neverland are suggested by Barrie, such as witches, although these are not elaborated on.
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