As far as villains in horror stories go, it's hard to imagine anything or anyone scarier than IT in Stephen King's classic novel of the same name. And while some might assume that it would take an equally strong force to defeat such a powerful evil, it's actually a group of childhood friends who manage to end this ancient monster for good. The aforementioned childhood friends are better known as the Losers' Club, and they're almost as iconic as the monster that they manage to defeat.
The Losers' Club are a relatable, ragtag group of friends who succeed in their quest to defeat Pennywise on little more than a wing and a prayer. Although their characters are endearing and their friendships are enviable, there are certain aspects of the Losers' Club that just don't make a lick of sense. And here are the ten best examples.
That They've Forgotten Each Other
It's clear that Pennywise has some kind of mystical power to make memories of him fade from the minds of people who have encountered him once they've left his hometown of Derry, Maine. So even though there's no explanation behind that, it at least makes some kind of sense. However, what's weird is that the Losers' Club seems to have almost entirely forgotten one another too, even though they spent plenty of time together outside of their interactions with Pennywise. A little haze on those memories could be chalked up to natural childhood forgetfulness, but barely remembering each other's existence really can't.
That They've Forgotten Pennywise
Okay, so this is something that could kind of be explained, but still leaves some pretty gaping holes in logic where the Losers' Club is concerned. It would make sense if a lot of the kids blocked out the traumatic experiences they had with Pennywise, but to forget him completely really makes no sense.
For instance, Georgie Denbrough was killed by Pennywise, and yet Bill Denbrough seems to completely forget that Pennywise existed after he leaves Derry. So that begs the question, how the heck did he think that Georgie actually died then? All of the Losers had very memorable experiences that can only be explained with Pennywise, so forgetting him seems impossible.
Why Do They All Come Back To Derry?
So if the Losers' Club doesn't remember each other or Pennywise, why would they all drop everything the minute that Mike Hanlon calls them just to return to a place with no significance for the sake of a person they barely recall? Obviously their return is necessary for the plot, but there needs to be an explanation within the story that justifies the fact that almost every single one of them doesn't even hesitate to do something relatively nutty for no apparent reason. And if Pennywise can control them all enough to make them forget him, why not control them so that they don't ever come back to fight him again?
Why Did Stan Commit Suicide If He Had No Memory?
After Mike calls all of the Losers' Club back to Derry, their willingness to interrupt everything and go back to their hometown for no apparent reason seems like an extreme reaction. However their reaction has nothing on the intensity of Stan's reaction. While most of them choose to come home and face IT, Stan gets the call from Mike and promptly kills himself, scrawling "IT" in his blood just before he dies. And after Pennywise is defeated, it's revealed that Stan felt like he couldn't face the horror again, but he knew that the Losers needed to function as one in order to defeat him. So apparently he's the only one who actually remembered what happened...for some reason?
How Did Not One Of Them Ask An Adult For Help?
In fairness to the Losers, clearly the adults in Derry are more than useless. However, these are all still children, and a decent number of these children appear to have been raised by loving parents who took good care of them. So out of a group of more than half a dozen kids, how plausible is it that not one of them ever brought anything up to an adult at some point?
The adults probably would have ignored them because of Pennywise's mind control, but the kids certainly didn't know that, and it's hard to believe that none of them would even try to get some outside help.
How Did A Squad Of Children Do So Much To Defeat Pennywise?
The Losers' Club is a pretty badass bunch, but they're still kids and they're still going up against an ancient demon god. Children are probably the easiest people to scare in the world, but if all it took to make a decent stand against Pennywise was confronting him and standing strong in the face of the fears that he was creating, how easy is it to believe that not one kid or adult had ever done it before? If disbelieving in Pennywise's power is all that it takes to fight back, and if Pennywise's illusions and transformations are so fantastical that they're hard to believe anyway, then how could the Losers have been the only ones to nearly kill him?
And How Did A Squad Of Clueless Adults Destroy Him For Good?
Again, the Losers' Club are pretty badass, but when they return to Derry as adults, Mike is the only one of them who even remembers that Pennywise exists, let alone has any ideas about how to defeat him. And all of Mike's knowledge seems to go out the window in the final showdown; the Losers wind up basically making up their strategy on the fly and it just so happens to work. How exactly is that possible? And more importantly, how could this ragtag group of childhood friends make this happen with a few days of preparation but somehow no one in the history of humankind has been able to do it before?
Why Didn't Any Of Them Leave Town As Children?
The bonds of childhood friendship are strong, and it's not that hard to buy that some of the Losers would have stood together against Pennywise. But the fact that they all stand united is a little hard to believe.
And yes, they are all kids, so their personal mobility is limited, but it's also pretty surprising that not one of them figured out a way to get out of Derry when they were children. They could have thought of an excuse; presumably a lot of them had family living outside of Derry that they could have called, or they could have just run away, so it's surprising that none of them did.
Why Didn't Their Activities Catch Anyone's Attention?
Yes, it would seem that Pennywise has the entire town of Derry under some kind of thrall that prevents everyone from asking questions about the bizarre occurrences or thinking too hard about why tragedy seems to be a constant presence there, but clearly that doesn't work 100% of the time. I mean, the Losers' Club seem to have found a way to break themselves out of that spell, so presumably other people in town would have had the same ability. So why didn't a bunch of kids running around doing all of this wild stuff never catch anyone else's attention...ever?
Why Did The Ritual Fail, But Killing Pennywise Succeeded?
Something that will probably never make sense about the Losers' Club and their seemingly magical ability to defeat Pennywise is not just that it's hard to believe that they would succeed where everyone else had failed, but the fact that they seem to selectively fail and succeed for no apparent reason. They finally kill Pennywise because they believe that they can, and their thoughts basically force him to transform into a being that they can kill. But they all seemed to believe that the ritual was working, until it wasn't, and Eddie believed that he was beating Pennywise until he didn't. So what made the difference in the end?