A fan theory about Pennywise, the Dancing Clown. The Losers are forced to confront the creature one final time 27 years later, which also makes them face all their childhood trauma – and not just the one caused by IT.
IT was famously adapted into a Bill Skarsgård in charge of playing Pennywise. One of the most defining characteristics of Pennywise is that he carries a bunch of balloons (of various colors in the novel, red in the adaptations), which according to a fan theory are more than just an illusion to catch his victims.
Pennywise is just deadlights”. In the physical realm, its final form is that of a giant female spider, as it’s the closest to the real shape that the human mind can comprehend, but thanks to those who have gotten (dangerously) close to the deadlights, there’s an idea of what they look like. Bill Denbrough described them as writhing, destroying orange lights, and IT as an endless, crawling, hairy creature made of that same light.
The theory, then, suggests that the balloons are a representation of the deadlights and contain the souls of the children killed by IT. The deadlights could be described as a sea of bright, orange balloons, which Pennywise takes a bit too literal. The strings of the balloons resemble the spider legs of IT’s final form, and when taking the films’ representation of the deadlights, they could also be a nod to the strings connected to the deadlights. What makes the balloons float is not helium, but the souls of all the children Pennywise has killed, hence why his famous “they all float down here” quote.
IT is full of symbolism, and the adaptations have their good dose of hidden details too (especially the films), so it’s not outside the realm of possibility that the balloons Pennywise carries around have something to do with his true form and all his young victims, which would also make him even more terrifying. IT’s true form will forever be a mystery and a very complex thing to describe, but the balloons could be an easy way of understanding what it’s about.
