The horror movie genre has seen a lot of different popular characters throughout its history, but not a lot of them have been able to stand up to the mystery and enigma behind Stephen King’s Pennywise, the Dancing Clown, who is also known as It. That’s because Pennywise isn’t even the same kind of horrific creature that we usually see in the movies because it is something entirely else. So, is Pennywise an alien, demon, or a god?
Pennywise is something called a Glamour, which is a creature from the Macroverse. The Macroverse is a place that is beyond the regions of our known universe, and that means that Pennywise is closer to being an alien than a demon. We can also say that Pennywise is an extra-dimensional being.
There are many reasons why Pennywise is such a mysterious creature, as it was created to be an entity that is somewhat outside of the normal confines of the things that we understand. As such, many people wonder what it truly is and where it came from. So, with that said, let’s look at what we know about Pennywise and where it came from.
What Is Pennywise?
When it comes to horror movies, there are a lot of characters and horrific creatures that have become pop culture icons and have continued to become popular even in the modern day. Of course, the thing about horror movies is that we often usually know what the characters are dealing with, whether the creatures that they are trying to survive from are ghosts, aliens, demons, or monsters. However, things aren’t exactly quite clear in the popular horror movie called IT.
Like many different popular horror and mystery movies, IT follows a storyline that focuses on the supernatural creature called It, who fancies being called Pennywise, the Dancing Clown. However, unlike the stereotypical movies that have slashers like Freddy Krueger or Jason Voorhees or have ghosts or demonic entities like Insidious, IT is kind of a mystery due to the fact that It isn’t something that you would usually see in horror movies. That’s because Pennywise has always been a mystery in terms of what it is. So, what is Pennywise?
While the first IT movie in 2017 focused more on how Pennywise terrorized the kids and how they seemingly defeated the creature, the 2019 sequel that focused more on their adult counterparts was able to shed some light on the nature of this incredibly mysterious creature. It was what was able to somewhat explain what It is and where it came from.
Basically, Pennywise is a creature called a Glamour, which is a shapeshifting entity that is said to be billions of years old and has been on the planet since before the time humans started populating Earth. That means that It isn’t a ghost or a demon but is more of a supernatural creature with origins that are beyond the understanding of normal people.
Pennywise and its species are also called Deadlights, but not a lot of people know this. Of course, the true nature and identity of this creature are unknown, despite the fact that it likes to use a clown as its “default” appearance whenever it is in Derry. The fact that none of the people in Derry know what its true form is has allowed them to call Pennywise “It” instead.
The primary nature of Pennywise is to feed on humans, but it prefers to feed on children instead of adults because they are easier to scare. According to this creature, it likes to feed on scared humans because fear improves their flavor. As it said, fear is used to salt the meat, and that’s why it uses its supernatural powers to instill fear into the hearts of the people that it feeds on and primarily attacks children because of how easy they are to scare. Nevertheless, as we saw in Chapter 2, It attacked the adult versions of the Losers Club because it had unfinished business with them when they were still children.
Despite the fact that Pennywise takes the form of a clown, the thing is that it is actually a shapeshifter with no exact form. Instead, it loves to take the form of things that people fear the most, as that was what happened when it took the form of a homeless leper when it chased Eddie. Meanwhile, in the novel, It also took the form of a giant spider and other monsters that are quite popular in different forms of media, such as Frankenstein’s monster and even Rodan from the Godzilla universe.
In the novel, Billy was able to see the true form of Pennywise’s nature as a Deadlight when he described it as an endless creature that’s hairy and made of light. In Chapter 2, we saw this when he took the form of a trio of glowing lights.
So, going back to our form, we aren’t exactly sure what Pennywise is but what we are sure of is that it isn’t a demon or a ghost, or even a monster. Instead, it is an entity that is simply out of the normal confines of our universe. Of course, knowing more about the origins of Pennywise will allow us to understand more about what it truly is.
Where Did Pennywise Come From?
While Pennywise does indeed take the form of a clown, the titular IT character isn’t a clown at all but is actually an ancient entity that is billions of years old and comes from a place that is beyond the normal confines of the universe. This place is called a Macroverse, and that means that It comes from a place that is entirely different from the normal outer space that we talk about when we refer to creatures that exist outside of our own world.
It is said that It has existed on our planet for countless years already and crashed on the place called Derry before humans even inhabited the planet. However, it was only when humans started populating Derry that it became stronger, as It needed to feed on humans for sustenance as it is a creature that exists in the Void, which is beyond the normal confines of our own reality.
Basically, the Macroverse is a space beyond space and is said to be called the Void because it contains the entirety of existence and reality. Yes, we know that this is something that is incredibly different to understand, but such is the nature of this being and the other entities that exist in this Macroverse in Stephen King’s literary world. In King’s Dark Tower novels, this place is called Todash Darkness. While the Dark Tower novels and IT aren’t exactly connected in terms of their storylines, they belong to the same literary universe, and that means that Pennywise’s home dimension is this very same dimension that exists alongside ours in the greater Macroverse.
With that said, Pennywise is closer to being an alien than he is to being a demon, but he can also be considered a god in many ways because of his incredible supernatural powers. As such, he is similar to the eldritch beings that we know of in the HP Lovecraft novels. Nevertheless, he still fits the definition of what an alien is because he is not of this world. But Pennywise isn’t the same kind of alien that we see in other movies due to the supernatural nature of this godlike entity.
