Peter Pan is a murderous psychopath with mommy issues. He guts lost boys when they get too old, and cries in his sleep. He is unable to differentiate between fantasy and reality (simply imagining that he is full of food makes him full - a power the lost boys do not have, which is why they go hungry from time to time - they are too afraid to defy him). He is self-obsessed to the point where he does not recognize facts unless they are overtly pointed out to him (e.g. Wendy aging) and even still, it takes some effect on his part to make sense of it all. Self-obsession may be a useful protective mechanism to someone who has lived as long as Peter did. Why would you develop an attachment to anything when everything is transient, and the only constant is you? Time and faces have no meaning to an immortal - killing is as natural an act as eating or sleeping, and he hardly sticks to the agreement (where it was agreed between Mrs. Darling, Wendy, and Peter that Wendy would go to Neverland one week every year for “spring cleaning”) at the end since one year is as good as twenty.
There are several power factions in Neverland - The Redskins (led by Tiger Lily), the Lost Boys (led by Peter Pan), the Pirates (led by James Hook), wild animals (e.g. the Neverbird), and a massive crocodile who has developed a taste for Hook’s flesh after Peter threw it Hook’s dismembered right hand (the crocodile also ate a clock at some point and regularly emits ticking noises, which is how anyone tells the time in Neverland). The Redskins are nigh useless, while the Lost Boys are only relevant because of Peter. Their failure to keep one another in balance may suggest that the pirates are a recent addition. The pirates, as a cohesive unit, vastly overpower the Redskins or the Lost Boys (sans Peter Pan, who is an otherworldly force of nature), and indeed the failure of their leadership in the end proves to be their undoing, as Hook loses the plot and the pirates are picked off one by one by the Lost Boys.
The pirates have their own mommy issues, which may suggest that they used to be lost boys. Smee wants Wendy to be his mommy. Hook has some remnant trauma from his days at public school, where actions are categorized into good form and bad form. The only thing he truly cares about is his own good form (which may also mean his opponent’s resultant bad form). Manner of dress, manner of speech, general behavior, these are all examples of good form. Unnecessary movement when fighting (as Hook goads Peter into doing at the end before plunging to his death by crocodile) - that is bad form.
At the beginning of the story, Michael, John, and Wendy are whisked away to Neverland by Peter Pan. The lost boys all suffer from memory loss owing to the magical nature of the place, and it isn’t long before the three of them succumb to the same effects (sans Wendy, who retains a sense of self as she is older and wiser). Peter brought Wendy over to be his surrogate mommy, but Tinker Bell wants Peter all to herself (it seems that they have a one-sided romance) and tries to kill Wendy at the start. She deceives the lost boys into firing arrows at Wendy, who is only saved by a freak incident. As punishment, Peter disowns Tinker Bell for a week.Tinker Bell spends the remainder of the story flying around and emitting expletives (in fairy language), and slightly redeems herself by consuming the poison meant for Peter. She doesn’t die, of course - she is, within two paragraphs, revived by the belief of little children in fairies.
Hook is an odd character. He is seemingly the most intelligent character in the story (Peter Pan, while displaying occasional feats of cunning, is let down by his naivete and saved only by his immortality and luck), capable of hatching plots to poison the lost boys with a cake or Peter Pan with some cyanide-like substance he carries around for personal consumption. He bests the Redskins with geographical advantage, and figures out Slightly’s secret (that Slightly had altered the size of his tree trunk to fit him). He is hampered only by character flaws - his own overconfident and oversuspicious nature.
The lost boys are Slightly, Toodles (the best one - an English Gentleman with self-awareness), the twins, and a few more. They live in an underground house accessible only by their own bespoke tree trunks (when they grow too fat to use their tree trunks, Peter starves them until they shrink). This may sound ridiculous, but becomes an important plot point later in the story when Hook attempts to poison Peter.
Anyway, I understand the bewitching quality of Peter Pan - it may partly explain why JM Barrie and MJ have erm, psychiatric issues. If MJ believes himself to be Peter Pan, then his actions may be construed as those of an innocent child trapped in an adult male’s body.
