Wendy Darling is a character on ABC's Once Upon a Time. She débuts in the twenty-first episode of the second season and is portrayed by guest star Freya Tingley.
Wendy is based on the character of the same name from the Peter Pan story, and Wendy Darling from the Disney film Peter Pan.
History
Wendy lives in London, England with her parents and is the only girl out of her two younger siblings. She is alarmed to see a stranger in her house and moves to defend herself from the intruder, but upon closer examination, she realizes he is just a starving boy and offers him food. They introduce themselves to each other, and Wendy learns the boy's name is Baelfire, or Bae. Wishing to help, Wendy hides Baelfire in her nursery cubby-hole and sneaks up food for him until being caught by her parents. Just when it seems Baelfire is going to be put out, Wendy's mother allows him to stay as a guest. During one night, Wendy excitedly watches a Shadow dance outside her window. While she finds magic interesting, Baelfire hates it since magic ruined his whole life. To keep her away from the same path, he makes her promise to never open the window for the Shadow. Though she agrees, Wendy can't help her curiosity and is whisked off by the Shadow to Neverland. In this world, she has a great deal of fun and adventure, but is disturbed by the weeping children at nightfall, who desperately wish to go home, though the Shadow won't allow it. Since the Shadow wants another boy for the island, it sends Wendy home with the intent of stealing one of her brothers. Anxious and scared, she divulges this information to Baelfire, who vows to not let her family be torn apart. With her brothers, John and Michael, they arm themselves with makeshift weapons on the night the Shadow breaks into the nursery. Then, they run to hide in the cubby-hole, except for Michael, so Baelfire dashes out to ask the Shadow to take him instead. The Darling siblings bolt to the window as Baelfire is pulled away by the Shadow and disappears into the sky. ("Second Star to the Right")
Feeling guilty about Baelfire's valiant sacrifice for her family, Wendy decides to go back to Neverland to save him. Instead, she is taken prisoner by Pan, and though John and Michael attempt to free her, they themselves are forced to do his bidding for over a century in order to keep Wendy from harm. ("Dark Hollow," "Think Lovely Thoughts")
At some point during Wendy's imprisonment, she obtains a vial of pixie dust. ("Save Henry")In Neverland, Wendy spends her days imprisoned by Pan in a cage until one night, he lets her out for a task to make the heart of the truest believer, Henry, presume she is dying as a result of depletion of the island's magic. Playing the part of a sickly girl laying in bed, her imitations of genuine coughing attract Henry, who is wandering the jungle, up to the room. When he asks why she is so far away from camp, Wendy clarifies that her illness is possibly contagious. She ominously talks about the island's power fading away and how badly it is affecting her. As Wendy looks at him, she sees Henry's resemblance to his father. She discloses how Baelfire once saved her brothers from danger. To add dramatics, Wendy feigns a coughing fit, causing Henry to worry, but she ushers him to leave. Though he truly wishes to do something to ease her pain, she cautions Pan is already doing everything possible, yet there is not enough magic. He insists there must be a way, though Wendy firmly cuts Henry off and pushes him to go. Before exiting, Henry vows to come back for her and makes his way out of the room. Once left alone, Pan steps out from behind a curtain to congratulate Wendy on her acting skills in softening Henry up with stories of his father. Guiltily, she sits up to express disdain in lying to Henry. Rather than that, Pan considers what she did as providing motivation for Henry to do what must be done for all of them. While Henry has the heart of the truest believer, Pan is carefully calculating how he can control that belief. Wendy asks what he needs Henry to believe in. Pan confirms Henry has to be believe in him. Afterwards, he commands her to go back into the cage. ("Dark Hollow")
To strengthen Henry's resolve, Wendy has to feign being sick again and lie on a cot as Pan covers her with a blanket. Afterwards, forced back into the crate, Wendy calls out for help when other people infiltrate Pan's camp. She is surprised to see an adult woman, Emma, come to her aide and later witnesses two other men approach as well. Wendy is stunned that one of the men is Baelfire, now under the name Neal, and frees her from the enclosure. She explains her reason for returning in order to save him. She couldn't allow him to sacrifice his life for her family, especially knowing his status as an orphan due to both parents being dead. To this, the other man, Mr. Gold, who she learns is Neal's father, can't believe he said that. Neal regards the lie as a better thing to say than admit his own father abandoned him. He leads Wendy back to camp and situates her with the other members of his party, David, Hook, Emma, Mary Margaret, Mr. Gold, Regina, and Tinker Bell. Neal asks if she has seen Henry, but Wendy is bound to secrecy on Pan's orders or else her brothers will be harmed, and reluctantly lies to him. Mr. Gold perceives she is being deceitful, and can tell from experience the burden of carrying lies himself. She finally confesses to lying, though Mr. Gold advises anything Pan has promised her will never come true. Wendy doesn't trust Mr. Gold because he abandoned Baelfire, but Regina reassures that she should since John and Michael were the ones that helped them retrieve Pandora's Box to defeat Pan. With encouragement, she reveals Pan's grand plan is to take Henry's heart to save himself from dying and become immortal. As a trade, Pan lives, but Henry will die. After telling them Pan has Henry at Skull Rock, Emma, Mr. Gold, Neal, and Regina head there immediately. Following Henry's sacrifice of his heart to Pan, a powerful wave of magic gusts through Neverland. ("Think Lovely Thoughts")
Within an hour's time, Emma, Mary Margaret, and Regina retrieve Henry's heart from Pan and board the Jolly Roger in time to revive him. During the return trip to Storybrooke aboard the ship, Wendy expresses disbelief to Tinker Bell over the fact that they are actually free from the island. She then gives Tinker Bell the last bit of pixie dust from the island as a gift. Tinker Bell is reluctant to accept the dust, believing she has no way to use it without her fairy wings, but Wendy urges her to take it, offering her belief in Tinker Bell as further encouragement. ("Save Henry")
The ship arrives safely at the dock of Storybrooke. Wendy is one of the last passengers to step off and has a long awaited happy reunion with her brothers. She reintroduces them to the grown-up Baelfire and they all share a group hug. Then, Wendy and her brothers decide it's finally time for them to go home. ("The New Neverland")Family
Mary Darling | George Darling | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Wendy | John | Michael | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Notes:
- Solid lines denote blood parent-child relationship
- Dashed lines denote marriage and relationships that result in offspring
Trivia
Appearances
Once Upon a Time: Season Two | ||||||||||
"Broken": | "We Are Both": | "Lady of the Lake": | "The Crocodile": | "The Doctor": | "Tallahassee": | "Child of the Moon": | "Into the Deep": | "Queen of Hearts": | "The Cricket Game": | "The Outsider": |
Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |
"In the Name of the Brother": | "Tiny": | "Manhattan": | "The Queen Is Dead": | "The Miller's Daughter": | "Welcome to Storybrooke": | "Selfless, Brave and True": | "Lacey": | "The Evil Queen": | "Second Star to the Right": | "And Straight On 'Til Morning": |
Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Appears | Mentioned |
Once Upon a Time: Season Three | ||||||||||
"The Heart of the Truest Believer": | "Lost Girl": | "Quite a Common Fairy": | "Nasty Habits": | "Good Form": | "Ariel": | "Dark Hollow": | "Think Lovely Thoughts": | "Save Henry": | "The New Neverland": | "Going Home": |
Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Mentioned | Absent | Appears | Appears | Appears | Appears | Absent |
"New York City Serenade": | "Witch Hunt": | "The Tower": | "Quiet Minds": | "It's Not Easy Being Green": | "The Jolly Roger": | "Bleeding Through": | "A Curious Thing": | "Kansas": | "Snow Drifts": | "There's No Place Like Home": |
Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |
Once Upon a Time: Specials | ||||||||||
"Magic is Coming": |
"The Price of Magic": | "Journey to Neverland": | "Wicked is Coming": | "Storybrooke Has Frozen Over": | ||||||
Absent | Absent | Archive | Absent | Absent | ||||||
"Secrets of Storybrooke": | "Dark Swan Rises": | "Evil Reigns Once More": | "The Final Battle Begins": | |||||||
Absent | Archive | Absent | Absent |
Other Appearances | ||||||||||
|
Note: "Archive" denotes archive footage.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Once Upon a Time - Episode 2.21 - Role being cast. SpoilerTV (February 28, 2013). “For Once Upon a Time episode 2.21, the role of Heidi is being cast. She's 13, British, and also described as being compassionate, mischievous, and somewhat naive about how dangerous the world can be.”
- ↑ File:304TheFarWall.png
- ↑ File:305FoundSomething.png