Anybody else intensely icks from the original Peter Pan character portraying the worst of what we experienced?

And I mean not the Disney one - i mean literally the original one. It's not that I am stating that all the avoidant people feel to me similar to this, not at all. I saw examples of more responsible avoidants. But the most severe ones for me are just...that.

"What makes the original Peter Pan so horrifying? The original character from James Matthew Barrie’s play and novel (as well as his first appearance in *The Little White Bird*) is drastically different from the softened, sanitized Disney version. In the original text, Peter is not just a mischievous scamp—he is genuinely terrifying. Here is where the true horror of the original lies:

1. He ruthlessly disposes of boys who "grow up"

One of the darkest and most famous revelations in the book is what happens in Neverland when the Lost Boys start getting older:

*"The number of boys on the island varies, according as they get killed and so on; and when they seem to be growing up, which is against the rules, Peter thins them out."*

Barrie leaves the phrase "thins them out" chillingly ambiguous. While it could be interpreted as banishment, placing it right alongside "as they get killed" strongly implies physical elimination.

2. Absolute psychopathy and a lack of empathy

Peter is the embodiment of childhood egocentrism taken to a terrifying extreme. He has no sense of morality, right, or wrong: * **He is hauntingly forgetful:** Peter forgets people the moment they leave his sight. He quickly forgets enemies he has killed and even his own friends. By the end of the book, he barely remembers Captain Hook and struggles to recognize an adult Wendy. * **To him, everything is a game—even death:** If boys accidentally switch sides during a fight or die, Peter views it simply as part of the "fun game."

3. Switching sides just for entertainment

In the book, Peter will switch sides right in the middle of a battle if he feels fighting alongside the pirates is more "exciting" at that moment or if they are losing. He has no loyalty to his friends—only a thirst for adrenaline and play.

4. He kidnaps children and alters their memories

Peter flies to children who have families and snatches them from their cozy bedrooms. Once in Neverland, he pushes them to **forget their real parents**. He convinces them that mothers are betrayers who quickly forget their children and lock the windows—though in reality, he once returned home only to find another child sleeping in his bed (a moment that scarred him forever).

5. The tragedy of an eternal existence

Peter Pan is essentially an **emotional parasite** trapped in perpetual developmental arrest. He is incapable of deep love, attachment, or compassion because those feelings require growing up. As a result: * He is doomed to an endless cycle: lure new children, play with them, discard or forget them when they grow older, and fly off to get the next generation (just as he does with Wendy’s daughter, and later her granddaughter). * He remains utterly alone in his meaningless, eternal childhood. In essence, James Barrie did not write a sweet fairytale about magic, but a profound and eerie parable: a child stripped of the capacity to grow, empathize, and change ultimately turns into a heartless monster."