"Seven misfit pre-teens vowed to return to the Horror they once defeated as adolescents if 'it' dared to ever come back...
Decades later, as grown adults living in the big world while chasing the American Dream; the tiny town of Derry Maine is calling them back, to face the pain of the past and an Evil without a name, the Evil of...IT!"
Template:It Character
"You all taste so much better when you're AFRAID!"
—IT to the Losers' Club
- " We all float down here, Henry! We all float! When you're down here with us, you'll float too! Kill them all! Come visit, anytime. Bring your friends!
—IT in form of the Moon speaking to Henry Bowers about killing the 'The Losers' in 1958."
- ―
Want A Balloon?
Despite writing about an Evil Clown, King once stated as a child he was terrified of them, and still is in a bizarre way.
Pennywise the Dancing Clown, Is the main villain and antagonist of author Stephen King's 1986 Horror novel. Pennywise was an extremely mysterious and bizarre force and powerful Demonic entity that was millions of years old.
IT would disguise itself as a happy, colorful Clown giving out balloons as if the Carnival or Fair had came to town. Pennywise loved to use it's balloons as bait to attract little innocent children so he could successfully kidnap them when they got close enough to torture and ultimately kill them to feed his sadistic hunger for blood and flesh.
IT targeted mainly only small children. IT believed they all were the tastiest and an easier target to go after compared to full grown adults who could defend themselves better and were braver by not believing in monsters.
Also, IT prefers children who come from broken or dysfunctional families or homes were a lot of sad or negative tension was rooted. IT enjoys spying on the weak children because they believe in the "Boogeyman" and are more easier to frighten and more emotionally vulnerable to successfully kill.
Pennywise would attack children when the parents of the child were not looking or away from view, even if just for a mimute. IT then would put on his front and act as though he was kind and harmless filled with fun and laughter. When children saw IT they would be tempted to go up to Pennywise to say hello, as they thought the Clown was a friendly one with free balloons to give. However, when the child did step up close enough to him, to the child's dismay, IT would immediately transform from a innocent and goofy dancing Clown of happiness, to a pure evil Clown of terror and death, with piercing yellow snake eyes and long razor sharp fangs for teeth to quickly mutilate and eat the child up before they could run or escape the evil trap. IT not only would appear as a Clown, but also would morph into the shape of any person, creature or being depending on the victim. To attract his them, or even scare them. Pennywise specifically feeds off of fear and the more afraid his pray are, the most strongest and powerful he can become. After he was finished killing and his appetite was satisfied for that moment, he would sometimes leave the child torn to pieces so the parents of the child would see it. But by the time they did, Pennywise would be no where to be found. IT disappeared into thin air. IT is said to hide deep underground in the forgotten plumbing tunnels under the entire town, only emerging and coming out to terrorize and eat. Pennywise dwells within the dark and abandoned sewers because that is also where he can find anyone of his target's home by following the pipe-lines and spying on the children he wants to kill. In the novel it is stated that the children of Derry Maine can hear Pennywise's voice echoing as IT taunts them late at night or before bedtime. He talks to the children he knows are afraid and frightens them even more, calling to them from very deep down in the drains of the sinks in the baththrooms or showers. IT threatens them in they're very own homes if they listen close enough with the water faucets off. They also can hear the voices of all the dead children that Pennywise has ate or brutally murdered crying out to them as well.
Origins Of A Nameless & Formless Evil
Not from a Heaven nor from a Hell, IT is said to have apparently originated in another realm/dimension of sorts. A completely foreign, undiscovered and unknown portal or void in space that is light years away, containing and surrounding the outside of the entire universe, a place referred to in the novel as the 'Macroverse'.
IT has no official name or identity to be called by, it is questionable if IT even was given one. When reading the novel one can learn that IT does claim it's true name to be 'Robert Gray'.
It does arguably hint in the book that there was once a man named 'Bob Gray' who was a child molester, or possibly even a murderer who dressed up like a Circus Clown to target children in the past. Over time, this became one of Pennywise's favorite characters to morph into and would be one that the creature IT enjoyed using much of the time. Rather or not the real Bob Grapes and his victims were from the town of Derry Maine or from a place off somewhere that only IT visited for a short period of time before choosing to stay in Derry permanently, is left to the unknown.
IT is generally referred to as a man/male ; however, later in the book it explains that the protagonists come to believe that the creature may possibly be female or even both male and female. This makes IT both a man and a woman, or, in fact, IT could be neither, being of a unknown gender from another planet of an unfathomable creator and an unknown God like figure perhaps that is just simply not like Earth's gender of biological humans.
Therefore this makes the creature of IT an Alien unisex or Transgender/Hermaphrodite monster of an unknown specific sex or species, a race of it's own. Despite the IT creature's gender-bending ways of having an unknowable genitalia, the true form of how the creature appeared without all of it's costumes and illusions is never truly comprehended or understood by humans on Earth. The creature's final physical body stripped down is that of an enormous and very ugly killer Spider.
The giant Spider is the most honest, closest physical image one can get to approximating an actual form and figure without the creature's tricks and illusuons of it's forever changing disguise or "get-up". The natural form if this creature can only be seen in a far off unknowable world in another universe that cannot show it's true form on Earth to humans because it does not have a form of anything physical. This realm is one of which that only consist of voices and lights, which IT calls and refers to as the mysterious world of the "Deadlights".
The Deadlights, Don't You Want IT!?
The Deadlights are a mysterious source that is part of IT, also being where the creature originally comes from. The lights are all inside of IT, consuming the creature, being it's life force, being it's 'Soul'.
The lights can also be seen if you look directly into the creatures eyes long enough. The light is said to be of a pure white shinning light that twinkles like a burning star, so brightly and fierce, that it can easily blind one if not careful. Those who see it can easily get lost within it's glowing trance and are simply stuck and hypnotized as the light feeds off of the victim's inner essence to ultimately suck them bitterly dry until they are nothing more than a Hollow shell. The lights can and will turn a brain to empty mush.
The Deadlights can also cause permanent insanity, leaving it's victim in a cationic state of an unworldly and life less monotone personality and overall frozen state of mind. This keeps them from telling what happened before they saw the lights, and who was the person that possessed it inside. Keeping the victim of the Deadlights forever silenced.
This pleases IT very much so, for when the person is silent and mute they cannot tell anyone about the lights they encountered and any other valuable information regarding they're experience and thoughts. Therefore, making the person seem seriously mentally ill with no cure or positive physiological treatment to help or effect the current state from which they remain in.
This lets IT continue to terrorize the town of Derry Maine and successfully drag on it's case of disappearing and murdered citizens. This alone allows IT to kill children again and again as no one seems to figure out or realize where the killer comes from or who they even are and why they are killing in the first place.
The Story Of Pennywise, the Dancing Clown of Death
He'll drive ya crazy, and He'll kill you all! He's every nightmare you've ever had, he is your worst dream come true...
In mid October of 1957, a six-year-old little boy named George Denbrough aka 'Georgie' is innocently playing out in the rain in his neighborhood. He chases his paper boat into a storm drain in the town of Derry in Maine. Derry is a happy little town, filled with tradition and value. A place where parents are not scared to let children play around the town unsupervised. A town with neighborhoods so friendly and comfortable some don't even lock they're doors at night.
To Gorgie's dismay, the boat is caught in the sewer and appears to be lost for good. As he begins to walk away to go home, he hears a voice call his name. The voice of a clown, a Circus clown. To Gorgie's surprise he looks back at him as he introduces himself as 'Pennywise'. Pennywise the Dancing Clown. The clown retrieved the boat he lost and offers to give it back along with a colorful balloon, just then the clown brutally kills Georgie when he reaches into the drain to get both his paper boat and the balloon from Pennywise's gloved hands.
His death unleashes a series of murders and disappearances of children in Derry that changes the town forever. In fear for they're children, some families move out of Derry for good, never to return or look back. Others choose to stay, but the town itself is forever tainted.
Eight months later, during the summer of 1958, six children – Bill Denbrough (George's older brother), Ben Hanscom, Eddie Kaspbrak, Beverly Marsh, Richie Tozier and Stan Uris – are drawn together, mainly as a result of harassment from Henry Bowers, the town bully, and his friends. They take to calling themselves "The Losers Club," a reference to their social class as poor kids and their status as outcasts in school.
The children start experiencing strange and frightening events. One evening, Bill is looking at a picture of George, which suddenly turns and winks at him. When he tells of it to his friends, Ben admits to having seen and been nearly seized by a mummy the previous January, and Eddie recounts being attacked by a leper at an abandoned house. At first, Richie scoffs at the stories, but later he and Bill see a picture of Pennywise in George's yearbook that comes to life. They come to believe that the entity is responsible for the killings of children and decide to shoot it at the abandoned house where Eddie saw the leper, but end up only narrowly escaping being killed themselves. A few days later, while running from Henry's gang, Richie is attacked by the entity in the form of Paul Bunyan, but again manages to flee. Beverly hears the voices of the murdered children down the drain and witnesses a fountain of blood spurt from the sink. Although initially skeptical, Stan later admits that in earlier spring, he witnessed waterlogged corpses in the town’s standpipe.
As the summer goes on, the six kids realize that they are dealing with an extremely dangerous entity, which they dub "It", as it seems to be able to shape-shift according to what its victims fear the most. It mainly seems to only appear to children, and the Losers' Club decides that it is their responsibility to stop It. Their club gains its seventh and final member after they save Mike Hanlon from Henry's gang in a rock fight. Henry, who is not used to being defeated by the Losers, swears to kill them.
The children tell Mike about It, and he recounts a story of being chased by an enormous, trailer-sized bird in a field. He also brings the Losers an album of his father's old pictures of Derry, many of them showing Pennywise, who comes to life in one of them and threatens to kill all of the children. Bill, who has become the leader of the group, discovers an ancient ritual known as the Ritual of Chüd, in which a monster and mortal lock tongues and attempt to make the other laugh. He believes this ritual will allow them to defeat and kill It. With the group at a loss for what to do, Ben comes up with the idea of an old Indian smoke lodge ritual to induce visions and give guidance. When the idea is put into practice, Richie and Mike hallucinate (although the event is implied to be akin to time travel), see It arrive on Earth in prehistoric times and realize It has been here for millions of years. They express doubt over their ability to battle the monster.
Later, while Eddie is walking home from the pharmacy, Henry, Vic, Belch and a psychotic boy named Patrick Hockstetter, ambush and attack him. Henry breaks Eddie's arm in retaliation for the rock fight. When Patrick tries to dump dead bodies of animals he suffocated out of a refrigerator, he is killed by It in the form of flying leeches infesting the refrigerator, which Beverly partially sees. At first believing that it is all fake, Beverly soon learns otherwise when she is attacked by It in the form of leeches. One bites her, though she manages to escape.
After buying a first-aid kit and treating Beverly's wound, the Losers return to the refrigerator and discover a message from It written in Patrick's blood, warning them to stop before It kills them. Filled with rage, Bill vows to kill It at any cost.
After Eddie is released from the hospital, the Losers get together and Ben makes two slugs out of silver, believing the cinematic convention that silver will kill monsters. They go back to the abandoned house, where It attacks them in werewolf form, primarily focusing its efforts on Bill. After savagely slashing Ben across the abdomen when he tries to defend Bill, It is driven away after being injured by the silver slugs, but not before vowing to kill them all.
Later in mid-August, Henry, whose sanity had been steadily eroding the entire summer, is given a switchblade knife by Pennywise. After murdering his crazed and abusive father, Henry takes Vic and Belch to the Barrens and attacks the Losers, driving them into the sewers. The three follow them. Under Derry, It attacks the bullies in the form of Frankenstein's monster, decapitating Vic and mutilating Belch's face, with Henry managing to escape. The Losers press on and confront It in the form of a giant eye, which they successfully repel. They finally come upon It's lair, where it resides in the form of a giant spider, and, in what appears to be the Ritual of Chüd, the Losers encounter It and its natural enemy, The Turtle. Bill defeats It with some advice from The Turtle and It flees deeper into its lair. The Losers then gradually realize that they are lost in the sewers, and that with their common enemy having fled they have lost their purpose as a group, and begin to succumb to panic. In order to stop the group from panicking, Beverly has sexual intercourse with each of the boys. The gang finally escape from the sewers, emerging at sunset. Stan cuts their palms with a shard of a soda bottle and the seven make a blood oath to return to Derry if It should ever return.
1984–1985 In July 1984, the mutilated corpse of a homosexual man named Adrian Mellon is found from the canal after a fight with a group of homophobic youths had culminated with him being thrown off a bridge. Although the victim's boyfriend and one of the teens claims that he saw a clown kill Mellon under the bridge, neither of them admit this in court and all three teens are found guilty of the crime. A series of violent child murders hits Derry following Mellon's death, alerting Mike, now the town's librarian and the only one of the Losers Club to remain in Derry, who sees similarities between the recent killings and those from 1958. He calls up his six friends and reminds them of their childhood promise to return. Although they recall the events of 1958 only dimly, five of them return to Derry. However, Stan, who is implied to still remember the entire ordeal, commits suicide by slitting his wrists while taking a bath. He writes the word "IT" in his blood on the shower wall with his dying strength.
The remaining members of the Losers Club meet at a Chinese restaurant for dinner, where, after a long meal and stories from the intervening years, Mike tells them about his research into It. It awakens once roughly every twenty-seven years for twelve to sixteen months at a time to feed on children before going into slumber again. He suggests that, due directly to their intervention in the summer of 1958, they injured It so badly that the cycle, which usually came to an end in the winter months of the year, stopped abruptly and prematurely in August. The group holds a vote in which they decided to attempt to kill It once and for all. Mike suggests that before deciding exactly what to do, each Loser takes a walk around Derry to begin to gradually remember the events of 1958. As they finish the meal, their fortune cookies are revealed to contain a multitude of disgusting things, such as a human eye, signalling that It knows they're back.
While walking around Derry, many of the Losers witness manifestations of It. Ben goes to the library, his favorite place in Derry as a child, and sees It, first as Pennywise and then as a vampire. Eddie goes to an old baseball field and is attacked by It in the form of the leper that pursued him in his youth. Beverly goes back to her father's house and is greeted warmly by a kindly old woman who turns out to be It, who then takes the form of her father. Richie goes to a statue of Paul Bunyan and It appears to him there after Richie recalls that It tried to kill him in the form of the statue back in 1958. The four all escape danger. Bill, while not seeing It, does find his old childhood bike in a junk shop and purchases it.
Unknown to the Losers, three other people are also converging on Derry: Bill's worried wife, A-list movie actress Audra Phillips; Beverly's abusive husband, Tom Rogan; and Henry Bowers, who is driven by It to escape the mental institution where he resides, having been convicted for the murder of his father and the children killed by It back in 1958.
The Losers meet at Mike's library after closing time and reminisce about the summer of 1958. Afterwards, the Losers leave for their hotel rooms. Mike stays at the Library a little longer and is confronted by Henry. After Mike briefly taunts Henry, stating that Pennywise will most likely kill him after he kills the Losers, they fight and Henry stabs him in the leg. Mike badly injures Henry with a letter opener but Henry is able to escape, and Mike, using his belt as a tourniquet, calls the hospital and successfully gets help despite Pennywise's attempts to block him. Henry, with the guidance of It (in the form of Belch's reanimated corpse) goes to the hotel and attacks Eddie. Henry successfully breaks into Eddie's room, but Eddie manages to disarm and kill Henry by impaling him with a broken glass bottle.
Meanwhile, It gets Tom Rogan to kidnap Audra. Tom brings Audra to It's lair under the city. Upon perceiving It in true form (“the deadlights”), Audra becomes catatonic and Tom drops dead in shock. Bill, Beverly, Richie, Eddie and Ben, after calling the library and finding out that Mike may be near death and understanding that the town—which is essentially under the control of It—will not help them, realize that they are being forced into another confrontation with It. They descend into the sewers.
While in the sewers, the remaining Losers use their strength as a group to send energy to a hospitalized Mike, who fights off a nurse that is under the control of It. Later, deep within the sewers, It appears as George but Bill overcomes the illusion. They reach It's lair again. Bill and Richie engage It in the Ritual of Chüd again and manage to severely injure It. Eddie helps them and saves their lives, but he is killed by It in the process, having his arm bitten off, eventually bleeding to death. Beverly stays with Eddie and the traumatized Audra, who has been woven into a giant spider web by It. When Bill, Ben and Richie get to It's lair, they discover It has laid eggs and they're about to hatch. Ben stays behind to destroy the eggs while Bill and Richie chase down It. Bill and Richie follow It deeper into the cavern and attack. After Richie wounds It with his voices and fists, Bill crushes It's heart between his hands, finally killing the monster. At the same time a storm sweeps through Derry and the downtown area collapses. Later, Mike, writing in a journal, concludes that Derry is finally dying.
The novel ends with the various Losers returning home and their old lives. As a sign that It really is dead and a watchman is no longer needed, Mike's memory of the events of the book also begin to fade, much to his relief. Ben and Beverly leave together, Richie heads back to his DJ career and Bill is the last to leave Derry. Before he goes, he takes Audra, who is still catatonic, for a ride on Bill's bike, "Silver", hoping that they can beat her catatonia the same way he and the rest of the Losers beat It for the first time in 1958.
They succeed, and the story ends with Bill musing over his forgotten childhood and the friends with whom that time was shared.
Gubernatorial Cycle
"You have no power. This is the power; feel the power, brat, and then speak again of how you come to kill the Eternal."
-IT to Bill Denbrough in the Macroverse.
For millions of years, It dwelt under Derry, awaiting the arrival of mankind, which It somehow knew would occur. Once people settled over It's resting place, It adopted a cycle of hibernating for long periods and waking approximately every 27 to 30 years. It's awakening is always marked by a great act of violence, and it is another great act of violence ends It's spree and sends It back into hibernation:
- 1715 – 1716: It awoke.
- 1740 – 1743: It awoke and started a three-year reign of terror that culminated with the disappearance of over 300 settlers from Derry Township, much like the Roanoke Island mystery.
- 1769 – 1770: It awoke.
- 1851: It awoke when a man named John Markson poisoned his family, then committed suicide by eating a white-nightshade mushroom, causing an excruciating death.
- 1876 – 1879: It awoke, then went back into hibernation after a group of lumberjacks were found murdered near the Kenduskeag.
- 1904 – 1906: It awoke when a lumberjack named Claude Heroux murdered a number of men in a bar with an axe. Heroux was promptly pursued by a mob of townsfolk and hanged. It returned to hibernation when the Kitchener Ironworks exploded, killing 108 people, 88 of which being children engaged in an Easter egg hunt.
- 1929 – 1930: It awoke when a group of Derry citizens gunned down a group of gangsters known as the Bradley Gang. It returned to hibernation when the Maine Legion of White Decency, a Northern counterpart to the Ku Klux Klan, burned down an African-American army nightclub known as "The Black Spot".
- 1957 – 1958: It awoke when Dorsey Corcoran was beaten to death by his stepfather Richard Macklin; its first known victim was Georgie during one of the floods that hits the town every few years. It then met its match when the Losers' Club forced It to return to an early hibernation when wounded by the young Bill Denbrough (Georgie's older brother) in the first Ritual of Chüd.
- 1984 – 1985: It awoke when three young homophobic bullies beat up a young gay couple, Adrian Mellon and Don Hagarty, throwing Mellon off a bridge (echoing real life events in Maine). It was finally defeated in the second Ritual of Chüd by the adult Bill, Richie, Beverly, Eddie, and Ben, though this triggered the collapse of the water tower, flooding the town.
In the intervening periods between each pair of events, a series of child murders occur, which are never solved. The book's surface explanation as to why these murders are never reported on the national news is that location matters to a news story—a series of murders, no matter how gruesome, don't get reported if they happen in a small town. However, the book's implied reason for why the atrocities go unnoticed is far more sinister: It won't let them.
Other information:
This is an amendment to the below, I came to believe it was the physical from of the spider that was its true form, and that the other manifestations were projection, that sometimes [when under stress] show elements of its true from; but even this is not completely supported by either the novel nor miniseries [e.g. it passes through spaces far too small for such a beast to do so] but I always felt this was more a kin to the idea being more fluid in the writer's mind in the beginning of the novel, and then when locking it into place [at the end] not going back and fully adjusting out the errors. You can find this in many King novels, when the ending doesn't seem to entirely fit with what was show before; e.g.: at the end of "The Mangler" [at least in the film version] at the end there's a giant bat, and the story's intro of this bat seems to reflect "IT" in many ways; and, again it could not have easily caused everything we've seen/read up to that point, but no real explanation is given for this discrepancy.)
- Shape-shifting. It can immediately transform itself to any kind of being, taking the frightful image directly from the victim's mind, regardless of the size or nature. It took the form of a giant plastic statue, several small life entities - flying leeches - or several human-sized entities, when the adult Eddie is confronted by the cadavers of Greta Bowie, Patrick Hockstetter, and Belch Huggins at the basketball court. Between shape-shifting, It is an orange amorphous goo, which is somewhat close to It's true form. Some may disagree, however, saying that the spider is the closest to It's true form. Others may dispute that the clown is It's true form. This is untrue, however, the clown is only It's most favored form.
- Partial invisibility. This was clearly stated in several cases, notably when the adult Beverly encounters Pennywise at the place where she used to live, or when the adult Ben Hanscom encounters It in the public library, suggesting that only those can see It, who actually believe, or have knowledge about It's existence, although It can become fully visible to anybody, when it is necessary. One notable moment was when It helps Henry Bowers to escape from Juniper Hill, one of Henry's cellmates and then, the guard also witness It next to Henry. (Again, in order for this to be partial invisibility; it would also have to not be felt, as Bev left the blood in the sink long enough for her father to have used it multiple times without noticing. It was more likely that the blood was a psychic projection, and that it either left a psychic imprint, or was perpetually maintained; the fact that "IT" was able to instantly respond when the blood was cleaned, the first time, implies that there might be at least a combination of the two (if not completely perpetually maintained).
- It can create many different illusions, which are actually real. These illusions include balloons floating against the wind, moving photographs, blood gushes and streams, small but shocking entities, such as a cricket, a mutant fly, teeth, and eyeball, which were hidden in the fortune cookies at the Losers' reunion, different noises and music (including human speech), and various smells (popcorn, cotton candy, rotting). The partial invisibility fully applies on all of these illusions, as only the chosen victims can actually see and sense these. After a period of time, or when the witness actually sees through the illusion, these will cease to exist. It is imperative, however, to see through the illusion perfectly. Another illusion created by It is a huge interior of a house of building.
- Quick regeneration. While It is clearly not invulnerable, and in fact, can be wounded and damaged in smaller-bigger degrees, It can almost spontaneously regenerate. This ability of It appears to be untrustworthy, as seen at the young Mike Hanlon's encounter with the giant bird. After Mike hit the bird's eye and its feet with broken tiles, It quickly decided to retreat. At the other hand, when Bill and Richie encounter It in its werewolf form at 29 Neibolt street, It can almost instantly regenerate itself after Bill's headshot with the Walther PPK, and chase the boys for a somewhat long period. It is unclear, how It utilizes its quick regeneration abilities, but it might be a necessarily-corporeal ability. Opinions differ about whether or not It could be killed merely with heavy firepower and weapons, or at least It's physical form.
- It can read minds in a close proximity, this is the ability It most exploits, usually when taking on a form, but in several cases, It can clearly read the Losers' thoughts, and use them to its own advantage.
- It can communicate telepathically, as seen in the scene of the library with the adult Richie Tozier, or the Juniper Hill scene with Henry Bowers.
- Mind control ability. It has the power of controlling several minds, even simultaneously. This also suggests that It has the ability to erase particular things out of a person's memory or knowledge. At the two confrontations between The Losers Club and It, Bill discovers this, and warns his friends that "Derry is It" and that "any place [they] go, they won't see, they won't hear, they won't know." massively effects the minds of the locals who live within Derry, making them indifferent about the tragic events that are taking place. Generally, it would appear that the weaker willed citizens and visitors succumb to It's powerful mind control. This mind control ability presumably has no effect on people outside Derry's boundaries.
- It can teleport itself to limited distances by disappearing without a trace, and re-appearing somewhere else a little bit later. Although a very useful and effective ability, It does not seem to exploit this too often.
- With a touch, It can instantly cause plants to die. It is seen when Eddie (young and adult) encounters It in its leper form. It must be distinguished from the illusions mentioned earlier, as this effect persists long after It's appearance, although it does not serve any practical purposes.
- Telekinesis (moving things with the mind). It can manipulate lifeless objects to fall, float around, and behave supernaturally. This includes locking doors, and electronic devices.
- It may have effect on the weather in Derry's region. More than one occasions, when the Losers face It, the weather changes into a thunderstorm. Most notably at the final confrontation, which actually devastates Derry's downtown region.
- Possibly also Photokinesis (light manipulation), as suggested by It's true form, the Deadlights, as well as being able to create illusions.
It's forms
"Won't do you any good to run, girly boy."
—It in the form of a leper wearing a clown suit while speaking to Eddie at the on Neibolt Street.
It has many powers, one of these being able to shapeshift to scare the children of Derry. It has changed into a number of things, including:
- Pennywise the Dancing Clown (Its favorite form and primary disguise. Mainly used when hunting children. Carries balloons often)
- George Denborough, when Bill examines his brother's photo album.
- Curtis Willett (real life "witness" of supposed "killer clown" in a Portland Maine suburb)
- Dorsey Corcoran's re-animated corpse and The Creature from the Black Lagoon, when pursuing Eddie Corcoran.
- The voice of Betty Ripsom, one of Its victims, overheard by her parents through a drain to taunt them.
- A giant bird, inspired both by a crow that attacked Mike Hanlon as a baby and also Rodan, a giant pteranodon featured in a Japanese horror movie from 1957, when pursuing Mike Hanlon (oddly, It also appears as a giant bird to Will Hanlon, Mike's father, thus making him one of the few adults who can see It).
- The Werewolf, when It encounters Richie & Bill (wearing a Derry High School blazer inspired by the 1957 horror film, I Was a Teenage Werewolf) while in the house on 29 Neibolt Street.
- The Leper/Diseased Homeless Man, when Eddie first encounters It under the porch of the house on 29 Neibolt Street.
- The Mummy. Ben Hanscom recalls seeing a mummy (from the original movie) in Pennywise's outfit walking along the frozen canal towards him. It carries balloons that float against the wind.
- The Eye, when encountering the Losers under the city.
- Alvin Marsh, Beverly's abusive father, as she is terrified of him.
- A swarm of winged leeches, when attacking Patrick Hockstetter.
- A swarm of piranhas, when Eddie is frightened of crossing the stream.
- The shark from Jaws, seen by a boy named Tommy Vicananza in the Derry canal in 1985.
- Dracula, seen by Ben in the Derry library in 1985. It does not look like any of the traditional variations of Dracula, but rather resembles Kurt Barlow from King's own Salem's Lot: very old and with razor blades for teeth. He asks Ben: "What did Stan see before he committed suicide?" The vampire then chomps down on his own mouth and causes his lips to split open and bleed on the floor.
- A statue of Paul Bunyan attacking Richie Tozier in 1958. In 1985, Richie sees that this statue is replaced with a giant Pennywise.
- Tony Tracker, manager of a trucking depot in Derry during the Losers' childhood. Eddie Kaspbrak sees It in this form when he visits an old baseball diamond near the depot in 1985.
- Frankenstein's Monster; When encountering Henry Bowers and his sidekicks, Victor Criss and Belch Huggins in the sewers under Derry.
- A Doberman Pinscher. When It appears to Henry Bowers in 1985 at Juniper Hills Mental Institution, It turns into an 8-foot-tall (2.4 m) dog of this breed because it is the only animal that the guard on duty fears.
- The decomposing corpse of Patrick Hockstetter, to the Losers briefly in the sewers as a child before It becomes The Eye. Seen by Eddie at Tracker Brothers in 1985.
- The moon, while making Henry Bowers do It's dirty work
- Victor Criss, while convincing Henry Bowers to help It.
- The head of Stan Uris, full of feathers, inside Mike's fridge. Also appears again as a jack-in-the-box when Henry fights Mike in the library. Mike sees Stan's head again as Henry sees Victor's head.
- The witch from "Hansel and Gretel." Beverly Marsh visits her old home to find a woman named Mrs. Kersh living there. Mrs. Kersh then transforms into the witch, showing that she is actually It.
- Decomposing corpses of children perceived by Stan Uris, as he enters the Standpipe and remembers the tale of the kids who drowned in the water tower's reservoir.
- Reginald "Belch" Huggins - It takes this form when It gives Henry Bowers a ride to the Derry Town House (to murder the remaining Losers' Club members) in 1985. It picks Henry up in a 1958 Plymouth Fury, a direct reference to King's novel Christine.
- The Deadlights, when Henry Bowers and the Losers encounter It. This is its form in the Macroverse. People will see this form of It if they look too long in the Spider's eyes.
- Waterlogged Corpses; when perceived by Stan Uris while watching birds at the Standpipe.
- The Giant Spider, which is Its closest physical representation on Earth.
1957-1958
"Come to me! Come to me, children! See how we all float down here! How we all float!"
-It, in the form of Pennywise the Clown in 1958 listening to The Losers and Henry Bowers and his gang coming down into the sewers.
George Denbrough: in the opening of the book and film, George is murdered after It (appearing as Pennywise) tears his arm off and leaves him to bleed to death. He was killed on October, 1957. His death led to the chain of events of the summer.
Betty Ripsom: A female classmate of the Losers and Henry's gang. She was killed by It in the form of Pennywise. Her parents heard her voice in the sink. She was killed on December 26th, a day after Christmas.
Edward "Eddie" Corcoran: Whilst sitting on a bench to cool down, It (in the form of Dorsey's re-animated corpse) grabs Eddie on the ankle and chases after him. Afterwards, It changes into the Gill-man (Creature From the Black Lagoon) and tears his head from his carotid artery. He was killed on June 19th.
Veronica Grogan: Beverly Marsh reveals to the Losers that a friend of hers, Veronica Grogan was killed by Pennywise in late June.
Patrick Hockstetter: After Henry threatens to tell about Patrick's secret about the fact he had been trapping small vulnerable animals in a refrigerator and leaving them to die by suffocation, Patrick leaves to dispose of the corpses but is attacked by It in the form of several winged leeches which makes large holes in his body to which he falls unconscious. When he awoke, It had started eating him. He was killed in late July.
Butch Bowers: After Henry receives a switchblade from Pennywise in the mail, he goes inside his home and murders his dad by pressing the knife to his neck and then releasing the spring-loaded blade into his neck. Although Butch's death is not a death committed by It, It telepathically dispatched Henry to carry out the killing. His son was later arrested for Butch's demise. He was killed in mid-August.
Vic Criss and Belch Huggins: While searching for the losers under the sewers with Henry Bowers, Victor and Belch are both killed by It in the form of Frankenstein's Monster. In this form, It decapitates Victor. After killing Vic, It pursues Henry but Belch defends him. Despite Henry leaving so quickly and Belch's strength to overcome the creature, It easily overpowers him and mutilates his face. Both were killed in mid-August, making them the final victims of the summer.
1984-1985
Adrian Mellon: The first victim of It in 1984. A gay man was beat up by three homophobic youths, John "Webby" Garton", Steven Bishoff Dubay and Chris Unwin. Adrian was thrown over a bridge and killed by Pennywise while Chris and Adrian's boyfriend, Don Hagarty watch in horror. He was killed in July 1984.
Stan Uris: Even though his death has nothing to do with It, his blood is used to write "IT" on the wall. He died on May 28th.
Laurie Anne Winterberger: (The little girl on the tricycle.) She's the first person that we know is a victim in the movie. It starts the chain of movie events, which leads Mike to call the rest of the Lucky Seven due to the pact they made as children. In the novel, she is also another victim of It, although her death was never actually what started the chain of events of the novel in its present time (1984-1985). She was attacked between 7 and 14 of February 1985, seven months after the death of Adrian Mellon.
John Koontz: When helping Henry escape from Juniper Hill, Koontz intervenes in, but is killed when It turns into his worst fear a Doberman Pinscher and mauls him to death while Henry stares at him in horror.
Henry Bowers: When he finds the hotel the Losers are staying at, he finds Eddie's room and engages in a fight between him and Eddie. Eddie (and Ben in the film) then kills Henry in self-defense. He was killed in June of 1985.
Tom Rogan: When he arrives to Derry to kill Beverly, Pennywise hypnotizes him to capture Audra Phillips and bring her to It's lair beneath the city. Upon seeing It's true form, he drops dead in shock. He was killed in June 1985.
Edward "Eddie" Kaspbrak: The last tragic victim of It. During the final fight between It and the losers, Eddie attempts to use his inhaler (which he imagines as battery acid) on It, managing to severely injure It and free Bill and Richie from "It's Void" (Deadlights). However, It manages to tear his arm off during the final moment, leaving him to bleed to death.
It's Weaknesses
Despite It seeing itself as the superior being, and actually stating that its brain embraces the whole continent, It is far from being almighty. Though It does seem to have significant power above Derry and over its denizens, It displays several weaknesses, which the Losers would exploit and eventually overcome.
For instance, It clearly underestimates and scorns all of mankind, including the Losers. It is notable in many cases that It leaves an open escapeway for the victims and lets them run away. This was seen when the young Ben Hanscom encounters the mummy and when Eddie sees the leper under the porch of 29 Neibolt Street. Because of this, It constantly makes mistakes and does illogical things. When Henry Bowers and his sidekicks chase the Losers into the sewer tunnel system, It attacks Henry's gang instead and turns on the Losers only after killing Henry's two friends. It is also mentioned in the novel that It killed a child named Frederick Cowan by emerging from the toilet, and yet, It was unable to finish off the Losers one by one using this same method only because it doesn't believe that it needed to do such things to kill them.
It is a psychically sensitive entity, so courage and heart can overcome It, even in its most diabolical forms. Once the Losers are together, their strong will and the love for each other successfully overpower It and its fiendish machinations. Their strong faith in their various methods of fighting It eventually leads them to victory. The Losers' assault on 29 Neibolt Street made It quickly retreat after being hit by a silver slug (because of the Losers' common sense solution of using silver against supernatural entities).
The novel also states that when It transforms into a shape, It must obey the laws of that form. This clearly means that It is not invulnerable, and its physical forms can bleed and can be significantly damaged and perhaps even destroyed.
It goes to hibernation for approximately 30 years between the cycles. During that time, It may be extremely vulnerable to surprise attacks. However, despite having been defeated for good, it has been heavily implied in other books (such as the Dreamcatcher and Hearts in Atlantis) that It may be still alive. It's natural enemy, The Turtle "Maturin" is mentioned in The Dark Tower series and the character Father Callahan even managed to defend himself from a large group of demons using a cross and the Turtle image, in spite of the latter having "died" during this novel. So, it can be speculated that only Its physical form was destroyed.
Appearances
- It
- It (film)
- Gray Matter (mentioned)
- Dreamcatcher
- The Tommyknockers
- 11/22/63 (mentioned)
- Insomnia (mentioned)
Gallery
Pennywise the Clown aka IT.
Tim Curry as Pennywise the dancing clown
