It (character)

It, also known as Pennywise The Dancing Clown or Bob Gray, is the title character and main antagonist of Stephen King's 1986 horror novel It. It is a shapeshifting entity, who every three decades prays on the local children from Derry, Maine, and, in order to kill them, takes the form of It's victims' greatest and most terrifying phobias. Not only can It shapeshift, but also manipulate people to achieve It's own evil aims, and even possess someone's mind.

Fictional biography

A monster of unknown origins, It originated before the creation of Universe itself in a dimention named the "Deadlights", and It's true form is never revealed. Because of this, the Loosers Club does not know what It actually is, giving the creature It's name. The form It takes the most is that of a sadistic clown, named Pennywise, in order to use it as a decoy when going after a child. In It's home under the sewers, It takes the form of a monstruous pregnant female black spider, which is the closest to be It's true physical shape, and lets the Loosers look at It without making them lose their minds. Having control over what happens in Derry, many of the child murders It commits are never solved, as the adults of Derry either act as though nothing is happening or have forgotten about It.

The monster arrived to Earth in the form of an asteroid during prehistory, landing on what later would become the town of Derry, and hibernated there until humans settled and colonized the place. It awoke, fed on the settlers, and started a cycle of hibernation, in which It would sleep for almost three decades and be awake for over two years. Every time It's hibernation stage finnished, events of extreme violence happened in Derry.

In the novel, Mike Hanlon, one of those who had battled against It during the 1957-58 period, became Derry's librarian and historian, and investigated about the city's dark and violent events. By this, he learned about It's cycle:

• 1715-1716: It awoke.
• 1740-1743: It awoke and killed 300 settlers.
• 1769-1770: It awoke.
• 1850: It awoke and makes a man poison his own family and then commit suicide.
• 1876-1879: It awoke and went back to hibernation when a group of dead woodcutters appear nearby the Kendukeag river.
• 1904-1906: It awoke wand possessed a woodcutter to kill some men with his axe into a bar, and then goes back to hibernation after making the Kitchener Foundry explodes, causing the deaths of 240, 200 of them being children who were searching for Easter eggs.
• 1924-1930: It awoke when a gang of mobsters are shot to death by some Derry residents, and goes to sleep when some Ku Klux Klan set fire an african-american night club.
• 1957-1958: It awakes, causing a great storm. It's muders begin with George Denbrough, Bill denbrough's younger brother. Bill, Ben Hanscom, beverly Marsh, Richie Tozier, Eddie Kapsbrack, Mike Hanlon and Stan Uris have several encounters with It, and try to kill the creture. They seriously hurt It and believe It to be dead, making the monster hibernate until 1984.
• 1984-1985: It awoke when a group of bullies violently attack a homosexual couple: Adrian Mellon and Don Haggarty, causing the death of Mellon, and soonly after It feeds on him. After a series of murders, the Loosers, now as adults, return to Derry and finnaly kill It. While doing so, the whole city of Derry is severely damaged by a huge storm, signifying It's definite death.

In other King works

In King's later novel The Tommyknockers, a secondary character, while being in Derry, sees a clown under a stormdrain. It's not implied if it's just a hallucination or if it's actuallt Pennywise.

In King's 2001 novel Dreamcatcher Mr. Gray shares his name with It's allias, Robert Gray. When he arrives to Derry, he reads a phrase that homages the victims of the 1985 storm, the names of the seven Loosers Club members, and th phrase "Pennywise lives". This may be a signal that It wasn't actually killed.

In King's 11/22/63, the novel's protagonist, Jake, when going back to Derry in 1958, encounters with Beverly Marsh and Richie Tozier, two of the seven children who confront It.

In television

In the 1990 television miniseries, It is portrayed by actor Tim Curry. Here, It's true form is revealed to be the Deadlights, but It's origin is never mentioned. The miniseries also ommits the Turtle, and the fact that when It shapeshifts into the Spider It's a pregnant female.