Pennywise

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It, most commonly recognized as its preferred form as Pennywise the Dancing Clown, serves as the central antagonist of Stephen King’s novel It.

Originating as an otherworldly entity, It arrived on Earth roughly one million years ago. Finding no natural food sources akin to what it consumed in its home dimension, It adapted to feeding on humans, with a preference for children. It manifests every 27 years to prey upon them, often shaping itself into their greatest fears, believing this “seasons the meat” and makes them taste better. While Its true form is never fully perceived, It often chooses the guise of Pennywise the Clown, inspired by a traveling performer It encountered in the 1800s, as clowns embody a widespread human fear.

Centuries after Its arrival, It targeted Georgie Denbrough, dragging him into a storm drain and killing him. This act spurred Georgie’s brother, Bill Denbrough, and his friends—later known as the "Losers Club" in the novel—to confront the creature. The group defeated It and forced It into hibernation. Twenty-seven years later, It resurfaced to feed once again, assuming the "Losers" would no longer pose a threat. However, the group reunited in Derry to put an end to It permanently. In the final confrontation, the Losers encountered a form resembling a giant spider, the closest human perception of Its true shape without inducing madness. During the battle, Eddie Kaspbrak was killed; the remaining members managed to cripple the creature, tear out Its heart, and destroy Its physical body, causing the Deadlights to dissipate.

Beyond the novel, It is referenced or appears in multiple works across Stephen King’s universe. These include Gray Matter, Dreamcatcher, Hearts in Atlantis, Insomnia, NOS4A2, Elevation, and the film adaptation of The Dark Tower. It also plays minor roles in The Tommyknockers, Maximum Overdrive, and 11/22/63, while serving as an unseen overarching presence in The Boogeyman, The Dark Tower series, and Gwendy’s Final Task.

A prequel television series, IT: Welcome to Derry, is currently in development, intended to explore events preceding the film adaptations.

Pennywise the Dancing Clown
Book1990 Miniseries2017 Film Continuity Pennywise the Dancing ClownSpiderThe Deadlights “ Hi, Georgie „ “ They all float here... „ “ They float. Down here we all float; pretty soon your friend will float too. „ ~ Pennywise to Hagarty “ Come to me then, It thought, listening to their approach. Come to me, children, and see how we float down here . . . how we all float. „ “ The face of the clown in the stormdrain was white, there were funny tufts of red hair on either side of his bald head, and there was a big clown-painted smile painted over his mouth. If George had been inhabiting a later year, he would have surely thought of Ronald McDonald before Bozo or Clarabell. He was wearing a baggy silk suit with great big orange buttons. A bright tie, electric-blue, flopped down his front, and on his hands were big white gloves, like the kind Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck always wore. „ ~ Pennywise's description “ This is no illusion, you foolish little boy - this is eternity, My eternity, and you are lost in it, lost forever, never to find your way back. „ Pennywise the Dancing ClownSpiderThe Deadlights “ Excuse me, sir. Do you have Prince Albert in a can? You do? Well, you better let the poor guy out. WA-HA! WA-HA! WA-HA! „ Pennywise the Dancing ClownSpiderThe Deadlights
Origin
Origin	Stephen King IT
Creator	Stephen King
First Appearance	Stephen King IT PART 1: The Shadow Before, Chapter 1: After the Flood (1957)
Voiced by	*1990 Miniseries: Tim Curry 2017 Films: Bill Skarsgård
Characteristics
Species	Shapeshifter (Cosmic Entity)
Gender	Varies
Pronouns	It
Sexuality	N/A
Age	N/A
Birthday	N/A
Height	Varies (Forms range from small to gigantic)
Weight	Unknown
Ethnicity	Varies (Depends on form)
Status	Deceased
Alignment	Chaotic Evil
Archetype	Horror Villain
Occupation	Clown
Time Period	1957–1985
Language	English
Combat Style	Street Fighter
Homeworld	Macroverse
Relationships
Affiliations	Henry (used as a pawn)
Enemies	Losers' Club, Gan, Maturin

Background

This dropdown contains the synopsis of Pennywise's story. Read at your own risk as you may be spoiled otherwise!

It is an ancient shape-shifting entity classified as a Glamour, believed to be billions of years old. Although it resided on Earth for centuries, It originated from a dimension outside known space called the "Macroverse". Its true identity and nature remain unclear. Due to its alien origins and shifting form, It is often referred to simply as "It." The being is also associated with the Deadlights, a name sometimes used interchangeably for its species. The closest physical form humans can perceive is that of a giant female spider, which It assumes during confrontations on Earth. However, Its true form is incomprehensible to the human mind. It typically resides deep beneath the fictional town of Derry, Maine, surfacing every 27 years to feed. It possesses the ability to assume the appearance of humans, animals, and objects (or combinations thereof) allowing it to manipulate victims by posing as loved ones or manifesting as their deepest fears. While capable of countless disguises, It most often takes the form of Pennywise the Dancing Clown, a circus performer figure. This form is effective both because children are drawn to clowns and because clowns are a widespread source of fear. In the novel, It occasionally refers to itself as Robert "Bob" Gray, a name possibly inspired by real-world figures such as child murderer Albert Fish, who used the alias "Robert Gray," or Robert "Bob" Bell, the original actor for Bozo the Clown. Its primary goal is to feed on humans, with a preference for children due to their heightened fears and impressionable nature. It claims that fear “salts the meat,” making terrified prey more satisfying to consume. It first arrived on Earth through a massive impact event resembling an asteroid strike, landing in the region that would later become Derry, Maine. Once human settlement developed over this location, It established a recurring cycle of hibernation lasting roughly 25 to 28 years. After each period of dormancy, It awakens to feed, preying primarily on children before returning to its slumber. These awakenings are frequently marked by catastrophic or violent events, including mass killings, suicides, or destructive natural disasters, which act as precursors or aftermaths of Its activity. Between cycles, numerous child disappearances and murders occur within Derry, but these cases are rarely investigated or resolved. Outwardly, this is attributed to the small-town setting where such tragedies are overlooked, but in truth, It exerts a subtle influence over the town, discouraging scrutiny and preventing the community from acknowledging or confronting Its presence. Novel1990 Miniseries2017 Film 1715–1716: It stirs from its slumber in great pain. 1740–1743: Begins a three-year cycle of terror, ending with the disappearance of more than three hundred settlers from Derry Township. The event mirrors the mystery of the lost Roanoke Colony. 1769–1770: Another awakening occurs. 1851: Rises again during the incident of John Markson, who poisoned his family before consuming a white nightshade mushroom and dying a slow, agonizing death. 1876–1879: Awakens and later hibernates after slaughtering a group of lumberjacks, whose bodies are discovered near the Kenduskeag Stream. 1904: Reemerges when Claude Heroux, a lumberjack, kills a dozen men in a bar with only an axe. Though hanged by an angry mob, a witness later recalls seeing a “comical-looking man” at the scene—a figure he would recognize again decades later. 1906: Returns to hibernation following the Kitchener Ironworks explosion, which kills 108 people, including 88 children attending an Easter egg hunt. Among the victims is nine-year-old Robert Dohay, whose body is discovered gruesomely mutilated. 1929: Awakes when townsfolk ambush and execute the Bradley Gang, a group of criminals. The townspeople, with the support of the police chief, cover up the massacre. Years later, a witness tells Mike Hanlon he saw a clown dressed as a farmer among the attackers. 1930: Goes back into hibernation after the Maine Legion of White Decency (a local counterpart of the Ku Klux Klan) burns down “The Black Spot,” a club frequented by African-American soldiers. Mike Hanlon’s father reports seeing It at the site, appearing as a massive bird with balloon-covered wings. 1957: Awakens when young Dorsey Corcoran is murdered by his abusive stepfather. Later that year, Georgie Denbrough is killed by Pennywise, prompting his brother Bill and other children to confront the entity. They manage to wound It during the Ritual of Chüd, forcing an early retreat. 1984: Rises once more when Adrian Mellon, a gay man, is brutally assaulted and thrown from a bridge by local bullies. Pennywise appears and kills him. 1985: Ultimately destroyed by the Losers Club—Bill, Richie, Beverly, Eddie, and Ben—who complete another Ritual of Chüd, killing Its physical form. 2013: The creature would have awakened again had it survived. In the 1990 miniseries adaptation, the timeline is shifted forward, with Georgie’s death taking place in 1960 and IT’s final defeat occurring in 1990. In the 2017 film adaptation, the timeline shifts once more, placing Georgie’s death in 1989. This version also adds several new events that do not align directly with the original canon: Derry is first established as a beaver camp, but 91 people mysteriously vanish. While rumors suggest plague or an attack by Native Americans, no evidence supports either. The only clue left behind is a pile of bloody clothes near the Well House. 1908: IT awakens during the Kitchener Ironworks explosion, which kills 102 people (88 children and 14 adults). 1935: IT reappears following the Bradley Gang shootout. 1962: IT awakens again during the burning of the Black Spot, here portrayed as the work of a cult. 1989: IT emerges once more, preying on the children of Derry. Georgie Denbrough is killed after Pennywise bites off his arm and drags him into the sewers. Bill Denbrough and the Losers’ Club investigate, eventually discovering IT’s lair. They confront the creature and drive it back into hibernation when it retreats down a deep well. Before parting, Beverly shares her vision of the future, and the group swears an oath to reunite if IT ever returns. 27 years after the first film, It reappears when a group of teens assault Adrian Mellon and throw him off a bridge. Pennywise kills Adrian in front of his partner and leaves behind a bloody message for Mike, signaling its return. Soon after, It begins targeting the children of Derry. It lures a girl named Victoria with false kindness before killing her, and later taunts Bill by showing him a skateboard, hinting at its intent to go after a boy named Dean. Bill rushes to the carnival in an attempt to save Dean, but arrives too late and witnesses Pennywise kill him in the hall of mirrors. Distraught, Bill resolves to confront It directly. Meanwhile, the Losers each retrieve personal artifacts needed for the Ritual of Chud. The ritual initially appears successful, trapping the Deadlights, but fails when a massive hybrid form of Pennywise and the spider emerges. The group learns that the original ritual had never worked and that the native tribe who attempted it were slaughtered by It. The creature then manipulates them with nightmarish illusions. Richie is caught in the Deadlights until Eddie intervenes and attacks with the spear given to him by Beverly, but he is mortally wounded when Pennywise impales him. This act drives the group to fight back by stripping away their fear. They confront Pennywise with anger and ridicule, causing the creature to weaken and regress into a small, infant-like form. The Losers remove its heart and destroy it, ending its existence. As It dies, the Neibolt House collapses, forcing the Losers to escape and leaving Eddie’s body behind in the ruins.

Appearance

General Description: The true appearance of It remains unknown, as its real form exists within an inter=dimensional space known as the "Deadlights". This realm is beyond human comprehension, and any mortal who perceives the "Deadlights" risks losing their sanity almost immediately. In this incomprehensible state, It is described as a vast, shifting entity of orange luminosity, endlessly crawling with hair-like tendrils and exuding an overwhelming sense of cosmic dread.

Facial Features: In its true essence, It lacks a discernible face or humanoid traits. Its form is instead a mass of blinding, pulsating light, with movement that evokes both organic and alien qualities. Witnesses can only vaguely perceive outlines of its incomprehensible shape before succumbing to madness.

Clothing/Outfit: It possesses no clothing or physical adornment, as the "deadlights" represent a being beyond material existence. Any perceived structure or form is merely an illusion shaped by the limits of the human mind attempting to interpret something that should not exist.

Special Features: When manifesting within the physical plane, It assumes the form of a colossal, pregnant spider — an approximation of its true essence that humans can perceive without instantly going insane. This spider form features a segmented body, dark chitinous skin, and a bloated abdomen filled with numerous eggs. The creature’s movements are slow yet unnervingly deliberate, and its many eyes glimmer with a cruel, predatory intelligence. While appearing female in this state, this is only a reflection of human perception, not an indicator of its true nature.

Alternate Forms/Disguises: It most commonly disguises itself as Pennywise the Dancing Clown to lure victims, particularly children. However, this is only one of many guises It adopts to manipulate fear. The Spider and the "deadlights" remain Its truest forms—one comprehensible only through physical manifestation, and the other existing far beyond the scope of mortal understanding.

Personality

Novel/Miniseries2017 Film

• Predatory by Nature: It exists solely to feed and survive, hunting humans—particularly children—because they are easier to frighten and, by its own implication, more flavorful when consumed in fear.

• Survival-Driven: Its life cycle revolves around eating and resting. After a year-long period of hunting, It retreats into a 27-year dormancy before resurfacing to feed again.

• Manipulator of Minds: Beyond physical predation, It manipulates the awareness of Derry’s citizens, fostering apathy and ignorance toward its killings. This ensures both secrecy and a sustainable food supply.

• Psychological Exploiter: It preys on the desires and fears of its victims, offering them what they long for or amplifying their deepest terrors to lure and destabilize them. Its Pennywise guise is particularly effective at disarming children before striking.

• Charming but Deceptive: When in disguise, It can appear friendly, humorous, or inviting, masking its true nature to ensnare prey. This calculated deception makes its predatory attacks more effective.

• Controller of Others: Its psychic influence extends to manipulation of individuals, as seen with Henry Bowers, whose violent tendencies were exploited to further Its goals. Even decades later, It retained a hold on him, demonstrating Its ability to control pawns over long periods.

• Predatory by Nature: It exists solely to feed and survive, hunting humans—particularly children—because they are easier to frighten and, by its own implication, more flavorful when consumed in fear.

• Survival-Driven: Its life cycle revolves around eating and resting. After a year-long period of hunting, It retreats into a 27-year dormancy before resurfacing to feed again.

• Manipulator of Minds: Beyond physical predation, It manipulates the awareness of Derry’s citizens, fostering apathy and ignorance toward its killings. This ensures both secrecy and a sustainable food supply.

• Psychological Exploiter: It preys on the desires and fears of its victims, offering them what they long for or amplifying their deepest terrors to lure and destabilize them. Its Pennywise guise is particularly effective at disarming children before striking.

• Charming but Deceptive: When in disguise, It can appear friendly, humorous, or inviting, masking its true nature to ensnare prey. This calculated deception makes its predatory attacks more effective.

• Controller of Others: Its psychic influence extends to manipulation of individuals, as seen with Henry Bowers, whose violent tendencies were exploited to further Its goals. Even decades later, It retained a hold on him, demonstrating Its ability to control pawns over long periods.

• Mental State Tied to Power: In this portrayal, Its strength is directly connected to fear. Those who resist or reject fear are harder for It to harm, and the Losers nearly destroy It by confronting it without terror. Its forms reflect this fragility, shrinking when its prey shows defiance or anger.

• Bound by Its Own Forms: While capable of shifting into any shape, It becomes subject to the limitations of that form. This vulnerability is exploited by the Losers, who ultimately kill It by destroying its heart while it remains trapped in its clown guise.

• Unusual Respect for Rivals: Despite Its cruelty, It shows a begrudging acknowledgment of the Losers’ growth, noting in Its final moments that they had "all grown up," a rare display of recognition from the entity.

• Confidence in Confrontation: Unlike other depictions, It does not dread the return of the adult Losers. Instead, It welcomes their return, even taunting them with the message "come home," and willingly engages with the Ritual of Chüd to set traps and spring ambushes.

Goals

Kill the Losers' Club so that it can be in an endless cycle of eating and sleeping and dreaming and eating again (Failed).

Relationships

George Denbrough

George was It's first victim shown within the novel, kicking off the events of the story. It tricked him into reaching his hand out, where It tore it off and killed him.

Bill Denbrough

Due to killing George, Bill wants revenge on Pennywise and goes with Richie to kill It initially, when the first attempt fails, he sets up a club of Loser friends that all have been tormented by Pennywise to find a way to kill It. After the Losers' Club nearly killed it the first time, It vowed that it would make them suffer and get revenge.

Maturin

Pennywise refers to Maturin as a stupid old thing and even if it did vomit the universe out whole it didn't change the fact of its stupidity.

It's later noted by Maturin that It is his brother.

General Information

Name: N/A (It doesn't have a real name)

Other Names: Pennywise, Bob Gray, It, Pennywise the Clown, Eater of Worlds, The Derry Disease, Shapeshifter, The Glamour, The Monster, The Taelus, Consumption, Derry

Origin: Stephen King IT

Overall Series: The Dark Tower

First Appearance: Stephen King IT PART 1: The Shadow Before, Chapter 1: After the Flood (1957)

Company: Viking

Creator: Stephen King

Actor

• 1990S Miniseries: Tim Curry (Pennywise), Annette O'Toole (Beverly), Tony Dakota (Georgie), Richard Masur (Stan), Steve Makaj (Ben's Father), Florence Paterson (Kersh), Tom Heaton (Keene), Frank C. Turner (Alvin Marsh)
• 2017 Films: Bill Istvan Günther Skarsgård (Pennywise), Tatum Lee (Judith), Javier Botet (The Hobo / Leper / The Witch), Carter Musselman (Headless Boy), Jackson Robert Scott ("Georgie"), Stephen Bogaert (Alvin Marsh), Jack Dylan Grazer ("Eddie Kaspbrak"), Joan Gregson (Mrs. Kersh), Owen Teague (Patrick Hockstetter), Wyatt Oleff (Stan Uris), Sophia Lillis (Beverly Marsh)

Gender: Varies, Female as the Spider (One of the last things Audra said before her mind shattered was "DEAR GOD IT'S A FEMALE")

Sexuality: N/A

Pronouns: It. Varies on form (Pennywise's clown form is referred to by he/him pronouns sometimes)

Handedness: Varies

Age: N/A (Existed before the universe even existed)

Birthday: N/A

Time Period

• Part One
  • Chapter 1: 1957
  • Chapter 2: 1984
  • Chapter 3: 1985
• Part Two: 1958
• Chapter 6: 1958
• Part Four: 1958
• Final Showdown: 1985 (Noted that the Autumn of 1957 was 28 years before the final showdown)

Timeline: Main Timeline

Homeworld:

• Manifestations: Earth
• True Form: The Macroverse

Residence

• Manifestations: Derry, Maine
• True Form: The Macroverse

Story Role: Horror Monster, Cosmic Entity

Legacy: Local Legacy (Pennywise is only known by a few in Derry, as he keeps any knowings and evidence of his crimes away from the outside of Derry, and the rest of the adults are unaware of him)

Influence: Event-Influence (Everytime Pennywise has awoken some form of disaster has happened, whether it'd be by him or a random natural disaster, his existence is responsible for the disappearance of 348 people in Derry without a trace in the past)

Language: English

Ethnicity: Varies on the form It takes

Religion: N/A

Classification: Clown, The guy in the clown suit, The guy with the balloons, Monster

Species: Glamour

State of Being: Transcendent

Physiology: Glamour Physiology

In-Universe Creator: Gan

Occupation: Clown

Combat Style: Street Fighter

Affiliations: Henry (Pennywise uses and manipulates Henry to help aid him, with Mike trying to tell him that Pennywise is merely using him to kill the Losers' Club and will kill him after)

Enemies: The Loser Club, Gan (His father), Maturin (Brother)

Notable Victims

• George Denbrough
• Adrian
• Stanley Uris (Though this one was indirect as it was Stanley killing himself over remembering IT).
• Dennis Torrio.
• Laurie Ann Winterbarger.
• Patrick Hockstetter.

Height

• Spider Form: 15 feet
• Paul Bunyan Statue: 30 feet
• Shark: Eight or Nine Feet

Weight: Unknown

Status: Deceased

Date of Death: 10:02 A.M., May 31st 1985

Alignment: Chaotic Evil (Pennywise's evil is considered small compared to Tom's, who was an abusive husband. When asked if It is truly evil or if it's just apart of a natural order, Mike notes it would be no natural order humanity understands or codones and the only thing to note is that It kills kids. Noted by both Mike and Richie that merely seeing IT had them feel evil itself)

Threat Level: Metropolitan Threat (Pennywise is Derry itself and is the cause of the mass amounts of killings within it)

Potential

• Type(s) of Potential: Limitless Potential
• Level of Potential: Limitless
• Description: Pennywise exists as an eternal being that cannot die from age.
• Limitations: Nothing notable.

Archetypal Tiering: Monster/Horror Villain

Codex Statistics

Grade: S

Tier

• Varies-E, the transformations grant:
  • Low 10-B as a bird.
  • 10-B as a hobo.
  • 9-C as Pennywise the Dancing Clown.
  • 9-C as a Werewolf.
  • 9-B as the Paul Bunyan Statue.
  • 7-C as a Psuedo-Spaceship through crashing.
  • At least 9-B as It's Spider form.

Cardinality: Finite under Transformations.

Dimensionality: Varies on Transformation, mainly 3-D

Power Source: Faith (Faith is Pennywise's greatest weakness and source of power, he feeds off of children's faith)

Attack Potency

• Varies: Skills (Pennywise's main gimmick is shapeshifting, thus he varies depending on the form he takes), the transformations grant:
  • Below Average Human level as a bird. (Despite the size in this form, Mike was able to overpower it)
  • Average Human level as a hobo.
  • Bone level as Pennywise the Dancing Clown (Easily mauled Georgie apart to where bone could be seen out of his body, splintered Adrian's ribs just by squeezing him)
  • Bone level as a Werewolf.
  • Wall level (Buster/Size) as the Paul Bunyan Statue. (Destroyed a portion of concrete and chopped a bench in half, along with this it's a gigantic stone statue)
  • Town level (Buster) as a Psuedo Spaceship through crashing. (Pennywise crashing onto the planet caused a big hill to turn into a doughnut that later became the town of Derry)
  • At least Wall level (Potency) as It's Spider. (The closest approximation of the Deadlights within reality, a giant spider that is 15 feet)

Durability

• Varies: Skills (Pennywise's main gimmick is shapeshifting, thus he varies depending on the form he takes), the transformations grant:
  • Below Average Human level as a bird.
  • Average Human level as a hobo.
  • Bone level as Pennywise the Dancing Clown
  • Bone level as a Werewolf.
  • Wall level as the Paul Bunyan Statue.
  • Town level as a Psuedo-Spaceship.
  • At least Wall level as It's Spider form.

Striking Strength

• Varies: Skills (Pennywise's main gimmick is shapeshifting, thus he varies depending on the form he takes), the transformations grant:
  • Below Average Human Class as a bird.
  • Average Human Class as a hobo.
  • Bone Class as Pennywise the Dancing Clown
  • Bone Class as a Werewolf.
  • Wall Class (Buster/Size) as the Paul Bunyan Statue.
  • Town Class (Potency) as a Psuedo-Spaceship.
  • At least Wall Class (Potency) as It's Spider.

Lifting Strength

• Varies: Skills (Pennywise's main gimmick is shapeshifting, thus he varies depending on the form he takes), the transformations grant:
  • Below Average Human Class as a bird.
  • Average Human Class as a hobo.
  • At least Class 50 as Pennywise the Dancing Clown (Ripped Georgie's arm right out of his socket, with it being noted to be the equivalent of ripping a wing off a fly, with arms being ripped from forces such as 26,000 kg or 253,548 Newtons)
  • Superhuman as a Werewolf.
  • Unknown: True Class as Paul Bunyan Statue
  • Unknown: True Class as a Psuedo-Spaceship.
  • At least Class 50 as a Spider.

Travel Speed

• Varies: Skills (Pennywise's main gimmick is shapeshifting, thus he varies depending on the form he takes), the transformations grant:
  • Superhuman Speed as a bird. (The average bird travels at a respectable 19 to 37 mph)
  • Average Human Speed as a hobo.
  • Superhuman Speed as Pennywise the Dancing Clown (Richie saw Pennywise in the form of a werewolf, though Bill saw Pennywise as the clown form chasing them on the bike, giving the Clown form and Werewolf form similar speeds. Noted that Pennywise was moving at express-train speed)
  • Superhuman Speed as a Werewolf. (Its Werwolf form moved so fast that it was described as Richie as being quick, incredibly quick. Noted that Pennywise was moving at express-train speed)
  • Superhuman Speed as the Paul Bunyan Statue.
  • Faster Than Light as a Psuedo-Spaceship. (Traveled from outside of everything to the Earth)
  • At least Superhuman Speed as It's Spider form.

Attack Speed

• Varies: Skills (Pennywise's main gimmick is shapeshifting, thus he varies depending on the form he takes), the transformations grant:
  • Superhuman as a bird.
  • Average Human Speed as a hobo.
  • Superhuman as Pennywise the Dancing Clown.
  • Superhuman as a Werewolf.
  • Superhuman as the Paul Bunyan Statue.
  • Unknown: True level as Psuedo-Spaceship
  • At least Superhuman as It's Spider form.

Reaction Speed

• Varies: Skills (Pennywise's main gimmick is shapeshifting, thus he varies depending on the form he takes), the transformations grant:
  • Superhuman as a bird.
  • Average Human Speed as hobo
  • Superhuman as Pennywise the Dancing Clown
  • Superhuman as a Werewolf.
  • Superhuman as the Paul Bunyan Statue.
  • Unknown: True level as Pseudo-Spaceship
  • At least Superhuman as It's Spider form.

Stamina: Superhuman+ (It was noted by Mike that Pennywise re-appears every 27 years, thus when he's not in hibernation he is awake all year round; eating and scaring kids without showing any signs of tiring)

Range: Varies through Transformation, Standard Melee in Pennywise the Dancing Clown, Several Meters as Spider, Tens of Kilometers with abilities (Upon Ade looking into Pennywise's eyes, he understood what it was immedieatly, that it was the town Derry itself, making him run away. Pennywise uses it's influence through Derry to fill in all of its hollow places and use them as gateway points to get to different areas. Noted by beverly that Pennywise is everywhere in Derry, it fills the hollow places), Cross-Dimensional with Picture Manipulation (Pennywise made it where not only was the picture moving but Richie could hear the whistles made in the picture, hear the cars' irregular sewing-machine engines, being an entire other world that Bill could reach into)

Intelligence: Unknown Intelligence

Knowledge: Unknown level (Despite It being alive since the beginning of time, it had never considered concepts such as the forms it takes needing to abide by the laws of the universe and taking damage from things it normally wouldn't, along with this, it was constantly outsmarted by the Losers' Club even when they were kids, and when it finally crafted a plan to defeat them it completely failed)

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Powers and Techniques

ManifestationsThe Deadlights

• Superhuman Physical Characteristics
  • Superhuman Strength (Easily mauled Georgie apart to where bone could be seen out of his body)
  • Superhuman Durability
  • Superhuman Speed
  • Superhuman Reaction
  • Superhuman Lifting
  • Superhuman Energy Efficiency
• Multilingualism (Pennywise can speak both english and an ancient undescribable tongue humans cannot understand)
• Social Influencing (Despite Pennywise being clearly a weird clown hiding in a gutter and Georgie being taught already to not speak to or take items from strangers, he was able to convince Georgie to reach for his boat)
• Intimidation (Put intense fear into Chris Unwin to where he doesn't remember all the events of what happened due to his fear. Upon Ade looking into Pennywise's eyes, he understood what it was immedieatly, that it was the town Derry itself, making him run away. Pennywise sent immense fear into Eddie while chasing after him. The mere idea of Pennywise coming back made Stanley kill himself and write on his hands "IT". Pennywise smiling and waving at Mike sent such fear into him he felt his bowels had suddenly felt all loose. Mike and Richie seeing Pennywise sent immense fear into them. Pennywise merely telling Henry to wait caused him to feel his interior temperature plummet to zero and his veins and arteries freezing into crsytal tubes of ice)
• Aura
  • Projection: Ben could feel the area It was at in a poisonous envelop.
• Eldritch Physiology (Took on a form that couldn't be grasped by the Losers' Club)
• Enhanced Senses (Pennywise could sense the Losers Club still coming
• Extrasensory Perception (Noted by Ben that Pennywise was well aware that they were outside ready to attack it)
• Clairvoyance (Pennywise is shown to be well aware of his victims, knowing their names, personal secrets, and what things to say to make them fearful or angry, such as when he used one of his victims, Matthew Clements to note how Pennywise will come for all of the and to tell Bill that Georgie says hello and having the other kids he's killed come out. Had full knowledge of several victims it killed enough to reference stuff they did. Pennywise takes the form of what one fears the most)
• Immortality
  • Biological Immortality: Pennywise has been alive since before creation, the kids first notice that he's been around for over 200 years. They later find out he has existed millions of years in the past, with Mike noting that it's always been here, since the beginning of time, since before there were men anywhere. Noted by Mike that Pennywise as an immortal, uses his immortality to outlast the Losers' Club to lose faith.
• Acausality
  • Causality Immunity: Initially existed outside of everything in the universe. Before the universe, there had only been two things, It and Maturin.
• Bestowal (IT begged for Bill and Richie to let them go, promising to give them whatever they wanted, money, fame, power, give Bill his wife back, or have Bill and Richie live long long lives, two hundred yerars to three hundred, perhaps even five hundred, becoming gods of the Earth)
• Consumption
  • Metaphysical Consumption: Noted by Richie that It can feed off their fears.
• Self-Sustenance
  • Respiratory: Pennywise initially came from outer space, meaning it can survive in the vacuums of space.
• Reality Warping (Pennywise can do things that "can't" happen as noted by the loser club, such as making a balloon float against the wind and make pictures wink. Transformed Beverly's house into candy)
• Multipresence (Noted by beverly that Pennywise is everywhere in Derry, it fills the hollow places)
• Physics Preservation (Pennywise initially existed outside of the universe itself with no repercussions)
• Transformation
  • Transformation: Pennywise can alter the color of his eyes, where they were originally yellow but turned a bright blue to look similar to George's mom and his brothers eyes. His eyes were turned silver when appraoching Hagarty. Changed his face after grabbing George's arms. Transformed into the bird that while not looking like Rodan, had the spirit of Rodan from the Kaiju movies that Mike and his father were watching. Later transformed into a child staring into Mike's window. Noted by Bill and Eddie that Pennywise appeared to them in different forms. Appeared as a clown with George Denbrough's face inside of a picture. Noted by Richie it's a monster that's taking the forms of different people and things. Took the form of an actual werewolf. Transformed into Dracula. Pennywise transformed into an old lady known as Mrs. Kersh into a witch into her dad and back into his clown form. Transformed from the Paul Bunyan statue into a gigantic Pennywise Statue. Took the form of a "ghost-moon" to convince Henry to kill the Loser Club. Took the form of the Frankenstein Monster. Took the form of Stanley Uris' 11 year old head and then transformed into Pennywise)
    • Natural Weaponry (Noted by Chris Unwin that Pennywise had great big teeth like a lion in the circus. Pennywise in his werewolf form has sharp claws and teeth)
    • Inorganic Physiology (Took the form of a giant Paul Bunyan statue)
    • Transcendence (It's spider form is noted to exist beyond time and space)
    • Aquatic Breathing (Can take the form of a shark and swim within the polluted waters of the canal. Took the form of a school of piranhas)
    • Body Control (Pennywise can freely control his eye colors through its transformations)
    • Flight (In his transformations such a birds. (Noted by Mr. Keene that Pennywise was leaning out of the window with his entire body without falling down, floating in the air)
    • Reforming (Through its shapeshifting, it can reform itself through its clots of black foam into different forms)
    • Supernatural Resilience (Appeared to Eddie in a state of a decaying body where Eddie noted nothing could be so eaten up and left alive. Had a chunk of its skull torn free yet was still trying to chase after Bill and Richie)
      • Undead Physiology (Noted it's taken the form of a mummy)
    • Voice Mimicry (Copied the voices of the previous children he's killed. Copied Richie's voice while speaking to Ban Hanscom)
    • Multipresence (Pennywise took the form of various kids he's previously killed, all talking to Beverly)
    • Age Manipulation (Its shapeshifitng allows it to change its age, such as turning into a kid, an old sick bum, and his most iconic form, the clown form. Pennywise transformed into an old lady known as Mrs. Kersh and had her body slowly decay into an old witch)
    • Cloth Manipulation (Changed the clothes in the Mrs. Kersh form into a witch's cloak)
    • Size Manipulation (His transformations include changing his size and shape, such as when he transformed into a giant bird that while not looking like Rodan, had the spirit of Rodan)
      • Large Size (The closest approximation of the Deadlights within reality, a giant spider that is 15 feet. The Paul Bunyan statue was 30 feet)
• Necromancy (Brought Eddie's dead younger brother back to life as an undead husk to scare him. Pennywise raised the dead to attack Stanley. Pennywise sent an undead zombie horde after Eddie)
• Subjective Reality (Made objects the losers' club was thinking about in their heads pop out of their fortune cookies)
  • Animal Manipulation (Created mutant insects through the fortune cookies of Bill's)
  • Organic Manipulation & Biological Manipulation (Bill's had a fortune cookie give birth to a fly from The Fly)
  • Blood Manipulation (Beverly's had blood spurt out of her fortune cookie)
  • Animal Manipulation (Eddie had crickets come out of his fortune cookie)
• Telepathy (Could read Ben Hanscom's thoughts and reply to them. Telepathically spoke to Henry telling him to kill the Loser Club. Pennywise takes whatever shape is in the Losers' Clubs minds. Pennywise was speaking telepathically in Ben's head, with Ben referring to it as a "crazy mental radio")
• Imprinting (Noted by Mike that It manipulates and leaves Its marks on people just by the nature of what It is the same way one smells a skunk on them even after a long bath)
• Battlefield Removal
  • Application Based: Sent Bill outside the universe and into its realm in the Macroverse.
• Mind Manipulation (The people in Derry do not question mysterious events such as 348 people disappearing without a trace, not even recognizing it in history, along with this, the townsfolk of Derry brush aside the insane amount of murders that are six times greater then any other town in the world and try to pin it on things that make no logical sense such as the depression despite it being 1958 during a large amount of cases. Pennywise's influence also makes the townsfolk more violent, such as when Richard Macklin didn't know what came over him and he suddenly started killing his stepson. The Loser Club realized that the reasons for the lack of news on big murders in Derry is all due to IT. Implied by Mike that something "possessed" him to come to a place, that something drawn him to a place. The people of Derry pretend to not remember events such as the fire at Black Spot. Pennywise amplified the pedophilic thoughts in Beverly's dad's head and tried to get him to kill her)
  • Possession (Possessed Beverly's father)
• Fear Manipulation (Pennywise made John Feury literally die of fear)
• Illusion Manipulation (Made Chris Unwin & John Webber Garton see over thousands of balloons. Pennywise made the Georgie see and smell an entire circus in the sewer. Made Beverly believe she was in an old lady's house when in actuality she was in an abandoned building)
• Fragrance Manipulation (Pennywise made the smells of a circus stronger then the smells of the sewer water. Beverly noted that the place Pennywise resided stinks and she can smell it but not with her nose)
  • Illusion Manipulation
• Madness Manipulation (George seeing Pennywise's face destroyed his sanity, having him scream mindlessly despite already being dead after the first scream)
• Fate Manipulation (There are various scenes in the novel that possibly imply Pennywise has influenced certain people's destiny, such as when events were manipulated to where Patty's husband Stanley was suddenly enraptured with the idea of her getting a teaching job in Georgia and everything going incredible well asides from not being able to get kids while they keep receiving the though "the turtle couldn't help us", noted that if the Loser Club is at all brought back to the pattern of the events of Derry, it will lead some of them to die, Mike makes note that for one reason or another many of the Loser Club's parents moved away froM Derry, with there being no way to know the reason why, implying that It could've been one of the reasons. Made the exact same story Ben heard 27 years ago in the library read again with the exact same events, with Ben nearly thinking that the past and present were stapled together)
• Memory Manipulation (Pennywise caused members of the Loser Club to foget everything that transpired within Derry once they left it such as Ben Hanscom forgetting about an old friend of his and then realizing that he forgotten everything about being a kid, realizing he hasn't even thought about his childhood, Bill even fully forgot most of his memories about Georgie and of Derry, noting that he did not think of Georgie for 20 years and even when he told Audra in the past about Georgie he noted he was simply stating a fact and the word did nothing to him, directly noted that because the Loser Club left Derry they lost thier memories of it. Eddie makes mention to how his memories have been "poisoned". The Losers' Club slowly regaining the memories have them realize they could remember everything up until August 15th 1958 with perfect clarity)
• Probability Manipulation (Everytime Pennywise awoken a some form of disaster has happened whether it'd be by him or a random natural disaster, his existence is responsible for the disappearance of 348 in Derry without a trace in the past. As Pennywise was slowly dying, it was indirectly causing apocalyptic events to occur all across Derry)
  • Water Manipulation (Pennywise indirectly flooded all of Derry)
  • Weather Manipulation (Pennywise indirectly caused foul-weather across Derry)
  • Explosion Manipulation (Caused multiple explosions across Derry)
• Dream Manipulation (Pennywise haunted Ben's dreams and had him lose all memories of the dream afterwards)
• Picture Manipulation (Made a picture of George that Bill was looking at wink at him and speak. Pennywise made it where not only was the picture moving but Richie could hear the whistles made in the picture, hear the cars' irregular sewing-machine engines. Sent a picture to Mike where his eyes were gone, blood was running down from the ragged sockets, and a scream distorting the mouth on the balloon's thin and bulging rubber skin)
  • Immersion (Pennywise made it where pictures are able to be entered into. Scared the Losers' Club from inside the picture)
• Emersion (Could escape and bring objects outside of the picture and was only stopped due to a plastic wrap over the picture)
  • Telekinesis (Flipped through the pages of George's photo album without physically being there. Pennywise disguised as Georgie telekinetically pushed Eddie into a wall)
• Blood Manipulation (Caused blood to start leaking from the picture of Georgie. Had blood splurt out all over the bathroom)
• Physics Manipulation (Pennywise can cause things impossible to physics, such as a balloon floating against the wind, with the Loser Club mentioning that's not something that can happen)
• Darkness Manipulation (It was noted by Richie that it didn't cast a shadow. Noted by Mr. Keene that Pennywise casted no shadow. Warped a roomm into near solid blackness)
• Adhesive Manipulation (Created a black sticky fluid that spilled out of the middle of a mattress)
• Perception Manipulation (Richie saw Pennywise in the form of a werewolf, though Bill saw Pennywise as the clown, this is later acknowledged by both Richie and Bill that they saw two completely different forms chase after them. Despite Pennywise causing blood all over the kitchen sink, her father did not notice it and washed his hands on the bloody sink with blood across of him. The Restaurant owner was unaware of the blood that splurted out of a fortune cookie. Spoke out loud in the middle of a library and no one at all heard or noticed asides from Ben Hanscom)
  • Invisibility (Most grownups cannot see Pennywise)
• Corrosion Manipulation (With just a touch It turned the brambly run-to-the-wild roses black and dead)
• Acid Manipulation (Pennywise sneezing had it's saliva fly and hit Richie's skin, burning it)
• Technological Manipulation (Pennywise kept turning objects on in Audra's house)
• Water Manipulation (Made the tea Beverly was drinking into liquid shit)
• Spatial Manipulation (Pennywise made a staircase that was originally three steps to over a dozen steps. Pennywise was warping the entirety of the inside of the Neibolt house)
  • Magic (Noted that it was using magic to cause the house to appear bigger inside then outside)
• Biological Manipulation (Noted by Richie that anything Pennywise said he could do to him he could actually do, including pointing at his pecker and giving him prostate cancer, point at his brain and give him a brain tumor, or point at his mouth and make his tongue have running pus. Biologically altered leeches to make ones that have wings to fly)
• Life Manipulation (Can bring life to objects such as matresses, giving them tendrils to run at its victims with)
  • Additional Limbs
  • Sound Manipulation (Made a buzzing scream so loud that Bill drew back from that rising inhuman cry and Ben felt the sound may drive him mad)
• Pain Manipulation (With a mere pointing of his index finger, sent a beam that put immense pain in Richie's eye)
• Sound Manipulation (Let out such a sound piercing scream while it came from outerspace that Richie and Mike needed to cover their ears due to the sheer sound)
• Thread Manipulation (Its spider form protrudes out webs)
• Poison Manipulation (IT's spider form has poisonous fangs).

• Resistance to
  • Poison Manipulation & Disease Manipulation (Pennywise naturally lives within the sewers and canals, which are so polluted that nothing could live in it, not even a minnow)
  • Gravity Manipulation (Noted by Mr. Keene that Pennywise was leaning out of the window with his entire body without falling down, floating in the air)
  • Space, Biological Manipulation & Cosmic Radiations (Pennywise initially came from outer space, meaning it can survive in the vacuums of space)
  • Acid Manipulation (It's own acidic saliva does not effect it)
  • Space-Time Manipulation (Predates the beginning of space-time itself thus it should be overall unaffected by it)

The Deadlights are Its eyes

• Intimidation (The mere reminder of the deadlights even with no memories of it caused Bill to recoil in fear)
• Inorganic Physiology (IT is made of pure light, dead light that moked life)
• Avatar Creation
• Cosmic Awareness (IT uses the Deadlights to look into the universe)
• Madness Manipulation (Casting one into the Deadlights has them shrieking and going insane. Completely shattered and destroyed Audra's mind putting her in a state where she was alive yet not alive)
• Magnetism Manipulation, Gravity Manipulation, & Physics Manipulation (The Deadlights is a relam that was full of a force, magneitms, gravity, and perhaps something else)
• Dimension Manipulation & Forcefield Manipulation (The Deadlights conjured a barrier of non-geometrical shape)
  • Imperceivable Attacks

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Equipment

Balloons

In It's Pennywise the Dancing Clown form, he has balloons normally around him in order to lure kids, he also does this at times to mess with his victims. These balloons defy logic as they are balloons that can float against winds and he can cause thousands of balloons to appear in an area.

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Notable Techniques

Shapeshifting

Pennywise's main way of messing with his prey and killing them, he'll take different forms and find different ways to lure or scare his prey and eventually kill them.

It takes the following forms:

Novel1990 Mini Series2017 Films

• Pennywise the Dancing Clown: The most common and preferred form taken by the creature. Pennywise wears a silvery, baggy outfit with orange pompoms and a ruffled collar. His face is pale and bald on top, framed by tufts of red hair. He has a wide red smile painted across his mouth, wears oversized white gloves, and is often seen holding a bundle of balloons. Stephen King drew inspiration for this appearance from Ronald McDonald, Bozo the Clown, Clarabell the Clown, and serial killer John Wayne Gacy.

In the 1990 adaptation, Pennywise’s costume features a more colorful design, including blue sleeves, a yellow body, and bright orange pompoms. In the 2017 version, he returns to a silver suit reminiscent of Italian opera clowns, with a more antique and eerie design. His face features two red streaks extending from his eyes down to the corners of his mouth, and his red nose is painted rather than real. His eyes are typically orange but can change to match a victim’s comfort level — often pointing in separate directions for unsettling effect. The clown’s appearance is deliberately friendly and disarming, designed to lure children by inspiring trust before striking.

• Georgie Denbrough: It manifests as Georgie on several occasions, particularly when tormenting Bill in each adaptation.
• Appears briefly as a truck in Maximum Overdrive.
• Dorsey Corcoran: The brother of Eddie Corcoran, who was killed by his abusive stepfather after a household dispute.
• The Creature from the Black Lagoon: Appears to Eddie Corcoran when he fears returning home after receiving poor grades.
• Betty Ripsom: One of It’s victims from 1957, whose voice can be heard through drains by her grieving parents.
• A Giant Bird: A monstrous hybrid of a crow and Rodan, attacking Mike Hanlon as a child.
• Werewolf: Takes on the form of the werewolf from I Was a Teenage Werewolf during Richie and Bill’s encounter at 29 Neibolt Street, even donning a Derry High School jacket.
• A Leper or diseased vagrant: Appears to Eddie under the porch at 29 Neibolt Street, his body ravaged by what Eddie assumes to be leprosy, though it is actually severe syphilis.
• The Mummy: Ben Hanscom recalls seeing a mummy dressed like Pennywise walking across a frozen canal, carrying balloons that drifted against the wind.
• The Crawling Eye: Appears to the children beneath Derry’s streets.
• Alvin Marsh: Takes the form of Beverly’s abusive father.
• A swarm of Winged Leeches: Attacks Patrick Hockstetter as a child while swimming in Brewster Lake.
• A school of Piranhas: A manifestation of Eddie’s fear of crossing streams.
• Bruce from Jaws: Seen by Tommy Vicananza in the Derry Canal in 1985.
• Dracula (resembling Kurt Barlow from Salem's Lot): Appears to Ben Hanscom in the Derry Public Library, taunting him about Stan Uris’s death with a mouth full of razor blades that slice his own flesh as he speaks.
• A Paul Bunyan Statue (referred to as "The Giant"): Confronts Richie near the town center.
• Tony Tracker: The manager of a trucking depot during the Losers’ youth, appearing to Eddie there in 1985.
• Greta Bowie: A former classmate who died in a car crash, seen by Eddie at the depot in 1985.
• Patrick Hockstetter’s Corpse: A decayed version appears to Eddie at the trucking depot.
• Leper Form of Reginald "Belch" Huggins: Seen by Eddie in 1985, later reappearing as a zombie who drives Henry Bowers to attack the Losers.
• Frankenstein’s Monster: Appears during a confrontation with Henry Bowers and his gang in the Derry sewers.
• A Doberman Pinscher: Appears to Henry Bowers in Juniper Hills Mental Institution, taking the shape of a dog feared by the guard on duty. In the 1990 film, the form is instead a Rottweiler.
• A Ghost Moon: Manifested while manipulating Henry Bowers to serve It again.
• Victor "Vic" Criss: Another illusion used to influence Henry Bowers.
• Jimmy Donlin’s Mother: Appears dead and partially eaten to an inmate at Juniper Hills.
• Stan Uris’s Head: Found inside Mike’s fridge, covered in white feathers, and later appears as a jack-in-the-box during Henry’s attack on Mike in the library. Mike sees it transform into Belch’s head, while Henry perceives Victor’s instead.
• Mrs. Kersh / Witch from Hansel & Gretel: Beverly encounters her in her childhood home, where Mrs. Kersh transforms into a monstrous witch before revealing herself as It.
• Decomposing Children: Seen by Stan Uris when he recalls the story of drowned kids at the Standpipe’s reservoir.
• The Deadlights: One of It’s closest displays to its true essence, seen by Henry Bowers and the Losers.
• Giant Spider: Represents It’s physical form on Earth.

• Pennywise the Dancing Clown: The primary guise It takes to interact with and terrorize the children of Derry, dressed in a brightly colored clown suit with orange pompoms, blue sleeves, and a yellow body.

• Mr. Hanscom

• Swampy Skeleton

• George Denbrough

• The Mummy: Appears to Ben Hanscom, wearing a version of Pennywise’s clown costume, combining the horror of a rotting corpse with the clown’s familiar outfit.

• Werewolf: Takes the form of a werewolf in a Derry High School blazer to frighten Richie and Bill, particularly during their confrontation in the Neibolt house.

• Alvin Marsh

• Gas Station Attendant

• Mrs. Kersh / The Witch

• Rotton Lady / Alvin Marsh

• The Moon (Henry Bowers): Manifests as the moon with Pennywise’s face, haunting Henry Bowers and symbolizing Its hold over him.

• Blue Zombie Belch Huggins: Appears as the reanimated corpse of Belch Huggins, driving a 1958 Plymouth Fury while giving Henry Bowers a lift, serving as both mockery and manipulation.

• Stanley Uris's Head: Found inside Mike Hanlon’s refrigerator, the head of Stanley Uris turns into a spider-like creature before vanishing.

• Beverly Marsh

• A Doberman Pinscher: Appears as a Rottweiler in this adaptation, a change from the novel’s depiction, used to threaten and attack the Losers.

• Freaky Fortune Cookies: Takes the form of disturbing fortune cookies that come alive during the Chinese restaurant reunion, unnerving the adult Losers.

• The Deadlights: The closest visual representation of Its true nature, appearing as a swirling, hypnotic light that drives those who see it insane.

• Giant Spider Monster: Its final revealed form in the 1990 miniseries, resembling a large, insectoid creature representing Its true physical body on Earth.

Chapter 1Chapter 2

• Pennywise the Dancing Clown
• Georgie Denbrough: After taking Georgie as its first victim, It often uses his image to torment Bill. It commonly appears as Georgie in his yellow raincoat, and at one point confronts Bill in the basement with a decayed version of Georgie’s face. Later, beneath the Neibolt House, It again takes Georgie’s form to lure Bill into letting his guard down, but Bill shoots It, forcing It to revert back into Pennywise.
• Librarian: While Ben is researching Derry’s history, one of the librarians begins staring at him unnervingly, appearing closer with each glance until she vanishes. A red balloon then appears where she had been standing, marking It’s presence.
• Headless Child: As Ben reads about the Kitchener Ironworks explosion, he notices a photo of a headless boy among the victims. Moments later, a burning Easter egg rolls toward him, leading him into the basement, where the headless corpse of a charred child chases him through the shelves before transforming into Pennywise.
• Judith: Stanley Uris’s fear manifests as the woman from a distorted painting in his father’s office, known as Judith. The figure steps out of the painting with a stretched face and fingers, attacking Stan and later ambushing him again in the sewers before being driven off by his friends.
• Infected Leper: Taking advantage of Eddie’s fear of disease, It appears as a decaying, oozing leper. The creature confronts Eddie outside the house on Neibolt Street, chasing him into the yard and later causing him to break his arm. During the group’s fight, It transforms into the leper again and vomits on Eddie before morphing into Beverly’s father.
• Charred Hands: Mike Hanlon envisions the burned hands of his parents and other fire victims clawing at a locked door, representing both his trauma and It’s influence over his fears.
• Clown: A sinister clown silently performs onstage during a public event, unnoticed by the crowd. When Richie admits his fear of clowns, the figure grins directly at him, revealing itself as one of It’s observing manifestations.
• Richie Tozier (doll): Richie discovers a coffin labeled with his name, containing a decayed doll version of himself being eaten by insects. As he recoils, Pennywise suddenly emerges from the coffin to attack him.
• Betty Ripsom: One of It’s victims, Betty’s reanimated body attacks Patrick Hockstetter in the sewers. Her mutilated remains later appear behind a door in the Neibolt Street house to terrify the Losers.
• Eddie Kaspbrak: Within the Neibolt House, It briefly disguises itself as Eddie to lure Richie into a room full of clown figures. Later, It appears again as Eddie’s severed head emerging from a mattress, taunting Bill and Richie before spitting blood and vanishing.
• Werewolf: After being struck through the head with an iron rod, It temporarily develops wolf-like features, such as a stretched muzzle and sharp claws, blending its monstrous and animalistic forms.
• Mummy: During the Losers’ final confrontation with It, the creature briefly takes the form of a bandaged mummy, using its wrappings to pull Ben toward its jaws until Bill strikes it with a chain.
• Alvin Marsh: While battling the Losers, It attempts to terrify Beverly by changing its face to resemble her abusive father. Beverly retaliates by impaling the creature through the throat with a metal rod.

• Pennywise the Dancing Clown
• Patrick Hockstetter's Corpse: Henry Bowers encounters the zombified remains of his old friend Patrick Hockstetter, who crawls out from under his bed and wordlessly hands him a knife, helping him escape.
• George Denbrough
• Infected Leper: In a vision from his childhood, Eddie watches his mother become infected by a diseased leper that breaks free from its chains. Years later, an adult Eddie faces the same creature, now clothed, and manages to overpower it, choking it until it spews black liquid before vanishing. Eddie’s ability to harm It in this form leads the Losers to realize that It’s power depends on the shape It takes. The leper’s head briefly appears again attached to the Spider-Pennywise during the final battle.
• Sonia Kaspbrak
• Mrs. Kersh: A kindly older woman living in Beverly Marsh’s former home, who at first appears warm and welcoming when Beverly visits her childhood neighborhood.
• The Witch: Mrs. Kersh later transforms into a grotesque, giant, gray-skinned creature resembling a witch. It storms out from the shadows, its eyes bulging and a gaping mouth on its throat.
• Robert "Bob" Gray": Shortly after Beverly’s encounter with the Witch, It appears as a humanoid version of itself—an eerie man with orange hair and a large forehead—applying clown makeup as It transitions back into Pennywise.
• Paul Bunyan Statue: A towering statue of Paul Bunyan comes to life and menaces a young Richie Tozier, its grin twisting as bats fly from its mouth and its teeth turn razor-sharp.
• Adrian Mellon: It briefly assumes the form of a zombified Adrian Mellon to hand Richie a funeral flyer before reappearing atop the Paul Bunyan statue as Pennywise.
• Demonic Beverly: Taking Beverly’s likeness, It taunts Ben Hanscom with cruel words before transforming into a flaming, demonic version of her with glowing orange eyes, chasing him through a hallway.
• Stanley’s Head: When the Neibolt Street house refrigerator opens again after 27 years, Stanley Uris’s twisted corpse crawls out. His head detaches, sprouting spider legs, and attacks the adult Losers before being stabbed and flung into a wall, limping away.
• The Pennywise Spider: Deep within Its lair, the Losers face a massive version of Pennywise fused with spider limbs. A glowing hole in the back of Its head emits the Deadlights as It tries to break them psychologically.
• Betty Ripsom’s Legs: Behind a door in the Neibolt Street house, Eddie and Richie discover the legs of Betty Ripsom dangling in the same spot where her torso appeared decades earlier.
• Pomeranian: When Richie and Eddie try to escape, they open a door marked “Not Scary At All,” revealing a harmless-looking Pomeranian. After a few seconds, the dog mutates into a monstrous, hellish creature that lunges at them, forcing the two to retreat.
• Greta Keene: One of the forms It takes when trapping Beverly inside the restroom cubicle.
• Mr. Keene: Another form It uses during Beverly’s entrapment inside the cubicle, reflecting her childhood trauma.
• Henry Bowers: It briefly takes the shape of a younger Henry Bowers during Beverly’s encounter in the cubicle, mockingly quoting Jack Torrance’s famous “Here’s Johnny” line.
• Tom Rogan: Appearing as Beverly’s abusive husband, Tom is another form It assumes to torment her while she’s trapped.
• Alvin Marsh: Taking the appearance of Beverly’s father, It once again uses Alvin’s likeness to emotionally break her. Later, during the final confrontation, Its head morphs rapidly through several past forms, including Alvin’s.
• Bill Denbrough: Bill finds himself underwater and pulled into a vision of his old home’s basement, mirroring his childhood encounter with Georgie. There, his younger self appears, trying to shoot him with a bolt pistol. Bill wrestles it away and strikes him, revealing a monstrous face before It fades into the water.
• Witch: As It weakens, Its head cycles through previous shapes to frighten the Losers, including the witch Beverly saw in her old home.
• Leper: One of the forms It cycles through during Its final breakdown—a diseased vagrant, once again reflecting Eddie’s fear of contamination.
• Judith: Among Its final transformations, It momentarily becomes the Woman from the Painting that once haunted Stan, even though he is no longer alive.
• Mummy: As Its power falters, It briefly assumes the shape of a mummy—one of the forms that terrified Ben during his childhood encounter.

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Other

Standard Tactics: Pennywise's strategy can essentially be explained as "playing with his food", he will constantly play around with his prey and mess with them mentally and physically before eventually killing them.

Weaknesses

• Underestimation: Pennywise greatly underestimates humanity and believes them being able to resist it to be impossible. This causes It to play around a lot when dealing with its prey. Such as when It decided to play around with Eddie and have him get away telling him to come back with his friends. Even after repeatedly failing to kill members of the Losers' Club like Bill and Richie, It still toyed with them, even when they were exploiting it's weaknesses, even after Stanley exploited it's weakness, it still decided to play around with Beverly. Decided to mess with Ben Hanscom and tell him he's going to kill all of them later despite being beaten by them in the past and killing them all off one by one before they get their memories back being the smarter option, he then proceeded to do the same thing to the rest of the Loser Club without directly killing any of them, having them unlock their core memories aiding in their defeat of him. Pennywise even directly notes to Richie that he could kill him in that moment but fighting all of them at once would be too much fun, noting that he could do various things to different parts of Richie's body with a simple point from his index finger. Pennywise went to taunt Mike telling them they'll never be able to beat them, telling them to get out of Derry if they knew better instead of just killing him then and there. Its underestimation of the Losers' Club when they were kids made Pennywise nearly die to them and believe it would die to them, causing it to run away in shame. It's underestimation led to the The Losers' Club harming IT and getting away, which sent it into a depression.
• Lack of Fear: Pennywise's primary form of nourishment is one's fear, thus one that lacks fear cannot make him stronger and It cannot feed off of them.
• Fear: It is not used to the feeling of Fear, something that greatly angers it and causes it to wallow in pain.
• Belief: One of Pennywise's greatest weaknesses is the opposite of fear, belief. Richie believing he could harm Pennywise with a Irish cop accent made Pennywise affected by it, screaming in pain from along with feeling fear itself. Richie tearing open a picture of the sneezing man on it and squeezing the packet while ordering in the Voice of the Irish Cop forced Pennywise to listen to his orders such as telling him to stop and making it choke and wheeze. Stanley saying the names of birds caused Pennywise to cringe and step back from attacking him, this was later reaffirmed by the Loser Club. Pennywise openly admits that the only reason he can't be beaten by the Losers' Club during the events of Chapter 12 is because they only "half-believe" but he needs to enlist Henry to kill them. Due to Bill believing the warping of the Neibolt House was an illusion he was able to negate Pennywise's warping of the house, calling it just a hallucination, this is further noted when Stan notes it was an illusion to Bill because he had something to fight for and then Bill had to tell Stan back he has something too. When Pennywise had a mattress cause a loud piercing scream Mike merely believed it was actually a mooseblower and it became such, having the mattress disappear. Acknowledged by Mike that It must wait for the Losers' Club act of faith diminish in order to truly fight them as their faith nearly killed it.
• Ritual of Chüd: This is first brought up by Bill in Chapter 13 on a way to defeat Pennywise.
• The "Other" (Gan): Asides from belief and faith, it is also noted that is another force that was helping the Losers' Club when they were kids fighting Pennywise, questioned by Pennywise that there was another asides from it and Maturin that was helping the kids.
• Transformations Weaknesses: All things must abide by the laws of the shape they inhabit, causing things where It took damage while in its bird form from Mike hitting it, It took pain when Ben poked one of its eyes with his thumb, It had a chunk of its skull torn free when shot by Bill's gun in its werewolf form. Despite how well Pennywise may hide in their disguises, there is an innate feeling that their form is not right. This is shown when Beverly despite viewing Mrs. Kersh as a nice old woman felt something wrong with her and that the way she was acting didn't feel real. One that cannot perceive Pennywise previously, can forcibly lock it into a form in reality.
• Hibernation: It was noted by Mike that Pennywise re-appears every 27 years. There are two ways for Pennywise to enter hibernation, the first is that Pennywise causes such a monstrous sacrifice to quiet Pennywise and send them back to sleep for a quarter-century, the other is to temporarily defeat Pennywise and send them running back into hibernation.
  • Powers Weaknesses: Pennywise cannot escape pictures if they're wrapped in plastic. If the memories of Pennywise are forgotten, even the injuries and scars he's given one are gone and will only return when they remember Pennywise. The Deadlights cannot work on those with a mind like a child.

Explanations

Derry

The main town Pennywise resides in and carries out his killings. Pennywise has been in Derry since the beginning of its history and is referred to as "Derry itself" by some people that have seen them. It's connection to Derry is so strong that it's death caused Derry to collapse and while it was dying it was causing apocalyptic disasters to spread across the town.

Trivia

• While It is believed to have been destroyed by the end of the novel, the miniseries, and the 2019 film It: Chapter 2, an early line in the book hints that Pennywise may have survived. This is further supported by references to Pennywise in several of Stephen King’s later works. Despite this, King stated in a Reddit Q&A that he currently has no plans to revisit the character.
  • This would make Pennywise the only Stephen King antagonist who may still be alive.
  • In The Tommyknockers (1987), Tommy Jacklin, while on a supply trip to Derry, thinks he spots a “clown with shiny silver dollar eyes” staring from the sewers.
  • In Dreamcatcher (2001), Mr. Gray sees the plaque honoring the victims of Derry’s standpipe disaster, which has been vandalized with the words “PENNYWISE LIVES.”
  • In Gwendy’s Final Task (2022), Gwendy learns of a girl being stalked by a clown in Derry. The book is set after the COVID-19 pandemic, placing this event after 2020.
• King has made it clear he does not intend to bring Pennywise back, leaving future appearances uncertain.
• Out of the thirty-two forms It assumes in the novel, fifteen are recreated in some way across the 2017 and 2019 films.
• In both films, Pennywise subtly appears in certain images, hinting at Its pervasive presence:
  • Pennywise is visible in the photograph of the children from the Ironworks Easter Egg hunt.
  • In the graffiti mural in the alley where the Losers patch up Ben, Pennywise’s face can be seen behind the wheel of the car. Interestingly, it is absent when the Losers first enter the alley and when Mike later hides there from Henry.
  • Its face can be found in the depiction of Derry’s first settlers.
  • In Beverly and Tom’s house, Pennywise’s image appears behind Tom in a painting above their staircase.
• Pennywise is the second major recurring villain in King’s multiverse, following Randall Flagg.
  • However, unlike Flagg, Its presence is mostly limited to references, with only brief appearances in The Tommyknockers and 11/22/63.
• Some speculate that the Crimson King, from The Dark Tower, may be of the same species as Pennywise or even his offspring, though this has not been confirmed.
• Pennywise is referenced in Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE, where an enemy clown named Nickelwise appears.
• It remains uncertain whether It killed Peter Gordon, Moose Sadler, and Gard Jagermeyer.
• Pennywise’s true name has never been revealed, leaving the possibility that It is nameless.
• A prequel series titled Welcome to Derry is currently in development, though it is not yet confirmed if Bill Skarsgård will return to the role.
• On April 1, 2022, King jokingly suggested that Pennywise and Randall Flagg are the same entity, implying they may be one and the same.
• Pennywise shares similarities with the urban legend of Cropsey, a figure said to live in Staten Island’s tunnels and abduct children. The legend is thought to stem from real-life disappearances and murders, with Andre Rand convicted of several kidnappings.
• The murder of Adrian Mellon in the novel is based on the real-life murder of Charlie Howard.
• Pennywise has shown to not care about using any form of racial slurs on any of the humans he meets, making him a blatant racist.

Misconceptions

Gan's Intervention is Amplifying the Losers' Club

There are implications that Gan is intervening and helping the losers' club during the novel, and this is true, however, some take it further to Gan amplifying the abilities of the Losers' Club to fight Pennywise throughout the story, which is never said until one specific moment in the story. Gan simply fates them to do things that will help them on their journey, such as having Mike buy bike tools despite not having a bike in order to help Bill in the future when he needs a bike fixed. Another example is when it's implied Gan is helping Beverly's aim get better, though Gan did not amplify any of her abilities or strength, just gave her the ability to aim properly.

This is also further noted in Chapter 12 that their belief is directly what's countering Pennywise, not any amplification, which is why he believes Henry, an old bully, can kill them whether they believe or not.

The only time Gan actually amplifies them is when Bill and Richie walk up to Pennywise to finish them off, which this is the only time Bill and Richie ever mentioned feeling the power of The Other strengthening them, even with prior times of them being somewhat aware of another force helping them. It also notably affects their body when the power leaves them, having Bill feel weak, revulsed, and half-insane. This amplification is likely due to the Ritual of Chüd.

Battle Records

0 - 1 - 0

VictoriesLossesInconclusive

None.

• Losers Club - Fight
  • Conditions: The Losers Club fought it when they were both kids and adults, receiving some help from The Other (Gan).
  • Location: Derry, Maine/The Deadlights

None.

References

This dropdown contains passages from the Novel IT. Warning as there might be some racist terminology in there that have been censored. Also due to the sheer amount of references, the page may lag for a couple of seconds opening it up.