| abstract
| - "It" apparently originated in a void containing and surrounding the, a place referred to in the novel as the "Macroverse" (a concept similar to the later established Todash Darkness of The Dark Tower series). It's real name is Bob Gray or Pennywise (although at several points in the novel, It claims its true name to be Robert Gray) and is christened "It" by the group of children who later confront It. Likewise, It's true form is never truly comprehended. It's favorite form is a clown (with fangs and large claws when it stalks a child) known as Pennywise the Dancing Clown, and It's final form in the physical realm is that of an enormous spider, but even this is only the closest the human mind can get to approximating It's actual physical form. It's natural form exists in a realm beyond the physical, which It calls the "deadlights". Bill comes dangerously close to seeing the deadlights but successfully defeats "It" before this happens. As such, the deadlights are never seen and It's true form outside the physical realm is never revealed, only described as writhing, destructive orange lights. Coming face to face with the deadlights drives any living being instantly (a common device). The only known person to face the deadlights and survive is Audra Phillips, Bill's wife. It's natural enemy is, another ancient Macroverse dweller who, eons ago, created our universe and possibly others. The Turtle shows up again in King's series The Dark Tower. The book suggests that It, along with the Turtle, are themselves creations of a separate, omnipotent referred to as . The Turtle and It are eternal enemies, however It tells Bill that the Turtle died a few years ago when he "puked in his shell and choked to death on a galaxy or two". It arrived in our world in a massive, cataclysmic event similar to an impact, in the place that would, in time, become Derry, Maine. It's power is apparently quite vast; during the second Ritual of Chüd, It offers the Losers money, power, and supernatural longevity, or as It put it in the novel ("I can make you (the Losers) gods of the Earth) if they spare It. Of course, It could merely have been bluffing in order to save itself. Through the novel, some events are described through It's point of view, through which It describes itself as the "superior" being, with the Turtle as someone "close to his superiority" and humans as mere "toys." It describes that it prefers to kill and devour children, not by nature, rather because the fears of children are easier to interpret in a physical form and thus children are easier to fill with terror, which It says is akin to "salt(ing) the meat". It is continuously surprised by the children's victories and near the end, It begins to wonder if it perhaps isn't as superior as it had once thought. However, It never believes that the individual children are strong enough to defeat It, only through "the Other" working through them as a group. For millions of years, It dwelt under Derry, awaiting the arrival of humans, which It somehow knew would occur. Once people settled over It's dwelling place, It adopted a cycle of hibernating for long periods and waking approximately every 27 years. It's waking spells are marked by extraordinary violence, which is inexplicably overlooked or outright forgotten by those who witness It. It's awakening and return to hibernation mark the greatest instances of violence during its time awake.
* 1715 – 1716: It awoke.
* 1740 – 1743: It awoke and started a three-year reign of terror that culminated with the disappearance of over 300 settlers from Derry Township, much like the mystery.
* 1769 – 1770: It awoke.
* 1851: It awoke when a man named John Markson poisoned his family, then committed suicide by eating a, causing an excruciating death.
* 1876 – 1879: It awoke, then went back into hibernation after a group of were found murdered near the Kenduskeag.
* 1904 – 1906: It awoke when a lumberjack named Claude Heroux murdered a number of men in a bar with an axe. Heroux was promptly pursued by a mob of townsfolk and hanged. It returned to hibernation when the Kitchener Ironworks exploded, killing 108 people, 88 of them being children who were engaged in an .
* 1929 – 1930: It awoke when a group of Derry citizens gunned down a group of known as the Bradley Gang. It returned to hibernation when the Maine Legion of White Decency, a Northern counterpart to the, burned down an army which was called "The Black Spot." One of the survivors, Dick Halloran, appeared in King's earlier novel, The Shining.
* 1957 – 1958: It awoke during a great storm which flooded part of the city, and murdered George Denbrough. It then met its match when the Losers forced It to return to an early hibernation when wounded by the young Bill Denbrough in the first Ritual of Chüd.
* 1984 – 1985: It awoke when three young bullies beat up a young gay couple, Adrian Mellon and Don Hagarty, throwing Mellon off a bridge, (). It was finally "destroyed" in the second Ritual of Chüd by the adult Bill Denbrough, Richie Tozier, Beverly Marsh, Eddie Kaspbrak and Ben Hanscom. In the intervening periods between each pair of events, a series of child murders occur, which are never solved. The book's surface explanation as to why these murders are never reported on the national news is that location matters to a news story - a series of murders, no matter how gruesome, doesn't get reported if they happen in a small town. However, the book's implied reason for why the atrocities go unnoticed is far more sinister: It won't allow them to be. In fact, It's power over the town is so absolute that It's death in the second Ritual of Chüd causes an enormous storm that damages the downtown part of Derry. Although It is seemingly defeated by the novel's end, there are hints in King's later works that It is still alive. Furthermore, It had laid eggs shortly before its defeat and whether or not they were all destroyed is never resolved.
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