What Are The Deadlights in the Stephen King Universe?

Download Article

Horror content creator Sydney Bermudez explains Pennywise’s relationship to the Deadlights & where they come from

Co-authored by Sydney Bermudez and Marcus Pruitt, BS

Last Updated: January 7, 2026 Fact Checked

Download Article

The Deadlights Explained

|

Effects

|

Origin

|

Characters Associated with the Deadlights

|

Video

The Deadlights are some of the most terrifying and powerful things in the Stephen King universe. They’re also responsible for Pennywise’s horrific antics in King’s novel IT, along with the IT films and their HBO Max spinoff series, IT: Welcome to Derry. But what exactly are the Deadlights, and what is Pennywise's relationship to them? In this article, we dive deep into the Stephen King universe, explaining what the Deadlights are, what they do, where they come from, and more, with insights from horror content creator Sydney Bermudez. Read on to learn everything you need to know about the Deadlights! But beware, there are spoilers ahead!

What are the Deadlights in Stephen King’s novels?

Horror content creator Sydney Bermudez explains that the Deadlights are the true cosmic form of Pennywise (IT’s villain). They look like a trio of vibrant orange lights that drive onlookers insane or kill them. They’re most notably in King’s novel IT (but they appear in a few other King novels, as well).

Section 1 of 4:

What are the Deadlights in IT?

Download Article

1
The Deadlights are a trio of hypnotic lights and Pennywise’s true form. In Stephen King’s universe of novels, the Deadlights are a swirling mass of blinding orange lights that are deadly when looked upon. The Deadlights are most prominent in King’s IT novel. That’s because they are the true cosmic form of Pennywise (aka It), explains Bermudez. She says, “They essentially represent an eldritch force, something so alien that the human mind isn’t meant to process it.”^{[1]
X
Expert Source

Sydney Bermudez
Horror Expert

Expert Interview} When Pennywise exposes his true form, it drives human beings to permanent insanity.^{[2]
X
Research source}
- How the Deadlights Work: “When someone looks directly at the Deadlights, they experience intense psychological and physical effects: paralysis, madness, catatonia, or death,” says Bermudez.^{[3]
  X
  Expert Source
  
  Sydney Bermudez
  Horror Expert
  
  Expert Interview}
- The Deadlights lie outside of the natural universe and serve as a link to the dimension It resides in.
Meet the wikiHow Expert

Sydney Bermudez is a horror content creator who shares paranormal cases, internet mysteries, and psychological horror stories to her over 400k followers on TikTok and Instagram.
2
In IT: Welcome to Derry, the Deadlights are how Pennywise freezes his victims. Although his motive isn't explicitly stated in HBO's series IT: Welcome to Derry, Pennywise uses the Deadlights to freeze people in catatonic states. This was seen in episode 7 of Welcome to Derry, when he exposed Will Hanlon and Ingrid Kersh to his Deadlights after feasting on another victim.
- He presumably does this to save those he freezes as meals for later.

Section 2 of 4:

Effects of the Deadlights

Download Article

1
The Deadlights drive you insane, sometimes to death. Through exposure to vast, incomprehensible horrors and terrors, the Deadlights drive the average human insane, as their minds break when they try to understand what they’re looking at. This results in victims being deemed permanently insane (if they even survive their encounter with the Deadlights).^{[4]
X
Research source}
- “Only a few characters can survive brief exposure, usually at great mental cost,” notes Bermudez.^{[5]
  X
  Expert Source
  
  Sydney Bermudez
  Horror Expert
  
  Expert Interview}
- For example, Henry Bowers and Beverly Marsh from IT have survived the Deadlights.
2
The Deadlights also presumably trap the souls of its victims. Although this hasn’t been explicitly confirmed, IT characters like Beverly Marsh have heard the cries and helpless pleas of the Deadlights’ victims when being exposed to them, leading readers to believe that they hold onto the souls of their victims even after killing them.^{[6]
X
Research source}
- Beverly Marsh is a member of the Losers’ Club, a group of children from Derry (the town IT takes place in) who vow to kill Pennywise.
This really only happens to IT character Henry Bowers, a maniacal bully who Pennywise spared to carry out his bidding even though he was exposed to the Deadlights. Upon being spared, Bowers’ hair was transformed, going from brown to white even though he was just a teenager, suggesting that the Deadlights changes physical properties, as well.

Section 3 of 4:

Origin of the Deadlights

Download Article

The Deadlights originate from another dimension called the Macroverse. Bermudez explains that the Deadlights “originate from outside our reality, often described as coming from the Macroverse (or Todash space), a dimension beyond human comprehension.”^{[7]
X
Expert Source

Sydney Bermudez
Horror Expert

Expert Interview} The Macroverse holds an infinite number of realities, as well as entities like Pennywise (from IT) and the giant, universe-creating turtle Maturin (from The Dark Tower series).^{[8]
X
Research source}
- The Deadlights exist within It/Pennywise, but they’re also a gateway to the timeless void of the Macroverse, which is beyond human comprehension.

Section 4 of 4:

Characters Associated with the Deadlights

Download Article

1
Pennywise, aka It Not only is Pennywise a user of the Deadlights, but they are also his true form. Seeing that Pennywise from Stephen King’s IT novel is a primordial entity that embodies chaos and eats children, it makes sense that he is comprised of the Deadlights, which he often uses to subdue children before eating them.^{[9]
X
Research source}
- Although It is technically made of the Deadlights, he often takes the form of Pennywise the Dancing Clown to lure in and eat children.
The Crimson King is the main villain in Stephen King’s The Dark Tower series (which is 8 novels) as well as his Insomnia novel (which is Dark Tower related). The Crimson King wields the Deadlights as a sort of magic and uses them to ascend to different levels of the Dark Tower (a mysterious structure that holds different realities and universes together), but not as a way to subdue others (like Pennywise does).^{[10]
X
Research source}
This one is a peculiar case, as Therriault is technically being used by the Deadlights, rather than the other way around. In Stephen King’s novel Later, the Deadlights are portrayed as an entity with a single Deadlight. This entity possesses Therriault (even though Therriault is dead) and uses him to haunt the main character, Jamie Conklin, throughout the book.