With the release of IT Chapter Two I thought I’d go back and breakdown everything that you need to know about the apparent way to defeat Pennywise The Clown once and for all.
Through this video, I’ll be going everything you need to know about The Ritual Of Chud, including the main differences between the book and movie and how to use it in case you ever come face to face with a killer clown.
There will be heavy spoilers here so if you haven’t had a chance to watch IT Chapter 2 yet and don’t want to know what happens then I highly recommend that you turn off now.
With that out the way I just wanna give a huge thank you for clicking this, now let’s get into my breakdown of The Ritual Of Chud!
The Ritual Of Chud Explained
The biggest question in both the book and movie versions of IT is how do you actually defeat an interdimensional immortal psychic being made of pure light when all you have is an inhaler and a shower cap?
Simple, The Ritual Of Chud!
Dumb downed to it’s simplest form, The Ritual Of Chud is basically a battle of wills that takes place between the minds and hearts of The Losers Club and Pennywise.
The ritual itself dates back to an ancient native american tribe that initially inhabited the land that would become to know as Derry. The native americans believed that IT was an evil spirit or demon similar to the Wendigo and that the only way to get rid of it was to trap its essence in a container.
Depending on which version you check out, either Bill or Mike discover this ritual and according to the legend, it’s the only way to defeat the creature.
It Book Ritual Of Chud
In the original source material, The Losers Club performed the Ritual as children and later as adults.
In the first ritual, the group believed that silver would kill IT due to its prominence in horror movies where it was often used to defeat vampires and werewolves. However, we later learn that because the children believed that it was powerful that it took on the powers.
After Bill researches the creature he discovers that it originates from a Himalayan tribe and it’s capable of vanquishing several beasts and that during the ritual if the creature you are performing it on sticks it’s tongue out, you must stick yours out too and these will overlap and you can bite into the creature and thus enter its mind.
It’s very sort of metaphysical and is to do with the connection that will be brought from being locked eye to eye with the creature though anyone who asks to french kiss Pennywise is asking for trouble.
Bill as a child enters Pennywise’s mind and meets a giant space turtle named Maturin, which I promise to cover in another article, that vomited up our universe and learns that he must bite on the tongue not with his teeth but with his mind and this defeats Pennywise for the first time.
The Second Ritual Of Chud
27 years later, grown-up Bill again finds his consciousness sucked right back into the abyss. But when he tries to bite down on It’s mind-tongue, he misses, and Richie takes the mental chomp instead. In the Macroverse, Richie grabs ahold of Ben, and back in Its lair, Eddie attacks the spider by spraying his inhaler down its throat, distracting It from Richie and Bill. The spider bites off Eddie’s arm, and he quickly bleeds to death. But Eddie’s attack weakens It, and Bill and Richie beat the now powerless spider, eventually crushing its heart just as they do in the film.
In the book, the group is able to perform the ritual once more, strengthened by their love and friendship. During which point Richie bites the tongue instead. In its mind with Ben beside it they are able to crush the creature’s heart whilst Eddie distracts it on the outside which allows them to overpower it and kill it.
In the book as the child’s storyline and adults play out at the same time we are able to see why the first performance of the ritual only delayed Pennywise whilst the other succeeded in killing it once and for all. It’s clear that as the Losers became older and more successful they too grew in self-belief and were, therefore, able to Vanquish it.
Movie Ritual Of Chud
Now, where it differs from the book is that in the film, after making their way to Pennywise’s Lair located below the Neobolt House, Mike, along with the rest of the group, perform the ritual but it completely fails. They use tokens from their past that are connected to happy memories and join hands in a circle only to discover that they simply aren’t powerful enough to defeat the creature. After bursting their bubble, literally, Mike reveals that the previous time that the ritual was performed by the Native Americans, it too did not work but he believed that it would for them due to their connection.
The Losers Club still end up beating Pennywise however through pure belief even without the aide of the Ritual. This is because they are no longer afraid of the character and believe that even with just words they are stronger than him and can overpower him. Whilst the Ritual is seen as a failure, it still helps in some way as it allows them to know that their belief is strong enough to manipulate Pennywise to revealing his true form and thus it is possible to use will power to end the creature.
Why Does Pennywise Die?
Whilst I’ve seen some people say that they defeated Pennywise by simply making him like a kid with no date for the prom, it’s actually far more complex than that. Pennywise exists because of fear and it feeds on it, this is why the creature tends to attack people when they are vulnerable. We see this when Ben is scared to enter the library basement, when Stan has to walk past his father’s scary painting…which I have no idea why it exists…when Adrian Mellon is drowning and when the Loser’s club have just been attacked by Henry Bowers.
Therefore if there is no fear, Pennywise cannot be empowered and thus it shrinks down to become almost baby-like and the losers are able to tear out it’s heart and crush it. Now none of these guys are Lloyd Christmas in Dumb and Dumber but because they believe that Pennywise has a heart they are able to do it.
If they weren’t in it’s lair and performed the ritual it would probably flee, similar to how we saw at the end of the first film but as it has nowhere to retreat to they are finally able to kill it and take big jump in a ravine to celebrate finally getting rid of that killer clown.
So, next time you walk past a sewer and see a Clown standing there you know what to do. Just wrap your tongue around it’s tongue…errmmm..stare into it’s eye…enter its mind and overpower it with your will and by calling it Ronald McDonald or something…yeah…make sure you leave a like if I’ve just saved your life.
Your Thoughts
Obviously I’d love to hear your thoughts on the Ritual Of Chud and how you’d fight a killer clown if you came face to face with one. Comment below and let me know!
Leave a Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.