While it’s hard to pick a favourite from Stephen King’s prodigious back catalogue, both It and The Shining would likely land pretty high up on everyone’s lists, right?
Indeed, from the small town good-vs-evil struggle between the Losers Club and the demonic Pennywise The Clown to the claustrophobic supernatural terror of the Overlook Hotel, it’s fair to say that both novels – which were obviously adapted into popular movies, too – are some of the cream of the blood-soaked crop from King’s dark and disturbing mind.
As is the case with much of King’s literature though, a really fun and interesting layer to his writing is how the distinct universes he creates often interconnect and interrelate with one another in clever ways. Case in point: Many hardcore fans believe that the story of It crosses over with many of King’s other novels, mainly due to the nigh on immortal nature of Pennywise’s enduring, generation-spanning form. Interestingly though, with the recent release of Mike Flanagan’s adaptation of Doctor Sleep, some people think that the the sequel hints at an exciting connection between It and The Shining.
This new theory suggests that it’s possible that Pennywise could’ve once been a potential member of the True Knot, which is the coven of quasi-immortal psychic vampires who play the main antagonists in The Shining‘s sequel. How could this be? Well, even though their methods are slightly different, both adversaries feed off the fear of children. Pennywise often describes the delicious fear that resides within children in a very similar way to how Rose the Hat and the rest of the True Knot do, almost as if they may’ve spent some time together in the past. And it’s certainly believable, as Pennywise is endowed with an unnaturally lengthy lifespan, and over the many years in Derry, he may have briefly met up with and perhaps joined the True Knot.
Furthermore, the True Knot works as a group and is held together by strict rules, whereas Pennywise, on the other hand, is more unpredictable and prefers to operate as more of a lone wolf. As a result, it’s possible that Pennywise didn’t discriminate between the children in which he killed, which would go against the True Knot’s way of solely focusing on children who are psychically gifted and have the ability to “shine.” The killer clown’s thirst for fear could’ve become too much and he may’ve broke free of the True Knot when the gang of misfits no longer suited his needs.
Whether this interesting tidbit was something King wanted fans to notice in It and The Shining, or whether it’s simply just a coincidence, well, we’re not 100% sure right now. But how about you? Tell us, do you think these connections are legit? Or do you think it’s just a clever fan theory? Let us know down below.
