IT: Why People Forget About Pennywise When They Leave Derry

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One of the most disturbing aspects of the story of Pennywise in IT is how people seem to forget what happened when they leave Derry. IT: Chapter Two showed this powerfully when Mike Hanlon called the grown-up members of the Losers’ Club, the only one who stayed in their haunted hometown. That call brought back all their buried childhood memories and forced them to face the evil they thought they’d defeated. Now, the new prequel series, IT: Welcome to Derry, is finally starting to explain how this memory loss happens, giving us the clearest hints yet about what force is actually responsible for erasing the memories of those who escape Derry’s dark influence.

Warning: Spoilers below for IT: Welcome to Derry, Episode 3

The latest episode of IT: Welcome to Derry reveals a shared history between two new characters, General Francis Shaw (James Remar) and Rose (Kimberly Norris Guerrero), showing they first met as children over fifty years ago. A long flashback to 1908 depicts a young Francis, before he became a soldier, and his close friendship with Rose. Their peaceful summer is disrupted when Francis has a frightening first encounter with Pennywise, and Rose courageously saves him from the creature.

When Francis and Rose meet again in 1962, Francis confesses he’d completely blocked out the terrible events of their past. He only started remembering Rose and their childhood when he returned to Derry. This suggests their memory loss is tied to the town itself, though the episode doesn’t reveal what’s causing it.

Is the Source of Derry’s Amnesia Pennywise or Its Cage?

Stephen King deliberately leaves the cause of memory loss in his novel unclear. The story hints it’s both a natural way the mind protects itself and a result of the creature’s supernatural power. The members of the Losers’ Club forget the terrible events as a way to cope with the trauma. However, the creature also actively influences people’s minds, making the town’s adults unable to see the horrors happening around them. This mental blindness helps it survive, allowing it to hunt freely every 27 years. Interestingly, those who leave the town of Derry find their memories slowly disappear, suggesting the creature’s power only reaches so far.

The film IT: Welcome to Derry adds a key detail to the established mythology: Pennywise seems physically confined to a certain area. This raises two interesting explanations for why people forget their encounters with it. First, Pennywise might intentionally cause memory loss to protect itself. If it’s trapped and weak, wiping the memories of anyone who gets away would prevent them from returning with help to defeat it. Second, whatever is keeping Pennywise contained could also be responsible for the amnesia.

If something incredibly powerful – maybe a protective force like the Turtle from Stephen King’s stories – trapped the creature in Derry, it could also be erasing the memories of anyone who leaves. This would act like a supernatural lockdown, not just containing Pennywise physically, but also preventing people from remembering it exists. By causing forgetfulness, whoever is in charge of this ‘prison’ makes sure no one tries to uncover Derry’s secrets and accidentally sets the ancient evil free.

It was bad luck that Francis came back to Derry, as it brought back memories that led him into a perilous confrontation with Pennywise. Had he stayed away, he could have lived a peaceful life without ever knowing the creature existed. Now, he’s using the military to track down a monster that could destroy the world if it escapes.

New episodes of IT: Welcome to Derry premiere on HBO every Sunday.

What do you think is causing the memory loss in Derry? Share your thoughts in the comments and join the discussion on the ComicBook Forum!

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2025-11-10 17:19