Villains Beginning With 'I'

IT AKA Robert Gray

created by the author Stephen King (1986)

It apparently originated in a void containing and surrounding the Universe, a place referred to as the "Macroverse". Its real name is unknown-although, It claims its true name to be Robert Gray but is christened It by the group of children who later confront it. Likewise, It's true form is never seen. Its final form in the physical realm is that of an enormous spider, but even this is an illusion. It's true form exists in a realm beyond the physical, which It calls its "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 is never revealed. Coming face to face with the deadlights drives any living being instantly insane.

It's natural enemy is "The Turtle," another ancient Macroverse dweller who, eons ago, vomited up our Universe and possibly others while having a bout of indigestion. It's believed that It, along with the Turtle, are themselves creations of a separate, omnipotent creator referred to as "the Other". The Turtle and It are eternal enemies (creation versus consumption). It arrived in our world in a massive, cataclysmic event similar to an asteroid impact, in the place that would, in time, become Derry, Maine.

For millions of years It dwelt under Derry, awaiting the arrival of humans, which It somehow knew would happen. Once people settled over Its resting place, It adopted a cycle of hibernating for long periods and waking approximately every twenty-seven years. Its awakening is always marked by a great act of violence, and another great act of violence ends Its spree and sends It back into hibernation:

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 Roanoke Island mystery.

1769 - 1770: It awoke.

1851: It awoke when a man named John Markson poisoned his family, then committed suicide by eating a white-nightshade mushroom, causing an excruciating death.

1876 - 1879: It awoke, then went back into hibernation after a group of lumberjacks 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 children engaged in an Easter egg hunt.

1929 - 1930: It awoke when a group of Derry citizens gunned down a group of gangsters known as the Bradley Gang. It returned to hibernation when the Maine Legion of White Decency, a Northern counterpart to the Ku Klux Klan, burned down an African-American army nightclub which was called "The Black Spot".

1957 - 1958: It awoke when several people were murdered in Derry, most well known being 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 homophobic bullies beat up a young gay couple, Adrian Mellon and Don Hagerty, throwing Mellon off a bridge. It was finally destroyed in the second Ritual of Chüd by the adult Bill Denbrough and Richie Tozier.

These events are actually caused by It, which somehow influences or gains control of the people involved. Mike Hanlon, one of the Losers, and a character who does a great deal of research on It, learns by interviewing eyewitnesses that a clown (Its favorite form - Pennywise the Dancing Clown) or some unlikely creature, like the giant bird seen by Mike's father Will in 1931, and later by Mike himself at the remains of the Kitchener Ironworks in 1958, was always present at each event.

In the intervening periods between each pair of events, a series of child murders occur, which are never solved. As such, It has control over Derry and is able to selectively dictate the town's history; horrors and atrocities are largely ignored so that It will remain free of scrutiny. Bill Denbrough, is sure that this is either because It is a part of Derry, or because Derry is part of It. The town is practically destroyed by a massive flood as It is finally vanquished.

It finally meets its match in 1958 when, as murders begin happening afresh, a group of children, calling themselves the Losers and led by Bill Denbrough, manage to deduce It's existence. This is mainly because Bill's younger brother, George, was It's first victim of the latest killing cycle, in 1957. The kids go after It and are able to wound it severely with silver slingshot slugs by letting It turn into a werewolf in an old abandoned house it frequents; their belief that silver hurts evil creatures allows the slugs to seriously hurt It.

It can attack any creature if it believes in it all, which is why It attacks children. However, in order to attack nonbelievers or influence other events It will manipulate humans it refers to as "dogsbodies". It attempts to kill them by manipulating a highly unstable schoolyard bully named Henry Bowers. Pursuing the Losers into the sewers, Bowers' two friends are killed by It and Bowers himself flees in terror. He is later committed to a mental hospital

There were also implications that It was on the verge of producing a host of offspring when It was destroyed. The "eggs" are destroyed.

SUMMARY

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