Georgie Denbrough
A six-year-old boy who is captured and killed by Pennywise when he is out playing in the rain with the paper boat made by his brother Bill. His death continues to haunt Bill for the remainder of his life. This character is meant to not only motivate Bill to become involved with the main plot of the novel, but also to introduce the reader to IT, and how IT operates as a predator of children.
IT (Pennywise the Dancing Clown)
A creature that lives in the sewers in the town of Derry and comes out of hibernation once every 27 years to feed on children’s fear. The creature has gone unchallenged in Its predation on Derry's populace, and as such is extremely perturbed when the main characters of the novel begin to challenge Its supremacy and hunt It. The creature is not human and has no discernable innate features; as such, the main characters of the novel refer to It with a pronoun. Due to adaptations of the novel, the clown persona (Pennywise the Dancing Clown) is Its most well-known form, but It takes on many forms during the novel. Arguably, It is Derry, the town in which the novel takes place.
Bill Denbrough
Bill Denbrough is the main character of the novel. He is the 'leader' of his group of friends, and works hard to steer them toward confronting and defeating It. All of the main characters in the novel have certain challenges they must confront as children, and Bill's is his stutter. He is often called 'Big Bill' by his firends, not because of his stature, but because of his strong personality and abilities as a leader.
Ben Hanscom
Ben Hanscom is a secondary main character in the novel, one of Bill's group of friends. He is a skilled architect, who puts forward his abilities in order build a clubhouse for his friends. He is bullied for being overweight, and this causes him great difficulty due to the violence and vehemence of bullies at his school; it is strongly implied in the novel that these bullies are in fact motivated by Its dark influence.
Beverly Marsh
Beverly Marsh is the only female main character of the novel. She struggles with poverty, being from the poor side of town, and with her father's malicious and violent interest in her. She is the only main character who suffers directly violent physical abuse. Many characters have a crush on her, most notably Bill and Ben; in her childhood, she reciprocates with Bill, though she never tells him; in adulthood it's strongly implied she reciprocates her feelings with Ben.
Eddie Kaspbrak
Eddie Kaspbrak is another friend of Bill's; he is generally portrayed as sickly and prone to asthmatic attacks, though further in the novel it is revealed that he is instead a victim of Munchhausen's by Proxy, a situation where his parent (in this case, his mother) pretends that he is sick because she longs for the vainglorious attention that tending to a sick child can bring. Overcoming this is part of his major character arc in the novel. Eddie is also characterized as posessing an indefatigueable sense of direction, never getting lost in the sewers below Derry; this translates into his adult career as a limo driver in New York.
Richie Tozier
Richie Tozier is another one of Bill's friends. His vision is very poor, and so he struggles with bullying due to having glasses. He is characterized by having a motor mouth, never knowing when to stop talking and always making jokes. This is something he turns into a strength, gaining control of the 'voices' and becoming a skilled impressionist.
Mike Hanlon
Mike Hanlon is another one of Bill's friends. He is the only black main character in the novel, and noted to be one of the few black people in Derry. He faces racism from bullies, but is a notable researcher with a love of Derry history, good and bad. He parlays this skill in the novel by researching Derry's origins; a good third of the novel is his research presented in a narrative format. He is the only character who doesn't forget his past fighting It, and is thus able to bring the main characters back together to fight It once again when they are adults.
Stan Uris
Stan Uris is another one of Bill's friends. He is the only main character that is Jewish and is noted to be one of the few Jewish people in Derry, though his family are portrayed as non-religious. He is afraid of 'mess' and disorganization in the universe; he is upset that something so random and chaotic as It could exist in real life. It is strongly implied that this is why he commits suicide early in the novel rather than face It again.
