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It (novel)
Encyclopedia
It is a 1986 horror novel by American
author
Stephen King
. The story follows the exploits of seven children as they are terrorized by the eponymous inter-dimensional predatory life-form that exploits the fears and phobias of its victims in order to disguise itself while hunting its prey. "It" primarily appears in the form of "Bob Gray" a.k.a. "Pennywise the Dancing Clown", described by characters who see It as resembling a combination of Bozo
, Clarabell
and Ronald McDonald
, in order to attract its preferred prey of young children. The novel is told through narratives alternating between two time periods and is largely told in the third-person omniscient mode. It deals with themes which would eventually become King staples: the power of memory, childhood trauma and the ugliness lurking behind a façade of traditional small-town values. The novel won the British Fantasy Award in 1987, and received nominations for the Locus and World Fantasy Awards that same year. Publishers Weekly
listed It as the best-selling book in America in 1986.
. Taking the form of a clown
named Pennywise, It encounters six-year-old George Denbrough when his paper boat is swept into a storm drain. Pennywise, standing in the drain, entices George into attempting to retrieve the boat. However, Pennywise rips off his arm and kills him.
The following June, on the last day of school, overweight
Ben Hanscom flees a gang of local bullies led by Henry Bowers. Ben escapes into the Barrens, where he meets and befriends Eddie Kaspbrak and Bill Denbrough, George's brother. Over the course of the following summer, the three boys befriend Richie Tozier, Stan Uris, Beverly Marsh, and Mike Hanlon. The children, all outcasts, establish their circle as the "Losers Club."
The children gradually realize that they have encountered It in its various forms, as a mummy
, a syphilitic
homeless man, a possessed statue of Paul Bunyan
, and a werewolf
. Beverly heard the voices of dead children coming from her bathroom sink drain, while Stan encountered the water-logged corpses of children when he became trapped atop the town's water tower
. After Bill and Richie find a living picture of It in George Denbrough's old photo album, Bill steals his father's Walther
handgun and goes with Richie to the abandoned house, 29 Neibolt Street. At the house the boys are attacked by It, each perceiving a different form of the creature: Bill sees It as Pennywise and Richie sees It as a werewolf. Both barely escape with their lives on Bill’s bicycle. Mike then retells his encounter with an enormous bird, which he had fended off by throwing a chunk of tile in its eye.
The Losers are not the only persons to encounter It; various children vanish to be found dead and mutilated days, weeks, or months later, if they turn up at all. The Losers determine to destroy the supernatural being and seek out means to that end. After some research in the town library, Bill discovers an ancient spell known as the Ritual of Chüd, in which a shapeshifting monster called a "talus" and a human shaman lock tongues and tell jokes; the first to laugh is devoured by the other. Bill believes this ritual will allow them to defeat and kill It. While the seven are building an underground clubhouse in the Barrens in mid-July, Mike Hanlon brings his father's photo album and shows it to them all. The group discovers that Pennywise has existed for many centuries in the Derry area. In one photograph, Pennywise again appears and threatens to kill them all, appearing to them all as their worst fears. The Losers are demoralized and uncertain how to proceed. Ben gives them the idea to perform an Indian
"smoke-hole"
ritual to receive spiritual guidance from whatever forces stand against "It". After a heated debate about whether or not the boys will allow Beverly to attend the ritual, she lashes out at them and they decide to draw lots to see who must stay in the fresh air on the chance that one of the Losers will collapse during the ritual. Beverly lights the head of a match, blows it out, and each of the boys selects a match while proclaiming his love for her. She is left holding the last match and discovers that no match heads are burned. The Losers take this as a sign that they are all supposed to participate. They use their now completed underground club house and green wood to cause a blinding smoke, forcing most of the Losers into fresh air. Richie and Mike are the only two to withstand the smoke, and witness a vision of It arriving on Earth in prehistoric
times. When the visions end, the Losers express still further doubt over their ability to battle the monster.
A few days after the smoke-hole ritual, Eddie goes to a pharmacy to pick up his asthma
medicine. The pharmacist, Mr. Keene, reveals that the medicine is actually a placebo
, and Eddie is not actually sick; his "asthma" is an invention
of Eddie's mother, Sonia Kaspbrak. Eddie leaves, disbelieving, and, on the way home, is attacked by Henry, Victor, Belch, and a psychopathic boy named Patrick Hockstetter. The bullies break Eddie's arm and spit in his face in retaliation for the rock fight. Eddie convalesces in the hospital, and though the other Losers attempt to visit him, they are sent away by Eddie's overprotective mother. Mrs. Kaspbrak is cast as an unwitting agent of It, the creature attempting to use her maternal concern to split the Losers. Eddie stands up to his mother for the first time, and earns a small amount of autonomy from her ministrations.
As Eddie recovers, Beverly stumbles across the Bowers gang (including Patrick) in the landfill
, literally with their pants
down, lighting farts with fire
for fun. She hides behind a junked car, afraid they will see and attack her, and waits for the gang to depart. After Belch and Victor leave, Patrick (who, in a back-story
, is revealed to have murdered his baby brother
) masturbates
Henry, and offers him oral sex
. In response, Henry threatens to reveal Patrick's secret: besides killing his brother
(of which Henry knows nothing), Patrick has been trapping animals in an abandoned refrigerator and leaving them to suffocate
. After Henry leaves, Patrick decides to dispose of the animal corpses, but when he opens the refrigerator, he is attacked by It in the form of dozens of winged leeches, his worst, and only real, fear. Before he loses consciousness, It appears in the form of a man with a melting face and drags him to It's lair. Patrick wakes up as It begins to feed on him. After Beverly's escape, the Losers (sans Eddie) return to the refrigerator and discover a message from It written in Patrick's blood
, warning them to stop before It kills them, which sends Bill into a fit of maniacal rage. At Bill's pleading, the others agree to help him.
After Eddie is released from the hospital, Ben makes two slugs out of silver, believing the cinematic convention that silver will kill monsters. The group test fires slingshots and determine Beverly to be the best shot, and so the slugs are put into her care. The Losers return to 29 Neibolt Street and enter the house, its interior made magically huge and vertiginous by It. In a run-down bathroom, It attacks the Losers in Its Werewolf form, primarily focusing Its efforts on Bill, hoping to destroy the head of the Losers. After It injures Ben, Beverly injures It with one slug, but loses the other; however, the Losers chase It away by convincing It that a final slug is ready to be released upon It. The Losers realize that their united belief is the strongest weapon against It.
In August, It turns to Henry Bowers, whose sanity had been eroding throughout the summer, as Its minion. It provides Henry with a switchblade
, with which the boy promptly murders his crazy, abusive father. Henry recruits the unsuspecting Victor and Belch and takes them into the Barrens, where they drive the Losers into the sewers. Under Derry, It attacks the Bowers gang in the form of Frankenstein's monster
, decapitating
Victor and ripping half of Belch's face off, though Henry escapes. Wandering aimlessly for hours in the sewers, Henry ultimately falls into the Canal and drifts back into the Kenduskeag, where he falls unconscious for several hours. When he comes to, Henry returns home to find the police there waiting for him; as it turns out, It has framed Henry for most of the people that It killed both before and during the summer of 1958 (including Patrick, Victor, and Belch).
The Losers press deeper into the sewers and confront It in the form of a giant eye
, which Eddie defeats using his asthma inhaler, proclaiming it to be battery acid. Finally the Losers come to Its lair, a chamber deep below the heart of Derry. On a small door leading the inner chamber, is a symbol which is It's name spelled a strange way, so that It can be interpreted as being a picture of whatever thing that a person fears the most. The creature appears as a giant spider
. Bill enters It's mind through the Ritual of Chüd and comes to a darkness beyond the universe
, where It's true form resides: a mass of floating orange light. With the help of a galaxy-spawning entity called the Turtle, Bill defeats It and the monster retreats, grievously wounded. The Losers decide that It has been destroyed and attempt to leave the sewers, but find themselves lost. As the Losers panic in the dark, their mystical bond begins to fray. In order to keep the bond, Beverly has sexual intercourse
with each of the boys. The Losers finally escape from the sewers, emerging at sunset. Stan cuts their palms with a shard of a Coke
bottle and the seven make a blood oath
to return to Derry if It ever resurfaces.
gentlemen named Adrian Mellon and Don Hagarty are assault
ed by three youths, who throw Adrian off a bridge. They are arrested for murder when Adrian's mutilated corpse is found, though one of the murderers (as well as Mellon’s own life partner
) claims that he saw a clown kill Adrian underneath the bridge. When a string of violent child-killings hits Derry following Adrian's death, Mike, now the town’s librarian and the only one of the Losers’ Club to remain in Derry, calls up his six friends on the night of May 28, 1985 and reminds them of their childhood promise to return.
Bill is now a well-known writer of horror novels (after King's own self), currently living in England
and married to an actress named Audra Phillips; his childhood stutter (which he had successfully conquered) begins to return after Mike's phone call. Beverly, now living in Chicago
, is a sought after designer in the fashion industry and very successful, but married to an abusive man named Tom Rogan; Mike's phone call prompts her to turn the tables on Tom, savagely retaliating when he uses physical violence in an attempt to prevent her leaving. Eddie, who has become a full-fledged hypochondriac, has moved to New York City
where he runs a limousine
rental company and is married to a woman named Myra who is exactly like his mother. Richie lives in Los Angeles
and is a professional comedian with a radio show and talk show, where he finds it even easier to hide behind his comical voices and impersonations, as they have made him very successful. Ben is now thin and a successful architect, living in Nebraska
; after receiving the call from Mike, he discovers that the scars he received from It's childhood werewolf assault (which were almost completely faded) have returned. Stan is a successful accountant residing in Atlanta, Georgia
and married to a woman named Patty. It is heavily implied that Stan is the only one of the relocated Losers to retain some memory of the previous encounters with It; during a discussion with his wife about their inability to have children (despite the fact that both their reproductive organs were functioning normally), Stan confesses to his wife the belief that something from his past should be over but is not, yet he cannot remember what it is. Five of them return to Derry with only the dimmest awareness of why they are doing so, having almost completely blocked out
virtually every aspect of their childhood (most notably their encounter with It). The only one not to return is Stan, who commits suicide in fear and dread of another encounter with It by slitting his wrists while in the bathtub; he uses his blood to write IT on the wall with his dying strength.
The remaining Losers’ Club meets at a Chinese restaurant for lunch on May 30, where, after a long meal and stories from the intervening years, Mike enlightens them to the apparent nature of It, gleaned from a large amount of research he has done himself: 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 decide to kill It once and for all. He also enlightens the remaining Losers about the similarities in their lives: they are all incredibly successful in their careers, are all quite wealthy, and are all childless. Mike suggests that before deciding what exactly to do, each Loser takes a walk around Derry to become re-acquainted with their childhood home and meet up at the library later, and also decides not to tell them any more and allow them to remember what occurred on their own, fearing that they may commit suicide as Stan had done if they discover what happened before they are ready to remember it all. He warns them that they are all targets, and he does not expect every one of them to return that evening. As they finish the meal, their fortune cookies
are revealed to have a multitude of disgusting things inside of them, such as a huge cricket and a human eye, courtesy of It.
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, both as Pennywise and as Count Dracula
, who warns him to leave the city by nightfall. Eddie goes to an old baseball field and is attacked by It in the form of the leper that attacked him on Neibolt Street and as zombie
s of several of It's 1958 victims. Beverly goes back to her father's house and is greeted warmly by a kindly old woman named Mrs. Kersh who claims to be the daughter of It, who first appears in her true form of a witch of the sort from the tale of Hansel and Gretel
, and then It attacks first in the form of her father, who It claims died five years before, and then as Pennywise. 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. The four all escape danger. Bill, while not seeing It, meets a kid who challenges him to ride his skateboard. Bill warns the boy to stay away from abandoned areas and open storm drains. He later goes to a second-hand shop and finds his old childhood bike there, remembering how it saved his and Richie’s lives. He purchases it and takes it to Mike’s home to fix it up.
While the Losers are taking their walking tours down the memory lanes of Derry, three other people are also converging on the town: Bill's worried wife, Audra; Beverly's abusive husband, Tom; and Henry Bowers with assistance from It in escaping the mental institution of Juniper Hill where he has lived since his trial. Henry is convinced that he can get revenge on the Losers.
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 informs Henry that It will most likely kill him after he kills the Losers, they fight and Henry stabs him in the leg, hitting his femoral artery
. 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), and transported by the cursed car
Christine, goes to the hotel and attacks Eddie. Henry successfully breaks in to Eddie’s room, but Eddie manages to disarm Henry, gouge out his right eye with a broken bottle, then stab him in the hand. Henry knocks Eddie back and Eddie breaks his arm in the same place that Henry had broken it before. Henry then falls on him and is impaled on the bottle, finally dying.
Meanwhile, It appears to Tom and orders him to capture Audra. Tom brings Audra to It's lair under the city. Upon perceiving It in true form, "the deadlights" (bright orange lights that can hypnotize, and even kill people, if exposed to them long enough) Audra becomes catatonic and Tom drops dead in shock. Bill, Ben, Beverly, Richie, and Eddie, after calling the library and finding out that Mike is 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, but Bill realizes that the Turtle cannot help them due to the Turtle's death by allegedly choking on a regurgitated galaxy or two. Richie rescues Bill from the deadlights and manages to severely injure It. Eddie helps them and saves their lives, but he is killed in the process. Beverly stays with Eddie and the traumatized Audra, who has been woven into a giant spider web by It’s Spider form. Bill, Richie, and Ben follow It when It retreats due to injury. They discover that It has laid eggs, and they are near the time to hatch. Ben begins destroying the eggs while Bill and Richie follow It deeper into the cavern to finish the job once and for all. Bill crushes It's heart between his hands, finally killing It. At the same time the worst storm in Maine's history 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 forgetting about It, Derry and each other all over again. Ben and Beverly leave together, and Richie heads back to Los Angeles. As a sign that It really is dead and a watchman is no longer needed, Mike’s memory of the events of the summer of 1958 also begin to fade, much to his relief. Bill is the last to leave Derry. Before he goes, he takes Audra, who is still catatonic, for a ride on Silver, hoping that they can beat her catatonia the same way he and Richie beat It in 1958. They succeed, and the story concludes with Bill already beginning to forget what he did in Derry.
Stephen King is not entirely clear on the character's origins, but It apparently originated in a void containing and surrounding the universe
, a place referred to in the novel as the "Macroverse" (a concept similar to the later established Todash Darkness of The Dark Tower
series). It's most commonly used name is Bob Gray or Pennywise (at several points in the novel, It claims its true name to be Robert Gray) and is only christened "It" by the group of children who later form the Loser's Club. Likewise, It's true form is never truly comprehended. It's favorite form is that of a clown (with fangs and large claws when It stalks a child) known as Pennywise the Dancing Clown, and It's final form in the physical realm is that of an enormous female spider. The Losers Club considers It female. It's spider form is the closest the human mind can get to approximating It's actual physical form. It's natural form exists in a realm beyond the physical, in the area past the edge of the universe, a form which It calls the "deadlights." As such, the deadlights are never seen in their entirety, only partly shown through a metaphysical cage that surrounds our universe and It's true form outside the physical world is revealed to only be writhing, destructive orange lights. Coming face to face with the deadlights drives any living being instantly insane
(a common H. P. Lovecraft
device), if not killed outright. Bill comes dangerously close to seeing the deadlights, but successfully defeats It before this happens, though during their first confrontation with It, Ben believes that he nearly sees It's true form, and nearly panics as a result. The only character King has shown to face the deadlights and survive is Bill's wife, Audra Phillips, whose encounter with the deadlights nevertheless renders her temporarily catatonic.
Beings that It kills or has something to do with the death of are seemingly absorbed into It's consciousness, and it is somewhat implied that they 'never truly die'. At certain times some beings that It takes the form of seem to have a small amount of autonomy such as when the corpse of Belch Huggins gives Henry a ride to the Derry Townhouse and gives Henry strange looks but says nothing at all and when Beverly's father screams about his desire to rape her. King has also shown It to have the power to possess people, lulling them into a dream-like state where they are hardly aware of their actions and simply behave violently or ignore the violence at hand.
It's natural enemy is "The Turtle," another ancient Macroverse dweller resembling a God
-like deity, who, eons ago, created our universe, and possibly others. The Turtle shows up again in King's series The Dark Tower
. The book suggests that It, along with the Turtle, are themselves creations of a separate, omnipotent creator
referred to as "the Other"
. The Turtle and It are eternal enemies (creation vs. consumption). It arrived in our world in a massive, cataclysmic event similar to an asteroid
impact, in the place that would, in time, become Derry, Maine, where It waited for humanity to appear.
It's power is apparently quite vast; during the second Ritual of Chüd, It offers the Losers money, power, and supernatural
lifespans if they spare It. Whether It is bluffing in order to save Itself or not, King does not make clear. Nonetheless, It is able to manifest in multiple places at once (at one point, It possesses Alvin Marsh, Beverly's father, and Henry Bowers at the same time) and choose to make itself and anything related to itself visible to some while invisible to others. When It confronts Richie Tozier in 1985, It threatens to give him prostate cancer
, a brain tumor
, and turn his tongue
into pus
, and Richie is convinced that It could actually perform such feats.
Through the novel, some events are described through It's point of view, through which It describes itself as the "superior" being, with the Turtle as someone "close to his superiority" and humans as mere "toys." It describes that it prefers to kill and devour children, not by nature, but rather because the fears of children are easier to interpret in a physical form and thus children are easier to fill with terror, which It says is akin to "salt(ing) the meat". It is continuously surprised by the children's victories and near the end, and begins to wonder if It perhaps is not as superior as It had once thought. However, It never believes that the individual children are strong enough to defeat It; though It suspects the presence of "the Other" working through them as a group, It dismisses the possibility — an error which proves fatal.
Most of It's powers are far beyond anything a human brain or science can digest or process, making It seemingly unstoppable, and unsurmoundable - and thus, ultimately dangerous. Apart from the mentioned abilites of It, also it is stated that It can do a lot more things than these.
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, doesn'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 (the monster) won't allow them to be. In fact, It's power over the town is so absolute that It's death in the second Ritual of Chüd causes an enormous storm that damages the downtown part of Derry - Although this could be due to a belief held by Beverly as her father tells her early in the book that some people believe killing spiders brings rain (It takes the form of a spider in the final confrontation.)
For instance, It clearly underestimates and scorns all the human beings, including the Losers. It is notable at many cases that It leaves an open escapeway for the victim, instead of using one of its abilities, it lets them run away. This was seen when the young Ben Hanscom encounters the mummy, or when Eddie sees the leper under the porch of 29 Neibolt street.
Because of this, It constantly makes mistakes and do illogical things. When Henry Bowers and his sidekicks chase the Losers into the sewer tunnel system, It attacks Henry's gang instead, and turn against the Losers just after It killed Henry's two friends. It is also mentioned in the novel that It killed a child named Frederick Cowan by just emerging from the toilet, and yet, It was unable to finish off the Losers one by one using this same method.
Courage and heart can overcome It, even in its most diabolical appearances. Once the Losers are together, their strong will and the love for each other successfully overpowers It and its fiendish machinations. Their strong belief towards the various methods of fighting It will eventually lead them to victory. The Losers' assault on 29 Neibolt street made It quickly retreat after being hit by a silver slug, because the Losers' common sense using silver against supernatural entities.
The novel also states that when It transforms itself to a shape, It must surrender to the laws of that shape. This clearly means that It is not invulnerable, and its physical forms can bleed, hence, can be significantly damaged and perhaps even destroyed, although it would not destroy It completely.
It goes to hibernation for 26-27 years, between the cycles. During that time, It would be extremely vulnerable for a surprise attack on it.
will publish a special limited edition in three different states in 2011 for the 25th anniversary of the novel. The book will have a new dust jacket illustration by Glen Orbik
, as well as numerous interior illustrations by Alan M. Clark
and Erin Wells. The book will feature a new afterword by Stephen King discussing why he wrote this novel.
featuring John Ritter
as Ben Hanscom, Harry Anderson
as Richie Tozier, Tim Reid
as Mike Hanlon, Annette O'Toole
as Beverly Marsh, Richard Thomas
as Bill Denbrough, Olivia Hussey
as Audra Denbrough, Dennis Christopher
as Eddie Kaspbrak, and Tim Curry
in the lead role as the titular It.
Woh
a Hindi language Indian television horror-thriller series which aired on Zee TV in 1998 had taken the main plot elements from IT.
Jeepers Creepers
a film by Victor Salva
that takes many plot elements from IT.
On 12 March 2009, Warner Bros.
announced that the production of a new adaptation of Stephen King's novel had started. Dan Lin, Roy Lee
and Doug Davison are set to produce. The screenplay is currently re-written by Dave Kajganich.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
Stephen King
Stephen King
Stephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...
. The story follows the exploits of seven children as they are terrorized by the eponymous inter-dimensional predatory life-form that exploits the fears and phobias of its victims in order to disguise itself while hunting its prey. "It" primarily appears in the form of "Bob Gray" a.k.a. "Pennywise the Dancing Clown", described by characters who see It as resembling a combination of Bozo
Bozo the Clown
Bozo the Clown is a clown character very popular in the United States, peaking in the 1960s as a result of widespread franchising in early television.Originally created by Alan W...
, Clarabell
Clarabell the Clown
Clarabell the Clown was the mute partner of Howdy Doody.Three actors played Clarabell. The first was Bob Keeshan, who later became Captain Kangaroo. Keeshan was succeeded by Robert "Nick" Nicholson, who also played the character of J. Cornelius Cobb on The Howdy Doody Show. Lew Anderson was the...
and Ronald McDonald
Ronald McDonald
Ronald McDonald is a clown character used as the primary mascot of the McDonald's fast-food restaurant chain. In television commercials, the clown inhabits a fantasy world called McDonaldland, and has adventures with his friends Mayor McCheese, the Hamburglar, Grimace, Birdie the Early Bird, and...
, in order to attract its preferred prey of young children. The novel is told through narratives alternating between two time periods and is largely told in the third-person omniscient mode. It deals with themes which would eventually become King staples: the power of memory, childhood trauma and the ugliness lurking behind a façade of traditional small-town values. The novel won the British Fantasy Award in 1987, and received nominations for the Locus and World Fantasy Awards that same year. Publishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly, aka PW, is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers and literary agents...
listed It as the best-selling book in America in 1986.
1957–58
In October 1957, an evil shape-shifting entity known only as "It" awakens in the town of Derry, MaineDerry (Stephen King)
Derry, Maine is a fictional town and a part of Stephen King's fictional Maine topography, and, like Castle Rock, it has served as the setting for a number of his novels, novellas, and short stories. It first appeared in the short story "The Bird and the Album" and was expanded on in both It and...
. Taking the form of a clown
Clown
Clowns are comic performers stereotypically characterized by the grotesque image of the circus clown's colored wigs, stylistic makeup, outlandish costumes, unusually large footwear, and red nose, which evolved to project their actions to large audiences. Other less grotesque styles have also...
named Pennywise, It encounters six-year-old George Denbrough when his paper boat is swept into a storm drain. Pennywise, standing in the drain, entices George into attempting to retrieve the boat. However, Pennywise rips off his arm and kills him.
The following June, on the last day of school, overweight
Overweight
Overweight is generally defined as having more body fat than is optimally healthy. Being overweight is a common condition, especially where food supplies are plentiful and lifestyles are sedentary...
Ben Hanscom flees a gang of local bullies led by Henry Bowers. Ben escapes into the Barrens, where he meets and befriends Eddie Kaspbrak and Bill Denbrough, George's brother. Over the course of the following summer, the three boys befriend Richie Tozier, Stan Uris, Beverly Marsh, and Mike Hanlon. The children, all outcasts, establish their circle as the "Losers Club."
The children gradually realize that they have encountered It in its various forms, as a mummy
Mummy
A mummy is a body, human or animal, whose skin and organs have been preserved by either intentional or incidental exposure to chemicals, extreme coldness , very low humidity, or lack of air when bodies are submerged in bogs, so that the recovered body will not decay further if kept in cool and dry...
, a syphilitic
Syphilis
Syphilis is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the spirochete bacterium Treponema pallidum subspecies pallidum. The primary route of transmission is through sexual contact; however, it may also be transmitted from mother to fetus during pregnancy or at birth, resulting in congenital syphilis...
homeless man, a possessed statue of Paul Bunyan
Paul Bunyan
Paul Bunyan is a lumberjack figure in North American folklore and tradition. One of the most famous and popular North American folklore heroes, he is usually described as a giant as well as a lumberjack of unusual skill, and is often accompanied in stories by his animal companion, Babe the Blue...
, and a werewolf
Werewolf
A werewolf, also known as a lycanthrope , is a mythological or folkloric human with the ability to shapeshift into a wolf or an anthropomorphic wolf-like creature, either purposely or after being placed under a curse...
. Beverly heard the voices of dead children coming from her bathroom sink drain, while Stan encountered the water-logged corpses of children when he became trapped atop the town's water tower
Water tower
A water tower or elevated water tower is a large elevated drinking water storage container constructed to hold a water supply at a height sufficient to pressurize a water distribution system....
. After Bill and Richie find a living picture of It in George Denbrough's old photo album, Bill steals his father's Walther
Walther
Carl Walther GmbH Sportwaffen or Walther is a German arms manufacturer. For more than 100 years, Walther made major breakthroughs in the development of pistols...
handgun and goes with Richie to the abandoned house, 29 Neibolt Street. At the house the boys are attacked by It, each perceiving a different form of the creature: Bill sees It as Pennywise and Richie sees It as a werewolf. Both barely escape with their lives on Bill’s bicycle. Mike then retells his encounter with an enormous bird, which he had fended off by throwing a chunk of tile in its eye.
The Losers are not the only persons to encounter It; various children vanish to be found dead and mutilated days, weeks, or months later, if they turn up at all. The Losers determine to destroy the supernatural being and seek out means to that end. After some research in the town library, Bill discovers an ancient spell known as the Ritual of Chüd, in which a shapeshifting monster called a "talus" and a human shaman lock tongues and tell jokes; the first to laugh is devoured by the other. Bill believes this ritual will allow them to defeat and kill It. While the seven are building an underground clubhouse in the Barrens in mid-July, Mike Hanlon brings his father's photo album and shows it to them all. The group discovers that Pennywise has existed for many centuries in the Derry area. In one photograph, Pennywise again appears and threatens to kill them all, appearing to them all as their worst fears. The Losers are demoralized and uncertain how to proceed. Ben gives them the idea to perform an Indian
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
"smoke-hole"
Vision quest
A vision quest is a rite of passage in some Native American cultures.In many Native American groups, the vision quest is a turning point in life taken before puberty to find oneself and the intended spiritual and life direction. When an older child is ready, he or she will go on a personal,...
ritual to receive spiritual guidance from whatever forces stand against "It". After a heated debate about whether or not the boys will allow Beverly to attend the ritual, she lashes out at them and they decide to draw lots to see who must stay in the fresh air on the chance that one of the Losers will collapse during the ritual. Beverly lights the head of a match, blows it out, and each of the boys selects a match while proclaiming his love for her. She is left holding the last match and discovers that no match heads are burned. The Losers take this as a sign that they are all supposed to participate. They use their now completed underground club house and green wood to cause a blinding smoke, forcing most of the Losers into fresh air. Richie and Mike are the only two to withstand the smoke, and witness a vision of It arriving on Earth in prehistoric
Prehistory
Prehistory is the span of time before recorded history. Prehistory can refer to the period of human existence before the availability of those written records with which recorded history begins. More broadly, it refers to all the time preceding human existence and the invention of writing...
times. When the visions end, the Losers express still further doubt over their ability to battle the monster.
A few days after the smoke-hole ritual, Eddie goes to a pharmacy to pick up his asthma
Asthma
Asthma is the common chronic inflammatory disease of the airways characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and bronchospasm. Symptoms include wheezing, coughing, chest tightness, and shortness of breath...
medicine. The pharmacist, Mr. Keene, reveals that the medicine is actually a placebo
Placebo
A placebo is a simulated or otherwise medically ineffectual treatment for a disease or other medical condition intended to deceive the recipient...
, and Eddie is not actually sick; his "asthma" is an invention
Hypochondria
Hypochondriasis or hypochondria refers to excessive preoccupation or worry about having a serious illness. This debilitating condition is the result of an inaccurate perception of the body’s condition despite the absence of an actual medication condition...
of Eddie's mother, Sonia Kaspbrak. Eddie leaves, disbelieving, and, on the way home, is attacked by Henry, Victor, Belch, and a psychopathic boy named Patrick Hockstetter. The bullies break Eddie's arm and spit in his face in retaliation for the rock fight. Eddie convalesces in the hospital, and though the other Losers attempt to visit him, they are sent away by Eddie's overprotective mother. Mrs. Kaspbrak is cast as an unwitting agent of It, the creature attempting to use her maternal concern to split the Losers. Eddie stands up to his mother for the first time, and earns a small amount of autonomy from her ministrations.
As Eddie recovers, Beverly stumbles across the Bowers gang (including Patrick) in the landfill
Landfill
A landfill site , is a site for the disposal of waste materials by burial and is the oldest form of waste treatment...
, literally with their pants
Trousers
Trousers are an item of clothing worn on the lower part of the body from the waist to the ankles, covering both legs separately...
down, lighting farts with fire
Fart lighting
Fart lightning or pyroflatulence is the practice of igniting the gases produced by human flatulence, often producing a flame of a blue hue, hence the act being known colloquially as a "blue angel", or in Australia, a "blue flame". The fact that flatus is flammable, and the actual combustion of it...
for fun. She hides behind a junked car, afraid they will see and attack her, and waits for the gang to depart. After Belch and Victor leave, Patrick (who, in a back-story
Flashback (narrative)
Flashback is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point the story has reached. Flashbacks are often used to recount events that happened before the story’s primary sequence of events or to fill in crucial backstory...
, is revealed to have murdered his baby brother
Infanticide
Infanticide or infant homicide is the killing of a human infant. Neonaticide, a killing within 24 hours of a baby's birth, is most commonly done by the mother.In many past societies, certain forms of infanticide were considered permissible...
) masturbates
Masturbation
Masturbation refers to sexual stimulation of a person's own genitals, usually to the point of orgasm. The stimulation can be performed manually, by use of objects or tools, or by some combination of these methods. Masturbation is a common form of autoeroticism...
Henry, and offers him oral sex
Oral sex
Oral sex is sexual activity involving the stimulation of the genitalia of a sex partner by the use of the mouth, tongue, teeth or throat. Cunnilingus refers to oral sex performed on females while fellatio refer to oral sex performed on males. Anilingus refers to oral stimulation of a person's anus...
. In response, Henry threatens to reveal Patrick's secret: besides killing his brother
Fratricide
Fratricide is the act of a person killing his or her brother....
(of which Henry knows nothing), Patrick has been trapping animals in an abandoned refrigerator and leaving them to suffocate
Zoosadism
Zoosadism is a term coined by Ernest Borneman referring to pleasure derived from cruelty to animals. Zoosadism is part of the Macdonald triad, a set of three behaviors that are a precursor to sociopathic behavior.-Research:...
. After Henry leaves, Patrick decides to dispose of the animal corpses, but when he opens the refrigerator, he is attacked by It in the form of dozens of winged leeches, his worst, and only real, fear. Before he loses consciousness, It appears in the form of a man with a melting face and drags him to It's lair. Patrick wakes up as It begins to feed on him. After Beverly's escape, the Losers (sans Eddie) return to the refrigerator and discover a message from It written in Patrick's blood
Blood
Blood is a specialized bodily fluid in animals that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells....
, warning them to stop before It kills them, which sends Bill into a fit of maniacal rage. At Bill's pleading, the others agree to help him.
After Eddie is released from the hospital, Ben makes two slugs out of silver, believing the cinematic convention that silver will kill monsters. The group test fires slingshots and determine Beverly to be the best shot, and so the slugs are put into her care. The Losers return to 29 Neibolt Street and enter the house, its interior made magically huge and vertiginous by It. In a run-down bathroom, It attacks the Losers in Its Werewolf form, primarily focusing Its efforts on Bill, hoping to destroy the head of the Losers. After It injures Ben, Beverly injures It with one slug, but loses the other; however, the Losers chase It away by convincing It that a final slug is ready to be released upon It. The Losers realize that their united belief is the strongest weapon against It.
In August, It turns to Henry Bowers, whose sanity had been eroding throughout the summer, as Its minion. It provides Henry with a switchblade
Switchblade
A switchblade is a type of knife with a folding or sliding blade contained in the handle which is opened automatically by a spring when a button, lever, or switch on the handle or bolster is activated A switchblade (also known as an automatic knife, pushbutton knife, switch, Sprenger, Springer,...
, with which the boy promptly murders his crazy, abusive father. Henry recruits the unsuspecting Victor and Belch and takes them into the Barrens, where they drive the Losers into the sewers. Under Derry, It attacks the Bowers gang in the form of Frankenstein's monster
Frankenstein's monster
Frankenstein's monster is a fictional character that first appeared in Mary Shelley's novel, Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus. The creature is often erroneously referred to as "Frankenstein", but in the novel the creature has no name...
, decapitating
Decapitation
Decapitation is the separation of the head from the body. Beheading typically refers to the act of intentional decapitation, e.g., as a means of murder or execution; it may be accomplished, for example, with an axe, sword, knife, wire, or by other more sophisticated means such as a guillotine...
Victor and ripping half of Belch's face off, though Henry escapes. Wandering aimlessly for hours in the sewers, Henry ultimately falls into the Canal and drifts back into the Kenduskeag, where he falls unconscious for several hours. When he comes to, Henry returns home to find the police there waiting for him; as it turns out, It has framed Henry for most of the people that It killed both before and during the summer of 1958 (including Patrick, Victor, and Belch).
The Losers press deeper into the sewers and confront It in the form of a giant eye
The Trollenberg Terror
The Trollenberg Terror is the title of both a 1956 "Saturday Serial" ITV UK television programme and a better-known 1958 black and white science fiction film. The latter is also known as The Crawling Eye, Creature from Another World, The Creeping Eye, and The Flying Eye...
, which Eddie defeats using his asthma inhaler, proclaiming it to be battery acid. Finally the Losers come to Its lair, a chamber deep below the heart of Derry. On a small door leading the inner chamber, is a symbol which is It's name spelled a strange way, so that It can be interpreted as being a picture of whatever thing that a person fears the most. The creature appears as a giant spider
Spider
Spiders are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, and chelicerae with fangs that inject venom. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species diversity among all other groups of organisms...
. Bill enters It's mind through the Ritual of Chüd and comes to a darkness beyond the universe
Universe
The Universe is commonly defined as the totality of everything that exists, including all matter and energy, the planets, stars, galaxies, and the contents of intergalactic space. Definitions and usage vary and similar terms include the cosmos, the world and nature...
, where It's true form resides: a mass of floating orange light. With the help of a galaxy-spawning entity called the Turtle, Bill defeats It and the monster retreats, grievously wounded. The Losers decide that It has been destroyed and attempt to leave the sewers, but find themselves lost. As the Losers panic in the dark, their mystical bond begins to fray. In order to keep the bond, Beverly has sexual intercourse
Sexual intercourse
Sexual intercourse, also known as copulation or coitus, commonly refers to the act in which a male's penis enters a female's vagina for the purposes of sexual pleasure or reproduction. The entities may be of opposite sexes, or they may be hermaphroditic, as is the case with snails...
with each of the boys. The Losers finally escape from the sewers, emerging at sunset. Stan cuts their palms with a shard of a Coke
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink sold in stores, restaurants, and vending machines in more than 200 countries. It is produced by The Coca-Cola Company of Atlanta, Georgia, and is often referred to simply as Coke...
bottle and the seven make a blood oath
Blood brother
Blood brother can refer to one of two things: two males related by birth, or two or more men not related by birth who have sworn loyalty to each other. This is usually done in a ceremony, known as a blood oath, where the blood of each man is mingled together...
to return to Derry if It ever resurfaces.
1984–85
In July 1984, two gayHomosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
gentlemen named Adrian Mellon and Don Hagarty are assault
Assault
In law, assault is a crime causing a victim to fear violence. The term is often confused with battery, which involves physical contact. The specific meaning of assault varies between countries, but can refer to an act that causes another to apprehend immediate and personal violence, or in the more...
ed by three youths, who throw Adrian off a bridge. They are arrested for murder when Adrian's mutilated corpse is found, though one of the murderers (as well as Mellon’s own life partner
Life partner
A life partner is a romantic or otherwise very close friend for life. The partners can be of the same or opposite sexes, married or unmarried, and monogamous or polyamorous....
) claims that he saw a clown kill Adrian underneath the bridge. When a string of violent child-killings hits Derry following Adrian's death, Mike, now the town’s librarian and the only one of the Losers’ Club to remain in Derry, calls up his six friends on the night of May 28, 1985 and reminds them of their childhood promise to return.
Bill is now a well-known writer of horror novels (after King's own self), currently living in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and married to an actress named Audra Phillips; his childhood stutter (which he had successfully conquered) begins to return after Mike's phone call. Beverly, now living in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, is a sought after designer in the fashion industry and very successful, but married to an abusive man named Tom Rogan; Mike's phone call prompts her to turn the tables on Tom, savagely retaliating when he uses physical violence in an attempt to prevent her leaving. Eddie, who has become a full-fledged hypochondriac, has moved to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
where he runs a limousine
Limousine
A limousine is a luxury sedan or saloon car, especially one with a lengthened wheelbase or driven by a chauffeur. The chassis of a limousine may have been extended by the manufacturer or by an independent coachbuilder. These are called "stretch" limousines and are traditionally black or white....
rental company and is married to a woman named Myra who is exactly like his mother. Richie lives in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
and is a professional comedian with a radio show and talk show, where he finds it even easier to hide behind his comical voices and impersonations, as they have made him very successful. Ben is now thin and a successful architect, living in Nebraska
Nebraska
Nebraska is a state on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. The state's capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha, on the Missouri River....
; after receiving the call from Mike, he discovers that the scars he received from It's childhood werewolf assault (which were almost completely faded) have returned. Stan is a successful accountant residing in Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
and married to a woman named Patty. It is heavily implied that Stan is the only one of the relocated Losers to retain some memory of the previous encounters with It; during a discussion with his wife about their inability to have children (despite the fact that both their reproductive organs were functioning normally), Stan confesses to his wife the belief that something from his past should be over but is not, yet he cannot remember what it is. Five of them return to Derry with only the dimmest awareness of why they are doing so, having almost completely blocked out
Motivated forgetting
Motivated forgetting is a debated concept referring to a psychological defence mechanism in which people forget unwanted memories, either consciously or unconsciously. There are times when memories are reminders of unpleasant experiences that make people angry, sad, anxious, ashamed or afraid...
virtually every aspect of their childhood (most notably their encounter with It). The only one not to return is Stan, who commits suicide in fear and dread of another encounter with It by slitting his wrists while in the bathtub; he uses his blood to write IT on the wall with his dying strength.
The remaining Losers’ Club meets at a Chinese restaurant for lunch on May 30, where, after a long meal and stories from the intervening years, Mike enlightens them to the apparent nature of It, gleaned from a large amount of research he has done himself: 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 decide to kill It once and for all. He also enlightens the remaining Losers about the similarities in their lives: they are all incredibly successful in their careers, are all quite wealthy, and are all childless. Mike suggests that before deciding what exactly to do, each Loser takes a walk around Derry to become re-acquainted with their childhood home and meet up at the library later, and also decides not to tell them any more and allow them to remember what occurred on their own, fearing that they may commit suicide as Stan had done if they discover what happened before they are ready to remember it all. He warns them that they are all targets, and he does not expect every one of them to return that evening. As they finish the meal, their fortune cookies
Fortune Cookies
Fortune Cookies is the second album by Alana Davis, released in 2001. It peaked at #34 on Billboard's Heatseekers Album chart at the time of its release.-Track listing:...
are revealed to have a multitude of disgusting things inside of them, such as a huge cricket and a human eye, courtesy of It.
While walking around Derry, many of the Losers witness manifestations of It. Ben goes to the library
Library
In a traditional sense, a library is a large collection of books, and can refer to the place in which the collection is housed. Today, the term can refer to any collection, including digital sources, resources, and services...
, his favorite place in Derry as a child, and sees It, both as Pennywise and as Count Dracula
Count Dracula
Count Dracula is a fictional character, the titular antagonist of Bram Stoker's 1897 Gothic horror novel Dracula and archetypal vampire. Some aspects of his character have been inspired by the 15th century Romanian general and Wallachian Prince Vlad III the Impaler...
, who warns him to leave the city by nightfall. Eddie goes to an old baseball field and is attacked by It in the form of the leper that attacked him on Neibolt Street and as zombie
Zombie
Zombie is a term used to denote an animated corpse brought back to life by mystical means such as witchcraft. The term is often figuratively applied to describe a hypnotized person bereft of consciousness and self-awareness, yet ambulant and able to respond to surrounding stimuli...
s of several of It's 1958 victims. Beverly goes back to her father's house and is greeted warmly by a kindly old woman named Mrs. Kersh who claims to be the daughter of It, who first appears in her true form of a witch of the sort from the tale of Hansel and Gretel
Hansel and Gretel
"Hansel and Gretel" is a well-known fairy tale of German origin, recorded by the Brothers Grimm and published in 1812. Hansel and Gretel are a young brother and sister threatened by a cannibalistic hag living deep in the forest in a house constructed of cake and confectionery. The two children...
, and then It attacks first in the form of her father, who It claims died five years before, and then as Pennywise. Richie goes to a statue of Paul Bunyan
Paul Bunyan
Paul Bunyan is a lumberjack figure in North American folklore and tradition. One of the most famous and popular North American folklore heroes, he is usually described as a giant as well as a lumberjack of unusual skill, and is often accompanied in stories by his animal companion, Babe the Blue...
and It appears to him there after Richie recalls that It tried to kill him in the form of the statue. The four all escape danger. Bill, while not seeing It, meets a kid who challenges him to ride his skateboard. Bill warns the boy to stay away from abandoned areas and open storm drains. He later goes to a second-hand shop and finds his old childhood bike there, remembering how it saved his and Richie’s lives. He purchases it and takes it to Mike’s home to fix it up.
While the Losers are taking their walking tours down the memory lanes of Derry, three other people are also converging on the town: Bill's worried wife, Audra; Beverly's abusive husband, Tom; and Henry Bowers with assistance from It in escaping the mental institution of Juniper Hill where he has lived since his trial. Henry is convinced that he can get revenge on the Losers.
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 informs Henry that It will most likely kill him after he kills the Losers, they fight and Henry stabs him in the leg, hitting his femoral artery
Femoral artery
The femoral artery is a general term comprising a few large arteries in the thigh. They begin at the inguinal ligament and end just above the knee at adductor canal or Hunter's canal traversing the extent of the femur bone....
. Mike badly injures Henry with a letter opener
Letter opener
A paper knife or letter opener is a knife-like object used to open envelopes or to slit uncut pages of books. Electric versions are also available, which work by using motors to slide the envelopes across a blade...
, but Henry is able to escape, and Mike, using his belt
Belt (clothing)
A belt is a flexible band or strap, typically made of leather or heavy cloth, and worn around the waist. A belt supports trousers or other articles of clothing.-History:...
as a tourniquet
Tourniquet
An emergency tourniquet is a tightly tied band applied around a body part sometimes used in an attempt to stop severe traumatic bleeding. Tourniquets are also used during venipuncture and other medical procedures. Severe bleeding means the loss of more than 1,000 ml of blood. This flow of blood...
, 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), and transported by the cursed car
In-joke
An in-joke, also known as an inside joke or in joke, is a joke whose humour is clear only to people who are in a particular social group, occupation, or other community of common understanding...
Christine, goes to the hotel and attacks Eddie. Henry successfully breaks in to Eddie’s room, but Eddie manages to disarm Henry, gouge out his right eye with a broken bottle, then stab him in the hand. Henry knocks Eddie back and Eddie breaks his arm in the same place that Henry had broken it before. Henry then falls on him and is impaled on the bottle, finally dying.
Meanwhile, It appears to Tom and orders him to capture Audra. Tom brings Audra to It's lair under the city. Upon perceiving It in true form, "the deadlights" (bright orange lights that can hypnotize, and even kill people, if exposed to them long enough) Audra becomes catatonic and Tom drops dead in shock. Bill, Ben, Beverly, Richie, and Eddie, after calling the library and finding out that Mike is 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, but Bill realizes that the Turtle cannot help them due to the Turtle's death by allegedly choking on a regurgitated galaxy or two. Richie rescues Bill from the deadlights and manages to severely injure It. Eddie helps them and saves their lives, but he is killed in the process. Beverly stays with Eddie and the traumatized Audra, who has been woven into a giant spider web by It’s Spider form. Bill, Richie, and Ben follow It when It retreats due to injury. They discover that It has laid eggs, and they are near the time to hatch. Ben begins destroying the eggs while Bill and Richie follow It deeper into the cavern to finish the job once and for all. Bill crushes It's heart between his hands, finally killing It. At the same time the worst storm in Maine's history 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 forgetting about It, Derry and each other all over again. Ben and Beverly leave together, and Richie heads back to Los Angeles. As a sign that It really is dead and a watchman is no longer needed, Mike’s memory of the events of the summer of 1958 also begin to fade, much to his relief. Bill is the last to leave Derry. Before he goes, he takes Audra, who is still catatonic, for a ride on Silver, hoping that they can beat her catatonia the same way he and Richie beat It in 1958. They succeed, and the story concludes with Bill already beginning to forget what he did in Derry.
It
Stephen King is not entirely clear on the character's origins, but It apparently originated in a void containing and surrounding the universe
Universe
The Universe is commonly defined as the totality of everything that exists, including all matter and energy, the planets, stars, galaxies, and the contents of intergalactic space. Definitions and usage vary and similar terms include the cosmos, the world and nature...
, a place referred to in the novel as the "Macroverse" (a concept similar to the later established Todash Darkness of The Dark Tower
The Dark Tower (series)
The Dark Tower is a series of books written by American author Stephen King, which incorporates themes from multiple genres, including fantasy, science fantasy, horror and western. It describes a "Gunslinger" and his quest toward a tower, the nature of which is both physical and metaphorical. King...
series). It's most commonly used name is Bob Gray or Pennywise (at several points in the novel, It claims its true name to be Robert Gray) and is only christened "It" by the group of children who later form the Loser's Club. Likewise, It's true form is never truly comprehended. It's favorite form is that of a clown (with fangs and large claws when It stalks a child) known as Pennywise the Dancing Clown, and It's final form in the physical realm is that of an enormous female spider. The Losers Club considers It female. It's spider form is the closest the human mind can get to approximating It's actual physical form. It's natural form exists in a realm beyond the physical, in the area past the edge of the universe, a form which It calls the "deadlights." As such, the deadlights are never seen in their entirety, only partly shown through a metaphysical cage that surrounds our universe and It's true form outside the physical world is revealed to only be writhing, destructive orange lights. Coming face to face with the deadlights drives any living being instantly insane
Insanity
Insanity, craziness or madness is a spectrum of behaviors characterized by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns. Insanity may manifest as violations of societal norms, including becoming a danger to themselves and others, though not all such acts are considered insanity...
(a common H. P. Lovecraft
H. P. Lovecraft
Howard Phillips Lovecraft --often credited as H.P. Lovecraft — was an American author of horror, fantasy and science fiction, especially the subgenre known as weird fiction....
device), if not killed outright. Bill comes dangerously close to seeing the deadlights, but successfully defeats It before this happens, though during their first confrontation with It, Ben believes that he nearly sees It's true form, and nearly panics as a result. The only character King has shown to face the deadlights and survive is Bill's wife, Audra Phillips, whose encounter with the deadlights nevertheless renders her temporarily catatonic.
Beings that It kills or has something to do with the death of are seemingly absorbed into It's consciousness, and it is somewhat implied that they 'never truly die'. At certain times some beings that It takes the form of seem to have a small amount of autonomy such as when the corpse of Belch Huggins gives Henry a ride to the Derry Townhouse and gives Henry strange looks but says nothing at all and when Beverly's father screams about his desire to rape her. King has also shown It to have the power to possess people, lulling them into a dream-like state where they are hardly aware of their actions and simply behave violently or ignore the violence at hand.
It's natural enemy is "The Turtle," another ancient Macroverse dweller resembling a God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
-like deity, who, eons ago, created our universe, and possibly others. The Turtle shows up again in King's series The Dark Tower
The Dark Tower
Dark Tower may refer to:* The Dark Tower , an unfinished novel by C. S. Lewis* Barad-dûr the fortress of Sauron in the fantasy world of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings* The Dark Tower , a 1933 comedy by George S...
. The book suggests that It, along with the Turtle, are themselves creations of a separate, omnipotent creator
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
referred to as "the Other"
Gan (Stephen King)
Gan is the creative overforce in the cosmology of the fictional Stephen King multiverse. Stephen King's inspiration for the word remains unknown, but he may have taken it from a Hebrew word, which means, simply, "garden." Gan's role in the novels is very much in line with the concept of God or the...
. The Turtle and It are eternal enemies (creation vs. consumption). It arrived in our world in a massive, cataclysmic event similar to an asteroid
Asteroid
Asteroids are a class of small Solar System bodies in orbit around the Sun. They have also been called planetoids, especially the larger ones...
impact, in the place that would, in time, become Derry, Maine, where It waited for humanity to appear.
It's power is apparently quite vast; during the second Ritual of Chüd, It offers the Losers money, power, and supernatural
Supernatural
The supernatural or is that which is not subject to the laws of nature, or more figuratively, that which is said to exist above and beyond nature...
lifespans if they spare It. Whether It is bluffing in order to save Itself or not, King does not make clear. Nonetheless, It is able to manifest in multiple places at once (at one point, It possesses Alvin Marsh, Beverly's father, and Henry Bowers at the same time) and choose to make itself and anything related to itself visible to some while invisible to others. When It confronts Richie Tozier in 1985, It threatens to give him prostate cancer
Prostate cancer
Prostate cancer is a form of cancer that develops in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system. Most prostate cancers are slow growing; however, there are cases of aggressive prostate cancers. The cancer cells may metastasize from the prostate to other parts of the body, particularly...
, a brain tumor
Brain tumor
A brain tumor is an intracranial solid neoplasm, a tumor within the brain or the central spinal canal.Brain tumors include all tumors inside the cranium or in the central spinal canal...
, and turn his tongue
Tongue
The tongue is a muscular hydrostat on the floors of the mouths of most vertebrates which manipulates food for mastication. It is the primary organ of taste , as much of the upper surface of the tongue is covered in papillae and taste buds. It is sensitive and kept moist by saliva, and is richly...
into pus
Pus
Pus is a viscous exudate, typically whitish-yellow, yellow, or yellow-brown, formed at the site of inflammatory during infection. An accumulation of pus in an enclosed tissue space is known as an abscess, whereas a visible collection of pus within or beneath the epidermis is known as a pustule or...
, and Richie is convinced that It could actually perform such feats.
Through the novel, some events are described through It's point of view, through which It describes itself as the "superior" being, with the Turtle as someone "close to his superiority" and humans as mere "toys." It describes that it prefers to kill and devour children, not by nature, but rather because the fears of children are easier to interpret in a physical form and thus children are easier to fill with terror, which It says is akin to "salt(ing) the meat". It is continuously surprised by the children's victories and near the end, and begins to wonder if It perhaps is not as superior as It had once thought. However, It never believes that the individual children are strong enough to defeat It; though It suspects the presence of "the Other" working through them as a group, It dismisses the possibility — an error which proves fatal.
Most of It's powers are far beyond anything a human brain or science can digest or process, making It seemingly unstoppable, and unsurmoundable - and thus, ultimately dangerous. Apart from the mentioned abilites of It, also it is stated that It can do a lot more things than these.
- 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 baseball court. Between shape-shifting, It is actually an orange-ish amorphus goo, which is somewhat close ot It's true 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 roommates and then, the guard also witness It next to Henry.
- 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 ability 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.
- 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 shape-dependant 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 people's mind in its close vicinity, this is the ability It exploits mostly, when taking a form, but in several cases, It can clearly read the Losers' thoughts, and use them on its own advantage.
- It can communicate telephatically, as seen in the scene of the library with the adult Ben Hanscom, or the Juniper Hill scene with Henry Bowers.
- Mind control ability. It has the power of controlling several people's mind, even simultaneously. This also suggests that It has the ability to erase certain things out of people's memory or knowledge. At the two confrontations between the Losers and It, Bill discovers this, and warns his friends about It is "everywhere in the whole city", and massively effect the people's mind who are living in Derry, making them indifferent about the tragic events that are taking place. People with weak will seem to succumb to It's mind control ability very often. 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. 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 occassions, when the Losers face It, the weather changes into a thunderstorm. Most notably at the final confrontation, which actually devastates Derry's downtown region.
The forms of It
Below are a list of forms taken by the shape-shifting creature:- Pennywise the Dancing Clown (It's 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 LagoonGill-manThe Creature, sometimes referred to less ambiguously as the Gill-man, is the titular character of the 1954 black-and-white science fiction film Creature from the Black Lagoon and its two sequels Revenge of the Creature and The Creature Walks Among Us . Ricou Browning portrays the underwater...
, when pursuing Eddie Corcoran - The voice of Betty Ripsom, one of It's victims, overheard by Betty's parents through a drain to taunt them
- A giant bird, inspired both by a crowCrowCrows form the genus Corvus in the family Corvidae. Ranging in size from the relatively small pigeon-size jackdaws to the Common Raven of the Holarctic region and Thick-billed Raven of the highlands of Ethiopia, the 40 or so members of this genus occur on all temperate continents and several...
that attacked Mike Hanlon as a baby and also RodanRodanis a fictional Japanese mutated pterosaur introduced in Rodan, a 1956 release from Toho Studios, the company responsible for the Godzilla series. Like Godzilla and Anguirus, he is designed after a type of prehistoric reptile...
, a giant pteranodonPteranodonPteranodon , from the Late Cretaceous geological period of North America in present day Kansas, Alabama, Nebraska, Wyoming, and South Dakota, was one of the largest pterosaur genera and had a maximum wingspan of over...
featured in a JapanJapanJapan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese horror movieRodan (film)Rodan, released in Japan as , is a 1956 Kaiju film produced by Toho Studios. It was the studio's first Kaiju movie filmed in color...
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 WerewolfI Was a Teenage WerewolfI Was a Teenage Werewolf is a 1957 horror film starring Michael Landon as a troubled teenager and Whit Bissell as the primary adult. It was co-written and produced by cult film producer Herman Cohen, and was one of the most successful films released by American International Pictures...
) - The LeperLeprosyLeprosy or Hansen's disease is a chronic disease caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium leprae and Mycobacterium lepromatosis. Named after physician Gerhard Armauer Hansen, leprosy is primarily a granulomatous disease of the peripheral nerves and mucosa of the upper respiratory tract; skin lesions...
/DiseasedSyphilisSyphilis is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the spirochete bacterium Treponema pallidum subspecies pallidum. The primary route of transmission is through sexual contact; however, it may also be transmitted from mother to fetus during pregnancy or at birth, resulting in congenital syphilis...
Homeless Man, when Eddie first encounters It under the porch of the house on Neibolt Street - The MummyThe Mummy (1932 film)The Mummy is a 1932 horror film from Universal Studios directed by Karl Freund and starring Boris Karloff as a revived ancient Egyptian priest. The movie also features Zita Johann, David Manners and Edward Van Sloan...
. 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 leechLeechLeeches are segmented worms that belong to the phylum Annelida and comprise the subclass Hirudinea. Like other oligochaetes such as earthworms, leeches share a clitellum and are hermaphrodites. Nevertheless, they differ from other oligochaetes in significant ways...
es, when attacking Patrick Hockstetter - A swarm of piranhaPiranhaA piranha or piraña is a member of family Characidae in order Characiformes, an omnivorous freshwater fish that inhabits South American rivers. In Venezuela, they are called caribes...
s, when Eddie is frightened of crossing the stream - The sharkSharkSharks are a type of fish with a full cartilaginous skeleton and a highly streamlined body. The earliest known sharks date from more than 420 million years ago....
from JawsJaws (film)Jaws is a 1975 American horror-thriller film directed by Steven Spielberg and based on Peter Benchley's novel of the same name. In the story, the police chief of Amity Island, a fictional summer resort town, tries to protect beachgoers from a giant man-eating great white shark by closing the beach,...
, seen by a boy named Tommy Vicananza in the Derry canal in 1985 - DraculaDraculaDracula is an 1897 novel by Irish author Bram Stoker.Famous for introducing the character of the vampire Count Dracula, the novel tells the story of Dracula's attempt to relocate from Transylvania to England, and the battle between Dracula and a small group of men and women led by Professor...
, seen by Ben in the Derry library in 1985. It does not look like any of the traditional variations of Dracula, but rather looks Kurt BarlowKurt BarlowKurt Barlow is a fictional character in Stephen King's 1975 horror novel, Salem's Lot. The character is a master vampire, who terrorizes the small Maine town of Jerusalem's Lot...
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 BunyanPaul BunyanPaul Bunyan is a lumberjack figure in North American folklore and tradition. One of the most famous and popular North American folklore heroes, he is usually described as a giant as well as a lumberjack of unusual skill, and is often accompanied in stories by his animal companion, Babe the Blue...
attacking Richie Tozier in 1958. In 1985, Richie sees that this statue is replaced by 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 MonsterFrankenstein's monsterFrankenstein's monster is a fictional character that first appeared in Mary Shelley's novel, Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus. The creature is often erroneously referred to as "Frankenstein", but in the novel the creature has no name...
; It is perceived in this form by Henry's cronies, Victor Criss and Belch Huggins. - A Doberman pinscher. When It appears to Henry Bowers in 1985 at Juniper Hills Mental Institution, It turns into an 8 feet (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 Eddie briefly in the sewers as a child before It becomes The Eye. Seen by Eddie again at Tracker Brothers in 1985.
- The moonMoonThe Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...
, while giving It's orders to It's servant, Henry Bowers. - 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 Loser's 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.
- The Giant SpiderSpiderSpiders are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, and chelicerae with fangs that inject venom. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species diversity among all other groups of organisms...
, which is It's closest physical representation on Earth.
Cycle
For millions of years, It dwelt under Derry, awaiting the arrival of humans, which it somehow knew would occur. Once people settled over It's dwelling place, It adopted a cycle of hibernating for long periods and waking approximately every twenty-five to thirty years. It's waking spells are marked by extraordinary violence, which is inexplicably overlooked or outright forgotten by those who witness It. It's awakening and return to hibernation mark the greatest instances of violence during It's time awake.- 1715–1716: It awoke.
- 1740–1743: It awoke and started a three-year reign of terror that culminated with the disappearance of over three hundred settlers from Derry Township, much like the Roanoke IslandRoanoke IslandRoanoke Island is an island in Dare County near the coast of North Carolina, United States. It was named after the historical Roanoke Carolina Algonquian people who inhabited the area in the 16th century at the time of English exploration....
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 mushroomMushroomA mushroom is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground on soil or on its food source. The standard for the name "mushroom" is the cultivated white button mushroom, Agaricus bisporus; hence the word "mushroom" is most often applied to those fungi that...
, causing an excruciating death. - 1876–1879: It awoke, then went back into hibernation after a group of lumberjackLumberjackA lumberjack is a worker in the logging industry who performs the initial harvesting and transport of trees for ultimate processing into forest products. The term usually refers to a bygone era when hand tools were used in harvesting trees principally from virgin forest...
s were found murdered near the Kenduskeag. - 1904–1906: It awoke when It rampaged through the woods near Derry, incinerating them. Then It came upon a lumberjack named Claude Heroux, who was hiding in the woods at the time, and, sensing his aggressive nature, possessed him. It, in the body of Claude, 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 one hundred and eight people, eighty-eight of them children engaged in an Easter egg huntEaster eggEaster eggs are special eggs that are often given to celebrate Easter or springtime.The oldest tradition is to use dyed or painted chicken eggs, but a modern custom is to substitute chocolate eggs, or plastic eggs filled with confectionery such as jelly beans...
. - 1929–1930: It awoke when a group of Derry citizens gunned down a group of gangsters known as the Bradley Gang. This may be an allusion to the real life Brady Gang, who were shot to death in a spectacular gun battle on the streets of Bangor in 1937. It returned to hibernation when the Maine Legion of White Decency, a Northern counterpart to the Ku Klux KlanKu Klux KlanKu Klux Klan, often abbreviated KKK and informally known as the Klan, is the name of three distinct past and present far-right organizations in the United States, which have advocated extremist reactionary currents such as white supremacy, white nationalism, and anti-immigration, historically...
, burned down an African-American army nightclubNightclubA nightclub is an entertainment venue which usually operates late into the night...
called "The Black Spot." One survivor, Dick Hallorann, appeared in King's earlier novel, The ShiningThe Shining (novel)The Shining is a 1977 horror novel by American author Stephen King. The title was inspired by the John Lennon song "Instant Karma!", which contained the line "We all shine on…". It was King's third published novel, and first hardback bestseller, and the success of the book firmly established King...
. - 1957–1958: It awoke during a great storm which flooded part of the city, and murdered George Denbrough. It then met its match when the Losers forced It to return to an early hibernation when wounded by the young Bill Denbrough in the first Ritual of Chüd.
- 1984–1985: It awoke when three young bullies beat up a young gay couple, Adrian Mellon and Don Hagarty, throwing Mellon off a bridge resulting in It killing him (which echoed real life events in MaineCharlie Howard (murder victim)Charles O. Howard was an American hate-crime victim in Bangor, Maine in 1984. As Howard and a male companion, Roy Ogden, were walking down the street, three teenagers, Shawn I. Mabry, age 16, James Francis Baines, age 15, and Daniel Ness, age 17, harassed Howard for being gay...
). It was finally destroyed in the second Ritual of Chüd by the adult Bill Denbrough, Richie Tozier, Beverly Marsh, Eddie Kaspbrak and Ben Hanscom.
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, doesn'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 (the monster) won't allow them to be. In fact, It's power over the town is so absolute that It's death in the second Ritual of Chüd causes an enormous storm that damages the downtown part of Derry - Although this could be due to a belief held by Beverly as her father tells her early in the book that some people believe killing spiders brings rain (It takes the form of a spider in the final confrontation.)
It's weaknesses
Despite It sees itself as the superior being, and actually states that its brain embraces the whole continent (It refers as "America" to this), It is far from being all-mighty. It does have absolute power above Derry and the denizens, It displays several weaknesses, which the Losers could exploit, and eventually overcome the impossible.For instance, It clearly underestimates and scorns all the human beings, including the Losers. It is notable at many cases that It leaves an open escapeway for the victim, instead of using one of its abilities, it lets them run away. This was seen when the young Ben Hanscom encounters the mummy, or when Eddie sees the leper under the porch of 29 Neibolt street.
Because of this, It constantly makes mistakes and do illogical things. When Henry Bowers and his sidekicks chase the Losers into the sewer tunnel system, It attacks Henry's gang instead, and turn against the Losers just after It killed Henry's two friends. It is also mentioned in the novel that It killed a child named Frederick Cowan by just emerging from the toilet, and yet, It was unable to finish off the Losers one by one using this same method.
Courage and heart can overcome It, even in its most diabolical appearances. Once the Losers are together, their strong will and the love for each other successfully overpowers It and its fiendish machinations. Their strong belief towards the various methods of fighting It will eventually lead them to victory. The Losers' assault on 29 Neibolt street made It quickly retreat after being hit by a silver slug, because the Losers' common sense using silver against supernatural entities.
The novel also states that when It transforms itself to a shape, It must surrender to the laws of that shape. This clearly means that It is not invulnerable, and its physical forms can bleed, hence, can be significantly damaged and perhaps even destroyed, although it would not destroy It completely.
It goes to hibernation for 26-27 years, between the cycles. During that time, It would be extremely vulnerable for a surprise attack on it.
The Losers Club
The seven Losers are the tweens who are united by their unhappy lives, their misery at being the victims of bullying by Henry Bowers and their eventual struggle to overcome It.- William "Bill" Denbrough: Also known as "Stuttering Bill", he gets his nicknameNicknameA nickname is "a usually familiar or humorous but sometimes pointed or cruel name given to a person or place, as a supposedly appropriate replacement for or addition to the proper name.", or a name similar in origin and pronunciation from the original name....
from his bad stutteringStutteringStuttering , also known as stammering , is a speech disorder in which the flow of speech is disrupted by involuntary repetitions and prolongations of sounds, syllables, words or phrases, and involuntary silent pauses or blocks in which the stutterer is unable to produce sounds...
issue, which became much more severe after his brother's death; although his mother attributes it to a car accident that occurred when Bill was three, it's implied to be more of a psychological issue than a physical one. His brother George was killed by It in 1957. Bill feels slightly guilty about the murder, because he'd been the one who sent George outside to play. Ever since George died, Bill has been partially ignored by his parents who also blamed him for his brother's death. Beverly Marsh develops an intense crush on him during their time in the Losers Club. When the group returned to Derry in 1985 they sleep together but do not carry their relationship any further. He is the most determined and resourceful of the Losers and is the one who, both in 1958 and 1985, confronts It in the Ritual of Chüd and eventually destroys It. As an adult, he marries Audra Phillips, a successful actress bearing a strong resemblance to Bev. As with other King characters Jack TorranceJack TorranceJack Torrance is a fictional character, the antagonist in the 1977 novel The Shining by Stephen King. He was portrayed by Jack Nicholson in the 1980 movie adaptation of the novel, and by Steven Weber in the 1997 miniseries. The American Film Institute rated the character the 25th greatest film...
, Paul Sheldon, Ben Mears, Bobbi AndersonThe TommyknockersThe Tommyknockers is a 1987 horror novel by Stephen King. While maintaining a horror style, the novel is more of an excursion into the realm of science fiction for King, as the residents of the Maine town of Haven gradually fall under the influence of a mysterious object buried in the woods.In his...
, Thaddeus BeaumontThe Dark HalfThe Dark Half is a horror novel by Stephen King, published in 1989. Publishers Weekly listed The Dark Half as the second best-selling book of 1989 behind Tom Clancy's Clear and Present Danger. It was adapted into a feature film of the same name in 1993.Stephen King wrote several books under a...
, Mike NoonanBag of BonesBag of Bones is a 1998 novel by Stephen King. It focuses on an author who suffers severe writer's block and delusions at an isolated lake house four years after the death of his wife...
, Sue SnellSue SnellSusan "Sue" D. Snell is a fictional character created by Stephen King. She was one of the main characters in his first published novel entitled Carrie....
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and numerous others, in 1985, Bill is a famous writerWriterA writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
.
- Benjamin "Ben" Hanscom: He was dubbed "Haystack" by Richie, after the professional wrestler Haystack Calhoun. Because of his ample body contoursObesityObesity is a medical condition in which excess body fat has accumulated to the extent that it may have an adverse effect on health, leading to reduced life expectancy and/or increased health problems...
, he has become a frequent victim of Henry Bowers, who once used a Buck knife to try to carve his name into his stomach (he managed an unfinished 'H' before Ben escaped). His father died in a plane crash in the army. He also develops an intense crushPuppy lovePuppy love is an informal term for feelings of love or infatuation felt by young people during childhood and adolescence, so-called for its resemblance to the adoring, worshipful affection that may be felt by a puppy. 'Simple infatuation is often called a "crush" or "puppy love"...
on Beverly Marsh and the two leave Derry together after the 1985 defeat of It. As he grows up, he sheds his excess weight and becomes an architectArchitectAn architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
. His mechanical skills become useful to the Losers, from making two silver slugsSilver bulletIn folklore, the silver bullet is supposed to be the only kind of bullet for firearms that is effective against a werewolf, witch, or other monsters...
to building an underground clubhouse where Mike and Richie have a vision of It's cosmic crash into the site which would later become Derry, Maine.
- Beverly "Bev" Marsh (later Rogan): The only female in the group, Beverly is an attractive, chain smokingChain smokingChain smoking is the practice of lighting a new cigarette for personal consumption immediately after one that is finished, sometimes using the finished cigarette to light the next one. It is a common form of addiction.-Causes:...
, redheaded girl from the poorest part of Derry. She has an abusive father who beats her regularly. She develops a crush on Bill Denbrough and her skill with a slingshotSlingshotA slingshot, shanghai, flip, bean shooter or catapult is a small hand-powered projectile weapon. The classic form consists of a Y-shaped frame held in the off hand, with two rubber strips attached to the uprights. The other ends of the strips lead back to a pocket which holds the projectile...
is a key factor in battling It. All the boys are described as being fond of Beverly; at some point, each has romantic or sexual feelings for her, which is later confirmed once all the Losers return from the sewer defeating It (or so they thought). As a child, her father abused her while using his constant catch phrase, "I worry about you, Bevvy. Sometimes I worry a lot." As an adult, she becomes a successful fashion designer, but endures several abusive relationships, culminating in her marriage to Tom Rogan, who sees her as a sex objectSexual objectificationSexual objectification refers to the practice of regarding or treating another person merely as an instrument towards one's sexual pleasure, and a sex object is a person who is regarded simply as an object of sexual gratification or who is sexually attractive...
and disapproves of her chain smoking, using it as an excuse to beat her up.Domestic violenceDomestic violence, also known as domestic abuse, spousal abuse, battering, family violence, and intimate partner violence , is broadly defined as a pattern of abusive behaviors by one or both partners in an intimate relationship such as marriage, dating, family, or cohabitation...
After a brief liaison with Bill, she subsequently departs Derry with Ben following the death of her husband (who was used by It to nearly kill the Losers).
- Richard "Richie" Tozier: Known as "Trashmouth", Richie is the Losers' most lighthearted member, always cracking jokes and doing impersonationsImpersonatorAn impersonator is someone who imitates or copies the behavior or actions of another. There are many reasons for someone to be an impersonator, some common ones being as follows:...
or "Voices", which prove very powerful weapons against It. He is "too intelligent for his own good" and channels his boredom in hyper-active wisecracking, to the point of being self-destructive. His flippant remark to Henry Bowers leads to almost getting beaten up by Henry and his friends. His childhood traumaPsychological traumaPsychological trauma is a type of damage to the psyche that occurs as a result of a traumatic event...
stemmed from his rapid-fire insults being compulsive and almost subconsciously triggered. He is the most devoted to keeping the group together as he sees 7 as a magical number and believes the group should have no more, no less. In adulthood, he is a successful disc jockey. As the DJ, he uses his once-annoying and unrealistic voices as one of his main attractions. These voices became a weapon of the Losers against It, when they find out It could be hurt by Richie's Voices. Like Ben, he has a crush on Beverly, though it is not crucial to the plot. He has bad eyesight and wears thick glasses as a child, but changes to contact lensContact lensA contact lens, or simply contact, is a lens placed on the eye. They are considered medical devices and can be worn to correct vision, for cosmetic or therapeutic reasons. In 2004, it was estimated that 125 million people use contact lenses worldwide, including 28 to 38 million in the United...
es as an adult.
- Edward "Eddie" Kaspbrak: Eddie is a frail hypochondriac whose asthmaAsthmaAsthma is the common chronic inflammatory disease of the airways characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and bronchospasm. Symptoms include wheezing, coughing, chest tightness, and shortness of breath...
is psychosomatic. At one point in the story the man who runs the pharmacy told him that he had a placeboPlaceboA placebo is a simulated or otherwise medically ineffectual treatment for a disease or other medical condition intended to deceive the recipient...
and that his medicine is nothing but water. He has a worrying, domineering motherMotherA mother, mum, mom, momma, or mama is a woman who has raised a child, given birth to a child, and/or supplied the ovum that grew into a child. Because of the complexity and differences of a mother's social, cultural, and religious definitions and roles, it is challenging to specify a universally...
who, ever since his father died, has used Munchausen syndrome by proxyMunchausen syndrome by proxyMünchausen syndrome by proxy is a label for a pattern of behavior in which care-givers deliberately exaggerate, fabricate, and/or induce physical, psychological, behavioral, and/or mental health problems in others. Other experts classified MSbP as a mental illness...
to bully him into caring for her. Eddie is easily the most physically fragile member of the group. Richie sometimes calls him "Eds", which he hates (as is demonstrated when It bites off Eddie's arm and his dying words are to Richie, who calls him "Eds": "Richie, don't call me Eds. You know I...I... [without finishing his sentence, "I hate it when you call me that"]"). He is a Methodist, though his family were strict Polish Catholic two generations before Eddie. When Henry and his friends break his arm and his mother tries to prevent the Losers from visiting Eddie in the hospital, he finally stands up to his mother and tells her that he is no longer the helpless kid she thinks he is. He eventually runs a successful limousineLimousineA limousine is a luxury sedan or saloon car, especially one with a lengthened wheelbase or driven by a chauffeur. The chassis of a limousine may have been extended by the manufacturer or by an independent coachbuilder. These are called "stretch" limousines and are traditionally black or white....
business but is married to a woman (Myra) very similar to his mom. He also finds the strength to defend himself from Henry Bowers, eventually deforming and killing him in self defense with a broken bottle, even though in the fight his arm is re-broken in the same spot Henry broke it in a scuffle when they were kids. He bleeds to death in the sewers after his arm is bitten off, ultimately dying in the gang's arms.
- Michael "Mike" Hanlon: Mike is the last to join the Losers. He is the only African AmericanAfrican AmericanAfrican Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
child in the group. When he is racially persecuted by Henry Bowers, the Losers fight back against Bowers in a massive rock fight. Mike is the only one of the Losers to stay behind in Derry (and thus the only one to retain his memory of the events of 1958) and becomes the town librarianLibrarianA librarian is an information professional trained in library and information science, which is the organization and management of information services or materials for those with information needs...
. He is the one who beckons the others back when the killings begin again in 1985. His father kept an album filled with photos that were important to Derry's history, including several of Pennywise the Dancing Clown. Through the knowledge he acquires of Derry and It, he becomes an amateur historian of the town. He is seriously wounded by Henry Bowers and nearly dies. He later recovers from his wounds but like the others starts to lose his memory of the experience, and of the other Losers. It was later revealed in InsomniaInsomnia (novel)Insomnia is a novel written by Stephen King and first published in 1994. Like It and Dreamcatcher, its setting is the fictional town of Derry, Maine. The original hardcover edition was issued with dust jackets in two complementary designs...
that Mike continued as a librarian and was the boss of one of that book's primary protagonists in 1993.
- Stanley "Stan" Uris: Also known as "Stan the Man", Stan is a skeptical, bookish Jewish member of the club. He admits that his family takes a relaxed approach to their faith, rather than practicing it devoutly. Logic, order, and cleanliness are deeply ingrained in his psyche. He is the least willing to accept that It actually exists and relies on logic more than anything else. Stan, much like Mike, is racially persecuted by Henry. As a child his main hobby was birdwatchingBirdwatchingBirdwatching or birding is the observation of birds as a recreational activity. It can be done with the naked eye, through a visual enhancement device like binoculars and telescopes, or by listening for bird sounds. Birding often involves a significant auditory component, as many bird species are...
. He later becomes a partner in a large Atlanta-based accounting firm. However, upon receiving Mike's phone call, he commits suicideSuicideSuicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
by slitting his wrists in the bathtub and writing 'IT' in his blood on the wall. He chose death over returning to Derry to face the ancient terror despite being the one to slice the Losers' palms in a blood oathBlood brotherBlood brother can refer to one of two things: two males related by birth, or two or more men not related by birth who have sworn loyalty to each other. This is usually done in a ceremony, known as a blood oath, where the blood of each man is mingled together...
. It is also implied in the book that Stan remembers more about the children's encounters with It than the others do, sometimes commenting about the Turtle and other events from his time in Derry,though he claims that he doesn't remember what those phrases mean. It can be implied throughout the story that he was psychic to a mild degree (accurately predicting which job his wife should apply for, a higher sensitivity to Its activities, frequent references from the other losers to his "ordered mind") Bill also blames It for Stan's death, saying in one part of the novel that It "killed Stan the Man."
Other characters
- Henry Bowers: Henry Bowers is a sadistic, crazed bully who torments the Losers and other kids, both male and female, to no end throughout the summer of 1958. Henry's sanity slowly deteriorates throughout the summer due to the influence of It and abuse from his equally crazy father, Oscar "Butch" Bowers. He is also shown to be a racist, sharing his father's intense hatred for the Hanlons, the only black family in Derry, in addition to being a misogynistMisogynyMisogyny is the hatred or dislike of women or girls. Philogyny, meaning fondness, love or admiration towards women, is the antonym of misogyny. The term misandry is the term for men that is parallel to misogyny...
, sexistSexismSexism, also known as gender discrimination or sex discrimination, is the application of the belief or attitude that there are characteristics implicit to one's gender that indirectly affect one's abilities in unrelated areas...
, homophobeHomophobiaHomophobia is a term used to refer to a range of negative attitudes and feelings towards lesbian, gay and in some cases bisexual, transgender people and behavior, although these are usually covered under other terms such as biphobia and transphobia. Definitions refer to irrational fear, with the...
, and anti-semite. He inflicts many acts of violence and humiliation upon the Losers during and before the summer of '58, such as partially carving his name into Ben Hanscom's belly, killing Mike Hanlon's dog with tainted meat and bathing Mike in mud in order to make him a "tar baby", breaking Eddie Kaspbrak's arm, breaking Richie Tozier's glasses numerous times, and white-washing Stan Uris' face in snow until it bleeds. His eroding sanity becomes apparent during his attacks on Eddie and Beverly: with the former, he pushed a man to the ground and threatened him into going back inside, and kicked out an old lady's taillight when she tried to stand up for Beverly. After a violent rockfight in early July, Henry becomes more and more sadistic until he eventually murders his father in mid-August with a switchblade provided by It and tries to kill the Losers. He follows them into the town sewers with his friends Victor Criss and Reginald "Belch" Huggins, only to encounter It in the form of Frankenstein's monsterFrankenstein's monsterFrankenstein's monster is a fictional character that first appeared in Mary Shelley's novel, Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus. The creature is often erroneously referred to as "Frankenstein", but in the novel the creature has no name...
, who decapitates Victor and mutilates Belch's face, after which Henry escapes. Henry fails to kill any of the Losers, but he eventually finds his way out of the sewers and his hair turns white from the shock of witnessing his friends being slaughtered and also seeing It in its true form, which drives him completely insane. He is convicted for the murder of his father and is framed for most of It's murders throughout the summer. He is placed in an insane asylum were he becomes terrified of the dark. He measures his time in the asylum by how many night lights he burns out (four) and remains there until May 29, 1985, when he escapes with It's assistance, and heads back to Derry to attempt to murder the Losers once more. After critically wounding Mike in the town library and being injured himself in the process, Henry then goes to the hotel where most of the Losers are staying, and finds Eddie's room first, only to be killed in the confrontation with Eddie.
- Victor "Vic" Criss: Victor "Vic" Criss is a bully, and one of Henry's sidekicks. Among Henry's gang, Vic is probably the most intelligent, having clearly defined morals despite his sadistic sense of humor and foul mouth. Beyond this Vic is a fair baseball pitcher, and the only person who truly realizes Henry's eroding sanity, and becomes more and more reluctant to hang around Henry. In early August, Vic almost approaches the Losers to join them, but decides against it. By doing this, he seals his fate and joins Henry and Belch in following the Losers into the sewers (in a state described as scared, confused, and avid implying he may have been possessed), where the three encounter It in the form of Frankenstein's monster, who kills Vic.
- Reginald "Belch" Huggins: Reginald "Belch" Huggins is another sidekick of Henry's, and earned his nickname due to his ability to belch on command. He is very big for his age, being six feet tall at twelve years old. Belch is considered stupid by most people, which he makes up for in physical strength and his fierce loyalty to his friends, especially Henry. Belch follows Henry into the sewers to murder the Losers, only to be brutally killed by It in the form of Frankenstein's monster after it kills Vic and Henry leaves him to die.
- Patrick Hockstetter: Patrick Hockstetter is a psychopathic and solipsistic bully who sometimes hangs out with Henry's gang. Patrick keeps a pencil box full of dead flies, which he kills with his ruler, and shows it to other students. He also takes small, usually injured animals and locks them in a broken refrigerator in a junkyard, and leaves them there to die. Along with killing animals, Patrick has also murdered his infant brother, Avery, by suffocation when he was five years old. When alone with Henry after lighting farts with him and his gang one July afternoon in 1958, Patrick gives Henry a handjobHandjobHandjob is a slang or informal word referring to an act of manual stimulation of a male's penis by a sexual partner, whether female or male, usually to the point of orgasm and ejaculation. The act is similar to male masturbation, though the latter is performed by a male on himself...
and offers to give him oral sexOral sexOral sex is sexual activity involving the stimulation of the genitalia of a sex partner by the use of the mouth, tongue, teeth or throat. Cunnilingus refers to oral sex performed on females while fellatio refer to oral sex performed on males. Anilingus refers to oral stimulation of a person's anus...
, which snaps Henry out of his daze and prompts him to punch Patrick in the mouth. Henry then reveals that he knows about Patrick's refrigerator, and threatens to tell everyone about it if Patrick tells about the handjob. Once Henry has left, Patrick opens the refrigerator to dispose of the animal corpses but is attacked by a swarm of flying leeches, his greatest fear. The swarm sucks Patrick's blood, leaving large holes all over his body, which causes him to slowly lose consciousness as he is dragged away by It. When he awakens, It begins to feed on him.
- Edward "Eddie" Corcoran: Eddie Corcoran is a classmate of the Losers Club and Henry's gang. Like Beverly Marsh, Eddie and his younger brother Dorsey are victims of child abuse by their stepfather, Richard Macklin. However, unlike Beverly's father, who proved to be a loving and caring father at times, Eddie's stepfather would often beat them brutally and without warning, at one point throwing Eddie into a coat rack with enough force to make him urinateUrinationUrination, also known as micturition, voiding, peeing, weeing, pissing, and more rarely, emiction, is the ejection of urine from the urinary bladder through the urethra to the outside of the body. In healthy humans the process of urination is under voluntary control...
blood for two weeks simply for accidentally slamming the door. In May 1957, Richard hit Dorsey in the back of the head with a hammer, accidentally killing him, which he covered up to look like an accident. Two days before summer vacation in June 1958, Eddie runs away from home and decides to rest in the park. While sitting on a bench, Eddie's dead brother, Dorsey, approaches him, grabbing his ankle. Eddie breaks free and runs, with Dorsey quickly pursuing him. After a short while, It changes into the Creature from the Black Lagoon, Eddie's greatest fear. It catches up to him and begins choking him, bursting his carotid artery before tearing off his head.
- Adrian Mellon: Adrian Mellon is a young homosexual man in Derry. He grows fond of the town, despite its violently homophobic mindset, and only agrees to leave to please his boyfriend, Don Hagarty. Before leaving, however, the two attend a town fair in July 1984, and on the way home are harassed by three homophobic youths. The three attack them, Adrian especially because of a hat he won at the fair, and throw him over a canal. When he hits the bottom, Pennywise finds Adrian, bites into his armpit, and drags him away and kills him, which Don and one of the bullies, Chris Unwin, witness. At the trial, nobody mentions a clown. His death is a nod to Charlie HowardCharlie Howard (murder victim)Charles O. Howard was an American hate-crime victim in Bangor, Maine in 1984. As Howard and a male companion, Roy Ogden, were walking down the street, three teenagers, Shawn I. Mabry, age 16, James Francis Baines, age 15, and Daniel Ness, age 17, harassed Howard for being gay...
.
- Will Hanlon: Will Hanlon is the father of Mike Hanlon. While dying of cancer in 1963, he tells Mike about his experiences in the U.S. Air Force in the 1920s and about establishing the Black Spot, a club started by Will and his black Air Force buddies and originally meant exclusively for black members, but gradually began accepting members of other races as well. He recounts how, in the fall of 1930, the club was burned down by a group of Maine Legion of White Decency members, causing numerous deaths. He also tells Mike that he witnessed a giant bird—the same bird that nearly killed Mike in 1958—carry off a Legion of White Decency member and fly away with him in its talons.
- Mr. Keene: Mr. Norbert Keene was the owner and operator of the Center Street Drug Store for fifty years from 1925 to 1975. Mike interviews him and tells him the story of the Bradley Gang, a group of outlaws who came through Derry frequently and caused trouble. He tells Mike that, in 1929, a year before the fire at the Black Spot, the entire gang was murdered by Derry residents when stopping through town to buy guns. Mr. Keene says that rather than covering up the event, the whole town instead pretended that it never occurred, including police Chief Jim Sullivan, who even took part in the slayings. Finally, Mr. Keene mentions seeing a clown participating in the shooting, but that it was wearing farmer's attire rather than a traditional clown suit. He also points out that even though the Sun was out, the clown cast no shadow.
- Tom Rogan: The abusive, violent and sadistic husband of Beverly Marsh. Tom has a very predatory view of women, and he thrives on the control he has over his vulnerable wife. When Beverly tries to leave for Derry, he refuses to let her, whipping her. Tom is surprised when the normally docile Beverly fights back, and almost kills him, before leaving for Derry. Tom, desperate to find his wife, beats one of her friends until he finds out that Beverly is in Derry. Tom goes to Derry with the intent to kill Beverly, and possibly her "writer friend" Bill Denbrough, whom Tom (correctly) assumes she is sleeping with. When he gets there, It uses Tom to capture Audra Phillips and bring her to It's lair under the city. Upon seeing It in its true form, Tom drops dead in shockAcute stress reactionAcute stress reaction is a psychological condition arising in response to a terrifying or traumatic event...
and gets eaten by It.
- Audra Phillips: Bill Denbrough's wife in 1985, Audra is a famous actress. She and Bill have an occasional working relationship: she is set to star in an adaptation of a novel he wrote. When Bill leaves for Derry, he strongly urges Audra to remain in England, and although she agrees, she leaves the next day to follow him. When she makes it to Derry, It uses Tom Rogan to capture her, and uses her as bait to lure Bill Denbrough. When the Losers defeat It once and for all, they rescue Audra, but she is catatonic. The book ends with Bill using the last of his childhood to bring her out of the coma. Audra has a strong physical resemblance to the adult Beverly Rogan.
- George Denbrough: The first character introduced in the book, George is Bill's younger brother. He is a stereotypical child, innocent and curious. He is killed when It, appearing as Pennywise, rips off his arm. George's death is the first in the fall of 1957 and it is what drives Bill to defeat It. Although in 1958, It threatens to appear to Bill as George, It never does so until 1985 (excluding It's appearance before Richie and Bill in Georgie's room, when it causes George's school photo to leer and wink at the boys). When Bill sees It as George, he works through his grief and overcomes It's ruse.
- Peter Gordon: A well-off friend of Henry's that lives on West Broadway, who thinks of chasing Mike Hanlon as a game, though Henry's crazed and increasingly violent behavior (such as attempting to outright kill Mike with cherry bombCherry bombCherry Bombs are approximately spherical shaped exploding fireworks, ranging in size from three-quarters-inch to one-and-one-half-inch in diameter...
s and M-80s) begins to alienate him. He is never seen again after the rock fight. Eddie assumes that Henry kicked him out of his gang because he was the first to run away from the fight. It is implied that he was eventually killed by it as it is recounted that all of Henry's friends and ex-friends were killed by It.
- Claude Heroux: An AcadianAcadianThe Acadians are the descendants of the 17th-century French colonists who settled in Acadia . Acadia was a colony of New France...
logger who was active in a Union movement in the early 1900s around Derry. After several Union organizers were killed and narrowly escaping death, he retreated to woods where It possessed him, leading him to slaughter several Anti-Union organizers possibly involved in the murder of his comrades at the Silver Dollar Bar. Later hanged and killed despite a seemingly clueless state.
- Richard "Dick" Hallorann: A chef in Derry Army E Company. Although Dick Hallorann plays a minor role in this novel, by saving Mike Hanlon's father at the fire at the Black Spot, he plays a more significant role in the novel The ShiningThe Shining (novel)The Shining is a 1977 horror novel by American author Stephen King. The title was inspired by the John Lennon song "Instant Karma!", which contained the line "We all shine on…". It was King's third published novel, and first hardback bestseller, and the success of the book firmly established King...
.
25th Anniversary Special Edition
Cemetery DanceCemetery Dance Publications
Cemetery Dance Publications is a specialty press publisher of horror and dark suspense. Cemetery Dance was founded by Richard Chizmar, a horror author, while he was in college. It is associated with Cemetery Dance magazine, which was founded in 1988. They began to publish books in 1992.Cemetery...
will publish a special limited edition in three different states in 2011 for the 25th anniversary of the novel. The book will have a new dust jacket illustration by Glen Orbik
Glen Orbik
Glen Orbik is an American illustrator known for his fully painted paperback and comic covers, often executed in a noir style. He studied art at the California Art Institute then located in Encino, later Calabasas, California and currently located in Westlake Village. He studied under the school's...
, as well as numerous interior illustrations by Alan M. Clark
Alan M. Clark
Alan Marshall Clark is an author and an artist who is best known as the illustrator and book cover painter of many pieces of horror fiction. He was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel for his 2005 book Siren Promised .He has won the World Fantasy Award for his illustrations ,...
and Erin Wells. The book will feature a new afterword by Stephen King discussing why he wrote this novel.
Adaptations
In 1990, the novel was adapted into a television movieIt (1990 film)
It is a 1990 horror television miniseries based on the novel of the same name. The story revolves around an inter-dimensional predatory life-form that is simply referred to as "It", which has the ability to transform itself into its prey's worst fears allowing it to exploit the fears and phobias...
featuring John Ritter
John Ritter
Jonathan Southworth "John" Ritter was an American actor, voice over artist and comedian perhaps best known for having played Jack Tripper and Paul Hennessy in the ABC sitcoms Three's Company and 8 Simple Rules, respectively...
as Ben Hanscom, Harry Anderson
Harry Anderson
Harry Laverne Anderson is an American actor and magician.-Early life:Born in Newport, Rhode Island, Anderson was a street magician before becoming an actor.-Career:...
as Richie Tozier, Tim Reid
Tim Reid
Timothy L. "Tim" Reid is an American actor, comedian and film director best known for his roles in prime time American television programs, such as Venus Flytrap on WKRP in Cincinnati , Marcel "Downtown" Brown on Simon & Simon , Ray Campbell on Sister, Sister and William Barnett on That 70's Show...
as Mike Hanlon, Annette O'Toole
Annette O'Toole
Annette O'Toole is an American actress, dancer, and singer-songwriter. She is most recently known for portraying Martha Kent, the mother of Clark Kent on the television series Smallville.-Early life and career:...
as Beverly Marsh, Richard Thomas
Richard Thomas (actor)
Richard Earl Thomas is an American actor, best known for his role as budding author John-Boy Walton in the CBS drama The Waltons.- Early life :Thomas was born Richard Earl Thomas in New York,...
as Bill Denbrough, Olivia Hussey
Olivia Hussey
Olivia Hussey is an Argentinian actress who became famous for her role as Juliet in Franco Zeffirelli's Academy Award-winning 1968 film version of Romeo and Juliet. For this role she won the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year - Actress as well as the David di Donatello for best actress...
as Audra Denbrough, Dennis Christopher
Dennis Christopher
Dennis Christopher is an American actor. He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is known for playing Dave Stoller in Breaking Away and tragic film buff psychopath Eric Binford in Fade to Black....
as Eddie Kaspbrak, and Tim Curry
Tim Curry
Timothy James "Tim" Curry is a British actor, singer, composer and voice actor, known for his work in a diverse range of theatre, film and television productions. He currently resides in Los Angeles, California....
in the lead role as the titular It.
Woh
Woh
Woh was a Hindi language Indian television horror-thriller series which aired on Zee TV in 1998. The series starred noted Indian film director, Ashutosh Gowarikar in an important role.-Plot:...
a Hindi language Indian television horror-thriller series which aired on Zee TV in 1998 had taken the main plot elements from IT.
Jeepers Creepers
Jeepers Creepers (2001 film)
Jeepers Creepers is a 2001 horror film written and directed by Victor Salva. The movie takes its name from the 1938 song "Jeepers Creepers" which is featured in the film.- Plot :...
a film by Victor Salva
Victor Salva
Victor Ronald Salva is an American film director, mostly of horror movies. His body of work includes the films Powder and Jeepers Creepers.-Early life and career:...
that takes many plot elements from IT.
On 12 March 2009, Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
announced that the production of a new adaptation of Stephen King's novel had started. Dan Lin, Roy Lee
Roy Lee
Roy Lee is an American film producer who regularly takes well known Asian films and remakes them for American audiences. Examples include The Ring, The Grudge and The Departed...
and Doug Davison are set to produce. The screenplay is currently re-written by Dave Kajganich.
Links to other King works
- Children of the CornChildren of the Corn"Children of the Corn" is a short story by Stephen King, first published in the March 1977 issue of Penthouse, and later collected in King's 1978 collection Night Shift.- Plot summary :...
: In Ben Hanscom's part of "Six Phone Calls", It tells us that he is in a town past Gatlin, Nebraska. Gatlin is the setting for King's short story "Children of the CornChildren of the Corn"Children of the Corn" is a short story by Stephen King, first published in the March 1977 issue of Penthouse, and later collected in King's 1978 collection Night Shift.- Plot summary :...
". - The End of the Whole MessThe End of the Whole Mess"The End of the Whole Mess" is a short science fiction story by Stephen King which was first published in Omni Magazine in 1986, and later published in the Nightmares and Dreamscapes collection and Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse .-Plot summary:The story, narrated by Howard Fornoy in the...
: Mike Hanlon refers to the lack of crime in a small town in Texas due to the water, a reference to King's short story "The End of the Whole MessThe End of the Whole Mess"The End of the Whole Mess" is a short science fiction story by Stephen King which was first published in Omni Magazine in 1986, and later published in the Nightmares and Dreamscapes collection and Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse .-Plot summary:The story, narrated by Howard Fornoy in the...
". - Gray Matter: In King's short story "Gray Matter", an elderly character explains that there are dark corners of the world beyond human comprehension. As an example, he mentions a friend of his, who was once a sewer worker, but unexpectedly quit his job. The man's reason for quitting, he claimed, was that he had seen a giant spider in the sewer tunnels.
- Rita Hayworth and Shawshank RedemptionRita Hayworth and Shawshank RedemptionRita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption is a novella by Stephen King, from his collection Different Seasons . It has been hailed by critics as King's "greatest work", and "masterpiece". The novella was adapted for the screen in 1994 as The Shawshank Redemption, itself a lauded film, nominated for...
: Steven Bishoff Dubay, one of the boys who beat up Adrian Mellon, is sent to Shawshank State Prison. Shawshank also figures in King's novella "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank RedemptionRita Hayworth and Shawshank RedemptionRita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption is a novella by Stephen King, from his collection Different Seasons . It has been hailed by critics as King's "greatest work", and "masterpiece". The novella was adapted for the screen in 1994 as The Shawshank Redemption, itself a lauded film, nominated for...
". - N.N.N. is a novella written by Stephen King that appears in his collection Just After Sunset .-Plot summary:In the outer circle of a nested narrative, a woman named Sheila writes to her childhood friend Charlie about her brother Johnny, a psychiatrist who recently committed suicide...
: In "N.N.N. is a novella written by Stephen King that appears in his collection Just After Sunset .-Plot summary:In the outer circle of a nested narrative, a woman named Sheila writes to her childhood friend Charlie about her brother Johnny, a psychiatrist who recently committed suicide...
" The Macroverse, home of It, is also mentioned and is said to contain a creature name "Cthun". - Christine: The car that picks up Henry to take him to the Derry Town House is a '58 Plymouth FuryPlymouth FuryThe Plymouth Fury is an automobile which was produced by the Plymouth division of the Chrysler Corporation from 1956 to 1978. The Fury was introduced as a premium-priced model designed to showcase the line, with the intent to draw consumers into showrooms....
, red and white, and driven by a corpse, in reference to Christine. Another reference to Christine can be found in Henry's psychotic break where It talks to him as the moon through the window of his cell. Henry remembers his father would talk about saving up to buy an old Plymouth he'd seen, usually when he was quite drunk. - The Dark TowerThe Dark Tower (series)The Dark Tower is a series of books written by American author Stephen King, which incorporates themes from multiple genres, including fantasy, science fantasy, horror and western. It describes a "Gunslinger" and his quest toward a tower, the nature of which is both physical and metaphorical. King...
: - The image of the Turtle as a god-like being in opposition to evil is identical in the Dark Tower series. Both works also speak of "the voice of the Turtle" as telepathic messages from this being aiding the protagonists in their attempt to destroy evil. Similarly, both works share the concept of deadlights.
- The author describes a perfect day as being "On the beam," a possible reference to the path of the beam (Beam of the Bear, way of the Turtle), which orients directly to the Dark Tower itself.
- In the final Dark Tower novel, there is a robot named Stuttering Bill, a nickname shared by Bill Denbrough.
- Dandelo, a creature in the seventh Dark Tower novel is the same type of creature as It. Just before Susannah kills Dandelo it turns into a clown.
- While Ben is considering the events of the reunion meal, the phrase "there might grow flowers that sing" occurs to him. This is a reference to the field of Can' Ka No Rey, which is filled with singing roses.
- In the seventh and final installment in the Dark Tower series Susannah DeanSusannah DeanSusannah Odetta Holmes Dean is a fictional character from Stephen King's The Dark Tower series...
give birth to a baby named Mordred DeschainMordred DeschainMordred Deschain of Discordia is a fictional character from Stephen King's The Dark Tower series of novels and comic books. He is one of the major antagonists of The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower, seeking to destroy his father Roland and his ka-tet...
who morphes into a spider and eats Mia and attempts to eat SusannahSusannah DeanSusannah Odetta Holmes Dean is a fictional character from Stephen King's The Dark Tower series...
like IT becomes a spider and tries to eat Bill. - The Dead ZoneThe Dead Zone (novel)The Dead Zone is a horror novel by Stephen King published in 1979. It concerns Johnny Smith, who is injured in an accident and enters a coma for nearly five years. When he emerges, he can see horrifying secrets but cannot identify all the details in his "dead zone", an area of his brain that...
: At one point, Beverly Marsh mentions "that crazy cop who killed all those women in Castle Rock, Maine". This is a reference to Frank Dodd, a character in The Dead ZoneThe Dead Zone (novel)The Dead Zone is a horror novel by Stephen King published in 1979. It concerns Johnny Smith, who is injured in an accident and enters a coma for nearly five years. When he emerges, he can see horrifying secrets but cannot identify all the details in his "dead zone", an area of his brain that...
and CujoCujoCujo is a psychological horror novel by Stephen King. The novel won the British Fantasy Award in 1982, and was made into a film in 1983....
. - DreamcatcherDreamcatcher (novel)Dreamcatcher is a horror novel written by Stephen King. It was adapted into a 2003 movie of the same name. The book, written longhand, was the author's tool for recuperation from a 1999 car accident, and was completed in half a year...
: - DreamcatcherDreamcatcher (novel)Dreamcatcher is a horror novel written by Stephen King. It was adapted into a 2003 movie of the same name. The book, written longhand, was the author's tool for recuperation from a 1999 car accident, and was completed in half a year...
also has a scene set in Derry and also features a gang who do a very brave thing in their childhoods, but tells the story from their adult perspectives, with flashback scenes to their childhoods, much like in It. When Gary Jones, under the influence of Mr. Gray (who is looking for Derry's Standpipe) arrives, they come across a statue made in commemoration of "The Losers" and underneath is spray painted "Pennywise Lives!" - Gary "Jonesy" Jones in DreamcatcherDreamcatcher (novel)Dreamcatcher is a horror novel written by Stephen King. It was adapted into a 2003 movie of the same name. The book, written longhand, was the author's tool for recuperation from a 1999 car accident, and was completed in half a year...
is taken over by an invading alien calling itself "Mr. Gray". Bob Gray is one of Pennywise's aliases. Mike Hanlon and Richie Tozier also witness Pennywise coming to Earth in what they believe to be a spaceship in the Losers Club smoke ceremony. - Duma KeyDuma KeyDuma Key is a horror novel by American novelist Stephen King published in 2008. The book reached #1 on the New York Times Bestseller List. It is King's first novel to be set in Florida or Minnesota.-Plot:...
: In the novel Duma KeyDuma KeyDuma Key is a horror novel by American novelist Stephen King published in 2008. The book reached #1 on the New York Times Bestseller List. It is King's first novel to be set in Florida or Minnesota.-Plot:...
, on the copyright permission's page, it states "Permission to use lyrics from 'Dig' by Shark Puppy (R. Tozier, W. Denbrough)" - FirestarterFirestarterFirestarter is a novel by Stephen King first published in 1980. It was nominated for a British Fantasy Award in 1981.The book is dedicated to the author Shirley Jackson: "In Memory of Shirley Jackson, who never needed to raise her voice."...
: The character of Patrick Hockstetter, who is killed by It in the junkyard, shares a name with a doctor in FirestarterFirestarterFirestarter is a novel by Stephen King first published in 1980. It was nominated for a British Fantasy Award in 1981.The book is dedicated to the author Shirley Jackson: "In Memory of Shirley Jackson, who never needed to raise her voice."...
. - InsomniaInsomnia (novel)Insomnia is a novel written by Stephen King and first published in 1994. Like It and Dreamcatcher, its setting is the fictional town of Derry, Maine. The original hardcover edition was issued with dust jackets in two complementary designs...
: Derry, Maine is the setting for King's InsomniaInsomnia (novel)Insomnia is a novel written by Stephen King and first published in 1994. Like It and Dreamcatcher, its setting is the fictional town of Derry, Maine. The original hardcover edition was issued with dust jackets in two complementary designs...
. The death of Adrian Mellon is also mentioned in that novel, and Mike Hanlon makes an appearance there as the head librarian in the Derry Public Library. Also, Ben Hanscom is mentioned briefly as the architect of the Derry Civics Center. When The Crimson King is defeated by Ralph Roberts, it is forced into a blinding white light, which Ralph thinks of as the Deadlights. Also, Ralph at one point sees a large evil-feeling "aura" erupting out of a sewer manhole. There is a police officer named Chris Nell, who is shot in the head by Charlie Pickering. Patrick Hockstetter is briefly described as a childhood acquaintance of Ralph's. Among Patrick's many predilections is a fondness for using a tree branch (which he calls his "peekie wand") to lift women's skirts and peer under them. Also when Ralph starts to see the auras and balloon strings he sees a very bright purple glow coming from a nearby sewer grate that fades as whatever creature (presumably Pennywise) passes by. - Misery: Paul Sheldon remembers having been neighbors with Eddie Kaspbrak.
- Needful ThingsNeedful ThingsNeedful Things is a 1991 horror novel by American author Stephen King. According to the cover, it is "The Last Castle Rock Story." However, the town later served as the setting for the short story "It Grows on You," published in King's 1993 collection Nightmares and Dreamscapes which, according to...
: Nettie Cobb had recently been released from Juniper Hill (on a work-release program with the aid of Polly Chalmers). Juniper Hill is a mental institution/prison for the criminally dangerous. It's where Henry Bowers was put after he murdered his father, and from which he broke free to hunt down the Losers years later. - Both Leland Gaunt and Ace Merrill mention "bet your fur", Ace while driving the Tucker back to Castle Rock, and Leland right after Ace comments on how nice the car is.
- The ShiningThe Shining (novel)The Shining is a 1977 horror novel by American author Stephen King. The title was inspired by the John Lennon song "Instant Karma!", which contained the line "We all shine on…". It was King's third published novel, and first hardback bestseller, and the success of the book firmly established King...
: When telling him the story of the Black Spot, Mike Hanlon's father talks about an old army friend, Dick Hallorann, who was an army cook. Dick Hallorann is the psychicPsychicA psychic is a person who professes an ability to perceive information hidden from the normal senses through extrasensory perception , or is said by others to have such abilities. It is also used to describe theatrical performers who use techniques such as prestidigitation, cold reading, and hot...
cook at the Overlook Hotel in King's The ShiningThe Shining (novel)The Shining is a 1977 horror novel by American author Stephen King. The title was inspired by the John Lennon song "Instant Karma!", which contained the line "We all shine on…". It was King's third published novel, and first hardback bestseller, and the success of the book firmly established King...
. - The StandThe StandThe Stand is a post-apocalyptic horror/fantasy novel by American author Stephen King. It demonstrates the scenario in his earlier short story, Night Surf...
: Ben Hanscom stops in at the Red Wheel Bar in the town of Hemingford Home, Nebraska; this was Mother Abagail's home in The StandThe StandThe Stand is a post-apocalyptic horror/fantasy novel by American author Stephen King. It demonstrates the scenario in his earlier short story, Night Surf...
, as well as that of siblings Larry and Katrina in "The Last Rung on the LadderThe Last Rung on the Ladder"The Last Rung on the Ladder" is a short story by Stephen King, first published in King's 1978 collection Night Shift.-Plot summary:The protagonist is burdened with deep guilt and regret after discovering that his estranged sister has committed suicide. He recounts one fateful day long ago when...
". - The StandThe StandThe Stand is a post-apocalyptic horror/fantasy novel by American author Stephen King. It demonstrates the scenario in his earlier short story, Night Surf...
is briefly mentioned by Eddie at the House on Neibolt street thinking of a mental conductor chanting the names: CamdenCamden, MaineCamden is a town in Knox County, Maine, United States. The population was 5,254 at the 2000 census. The population of the town more than triples during the summer months, due to tourists and summer residents. Camden is a famous summer colony in the Mid-Coast region of Maine...
, RocklandRockland, MaineRockland is a city in Knox County, Maine, in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 7,297. It is the county seat of Knox County. The city is a popular tourist destination...
, Bar HarborBar Harbor, MaineBar Harbor is a town on Mount Desert Island in Hancock County, Maine, United States. As of the 2010 census, its population is 5,235. Bar Harbor is a famous summer colony in the Down East region of Maine. It is home to the College of the Atlantic, Jackson Laboratory and Mount Desert Island...
, Wiscasset, OgunquitOgunquit, MaineOgunquit is a town in York County, Maine, United States. As of the 2000 census its population was 1,226. The popularity of the town as a summer resort is epitomized by its motto, "Beautiful Place by the Sea."...
, The Berwicks. - The TommyknockersThe TommyknockersThe Tommyknockers is a 1987 horror novel by Stephen King. While maintaining a horror style, the novel is more of an excursion into the realm of science fiction for King, as the residents of the Maine town of Haven gradually fall under the influence of a mysterious object buried in the woods.In his...
: Haven, a small village near Derry, is mentioned; this was later the setting for The TommyknockersThe TommyknockersThe Tommyknockers is a 1987 horror novel by Stephen King. While maintaining a horror style, the novel is more of an excursion into the realm of science fiction for King, as the residents of the Maine town of Haven gradually fall under the influence of a mysterious object buried in the woods.In his...
. After the mall explodes during the storm, money from the bank is described as being found on the lawn of Rebbecca Paulson, a character in The TommyknockersThe TommyknockersThe Tommyknockers is a 1987 horror novel by Stephen King. While maintaining a horror style, the novel is more of an excursion into the realm of science fiction for King, as the residents of the Maine town of Haven gradually fall under the influence of a mysterious object buried in the woods.In his...
. In The TommyknockersThe TommyknockersThe Tommyknockers is a 1987 horror novel by Stephen King. While maintaining a horror style, the novel is more of an excursion into the realm of science fiction for King, as the residents of the Maine town of Haven gradually fall under the influence of a mysterious object buried in the woods.In his...
, a character hears chuckling noises coming from the drains in his house; later, another character driving through Derry glimpses "a clown, with silver dollars for eyes, holding a bunch of balloons" waving at him from a storm drain. - Under the DomeUnder the DomeUnder the Dome is a novel by Stephen King, published in November 2009. It is a partial rewrite of a novel King attempted writing twice in the late 1970s and early 1980s, under the titles The Cannibals and Under the Dome...
: The symbol seen on the box powering the Dome is the same symbol found on the door to It's lair. - The Girl Who Loved Tom GordonThe Girl Who Loved Tom GordonThe Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon is a psychological horror novel by Stephen King. In 2004, a pop-up book adaptation was released, designed by Kees Moerbeek and illustrated by Alan Dingman.- Plot summary :...
: The last acknowledgment on the first page references "Lyrics from 'Gotta Get Next To Next You (Jus' Slip Me A Taste)' by Richie 'Records' Tozier, copyright 1998 Soul Fine Music. Used by permission", referring to the character Richie Tozier. - 11/22/6311/22/6311/22/63 is a novel by Stephen King about a time traveler who attempts to prevent the John F. Kennedy assassination which occurred on November 22, 1963 . The novel was officially announced on the author's official site on March 2, 2011. A short excerpt was released online on June 1, 2011...
Jake Epping meets and gets valuable information from Richie and Bev, and although they don't directly bring it up, clowns are mentioned causing tense reactions from both Richie and Bev who just shortly before thought to have defeated IT. There is mention of the death of George Denborough who had his arm ripped off. Bev also asks Jake about "The Turtle".
External links
- It at Worlds Without End
- IT Review at Illuminati Blog
- IT Review(and Summary) at Stephen King Book Reviews
- It: Review and Chapter-By-Chapter Analysis