(It (2017) | It: Chapter Two) Main Character Index
IT/Pennywise | Loser’s Club | Others

IT

A mysterious evil entity which has been preying on the town of Derry for centuries. Every 27 years, it comes out of hibernation to cause a series of catastrophic disasters, the latest being a string of child murders.

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It (2017)

The Deadlights

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/deadlights.png

IT's true form. Three white/orange lights.

Brown Note: Staring into the Deadlights will cause the person to go catatonic.
Eldritch Abomination: This is revealed to be IT's true nature. IT is in reality, a trio of orange glowing lights from outer space called the Deadlights. The Deadlights arrived to Earth millions of years ago at the location that would eventually become Derry, Maine. Anyone who looks upon the Deadlights will go into a catatonic state. The Deadlights also have the ability to create a physical avatar to feed on its prey. Through its avatar, the Deadlights can induce hallucinations, bend reality to its will, read the minds of its victims, and shapeshift into whatever they fear the most.
Fighting a Shadow: It implied that the various shapes IT takes are physical avatars created by the Deadlights so as to feed. IT showing the deadlights to Richie is presented like its head is a fanged, fleshy lens channeling their light. Though its played down in that killing the physical form will kill the Deadlights too.
Greater-Scope Villain: They are this to the IT franchise based on how each of IT's forms (including his iconic clown form) are avatars of them.
Go Mad from the Revelation: It has this effect on anyone unlucky enough to see them.
Godzilla Threshold: Pennywise is shown to let them out only a little at a time — such as when his eyes glow when meeting Mike Hanlon — presumably because they're so powerful that they tend to break people's minds, and that could sour the meat. When forcing them on Beverly, it's in a desperate attempt to force her to be afraid of him again.
Hypnotic Eyes: Look into them and you'll be in a catatonic state for who knows how long.
Light 'em Up: It is a magical light, after all, though its power seems to be more psychic than physical.
Light Is Not Good: It is a pure, white/orange light... that also happens to be an extremely evil Eldritch Abomination. They even get an upgrade in the second movie, where they go from gold to blue.

Pennywise

Pennywise the Dancing Clown

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/2e8de784a18c8d041a1f4e687e6b928d.jpg

"Time to float!"

Portrayed By: Bill Skarsgård

"I'll feast on your flesh as I feed on your fear..."

IT's favorite (and most iconic) form is Pennywise the Dancing Clown. Modelled on the pierrot clowns of old, he employs the clownish persona as bait for young children, luring them with jokes and offers to visit his circus, but also doubles as an effective form to scare people with coulrophobia (a fear of, well, clowns) shitless.

Achilles' Heel: He grows stronger and "seasons" his food by preying on the worst fears of his victims, relishing their terror. When he faces an opponent who knows his tricks and can't be intimidated or scared, he becomes more vulnerable, to the point that the united Losers' Club is able to turn on him with weapons and absolutely tune him up, forcing him to flee into hibernation.
Adaptational Abomination: Downplayed. While IT was always an Eldritch Abomination, here he is portrayed as much more monstrous and less capable of seeming to be anything but.
Adaptational Badass:
- While IT's weakness is apparently shared across all forms, and is brutally beaten and almost starved to death due to the Losers no longer being frightened by IT, It still survives an attack that would have killed Georgie, its then-current shape.
- He fares much better in the final battle than either of his contemporary counterparts. In the book and 1990 film, he is easily knocked over, beaten, and killed by the Losers out of rage after Eddie is killed. Here, he has the Losers on the run for much of it until they get the idea of using Your Mind Makes It Real against him. Hell, he even managed to separate them after the Ritual of Chudd fails and would have added two more to his list of victims if it weren't for the The Power of Love.
Adaptational Dumbass: This iteration of Pennywise is much less skilled at pretending to be a friendly clown. He can't get through an act without dropping hints of his predatory nature.
Adaptational Dye-Job: Inverted. Pennywise's orange hair is more accurate to the book than the red hair from the TV miniseries.
Adaptational Jerkass: Played with, as while IT is always pure evil, unlike in the miniseries and book, this version of IT mostly doesn't even bother being Faux Affably Evil, and takes glee in scaring the shit out of everyone. And even when he does try to act friendly, he can hardly suppress his cravings for meat compared to his other counterparts.
Adaptational Personality Change: In the novel, IT uses many sexual euphemisms to scare his victims. Such as offering Eddie a blowjob in the form of a homeless man suffering from syphilis and IT preying on Beverly's fear of her own budding sexuality. In the movies, IT doesn't do this and the man with syphilis is replaced by a man with leprosy.
Adaptational Sexuality: Implied. In the novel, it's revealed IT has been laying eggs and it's never made clear if IT had a partner in this process or reproduced asexually. In the film, there are no eggs and IT shows no signs of pregnancy.
Adaptational Villainy: Easily the most overtly sadistic version of Pennywise. Even in the novel and miniseries, he was at least nice enough to leave Georgie to bleed out. Here, he drags him into the sewer to finish him off.
Adaptational Wimp: In the book and miniseries, IT is only vulnerable to whatever its form is, which is partly why it favors the form of a Monster Clown with no mythology of its own, rendering It Nigh-Invulnerable as Pennywise. Here, however, Its weakness is apparently shared across all forms, rendering It vulnerable to those unafraid of It. Furthermore, the book's version of IT uses fear as seasoning but doesn't need its prey to be frightened, and could only be vanquished using the Ritual of Chüd; while the film's version of Pennywise is brutally beaten and almost starved to death due to the Losers no longer being frightened by IT. Furthermore, while this IT is still very much a Lovecraftian aberration like its book counterpart, in Chapter 2 it is seemingly Killed Off for Real, unlike its literary version which apparently survived.
Aliens Are Bastards: IT is essentially an extremely malevolent, predatory being of extraterrestrial origins that came to Derry in a meteor and turned the place into Its personal hunting grounds.
Alien Blood: Downplayed; IT's blood appears to be standard human blood, but what makes it weird is that it floats in mid-air rather than falling.
Ambushing Enemy: IT's powers only work when it has the element of surprise and the reason why it's been successful for so long is that it lured its victims into a false sense of security, lured them into isolated areas, and because they were children. When IT faces the Losers Club, it just fights them and tries to use their respective traumas against them. However, the Losers Club have wised up to it by the time of the fight and has learned that its powers only work on one person at a time, leaving IT vulnerable to attacks while it's distracted. In the first fight, IT chooses to fight each loser one by one, first using Mike's fire-related trauma in an attempt to grab him, and then using Stan's fear of the painting to run at him but all this does is allow Richie and Ben to attack it from behind. When it tries to kill Ben in a mummy form, Mike just knocks it down with a chain. Finally, when it tries to attack Beverly by taking the form of her abusive father, she rams a sharp pole through his mouth and it finally decides to go into hibernation.
And Show It to You: How he meets his ultimate fate is the Losers tearing out his heart and crushing it.
Animal Motifs: Spiders. The abandoned house the Losers find him in is full of cobwebs, he sprouts spider legs in the final battle, and his tendency to let the corpses of his victims float in mid-air bears a disturbing resemblance to spiders catching prey in webs. These are likely all references to his literary counterpart taking on the form of a Giant Spider.
Ancient Evil: It has been haunting Derry for at least three hundred years. Its first true defeat only came at the hands of the Loser's Club, and newspaper clippings and reports from ages past show that IT has been terrorizing Derry since before the town got its name. It also arrived to Earth in a meteor, implying it’s MUCH older.
Antagonist Title: Pennywise is IT, the titular Monster Clown that serves as the main antagonist.
Arch-Enemy: To the Losers Club. But in particular, he is this to Bill for murdering his brother Georgie. Bill's primary goal is to kill Pennywise.
Awesome Anachronistic Apparel: Played with. His renaissance costume gives him a ghostly and otherworldly appearance, but at the same time it looks very extravagant and regal, especially compared to his Tim Curry counterpart.
Ax-Crazy: A sadistic, homicidal entity who kills people and eats children like candy.
Balloon of Doom: Often carries red balloons in its disguise, or leaves balloons for the children to find as a tacit threat that it's watching them.
Berserk Button: Well, more like an "insulted" button, but after Bill states that Pennywise's trap "isn't real" (which enables Bill and Richie to escape), Pennywise stops trying to scare Eddie, turns around to face Bill, and then responds in such a way that suggests he's genuinely offended by what Bill said. When Beverly snaps that she isn't afraid of it after being kidnapped, Pennywise sniffs her, grimaces in disgust, and then Deadlights her.
Pennywise: This isn't real enough for you, Billy?! I'm not real enough for you?! It was real enough for Georgie!
Beware the Silly Ones: It's Pennywise, after all. IT can be pretty surreal, outlandish, and laughable at times, but that does not stop him from being a vile, sadistic creature.
Big Bad: The source of all the mysterious wrong-doings in Derry for the past three centuries.
Black Comedy: Despite his dark nature, Pennywise does have a sense of humor; after all, he ''is'' a clown. Being a Sadist just means that IT's humor is black as pitch, as when he mimes eating Eddie's broken arm to scare him or his Kick the Dog line to Bill.
Pennywise: This isn't real enough for you, Billy? I'm not real enough for you?
Richie: Holy shit...
Pennywise: [gives a ghastly grin] It was real enough for Georgie! HehehaHAHAHAHA!
Blood Knight: Downplayed. For all its pathetic cowardice when overmatched in a physical confrontation, Pennywise seemed unnaturally excited to face them again during and after its hibernation.
Pennywise: For 27 years, I dreamt of you... I craved you... I’ve missed you!
Bond Villain Stupidity: Pennywise keeps using the exact same scare tactics on victims who have matured and overcome the emotional traumas which have caused them. That just makes his would-be victims even madder, especially after it mockingly pushed what has become their biggest Berserk Button. Similarly, take the fact that they beat him with The Power of Friendship as an insult and insist on facing them as a group when they come back 27 years later, even though it would be much easier to pick them off one by one, as Revenge Before Reason.
Break Them by Talking: Pennywise instills fear in his victims by picking away at their deepest insecurities and making them feel insignificant against him. This ends up being flipped on him in the climax of Chapter Two, where the Losers overcome their fears and completely destroy his ego, reducing him to a feeble shell of a creature that reflects what he was all along on the inside: a pathetic bully who makes himself out to be bigger than he really is.
Bright Is Not Good: Pennywise now wears white clothing, per the book's descriptions of his "silver and orange" costume. Considering his true form is the Deadlights, as in the novel, the white clothes may have been intentional to give Pennywise more light imagery.
The Bully: A dark version, but at his core, he's a ruthless fearmonger who needs his victims to be afraid of him in order to function. When someone overcomes this fear or attacks in spite of being afraid, Pennywise is shown to be nowhere near as difficult to defeat as his powers suggest.
Calling Card: Red balloons. Whenever a red balloon floats nearby, it's a telltale sign that Pennywise is near or something terrible is about to happen.
Catchphrase:
- "You'll float, too" and its variations.
- In the second film, It likes to repeat Its Badass Boast of being the "eater of worlds."
Child Eater: Part of IT's modus operandi is hunting children. Clips all over Derry's newspapers show that it preys on children more than adutls, since kids are easier for IT to scare, have easier fears to manipulate, and are less physically imposing.
Child Hater: He hunts the Losers' Club to the extent it seems like he just hates them. And he does, according to Bill Skarsgård.
Clap Your Hands If You Believe: His major weakness is belief, which can be weaponized against him. A lack of fear and standing up to him can result in Pennywise believing himself powerless, which makes it so.
Clown Species: Of a sort. Pennywise definitely isn't meant to look like he's a human performer under makeup, even though it's implied the form was inspired by a real clown in Derry's past. One hint of this is that Pennywise's bulbous forehead makes his head look like a balloon, which is made clearer when it literally deflates and moves like a leaky rubber balloon in Chapter Two's climax. This suggests that in part, Pennywise is based on the concept of clowns rather than trying to look like a plausible human clown, which signifies how out-of-touch IT is as an abominable entity, and likely aids IT in scaring people.
Cold Ham: While Tim Curry fully embraced being a Large Ham in the television movie, Bill Skarsgård's portrayal of the character seems to be based less in hamming it up and more in being creepy while remaining a bit larger-than-life. Since he's playing a Monster Clown, he can't be too serious.
Collector of the Strange: Turns out that when Pennywise says "You'll float, too", he means it quite literally. His lair is revealed to have the ravaged corpses of his victims that literally float above a tower of circus props and children's belongings (some of which are implied to have been taken from his victims) in a twisted monument to his depravity.
Cornered Rattlesnake: IT prefers to run when it loses an advantage or the tables turn against it, but during the Final Battle, when the Losers' Club beat him up, IT ultimately goes down fighting.
The Corrupter: Convinces Henry Bowers to murder his father and go after the Losers.
The Corruption: It's implied that not only is Pennywise responsible for all the child murders and disappearances in Derry, but he's also somehow (possibly indirectly) responsible for the violence, racial prejudice, and general atmosphere of apathy and uncaring that plague the town.
Deadpan Snarker: Has a twisted, sarcastic sense of humor.
Deadly Euphemism: Pennywise loves to tell his victims that they'll "float". And in a rather frightening twist, it turns out he means it quite literally — his lair is littered with hundreds of floating corpses of his previous victims.
Deconstructed Character Archetype: Of the Humanoid Abomination. Yes, Pennywise is an amorphous blob of malevolence in a deformed human shape. But that's pretty much all it's got going for it. IT's an immortal being that terrorizes Derry during its spree-killings before retreating into hibernation for 27 years, and that routine has worked for centuries. It's never needed to reflect or expand on this strategy because IT never faced any problems from its food before. Therefore, IT's utterly incapable of thinking beyond what's already been proven to work. So when prey comes along that its tactics prove ineffective against, IT can only double-down on its limited arsenal. Just like Nyarlathotep of the Cthulhu Mythos, IT is essentially an Outer God with a human sense of morality, making it the absolute worst of its kin because he has human sadism and cruelty. However, this also means it has a human sense of overconfidence, pettiness, impatience, complacency, and anger-induced stupidity. Humans feel fear, but the fear allows them to adapt to survive, while Pennywise is totally blindsided by the prospect that it might actually lose.
Devilish Hair Horns: His hair curls up into horns at the ends, leaving no doubts as to his malevolent nature.
Dirty Coward:
- For all his bravado and intimidating theatrics, Pennywise is ultimately a pathetic coward who's far less of a threat than IT makes itself out to be to those who aren't afraid of him. In fact, when It's cornered by fearless children, Pennywise can be pounded into a helpless and terrified pulp, albeit with some effort and the right weapons, culminating in a Villainous Breakdown where he ends up shedding Tears of Fear over his imminent death.
- Even before the Losers stop being afraid of him, Pennywise is reluctant to attack them when they are in a group, opting instead to pick them off one by one. After being wounded by Bev at the Neibolt House, he slinks off rather than take on the entire group. Slashing Ben with his claws just before fleeing seems more like an attempt to get the Losers to not pursue him (or possibly just lashing out in anger), rather than an actual effort to kill anyone. Later, while trying to eat Stan in the sewer, he again flees when the other Losers arrive on scene.
- In the second Chapter film, once bullied to death by the Losers, all he can do is whimper and let out baby cries as the Losers go for his heart and kill him and this time, for good.
The Dreaded: Self-explanatory. Upon realizing Pennywise is still alive, the Losers are completely terrified. And just like the book, Stan commits suicide because he views it as preferable to confronting IT again.
Emotion Eater: Even more than flesh, Pennywise needs fear to feed on and function. This applies across all of his senses, too — he visibly recoils in disgust when he smells a would-be victim actively taking courage against him. Once the Losers' Club stops being afraid of him, disposes of Henry Bowers and bands together, he's nearly helpless to fight them off.
Establishing Character Moment: The infamous Georgie scene quickly establishes IT's predatory nature.
Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Pennywise's flaw is that it overestimates itself.
- Pennywise can only focus on one victim at a time with its powers and this is how the Losers gain the upper hand in their first fight. Pennywise can't fight them all at the same time, even with IT's powers, since the Losers will back each other up when one of them is attacked. Pennywise also tries to negotiate with the Losers by telling them that it will go into a 27-year hibernation, but it will only take Bill with him and leave the rest of the Loser's Club alone. But all this does is anger and motivate the Losers more, and it causes them to drive IT back.
- Kidnapping Beverly has shades of this; at that point, the Losers had fallen out, and probably would have been easy pickings. As soon as they heard that Beverly had been taken? All grudges forgotten, and they were ready for a fight.
Eviler than Thou: To Henry and his gang as usual. Shown by how he easily he kills Patrick and then manipulates Henry to kill Victor and Belch.
Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humor: Being a clown, Pennywise naturally has a sense of humor. Being Pennywise, the things he finds funny are horrifying. This trait is played up in Chapter Two, where Pennywise shows off a fondness for bad puns, sending a message to the Losers saying "guess Stanley could not cut it" (Stan having committed suicide by cutting his wrists) and changing his Catchphrase to "time to sink" when trying to drown Beverly.
Evil Is Bigger: He's played by 6"4 Bill Skarsgard and absolutely towers over the kids he terrorizes. This is especially prominent in his scenes with Bev whose actress, Sophia Lillis, is only a shade over five feet tall, making Pennywise nearly a foot and a half taller.
Evil Is Hammy: He is full of himself and exaggerated as only a clown can be - though more contained than Tim Curry in the 1990 movie, to ensure it remains scary.
Evil Is Petty: Pennywise isn't just a predator. He goes straight for the nastiest, most petty means he can use to hurt someone. Mocking Eddie's medical issues, mocking Ben's weight, mocking Richie's being a closeted gay man, constantly going after Bill's stutter and hitting below the belt shows what a sadistic creep he is.
Evil Laugh: He wouldn't be a Monster Clown without one. He tends to giggle in wicked glee whenever he has a frightened child in his clutches.
Evil Sounds Deep: Has a deep, throaty voice and is pure evil.
Facial Horror: A lot of his transformations have this. Also, when showing someone the Deadlights, Pennywise's face opens up completely to reveal the lights inside his mouth to render Beverly into a catatonic state.
Farmer and the Viper: IT is a being that represents evil in its purest form and refuses to show mercy in any way.
- IT will use pity to lure in victims, as shown by how it lured in the girl with a birthmark by manipulating her sense of empathy before eating her alive.
- This is also shown by how IT behaves in disguise, IT appears to be out of place as if it never had to socialise with prey before and never developed the skills to hide in plain sight. In all pictures of IT, it sticks out like a sore thumb and most have pointed out how IT stands out with its behavior.
Fangs Are Evil: Has a truly monstrous pair of fangs in place of buck teeth - when attacking his victims, he leans his head back and they grow out of his mouth along with a few hundred friends.
Fatal Flaw: Complacency. IT is so used to getting its way that it's completely blindsided when the Loser's Club managed to beat its tactics. When this happens, it's left with few options to fall back on since it never learned to find its own limitations, to take its victims seriously, or to curb its belief that it was invincible. Consequently, it lacks any strategic thinking; it just lets the Loser's Club walk right up to its home, safe in the belief it can take them all with no trouble. For this arrogance, Pennywise gets promptly curb stomped into another 27 years of hibernation after the Loser's Club hands Pennywise its first true defeat. In Chapter Two, Pennywise's need to affirm its sense of superiority and invincibility is what drives him to lure the Losers into its lair (as opposed to picking them off one at a time). IT specifically wants to kill them all while they're together, in order to prove that even those who present a united front can't stop it. This backfires horribly when the Losers begin calling out all its previous forms which no longer scare them, shattering its ego and forcing IT to assume a feeble baby-like form that they destroy with ease.
Faux Affably Evil:
- Downplayed. Pennywise can attempt to put on a facade of pleasantries to lure potential victims in. The key word, however, is "attempt" as he can barely suppress his craving for human flesh long enough to put on a convincing act. Thus, more often than not, Pennywise doesn't even bother pretending. His encounter with Georgie exemplifies this perfectly. When Georgie first sees him, his eyes are a sinister shade of yellow, but he quickly changes them to a more soothing shade of blue and disarms Georgie with a joke about popcorn. Once the joke ends, he stares at Georgie in a way that can only be described as predatory, complete with him growling and drooling, showing that underneath the clownish facade lurks something truly demonic. The little stunt creeps Georgie out so badly he nearly gets the hell out of dodge. (Alternatively, Pennywise may have deliberately kept Georgie a little nervous, since if he felt too relaxed, he'd perhaps not taste as good.)
- Plays this card again in the second film against a little girl named Victoria. When she initially backs off from him in fright, he laments that he understands and everyone shuns him and makes fun of him because he's so ugly; preying on Victoria's sympathy as she also gets made fun of for the birthmark on her cheek. As with Georgie, he breaks character to stare and drool, but unlike with Georgie, he lunges before she becomes too suspicious.
Fish Eyes: Sometimes, one of Its eyes seem to be looking straight into the camera. It is most noticeable when It opens its mouth and grows fangs, stretching its face so much that gives the effect. This is actually a trick Bill Skarsgard learned because it would have been to expensive to add in post.
Forehead of Doom: Emphasized by his fondness for the Kubrick Stare. In certain shots, it looks as big as the whole rest of his face. It even "inflates" like a balloon between shots if you look closely.
A Form You Are Comfortable With: Just as in the book, when Georgie first sees Pennywise in the sewers, the eyes of the clown are an evil yellow, but soon become a softer, more human blue: the eyes of Georgie's mother.
For the Evulz: Sure, Pennywise kills to feed himself, therefore attempting to survive. However, seeing all the fear he likes to instill in his victims, it's pretty clear he also does it for pure, sadistic fun at the same time. The tower of ravaged corpses on top of the circus wagon in his lair is certainly not the result of a predator that just needs to survive.
The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You:
- One of Pennywise's eyes is always fixed on the camera, giving the impression that he can see the audience watching the movie.
- In an in-universe example similar to the photo album scene from the 1990's TV short, Pennywise hijacks a slide reel while the Losers' Club is viewing images of Derry's history in Bill's garage and gets it moving so fast that the pictures form a moving image. He then pops halfway out of the screen as a giant clown-monster and tries to attack them, but they drive him off by opening the garage shutter.
- Another in-universe example is the recurring children's TV show, which talks about how fun clowns are and advocates playing in the sewers as an acceptable pastime for children — after all, they'll float. When convincing Henry Bowers to murder his father and go after the Losers, Pennywise himself appears in the TV show alongside his numerous victims, chanting "Kill them all!".
Game Face: When he's ready to really fight or feed, his gums tend to slide out with multiple irregular rows of sharp fangs.
Giggling Villain: He has a very high-pitched and pronounced giggle.
Glamour Failure: Pennywise starts off bright and cheerful looking, but as the movie progresses, his appearance grows grimier and more decrepit, with occasional Blood from the Mouth, as if IT is trying its best to maintain the image of a Monster Clown. At the climax in IT's lair, his eyes turn a hellish orange and look slightly bloodshot, since IT's not even trying to be subtle at this point.
Glasgow Grin: The red markings on his face run through his eyes to the corners of his mouth. The lines are too vertical to be seen as a smile normally, but Pennywise reveals the deadlights to Bev by opening his mouth along those same lines and peeling his entire face open.
Glowing Eyes of Doom: When confronting Mike for the first time, Pennywise's eyes glow bright orange.
Go Mad from the Revelation: The deadlights, which drive his victims to insanity.
A God Am I: Pennywise is extremely prideful and arrogant to the point where he believes himself to be the supreme being, calling himself the "Eater of Worlds". He invokes this in a last ditch effort to scare the Losers. It doesn't work.
Gonk: Used to an extremely creepy effect. Pennywise looks like a giant clay figure more than an organic human being and behaves like some sort of wild animal who has only just learned how to speak English.
Hates Everyone Equally: Being is a sadistic Eldritch Abomination who came from space, he sees all humans as food and fear to feed off of regardless of demographic. His main target, the losers club, are a diverse group of individuals consisting of a black man, a gay man, a woman, and a former fat guy. He frightens them all in various but ultimately equally terrible ways. While he hurls bigoted insults at them, he doesn't actually have bigoted beliefs, he simply wants to rile them up because he enjoys seing them suffer.
Hate Sink: Bill Skarsgård's take on Pennywise the Dancing Clown outdoes the original version in sheer depravity. Along with IT's crimes from the novel, IT taunts the possibility of Georgie being alive just to send Bill on a fruitless hunt that puts his friends in danger in the process. 27 years later, IT also pretends to save a gay man from drowning only to devour his heart in front of his boyfriend. IT kills a young girl after promising to remove her embarrassing birthmark, and — to further taunt Bill over his inability to save Georgie — makes him relive it by killing another boy in front of him.
Hoist by His Own Petard: Continually exposing the Losers to the same fears forces them to overcome said fears. This leads to them beating him senseless in the first movie and finally killing IT in the sequel.
Humanoid Abomination: A far more pronounced version than Tim Curry or even Stephen King's interpretations of the character. King's (and Curry's) Pennywise was an inhuman monster to be sure, but it could at least put a natural act as a flashy, sadistic clown with a twisted sense of humor. Bill Skarsgard's Pennywise, on the other hand, can only just barely act human at the best of times: the Pennywise in this movie is less like a shapeshifter and more like a murderous, utterly inhuman animal that skinned a clown and is wearing it like an ill-fitting suit. The few glimpses we get of Bob Gray, and a few oblique hints from Word of God show that might be literally the case.
I Have Many Names: A shapeshifting Lovecraftian monster who has been active for many centuries, it has many different names for each of his forms, none of them really it's "true" name. "It" is as appropriate a designation as any. This is highlighted when Georgie innocently asks who he is: he seems confused for a second (as if no one ever asked before), then says he's "Pennywise the Dancing Clown", then mutters to himself "Yes, that's it", as if he just came up with a name for himself (or at least, this form) after all these centuries.
Informed Attribute: Averted. Pennywise the Dancing Clown actually dances in this movie, but only as a last resort. He repeats it in the second.
Jerkass: Even for a predatory monster that feeds on fear, Pennywise is a petty, cruel, vicious bully who enjoys tormenting his prey as much, if not more than the act of killing them. Special mention goes to taunting Bill about Georgie's death, mocking Ben's weight, taunting Richie about being gay, and especially rubbing Stan's death in the Losers' faces.
Jump Scare: He's a master of these. His scariest moments include popping out of the projection screen with a terrifying, razor-toothed grin, screaming into Eddie's face as the Leper, jumping out at Richie from a coffin, and lunging at Stan as Judith, giant maw agape.
Kick the Dog: He does this constantly, and this is part of what allows his powers to succeed.
- His initial contact with all of the kids is intended to terrify them to "fatten them up" for his eventual feast.
- When he finally meets Bill face to face, he acts offended Bill thinks he isn't real — before condescendingly adding he was "real enough for Georgie!"
- Convincing Henry Bowers to murder his father and go after the Losers was a real dick move, but shows that Pennywise actually is starting to show fear, and takes the Losers seriously as an opposing force, as opposed to just more prey.
- He's back to old tricks in Chapter Two, opening the film by devouring Adrian Mellon in front of his boyfriend, then writing a taunting message for Mike in Adrian's blood.
- When the Losers reunite, Pennywise welcomes them home in his own inimitable fashion: taunting them about Stan's suicide with fortune cookie messages that spell out "guess Stanley could not cut it".
- In flashbacks showing individual encounters with the Losers in 1989, Pennywise tells Bill that he killed Georgie just because Bill wasn't there to protect him, harasses Ben by shapshifting into Bev's form, and using his Leper form and an illusion of Eddie's mother to psychologically torture him.
- He graphically devours a boy named Dean while Bill is Forced to Watch, just to pile more guilt onto Bill, who already blames himself for Georgie's death.
Killed Off for Real: After centuries of terror and misery that he brought upon the denizens of Derry, Pennywise is finally defeated for good as his clown's form's beating heart is mutually crushed by the Losers Club.
Kubrick Stare: As expected from a sinister character played by Bill Skarsgård. Pennywise frequently does these, such as in the promotional materials and when meeting Georgie.
Inelegant Blubbering: In the climax of the first film when finally beaten into submission, when Pennywise fears that the kids will starve him he cries and almost spazzes out whilst doing so.
Lack of Empathy: While no predator truly empathizes with their prey (they only do what they do for survival), Pennywise is defined by a sort of predatory sadism, as he enjoys breaking his victims down in every conceivable way because just devouring them wouldn't be enough.
Lamprey Mouth: When he shows Beverly his Deadlights, his head simply splits open to reveal a circular mouth lined with hundreds of teeth.
Last Ditch Move: After being on the receiving end of a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown by the Losers, he slinks off to a sewer drain and makes one last pathetic attempt to prey on at least one of their fears, Bill's stutter, which he does by repeatedly reciting the rhyme that Bill unsuccessfully uses to help his stutter throughout the movie. It doesn't work. And just before that, after having gone through every other known form, he transforms himself into Alvin Marsh in a desperate attempt to evoke fear in Bev. This only managed to piss her off worse.
IT/Alvin: Hey, Bevy, are you still my-
(Bev impales him through the mouth).
- Tries several in the second film, including hitting Ritchie with the Deadlights when Ritchie throws rocks at him to get him away from Mike, impales Eddie as soon as Eddie discovers his weakness, and then tries to take out the other Losers before they realize what Eddie was telling them.
Last Villain Stand: Upon being cornered by the Losers' Club in his own lair, and realizing he has a very good chance of dying, Pennywise completely unleashes his power, manifesting spider-appendages, spewing the burnt arms of Mike's dead parents from his mouth, a charred skull with tendrils (implied to be the severed head of the Headless Boy), and every illusion he can (Judith, the Leper, Bev's dad), in a final attempt to separate and crush the children. It doesn't work, but it gives him enough time — even as he is slowly falling apart — to escape back to hibernation.
- Again in the second film, where IT actually invokes this as a trap, making the Losers think It is doing that when really it's going to kill them all...only to get forced into the trope for real when they overcome the trap.
Laughably Evil: Child-eating Monster Clown or not, Pennywise is a master of Black Comedy.
Light Is Not Good: Heavily associated with the color white (with red, orange, and silver are thrown in for good measure), but nevertheless very, very evil.
Lovecraft Lite: IT is a centuries-old shapeshifting, reality-warping monster... but at his core, he's just a condescending, power-hungry jerk. Once deprived of his victims' fear, he gets beaten senseless. Plus, when Pennywise's physical form is killed for good in Chapter 2, the Deadlights appear to fade too, implying It has been destroyed for good, going from the level of an Outer God to a Great Old One instead.
Loves the Sound of Screaming: Absolutely adores the sounds of his victims' terror before feeding on them. Best shown when he attacks Eddie at Neibolt, where he drags it out as long as possible to make him more and more terrified, and is literally salivating by the end.
Pennywise: Tasty, tasty, beautiful fear!
Luring in Prey: He'll sometimes put on a friendly facade to lure in unsuspecting children to eat, like with Georgie or Victoria. Other times he'll avert this entirely and just immediately scare the kid.
Madness Mantra:
- "You'll float, too!"
- "I am the eater of worlds!" sounds badass in a fight, but when the adult Losers finally bring him down, he whimpers it frantically, over and over, as if trying to assure himself.
Magical Clown: Pennywise is a very sinister version, and his actions are decidedly more supernatural than cartoonish.
Meaningful Name: We finally get to see the "dancing" part of "Pennywise the Dancing Clown" in a rather surreal moment with Beverley.
Monster Clown: One of the most literal examples, Pennywise is actually an ancient Eldritch Abomination that turns into anything that people that encounter it most fear and ITs preferred form is a clown. Whereas in the book, IT chose the form due to the trope not having any famous weaknesses, here, it isn't bound to any form or a form's rules, and its weaknesses take the form of the kids' imaginations overruling it. However, the clown was too iconic to change as its default avatar.
- Eventually used against him by the Losers as adults—remembering It mainly as a clown allows them to force him to just be as powerful as one.
More Teeth than the Osmond Family:
- When he's in Game Face, and especially during the projector scene, when he uncorks every tooth in his "head" and attacks the Loser's Club.
- Even worse is when he shows Beverly the Deadlights. His entire head peels back, forming a massive Lamprey Mouth with hundreds of teeth.
Nightmare Face: Besides his aforementioned Game Face, he sports an even scarier one when he emerges from the projection screen as a giant. In this form, he sports a wide, unnaturally curled up smile (think The Joker) with More Teeth than the Osmond Family. It makes for quite an effective Jump Scare.
Non-Ironic Clown: He did manage to pull a few laughs from Georgie and convince him he was a normal circus entertainer, but it was all just to lower his suspicions and beckon him into striking distance.
Obviously Evil: He really hasn't perfected how to behave like a normal clown, only just being able to convince a 6-year-old that he was friendly by changing his eyes blue, and even then, his underlying creepiness still managed to seep through. With older children he doesn't even bother with a friendly pretense and is just outright evil towards them.
Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: He tends to switch between an American accent and Bill Skarsgard's natural Swedish dialect (the scene where he attacks Eddie is one of the most prominent instances). Given ITs true nature, however, the inconstant voice isn't at all a problem.
Paper Tiger: Pennywise is really good at acting or looking scary, but he's only really dangerous if you’re actually afraid. He feeds on fear and any other emotion repels it, so if you’re not scared or even just fight through the fear, he’s really not that formidable. When the Losers overcome their fear and start beating him up in the finale scene of the first film, Pennywise breaks down crying like a pathetic loser and backflips away into the sewers. This is especially dangerous to It if It manages to anger potential prey to the point where they're too furious to be scared, as seen with Eddie and Bev in the first film's climax and Ritchie in the second.
Partial Transformation: During the final battle in Chapter One, Pennywise transforms his arms into a set of arachnid-like appendages and tries to chase after Mike with them.
Personality Powers: A somewhat subtle example, but the fact that its actually made of light makes its cheerfulness as a clown and its general huge 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: In Chapter Two, he mocks Ben's weight and Richie's sexuality. Downplayed because he's not actually fatphobic or homophobic, all humans and their fear are equally food to him, but because he just wants to rile them up.
Powerful, but Incompetent: As a divine being able to read minds and shapeshift accordingly, IT never experienced struggle or a challenge and thus never bothered to learn how to adapt or adopt a more effective strategy than "Scare them half to death and then eat them".
- The biggest reason why IT lost the first time is that the prey never fought back or banded together in a united front. IT never realised that its powers only work on individual kids, not a collective since not all kids share the same fears, causing IT to be completely unprepared in the final fight. IT also chose Henry Bowers as an unwitting enforcer because of how The Losers feared him, not realising The Losers are now willing to stand up to Henry and how Henry is still just a teen who can be taken out by someone stronger than him.
- In the sequel, IT still refuses to treat the Losers Club as a threat and is more concerned with reestablishing its sense of dominance since IT showed weakness for the first time in its life. However, IT still believes that its strategy worked well the first time and never bothered to tailor its strategy for the now adult Losers Club.
Pre-Mortem One-Liner: Say it with us: "Time to float!"
Psychopathic Manchild: Takes a child-like glee in taunting his victims, accentuated by his childish voice and mannerisms. Also has a childish sense of humour.
Reality Is Unrealistic: His costume was considered too scary-looking and gothic by many fans, but many clowns did dress like this until the 1960s.
Reality Warper: Pennywise has vast reality-warping powers, beyond his own shape-shifting abilities. He also has perception-altering abilities (adults can walk around covered in blood that only a targeted child can see). When he grows increasingly frustrated trying to scare the captive Beverly, he tries to scare her by showing off his reality-warping powers: he dances a clown jig...not so much by dancing his body, but making the world dance around him while his head stays perfectly still.
Really 700 Years Old: An illustration of Derry's founding shows Pennywise standing among the people who established the city, and before that was responsible for the disappearance of the first settlers to arrive in the area in the 17th century — which would have been expanded upon in a deleted scene. And Pennywise is much older than that, having lain dormant for millions of years until trappers and settlers arrived.
Regularly Scheduled Evil: Pennywise awakens from hibernation every 27 years for 12-16 months, before going back into his sleep.
Revenge Before Reason: One of the reasons Pennywise targets the Loser's Club in particular in IT: Chapter Two, despite the fact that they're all adults now, is because Pennywise legitamitely hates them for handing it the first real defeat it ever had 27 years ago. Too bad for IT that this allows the Loser's Club to band together and fight Pennywise once again.
Sadist: Pennywise isn't just a predator. He genuinely enjoys attacking and murdering other beings, terrifying them to make them especially delicious to him. At Neibolt Street, he mentally tortures the Losers and when trying to prey on Eddie, makes sure to draw it out as long as possible, even miming biting his fingers to savor his "tasty, tasty, beautiful fear."
Sadistic Choice: He takes Bill hostage during the climax of Chapter One and gives the Losers a choice. If they stay he will kill and feast on them all, but if they leave he will only kill Bill, he’ll return to his hibernation and leave the rest of them alone to live happy normal lives. Downplayed as this is just an attempt to get the rest of them to leave, knowing that he can’t beat them when they aren’t afraid of him, and Richie decides to Take a Third Option, saving Bill and the rest of the group and defeating Pennywise.
Serial Killer: Not only does he kill children and perpetrates mass murders between a cooling-off period of 27 years, he also keeps trophies from his victims, and considering he has been killing Derry's citizens since the town has been founded, it is not hard to think that his number of victims is in the hundreds, if not thousands.
Shapeshifter Mode Lock:
- Averted, which itself makes for an Adaptational Badass, since this was its most exploitable weakness in the source material and miniseries.
- Played straight in the climax of Chapter Two, when the Losers figure out they can force it into a feeble, powerless form by thinking of all the previous forms it's taken that they're no longer afraid of, especially that of a clown.
Slasher Smile: Constantly wears a malevolent grin regardless of ITs current monstrousness. The most frightening example would have to be during a certain scene in chapter 2◊.
Smug Snake: Despite IT's numerous shapeshifting abilities and professing to be the "Eater of Worlds", it is far less competent than it would like to think, and repeatedly lets its childish impulses and emotions affect its strategy and nullify any advantage it might have had. This eventually leads to IT's death in Chapter 2 when it repeats its outdated tactics against the now adult Losers.
The Sociopath: Unlike most literal monsters, he's a sentient being that amounts to a cruel, spiteful and merciless Serial Killer who relishes in his victims' terror, even joking about it. IT’s like an all-powerful force of nature that was somehow given human pettiness and cruelty.
Squishy Wizard: When the Losers are no longer afraid of him, IT loses much of his power and menace. IT can still shapeshift, regenerate, and exert minor superhuman strength (e.g. sending Mike flying with a backhand), but IT can be readily bludgeoned or stabbed to death by determined humans like any moderately dangerous animal.
Soft-Spoken Sadist: In contrast to Tim Curry's bombastic, hammy portrayal, Pennywise in this film rarely raises his voice above a light, airy whisper, which only serves to emphasize how monstrous he really is underneath.
Spiders Are Scary: Invoked. He begins sprouting the legs of a spider, which book readers will recognize as the "true" form of IT, when he's cornered by the Losers and almost completely out of ways to scare them into submission.
Supernatural Gold Eyes: His eyes are a sinister shade of gold, emphasized during his meeting with Georgie as they're the first thing he sees. This probably relates to the Deadlights, ITs true form.
Stupid Evil: For all its devious antics, it's at best a taunting bully who never adopts strategies for more contemporary encounters.
Tears of Fear: In the climax of the first movie when it gets beaten into submission by the Losers and has a pathetic Villainous Breakdown involving it crying fearfully.
The One That Got Away: He clearly considers the Losers this, being the only prey to ever escape him. In Chapter Two, he states that the only thing he thought about during his 27-year hibernation was them.
Pennywise: For 27 years, I dreamt of you... I craved you... I’ve missed you!
Throat Light: In the final act of Chapter One, when IT shows Bev the Deadlights, IT opens its mouth extremely wide and lets them shine out of its throat.
To Serve Man: Pennywise feeds on flesh during his waking cycle, and quite prefers the flesh of children.
Villainous Breakdown:
- When Bev nails IT with a metal pole through the eye in the Neibolt house. Its the first time IT has been injured, not just in the movie but...ever, and IT doesn't take it well. When IT finally gets over its shock, IT rounds on the kids with the Pennywise disguise almost unraveling, half of IT's face twisted and fanged as IT's claws tear through IT's gloves. IT takes a few frantic swings at the children, letting out inhuman snarls, before slinking away to lick IT's wounds.
- At the climax of the first film, Pennywise goes from being a big n' bad tormenting monster to a stuttering, crying wreck when he's on the receiving end of the Loser's Club beating the shit out of him.
- At the climax of the second film, he keeps repeating that he's the Eater of Worlds even as the Losers force him into a form where they can finally kill IT.
Villain Respect: In the final battle, when the Losers have him dead-to-rights and manage to do what the Shokopiwah couldn't, his last words almost sound like he's proud and he flashes a smile as he goes.
Pennywise: You're all ... grown ... up.
Villain Song: Has a brief song in It: Chapter Two where he taunts Richie about his sexuality.
Voluntary Shapeshifting: IT tends to take the form of Pennywise the Dancing Clown, but does assume other shapes like lepers, creepy paintings, or even dead loved ones.
Volumetric Mouth: The red makeup on his face, the parts that reach up to his eyes? Those are its lips.
Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: Pennywise's total inability to just kill the kids in favor of endlessly tormenting and needling them bites him hard in the end. Especially once they're adults and he insists on trying to fight them as a group instead of one on one.
Wolverine Claws: When ready to fight or feed, Pennywise sprouts werewolf claws that grow from beneath his gloves.
Would Hurt a Child: IT's preferred source of food is children. Especially if they're afraid.

Charred Hands

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screen_shot_2021_07_20_at_112140_pm_4.png

The form IT takes to scare Mike, reminiscent of the fire that killed his parents.

Body Horror: This form mostly consists of a series of burnt hands.
Chekhov's Gun: IT uses the hands near the end of the first movie to fend off Mike's attacks.
The Faceless: The only part of this form we see are the hands, and there might not even be a face.

Leper

The Leper

"Do you think this will help me, Eddie?"

Portrayed By: Javier Botet

"I-I saw a leper. He was like a walking infection."

—Eddie Kaspbrak

The form IT takes to scare Eddie. A diseased homeless man with leprosy.

Adaptational Personality Change: In the novel, he offers Eddie a blowjob for a quarter ("Bobby does it for a dime") and doesn't really have leprosy, but advanced, untreated syphilis. In the movie he's simply a leper, and doesn't proposition poor Eddie.
Body Horror: Has untreated leprosy, and is covered with gangrenous sores all over his body.
Crazy Homeless People: He definitely has this mood going on when he harasses Eddie.
Eye Scream: One of his eyes is essentially rotted away.
Facial Horror: His face is just as deformed as the rest of him.
Lean and Mean: He's super scrawny and looks like he's about to fall apart when he chases Eddie.
Reality Is Unrealistic: His design was criticized as looking too zombie-like, when actual lepers really can get this bad, often losing eyes and noses.
The Noseless: Somewhat, the cartilage from his nose mostly rotted away, revealing his nasal cavity.
Zombie Puke Attack:
- Does this to Eddie during the final battle in Chapter One. However, because Eddie has already overcome his fear of disease, all this does is piss him off.
- Does it again in Chapter Two, as a last resort when Eddie nearly succeeds in killing him. To the tune of "Angel of the Morning", no less.

Judith

Judith (The Flute Player)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/flute_lady_5.png

Portrayed By: Tatum Lee

Richie: Is she hot?
Stan: ...no, Richie! She's not hot! Her face is all messed up.

"Judith" is the form IT takes to scare Stan. A disfigured flute player from an unnerving painting in his father's study.

Body Horror: "Judith" has an extremely slender and twisted frame, taking the stylized painted image and making it real.
Canon Foreigner: This form of IT is exclusive to the film, and doesn't appear in the original book nor 1990 miniseries.
Creepy Long Fingers: She has a set of very long fingers fitting her slender and thin figure.
Facial Horror: She has a face similar to Edvard Munch's paintings, most notably, "The Scream".
Fangs Are Evil: Has a monstrous set of fangs, justified in that it is a form of IT. Stan finds this out the hard way when it starts feeding on him in the sewers.
Gonk: In Stan's own words, "Her face is all messed up!"
More Teeth than the Osmond Family: Especially when she tries to give Stan a Kiss of Death.
Lean and Mean: Very thin, very cruel.
Left the Background Music On: After she disappears from the painting, the scene's score suddenly contains the sound of a flute...which then stops just before The Reveal, as Judith drops the flute, implying she was playing along with the score In-Universe.
Living Drawing: Pennywise erases the painting itself and takes the form of Judith multiple times throughout the film to terrorize and attack Stan.
Monochromatic Eyes: She has these, reflecting the art style of Amedeo Modigliani.
Shout-Out: To the eponymous ghost in director Andres Muschietti's previous film, Mama. Also to Edvard Munch's famous painting, "The Scream", and the Jewish painter Amedeo Modigliani, whose works gave director Muschietti a similar fear to Stan's.
Slasher Smile: When Stan turns around to see who is behind him, he sees Judith staring and smiling at him.
The Smurfette Principle: It's only (explicitly) female form IT has until the introduction of Mrs. Kersch in Chapter Two.
Spooky Painting: The painting that Rabbi Uris possesses is that of an uncanny thin and tall woman which It uses to scare Stan and feed on his fear.
The Voiceless: She lacks any speaking parts in her scenes.

Headless Boy

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/egg_boy.png

Portrayed By: Carter Musselman

The form IT takes to scare Ben. A headless victim of the Derry Ironworks explosion.

Body Horror: His body has been burnt to a crisp, due to the explosion which blew him to bloody pieces. A close look shows his decapitated neck is smoking as the bloodied head landed in a tree.
Chekhov's Gunman: The Boy's head reappears in the final fight after only appearing as an image in Ben's history book.
Composite Character: He may have been inspired by Eddie Corcoran. Corcoran was a character from the novel and is a victim of IT during 1958 who was strangled and then decapitated while running from IT in a park. He is always Adapted Out, presumably due to time constraints as well as due to the graphic depiction of his death, though his disappearance is mentioned and his missing poster is stapled over Betty Ripsom's.
Off with His Head!: The form IT takes is based off one of his victims from the Derry Ironworks explosion, whose severed head was found in a tree. The severed head itself makes an appearance as one of IT's forms during the final battle.
The Voiceless: Justified, on account of him being headless.

Fake Georgie

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mv5boduxmjaymjetodhmos00mtrllwfkm2utnjyzzdrjowvjmdy0xkeyxkfqcgdeqxvynjewntm2mzc_v1_sx1777_cr001777729_al.jpg

"Bill, if you come with me, you'll float, too."

Portrayed By: Jackson Robert Scott

The form IT takes when confronting Bill Denbrough: Bill's younger brother, who went missing after an encounter with Pennywise in a storm drain.

Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Presents himself as one of Pennywise's surviving victims, but in reality he is the monster in another disguise.
Body Horror: In the basement scene, "Georgie" rapidly decays as he screams "You'll float, too!"
Boom, Headshot!: Bill shoots the fake Georgie in the head with Mike's bolt gun.
Bright Is Not Good: "Georgie" still has a bright yellow raincoat, but it's lost all sense of innocence. It's also the only part of the illusion that's left untouched as the rest of the body starts rotting, making it stand out even more.
Creepy Child: Indeed; "Georgie" certainly scared Bill in the basement scene when he started rotting.
Crocodile Tears: During the final showdown with Pennywise, "Georgie" sobs that he just wants to go home, sounding legitimately scared and miserable. It's a front to get Bill to let his guard down, and it doesn't work.
Demonic Dummy: A variation of sorts. IT as Pennywise uses Georgie's form as a ventriloquist's puppet to torment Bill in the cellar.
Foreshadowing: When we see Pennywise using him as a puppet in Bill's flooded basement to trick him into falling prey to his trap this hints that "Georgie" is nothing more than a tool the creature is using to manipulate Bill and not the actual living Georgie.
Imposter Forgot One Detail: When Bill encounters "Georgie" in Pennywise's lair at the end of the first movie, "Georgie" tries to lure Bill into letting his guard down but slips up when he calls the paper boat Bill had made for Georgie "it" instead of "she". This tips Bill off that it's Pennywise in disguise, and he turns the tables and lures it into letting its guard down before shooting it in the head.
Suddenly Shouting: When Bill meets "Georgie" in the basement, the latter repeats a Madness Mantra and ends with "YOU'LL FLOAT, TOO!"

It: Chapter Two

Mrs. Kersh

"No one who dies here ever really dies!"

^spoiler