IT (also known by as Pennywise) is the secondary antagonist of the Stephen King multiverse. Show Serving as the titular main antagonist of the novel IT, its miniseries adaptation, and its two film adaptations, IT and IT: Chapter Two, and a mentioned antagonist in Gray Matter, Dreamcatcher, Hearts in Atlantis, Insomnia, NOS4A2, Elevation and The Dark Tower film. It also appears as a minor antagonist in both The Tommyknockers, and 11/22/63. It is set to return in the IT prequel series, titled Welcome to Derry. AboutIT is a shape-shifting creature known as a Glamour who is billions of years old. Although It lived on planet Earth for many years, IT originated in a void/dimension outside the regions of space known as the Macroverse. Since ITs true identity is unclear, due to its shape-shifting abilities and being from another universe, ITs real name and species are also called Deadlights, but few know this, which is why it is referred to as IT. The form of a female spider seems to be ITs true physical form on Earth (or at least that is the closest thing the human mind can comprehend), living deep below the fictional town of Derry, Maine. IT can morph into any other human animal, nonhuman animal or object (including combinations thereof). This ability is useful for, A) appearing as the target's loved ones or friends to manipulate them or lure them into a trap or B) appearing as the target's worst psychological fear. However, ITs favorite and most common form is that of a circus performer named "Pennywise the Dancing Clown," as most small children love a clown[1] and generally, it seems that the people in Derry happily accepted the presence of a stray circus performer. At the same time, many people are afraid of clowns, making them an easy fear to exploit. ITs real name (if indeed, it has one) is unknown. Although, several times in the novel, IT calls itself by the name Robert “Bob” Gray. This may be an allusion to real-life child cannibal Albert Fish, who reportedly used the name "Robert Gray" as an alias. He may also get his first name from Robert "Bob" Bell, the man who originally portrayed Bozo the clown. ITs primary goal is to feed on humans, generally preferring children over adults since they were easier to scare and manipulate. According to the creature, frightened flesh tastes better and uses fear to "salt the meat". OriginsIT originated in an undiscovered void containing and surrounding our entire Universe, another far off universe referred to as the "Macroverse." (A concept related to Todash Darkness from The Dark Tower Novels). Other evidence from this series suggests IT is the creation of a separate omnipotent creator referred to as "the Other" (who may be the entity Gan). This "Other" helps the defeat of it at the end, and may also be responsible for the creation of "The Turtle", who is It's natural enemy. In It the novel, the Turtle refers to IT as his "brother". IT may be one of, or a Twinner of, the six greater demon elementals mentioned by Mia in Song of Susannah (as the Spider is not one of the Beam Guardians). It's possible that there are other creatures of the same species as IT, due to the fact that IT is revealed to be pregnant. HistoryIT arrived on Earth in a massive cataclysmic event similar to an asteroid impact, landing in a location in North America that would eventually become Derry, Maine. Once people settled over this location, IT adopted its usual pattern of a 25-27 year hibernation, waking to kill and eat. Each awakening and return to hibernation is sometimes marked by a violent and tragic act, such as a mass murder, suicide or weather event. In the period between, a series of child murders occurring in Derry are never taken too seriously or solved. It is outwardly explained that a series of murders, no matter how gruesome, don't get reported if they happen in the small town. However, the real reason is that the influence of It prevents anyone from investigating too deeply. Timeline (novel)
Timeline (2017 film)The 2017 film places those events in 1989. This adaptation also introduces new events that cannot be placed canonically:
Timeline (2019 film)27 years after the events of the first film, It resurfaces when a group of homophobic teenagers beat up and toss a gay man named Adrian Mellon off the bridge. He then slaughters Adrian in front of his lover before presumably using his blood to write a message to Mike about its return. As such, It wasted no time in hunting the children of Derry, such as when it uses empathy to lure a young girl named Victoria into getting closer to it under the false assumption that he'd help make the birthmark on her face disappear. To further torment Bill, It sends him a skateboard, explicitly letting him know that it was going to go after the young Dean next. Realizing that Dean was heading to the carnival, he chases after him into the hall of mirrors. Unfortunately, It gets the upper hand and gruesomely kills the young boy in front of him. Horrified to have lost another young boy after Georgie, Bill decides to head to the Neibolt house to personally kill It after Henry wounds Mike and Eddie. After each member of the Losers Club went down their own quests to retrieve artifacts from their pasts to complete the Ritual of Chud, the ritual seems to work when it traps Its deadlights inside of the vase, but it goes awry. A giant version of Pennywise emerges, revealing that the original natives who had performed the ritual were immediately slaughtered by It. This version of It is a combination of its default form Pennywise the Dancing Clown and the Giant Spider as described in the book. It then warps the Losers Club into different nightmarish scenarios, but they inevitably overcome their fears. It traps Richie in its deadlights, forcing Eddie to grab the pole Beverly gave him earlier and attacks Pennywise with it under the belief that it could kill It. Unfortunately, Pennywise impales Eddie with one of its spiderlike appendages, swings him around like a rag-doll, and tosses him, leaving him with a large wound in his abdomen. This one act proves to be its undoing, however, when the Losers Club realize that in order to defeat it, they had to make it believe it was smaller. Despite its insistence that it was the "eater of worlds," the remaining Losers insult the clown repeatedly until It is forced into a smaller, infantile form. It attempts to lash out at Mike, but is too weakened. To its horror, Mike reaches into its chest and grabs its beating heart. It tries to grab it to no avail, and is left crying like a baby, its final words being "Look at you...you've all grown up!" with weak laughter. The Losers each mutually take hold of the heart and crush it slowly. It reacts in pain until the heart exploded into a pasty substance, killing it and avenging everything IT has caused. It falls silent as its body turning to ash. After its death, Richie tries to coerce Eddie's corpse awake, not accepting that he was truly gone. His attempts of taking the body with him fail when Its lair and the Neibolt house start to crumble and collapse in response to its master's demise. The Losers are forced to leave Eddie's body in It's lair, and the Neibolt house collapses on itself, sinking into a hole in the ground. Personality/BehaviorThe reasons behind It’s actions is that it eats for its own survival and satisfaction and then it goes dormant usually after a year's worth of feeding. It is a deadly predator that primarily hunts for food. But only if it can scare its prey before feasting on it. It is a predator of humans, and prefers children to adults. Most importantly, It desires to consume those it has made terrified of Itself. The creature implies that this enhances the flavor. It's preference for children prey may be due to how they taste, but also may be due to the fact that children are easier to scare. Its only goals are to eat and sleep. It will hunt and kill for a year, before entering a 27-year dormancy. It manipulates the awareness and attention of the People in Derry, both to mask its activities and isolate its victims. This enforced apathy and lack of awareness also masks the anomalous murder spikes during its active phase. It manipulates its prey and the town through both mundane and psychic means. In the most grand sense, It uses its power to maintain the prosperity of Derry despite the gruesome murders that regularly occur there, thus securing its food supply. It will manipulate its prey by promising them what they want, but can also determine their psychological fears and utilize them to provoke or cow those it faces. In the guise of Pennywise, it can be disarming, charming and seemingly nice to the kids it hunts, usually to lure them into secluded spots before attacking. It has psychic influence enough to keep the entire town of Derry in a subtle, apathetic ignorance to its activities. Adults are less inclined to care about the missing persons of the town and do not react in any intense manner when violence occurs even in front of them. It is able to make its prey experience hallucinations that are very hard to discern from reality. It has some ability to control the actions of others, most blatantly when It provokes Henry Bowers psychotic tendencies to kill his father and friends, and later acts as its agent in hunting the Losers. Even 27 years later Bowers remains submissive to It. 2017/2019 adaptationIn this iteration, It is more directly impacted by the mental state of those it attacks and, conversely, is vulnerable to it's own mental state. It is less able to harm or kill someone who isn't afraid of it and is vulnerable to the Losers Club when they become angry and assault it, nearly killing it in the process. Ultimately, its form is a reflection of its mentality. When the Losers confront it with its weakness, childishness and their lack of fear, it progressively becomes smaller and smaller. Bizarrely, it seems to show a begrudging form of respect to the Losers in its final moments, remarking at how they had "all grown up". It is able to take any shape it desires, but is in turn bound to the nature of that shape. This proves to be its undoing: Eddie nearly chokes it when it takes the form of a leper and is small enough for him to do that. When sufficiently weakened, the Losers kill It by crushing the heart it must have in the form of Pennywise the Dancing Clown. AppearanceNo one knows the true form of IT since it first existed in an inter-dimensional realm referred to as "deadlights". Bill Denbrough comes close to see the "deadlights", but defeats IT before this happens. The true form of the "deadlights" exists outside the physical realm. Any living being that sees the "deadlights" goes insane almost instantly. Bill comes dangerously close to seeing the deadlights and the shape behind the shape for a brief moment. He described IT as an endless, crawling hairy creature made of orange light. Throughout the novel, IT is generally referred to as male; however, late in the novel, the characters come to realize that IT is most likely female, due to its true form in the physical realm being that of a giant pregnant female spider. This revelation prompts Audra Denbrough to say, "Oh, dear Jesus, IT is female." This, however, is not its true form; it's just the closest representation of it in our universe. Due to its pregnancy, it’s very possible that a male of the same species as IT existed at one time. Powers and Abilities
WeaknessesIt underestimates and scorns all of mankind. In many cases, it leaves an open escape route for victims and lets them run away. Because of this narcissism, It makes mistakes and does illogical things. The presence of courage and heart are Its main weaknesses. This appears to have a psychological effect that instills fear and enables it the inability to function properly in its physical form. Given that it feeds on fear, it makes sense that courage and heart can overcome it. Once the Losers are united, their strong shared will and love for each other successfully overpowers It. This allows them to form a psychic connection and "send power" to each other, even across distances. It can be taken by surprise and can be physically assaulted if the attacker demonstrates no fear of it. Additionally, "belief" can affect It, such as the use of silver (which is a fictional weakness of supernatural entities) and an inhaler believed to contain battery acid. The novel states that It must obey the laws of its form. This means that It possesses the vulnerabilities of whatever form it take, such as a vampire's vulnerability to sunlight or winged leeches obeying physics of flight. During times of hibernation or healing, It may be vulnerable to surprise attacks. However, other books in the Stephen King universe (such as Dreamcatcher and Hearts in Atlantis) imply that IT may still be alive at the end of the story. Other beings like Gan, who is superior to It, and Maturin, who is its equal, could kill It. FormsIT by Stephen KingIT assumes thirty-two forms in the novel.
In the 1990 miniseries, the outfit is more colorful with orange pompoms, blue sleeves, and a yellow body. In the 2017 movie, Pennywise returns to having a silver suit, similar to Italian opera clowns, and orange hair. His face has two red lines starting above his eyes, streaming down the cheeks, and ending at the corners of his mouth. His nose is not genuine but painted red. Most often, his eyes are orange, but IT can change them to appear more familiar. They also are often looking in different directions. The form of a friendly and funny clown is the easiest to invoke a sense of safety and comfort without needing to know anything personal about the victim, thus why IT uses it so often.
Forms of IT in the 1990 miniseriesIT assumes sixteen forms in the 1990 miniseries.
Forms of IT in the 2017 filmIT assumes thirteen forms in the 2017 film.
Forms of IT in the 2019 filmIT assumes twenty-three forms in the 2019 film.
Known VictimsIT (1986 Novel)
Stephen King's IT (1990 Miniseries)
IT (2017 Film)
IT: Chapter Two (2019 Film)
AppearancesTrivia
QuotesNovel"There was a clown in the stormdrain. The light in there was far from good, but it was good enough so that George Denbrough was sure of what he was seeing. It was a clown, like in the circus or on TV. In fact he looked like a cross between Bozo and Clarabell, who talked by honking his (or was it her?--George was never really sure of the gender) horn on Howdy Doody Saturday mornings--Buffalo Bob was just about the only one who could understand Clarabell, and that always cracked George up. The face of the clown in the stormdrain was white, there were funny tufts of red hair on either side of his bald head, and there was a big clown-smile painted over his mouth. If George had been inhabiting a later year, he would have surely thought of Ronald McDonald before Bozo or Clarabell." ―IT's first appearance in the novel. "Then the clown’s face changed. And what little George Denbrough saw next was terrible enough to make his worst imaginings of the things in the basement look like sweet, angelic dreams; what he saw destroyed his sanity in one clawing stroke. And George knew no more..." ―IT as he soon kills Georgie. "Everything down here--floats." ―IT to Georgie. "Tell your friends I am the last of a dying race. The only survivor of a dying planet. I have come to rob all the women... rape all the men... and learn to do the Peppermint Twist!" ―IT to Beverly Marsh. "Won't do you any good to run, girly boy." ―IT (in the form of a leper wearing a clown suit, speaking to Eddie). "Why, what child did not love a clown?" ―It [2] "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. "I am eternal. I am the Eater of Worlds." ―IT to Bill Denbrough when the two meet on another plane of existence. "Let me go! Let me go and you can have everything you've ever wanted; Money, fame, fortune, power! I can give you these things. I can bring your wife back! I can do it, only I. She'll remember nothing, just like the seven of you remember nothing. I can't give you eternal life, but I can touch you and you will live long, long lives. 200 years, 300, perhaps 500! I can make you gods of the Earth if you let me go! IF YOU LET ME GO. IF YOU LET ME-" ―IT bargaining for its life 1990 miniseries"Hiya, Georgie. Aren't you gonna say hello?" ―IT's first words. "Oh, yes... They float, Georgie... They float... and when you're down here with me... YOU FLOAT TOO!" ―IT's final words to Georgie before killing him. "Say hello to your friends, Beverly! You'll die if you try to fight us, Beverly. You'll die if you try! You'll die if you try to fight us, Beverly. You'll die if you try. You'll die if you try. You'll die if you try. You'll die if you try..." ―IT to Beverly. "What's the matter? One balloon, not enough? TRY A BUNCH!" ―IT psyching out Richie at the library. "Last chance, Tozier! Get out, before it gets dark tonight. You're TOO OLD to stop me! You're ALL TOO OLD!" ―IT yelling at adult Richie leaving in the library "Excuse me, sir. Do you have Prince Albert in a can? You DO? Well, you better let the poor guy out! A-ha! A-ha! A-ha!" ―IT distracting adult Richie in the library "I'm every nightmare you've ever had. I'm your worst dream come true. I'm everything you ever were afraid of." ―IT to the children, appearing in a photo book. "Let go. Be afraid. You all taste so much better when you're afraid." ―IT "Kill? Me? Oh you are priceless, brat! I am eternal, child. I am the eater of worlds, and of children. And you are next!" ―IT to Bill, Beverly and Stanley. "Take your pick, B-b-b-Billy boy. Oh, except for the one on the end, that's already taken. Sorry." ―IT's first appearance to Bill, at Georgie's grave, standing in front of seven freshly dug graves. "A little young for you, isn't she, Richie? Beep, beep, Richie." ―IT appears to Richie in the library "Sorry I'm late! Well, let's see who's here! [to Bill] Ba-Ba-Ba-Ba-Ba-Ba-B-B-B-Ba-Billy Boy! [to Richie] Richie! You still here? We never expected you to stick around! Nice nosejob. No one would ever suspect. [to Ben] Haystack. Puttin' on a little weight, huh? [to Beverly] Speaking of dads, Bevvy, yours isn't worried about you anymore. He loves your choice in men. [to Eddie] Wheezy! How's your sex life?... what's your sex life? [to Mike] Well, Mikey, you did it. You got us all back here. I guess it's cause it's the only way you'd ever see us since you're so lame, you'd never leave this town. I finally made it, guys! I'm in the deadlights now! And you know what? It's true what they say--we all float down here. And you will, too. In fact, they ALL float! *THEY ALL FLOAT!*" ―IT appearing as Stan's head in a refrigerator. "Silly boy! You still think you can see "me". Ha ha. You'll never see me, you'll see only what your little mind can allow! Go! Now! For if you stay, you'll lose your little mind, in my deadlights. Like all the others. Like all the others." ―IT to Bill 2017 film"Hiya Georgie." ―Pennywise greets Georgie "Here, take it... Take it Georgie..." ―Pennywise, when taunting Georgie with the paper boat "What a nice boat. Do you want it back?" ―Pennywise asks Georgie if he wants his boat back "Where are you going Eds? If you lived here, you'd be home by now. Come join the clown, Eds. You'll float down here. We all float down here. Yes we do." ―Pennywise to Eddie "I lost it Billy. Don't be mad. It just floated off... But, Bill? If you'll come with me, you'll float, too.You'll float, too. You'll float, too. You'll float, too. You'll float, too. You'll float, too! You'll float, too! You'll float, too! You'll float, too! (Georgie's face begins rotting and his voice deepens demonically) YOU'LL FLOAT, TOO! YOU'LL FLOAT, TOO! YOU'LL FLOAT, TOO! YOU'LL FLOAT, TOO! YOU'LL FLOAT, TOO!" ―Pennywise as Georgie "Beep beep Richie!" ―Pennywise to Richie. "Time to float." ―Pennywise "Tasty, tasty, beautiful fear." ―Pennywise to Eddie. "This isn't real enough for you, Billy? I'm not real enough for you? It was real enough for Georgie." ―Pennywise to Billy "Step right up, Beverly! Step right up! Got change? Come float! You'll laugh, you'll cry. You'll cheer, you'll die. Introducing Pennywise the Dancing Clown!" ―Pennywise's introduction music box. "You will be." ―Pennywise to Beverly. "I WILL KILL YOU ALL!!" ―Pennywise during the final battle. "NO! I'll take him! I'll take all of you! I'll feast on your flesh as I feed on your fear... Or... you'll just leave us be... I will take him. Only him, and I will have my long rest and you will all live to grow and thrive and lead happy lives, until old age takes you back to the weeds." ―Pennywise seizes Bill and offers a bargain. "Fear..." ―Pennywise's last words before disappearing into the sewer. 2019 film"For 27 years, I dreamt of you. I craved you. Oh, I missed you! Waiting for this very moment!" ―It to the Losers "TIME TO FLOAT!" ―It to the Losers "Why? Because you weren't there, Billy!" ―It tormenting Bill on Georgie's death. "Kiss me fat boy!" ―Pennywise tormenting Ben. "I know what you are! A madman." ―It to Mike. "Come out and play, Losers!" ―It to the Losers. "I can smell the stink of your fear!" ―It to the Losers. "You filthy little children!" ―It to the Losers. "I AM THE EATER OF WORLDS!" ―It boasting. "Close your eyes...If you don't believe...close them...and see." ―It to Beverly in the form of Robert "Bob" Gray. "HERE'S JOHNNY!" ―It to Beverly while using the form of Henry Bowers. "Look at you...you're all...grown up..." ―IT's final words before his heart is destroyed by the Losers. "There was a clown in the stormdrain. The light in there was far from good, but it was good enough so that George Denbrough was sure of what he was seeing. It was a clown, like in the circus or on TV. In fact he looked like a cross between Bozo and Clarabell, who talked by honking his (or was it her?--George was never really sure of the gender) horn on Howdy Doody Saturday mornings--Buffalo Bob was just about the only one who could understand Clarabell, and that always cracked Georgie." ―{{{2}}} GalleryNotes
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