What Is IT? Caution - Spoilers.

[Carlos Solrac]

Tak is nothing like it. Tak can not manifest itself into fear, it can possess people and take over.

[Fidget]

Wow, some really good theories here! I'm glad I've got people talking!

Robert Gray, your post really got me thinking. While IT doesn't strive FOR power, it does enjoy it's power over human beings, taking life from them to sustain itself and controlling their emotions. Could it not be possible that ALL these creatures are greater or lesser 'off-shoots' of the Deadlights, escaping through the cracks? But due to the Deadlights' fractured consciousness they are unaware of each other? IT may very well just have a God-complex, or be the only one of it's kind in that world. As in the SK universe we know there's more than one world and the Todash darkness in between them, which could be the same thing as the Deadlights, who knows?

Elemeno P: Yeah I would consider Tak as being connected to the other in some way. Though I have to admit Desperation and The Regulators are books I've only read once, so I can't really remember them very well! (I've read IT about twenty-odd times!)

Silhouette: I believe that too, but in this case, the thought that there could be countless more entities like IT out there somewhere is a lot scarier!

I dunno, maybe I'm just one of those people that overthinks things, haha!

[GNTLGNT]

Is Tak considered in the same league?

Maybe the "farm club", but not the major league level...powerful, but not quite as full of cussedness...

[Elemeno P]

Maybe the "farm club", but not the major league level...powerful, but not quite as full of cussedness...

Ah....i c

Guess he couldn't hit the curve ball and was left playing in the "sand".

[Ward]

IT is one of the greater Demon Elemental of The Beam (The Outer Dark's opposition to the Guardian of The Beam) - hence IT very close relationship with The Turtle. In DT6 Mia said that for each guardian there's a rival/demon counterpart to them - IT is obviously the Turtle's rival. Remember, IT reside in the Macroverse - basically the very end of the Beam and where the beam Guardians reside as well

I think it is obvious that IT isn't just some random monster/demon/ghost, but an extremely powerful being of pure evil. So much that Gan view IT as a threat and guide The Loser to destroy IT. I mean, The Loser need both the Turtle AND Gan help in order to get rid of IT - this show us just how powerful IT is

With the Turtle being the most powerful Beam's Guardian, I think IT could very well be the most power Demon Elemental.

[Alexandra19]

Hi !

Great thread and interesting ideas !
Like it's been said before, I also believe that Stephen King didn't necesseraly have a clear idea what IT was when he started writing the book. It sure belonged to Derry, there was the Turtle just like in the Dark Tower but I'm not sure he thought about all the connexions we are not able to make thanks to books like Insomnia, The Tommyknockers, Dreamcatcher and Under The Dome.
If we linked them all, though, I think we can assume IT is a pentachrone, probably belonging to the same race as the Crimson King (I've been wondering for a while if It and the Crimson King couldn't be the same entity because of the huge similarites between them that are described in Insomnia - in fact, I even wondered if It, The Crimson King and the creature in Rose Madder (crimson dress,

Show Spoiler

giant spider inside

) couldn't be just one but I don't think it works, or one of the Bull Guardians would have been a bull).
I'm finally thinking IT lives on its own ; it actually reminds me of the Lovecraft creatures living in the Otherworld. It shouldn't have landed in Derry, but as it has (and as the losers see it), it finally managed to belong there, divided in 2 parts : the deadlights and whatever face it has to make to have an access to our world and feed (which also allows the losers to destroy it).

Ward, I find your theory really interesting and it makes me ask myself one big question : I remember what Mia said about the rival counterpart for each guardian, but I thought these rivals were guardians themselves... So to my mind, the Turtle's opposite was Shardik, who is at the opposite of the same Beam (I picture the whole thing as one good guardian and one evil one at each part of a same beam). Am I totally wrong ? :-s

[Ward]

Hi !
Ward, I find your theory really interesting and it makes me ask myself one big question : I remember what Mia said about the rival counterpart for each guardian, but I thought these rivals were guardians themselves... So to my mind, the Turtle's opposite was Shardik, who is at the opposite of the same Beam (I picture the whole thing as one good guardian and one evil one at each part of a same beam). Am I totally wrong ? :-s

No, all of the Beam's 12 guardians are good and serve the White. However, each one of those guardians most likely have their own exclusive Demon Elemental rival/enemy - with IT being the Turtle's rival/enemy.

There are 12 guardians and 6 Demon Elementals but each one of those Demon Element has 2 aspect (male and female) 2 x 6 = 12. So in all there are 12 Demon Elementals as well.

The Maerlyn's Rainbow - created by the evil wizard Maerlyn to bring chaos into the world - are suppose to represent each one of those Demon Elementals.

Crimson
Orange
Yellow
Pink
Dark Blue
Dark Green
Indigo
Lime
Azure
Violet
Brown
Pearl Grey
Black (this one represent The Dark Tower)

The Orange one is obvious IT since the deadlight itself is Orange

Anyway, that's my view and analysis. I could be wrong. Maybe an expert could chime in and give us more infos. We all would love to know more about IT and Its origin

[Sanguise]

If It is the famale aspect of a Greater Demon elemental whats ITs male side....Hmmmm

[Gazou]

Hello! First post here. I am reading It just now for the 5^th time (or 6th, I don't know)

I think It’s just pure evil and people’s mind have made It what it is now. The deadlights are immortal, but Its material incarnation has powers and weaknesses defined by what people believe. I think where it really lives is in our minds.

Is it really female? Audra exclaims that it’s a female because It has eggs, but that’s also just the way a mortal perceives It. If it’s a primordial power I think it does not have a sex.

It is powerfull, but it's scope is very limited in our world. Why would such a powerful entity limit itself to a small city? Its eggs may be extra “holes” in the "wall" from which It could invade our worlds and spread itself.

I don’t think its children are “other” monsters. I don't feel any relation between It and the CK. But there's a line somewhere in the book like "Father and son sometime have only a passing resemblance and often different tastes" so anything is possible.

I don’t think there is a connection between Dandelo and It either. Dandelo feeds purely on emotions themselves, even laughter. Laughter is poison to It and It feed on the flesh of it’s victim. The fear is just a spice. I would see more a connection between Dandelo and the creature in the library policeman novel.

In general I like how Kings stories connect together, but in the case of It, its more a stand-alone for me. I dont like to compare it to anything else. Its just IT!

I find the story has more in common with the world of HP Lovecraft then with the Dark Tower. The deadlights remind me of the god Azathot, the ultimate chaos at the center of all things. The coming of It is very reminescent of the short story The Colour out of Space. In that story an alien power comes by some meteorite and “lives” inside a well, where it sucks out the life-force of everything around.

[Mr. Jabot]

The following is everything I know about IT, according the information in the book in other books. I know this is an old thread, but I'm looking for possibly more insight since I'm collecting all I can about the monster as well as the Turtle. Thankfully there's numerous information on the Turtle, but sadly there isn't a whole lot about IT as only one novel was dedicated to it. I'd also like to mention that if I missed anything or anything is wrong here, please let me know and I'll change/add it right away! I also apologize for explaining the DT/etc, this was originally intended for people who never read SK books.

Show Spoiler

IT is a powerful female glamour. IT was created, probably indirectly, by Gan, as opposition to the Turtle. IT represents many things: first and foremost, it is a glamour so powerful that it has reached the status of a deity and exists as the chaos and malevolence to Maturin (the Turtle’s) order and kindness. It is a single-minded creature, and its true form is an endless wall of colorful, insane light that exists outside of the universe, in the Macroverse. Viewing its true form causes mortals to be pulled into the Deadlights (its true form/eyes) and induces insanity. IT was born from the darkness of todash or the Prim, the space in between dimensions that houses very powerful, very deadly demons and monsters. IT’s physical form arrived on Earth in a meteor. On Earth it discovered that the human imagination made the taste of their flesh very rich: because of this, and because of its near-deity status, humans which view IT see it as their greatest fear reflected back at them. This also means that IT represents the Boogeyman, or childhood fear in general – it prefers to prey on children since their fears are more tangible, and in doing this it becomes a representation of the monster “under the bed” or “in the closet-“ a monster that every child fears but few have names for. IT wakes up to feed every 30 years, between which it hibernates. This 30 year period represents the shift from childhood to adulthood. Each time IT awakes and sleeps, it causes a catastrophic event to occur in Derry, representing the awakening or hibernation: The Ironworks exploded, a fire happened at a local restaurant, a gunfight, etc. IT, as far as is known, acknowledges no other cosmic beings besides itself and the Turtle, the creature who created the Earth. While in the Macroverse, IT looks only in one direction: towards the Earth, and thus sees nothing of the rest of the Macroverse. IT does not become aware of the Other, or Gan, until near the end of the novel. IT’s physical form, the shapeshifter, lives on Earth, while IT’s true form resides outside of our dimension. The form it chooses to take the most often is that of a clown named Pennywise; whose real name is supposedly Bob Gray. Pennywise is intended to provide its victims with a false sense of security; first creating an aura of friendliness before moving in for the final kill. IT appears to have developed a sense of humor in its time on Earth, as it will often joke with and laugh at its victims when they are proving to be more difficult to handle than its usual fair. IT will often leave messages, notes, or drawings that are threatening to the individual that IT intends to hunt. IT possibly influenced the creation of Derry, and IT also represents the spirit of the town – it is a dead town with a maze of sewers beneath it, a town where the murders and unfortunate happenstances generally tend to go unnoticed, thanks to IT. IT and Derry seem to share a symbiotic relationship: It is unknown whether one can exist without the other, one of the many reasons why many people tend to dislike Derry but don’t particularly know the reason for the dislike. IT must abide by the rules of the physical form that it chooses to take. For example, when in the form of a werewolf, silver is known to be particularly harmful to it. IT is also known to influence the behavior of the citizens of Derry, making them both dismissive and occasionally ill-willed. In the Stephen King universe, the Dark Tower is the physical form of Gan, or God. The Dark Tower is held up and protected by beams, and these beams are guarded by animals Gods. One of these animal Gods is the Turtle, Maturin. While these beams hold up and protect the universe, there are beams on the outside of the universe that pull in the opposite direction, seeking to topple the Dark Tower and cause chaos. These beams are guarded by demonic guardians and are possibly represented by various colors of the rainbow. It is a common theory among Stephen King fans that IT represents the opposition to the Turtle’s beam: that it is the demon that guards the beam opposite to the Turtle (possibly the orange beam). This is further supported by the fact that IT actually mentions the Beam in IT. There is another creature in the Stephen King universe that is the same, or a very similar species, to IT. His name was Dandelo, and unlike IT, he was a creature who fed off of the emotion of laughter instead of fear. He, however, is much less powerful than IT and is more bound to his physical nature. He has a robot named Stuttering Bill.