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.
In the novel, It's origins are nebulous. He took the form of a clown most frequently, Mr. 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.
In the novel, It claims that its true name is Robert "Bob" Gray, but decided to be named “It”. Throughout the book, It is generally referred to as male due to usually appearing as Pennywise.
The 27-year cycle refers to the extended interval between waking periods of the extra-dimensional shapeshifter in the novel IT, as well as the interval between occurences of The Troubles (outbreaks of increased supernatural activity) in the television series Haven.
Kersh is Pennywise's daughter. She says, "My father ... His name was Robert Gray, better known as Bob Gray, better known as Pennywise the Dancing Clown." This is also the name It uses to introduce itself to Georgie, Bill's brother, in the novel.
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".
“It” is an evil entity that usually takes the form of a clown named Pennywise (played by Bill Skarsgård) and returns to Derry, Maine every 27 years to terrorize the town. The red balloon is a harbinger that It is watching you.
The kids at the heart of the It call themselves the Losers' Club, but even among the seven of them, there have to be winners and, well, losers.
Weakened, IT runs away to tend its wounds and is chased by Bill, Richie, and Ben, who stays behind to destroy the eggs laid by IT. Bill then fights his way inside IT's body to get to its heart, crushing it and finally killing the creature.
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.
Pennywise, The Dancing Clown, the antagonist of Stephen King's novel, "It" has never been married.
Beverly "Bev" Marsh is a fictional character created by Stephen King and one of the main characters of his 1986 horror novel It.
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.
Jackson Robert Scott, the 8-year-old who played Georgie in the mega-blockbuster hit that was It, went to a weekend screening of his movie dressed as ... Georgie. As in, the film's first on-screen victim of Pennywise the Clown, who later repeats the phrase "You'll float, too!"
King decided for IT to predominantly take the shape of Pennywise the Dancing Clown because he believes "clowns scare children more than anything else in the world." IT influences the adults of Derry to passively ignore it and not interfere with his attacks on Derry's children.
The Losers Club is a group of seven eleven-year-old misfit children who are united by their unhappy lives.
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.
In each adaptation, Pennywise attacks his victims by manifesting the thing they fear the most. For the boys in the Losers Club, that fear includes werewolves, mummies, lepers, evil paintings, and even giant birds.
In the movie, Pennywise says “They all float down here. You'll float, too”, referring to the floating bodies of the many victims that have been dragged to the sewers and… well, you know the rest. And as always, people get really creative around Halloween, this poster is 2021's IT celebration of the year in my opinion.
It's weaknesses are courage and heart. For the sake of spoilers, I won't go too much into the Ritual of Chüd, but suffice it to say that if you want to defeat It, you've got to have the two traits listed above.
In one scene, Jessica Chastain's Beverly sees a vision of Pennywise the clown before he puts on his white paint and we finally get a glimpse of Bill Skarsgård's actual face. He's the man behind the terrifying evil entity that's giving an entire new generation a clown phobia.
Though it is just before the next twenty-seven year IT cycle, this is our first glimpse of Pennywise in IT Chapter One. In the opening scene of the film, young Georgie Denbrough playing with a paper boat made for him by his brother Bill. He loses the boat down the sewer and faces Pennywise when he tries to get it back.
There could even be a new novel set in the IT universe, although Stephen King has stated that he has no intentions of bringing Pennywise back.