Last Updated: December 18, 2019
Warning! Contains major SPOILERS for IT Chapter Two.
IT Chapter Two's ending brings the story of the Losers Club and their battle with Pennywise the Dancing Clown to a true conclusion that changes Stephen King's book while still staying true to the spirit of the source material. Let's break down what happens in IT Chapter 2's ending.
Directed once again by Andy Muschietti, IT Chapter Two picks up 27 years after the events of IT (2017), with almost all the members of the Losers Club having left Derry behind and forged new lives for themselves, struggling to remember what even happened. Only Mike Hanlon (Isaiah Mustafa) remains, and when Pennywise (Bill Skarsgård) returns, he calls the other Losers back to Derry to honor their pact and defeat IT.
IT Chapter 2 finds each of the Losers going through their own personal journey against IT, but ultimately finding their strength lies together, and they reunite to beat the monster, maybe even for good. After collecting each of their individual tokens needed to perform the Ritual of Chüd that will ostensibly defeat IT, the six Losers - Mike, Bill (James McAvoy), Beverly (Jessica Chastain), Ben (Jay Ryan), Eddie (James Ransone), and Richie (Bill Hader) - head back into the old house on Neibolt Street to kill the clown for good. IT Chapter Two is a long, ambitious film that doesn't always work, but its ending is a satisfying close to this story, and here's how it goes down.
IT Chapter 2 Ending: How The Losers Beat Pennywise
The Losers' Club heads down into the sewers and begins to perform the ritual, which involves chanting and burning the tokens, but it doesn't work. Mike lied about the Ritual of Chüd, not revealing that the Native Americans who attempted it were killed by Pennywise, but he insists the key is to have belief that it'll work. That's a big change from Stephen King's book, in which two different Rituals of Chüd prove effective in helping the Losers' slay their shape-shifting nemesis. Then again, the ritual is suggested to Bill by Maturin the cosmic turtle in the book, which perhaps gave it more weight. It could be argued that IT Chapter Two's version of the Losers just didn't have enough belief that the ritual would be successful, and considering what they had recently went through, that's not hard to imagine being true. Of course, the Losers still defeat Pennywise, they just go about it a bit differently onscreen.
The Losers Club' eventually realize that the best way to beat the bully that is Pennywise is to stand up to it and make it seem small. They shout at IT that it's nothing but a clown, eventually shrinking it down until it's tiny. Finally, Bill reaches in and pulls what IT calls a heart out of its chest, crushing it and seemingly killing IT for good. This comes shortly after Eddie is killed by Pennywise's clown-spider hybrid form, and it's quite possible that the pain of watching their friend die is what finally gave the rest of the Losers in IT Chapter Two the resolve they needed to overcome Pennywise's trickery. Pennywise's entire existence as a monster is based on fear, and the Losers' perception that IT is unbeatable contributes to their inability to win the battle. Once the Losers are able to overcome their fear of Pennywise for good, his power evaporates, making him easy pickings for a taste of his own medicine.
IT Chapter 2 Ending: Richie's Secret & R+E
In a departure from Stephen King's IT (although it's arguably subtext there), and even the first movie in this series, IT Chapter 2 has numerous allusions throughout to Richie Tozier's sexuality, implying (though not outright stating) that he's gay. There are references to him struggling with his feelings, although it's kept a little vague at first. When he has to find his token, he's taken back to a memory at the arcade when he shared a moment with another boy, and was then called gay by Henry Bowers and his gang. Pennywise also taunts him with a refrain of "I know your secret!," and insists that the other Losers won't understand or accept it once revealed. Afterward, another flashback sees Richie carving initials into a fence, although we don't get to see what they are.
When Eddie is killed by IT, Richie is distraught, and understandably so. Eddie was Richie's best friend when they were kids, and that friendship had been revived and seemed natural once again. But following on from the previous allusions throughout IT Chapter Two, it further suggests that Richie was in love with Eddie, something the end of the movie confirms by revealing those initials: R+E. Richie loved Eddie, and kept that with him his entire adult life, and now he's lost him. In hindsight, it makes sense, as Richie was always closest to Eddie, and it's possible his rampant sexual jokes about women as a kid were just an attempt to disguise his true feelings. Back in the 1980s, coming out of the closet was much more likely to earn one a rebuke from loved ones than it is today. What makes Eddie's death all the more heartbreaking though is that one imagines he and the other adult Losers' would've offered Richie nothing but acceptance if he came out as gay, even if Eddie didn't reciprocate his romantic feelings.
IT Chapter 2 Ending: Bill's Secret & Guilt Over Georgie's Death
Although he has become a successful author, IT's Bill Denbrough remains wracked by the guilt over Georgie's death, blaming himself for what happened. This survivor's guilt is at the heart of Bill's character arc in every version of IT, although IT Chapter Two adds a new element into the mix by revealing that Bill was only pretending to be too sick to go out on the day Georgie was killed. Of course, that doesn't really make him responsible for Georgie's death, but Pennywise is a master manipulator, and his ability to prey on Bill's regret and sadness over the loss of his brother is arguably IT's greatest weapon of war against the Losers' Club. After all, Bill is their leader, and if he can't stay focused on defeating IT, none of them have a chance. Pennywise even smartly twists the knife into Bill by crafting a scenario in which he has to watch another helpless child get murdered.
What IT didn't count on was Bill's eventual resistance to continually being sucked in by an illusion of Georgie, and a vision IT sends him into during the final battle ends up offering Bill the chance to finally exercise his demons and realize that Pennywise and Pennywise alone is responsible for Georgie's demise. This helps give him the final push he needs to return back to the cave and, as the leader of the Losers, take the fight to Pennywise and ultimately defeat it at the end of IT Chapter Two. It's symbolic of all the other Losers too, each of whom had to overcome their worst fears and memories, taking away the power IT held over them and at the same time dealing with the childhood traumas they'd forgotten but not truly learned to cope with.
IT Chapter 2 Ending: Is IT Really Gone?
It Chapter Two ends with the defeat of Pennywise, but then so too did 2017's IT, so there's a fair question to be asked with regards as to whether IT has actually been defeated for good, or if Pennwyse will return in another IT movie to haunt and attack Derry in 27 years' time? This time, however, It really has been defeated for good. At the end of IT (2017), Beverly informed the Losers of the visions she'd had after seeing the deadlights, which involved them fighting IT as adults, and they made their blood pact to guarantee they'd return. This is different. In IT Chapter 2, Pennywise doesn't just retreat away from the Losers, but is quite clearly killed by them.
Crucially, when they return to the surface after this, they find that the scars on their palms from the blood pact have finally healed.The wounds have healed, and the oath is no longer needed because IT will never come back to Derry. Or at least that's how things appear. However, IT is an ancient, cosmic being, and seeming physical death may not be its true end. Stephen King apparently believes this, as books written and set after IT include multiple references to Pennywise's continued existence. In Dreamcatcher, someone has spray painted "Pennywise Lives" on top of a Losers' Club remembrance in Derry. In The Tommyknockers, one of the townsfolk under alien influence sees a brief vision of Pennywise when visiting Derry. Insomnia also features IT's deadlights. The Losers' fight against Pennywise may be over, but ITs existence probably isn't.
IT Chapter 2 Ending: What Happens To The Losers After IT?
With IT's defeat, Bill Denborough is finally free of his decades-long guilt concerning Georgie, and has also properly avenged his brother's death. Bill's appetite for writing books looks to be rejuvenated, and he'll presumably head back to his wife Audra in Hollywood, where hopefully he considers ditching that screenwriting job that caused him so much grief early in the film, and learns to write good endings.
Beverly Marsh is also free of the emotional turmoil that colored her childhood, in which she endured bullying at school and abuse at home, and looks set to move on romantically with Ben. She finally realizes it was he who wrote her the "your hair is winter fire" poem as a kid, and their seemingly destined love story finally happens. One assumes Bev will soon file for divorce from her abusive husband, and she and Ben will become a successful power couple.
Richie Tozier is heartbroken by the loss of Eddie, but his choice to revisit his carving of R&E suggests that his ordeal has given him the courage to embrace his identity. He'll never forget his love for Eddie, either as a friend or unrequited romantic partner, but since the remaining Losers seem likely to remain friends for years to come, they'll all be able to keep Eddie's memory alive.
Now free of his duty to be the Losers Club's "lighthouse keeper" back in Derry, Mike Hanlon decides to finally get the hell out of dodge and move to Florida. He's more than earned it, even if he was wrong about the Ritual of Chud. While it seems like the Losers are spreading out, it's not hard to imagine them gathering again from time to time, since all but Mike became rich and successful, and one assumes he'll get there too in time.
Ben Hanscom is finally where he always longed to be, at the side of his childhood crush Beverly Marsh. He's overcome all the demons related to his formerly being overweight, and looks set to now live his best life with the woman who makes his heart burn there too. If Beverly's violent husband attempts to get back into the picture, it's likely Ben will give him a taste of his own medicine.
All of the Losers receive a note from Stan too, who tells them that he was too scared of facing IT, and knew that they couldn't defeat him if they weren't all united, which is why he had to take himself "off the board" by committing suicide. Even in that moment of darkness, there's a ray of hope for the remaining Losers in IT Chapter 2.
IT Chapter 2 Ending: How IT's Ending Differs From The Book
Although a lot of what's in IT Chapter 2 is quite faithful to Stephen King's IT book, there are some big changes. That's not too surprising given it's a 1,100-page novel, so there's a wealth of stuff in there that even two movies can't fit in, despite IT Chapter Two's 3-hour runtime, but the biggest changes come in the ending. Audra, Bill's wife, has a much bigger role in the book, as she goes to Derry after Bill, and ends up being captured by IT. Seeing IT's true form, she becomes catatonic, but Bill is eventually able to rescue her, and when he takes her for a ride on his bike, Silver, after they've defeated It, she awakens. In It Chapter 2, she only appears early on in the film, before Bill returns to Derry.
The Ritual of Chüd is also quite different too. Rather than trying to capture IT, the book instead takes them to a more metaphysical plane. Bill enters IT's mind through the deadlights, becoming psychically linked with IT, and Richie then goes in to rescue him and complete the ritual. It's then left to Eddie to attempt to save his friends, which he does by spraying Pennywise with his trusty inhaler - it works as a distraction, but IT bites Eddie's arm off and he bleeds out and dies. In It Chapter 2, Eddie stabs IT, and is then stabbed in return when he turns his back. In the books, things get even worse because they don't just have to defeat IT, who is a sort-of spider at this point (it's essentially the closest shape the human mind can perceive, but isn't really IT's form), but also the spider eggs it's laid. Ben destroys all of the eggs, while Bill goes inside IT's body and destroys its heart from within.
All of this happens while Derry is being flooded by the worst storm its ever seen (which may be linked to IT), which destroys the lair and makes it seem like Derry itself is done for. The Losers all leave town, and eventually their memories begin to fade again. IT Chapter 2 has a big difference to this, because the memories don't fade this time - instead, as Mike says, there's "more worth remembering" than forgetting. Otherwise, a number of the basic endpoints - Ben and Beverly; Richie going back to California; Bill eventually leaving Derry again too - are roughly the same.
IT Chapter 2 Ending: Does Stephen King's IT Ending Suck?
The biggest running gag across IT Chapter 2 is that Bill is a great author, but he can't write endings to save his life. He's constantly mocked for it, with even his wife, Audra, not liking the ending to the book they're turning into a film at the outset of the movie. When he returns to Derry and goes to buy his old bike, the shopkeeper - played in an extremely meta-nod by Stephen King himself - tells him that he's read his book, and he too didn't like the ending. King often injects himself into his characters, and Bill is no exception, but this takes things even further by so directly addressing a criticism of King himself: that he can't write good endings.
This has been an argument for many of King's works, such as The Stand and Under The Dome, and IT is very much among them. Part of the issue isn't directly related to IT Chapter 2, since the movies have quite distinctly split the timelines, whereas the novel alternates back-and-forth between them. That means the ending of Stephen King's IT includes the infamous orgy scene with the Losers Club, and Bill meeting a giant metaphysical turtle called Maturin, who helps him defeat It. It's not just weird, but certain elements - like Beverly having to have sex with all of the boys - feel very off, and then later elements such as Audra reawakening after riding on Silver can come off as a little silly, and along with the memories fading again, too neat as well. It's perhaps a little unfair to say the ending of IT is terrible, but it's not great either and does warrant some serious refining, especially to work onscreen, which is what IT Chapter Two's ending does.
