For some time there have been rumors on the net talking about a third future part for this incredible saga that is “It” by Stephen King so hoping that this one is verified I take this opportunity to tell you about one of my favorite horror characters: Pennywise!
It was in 1986 that Stephen King’s novel saw the light of day. A story about a group of children fighting against a demonic creature that has taken on the appearance of a clown in the small town of Derry.
Stephen King, as often in his novels, will incorporate personal memories and anecdotes from his own childhood.
“It” is a novel mixing past and present, following the children, who have become adults, having to confront again the creature that had terrorized them.
The book, a block of almost one thousand three hundred pages, was quickly adapted into a television movie. It was in 1990 that “It” landed on American televisions.
In this article, I’ll focus more on the creature itself than on the rest of the story.
The creature is a key character in the novel and a lot of gray areas persist about it so let’s lift the veil on some aspects of “It”.
The clown Named “It”, is also known as Pennywise in. It is a very old creature, a demonic being, which would even date, before the creation of the universe. It comes from a place called the Macro-verse, a world beyond our own. Arrived on Earth for millions of years, the creature has remained lurking in the shadows awaiting the arrival of humanity.
She waited and when the first inhabitants arrived on what would become the city of Derry, the creature set off on the hunt. Alternating moments of pure violence with periods of hibernation of 27 years.
We don’t know his original form, more often than not, “It” looks like a clown, a shape he uses as a trap in order to more easily catch children.
It is also explained to us that the fact of terrorizing its victims before devouring them, allows their flesh to taste better, like a little salt on a piece of barbaque.
The creature appears to have some control over the psyche of the people of Derry, many of the crimes against children were never solved, and the adults either forgot or remained unmoved by these events as if nothing had happened.
Who is he really?
The creature comes from another world beyond our universe. She arrived on our earth millions of years ago, patiently waiting for humans. Its true form is impossible for man to understand, it cannot materialize in our physical world, it is revealed in the form of a giant spider during the final fight, because this form is the only one that comes close to this that it really is.
This spider-like form is also the one chosen by the creature to fight the club of failures, because not being able to materialize the fear of each of the members, it needed a form representing a universal fear, capable of frightening everyone at the same time.
Its true form?
This spider-like form is also the one chosen by the creature to fight the club of failures, because not being able to materialize the fear of each of the members, it needed a form representing a universal fear, capable of frightening everyone at the same time.
“It” has a form made from orange light called dead lights. These lights are the creature’s best asset, because any human being who gazes into them will instantly lose their mental health. Only Bill, a member of the Loosers Club, will be able to see a glimpse of the dead lights through the eyes of the unseen creature. He will describe them as a gigantic, almost infinite, creeping entity made up entirely of orange lights.
Its transformations
The creature feeds on the fear of others. She is thus able to materialize each fear physically to frighten her victims before devouring them. In the TV movie, the creature can take on different appearances to terrify its prey, so we’ll see it take turns taking on the appearances of a familiar person, a werewolf, a mummy, but these are much more varied in the novel. We thus find there: the creature of “Creature from the Black Lagoon”, a pteranodon, leeches, a leper, the shark of “Jaws”, piranhas, Dracula or the witch of Hansel and Gretel.
The kids
The creature feeds on the fear of children, the latter being easier to frighten, the latter being more apt to believe in it, but the power of the imagination of the children as well as their innocence can also make them stronger in the face of “It”. Thus allowing the failure club to defeat him for the first time.
The coming of age will have quite an impact on them, their beliefs and their friendship will not be what it used to be. Their imagination will be diminished and 27 years later, when “It” returns, they will have to find their lost childhoods and find their complicity in order to defeat the creature once and for all.
A powerfull creature
In addition to being a shapeshifter, the creature can also create hallucinations so powerful that they are able to hurt their victims while being invisible to those unaware of its existence.
To this is also added:
- telepathy
- teleportation
- telekinesis
- mind control
- time modulation.
“It” is therefore an extremely powerful entity.
His worst enemy
Outside of the loosers club, his worst enemy is a turtle named Maturin. Absent from TV movies and movies, this one comes from the same place as “It”. It is also said that this one is at the origin of our universe and unlike the clown, it is a benevolent entity. Like the ying and the yang these two creatures are at perpetual war with each other.
“It” and the turtle appear in other Stephen King novels such as “The Dark Tower” but the concept of Macro-verse is a bit confusing for those who haven’t read the novels. This may explain why the turtle was not used in the video adaptations of the story.
“It”, is he really dead? (appearances and references in King’s work).
- “It” appears in the “Tommyknockers” novel, one of the characters claiming to have seen a clown in a manhole as he passed through Derry. In the film there are several references to the city of Derry.
- Even more surprisingly, the VHS jackets of the 2 TV films are almost very similar
- In the novel “Dreamcatcher” there is also a reference to graffiti on a wall saying “Pennywise is alive”.
- In the short story “Gray Matter” from the collection “Danse Macabre”, reference is made to a man working in the sewers of Bangor, who one day came out totally frightened, referring to a white light.
- The story of the novel “Insomnia” also takes place in the city of Derry.
With all his clues, is it possible that Stephen King would imply that “It” would still be alive, hibernating somewhere? Will he ever come back to wreak havoc in our world?
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