In Stephen King's book, an ancient turtle named Mataurin, who created the universe, gives those kids, known collectively as the Losers Club, the information to defeat It during a psychic ritual.
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.
In IT, the turtle figure is a "guardian" of a beam. In The Dark Tower, beams are described as physical forces that created and hold up the universe, and each one has an animal figure as a spirit guardian and defender.
In the original It novel, when the Losers' Club confront It as kids, Bill Denborough encounters Maturin in a plane of existence called the Macroverse. Instead of an evil shapeshifting cluster of Deadlights like It, Maturin is a good-natured giant turtle who once created the universe by barfing it up.
The World Turtle, also called the Cosmic Turtle or the World-bearing Turtle, is a mytheme of a giant turtle (or tortoise) supporting or containing the world. It occurs in Hindu mythology, Chinese mythology, and the mythologies of the indigenous peoples of the Americas.
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.
You've also probably read all of King's horror novels, including The Dark Tower series, which reveals that Pennywise's archenemy is The Turtle.
Red balloons are Pennywise's calling cards, and he often uses them as bait to kidnap children.
Pennywise's origins are briefly explored in both the book and It: Chapter Two, where it's revealed that he is a being that crash-landed on Earth from another dimension hundreds of years ago.
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.
The Turtle represents truth because it is one of the oldest animals on our planet, and it is said to have witnessed Creation. The laws of time and life are recorded on the back of a Turtle. The Turtle is grounded, methodical, careful, and attentive to details. They are important qualities for those who speak the truth.
The only other being in that empty, dead space is Maturin: a giant, benevolent turtle that ends up helping the losers' club in their fight against It.
The Losers moulded it into the form of a spider because that was all their puny human minds could perceive it as, but it wasn't really the spider. In the same way that a spider cannot truly understand what a human being is.
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.
The bartender told Jake that Georgie's body was found in the sewer drain. In the 1990 TV Miniseries, Pennywise grabbed Georgie's right arm instead of his left; the same happens in the 2017 Film. His death won the Golden Chainsaw on the kill count of IT (2017) by Dead Meat.
Stephen King on beginning It by killing off a 6-year-old.
It has been condensed and edited for clarity. Dan Kois: Opening It with Georgie's death does more than just shock readers.
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.
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.
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.
The simplest and most obvious interpretation is that all the talk of floating is a reference to the fact that Pennywise (aka the titular "It") murders his victims and drags them down to the town's sewer system where he dwells, which is full of water. And what do dead bodies do in water? That's right — they float.
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.
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.
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.