Have you ever wondered how you could kill Pennywise the Clown?

You have if you are a character in Stephen King's It. 

This article will tell you everything you need to know about killing Pennywise. 

When Stephen King wanted to pick the one thing in the world that would scare children the most, he picked clowns. 

Pennywise chooses children as his prey because they are the easiest to scare, an act he refers to as “marinating with fear” or “salting the meat.”

Pennywise is the supernatural evil clown in Stephen King’s It. The book came out in 1986. There is a 1990 tv miniseries and a 2017 full budget blockbuster remake of the original.

Pennywise is thousands of years old and is a part of Stephen King’s Dark Tower collection of supernatural villains. It can take many forms. Let’s start with the book’s portrayal of him.

In the book, Pennywise feels like an evil, shape-shifting force that can invade the thoughts of everyone around him, especially children. He lurks in the sewers of Derry, Maine, the fictional town most all of Stephen King’s books are based on. King was born in Portland, Maine and based Derry on his hometown.

While not hunting children, Pennywise sometimes murders homosexuals. At the beginning of the book, an openly gay man is tossed into a local stream that feeds to the sewer, where Pennywise kills him.

This is based on an actual event that happened in Bangor, Maine in which a homosexual named Charlie Howard was killed after being thrown into a stream, in which he drowned.

Pennywise feeds off of children in a similar way to Freddy Krueger. It is able to invade their thoughts and make them see whatever it wants his victims to believe.

It takes your worse fears and scares you to death with them before he kills you. Due to the fact that they both prey on children, these two villains both retain a pedophilic horror vibe. And they both get off on fear.

Tim Curry’s portrayal of Pennywise the Dancing Clown in the 1990 tv miniseries was different from Bill Skarsgård’s in the new movie. Tim Curry is genuinely creepy as he laughs like a clown and sends shivers up your spine.

Bill Skarsgård’s Pennywise is more violent than creepy and looks more like a creature than a clown. This depiction is possibly even closer to the source material, but I personally prefer Curry’s version.

There is a historical element of Pennywise in the book in which he shows up about every 30 years. He started terrorizing Derry back in 1740-1743. The books and movies start in 1957 when Pennywise murders Georgie during a heavy rainstorm. Then, Pennywise appears again in 1984.

Once defeated, It hibernates until it is woken again, which always seems to happen somehow. So, in case that happens again, here are five ways to kill Pennywise the clown.

5. Ritual of Chüd

-I can see where Stranger Things got many of their influences.

In the book, Bill learns The Ritual of Chüd after going into the macroverse, the universe It came from. This ritual involving a supernatural turtle is how the children first drive back Pennywise after he murders Georgie. At the end of the novel, this battle of wills again works to send Pennywise into hibernation.

4. Teamwork

-It: Chapter 2 will be released in 2019.

In both the books and the films, it is made clear that an individual child is not powerful enough to defeat It on their own. However, when the whole Loser’s Club joins forces and works together, they can defeat Pennywise using the power of “the Other” running through them. In the new movie, the children hit and stab Pennywise with sticks together to knock him down the sewer.

The book, of course, includes a more, shall we say, controversial method of teamwork suggested by Beverly that will not be detailed here, as it is just Stephen King pushing the limits debatably too far sometimes. 

3. Destroy Its Heart

-I'd like to see this happen in one of the movie versions.

To destroy Pennywise in the 1980s reincarnation, Bill once again attempts The Ritual of Chüd, but it does not work this time because the turtle is dead. Bill almost loses to Pennywise and Eddie dies in the process. Somehow, Bill is able to enter Pennywise’s body and remove his heart, which kills him.

2. No Fear

-Sophia Lillis plays Beverly in the new movie.

In the new movie, Beverly leads the group in terms of courage. She develops a strong will after being sexually abused by her father for years. Pennywise relies on fear to succeed. When Beverly encourages the Loser’s Club to not be afraid, they are able to defeat the monster.

1. Blow Derry, Maine off the map

-As I learned from Salem's Lot, fire purifies.

At the end of It, Pennywise is defeated and Derry suffers a large flood and other destruction. This proves to the reader that Pennywise is a physical part of Derry. How to kill Pennywise, you ask? Kill everything in Derry, and the best way to do that is with a nuclear bomb. 

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