The characters present in Stephen King's It. For the 1990 miniseries, see here. For the 2017 and 2019 films, see here.

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The Losers Club

In General

The Losers Club

Abusive Parents: Bill's parents ignore him after his brother dies, Eddie's mother is extremely overprotective, Beverly's father beats her regularly, and Ben's mother is part of the reason he's so overweight. Richie, Mike, and Stan's respective parents largely avert this.
Amnesiac Heroes: All of them, sans Mike, forgot virtually everything about each other and their battle with It when they grew up. It's only when It resurfaces in 1985 that the memories come back, albeit slowly.
- Even Mike is missing the summer of 1958 from some time before IT's defeat until school lets back in in September.
- Stan may also be an exception. It's clear he knew Bill Denbrough, the writer, as his childhood friend. He also remembered enough about what he'd face if he returned to Derry to kill himself.
Badass Normal: They're only normal humans, but managed to take out an interdimensional Eldritch Abomination with little more than The Power of Friendship.
Blessed with Suck: Over the course of the story, it becomes apparent to all the Losers that some outside force is guiding events leading to their confrontation with It. This leads to them being able to do things from the uncharacteristic (Eddie standing up to his mother for the first time) to the supernatural (the Adult losers sending Mike power to fight off Mark Lamonica in the hospital to the impossible (Bill reviving Audra from her catatonic state through a bike ride). But at the same time, all of them feel somewhat unsettled about their lives essentially being hijacked, and downright traumatized by the psychological damage that the conflict with IT creates.
Blood Oath: All seven of them made a blood pact to return to Derry and finish the job in the event that IT ever comes back.
Children's Covert Coterie: Losers Club starts off as a coalition of like-minded outcasts getting together to escape the various miseries of life in Derry, most prominently bullying by Henry Bowers and his clique. However, as time goes on, they adopt a much more serious and secretive objective that no adult can be entrusted with: learning the true nature of the monster preying on Derry and killing it once and for all.
Five-Token Band: The Losers' Club is a Seven Token Band. Bill stutters, Ben is overweight, Richie has glasses, Eddie has asthma, Stan is Jewish, Mike is black and Beverly is poor (she's also the only girl).
Laser-Guided Amnesia: Type 3: Something (implied to be the Other) makes them forget about each other and their childhoods after they leave Derry, with only Mike remembering because he never left.
Law of Inverse Fertility: By age 38, none of the Losers have children, despite some of them desperately wanting them. It's implied this is due to the Turtle/Other's meddling. They need to recapture their childhood to defeat IT as adults, which might not be possible if they have children of their own.
N-Word Privileges: The Losers can each rag on each other knowing that it's only jokes and not being hurtful when it's coming from a fellow Loser.
The Power of Friendship: An actual magical force in this universe, which allows them to channel magic and defeat IT by combining the strength of their imagination.
Rule of Seven: Seven individuals make up this particular ka-tet, to reference another King work, and the text specifically mentions that the number seven is often ascribed mystical properties.
Sex for Solace: After defeating It for the first time, the Losers become lost in the sewers and start to panic until Beverly has sex with the boys to calm them down.
She's All Grown Up: The Losers' Club members as adults, but especially Beverly Marsh and Ben Hanscom.
The Smurfette Principle: Beverly is the only girl in the seven man band.
Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: All of them smoke cigarettes, swear constantly, and after defeating It, they all make love with Beverly, all of this at age 11.
True Companions: In 1958 and 1985. Aside from those years they don't spend time with each other and in fact don't even remember each other.
Victory-Guided Amnesia: Except for Mike, all of the children completely forget their victory and spend most of the adults' portion of the novel trying to remember. After their second victory, they all begin to forget again, including Mike, who takes his memory loss as a sign that It is truly and permanently dead. Although other Stephen King books suggest otherwise...

Bill Denbrough

William "Bill" Denbrough (aka "Stuttering Bill"; "Big Bill")

The red-headed leader of the group, and the most self-assured member of the club. He wants to avenge the death of his younger brother, George. He feels partly responsible for his death as it was he who made George the boat and sent him outside to play with it during a rainstorm. In addition, his parents have become cold and withdrawn towards him after the loss of their youngest son, and he secretly hopes the death of the murderer will awaken his parents to his presence again. He has a bad stuttering issue, which his mother attributes to a car accident that occurred when he was three years old, and which earned him the nickname "Stuttering Bill".

Author Avatar: Became a successful horror author as an adult, and in the movie one of his books is even called The Glowing. Similarities to Stephen King aside, Word of God says that Bill is based on Peter Straub (tall, balding redhead, stutter, etc.).
Big Good: Although the Turtle has this role in the novel.
Determinator: Bill won't let anything stop him from getting justice (or revenge) for Georgie's death.
Has a Type: Both the women he has feelings towards - Bev and Audra - are redheads.
Innocent Blue Eyes: At one point, he is described as having "anxious blue eyes" as a kid.
It's All My Fault: He has a lot of guilt for being the one who came up with the idea of fighting and killing It and thus bringing his friends a lot of misery. He also blames himself for George's death at Its hands, because he was the one who sent George out to play.
It's Personal: It murdered his little brother George.
Knight in Sour Armor: The stress of being the group's leader takes its toll on Bill over time, and he occasionally wishes he had someone to turn to for guidance.
Large and in Charge: As kids, he was described as being the tallest of the group and is The Leader of the Losers Club.
The Leader: Although Mike shares this role with him when he summons them all back to Derry after It returns.
Parental Neglect: After George's death, Bill's parents become increasingly distant and ignorant of him.
Prematurely Bald: He started balding in college. Richie lampshades it during their reunion.
Richie: Oh my, look at this—Bill Denbrough went for the chrome dome look. How long you been Turtle Waxing your head, Big Bill?
Red Is Heroic: He has red hair and is the main protagonist of the novel.
Roaring Rampage of Revenge: He initially only wants to kill It because it killed his little brother George. He later expands it to avenge all of It's 1957-1958 victims.
Stutter Stop: In key moments in his childhood. He manages to overcome the stutter completely after the first ordeal, but when the memories of it resurfaces, so does the stutter.
Unlucky Childhood Friend: Played with. He doesn't get to be with Beverly - he loses out to Ben - but he is still married to gorgeous A-list actress Audra.
Verbal Tic: Bill's stuttering.
You Killed My Father: "You killed my brother Georgie, you bastard! Let's see you now!"

Ben Hanscom

Benjamin "Ben" Hanscom (aka "Haystack")

A highly intelligent boy who, before joining the Losers' Club, often spent his free time reading books at the public library. He is also obese, and due to this has become a favorite victim of Henry Bowers.

Berserk Button: Hit Beverly Marsh with a rock, and you will feel his wrath.
Big Eater: There are many parts in the novel where he is snacking on junk food, this changes once he hits high-school.
Bigger Is Better in Bed: Zig-zagged. In the sewer sex scene, Ben's equipment is much bigger than the other boys'. It's very painful for Beverly at first, but he also gives her her first orgasm.
The Big Guy: Physically the largest and strongest of the Losers, but not the tallest (that would be Bill).
Bookworm: Before meeting his friends, he was very fond of attending the public library and reading books.
Determinator: When he decided to lose weight in high school. The gym teacher mocks him for trying, which just makes Ben work harder at it.
Disappeared Dad: Mysteriously, and with little clues. IT appears as him in the film to young Ben.
- It is mentioned in the book that his father died when he was four years old. Though what he died from isn't mentioned. In the 1990 miniseries, Ben mentions his father was killed whilst fighting in Korea.
Dogged Nice Guy: To Beverly Marsh.
Formerly Fat: Adult Ben is so slim that when he tells people he was obese as a child, they react with disbelief.
Gag Penis: For an eleven-year-old, anyway. In the sewer sex scene Beverly finds out his is by far the biggest of the Losers' Club.
Momma's Boy: Ben loves his mother dearly, but fortunately for him she's nowhere near as overbearing as Eddie's mother.
I Am Big Boned : Much of Arlene Hanscom's personal security comes from keeping her son well-fed. When a teenaged Ben confronts her about it, she tells him he's not fat, he just has big bones. A compromise is reached when she starts cooking healthier meals so Ben can still eat a lot but not gain weight.
In-Series Nickname: Richie nicknames him "Haystack" after the wrestler Haystacks Calhoun.
Scars Are Forever: Zig-zagged. Henry cut an H into Ben's belly when they were kids, and a much deeper scar was inflicted on him a little later. The H scar stayed (and became a neat pub story) but the deeper scar faded away after they left Derry. When IT resurfaced and the Losers started being drawn back to Derry, the scar reappeared.
Victorious Childhood Friend: For Beverly.

Beverly Marsh

Beverly "Bev" Rogan née Marsh

The only girl in the group, she is an attractive and tomboyish redhead on whom each of the boys has a secret crush at some point during the story. She is from the poorest part of Derry, and is frequently abused by her father, Alvin, while her mother, Elfrida is out working.

Abusive Parents: Her father beat her on a regular basis, and is implied at one point to have sexual feelings for her.
Action Girl: She's quite good with a slingshot. So she ends up being the one to deal the Losers' first blow against It, when it attacks them as the Teenage Werewolf in the house on Neibolt Street.
The Dog Bites Back: Her husband abused her regularly. In her first scene, she gets the call from Mike, and when Tom tries to stop her from leaving, she decides she's had enough of his shit, fights back, and beats the hell out of him.
Fiery Redhead: When pushed to it.
Head-Turning Beauty: It is acknowledged In-Universe that Beverly is very beautiful. The reason that she isn't part of the popular girl's clique is that she's poor and can't afford nice clothes, and she doesn't act very ladylike (swearing, smoking, playing out in the woods instead of doing stereotypically girly things, and hanging out exclusively with boys). Also, the richer girls are rather annoyed that they are getting upstaged in terms of looks by someone who's working-class and from the poor side of town.
Like Parent, Like Spouse: Beverly essentially married a carbon copy of her father.
Love Triangle: With Ben and Bill.
Mirthless Laughter: After catching the Bowers gang fart-lighting and nearly being discovered in the process, she cracks up laughing... but only because she doesn't know of any other way to cope with the sight.
Nice Girl: She has shown to be pretty friendly and approachable, especially when she hangs around her six friends.
One of the Boys: She hangs out with boys and is very tomboyish.
The Smurfette Principle: The only girl in the Losers' Club. Probably intended by the power guiding the Losers, if the sex scene in the sewers is any indication.
Significant Green-Eyed Redhead: She is described as having long auburn-red hair and gray-green eyes.
So Beautiful, It's a Curse: She's acknowledged as being beautiful and is in one abusive marriage, as well as a violent father attracted to her beauty.
Tomboy: She doesn't act ladylike and enjoys swearing, smoking, playing in the woods, and hanging out with boys.
Victorious Childhood Friend: For Ben.

Eddie Kaspbrak

Edward "Eddie" Kaspbrak

A frail and asthmatic hypochondriac, who carries his inhaler with him everywhere. His father died when he was very young, and his mother is domineering and constantly worries about his health.

Abusive Parents: Eddie Kaspbrak's mother (even if she didn't mean it that way).
Ambiguously Gay: Some people interpret his character this way. As a child, he's a Momma's Boy; as an adult he appears to be living a largely sexless marriage with a woman who seems like his mother's physical and emotional twin. When Pennywise takes the form of his fear, he appears as a male leper who repeatedly offers him a blowjob. Eddie thinks to himself how he’s rotten on the inside, and he becomes afraid of the act of communion in church, believing he would be seen as “not worthy” and “damned to hell”, for reasons not explicitly stated. When Adrian Mellon is described by Mike as a gay asthmatic man, Eddie visibly reacts, drawing the reader’s attention to their similarities. In text, King describes the adult Eddie as resembling Anthony Perkins, who was known to be gay.
Asthma Peril: Played with. Eddie thinks he has asthma, but that's only because his mother continually tells him that, and gives him an inhaler to use. She thinks that if he thinks he has asthma he won't take risks or venture far from home. His asthma attacks are a minor plot point, and even into adulthood (after he's learned his mother lied to him), he still uses an inhaler.
Butt-Monkey: He grows up as a fragile, allergic-to-everything Momma's Boy, gets his arm broken by Henry and pals, and marries an overbearing carbon copy of his mother.
Calling the Old Man Out: Eddie is pissed when he's in the hospital and his mother sends his friends away. She is actually frightened of him for a moment. Note that this is the only time he ever stands up to his mother.
Disappeared Dad: His father died when he was very young, which probably contributed to his mother being overprotective of him.
Embarrassing Nickname: He hates it when Richie calls him "Eds".
Go Out with a Smile: He tells Richie "don't call me Eds" one last time, and smiles at him.
Heroic Sacrifice: After hearing Richie's plea for help, Eddie jumps into action and triggers his aspirator at It. Sadly, It ends up ripping his arm off in retaliation, ultimately causing his death.
Huge Girl, Tiny Guy: His wife Myra is very large and Eddie is slight.
Killed Mid-Sentence: "Richie, don't call me Eds. You know I...I..."
Killed Off for Real: He and Stan are the only Losers' Club members who die.
Like Parent, Like Spouse: Eddie married a woman like his mother. He's aware of the fact, but still feels helpless to do anything about it. He's very cognizant that she has her hooks in him just as strong as his mother did.
Momma's Boy: He's squarely under his mother's thumb and likes it, until he starts to make friends and realize just how much she holds him back.
My Beloved Smother: Eddie's mother. His father died when Eddie was very young and Eddie himself suffered a very real and very serious case of whooping cough shortly thereafter. She spent the rest of her life terrified of being "left alone" and became overprotective.
- Of course, Derry has a long history of missing children.
Tagalong Kid

Richie Tozier

Richard "Richie" Tozier (aka "Trashmouth")

Known as "Trashmouth", Richie is the Losers' most lighthearted member, always cracking jokes and doing impersonations 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 getting into trouble. His flippant remark to Henry Bowers leads to almost getting beaten up by Henry and his friends. He is the most devoted to keeping the group together as he sees seven as a magical number and believes the group should have no more, no less. In adulthood, he is a successful disc jockey in Los Angeles.

Ambiguously Bi: Richie is shown to be sexually and romantically attracted to women, and was in a semi-serious relationship with a woman some time in adulthood. However his relationship with Eddie is commonly interpreted as having some romantic subtext, both in childhood and in adulthood, which could in turn make Richie bi-coded.
Awful Wedded Life: Implied when he tells the gang about his ex-girlfriend, Sandy, who doesn't want to have kids with him because he's "a shit."
Class Clown: A's and B's in schoolwork, but C's and D's in classroom conduct.
Deadpan Snarker: Can be quite witty when he's not overtly hamming it up. Being a smartass is the main thing that gets him on Henry Bowers' bad side.
Goofy Buckteeth: He is described as having big teeth as kid, with some of the other kids giving him the nickname "Bucky Beaver".
The Lancer: For Bill.
Large Ham: Even as a kid he was hammy, particularly when doing his Oirish Cop and Pickaninny voices. He's still one as an adult on his radio show.
Man of a Thousand Voices: As an adult. As a child, he only thinks he's one.
Mouthy Kid: Leads him to get his ass kicked by bullies multiple times as a kid, and to become a nationally-known radio host when he grows up.
Nerd Glasses: Big, thick glasses that make his eyes look huge.
Phrase Catcher: "Beep-beep, Richie." Used by the other Losers when they think Richie is laying on the jokes or sarcasm too thick.

Mike Hanlon

Michael "Mike" Hanlon

The last to join the Losers. He is the only African-American in the group and lives with his parents on a large farm. He goes to a different school from the other kids due to his Baptist faith. Mike is racially persecuted by Henry Bowers, whose father holds a long-standing grudge against Mike's father. Mike meets The Losers when they help him fight back against Bowers in a massive rock fight. His father kept an album filled with photos that were important to Derry's history, including several of Pennywise the Dancing Clown. He 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 librarian.

Arch-Enemy: To Henry Bowers. Henry hated Mike the most out of all the Losers. He learned it from his father Butch, who absolutely detests Mike's father Will, mainly for the fact that he's black, but also because he's simply a better farmer. Ironically due to encountering him less (Mike attends the parochial school rather than Derry Elementary, where the Losers and Henry's gang go), Mike has actually suffered less from Henry's hands than the other Losers.
Black and Nerdy: He is African-American, the Token Minority of the group and is highly knowledgeable in the history of Derry.
Black Dude Dies First: Subverted, as he survives, although Henry comes close to killing him.
Farm Boy: His family is said to live on a farm as a kid.
Haunted House Historian: Part of his self-imposed "lighthouse keeper" duties is to research IT while the others are away, leading Mike to write an history on the events of his childhood and earlier manifestations of IT, such as the Bradley Gang massacre, Black Spot fire and Claude Theroux massacre. When the Losers return he is able to give them a greater analysis into IT's nature, to aid in their planned final battle.
Heroic Sacrifice / Pyrrhic Victory: Although not a fatal version, he is the least successful member of the Losers' Club because he chose to remain in Derry.
I Choose to Stay: He never left Derry even after the rest of the Losers' Club had moved, and essentially acted as the watchman in case It ever returned. Though he didn't precisely "choose" to stay any more than the others "chose" to leave. They left because their parents moved away, he stayed because his never did. It was less choice than it was fate and possibly the manipulation of the Turtle.
If You Kill Him, You Will Be Just Like Him!: During their showdown in the library, Mike is stopped from killing Henry by the realization that if he does so, he would be doing It's work just as surely as Henry is doing It's work by trying to kill him. The logic is questionable though: Mike and the Losers are an actual potential threat to It while Henry is just a loose end that needs to be cleaned up, so the moment of hesitation just gets him badly wounded.
The Sixth Ranger: Joins after the others have already met each other.
The Stoic: He is relatively unflappable when confronted by dangers. However certain events push him into rare panic, such as Henry revealing he killed Mike's dog, and seeing a vision of Stan's head.
Token Minority: The only black member of the Losers Club, though it seems more likely that the author was merely searching for archetypal characters likely to be outcasts, particularly in small towns—the fat kid, the wimpy kid, the Jewish kid, the rag doll, the hyperactive four-eyes, the kid with the speech impediment, and the only black kid in town. Might also be Truth in Television, as in real life, Maine has the smallest black population of any state in America, with just 1.2% of the residents identifying as Black/African American as of 2016—and back in the 1950s, the percentage was even smaller, even when adjusting for population growth over time.
What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?: Zigzagged. While "heart" means that Mike doesn't end up as successful as the other Losers, he accepts that he chose it for the greater good and all the Losers are shown to be deeply indebted to him and hold him in very high esteem.

Stan Uris

Stanley "Stan" Uris

The most skeptical member of the Club. He is Jewish and is persecuted by Henry Bowers for this reason. Logic, order, and cleanliness are deeply ingrained in his psyche. He relies on logic more than anything else and is the least willing to accept that It actually exists. As an adult, he becomes a partner in a large Atlanta-based accounting firm and marries Patty Blum, a teacher.

Agent Scully: He's the one least willing to accept It's existence.
Dirty Coward: Could be seen as one because he broke the oath, and would rather slit his own wrists than face Pennywise again as an adult. It should be noted however that the rest of the Losers' Club doesn't see him this way.
Driven to Suicide: Stan couldn't go back and face IT again as an adult.
Informed Judaism: In the book, Stan tells his friends his family are secular Jews, and do things like eat ham and work on Saturdays.
Law of Inverse Fertility: He and Patty are actively trying to have kids but never manage to conceive.
The Oath-Breaker: He swore the blood oath to return and take down It along with the other Losers, even being the one to cut their palms so they could make it. Instead of returning to honor his vow, he offed himself. None of the others hold it against him.
Psychic Powers: He appears to have these in his adult life, successfully picking out from many applications the job his wife will get. It may also be why he remembered the Turtle and events from his childhood better than the other Losers (excluding Mike).
Skepticism Failure: Stan is the last of The Losers' Club members to recognize IT's existence. There is the implication that his extremely ordered, rational nature is what led him to choose suicide rather than face It again, a monster that defies rationality and natural laws. When he finally opens up to the others about the evidence of It that he has witnessed (the dead boys in the Derry standpipe), in his inner monologue he thinks that the worst thing about it was not that they were terrifying, but that their very existence offended his world view.
The Smart Guy: The most rational of the Losers, and possibly the most intelligent. This works against him though as he finds it harder to cope with the events around him.
Straight Man: He makes few jokes, and it's usually only in response to another character's ribbing (when Richie jokes that Stan, being a Jew, killed Christ, Stan responds, "I think that must have been my father."). He's the most serious-minded of the Losers.

Supernatural Beings

IT/Pennywise the Dancing Clown/Bob Gray/The Spider

A mysterious cosmic entity of unknown origin, It is a shapeshifting monster that preys on Derry's children and humans every three decades, stating It finds the fear in children akin to "salt(ing) the meat". Among Its powers is the ability to completely modify and alter its own body as it pleases, typically into a form that induces fear as it kills the victim, normally assuming the form of a middle-aged man dressed in a clown costume, calling itself "Pennywise the Dancing Clown" and occasionally Bob or Robert Gray, modeled after Bozo, Clarabell and Ronald McDonald. It can also manipulate people and use them as pawns into doing its bidding, either by assuming a form most familiar to them, promising them their desires, or through subliminal influence. Thus, 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.

Achilles' Heel: It has to take a physical form in order to directly influence the world, however this means that It can be hurt and banished (though it's not clear whether It can actually be killed in this manner); also, It has issues with Shapeshifter Mode Lock and is a psychically sensitive being, meaning that it can gain a weakness through a collective belief that it has one.
Animalistic Abomination: IT's truest form, the Spider, is an otherworldly, Lovecraftian monstrosity made of pure, glowing energy that vaguely takes the form of an arachnid.
Appearance Is in the Eye of the Beholder: IT's appearance usually varies depending on who is viewing it at any given time, often depending on what scares the beholder/victim the most. In their first encounter with It, Bill perceives It as Pennywise, while Richie sees it as the Teenage Werewolf.
Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: It's true physical form is a Giant Spider. Before this, it also took the form of a Paul Bunyan statue and a giant bird.
Ax-Crazy: Just check out it's facial expressions.
Bad Boss: During 1958, it used Henry Bowers and his gang as pawns, and then tried to kill them in the sewers of Derry after they chase the Losers in, killing Victor and Belch while Henry escapes. Mike points this out to Henry during their fight in the library, stating that It will most likely kill him along with the Losers.
Badass Boast:
- "I am the eater of worlds... and of children!"
- "I'm every nightmare you've ever had. I am your worst dream come true! I'm EVERYTHING you EVER were afraid of!"
Balloon of Doom: It is frequently seen holding balloons of various colors.
Big Bad: The primary villain of the story.
Blob Monster: When IT emerges from a drain to attack Beverly, she notes IT is a shapeless mass with a taffy-like consistency. IT has a similar appearance when transforming in Neibolt Street, and when encountering Patrick Hocksetter.
Card-Carrying Villain: IT takes great pride in being a monster and flaunts about it to its victims.
Child Eater: IT prefers to munch on children because their imaginations and emotions are more vivid (read: juicy).
Clap Your Hands If You Believe: A weakness, owing to It being a very psychically sensitive being. If you collectively believe that It has a certain weakness, it gains that weakness.
Cornered Rattlesnake: It prefers to run when it loses an advantage or the tables turn against it, but during the final showdown in the book, when Bill and Richie catch up to It as It's fleeing, It ultimately goes down fighting.
Couldn't Find a Pen: After IT kills Patrick, it leaves a note for The Losers written in Patrick's blood to deter them from hunting it.
"Stop now before I kill you all. Word to the wise from your friend Pennywise"
Creative Sterility: It might seem strange given the enormous amount of shapes and appearances IT takes, but the novel strongly implies that IT actually cannot invent forms out of nothing. All the shapes he takes are based on both the fears of its victims and already-existing characters and elements people are familiar with. Some of them are taken from horror movies (the Mummy, the Creature of the Black Lagoon, Frankenstein's monster, the werewolf from I was a Teenage Werewolf...) and other from fairytales (the witch from Hansel and Gretel, the Jack and the Beanstalk giant), when they are not copies of his victims. But this trope proves itself in the most creative forms of IT: the Leper is a deformation of Eddie's memory of a syphilis-inflicted hobo, while Mrs. Kersh is based on a pin-up from an erotic magazine in Neibolt House.
Dirty Coward: IT's brazen enough when it's in control of a situation, but begs and pleads as soon as it realizes it's vulnerable, and its last words (apart from a Big "NO!") are frantic attempts to bargain for its life.
The Dreaded: The Losers are terrified of it coming back. Stan preferred suicide to facing it a second time.
Eldritch Abomination: IT's true form in the Losers' universe is actually a "spider", or at least the closest thing the human mind can comprehend. What IT really is, in the space outside their reality where IT resides, is different and can be much more brain-melting. The closest approximation however, is a pulsating mass of orange light.
Emotion Eater: It kills and eats children, but it's speculated that it doesn't actually need to consume their flesh. Instead, it feeds on their fear. Ironically, IT doesn't really understand emotions very well and despite the Losers believing IT fears them, the novel describes the creature's emotions as closer to mild unease until the very end.
Empathic Shapeshifter: It takes on the forms of what its victims fear. When encountering Patrick Hocksetter, who doesn't fear anything, IT takes on an uncertain shifting appearance.
Eviler than Thou: To Henry's gang.
Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humor: IT has a tendency to crack dark and morbid jokes.
Evil Red Head: As Pennywise, he has typical clownish red hair.
Fangs Are Evil: Can manifest a mouthful of teeth that are described as being lion-like.
Faux Affably Evil: To the kids.
Fairytale Motif: IT loves to use fairytales to scare children. When manifesting as the town's statue of Paul Bunyan, he acts like the giant in Jack and the Beanstalk, while as Mrs. Kersh he turns into the witch from Hansel and Gretel, even turning the house he is in into one made of chocolate and sugar.
Fisher King: IT is Derry and Derry is IT; once IT is seemingly killed by the Losers Club, Derry is suddenly hit by a storm and downtown Derry is destroyed by the storm.
For the Evulz: While It does feed on people for food, it's clear by how It constantly torments Its victims and inflicts psychological terrors on them that It's also in it for pure sadism and fun.
Framing the Guilty Party: Does this to Henry in the 1950s, pinning most of Its murders and mutilations on him. Nobody in Derry is willing to defend him, partly because it allows them to keep their heads down, and partly because it's Henry.
Giant Spider: Not IT's true form, but probably as close to it as any human is able to perceive. It's more of an "anchor" that allows IT to exist and influence the world.
Gender Bender: IT's favorite form is Pennywise the Dancing Clown, which is implicitly male, but its final form as a spider is female. This is because it is an approximation of IT's pregnancy.
Great Gazoo: A VERY malevolent version of this trope. IT has a sick and twisted sense of humor, and is evil to the very core.
Hate Sink: IT has no redeeming qualities whatsoever and is made to be reviled and feared as much as possible. Every moment it's running around and torturing and killing children, you'll just want it to be gone already. It isn't even intelligent or charismatic, meaning you can't even really respect it.
Hoist by His Own Petard: IT shares the weaknesses of whatever form it takes. Also, if several people all perceive IT as one form and think of it in that form hard enough, it becomes "mode-locked" and unable to change. The Losers take advantage of this in the house on Neibolt street. They first lock it into werewolf form, then they drive it off by shooting it with a silver bullet from a slingshot.
Humanoid Abomination: What Pennywise initially appears to be.
Jerkass: IT regularly taunts the Losers, and often includes a hint of mockery dealing with other victims as well. From its own PoV, though, it seems more like just playing a role given the detached and bestial nature of the creature.
Knight of Cerebus: Easily the darkest, most horrifying monster ever created by Stephen King.
Laughably Evil: IT can be genuinely funny when It's not being terrifying.
Light Is Not Good: The Deadlights, It's true form.
Load-Bearing Boss: After IT is finally defeated, a flood destroys much of Derry later that year. It's implied that IT had allowed the town to exist in exchange for providing its victims every 27 years.
Master of Illusion: IT is capable of casting illusions strong enough to warp reality.
Meaningful Name: "Pennywise" comes from the phrase "Penny wise and pound foolish" (somebody who saves money on small things but spends too much on big things). IT repeatedly goes after children (small) and believes that adults are completely incapable of defeating it.
Monster Clown: IT's primary form, Pennywise The Dancing Clown.
Monster Is a Mommy: IT is pregnant and protecting her eggs. Unlike most examples, however, this time it only makes things worse. IT probably reproduces asexually rather than mate though. Hopefully...
More than Mind Control: Possesses a great deal of influence over the adult populace of Derry, making them largely indifferent to IT's activities.
Morphic Resonance: IT's forms often retain features of its Pennywise form, particularly orange pom-poms. This may be because It's true form, the Deadlights, are said to have a baleful orange glow.
Not Quite Dead: Pennywise appears in other novels featuring Derry, including some set after IT, and is mentioned in The Dark Tower series.
Not So Invincible After All: During the final confrontation, It begins to wonder if it truly was superior.
"Perhaps It was not eternal after all - the unthinkable must finally be thought."
One-Winged Angel: IT's Giant Spider form.
Our Werewolves Are Different: A form used twice by IT, and one of its more vulnerable. After all, everyone knows that silver can kill a werewolf.
Personality Powers: A somewhat subtle example, but the fact that its actually made of light makes its cheerfulness as a clown and its general insane arrogance make a lot of sense. On a more overt level, a reality warper whose powers are particularly effective at generating fear is naturally going to be a psycho.
Politically Incorrect Villain: Pennywise mostly uses this to taunt his victims.
Practically Joker: The eponymous monster known as "It" disguises itself as a clown named Pennywise the Dancing Clown to lure children into its clutches. Aside from it originating in the Macroverse, It has the mysterious past and a sheer love of terrorizing its victims comparing it to salting the meat. When it encounters the Losers Club, It tries to drive them to insanity before killing them.
Reality Warper: Suggested by its wide variety of powers (everything from keeping unlocked doors from opening to making houses Bigger on the Inside), of which shapeshifting and illusions are only the most used. Pennywise also made Derry prosperous, may have made the Losers rich and childless in adulthood from across the country, and states that it can make people live for centuries (although that may have been a lie).
- If one believes enough in IT's illusions they become very real.
Red Oni, Blue Oni: Pennywise/the Spider and the Turtle. One actively hunts down and eats human children while the other just sits on the edge of forever, seeing it all happen and "helping" the Losers during their first confrontation with IT. The Spider berates it for just sitting there, offering seemingly useless advice. That the Spider's eyes are described as ruby-red while the Turtle's shell is some blueish-greenish color also reinforces the trope. IT suspects/fears an "Other" beyond the Turtle that is also opposing IT, but it's not until The Dark Tower novels that this is confirmed.
Regularly Scheduled Evil: It awakens once roughly every 27 years for 12–16 months at a time, feeding on children before going into slumber again. According to Mike, Its cycles usually end in the winter months of the year, but the Losers injured It so badly during the summer of 1958 that that particular cycle ended prematurely.
Sadist: It's not enough for him just killing (and possibly eating) children. He loves scaring them and psychologically torturing them first and then relishing in their fear.
Satanic Archetype: Lords over the sewers (the gross and festering place underground; is the antithesis to the Turtle (who created the universe); manipulates people into working for it such as Henry Bowers; and its Spider, Clown, and Deadlights form can all be seen as an evil version of the Holy Trinity.
Shapeshifter Default Form: Pennywise the Dancing Clown is a Type B, being the form IT uses to get around and interact with people.
Shapeshifter Guilt Trip: A favored tactic in 1985 against the Losers, using Stan.
Shapeshifter Mode Lock: Happens to IT when the entire Losers' Club perceives it as a giant eyeball. Notably, one of the characters was about to perceive it as something else, but when one of them shouted "It's a giant eye!" it appeared to all of them in that form. Also happens earlier when they perceive IT as a werewolf, and shoot IT with a silver slingshot bullet.
Shout-Out: IT is a sentient and living shout-out to all things that can horrify children, from horror movies to fairytales.
- Most of the shapes IT takes in the 50s are based on horror movies popular at the time: I Was a Teenage Werewolf ; Creature from the Black Lagoon ; The Mummy (1932)...
Smarter Than You Look: Inverted. You'd expect a creature that is at least millions of years old and possibly far older to be intelligent and calculating, but it's actually terrible at planning, doesn't understand emotions and is actually a very simple minded creature. The Losers seem to believe it's a lot smarter and more emotionally reactive than it actually is. It's not quite to Almighty Idiot levels, but IT may be even less intelligent than humans.
Smug Snake: IT is arrogant and sadistic when in control of a situation. But when the tables are turned, IT retreats.
The Sociopath: For sure, among very human lines too.
Stupid Evil: IT could have killed the Losers' Club anytime it wanted, but it was obsessed with stalking, torturing and tormenting them first, savouring their fear before the kill, allowing the heroes to gather the courage to defeat it. Especially egregious the second time around, when it knows that they can hurt and defeat it, although no doubt a desire for revenge clouded its judgement even further. It is limited in a sense that it seems to need the Club to be afraid of it before it actually can hurt them, hence the need for Henry, but even given that, it seems to pass up opportunities for a quick kill anyway. Indeed, it's possible to read IT as not a particularly intelligent monster at all, but at best just a devious bully with way too much time and power on its hands.
This Was His True Form: The Deadlights.
Time Abyss: IT is extremely ancient, having existed since the beginning of time.
To Serve Man: IT eats humans, prefers children, and uses fear as seasoning.
Totally Not a Werewolf: Is mistaken for other monsters, as it uses the fears of children brought up on horror movies.
Transforming Conforming: It takes on the form of whatever a child is most afraid of. This usually grants It things like claws and fangs. But It also learns that if the children associate a weakness with that form, It also picks those up as well, such as silver hurting It if It should decide to be a werewolf, or Eddie's belief that his inhaler contains battery acid blinding It when It becomes The Crawling Eye.^note
Troll: IT likes to flavor the meat of its victims with fear before chowing down on them, but a whole lot of its behavior can't really be explained outside of the sheer joy it takes in tormenting people.
Tsuchigumo and Jorogumo: Though it may have been entirely unintentional, the eponymous creature of Stephen King's novel has much in common with this particular brand of youkai. Its true form is a gigantic spider, and throughout the story appears in several humanoid shapes, most notably Pennywise the Clown. The balloons are strictly of King's invention, though.
Villains Want Mercy: As established under Dirty Coward above, the minute Bill and Richie corner it, It starts desperately begging for its life and trying to bargain with them. It doesn't work.
Villainous Breakdown: Has one near the end of the book when Bill and Richie corner it in the sewers beneath Derry.
Voluntary Shapeshifting: Likes to transform into whatever the person it's targeting is most afraid of.
Weaksauce Weakness: Conventional weapons are largely hard for the gang to come by in their first encounter with It, due to their age. But they find they're able to frighten It off or even weaken It by various talismans of their childhood; reciting the names from Stan's bird book, Bill's tongue twisters, Richie's Voices, etc.
- Also worth noting is the above-mentioned fact that if enough people in one location think It has a certain weakness, It gains that weakness. Meaning that, if you convince enough of It's victims, It could have literally the most weaksauce weakness you can think of.
Would Hurt a Child: To say the least. In fact, this is It's Establishing Character Moment. It will eat any sentient creature, but It prefers children as they feel fear more strongly and thus taste better.
You Cannot Grasp the True Form: No living being can view Its true form of "the Deadlights" without being driven completely insane or dying from shock; the childhood Ben comes close, glimpsing a shifting - but solid - "silvery-orange shape" during the Neibolt Street encounter, before Richie catches sight of It and locks it into a werewolf form.

Christine

Christine is a car that debuted in the novel Christine. She only appears briefly in the story to help Henry Bowers get to the Loser's hotel.

Animate Inanimate Object: An animate car.
Badass Driver: Pennywise, in the shape of Belch's undead body, was in the driver's seat.
The Cameo: Crossing over from another story, which is a Stephen King staple.
Cool Car: The Bowers obsessed over one day owning one, as it was Butch's favourite.

Maturin

Maturin/The Turtle

Animalistic Abomination: An eldritch turtle that created (albeit unwillingly) our universe and many others. He is also one of the twelve guardians who watch over the beams upholding the Dark Tower, the physical and metaphorical nexus of all reality, without which everything would collapse into nothingness.
Behemoth Battle: Humans cannot comprehend the demonic IT and he are engaged in one for humanity's own fate, far out in the Macroverse.
Big Good: It aids the Losers in 1958 subtly with its powers. The repeated mention of turtles and Turtle brand products around them shows its power. It's supposedly dead in 1985 though, leaving The Other to help the Losers.
Clap Your Hands If You Believe: He prefers to watch over the universe without direct interference, which IT ridicules him for. Maturin wants The Losers Club to overcome IT without his assistance, so they can learn to triumph over such threats without outside help.
Dropped a Bridge on Him: If IT is to be believed, this omnipotent celestial entity died between the time skip... by choking on some galaxies.
Eldritch Abomination: A friendly one, thankfully.
Friend to All Living Things: The omnibenevolent big guy loves everyone and everything in the cosmos (thank your lucky stars).
God Is Dead: After the 27 year Timeskip, the Maturin has supposedly died from choking on a few galaxies. This is confirmed to Bill when he sees the Turtle's empty shell in the deadlights.
God of Good: Downplayed. It's a mostly neutral entity, but it does assist the Losers and mildly opposes IT. However, it's a very passive creature.
In Mysterious Ways: How he helps the Losers oppose IT, only intervening directly during the first Ritual of Chüd.
Our Giants Are Bigger: Maturin is mindbogglingly gargantuan, considering the universe is merely his emptied stomach contents, and looming just beyond it, humans can't even observe all of that.
Really 700 Years Old: He's 20 billion years old, which also means he's outside the observable universe.
Time Abyss: Like IT, he's incredibly old. In fact, he's older than the universe by virtue of it being his upchucked stomach contents.
What Happened to the Mouse?: His reported death by IT is rather ambiguous, considering the cause is laughable, throwing up the entire universe, only to later choke on 2 or 3 puny galaxies billions of years later seems incredulous. ^note

Gan

Gan/The Other

Big Good: Of The Dark Tower saga. He's only obliquely mentioned in It as a third cosmic force greater than It or the Turtle.
Eldritch Abomination: Thankfully, he's like a far more friendly (and intelligent) counterpart of Azathoth.
Greater-Scope Paragon: To the Stephen King books as a whole. In this novel, IT isn't even entirely sure that Gan exists and only speculates that if it does exist, then it is probably helping the Losers.

Henry's Gang

In General

Barbaric Bully: Henry, Victor and Belch definitely go in for the more physically violent style of bullying rather than the psychological (though Henry rightly guesses that killing Mike's dog is far more devastating than any beating he can inflict on Mike himself).
Delinquents: They're all about 11-12, and are vicious bullies.
Even Evil Has Standards: Several of Henry's flunkies, most notably Victor, are horrified by the lengths Henry is willing to go to torture the Losers, such as carving his first initial into Ben's belly or trying to blow up Mike with M-80s and cherry bombs.
Kids Are Cruel: Very, very cruel.
Teens Are Monsters: Actually, they're bordering on their teens.

Henry Bowers

"If there has ever been a genuinely evil kid strutting across the skin of the world, Ricky Lee, Henry Bowers was that kid."

Ben Hanscom, telling you all you need to know.

The sadistic and crazed neighborhood bully who torments the Losers and other kids ceaselessly before and throughout the summer of 1958.

Abusive Parents: Henry's father is a violent racist who treats Henry horribly. As nasty a person as Henry is, it's not hard to see where he gets his behavior from when you look at Butch.
The Alcoholic: His father has already set him on this path even as a child by creating an association between beer and his father's love. See "Well Done, Son" Guy for details.
Ambiguously Bi: In one chapter, he lets Patrick Hockstetter masturbate him, which gives him an erection that Patrick claims is the biggest he's ever seen. When Patrick offers him oral sex, however, Henry punches him out and derisively tells him he "doesn't go for that queer stuff."
Ax-Crazy: Steadily grows more psychopathic and unstable as the book goes on. This is not lost on the other members of his gang, most of whom begin to shy away from him because of it. The only one who doesn't is Patrick Hockstetter, and that's because he makes Henry look positively well-adjusted. His father, Butch, is not much better.
Bully Brutality: He's perfectly willing to do such things as carve his name into Ben Hanscom's belly (only managing the "H" before Ben gets away), poison Mike Hanlon's pet dog, break Eddie Kaspbrak's arm, nearly drown Bill Denbrough in a dunk tank, and white-wash Stan Uris' face in snow until he draws blood, all of which invokes moments of Even Evil Has Standards in the rest of his gang. Needless to say, it's easy for Pennywise to use him as a scapegoat for Its killing spree.
Country Matters: Just one of the many insults he throws at Beverly.
Disease Bleach: In the film, seeing It's true form turned his hair white.
The Dragon: To IT/Pennywise.
Even Evil Has Standards: As much of a horrible person he is, Henry is disturbed by Patrick Hockstetter. He normally wouldn't keep such a creepy kid around him, but under It's influence and his own deteriorating mental state he lets Patrick hang around his group for awhile.
Eye Scream: In the book, Eddie gouges out his right eye with a broken bottle.
Framing the Guilty Party: IT and Derry in general frame him for the various crimes committed by IT. Considering what he was already known for, it wasn't much of a stretch for the residents of Derry to pin them on him.
Freudian Excuse: His father is abusive, racist, and not that much more stable - and rewarded Henry for acting just like him.
Greaser Delinquents: Henry's modus operandi. Contemptuous of all authority, sporting a leather jacket (it's pink in the book) and a ducktail haircut, and menacing weaker kids with a switchblade. He's also a big fan of Rock & Roll, which is one of the few things he and the Losers agree on, though none of them realize it.
Hoist by His Own Petard: Henry is killed by his own switchblade in the film.
Hypocrite: He's disgusted by Patrick's hobby of killing animals, but he has no qualms about murdering Mike's dog just to mess with him.
Jerkass: At least initially. It quickly becomes evident that it's much more serious than that.
Kids Are Cruel: Probably one of the worst in fiction!
Kick the Dog: Literally; he poisoned Mike's dog just to torture him.
King Mook: When IT manipulates him, it also takes control of Henry's gang through him. IT kills Vic and Belch before pinning IT's latest death toll on Henry. An adult Mike tries to convince Henry that he is still on ITs menu despite how loyal Henry chooses to be and IT will definitely kill him after killing The Losers.
Like Father, Like Son: His father is violent and racist as well, which is where Henry got it from.
Will Hanlon: The father's a turd and the son's a little fart.
Lower-Class Lout: His background.
Politically Incorrect Villain: He hates Stanley because he's Jewish, he hates Mike because he's black, he hates Eddie because of his asthma, he hates Beverly because she's a girl, he hates Ben because of his weight, he hates Richie because he's a little smartass four-eyed twerp, he hates Bill because he's a stuttering nerd...we can go on forever.
Pet the Dog: When on a ride with It, who was disguised as the late Belch Huggins with Henry none the wiser, he decides to apologize to Belch for leaving him to die at the hands of It.
Psycho Pink: Henry Bowers is the bully who torments The Losers Club who uses a switchblade as one of his weapons. In the novel, Henry is said to wear a pink motorcycle jacket and he once beat up a kid for laughing at him for wearing it.
Psycho Knife Nut: He's a violent, racist bully who owns a switchblade knife and is willing to use it on other kids.
Psychopathic Manchild: He still focuses on the Losers beating him in 1985, almost thirty years later, and is utterly fixated on killing them and paying them back. Justified, since he's been in a mental hospital since he was 12.
Real Men Wear Pink: He wears a pink motorcycle jacket in the book, and woe betide any kid foolish enough to laugh at it.
Right for the Wrong Reasons: He's aware of Patrick's secret fridge and what he uses it for, however he seems only slightly bothered by it and merely uses it as blackmail so Patrick won't tell anyone about giving Henry a handjob.
Schoolyard Bully All Grown Up: After spending many years in psychiatric hospital, Henry Bowers escapes with IT's help and almost kills Mike Hanlon.
Slasher Smile: Is known to give these to those he bullies.
Teeny Weenie: Compared to Victor, as Beverly notices when she watches them light farts from a hiding place.
Sanity Slippage: Throughout the summer of 1958, Henry slowly but surely loses it after suffering numerous defeats at the hands of the Losers. By August of that year, he's completely snapped.
The Scapegoat: It arranges for him to take the fall for all of its 1957-1958 victims.
The Sociopath: He's contrasted with his two primary associates in bullying, Victor Criss and Belch Huggins, in that Victor and Belch like picking on the other kids, even beating them up, but they don't want to do any lasting harm. Once he gets angry enough, Henry simply doesn't give a fuck about the consequences.
Taught to Hate: Henry Bowers bullies Mike Hanlon because he was taught to hate black people by his father.
"Well Done, Son" Guy: In a twisted sort of way. He simultaneously hates his father and seeks his approval. The reason he killed Mike Hanlon's dog, by feeding it poisoned beef, was to please his father. When he tells Butch about it, Butch congratulates him and offers him a beer. That was the happiest moment of Henry's childhood.
Worf Had the Flu: His confrontation with Mike leaves him with multiple stab wounds, which, according to Eddie, are the only reason Eddie managed to kill him in the book.
Would Hit a Girl: Henry is equal-opportunity when it comes to getting back at anyone who pisses him off.
- In fact, there are certain hints that Henry is on the verge of figuring out the next level of bullying when it comes to girls. Beverly certainly fears this when she catches sight of Henry's gang lighting their farts, though she herself has only the vaguest idea of what she's afraid of.
Younger Than They Look: In 1985, he's described with graying hair, with Mike reflecting briefly that he's "being pushed to a premature age" and is "39 going on 73".

Victor Criss

Victor "Vic" Criss

A bully, and one of Henry's sidekicks. Among Henry's gang, Vic is most likely the smartest and most intelligent member and is the only one who truly realizes Henry's insanity, and becomes increasingly reluctant to follow him.

'50s Hair/Delinquent Hair: It is mentioned in the novel that he sports an "Elvis pompadour" that he keeps slicked with Brylcreem.
The Dragon: To Henry.
Even Evil Has Standards: Victor is fine with beating up smaller kids for fun, but shocked by some of Henry's actions (such as trying to carve his name on Ben's stomach with a knife).
Gag Penis: Beverly makes note of it when she sees Henry's gang lighting farts from a hiding place. Contrary to the trope name, it is NOT played for laughs.
Heel–Face Door-Slam: There are some hints in the book that Victor was realizing how unhinged Henry was becoming and considered deflecting to the Losers for protection against him, and may have gone as far as warning them about Henry's deteriorating state. If he was considering this, though, IT put a stop to that.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Yes, he's a bully who is more than willing to make fun of other kids or even beating them up, but he's probably the most down-to-heart and sanest of the Bowers gang.
Noble Demon: Not a completely straight example, but he has some shades of it. He has no problem beating other kids up, but, he will never go as far as to do permanent damage to them. While being chased by Henry's gang before the Rock Fight, even Mike acknowledges that out of all of them, at least Victor doesn't want to do him any serious harm. He's actually right, as that day Vic made sure that, when Henry says he wants to put a couple of firecrackers in Mike's shoes, that Henry meant the small ones and not the M-80s, which would probably cripple Mike for life.
Off with His Head!: When they meet It (in the form of Frankenstein's monster) in the sewers, the first thing it does is rip Victor's head clean off.
Only Sane Man: Victor is among the first to realize just how far off the deep end Henry is going, and likely the first to do so on the bad side.
Red Oni, Blue Oni: Although never acknowledged as equals, he is the Blue to Henry's Red. This is especially clear in the Rock Fight. Henry got hotheaded, and only got himself hurt even further. Victor kept his cool, and was able to take all the damage Henry's Gang suffered, and return it in kind back to the Losers by himself.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Along with Peter Gordon, he runs off during the rock fight. He does however stay longer and at least gets a few goods hits in.
- When the gang is beating up Eddie, Vic is quick to leave when they hear sirens coming their way unlike Henry and Patrick who consider taking their chances, and Moose who is too stupid to do anything.
Shout-Out: His surname is a nod to Peter Criss of KISS.

Belch Huggins

Reginald "Belch" Huggins

Another sidekick of Henry's, and earned his nickname due to his ability to belch on command.

The Brute: Taller and stronger than every other kid his age and older at Derry Elementary and Middle, and loves a good fight, especially when it's against someone weaker than him. Even so, he's not as relentlessly cruel as Henry.
Dumb Muscle: Downplayed. While he's not very bright, Belch is at least smart enough to be able to hold a part-time job delivering the Weekly Shopper.
Even Evil Has Standards: Beating up smaller kids for fun is fine by him, but he is pretty disturbed when Henry tries to carve his name on Ben's stomach.
Facial Horror: IT kills him by ripping half of his face off.
Gasshole: Hence the nickname.
Heroic Sacrifice: Even though he's been a Jerkass bully for most of the book, Belch actually redeems himself when he protects Henry from IT after the monster kills Victor and goes after Henry. Unfortunately for him, he gets half of his face torn off for his trouble.
Paper Tiger: As the only one with a very early and fast growth spurt, Belch is pretty much the strongest kid there is and can easily manhandle anyone in his age group. Yet, none of that physical strength helps him against IT.
Unskilled, but Strong: A very early, very fast growth spurt meant that, for a twelve-year-old, he was exceptionally strong but also very clumsy. It's noted that he only hit two baseball pitches in an entire season, but both went out of the park and out of sight; even the Losers had to admire this achievement.
Younger Than They Look: He's stated to be already six feet tall at age 12.

Patrick Hockstetter

A psychopathic and solipsistic bully who is part of Henry's gang (despite the other members not even liking him all that much).

Asshole Victim: He kills animals for fun, and murdered his baby brother. He's easily the least sympathetic of It's victims, with the possible exception of Tom Rogan.
Ax-Crazy: It's shown that this aspect of him is just as bad as Henry, if not more so. He murders his brother, kills animals for fun and the only thing that can get a good reaction out of him is torturing and killing others. In the chapter in which his full backstory is revealed, it's outright stated that if he wasn't already a full-fledged psychopath before he died, he was pretty damn close.
Brilliant, but Lazy: Patrick is an underachieving student, but he was cunning enough to kill multiple animals without being caught until Henry found out his secret. The narrator muses that even if Patrick had been sent to a child psychologist, he still might have been able to pass the tests without suspicion.
Cain and Abel: When he was five, he killed his infant brother (Avery) in his crib which would make him the Cain to Avery's Abel.
Creepy Child: The kid collects dead flies. That is, flies he swats with a ruler and puts into his pencil case. And that's the least creepy thing about him.
Demoted to Extra: Arguably in the Movie.
Depraved Bisexual: Fondles the girls in his class, masturbates Henry and offers him oral sex.
Enfant Terrible: He murdered his baby brother when he was five.
Fat Bastard: Downplayed on the "fat" part as he described as being not as fat as Ben but is more "podgy". The "bastard" part however is greatly exaggerated, he's an even bigger one than Henry.
Fearless Fool: Because of his mental state, Patrick has little understanding of the concept of fear. He barely even reacts when Henry aggressively threatens him. Because of this, IT is not quite sure what form (besides the flying leeches) to take when it attacks Patrick (Patrick notices the thing approaching him is constantly changing shape, as if not sure who or what it wants to be).
Feel No Pain: A toned down version. As part of his state of mind, Patrick doesn't think pain is real and thus doesn't feel it like everybody else. He is unfazed by the bites of animals he put in his fridge and seems more amused by Henry's punches than anything.
Hate Sink: Kills his baby brother for attention, tortures and freezes animals, inappropriately touches classmates and is extremely sadistic? Sure. The nicest thing you can say about him is that even he didn't deserve a death that terrible... maybe.
Karma Houdini Warranty: When his younger brother was born and Patrick lost some of his parents' attention, he smothered the baby with a pillow. His father did become suspicious at one point, but he ultimately shut it out of horror. No one ever finds out, but Patrick eventually meets a grisly fate courtesy of IT.
Karmic Death: He's attacked by IT in the form of a swarm of flying leeches that burst out of the refrigerator where he tortured and killed plenty of animals, passes into unconsciousness from blood loss, and comes to while IT is busily devouring him.
Obfuscating Stupidity: While he officially scored low on an IQ test and falls behind at school, he's cunning enough to capture animals without being caught.
Psycho for Hire: Emphasis on "psycho". Even Henry (who is not a bastion of sanity himself) is somewhat disturbed by him.
Sadist: Sexual Sadist even (meaning he drives sexual pleasure from others' pain, as opposed to a simple sadist who just finds it amusing). Causing pain is the only thing that really interests him.
Small Role, Big Impact: Patrick is the last member of the Bowers gang to be introduced and is the first to be killed. His role shows off one of Pennywise's weaknesses; if his victims have no fears for Pennywise to take form of, then Pennywise will have to resort to other means of hunting. When IT can't settle on a singular form, then his body resembles an indistinguishable figure with features that resemble melting wax.
The Sociopath: Even moreso than Henry. He thinks that he's the only real person in the universe, and the only thing that can excite him is killing and torturing other creatures.
Spiteful Spit: After Henry breaks Eddie's arm, Patrick spits in Eddie's face before taking his leave.
Through the Eyes of Madness: Since Patrick suffers from Solipsism and thus doesn't have any real fears. It is unable to take a form while devouring him, most likely he came the closest out of all the characters to seeing It's true appearance.

Moose Sadler

Steve "Moose" Sadler

A slightly developmentally disabled and very slow friend of Henry's, whose father works on the Hanlon family farm.

Demoted to Extra: In the miniseries.
Dumb Muscle: He's actually moderately mentally disabled.
Gasshole: On the day of the Apocalyptic Rock Fight, Henry and his gang attempt to sneak up on Mike Hanlon and catch him (since he could outrun all of them if he saw them coming), but Mike are tipped off when Moose, who had eaten three plates of baked beans the night before, rips a loud fart.
Like Father, Unlike Son: His father is about as dumb but much more good-natured, even to the point where he cheerfully helps Will Hanlon with farm work.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Sort of. When Henry is beating up Eddie, Moose suggests that they flee when they hear sirens approaching but he doesn't run until Henry agrees.
Shout-Out: His first name is a reference to Moose Mason from Archie Comics.
What Happened to the Mouse?: It is implied that he is killed by IT, as the Losers mention that this has happened to all of Henry's friends, but it is not elaborated upon at all.

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 bombs and M-80s) begins to alienate him.

Demoted to Extra: In the miniseries.
Dirty Coward: As probably the least physically imposing member of the gang, he sticks to insults in taunts as opposed to violence when the other members of the gang aren't around.
Even Evil Has Standards: Not quite as much as Victor, but Peter begins feeling more and more reluctant to continue as Henry gets more psychotic.
Fragile Speedster: He is the only one fast enough to keep up with Mike Hanlon (who is very fast and athletic) when chasing him. He's also the most physically weak of the gang and the most reluctant to actually engage in fights.
Jerkass: He's described as generally being rude/insulting towards the Losers, but not quite brave enough to do anything without the rest of Henry's gang around.
Puppy Love: With Marcia Fadden. However, Richie speculates that they're only going steady because 1) they live next door to each other, and 2) they're both assholes, so they need each other's support and attention.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Being a comparatively pampered rich kid, Peter is the first of Henry's gang to beat feet when the Losers decide not to run and begin the Apocalyptic Rockfight.
Token Rich Student: While they're characters in the school who are rich, Peter is this to the Bowers Gang.
Upper-Class Twit: As a pampered rich kid, he doesn't realize how genuinely violent and dangerous the Lower Class Louts he's hanging out with really are, doesn't understand how serious the situation really is when they're chasing Mike Hanlon, actually expects Mike to "fair up" by coming out from behind the fence he's hiding behind, and really can't handle the personal danger involved in The Apocalyptic Rockfight.
What Happened to the Mouse?: Like Moose, Peter's ultimate fate is not known, but it's implied he was killed by IT.

Gard Jagermeyer

A friend of Henry's who only appears a few times. He's noted as being large and so dumb that the teachers didn't even attempt to send him to summer school.

Book Dumb: So much that the teachers pretty much gave up on him, even refusing to send him to summer school because he's just that bad at academics.
Dumb Muscle: Pretty much all we know about him.
Informed Attribute: He's said to be a member of Henry's gang, but he's never seen with any of the other members.
Jerkass: At one point he purposely shoves Richie to the ground, breaking his glasses in the process.
What Happened to the Mouse?: He stops appearing after a while. It's likely that he was killed by IT though.

Other Derry Children

Georgie Denbrough

George "Georgie" Denbrough

Bill Denbrough's younger brother whose murder orchestrates the entire events of the novel.

An Arm and a Leg: Pennywise pulls off George's arm, which results in him bleeding profusely until death.
Big Brother Worship: He thinks the world of Bill and practically worships the ground he walks on.
Horrible Judge of Character: Seriously kid, you don't think there's anything suspicious about a clown who knows your name and lives in the sewers? To be fair, he was six. And to his credit, he was wary of Pennywise at first because his dad had warned him about strangers.
It's Personal: His death is the reason why Bill decides to kill IT.
Nice Guy: He's a sweet kid who thinks the world of Bill. It makes it all the more heartbreaking when Pennywise murders him.
Plot-Triggering Death: Murder, in the first chapter.
Present Absence: George's death casts a pall over Bill's home life.
Small Role, Big Impact: He only physically appears during the very first chapter, but it's his murder that kicks off the entire plot.

Eddie Corcoran

Edward "Eddie" Corcoran

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.

Agent Scully: The poor kid is desperately trying to find the zipper to the back of IT's Gillman suit, even as he's being strangled to death.
Book Dumb: His poor grades and fear of Richard finding out about them are the reasons why he refuses to go home the night he dies
Bring My Brown Pants: When seeing IT in the form of Dorsey, Eddie wets himself in fear before running away.
Domestic Abuse: He and his brother, Dorsey, suffer abuse at the hands of their stepfather, while their biological mother is too afraid to do anything about it.
Off with His Head!: IT tears off his head after strangling him.
Sacrificial Lamb: Eddie was mainly in the book to demonstrate how IT hunts and kills children.

Bradley Donovan

Bill's speech therapy classmate who temporarily hung out with the Losers.

The Friend Nobody Likes: When he insults Bev when she bests him at pitching pennies ("Girlth cheat!"), he nearly catches an ass-whooping from Ben. He only escapes because Ben trips when he starts to run away. This wears out his welcome with the Losers' Club...and at any rate, Richie thinks to himself, they already have a kid with a speech impediment in their little group.
Sore Loser: He doesn't take well to Beverly beating him at pitching pennies
Speech Impediment: He has a lisp.

Sally Mueller

A well-off classmate of the Losers Club who lives on West Broadway and is best friends with Greta Bowie. Her family and ancestors are well known for being part of Derry's incidents, milestones and events.

Rich Bitch: Ben describes her and Greta as a pair of snobs.
The Rival: To Beverly, whom she and Greta look down upon due to her impoverished background, and whose beauty they envy.

Greta Bowie

A well-off classmate of the Losers Club who lives on West Broadway and is best friends with Sally Mueller.

Dropped a Bridge on Him: Greta dies in a brutal car accident at the age of eighteen, and readers only find out when IT impersonates her as an animated corpse to terrorize an adult Eddie Kaspbrak.
Drunk Driver: The cause of her demise. It reveals to Eddie that during the accident that cost Greta her life, she was driving under the influence of alcohol and secobarbital.
Oblivious to Love: Eddie Kaspbrak had a crush on her when they were children, but she never found out.
Rich Bitch: Ben describes her and Sally as a pair of snobs.
The Rival: To Beverly, whom she and Sally look down upon due to her impoverished background, and whose beauty they envy.

Vincent "Boogers" Taliendo

The Alcoholic: He grows up to be this, and cleans a local tavern in exchange for free beer.
The Friend Nobody Likes: He is a weird kid who is the source of weird information for the students of Derry Elementary (he gives Eddie an erroneous explanation of how babies are conceived), but isn't favored by any particular clique. He grows up to be The Alcoholic, cleaning a local tavern in exchange for free beer.

Marcia Fadden

A classmate of the Losers Club who resides next door to Peter Gordon on West Broadway and is dating him.

Alpha Bitch: The novel only mentions that Sally Mueller and Greta Bowie dislike and are generally apathetic towards Beverly. However, Marcia, along with Peter Gordon, outright make fun of her and Richie when they run into each other at the movie theater.
Puppy Love: With Peter Gordon, though Richie speculates that they're only going steady because 1) they live next door to each other, and 2) they're both assholes, so they need each other's support and attention.
What Happened to the Mouse?: We never find out what happens to Marcia after the events that occurs during the summer of 1958. It's possible that due to her indirect association with Henry through Peter, IT killed her along with Henry's other friends.

Calvin and Cissy Clark

Twin classmates of the Losers Club.

Cruel and Unusual Death: Calvin is violently electrocuted by a loose power line during the storm, and is burnt to a crisp.
Half-Identical Twins: And of course, they do everything together.

Derry Adults

In General

Adults Are Useless: A combination of their lack of childlike faith and the power of IT enhancing their Selective Obliviousness and Bystander Syndrome attitude makes them completely useless against IT. It's noted at one point that non-useless parents realize (however vaguely) there is something horribly wrong in Derry and move away.
Apathetic Citizens: IT mind-controls the residents so they do not interfere with its killing or plans. The description of Claude Theroux's attack makes it seem similar to Douglas Adam's Somebody Else's Problem phenomenon: the citizens just ignore the violence as something that doesn't involve them.
Noodle Incident: Several are mentioned in earlier chapters concerning Derry's past, which involve residents still living in the book's present. Subverted when these are later explored in Mike's interviews in the interludes.

Adrian Mellon

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 partner, Don Hagarty.

Bullying a Dragon: He mocks a trio of homophobes who confront him. They later seek him out and attack him.
Camp Gay: He's very effeminate.
Cruel and Unusual Death: Thrown off a bridge and subsequently viciously killed by IT.
Manchild: He's described as being child-like in many ways. This is possibly why he's IT'S only adult victim.
Sacrificial Lamb: The first victim of the 1985 cycle.
Suicidal Overconfidence: His dismissal of Don's warnings about Derry's deeply disturbed homophobia results in him instigating the gang of bullies that inadvertently feed him to IT.
Too Good for This Sinful Earth: According to Don, Adrian was too good-natured and hopeful to realize the dangers of being openly gay in a small town.

Don Hagarty

A young homosexual man in Derry. He dislikes the town, due to its violently homophobic mindset, and is going to leave with his boyfriend, Adrian Mellon.

Breakthe Cutie: He breaks down sobbing after telling the police about Adrian's death.
Masculine–Feminine Gay Couple: The two are described as being very feminine, but he's the least girly of the pair.
Really Gets Around: He was known by a bartender to frequently date different men for short periods, and allegedly went cruising for high school boys (though this may be a homophobic rumor as it was mentioned by a homophobe), but when he met Adrian he settled down.
Starting a New Life: He wants to do this with Adrian. It doesn't happen, because Adrian is killed by IT.

Zack and Sharon Denbrough

The parents of Bill and Georgie Denbrough.

Abusive Parents: After Georgie's death, Zack and Sharon outright neglect Bill Denbrough to the point where he wonders if all of their parental love were only for his younger brother. Before, they used to be Good Parents and the entire family led a happy life. Zack's parental affection he formerly emitted would sometimes resurface again whenever he interacts with Bill throughout the novel, though it happens rarely and would dissipate again. It's presumed Zack and Sharon blamed Bill for Georgie's death, hence their change of attitude towards him.
Blame Game: Focuses more on blaming Bill for Georgie's death than providing support for him.
Dad the Veteran: Zack fought in World War II and brought back a German pistol that Bill uses against It.
Empty Shell: As a result of Georgie's death. Bill's mother is likely especially rattled because her last words to Georgie - "Slam the [cellar] door a little harder next time, Georgie. Maybe you can break some of the plates in the Welsh dresser if you really try." - were spoken in angry irritation.

Will and Jessica Hanlon

The parents of Mike Hanlon.

Good Parents: Will and Jessica are the few parents appearing in the novel are who this along with Richie Tozier's and Stan Uris'. He plays a huge role in Mike's education about Derry's history due to being an amateur historian of the town himself, and possessing a collection of photographs and other keepsakes.
Mr. Exposition: In one of the novel's interlude chapters, he details the events of the Black Spot incident to Mike when the latter pays him a visit at the hospital.
Sassy Black Woman: Jessica is a downplayed version of this, but Played Straight whenever she's upset.
Your Days Are Numbered: By the time Mike is in high school, Will is bedridden due to cancer.

Sonia Kaspbrak

The mother of Eddie Kaspbrak.

Fat Bastard: She is an incredibly large woman and is also rather unpleasant. It's stated in the novel that she continues to grow fatter over time, and weighed a little more than four hundred pounds by the time she dies of a heart attack.
Freudian Excuse: The reason for her treatment towards Eddie is her husband's death due to cancer, and she fears losing her son as well.
My Beloved Smother: She constantly worries about Eddie's health and well-being to an obsessive degree. Derry's local pharmacist, Norbert Keene, eventually tells Eddie that his asthma is non-existent and is a psychological consequence of his mother's hold over him.

Norbert Keene

The owner and operator of the Center Street Drug Store for fifty years from 1925 to 1975.

Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: He's the only one willing to tell Eddie the truth that his asthma is psychosomatic, but this information is actually calculated only to make Eddie more unhappy. It's implied he enjoys watching people suffer.

Alvin and Elfrida Marsh

The parents of Beverly Marsh. Although he is not an alcoholic or drug user, Alvin physically abuses Beverly.

Abusive Parent: Alvin is this to Beverly. Averted with Elfrida whose is a loving mother despite not doing anything to stop her husband's abuse.
Catchphrase: "I worry about you, Bevvie. Sometimes I worry a lot."
Hidden Depths: Alvin is a gifted artist, but despite having the talent, he never had the opportunity to pursue it professionally.
Parental Incest: It's hinted that he sublimates his incestuous desires toward his daughter by being physically abusive in other ways.
Pet the Dog: Alvin can be loving at times. Deconstructed though, in that this causes a lot of confusing emotions in Beverly and is implied to be why she ends up in a series of abusive relationships as an adult.
Workaholic: Elfrida spends long hours waitressing. The novel reveals that she works so hard because she's afraid of her family becoming homeless due to their impoverished situation.

Butch Bowers

A struggling farmer and abusive father of Henry Bowers who has a strong hatred towards Will Hanlon.

Abusive Parent: Not only does he beats his son, but he once went after Victor Criss with a pole for dropping a pail of vegetables he meant to sell.
Alcoholic Dad: The real source of most of the problems that he blames on Will Hanlon is his alcoholism and he's an Abusive Dad.
Asshole Victim: He is an Abusive Dad and extremely prejudiced towards Will Hanlon. Henry eventually kills him under It's influence.
Ax-Crazy: It's noted that after his farming business begins failing and his wife leaves him, Butch becomes progressively more insane. This starts to rub off on his son, who becomes as mentally unstable as he is.
Cool Sword: He tries to invoke this with a katana that he claims he looted in World War II. But given that he actually traded some beer for it and tends to carry it around when drunk, it makes him look pretentious at best and dangerous at worst.
Dirty Coward: Despite months of threatening Will's family, he completely breaks down when Will confronts him with a shotgun.
Never My Fault: Blames Will Hanlon for everything that goes wrong in his life, up to and including a boil on his neck. Never considers that most of his misfortunes (minus the boil, perhaps) can be directly attributed to his own bad habits or the consequences of his own attacks on Will.
Shell-Shocked Veteran: Fought in the Marines during World War II. Will and many others in Derry believe this is what led to his insanity.

Officer Aloysius Nell

Adults Are Useless: Perhaps one of the few adults in Derry to avert this. Officer Nell finds the kids playing in the graywater of Derry and scolds them, but quickly softens his stance when one of the children begins to cry. He cautions them to never go anywhere alone, and in the final battle with It, Richie seems to actually channel Officer Nell when doing his Oirish Cop impersonation, and the man's voice has such power that it seems to actually hurt It, even if only momentarily.
Friend to All Children: Is remembered this way in Insomnia.
Officer O'Hara: A textbook example of this trope which inspired Richie to create his "Irish Cop" voice.
Reasonable Authority Figure: See Adults Are Useless above.

Chief Borton

Police Are Useless: Discussed by Mike's parents after Henry attacks him and drenches him head to toe in mud; Mike's mother demands he call the cops, but dear ol' Dad doesn't do so because he doesn't care for Borton and views him as a spineless jellyfish who won't side with him. Will contrasts Borton with his predecessor, Sheriff Sullivan, who was a decent man who treated the Hanlons with respect and supported them when Butch Bowers victimized them.
Character Death: Dies in the Flood of 1985.

Richard Macklin

Asshole Victim: Macklin is imprisoned in Shawshank for the murders of Eddie (who was really murdered by IT) and Dorsey (which Richard had committed). Then IT is heavily implied to drive him to suicide For the Evulz.
Framing the Guilty Party: Macklin murdered his stepson Dorsey, but was also believed to have killed Eddie Corcoran as well, who had actually been murdered by IT.
Wicked Stepmother: To Eddie and Dorsey Corcoran.

Non-Derry Characters

Tom Rogan

The insane, 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.

Abusive Parents: His mother.
Asshole Victim: He dies upon seeing IT's true form, and nobody mourns him.
Berserk Button: He absolutely can't stand Bev's smoking habit.
Control Freak: Tom obsessively controls Bev's life, particularly her social life and her smoking.
Domestic Abuse: He beats Bev regularly and viciously... until The Dog Bites Back.
The Dragon: He briefly becomes this to IT/Pennywise.
Fat Bastard: Used to be a Mr. Fanservice until he sprained his ankle playing tennis and this somehow caused him to become enormously fat. Bev even calls him a "tub of guts".
Freudian Excuse: See Abusive Parents.
He-Man Woman Hater: His attitude towards women is very predatory and misogynistic, partly due to his abusive mother.
Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: He finds out that Bev went to Derry by going to the home of her friend Kay and beating it out of her; Kay holds out under the beating until Tom threatens to mutilate her face with a broken vase.
Jerkass: A emotionally and physically abusive nut-job.
Like Parent, Like Spouse: Bev compares him to her abusive father more than once, while the other Losers compare him to Henry Bowers.
Sherlock Scan: Observes clear signs of abuse-induced anxiety in Bev which makes him see her as a potential victim who will be easy to control, causing him to start a relationship with her.
Spared by the Adaptation: He is not seen again in the miniseries or Chapter 2 after Bev leaves him.
Would Hit a Girl: Not just Beverly, but her friends as well.

Audra Denbrough

Audra Denbrough née Phillips

Bill's wife and a famous actress.

Damsel in Distress: IT hypnotizes and kidnaps her to lure Bill into its lair.
Ms. Fanservice: She's an actress and model and Stephen King describes her beauty in great detail.

Characters / IT

Edit Locked

The Losers Club

The Losers Club

William "Bill" Denbrough (aka "Stuttering Bill"; "Big Bill")

Benjamin "Ben" Hanscom (aka "Haystack")

Beverly "Bev" Rogan née Marsh

Edward "Eddie" Kaspbrak

Richard "Richie" Tozier (aka "Trashmouth")

Michael "Mike" Hanlon

Stanley "Stan" Uris

Supernatural Beings

IT/Pennywise the Dancing Clown/Bob Gray/The Spider

Christine

Maturin/The Turtle

Gan/The Other

Henry's Gang

Henry Bowers

Victor "Vic" Criss

Reginald "Belch" Huggins

Patrick Hockstetter

Steve "Moose" Sadler

Peter Gordon

Gard Jagermeyer

Other Derry Children

George "Georgie" Denbrough

Edward "Eddie" Corcoran

Bradley Donovan

Sally Mueller

Greta Bowie

Vincent "Boogers" Taliendo

Marcia Fadden

Calvin and Cissy Clark

Derry Adults

Adrian Mellon

Don Hagarty

Zack and Sharon Denbrough

Will and Jessica Hanlon

Sonia Kaspbrak

Norbert Keene

Alvin and Elfrida Marsh

Butch Bowers

Richard Macklin

Non-Derry Characters

Tom Rogan

Audra Denbrough née Phillips

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