Tinker Bell (sometimes spelled as Tinkerbell, also referred to as Tink for short), is a fictional character from J. M. Barrie’s 1904 play and 1911 novel Peter and Wendy. She has appeared in multiple film and television adaptations of the Peter Pan stories, in particular the 1953 animated Walt Disney picture Peter Pan.
Tinkerbell was the jealous pixie/fairy who glowed brightest for Peter Pan. Her voice consists of the sounds of a tinkling bell, which is understandable only to those familiar with the language of the fairies. Tinkerbell is traditionally staged as a flying point of light beamed from offstage. She was called Tinker Bell because she mended the pots and kettles, a tinker is a tin worker, and with her magic wand led Peter Pan through the ins and outs of Never Never Land.
The extremes in her personality are explained in-story by the fact that a fairy’s size prevents her from holding more than one feeling at a time, so when she is angry she has no counterbalancing compassion. Fairies cannot fly in the rain but can enable others to fly by sprinkling them with fairy dust
Great illustrators like Brian Froud and Myrea Pettit as well as Disney have sought to create their own characterisation of the personality of Tinkerbell, who in some countries like Sweden is also affectionately called ‘Tingaling’.
At first only a supporting character described by her creator as "a common fairy", her animated incarnation was a hit and has since become a widely recognized unofficial mascot of The Walt Disney Company, and the centerpiece of its Disney Fairies media franchise including the direct-to-DVD film series Tinker Bell.