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.
It essentially spent those 27 years in hibernation, healing from the beating he had received from the Losers. While in hibernation, It doesn't need to eat, similarly to when bears hibernate, just for a much longer period of time. Why did Pennywise (IT) summon the Losers Club back to Derry?
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.
Appearing like a comet or asteroid, It landed on Earth at what is initially a nondescript time long ago. Later on in the film, when the Losers enter It's Lair, they realize they're standing in the ground zero crater of an asteroid right beneath Derry. The novel makes it clearer.
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.
1715 – 1716: It painfully awakes. 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).
Kersh is Pennywise's daughter.
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.
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.
In the books, Pennywise's true form is revealed to be a giant spider, a pregnant one, which might even make it female.
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.
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.
Down in the sewers, during their final encounter, it's much of the same. Mike brings the gun he uses to kill livestock, and the rest of the Losers come prepared with more rods. Beverly deals the final blow by putting one straight down It's throat.
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.
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.
Answer and Explanation: No, Stephen King's It is not based on a true story. King had the idea for It when looking at an old wooden walking bridge in 1978 near his home in Boulder, Colorado.
“Pennywise the Clown” was never human. He doesn't have a “backstory” in that sense. He was never anything other than what he is in the book. The clown identity may have been a real person at some point in Derry's history.
What symbolizes a child's sense of imagination is manipulated to lure children to the clown, Pennywise (Bill Skarsgård). Pennywise's most notable ability is to manifest as each of the children's fears. Whenever the red balloon appears, it signals that Pennywise is close, if not already present.
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.