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.
Once people came and settled over the resting place where It dwelled and Derry would be eventually built, It adopted a pattern of hibernating and waking approximately every 27 to 30 years to kill prey and feast on the flesh of innocent children.
Bill Skarsgård as Pennywise the Dancing Clown: An ancient predatory creature from another dimension brought to Earth millions of years ago by a meteorite. It awakens every 27 years to feed on the fear of children that it kills.
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.
Bob Gray or Pennywise, but his true form is an ancient eldritch entity from another universe who landed in the town that would become Derry by way of an asteroid and first awoke in 1715.
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).
And if his victim believes him to be powerless, he will become powerless. And so the group figures out that their best bet is, essentially, to bully the bully: They mock Pennywise, telling him he isn't scary. Humiliated, Pennywise begins to shrink, transforming into an almost Benjamin Button–like, melted clown-baby.
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.
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.
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.
According to It, when humans got scared, "all the chemicals of fear flooded the body and salted the meat". This is why he prefers to feast on children -- their fears are simple, pure, and powerful compared to the complex, pathological fears of adults. Basically, children are delicious.
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.
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.
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.
Throughout the book, It is generally referred to as male, usually appearing as Pennywise. The Losers come to believe It may be female after seeing it in the form of a monstrous giant spider that lays eggs.
Kersh is Pennywise's daughter.
Pennwise is (biologically) asexual and has the ability to reproduce. Therefore even though King describes pennywise as a female further into the book, 'IT' is (technically) neither male nor female. IT manifests itself as the the thing you fear most.
Throughout the summer and their trials against Pennywise and the school bullies, the Losers realize that none of the adults in Derry can actually see Pennywise or the horrors he is committing against the children of Derry.
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.
This is one of the most interesting Hollywood couplings we learned about in quite some time. Apparently, Pennywise and the Babadook are dating. In fact, they're in a long term committed relationship.
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.
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.”
Stan Uris (Wyatt Oleff & Andy Bean)
The first member of the Losers' Club to meet their demise, Stan is driven to suicide by his memories of facing off with Pennywise as a child. At least that's how it's explained in the book.
It : I'm every nightmare you've ever had. I'm your worst dream come true. I'm everything you ever were afraid of. Pennywise : Kiss me, fat boy!