Who created Peter Pan in the original stories and stage play?

J. M. Barrie created Peter Pan in his stories and stage play. The character developed from Barrie’s interest in childhood, imagination, and the Davies family, whose children inspired elements of the Peter Pan mythology.

Peter first appeared in Barrie’s 1902 novel The Little White Bird, then became the central figure in the 1904 stage play Peter Pan; or, The Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up. Barrie later adapted the story into the 1911 novel Peter and Wendy.

People sometimes associate Peter Pan only with Disney’s animated film, but Disney adapted an earlier literary and theatrical tradition. Barrie’s original work established Peter, Wendy Darling, Tinker Bell, Captain Hook, Neverland, and the idea of a boy who refuses to become an adult.