It doesn't need to sleep.
It doesn't need to eat.
No matter where you go, It will follow.
But what exactly is It?
Theories abound on the true identity of It, and writer and creator David Mitchell has
been very reserved about offering any solid answers.
However, we can glean some facts about 'it' from various theories and observations of
the creature's behavior in the film.
It has no known origin, rather being explained as the result of a curse levied upon an unknown
individual an unknown amount of time ago.
Given the fact that It still exists, and that a curse has to have an origin point, we can
safely assume that It was created within the last few hundred years at maximum.
Why?
Because we know that It moves very slowly in pursuit of its prey, never exceeding at
maximum, a brisk walking speed.
We're even told when Jay is introduced to the creature that It can only walk, but is
not dumb.
With the average walking speed being 3 to 4 mph (4.8 to 6.4 kmh), It is not very fast-
which means the only way that It's continued survival can be explained is if the curse
originated within the last few hundred years.
That's because only recently in human history was long-distance travel relatively common,
increasing in ease, speed, and accessibility to the general population as we approach more
modern times.
If It's curse originated in ancient times, before global travel was readily accessible
to the general population, then It would have simply decimated all cursed individuals and
ceased to exist, since the entire population that It was spread to would have been confined
to a small geographic area.
As It continues to exist however, this cannot be the case.
At some point, a cursed individual put a significant enough distance between himself and It that
he or she had the time to spread the curse widely enough that It continues to exist.
When you factor in the fact that attitudes towards sex only became liberalized to the
point that casual sex was socially acceptable in the last few decades, we have a likely
origin for It in the last hundred or so years.
Hyper-conservative attitudes towards sex in the preceding centuries, and the lack of long-distance
travel being accessible to the lay person means that It would have already ceased to
exist were the curse's origin older than our estimated timeline, It would have already
destroyed all afflicted by the curse, both by virtue of not being able to spread the
curse fast enough, and not being able to outrun It.
So what is It exactly?
Physically speaking we know that It is strong enough to throw a teenager a few meters, but
not strong enough to tear down doors.
Perhaps however, It chooses not to tear down doors in order to add to the fear of it's
victim- which could give us a clue to its identity, and we'll discuss this later.
We can posit this because It is clearly strong enough to physically mangle its victims once
it does reach them, shattering bones and breaking necks.
It also has a conceivably unlimited amount of physical stamina, though this might not
be necessarily true.
We can see from the film that the characters all live in the same city, and rarely drive
outside its borders- yet the characters can spend entire days without being attacked.
We know that the film is set in Detroit, which takes up approximately 142 square miles of
area.
Even if the characters encountered It on the exact opposite side of Detroit, and then drove
to the opposite end of suburban Detroit, at an average walking speed of 3.5 miles per
hour, It could cover that distance in less than two days.
There is no reason to believe that the characters were driving 142 miles between encounters,
so more realistically, if It was truly relentless, it would have encountered our characters at
a frequency of every half-day to full day or so.
Even if the characters are not living in Detroit, in order to avoid daily encounters with It,
they would have to be moving over 84 miles a day- something they clearly do not do.
So It must have some sort of rest period that we don't see on camera.
Perhaps its physical stamina is not unlimited, or perhaps, if It is a spiritual or demonic
entity, then it must take time to reconstitute itself physically in our world.
We also know that It feels pain, and that pain can be used as a deterrent.
The single clue the film gives to this fact is when It is hit with a chair while grabbing
Jay's hair when the group flees to the lake.
The chair strike causes It to drop Jay, despite it being impossible that the chair hit caused
significant enough structural damage to It's body that it would have lost the ability to
hold on to Jay.
This means, It feels pain, and feels it enough to be surprised or shocked into loosening
it's hold.
Whether this was intentional on the writer's behalf, or simply lazy writing because the
characters needed a way to escape from It is unknown, but we can only assume that what
we see on screen is canon and thus It feels pain.
Yet while It may feel pain, It is also extremely resistant to physical harm.
In one scene a gunshot wound to the head only temporarily staggers it, while in the final
pool confrontation it takes two gunshots to stop It's pursuit.
It's unknown if It could perhaps be defeated or slowed down significantly by things such
as dismemberment, or perhaps total physical annihilation via an explosion, acid, or similar
effect- which brings us to our next question, can It be killed?
It's mortality is a question of It's origin.
We talked before about It's inability to tear down doors despite being strong enough to
break human bones with ease, and how not tearing down doors may actually be a choice on it's
part to simply increase the terror felt by it's victim.
Busting down a regular residential wooden door takes similar effort to breaking a bone-
though the broken leg seen from It's first victim in the film would require considerable
more force.
This means that It likely chooses not to tear down doors and instead to prolong the chase,
which puts It firmly in the category of a demon.
A spirit acts mindlessly, with no particular desire or enjoyment in causing pain or increasing
fear.
Spirits simply use the means at their disposal to achieve their objectives- such as using
superhuman strength to quickly break down a door and kill their victim.
A demon however feeds on fear, growing in power by sewing terror, and what's more, demons
are intelligent actors, not mindless slaves such as a spirit.
A demon forced to carry out the directives of a curse will do so, but has the intelligence
to manipulate the way in which it executes that curse so as to seek enjoyment and empower
itself.
While a demon is our best guess as to It's real identity, it's clear that It has intelligence
and a motivation to cause fear, and isn't simply a mindless actor carrying out the terms
of the curse it's bound to fulfill.
We see evidence of this repeatedly, such as when It chooses to simply stare at Jay on
the roof of her house as she drives away, or when It turns to look at Jay shortly before
killing Greg.
If It was truly mindless, it would carry out its tasks like an automaton, pursuing Jay
instead of staring at her driving away.
If It is a demon, then it can certainly be defeated- temporarily- when it takes physical
form.
These defeats will force the demon to reassemble its physical form over time, perhaps explaining
its disappearance from the final chase scene at the pool.
If It however is a spirit, well then it shouldn’t have been able to be shot in the head.
But what is the nature of the curse, and who started it?
Information is incredibly limited, but we can glean some truths by observing the effects
of the curse.
First, the curse is passed on via sexual intercourse.
The type and nature of the intercourse is unclear.
Is full-blown intercourse required, or would anything short of actual sex be enough to
trigger the curse?
We have no way of knowing, as in the film the characters are either shown or insinuated
to have had full-on sex.
Once you've been cursed though, you're able to see It, despite It being invisible to everyone
around it who doesn't have the curse.
Interestingly enough, It can still physically interact, and be interacted with, by individuals
who can't see it.
Multiple times It is attacked by characters who don't have the curse, and It is readily
affected by physical obstacles in pursuit of its victim.
This gives us one very strong clue to the nature of the curse: It only takes physical
form when near its victim.
How can we know this?
Well, like we said seconds ago, It can be interacted with by individuals who are not
cursed, and It can be blocked by physical obstacles.
If It was invisible, but still physical to the rest of the world, then It would be continuously
creating physical interactions with It's environment, making it incredibly unlikely that It wouldn't
have been discovered and well-documented by now.
Think about It navigating a busy street- by now hundreds of videos of individuals being
randomly shoved out of the way would have saturated the internet.
Not to mention accidental interactions like being splashed with water, paint, or even
being accidentally covered in fabric such as one character purposefully does in the
film.
If It was physical all the time, a moving spot where rain is being physically deflected
would have been very well documented by now.
The only explanation for It's continued secrecy is the fact that It only takes physical form
when near it's victim.
This is only strengthened by David Mitchell's own comments, stating that no matter where
you go- like space- It will always follow.
This begs the question of if It truly follows its victims at all, and simply chooses when
to appear to them.
While we have no clue as to who began the curse, we know that sexual trauma is heavily
implied throughout the film, as is shame and potentially, incest.
The main characters that we see killed by It all see the creature in the form of a parent
at one point or another, with It appearing as jay's father in the pool scene when she
remarks that she doesn't want to tell her friends what It looks like when they ask.
It also appears as Hugh's mother when we're first introduced to the creature, and as Greg's
mother when It kills him.
Whoever created the curse may have been the victim of abuse at home, and the curse may
be a form of revenge inflicted upon their abuser.
So what's the best picture we can paint of It's identity?
First, it's likely a demon since it clearly takes the time to inflict fear on its victims,
rather than mindlessly stalk them and accomplish the task of killing them.
If not a demon, it is still an intelligent entity of some sort, possibly bound to the
curse against its will but probably enjoying the work anyways.
Second, It only appears physically when near its victims.
Because It can be interacted with by non-cursed people, It's existence would have been well
documented by now if It was always physically present in our world.
Thanks to the writer's comments, we know that you cannot escape It even if you were to flee
to space, meaning that It has the means to cross distances impossible to physically cross
without a rocket.
This implies strongly that It is not always physically present in the real world, and
can traverse 3 dimensional space at will.
Third, the curse is spread via sexual intercourse, with It targeting the latest victim and then
working its way down the chain.
This means that the curse is relatively recent in human history, as only recently did people
have the means to escape It by traveling long distances and having sex with multiple people.
Otherwise, It would have killed all bearers of the curse by now and thus broken it.
It can be harmed, feels pain, and temporarily stopped by physical means.
However, the writer implies that It may not be able to ever be fully killed, but leaves
it open to interpretation.
Whoever created the curse, was likely the victim of abuse- and likely from a parental
figure.
These are our best guesses to It's identity, but the writer of the film himself makes it
clear that what It is has always been up to interpretation.
For him, It might represent our own mortality, and how experiences like sex can briefly distract
us from our own inevitable end.
Now go watch You vs Valak the Nun, or click this other video instead!