Complete listed story — includes the ending
It
The novel is told through narratives alternating between two time periods, and largely in the third-person omniscient mode.
1957–1958
During a rainstorm in Derry, Maine, a six-year-old boy named Georgie Denbrough sails a paper boat along the rainy streets before it washes down into a storm drain. Looking in the drain, Georgie encounters a clown who introduces himself as Pennywise the Dancing Clown. Georgie, despite knowing he should not talk to strangers, is enticed by Pennywise to reach into the drain and retrieve his boat. It then rips his arm off, and Georgie dies.
The following June, an overweight eleven-year-old boy named Ben Hanscom is harassed by a bully named Henry Bowers and his gang on the last day of school, escaping into the marshy wasteland known as the Barrens. There, Ben befriends an asthmatic hypochondriac named Eddie Kaspbrak and William "Stuttering Bill" Denbrough, Georgie's elder brother. The three boys later befriend fellow misfits Richie Tozier, Stan Uris, and Beverly Marsh, and refer to themselves as "The Losers Club". As the summer draws on, the Losers each encounter Pennywise in terrifying manifestations: a mummy on a frozen canal to Ben, a fountain of blood (that only children can see) from Beverly's sink, a rotting leper to Eddie, drowned corpses to Stan, and a frightening phantom of Georgie to Bill. Meanwhile, the increasingly unhinged and sadistic Bowers begins focusing his attention on his African-American neighbor, Mike Hanlon and his father. Bowers kills Mike's dog and chases the terrified boy into the Barrens, where he joins the Losers in driving Bowers's gang off in a rock fight, leaving a humiliated Bowers promising revenge. Mike becomes a member of the Losers Club after revealing his own encounter with Pennywise in the form of a carnivorous bird.
From Mike's historical scrapbook, the Losers realize that It is an ancient monster with a firm grip on the town. Following further encounters, the Losers construct a makeshift smoke hole that Richie and Mike use to hallucinate It's origins as an ancient extraterrestrial who came to Earth, beginning a cycle of hunting for one year followed by a 27-year-long hibernation.
Eddie is hospitalized by Bowers and several of his friends, and Beverly witnesses one of the bullies, Patrick Hockstetter, consumed by It in the form of a mass of flying leeches. The Losers discover a message from It written in Patrick's blood, warning them that It will kill them if they interfere. In the hope that silver can wound It, Ben makes two silver slugs out of a silver dollar, and the Losers enter an abandoned house where Eddie, Bill, and Richie had previously encountered It to attempt to kill It. They manage to wound It with the silver while It is in the form of a werewolf. Deeming the Losers a threat, It manipulates Bowers into murdering his abusive father, then chasing the Losers into the sewers to kill them, where his accompanying fellow bullies, Vic Criss and Reginald "Belch" Huggins, are both killed by It. Bowers is lost in the sewers.
In the sewers, Bill performs the Ritual of Chüd in an attempt to face It in the Macroverse, the alternate universe where It is from. There he meets the monster's antithesis, Maturin, an ancient turtle that created the universe. Bill learns that It can only be defeated during a battle of wills, in which he emerges victorious; in doing so, he sees Its true form, and its place of origin, the Deadlights. After the battle, not knowing if they killed It or not, the Losers get lost in the sewers. To try and regain a sense of direction, Beverly has sexual intercourse with each of the boys. Once they are safely out, the Losers swear a blood oath to return to Derry should the threat resurface. Bowers, having lost his sanity by the time he escaped the sewers into a nearby river, is institutionalized after being blamed for the town's child murders.
1984–1985
In July 1984, three youths brutally attack a young gay man named Adrian Mellon and throw him off a bridge, where Adrian's partner and one of the attackers both see a mysterious clown. Adrian is found dead and mutilated, and the teens are arrested and charged with his murder.
When a string of violent child killings begins in Derry again, Mike Hanlon, who is now the town's librarian, calls up the six former members of the Losers Club to remind them of their childhood promise to return if the killings start again. Bill is now a successful horror writer living with his actress wife, Audra; Beverly is a fashion designer, married to an abusive man named Tom Rogan; Eddie runs a limousine rental company and has married a codependent woman similar to his hypochondriac mother; Richie Tozier is a disc jockey; Ben Hanscom has lost weight and is a successful, but single and lonely architect; and Stan Uris is a wealthy accountant. Prior to Mike's phone calls, all of the Losers had completely forgotten each other and the trauma of their childhood, burying the horror of their encounters with It. All of the Losers agree to return to Derry, except for Stan, who kills himself in terror of facing It again.
The Losers meet for lunch, where Mike reminds them that the creature awakens roughly every 27 years for 12–16 months at a time, feeding on children before going into slumber again. The group decides to kill It once and for all. At Mike's suggestion, each person explores different parts of Derry to help restore their memories. While exploring, Eddie, Richie, Beverly, and Ben are faced with manifestations of It (Eddie as Belch Huggins and childhood friends in leprous and zombified forms, Richie as a Paul Bunyan statue, Beverly as the witch from Hansel & Gretel in her childhood home, and Ben as Dracula in the Derry Library). Bill finds his childhood bicycle, "Silver", and brings it to Mike's. In the meantime, Audra, who is worried about Bill, travels to Derry; Beverly's husband arrives as well, intending to kill Beverly, who has finally vanquished his power over her; and Henry Bowers escapes from the mental asylum with help from It.
Henry confronts Mike at the library, but Mike escapes, seriously injured. It instructs Henry to kill the rest of the Losers, but Henry is killed while attacking Eddie. It then appears to Tom and orders him to capture Audra, bringing Audra to Its lair, where Audra becomes catatonic, and Tom, seeing It in its true form, collapses with shock. Bill, Ben, Beverly, Richie, and Eddie learn that Mike is near death and realize they are being forced into another confrontation with It. They descend into the sewers and use their strength as a group to "send energy" to a hospitalized Mike, who fights off a nurse who is under the control of It.
They reach It's lair, and the clown transforms into its true form: a giant, mutated spider-like creature. Bill and Richie enter Its mind through the Ritual of Chüd, but they get lost in It. Eddie injures It by spraying his asthma medication down It's throat, using the monster's powers of imagination to believe he is spraying acid in It's mouth, which works. It bites off Eddie's arm, killing him. It runs away to tend to its injuries, but Bill, Richie, and Ben chase after and find that It has laid eggs. Ben stays behind to destroy the eggs, while Bill and Richie head toward their final confrontation with It. Bill surprises and attacks It, before managing to wound It's heart. The Spider attempts to bargain with the group, but the Losers collectively beat, stomp and dismember the creature, killing It.
The group meets up to head out of It's lair, and although they try to bring Audra and Eddie's bodies with them, they are forced to leave Eddie behind. They realize that the scars on their hands from their blood pact have disappeared, indicating that their ordeal is finally over.
At the same time, the worst storm in Maine's history sweeps through Derry, and the downtown area collapses. Mike concludes that Derry is dying. The Losers return home and gradually begin to forget about It, Derry, and each other all over again. Mike's memory of the events of that summer also begins to fade, as well as any of the records he had written down previously, much to his relief, and he considers starting a new life elsewhere. Ben and Beverly leave together and become a couple, and Richie returns to California. Bill is the last to leave Derry. Before he goes, he takes Audra, still catatonic, for a ride on Silver, which awakens her from her catatonia, and they share a kiss.
It
In October 1988, twelve-year-old Bill Denbrough makes a paper sailboat for his seven-year-old brother Georgie. Georgie sails the boat along rainy streets, only to have it fall down a storm drain. Attempting to retrieve it, Georgie sees a clown in the drain, who introduces himself as "Pennywise the Dancing Clown". Pennywise bites off Georgie's arm and drags him into the sewer.
The following summer, Bill and his friends Richie Tozier, Eddie Kaspbrak, and Stanley Uris run afoul of older bullies Henry Bowers, Belch Huggins, Patrick Hockstetter, and Victor Criss. Bill calculates that his brother's body may have washed up in the marshy wasteland "The Barrens". He investigates with his friends, believing Georgie may still be alive. New in town, Bill's classmate Ben Hanscom learns that unexplained tragedies and child disappearances have plagued Derry for centuries. Fleeing Bowers' posse, Ben meets Bill's group in the Barrens. They find the sneaker of missing girl Betty Ripsom. Patrick is killed by drowned children while searching the sewers.
Bill and Ben develop feelings for bullied girl Beverly Marsh. The group befriends orphan Mike Hanlon, having rescued him from Bowers. Each member of the group has encountered terrifying manifestations of Pennywise: Ben is chased by a headless undead boy, Beverly is attacked by a sink spewing blood, Eddie is chased by a rotting leper, Stan witnesses a painting of a woman coming alive, Mike relives his parents burning alive, and a phantom of Georgie haunts Bill. No adults see what they witness. Dubbing themselves "The Losers Club", they realize they are all being stalked by the same entity, which they dub "It". They deduce that It appears as their individual worst fears, awakening from hibernation every 27 years to feed on the children of Derry, traveling via the sewer lines. In his garage, Bill shows the Losers blueprints of Derry's sewer lines, which lead to an old well under an abandoned house on Neibolt Street. After Pennywise attacks them in the garage, the group attempts to confront It in the Neibolt house, only to be separated and terrorized by their fears. It charges at them, but Beverly stabs It in the head with a metal spike. Pennywise retreats after injuring Ben. The group flees; traumatized by their experience, they separate.
Weeks later, after Beverly confronts and incapacitates her sexually abusive father, Pennywise abducts her. The Losers return to the abandoned house to rescue her. Bowers, who has murdered his abusive father after being driven insane by Pennywise, attacks the group; Mike pushes Bowers down the well. The Losers descend into the sewers and find Pennywise's lair, which contains decayed circus props and children's belongings, above which the bodies of It's child victims float in mid-air. Beverly, catatonic after being exposed to Deadlights inside It's gaping mouth, is restored to consciousness when Ben kisses her. Bill encounters Georgie, but realizes he is Pennywise in disguise. Pennywise takes Bill hostage, offering to spare the others and hibernate if they abandon Bill. The Losers reject this, battling Pennywise while overcoming their various fears. The Losers beat Pennywise before Beverly stabs It in the face with a broken pipe. It retreats, falling down a well. Bill finds Georgie's bloodstained raincoat, and the group comfort him as he cries.
As summer ends, Beverly informs the group of a vision she had while catatonic, of them fighting Pennywise again as adults. The Losers swear a blood oath that they will return if Pennywise ever returns. After the others make their goodbyes and disperse, Beverly and Bill discuss her moving away to live with her aunt. Bill reveals his feelings and they kiss.
The novel is told through narratives alternating between two time periods, and largely in the third-person omniscient mode.
1957–1958
During a rainstorm in Derry, Maine, a six-year-old boy named Georgie Denbrough sails a paper boat along the rainy streets before it washes down into a storm drain. Looking in the drain, Georgie encounters a clown who introduces himself as Pennywise the Dancing Clown. Georgie, despite knowing he should not talk to strangers, is enticed by Pennywise to reach into the drain and retrieve his boat. It then rips his arm off, and Georgie dies.
The following June, an overweight eleven-year-old boy named Ben Hanscom is harassed by a bully named Henry Bowers and his gang on the last day of school, escaping into the marshy wasteland known as the Barrens. There, Ben befriends an asthmatic hypochondriac named Eddie Kaspbrak and William "Stuttering Bill" Denbrough, Georgie's elder brother. The three boys later befriend fellow misfits Richie Tozier, Stan Uris, and Beverly Marsh, and refer to themselves as "The Losers Club". As the summer draws on, the Losers each encounter Pennywise in terrifying manifestations: a mummy on a frozen canal to Ben, a fountain of blood (that only children can see) from Beverly's sink, a rotting leper to Eddie, drowned corpses to Stan, and a frightening phantom of Georgie to Bill. Meanwhile, the increasingly unhinged and sadistic Bowers begins focusing his attention on his African-American neighbor, Mike Hanlon and his father. Bowers kills Mike's dog and chases the terrified boy into the Barrens, where he joins the Losers in driving Bowers's gang off in a rock fight, leaving a humiliated Bowers promising revenge. Mike becomes a member of the Losers Club after revealing his own encounter with Pennywise in the form of a carnivorous bird.
From Mike's historical scrapbook, the Losers realize that It is an ancient monster with a firm grip on the town. Following further encounters, the Losers construct a makeshift smoke hole that Richie and Mike use to hallucinate It's origins as an ancient extraterrestrial who came to Earth, beginning a cycle of hunting for one year followed by a 27-year-long hibernation.
Eddie is hospitalized by Bowers and several of his friends, and Beverly witnesses one of the bullies, Patrick Hockstetter, consumed by It in the form of a mass of flying leeches. The Losers discover a message from It written in Patrick's blood, warning them that It will kill them if they interfere. In the hope that silver can wound It, Ben makes two silver slugs out of a silver dollar, and the Losers enter an abandoned house where Eddie, Bill, and Richie had previously encountered It to attempt to kill It. They manage to wound It with the silver while It is in the form of a werewolf. Deeming the Losers a threat, It manipulates Bowers into murdering his abusive father, then chasing the Losers into the sewers to kill them, where his accompanying fellow bullies, Vic Criss and Reginald "Belch" Huggins, are both killed by It. Bowers is lost in the sewers.
In the sewers, Bill performs the Ritual of Chüd in an attempt to face It in the Macroverse, the alternate universe where It is from. There he meets the monster's antithesis, Maturin, an ancient turtle that created the universe. Bill learns that It can only be defeated during a battle of wills, in which he emerges victorious; in doing so, he sees Its true form, and its place of origin, the Deadlights. After the battle, not knowing if they killed It or not, the Losers get lost in the sewers. To try and regain a sense of direction, Beverly has sexual intercourse with each of the boys. Once they are safely out, the Losers swear a blood oath to return to Derry should the threat resurface. Bowers, having lost his sanity by the time he escaped the sewers into a nearby river, is institutionalized after being blamed for the town's child murders.
1984–1985
In July 1984, three youths brutally attack a young gay man named Adrian Mellon and throw him off a bridge, where Adrian's partner and one of the attackers both see a mysterious clown. Adrian is found dead and mutilated, and the teens are arrested and charged with his murder.
When a string of violent child killings begins in Derry again, Mike Hanlon, who is now the town's librarian, calls up the six former members of the Losers Club to remind them of their childhood promise to return if the killings start again. Bill is now a successful horror writer living with his actress wife, Audra; Beverly is a fashion designer, married to an abusive man named Tom Rogan; Eddie runs a limousine rental company and has married a codependent woman similar to his hypochondriac mother; Richie Tozier is a disc jockey; Ben Hanscom has lost weight and is a successful, but single and lonely architect; and Stan Uris is a wealthy accountant. Prior to Mike's phone calls, all of the Losers had completely forgotten each other and the trauma of their childhood, burying the horror of their encounters with It. All of the Losers agree to return to Derry, except for Stan, who kills himself in terror of facing It again.
The Losers meet for lunch, where Mike reminds them that the creature awakens roughly every 27 years for 12–16 months at a time, feeding on children before going into slumber again. The group decides to kill It once and for all. At Mike's suggestion, each person explores different parts of Derry to help restore their memories. While exploring, Eddie, Richie, Beverly, and Ben are faced with manifestations of It (Eddie as Belch Huggins and childhood friends in leprous and zombified forms, Richie as a Paul Bunyan statue, Beverly as the witch from Hansel & Gretel in her childhood home, and Ben as Dracula in the Derry Library). Bill finds his childhood bicycle, "Silver", and brings it to Mike's. In the meantime, Audra, who is worried about Bill, travels to Derry; Beverly's husband arrives as well, intending to kill Beverly, who has finally vanquished his power over her; and Henry Bowers escapes from the mental asylum with help from It.
Henry confronts Mike at the library, but Mike escapes, seriously injured. It instructs Henry to kill the rest of the Losers, but Henry is killed while attacking Eddie. It then appears to Tom and orders him to capture Audra, bringing Audra to Its lair, where Audra becomes catatonic, and Tom, seeing It in its true form, collapses with shock. Bill, Ben, Beverly, Richie, and Eddie learn that Mike is near death and realize they are being forced into another confrontation with It. They descend into the sewers and use their strength as a group to "send energy" to a hospitalized Mike, who fights off a nurse who is under the control of It.
They reach It's lair, and the clown transforms into its true form: a giant, mutated spider-like creature. Bill and Richie enter Its mind through the Ritual of Chüd, but they get lost in It. Eddie injures It by spraying his asthma medication down It's throat, using the monster's powers of imagination to believe he is spraying acid in It's mouth, which works. It bites off Eddie's arm, killing him. It runs away to tend to its injuries, but Bill, Richie, and Ben chase after and find that It has laid eggs. Ben stays behind to destroy the eggs, while Bill and Richie head toward their final confrontation with It. Bill surprises and attacks It, before managing to wound It's heart. The Spider attempts to bargain with the group, but the Losers collectively beat, stomp and dismember the creature, killing It.
The group meets up to head out of It's lair, and although they try to bring Audra and Eddie's bodies with them, they are forced to leave Eddie behind. They realize that the scars on their hands from their blood pact have disappeared, indicating that their ordeal is finally over.
At the same time, the worst storm in Maine's history sweeps through Derry, and the downtown area collapses. Mike concludes that Derry is dying. The Losers return home and gradually begin to forget about It, Derry, and each other all over again. Mike's memory of the events of that summer also begins to fade, as well as any of the records he had written down previously, much to his relief, and he considers starting a new life elsewhere. Ben and Beverly leave together and become a couple, and Richie returns to California. Bill is the last to leave Derry. Before he goes, he takes Audra, still catatonic, for a ride on Silver, which awakens her from her catatonia, and they share a kiss.
It
In October 1988, twelve-year-old Bill Denbrough makes a paper sailboat for his seven-year-old brother Georgie. Georgie sails the boat along rainy streets, only to have it fall down a storm drain. Attempting to retrieve it, Georgie sees a clown in the drain, who introduces himself as "Pennywise the Dancing Clown". Pennywise bites off Georgie's arm and drags him into the sewer.
The following summer, Bill and his friends Richie Tozier, Eddie Kaspbrak, and Stanley Uris run afoul of older bullies Henry Bowers, Belch Huggins, Patrick Hockstetter, and Victor Criss. Bill calculates that his brother's body may have washed up in the marshy wasteland "The Barrens". He investigates with his friends, believing Georgie may still be alive. New in town, Bill's classmate Ben Hanscom learns that unexplained tragedies and child disappearances have plagued Derry for centuries. Fleeing Bowers' posse, Ben meets Bill's group in the Barrens. They find the sneaker of missing girl Betty Ripsom. Patrick is killed by drowned children while searching the sewers.
Bill and Ben develop feelings for bullied girl Beverly Marsh. The group befriends orphan Mike Hanlon, having rescued him from Bowers. Each member of the group has encountered terrifying manifestations of Pennywise: Ben is chased by a headless undead boy, Beverly is attacked by a sink spewing blood, Eddie is chased by a rotting leper, Stan witnesses a painting of a woman coming alive, Mike relives his parents burning alive, and a phantom of Georgie haunts Bill. No adults see what they witness. Dubbing themselves "The Losers Club", they realize they are all being stalked by the same entity, which they dub "It". They deduce that It appears as their individual worst fears, awakening from hibernation every 27 years to feed on the children of Derry, traveling via the sewer lines. In his garage, Bill shows the Losers blueprints of Derry's sewer lines, which lead to an old well under an abandoned house on Neibolt Street. After Pennywise attacks them in the garage, the group attempts to confront It in the Neibolt house, only to be separated and terrorized by their fears. It charges at them, but Beverly stabs It in the head with a metal spike. Pennywise retreats after injuring Ben. The group flees; traumatized by their experience, they separate.
Weeks later, after Beverly confronts and incapacitates her sexually abusive father, Pennywise abducts her. The Losers return to the abandoned house to rescue her. Bowers, who has murdered his abusive father after being driven insane by Pennywise, attacks the group; Mike pushes Bowers down the well. The Losers descend into the sewers and find Pennywise's lair, which contains decayed circus props and children's belongings, above which the bodies of It's child victims float in mid-air. Beverly, catatonic after being exposed to Deadlights inside It's gaping mouth, is restored to consciousness when Ben kisses her. Bill encounters Georgie, but realizes he is Pennywise in disguise. Pennywise takes Bill hostage, offering to spare the others and hibernate if they abandon Bill. The Losers reject this, battling Pennywise while overcoming their various fears. The Losers beat Pennywise before Beverly stabs It in the face with a broken pipe. It retreats, falling down a well. Bill finds Georgie's bloodstained raincoat, and the group comfort him as he cries.
As summer ends, Beverly informs the group of a vision she had while catatonic, of them fighting Pennywise again as adults. The Losers swear a blood oath that they will return if Pennywise ever returns. After the others make their goodbyes and disperse, Beverly and Bill discuss her moving away to live with her aunt. Bill reveals his feelings and they kiss.
Sources and content license
Source and revision history ↗ · Exact listed stories combined in catalog order. Sources retain their stated license; formatting and headings adjusted. Adapted from Wikipedia contributors, It (novel). Section headings and formatting adjusted. Adapted from Wikipedia contributors, It (2017 film). Section headings and formatting adjusted. · Content license