As far asiconic fictional monstersgo, there are very few in the world that arescarier, more reviled, and more revered than Pennywise the Dancing Clown. Also known as the titularcreature inStephen King's smash hit novelIT, Pennywise is a monster that capitalizes on fear to hunt his victims. The fact that he can transform into any frightening form the human mind can conceive makes hima villain that anyone can be afraid of.
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Pennywise is one of Stephen King's most inspired and unique characters, and it's hard todeny thatITis the horror master's magnum opus of villains. However, there are elements of Pennywise's story and characterization that just don't seem to make any sense. Some of them are mysteries about IT that are left unexplained, some of them are characteristics that contradict each other, and some of them are just plain logic fails. This list focuses on the latter, and it's been updated to showcase a few more odd things about the character.
Updated on December 7th, 2020 by Derek Draven:As mentioned above, we've added a few more logic bombs to this list of things that just don't make sense about Pennywise. Perhaps Stephen King will write a novel explaining some of these mysteries, or perhaps it's best left to fan speculation. Either way, these are some true head-scratchers.
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No Outside Scrutiny
Pennywise is able to cast a shadow of influence over the town of Derry which makes its adult inhabitants look the other way when it comes to the disappearances of its children. It's an insidious device the creature uses to mask his trail and make people forget what's really going on.
That influence doesn't extend outside of Derry, however. Missing person reports would still be filed, and eventually, someone would have noticed a disturbing trend. It probably wouldn't be long before the FBI was tasked on Derry to investigate, and it's doubtful Pennywise would have the time to indoctrinate these outsiders and make them go away.
Why Not Come In Through The Front Door?
Every child has nightmares about the monster under the bed, which makes it a perfect tool for Pennywise to exploit. Yet, such an attack never seems to occur. The creature doesn't invade children's homes at night whilst they sleep and snatch them from their beds, nor does he wait in the closet until the lights go out.
Pennywise appears forced to attack his victims by luring them away from their safe spaces long enough to pounce. This usually occurs outdoors, which suggests that he cannot attack children in their homes. Yet, there have been instances where Pennywise has engaged his prey indoors, which makes this conundrum all the more confusing.
Why Eat?
The creature's true form is largely unfathomable to humans, and the sheer sight of its deadlights can lead to utter madness. Clearly, humanity is not dealing with an average monster, but something far beyond the scope of our collective understanding.
This begs the question as to why Pennywise needs to eat at all. With such immense powers that border on the cosmic level, this creature should be inherently immortal and completely above the need for physical sustenance. Either his particular brand of the munchies is recreational in nature, or the act of devouring prey gives him a kind of abstract symbolic energy in the same vein as the Ritual ofChüd allows mere mortals to battle him and win.
Why Not Kill More Adults?
Pennywise never seems to bother offing the older folks in Derry, but he has taken out older teenagers and young adults as well as children. It's established early on that Pennywise prefers the taste of children over other types of prey, but such a diet would undoubtedly raise too many questions.
The creature's psychic influence over the adults in the town might have something to do with it, but it seems like an awful lot of energy to expend in order to go after a particular delicacy. With a town full of conditioned subjects, Pennywise wouldn't need to be particular.
Why A Clown?
While fear of clowns is (interestingly) one of the more common human phobias, it makes little sense for Pennywise to choose such a form given that it doesn't seem to scare very many children. For instance, Pennywise makes several kills throughout the novel andmovies that do not include "salting the meat," a reference to spiking fear in children to make them taste better.
Young Georgie is the first example of this when he meets Pennywise at the beginning of the first movie. Either the creature was starving and wanted a quick meal, or he wasn't interested in playing the long game. This doesn't make sense given that Pennywise spends an extraordinary amount of time building fear within the Loser's Club.
His Survival On Earth
So something that really sticks out about Pennywise as a character is that he has been on earth for millions, if not billions, of years, but he's a character who feeds entirely on humans and their sense of fear. However, if he's been on earth for even half as long as it seems like he has, how has he survived for this long? His existence on Earth seems like it might predate the existence of humankind altogether, so if his main food source is people then what was he doing to keep himself alive for all of that time before?
It's possible he found a way to feed off other lifeforms that predated mankind, although it certainly couldn't have been in the same complex, emotionally-based way as humans were targeted. That said, a creature of such immense power can't be underestimated.
The Scope Of His Mind Control
One of the more curious aspects of Pennywise as a character is his mind control. It's clear that his powers are quite advanced within Derry, but the factthat the Losers Club completely forgets his existenceonce they leave the town suggests that it exists outside of Derry as well. That begs the question - if Pennywise is powerful enough to control people's minds, no matter how far they are from him or how long they've been away, then why isn't he controlling the minds of people around the world?
Perhaps Pennywise can't influence the minds of those he hasn't encountered directly, thus limiting his control to those who've lived in or spent considerable time in Derry over the years. It's also possible controlling minds saps Pennywise's strength, and he can only influence a certain number of people at a given time.
Its Changing Limitations
Something that's very hard to discern about Pennywise inITis what his limitations are and how they seem to constantly change. It's actually pretty safe to assume that that's an intentionally confusing aspect of his character because the fact that he can create illusions that are indistinguishable from reality obviously means that he can make his targets believe he is or isn't capable of whatever he wants.
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But the fact that he can take an iron spike through the head without dying in human form but is also nearly choked to death by Eddie in another human form seems very inconsistent. Considering how complex and unknown IT's biology is, perhaps the monster's vulnerability is also directly affected by the resistance displayed by a given target.
His Changing Weaknesses
One of Pennywise's main weaknesses as a character is that although his true form is something nearer to god than to human when he transforms into a specific appearance then he takes on the weaknesses of the form that he is appearing as. Obviously, he doesn't take on those weaknesses entirely, but it's enough that it has a significant effect on him.
Taking that into consideration, why is it that when Pennywise finds himself in any kind of legitimate danger he doesn't just transform into something else that doesn't have the weaknesses that are currently being exploited and used against him? It's possible Pennywise becomes subject to a kind of shape-shifter "mode lock," in which once an encounter has been initiated with prey in one form, Pennywise is bound by those limitations until there's been a break in the confrontation.
The Forms That He Takes On In General
And in that same vein, if Pennywise needs to obey the laws of whatever form he's inhabiting at the time, why doesn't he just take on the forms of something that is super strong or nearly impossible to kill?
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He's a genius at exploiting other people's fears, so he undoubtedly can figure out forms to take on that aren't nearly as weak as something like a clown or Beverly Marsh's father. Pennywise definitely seems more durable than the average person even when he's in human form, but if his safety or life is at stake, why not transform into a more powerful shape? Perhaps IT ends up weighing the pros and cons of each particular transformation, respective to the fears level it would cause in prey. For personal reasons, Beverly is likely to hold a much deeper fear toward her father than a giant monster, and it's fear that salts the meat, so to speak.
Pennywise's Existence In This Universe
Pennywise was originally in the macroverse, which is essentially a giant universe that contains all of the other universes in the multiverse (our universe is just one of the many in this multiverse). But something that is never explained about his character is how he got from the macroverse to Earth. Why did he end up in this specific universe? Why did he end up on this particular planet? And why does it appear that he hasn't left this exact place ever since he landed here eons ago?
It's a seemingly random place, but if he wants to be there then why, and if he can't leave, then why? IT's nemesis in the book is Maturin, a cosmic turtle, so perhaps it's Maturin that prevents Pennywise from leaving the universe he currently inhabits. After all, if IT could jump universes at will, it would present a clear and present danger to the entire multiverse.
He Never Leaves Derry
Something that seems pretty evident in the novel, miniseries, andmovies is that Pennywise never leaves Derry. There is just never any real explanation as to why. He is supposed to be this all-powerful kind of evil, and it seems like his power isn't limited to Derry itself. However, it seems fair to assume that he either has a very significant reason to stay or he literally cannot leave.
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How or why he ended up in that particular town on this particular planet in this particular universe is already a big enough question, but it's even stranger that he is seemingly trapped there. It's never actually addressed within the narrative, but it's possible that something special exists within Derry's foundations that make the place appealing, or perhaps IT has just somehow grown comfortable with these particular feeding grounds. After all, if he's got a good arrangement, what's the motivation to leave?
Why Does He Hibernate?
Another obvious question about Pennywise that doesn't have any obvious answers is why exactly his life cycle is the way it is. The Losers Club has surmised that Pennywise lies dormant for 27 years at a time before waking up and feeding for about a year, but there is zero explanation as to exactly why he operates on that cycle. Is there some sort of benefit for him staying in hibernation for the majority of his life?
Is it a necessity for him to sort of recharge after each binge of human flesh? Or does he go to sleep for so long just to pass the time? One wonders if the Losers Club is the first group of humans to ever present such a challenge to ITs dominance over Derry and if another partial defeat ever occurred before that would make hibernating a further necessity.
The Ritual Of Chüd
Before the Losers Club seemingly defeats IT once and for all they participate in something called the Ritual of Chüd, a ritual that is supposedly designed to capture Pennywise in his true form and trap him in a mystical vessel, hopefully forever. Unfortunately, it doesn't work. The very fact that Pennywise is still out in the world despite the fact that the Ritual of Chüd exists would indicate that the ritual hasn't ever worked, at least not in the way it's intended.
So what effect does the ritual actually have on Pennywise, and how did the ritual even come to exist in the first place? Was the ritual a red herring planted by IT the whole time to give his prey false hope as they grew more and more terrified? Or did the first performing of the ritual almost kill IT, but not quite, and then Pennywise developed a defense against its effects?
Clap Your Hands If You Believe
IT is one of Stephen King's greatest stories, and Pennywise is undoubtedly one of his scariest villains. But the way that he is defeated doesn't make any sense. Essentially what seems to kill him for good, in the end, is simply the fact that the Losers Club believes that what they're doing will kill him. But didn't they believe that what they were doing would kill him before? And how has Pennywise existed in Derry for as long as humans have existed without ever coming up against another person or group of people who sincerely believed that they were killing him?
It's a valid question, and one with no clear answer. It could be surmised that IT has encountered resistance before, and each subsequent fight has worn the creature down over the centuries. It's also possible that Maturin the cosmic turtle's influence proved the difference necessary to finally bring Pennywise down to size, as this good IT counterpartplays a large role in the book.
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FAQs
What does Pennywise do every 27 years? ›
The character is an ancient, trans-dimensional evil entity who preys upon the children (and sometimes adults) of Derry, Maine, roughly every 27 years, using a variety of powers that include the ability to shapeshift, manipulate reality, and go unnoticed by adults.
Why did Pennywise eat adults? ›It feasts on the flesh of humans simply because our fears are easy to manifest and they make us taste better. According to It, when humans got scared, "all the chemicals of fear flooded the body and salted the meat".
Why does Pennywise only come 27 years? ›IT thrives on chaos; an exact 27-year pattern is way too predictable for a being of pure evil. Rather, IT wakes up roughly every three decades, and stays away for a different period of time.
What is Pennywise afraid of? ›Stephen King's 'IT' introduced readers to a one-of-a-kind creature that can take any form, the most common one being Pennywise the Dancing Clown, and as menacing as it is, this creature has one big enemy it's truly scared of: Maturin, the turtle.
Did Pennywise eat Georgie? ›As well as having his right arm bitten off, Georgie is trying to crawl away but he was dragged into the sewers and devoured by Pennywise, with an unnamed older woman and her cat being the sole witnesses of the horrific scene, including before Georgie lost his arm.
How did kids beat Pennywise? ›Film: At the house on Neibolt Street, the kids basically do a bunch of damage by impaling It with rods. It looks like they get these weapons from the rusty wrought-iron fence of the house itself. Down in the sewers, during their final encounter, it's much of the same.
Why did Pennywise stop laughing? ›If you are talking about the science when Georgie dies, Pennywise was thinking about his first meal in 27 years, and in Pennywise's words, fear in a kid is like “salting the meat.” So, when Georgie was laughing, Pennywise knew Georgie was not scared so he stopped laughing to make sure he was still fearful.
What kills Pennywise? ›This proves to be its undoing; Eddie nearly chokes it when it takes the form of a leper and is small enough for him to do that. When sufficiently weakened, the Losers kill It by crushing the heart it must have in the form of Pennywise the Dancing Clown.
What is the scariest scene in IT? ›Georgie's Arm ('It')
After a creepy conversation with Pennywise, the killer clown chomps on Georgie's arm, leaving the boy to drag himself to safety as blood pours into the raindrops on the street before he's pulled into the drain by Pennywise, never to be seen again.
Throughout Stephen King's It, Pennywise is referred to as a male, but author Stephen King pulled a fast one on readers in the It book ending by revealing the creature's true form was a pregnant spider, implying that it is, in fact, biologically female.
What is Pennywise weakness? ›
That is, when Pennywise morphs into a werewolf, he is subject to the same weaknesses as a werewolf, including silver slugs. In both the original novel and made-for-television adaptation, Pennywise is weakened using silver bullets melted down from earrings.
Did Pennywise have a daughter? ›Kersh is Pennywise's daughter.
Why does Pennywise like red balloons? ›What symbolizes a child's sense of imagination is manipulated to lure children to the clown, Pennywise (Bill Skarsgård). Pennywise's most notable ability is to manifest as each of the children's fears. Whenever the red balloon appears, it signals that Pennywise is close, if not already present.
What God was Pennywise? ›A god of destruction, not just of our world, but of multiple worlds and even multiple universes. It originated in a vast cosmic void between worlds that has been called, at times, the Macroverse, and in King's Dark Tower series, the Todash Darkness, in a space It refers to only as the Deadlights.
What is Pennywise's worst fear? ›Stephen King's IT introduced readers to a one-of-a-kind creature that can take any form, the most common one being Pennywise the Dancing Clown, and as menacing as it is, this creature has one big enemy it's truly scared of: Maturin, the turtle.
Who did Pennywise eat? ›While it's unclear if it was ever shot, a deleted scene from the IT 2017 script saw Pennywise actually eat a baby in front of its mother. There are lots of disturbing scenes in Stephen King's original IT novel. Anyone who's read that gargantuan tome can readily attest to that fact.
What did Pennywise say before he fell? ›Image via Warner Bros. Finally, Pennywise is beaten into submission. He scurries away, utters the word "fear," and partially disintegrates before falling into the void. It's a powerful defeat of a powerful monster, and it's satisfaction enough were IT to remain a single film.
Does Pennywise turn into a baby? ›Humiliated, Pennywise begins to shrink, transforming into an almost Benjamin Button–like, melted clown-baby.
How many people did Pennywise eat? ›Pennywise's Kills Add Up Over Time
The number is then multiplied by the number of times Pennywise has awakened -- once every 27 years throughout the 270-year history of Derry, equaling ten times -- to come up with a final tally of between 12,000 and 18,000 dead.
In their final battle, the Losers' Club was able to kill Pennywise by reducing him to a child-like form as they overcame their fears.
What is Pennywise's real name? ›
The Pennywise the clown origin story sees an ancient, evil being that is perhaps as old as the universe itself. In the novel, however, the entity IT/Pennywise has a real name — Bob Gray. Bob Gray isn't human, however, and shares the same origin as IT.
How did Pennywise arrive on Earth? ›Appearing like a comet or asteroid, It landed on Earth at what is initially a nondescript time long ago. Later on in the film, when the Losers enter It's Lair, they realize they're standing in the ground zero crater of an asteroid right beneath Derry.
Who is Pennywise kids? ›Still, the film gives viewers a pretty good sense of who Bill (Jaeden Lieberher), Beverly (Sophia Lillis), Ben (Jeremy Ray Taylor), Richie (Stranger Things star Finn Wolfhard), Eddie (Jack Dylan Grazer ), Stanley (Wyatt Oleff), and Mike (Chosen Jacobs) are.
How does Pennywise lure kids? ›He lives in the sewers of Derry, Maine and works his hypnotic/demonic charm to lure children down into the sewer with him, telling them they'll "float" if they come with him.
Is Pennywise a child predator? ›Pennywise and his abuse of children is central to the plot line in every adaptation and in the book itself.
Does Pennywise actually eat his victims? ›It disguises itself as many frightening things in the movie. Pennywise can morph his mouth into a giant gaping mouth with layers of sharp teeth which he uses it mangle and eat his victims. This is all done with CGI.
Why is Pennywise obsessed with floating? ›The simplest and most obvious interpretation is that all the talk of floating is a reference to the fact that Pennywise (aka the titular "It") murders his victims and drags them down to the town's sewer system where he dwells, which is full of water. And what do dead bodies do in water? That's right — they float.
Why is Pennywise always drooling? ›The prosthetic teeth that Bill Skarsgård wears made him drool. Bill Skarsgård wears prosthetic teeth to get that big, bucktoothed grin of Pennywise. The prosthetics made him drool excessively but they leave a lot of that in the movie as director Andy Muschietti felt it nicely fit into the ravenous nature of Pennywise.
Is Georgie from it dead? ›Answer and Explanation: Georgie is killed by Pennywise in the form of a clown in the sewer in the beginning of the book.
Who killed Pennywise in the book? ›It is Bill who eventually destroys It, engaging It in the Ritual of Chüd in both 1958 and 1985, and eventually killing It's physical form by ripping its heart out.
Is Pennywise real yes or no? ›
Pennywise is not real, no, and neither is It (although they are technically the same thing.)
Can Pennywise hurt you if you're not scared? ›Yes. It's not Freddy Kreuger. It has the ability to actually hurt you, fear or no fear.
Who is scarier than Pennywise? ›Art the Clown, from the Terrifier franchise, has fast become an icon amongst horror fans, and is far more brutal than IT's Pennywise. While Pennywise the Dancing Clown developed audiences' fear of clowns in IT, the emergence of Art the Clown in Terrifier brought this to a whole new, scarier level.
What movie was so scary IT got banned? ›In this instance, it's the 2011 horror movie Megan Is Missing that has managed to disturb an entirely new audience over a decade after its original release. The unsettling flick was so disturbing and graphic back in the day that it was actually banned in New Zealand.
Why was Pennywise born? ›Pennywise's origins are briefly explored in both the book and It: Chapter Two, where it's revealed that he is a being that crash-landed on Earth from another dimension hundreds of years ago.
Does Pennywise hurt Georgie? ›Pennywise offers Georgie his boat back, but when Georgie attempts to reach out to it, Pennywise grabs Georgie's arm and bites it off, leaving Georgie to bleed to death in the rain.
What is baby Pennywise? ›DESCRIPTION. Baby Pennywise is a 1/1 artwork in a collection of 4 clown babies. The 4 artworks connect together like a puzzle to form a bigger picture.
Who is Pennywise's love interest? ›He becomes an unsuspecting protagonist and romantic hero when he starts a revolution and falls in love with Hope Cladwell.
What is the age of Pennywise? ›The concept of clowns has been traced back to the Fifth Dynasty of Egypt, but the modern circus clown developed in the 19th century, so by the time King's novel is set (the first part of it), Pennywise was around 200 years old.
What is Pennywise's catchphrase? ›Quotes. It : I'm every nightmare you've ever had. I'm your worst dream come true. I'm everything you ever were afraid of.
Who is Pennywise's mom? ›
| Beverly Marsh | |
|---|---|
| Last appearance | It Chapter Two (2019 film) |
| Created by | Stephen King |
| Portrayed by | 1990 TV mini-series: Emily Perkins (child) Annette O'Toole (adult) 2017 film and 2019 sequel: Sophia Lillis (child) Jessica Chastain (adult) |
| In-universe information | |
“Pennywise the Clown” was never human. He doesn't have a “backstory” in that sense. He was never anything other than what he is in the book.
Is the old lady Pennywise daughter? ›She is the daughter of Pennywise and was brought up by him and incorporated into all of his evil ideas. She's a part of the whole thing. It's a transformation.”
Is Pennywise scared of Eddie? ›He is the oldest of the seven members of The Losers' Club, and the only member Pennywise is afraid of.
What's inside Pennywise's balloon? ›The theory, then, suggests that the balloons are a representation of the deadlights and contain the souls of the children killed by IT. The deadlights could be described as a sea of bright, orange balloons, which Pennywise takes a bit too literal.
Why does IT wake up every 27 years? ›In prehistoric times, It came to Earth on an asteroid, landing in the place that would millions of years later become Derry, Maine. It hibernated until humans appeared, and then began a cycle of awakening every 27 years to feed on them because it is driven only by its desire to consume.
How is Pennywise 2.5 million years old? ›The novel explains that IT landed on Earth during an asteroid impact and established itself under the land Derry would be later built on, and initially preyed on indigenous tribes. From that point of view, IT/Pennywise would be billions of years old, but his clown shape wouldn't be that old.
Why did Pennywise eat children? ›Does Pennywise (IT) have to eat and kill only children? No, that's a common misconception, IT only prefers to hunt children because they taste better and IT has more fun with their fears.
How many years does Pennywise rest? ›As there's no absolute time frame when it comes to IT's hibernation, the IT miniseries chose to let it sleep for 30 years, and the film went with 27, just like the novel.
Why do I often wake up at 3am? ›If you wake up at 3 a.m. or another time and can't fall right back asleep, it may be for several reasons. These include lighter sleep cycles, stress, or underlying health conditions. Your 3 a.m. awakenings may occur infrequently and be nothing serious, but regular nights like this could be a sign of insomnia.
Why is everyone waking up at 3am? ›
“It's very common for people to wake up around 2 or 3 a.m. because this is when our sleep architecture (the pattern of our sleep stage cycles throughout the night) naturally has a shift from more deep sleep to more REM sleep.
Who is Pennywise daughter? ›Kersh is Pennywise's daughter.
How old are the losers in It? ›The Losers Club is a group of seven eleven-year-old misfit children who are united by their unhappy lives.
How is Pennywise immortal? ›Immortality: Its earthly avatar has existed on Earth for thousands if not millions of years. Its true form has existed even longer in the Macroverse (a void outside of time and space that surrounds our own universe).
Did Pennywise get pregnant? ›Pennywise didn't become pregnant.
Is Pennywise dead or not? ›In their final battle, the Losers' Club was able to kill Pennywise by reducing him to a child-like form as they overcame their fears. In the moments before Pennywise died, his fear is reminiscent of Georgie's own, therefore closing the cyclical nature of Pennywise's murders.
When did Pennywise start killing? ›1715 – 1716: It painfully awakes. 1740 – 1743: It starts a three-year reign of terror that culminates in the disappearance of over three hundred settlers from Derry Township (similar to the lost Roanoke Colony, which was founded as a logging town).