Stephen King’s IT: Why Pennywise Is Basically A Lovecraft Monster

IT spawned one of Stephen King’s scariest creations: Pennywise, a shape-shifting creature from a cosmic origin. Interestingly, King’s evil creation shares many similarities with the horrors created by author H.P. Lovecraft. In fact, Pennywise is basically a Lovecraftian monster — here’s why.

It, Stephen King’s 17th novel written under his own name, was published in 1986. It is a large, complex story told from the alternating points of view of its many characters and explores several themes that have since become known as staples in the King universe, including childhood trauma and how it echoes into adulthood, the power of memory, and overcoming evil through mutual trust and deep friendship. It also features an entity that turned out to be one of the most captivating evil creations of King’s career.

King’s original inspiration for Pennywise came from the old children’s tale “Three Billy Goat’s Gruff”. He imagined a sort of troll that lived not under a single bridge, but under the entire city in sewers. Pennywise then evolved into something far more insidious, but likes to play similar types of deadly games as the troll under the bridge. King’s creation is a shape-shifter that transforms based on the fears of its victims. Interestingly, Pennywise also happens to be an entity not of this world that came to the spot where Derry, Maine was built on a comet from space. For this reason, and others, Pennywise can be classified in the same category as The Great Old Ones of H.P. Lovecraft, including Nyarlathotep, Azathoth, and Cthulhu, which were later classified as Elder Gods. Of course, King is also familiar with the works of Lovecraft, and has spoken about its influence on his writing.

What Is Lovecraftian Horror?

Lovecraftian horror is a particular sub-genre that explores the vast and unknown (and unknowable) qualities of the cosmic universe. It deals with the fear and awe of encountering phenomena beyond human comprehension. For this reason, it’s also often called “cosmic horror”, as it deals with the horrible truth that modern science reveals about space and other worlds.

A classic example is H.P. Lovecraft’s short story, “The Colour Out of Space”, in which a meteorite crashes to earth on a farmstead in the fictional town of Arkham, Massachusetts. The meteorite brings with it something that taints the land. At first, the farmer’s crops grow unnaturally large but turn out to be inedible. Then, the farmer and his sons all go mad. By the end of the tale, some men witness some sort of color in the well on the farm. It spreads and blights the land, before shooting back up into space. However, one of the men sees that a little of the light remains, which is enough to drive him insane.

“The Colour Out of Space” contains many of the classic elements that have become associated with Lovecraftian horror. Something mysterious comes out of space and causes horrible things to happen. Anyone who explores this alien light or tries to understand it goes insane. This type of horror sees the universe as comfortless and filled with horrors. In many Lovecraftian tales, the entity is more than incomprehensible color, it’s a god-like entity that controls the fate of the universe and has supernatural powers, such as Cthulhu and Pennywise.

What Makes A Lovecraft Monster?

The monsters in Lovecraftian horror are deities that exist outside of normal space and time. They’re often worshipped by strange cults of inhuman creatures, and are restricted from contact with humans in some way. For example, Cthulhu is a monstrous entity that comes from beneath the sea. Cthulhu exists in the city of R’lyeh, where he sleeps until he is called to awaken.

There is a large pantheon of these gods and monsters in the Cthulhu Mythos. Some are massive gods that exist on the edges of the universe, like Azathoth, while others are entities with personalities that act as intermediaries for the larger gods. Nyarlathotep is an avatar of the Outer Gods. He appears in several forms in Lovecraft’s stories as a tall Egyptian pharaoh-like man, a tentacled bat-winged monster, and a black-skinned avatar of the Devil. Whatever his form, he is evil and sinister. Interestingly, this shape-changing ability is reminiscent of Pennywise.

Pennywise’s History & Origins Explained

Given Pennywise’s history and origins, It fits perfectly in the Lovecraftian universe. Pennywise—or “It” as the children in the novel call this entity—originated in a void that contains and surrounds the universe, referred to as the “Macroverse“. It came to earth before humans during an asteroid impact that struck the land where Derry would later be built. It slept for millions of years before preying on indigenous tribes and later the founders of Derry. Pennywise, as this entity is known because it likes to appear as a clown to children, feeds on human fear, preferring children because their fears are easier to interpret. Besides Pennywise’s clown form, it takes the form of whatever its victims fear most.

It is often referred to as male because of its Pennywise form, but may actually be female because Its’ true form is a monstrous spider that lays eggs, or at least as it appears to the protagonists in King’s novel. In actuality, It is a mass of swirling orange light (like the color out of space) called the “deadlights“. Anyone who views the deadlights goes insane.

Existing in the same Macroverse as Pennywise is Maturin, also known as The Turtle. Maturin created the universe and possibly others, such as Mid-World from The Dark Tower books. Pennywise refers to Maturin as an equal, and humans as mere toys. Both Maturin and Pennywise were created by “The Other” (possibly Gan), an omnipotent creator of the Stephen King universes. For whatever reason, Pennywise has fallen into a cycle where he sleeps for 27 years before coming up to feed on human fear for about a year.

What Traits Pennywise Shares With Lovecraft Monsters

Pennywise shares a number of traits with the monsters and entities from the Cthulhu Mythos. For starters, Pennywise has a cosmic origin, existing outside of known space, a lot like the deities of Lovecraft’s creation. Pennywise also has otherworldly powers that he uses to manipulate people to do his bidding, much like the cults that follow particular Lovecraftian gods. What’s more, Pennywise can take different physical forms, similarly to Nyrothlotep.

That said, Stephen King prefers to explain his monsters rather than leaving them mysterious and inexplicable like many of the beings in the Cthulhu Mythos. For this reason, Pennywise is revealed in detail in the novel. There is even a section written from Its’ point of view, where Pennywise describes himself as a “superior” being, with Maturin as his enemy. Nevertheless, it’s clear that Stephen King was inspired by Lovecraft’s ideas of “Outer Gods” and evil beings that exist in dimensions outside of normal human experience when he created Pennywise. It remains one of King’s greatest novels, with Pennywise one of his most interesting and lasting creations.

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