Ben Hanscom

**Benjamin "Ben" Hanscom** is a major protagonist of the Stephen King multiverse.

Serving the as one of the main protagonists of the novel *IT*, its miniseries adaptation and its two film adaptations, *IT* and *IT: Chapter Two*. He is also a mentioned character in *Insomnia*, and *11/22/63*.

He is the smartest member of The Losers' Club. He is also friends with Bill Denbrough, Richie Tozier, Stan Uris, Eddie Kaspbrak, Mike Hanlon and Beverly Marsh.

## Appearance

As a kid, Ben is described as having short brown hair that spikes when it's wet (like when building the Dam) and is obese for his age. Despite being considered unappealing when smiling at one point, Ben's face has the "ghost of the handsome man he would become".

As an adult (thanks to running the track team and eating right as a teen) Ben is tanned, lean, and handsome.  Ben's hair is graying slightly but he still looks young.

## Plot

Ben's role is very inconsistent between the book and the two live-action adaptations.

In the 1990 miniseries, as a kid, Ben (Brandon Crane) is more bulky than fat and has blonde hair instead of brown. As an adult (John Ritter), Ben's appearance is a further departure from the book whereas he has a beard and is still huskier than Eddie or Bill, but in better shape than he was during childhood. The adult Ben said part of his weight loss was due to trying out for the high school track team to challenge himself.

In the 2017 movie, Ben (Jeremy Ray Taylor) is much more accurate to the book, though Ben is still not nearly as large as he's described in the book. Ben is actually shorter than most of the boys (especially compared to Stan and Mike) and even Beverly though he is still taller than Eddie.

### 1958

As a child, Ben was a sensitive, shy individual. He developed an intense crush on one of his classmates, Beverly Marsh. Being an overweight individual, Ben was often a frequent victim of Henry Bowers, who usually referred to him as "Fatboy" or "Fatfuck". His first encounter with It was in January of 1958 while crossing the canal on his way home from school. Pennywise appears down the canal and offers Ben a balloon, which floats--against the howling wind--in Ben's direction. Even at eleven, Ben has the mind of an engineer and is distracted wondering about the ability of the balloon to float against the wind. When he regains his senses, he finds that the clown has almost reached him, and has transformed into a mummy. The town whistle blows, distracting both parties, and Ben is able to break his paralysis and run home. In the mini-series, It appears to Ben not as Pennywise, but as Ben's father, who was killed in the Korean War. In the 2017 film adaptation, It takes the shape of the headless corpse of a boy killed in the Kitchener ironwork's explosion.

### The Barrens

While taking an exam on the last week of school, Henry attempted to persuade Ben into allowing him to copy his test paper. Ben refused. Henry eventually failed and was forced to take summer school. On the last day of school, Ben attempted to rush back home, only to be spotted and ambushed by Henry and his two buddies, Victor Criss and Belch Huggins. The three bullies eventually begin to taunt Ben, however, to Victor and Belch's shock, Henry pulls a knife out and begins carving his name into Ben's stomach. Before Henry can finish, Ben is able to kick Henry in the stomach and fall through the fence separating the Barrens from the street. Banged up and bruised but only mildly injured, he has another battle with Henry: Henry charges down the hill Ben had just fallen down and Ben trips him, sending his enemy flying into the swamp. When Henry tries to attack Ben again, Ben kicks Henry very hard in the crotch, temporarily disabling him. He then takes cover in the Barrens, hiding in one of the sewer pipes. While hiding there, Ben dreams about his close encounter with It earlier that year. After Henry, Victor, and Belch leave, he befriends two other boys, Bill Denbrough and Eddie Kaspbrak, both terrorized by Henry and his gang moments earlier. He helps the two of them redesign and rebuild their Dam, which was destroyed by Henry and his buddies.

### The House On Neibolt Street (Novel only)

When Bill and Richie told the other Losers about the time when they went to the house on 29 Neibolt Street and they encountered It in the form of Pennywise and a werewolf, the losers head over to the house near the train yards. They head inside and are attacked by It in the form of the werewolf. It focuses on Bill and corners him on the wall. Just as It is about to kill Bill, Ben stands in front of Bill and attacks It. It savagely slashes Ben's abdomen, knocking him into the bathtub. Beverly uses the moment to shoot It with the silver slugs. It swears vengeance on the Losers before disappearing back into the sewers.

## 1985

### Returning to Derry

On May 29, 1985, Ben received a phone call from his old friend, Mike Hanlon (who was the only Loser to stay behind in Derry), telling him, that the killings are happening again and that It may have awoken from its slumber. Mike asks him to return to Derry, as he fears, that It may still well be alive. Ben reluctantly agrees to return to Derry and overcome his trauma and fears.

(Novel only:) Shortly after the phone call, Ben heads down to a local bar, where he drinks heavily to relieve some of his worries and fears. Before departing, he lends a couple of silver coins to the bartender (the same coins he used to fight It in 1958 at the House on Neibolt Street).

When Ben reunites with the returning members of the Losers Club in Derry, he's long since lost a considerable amount of weight and has kept himself fit and in good health. He tells them all how he did it: when he was a teenager in high school, he'd been terrorized by a group of bullying boys in the locker room at school. They'd all ganged up on him, mercilessly slapping him all over his body. When his gym teacher broke the incident up and approached him, instead of empathizing with Ben or seeking out the responsible boys, he gave Ben a harsh pep talk, telling him that if he really wanted to make a difference in his life, that Ben would have to change his thinking and lose the bulk of his weight. Ben only partially agreed, defiantly telling his teacher that if he could lose enough in time to try out for the track team (which his teacher also coached) and place high in the running, the coach should excuse him from gym class permanently. The coach is scornful but agrees.

Ben undergoes a rigorous weigh-loss plan, exercising every day by running. At first he often vomits but eventually the pounds begin to slough off and he is soon holding up his pants while he runs. Ben also acknowledges that the real personal battle he'd face is with his overprotective mother, who had fed him fattening meals for years in a form of control: the longer Ben was overweight, the more she could keep him in her influence. Ben asked his mother to feed him salads, which she grants him since he was eating anything at all, even if it was healthy. However, when she threatened not to buy him newer clothes that would fit his thinning physique, Ben took up a paper route that kept him walking every day and provided him with money to buy them himself.

Eventually Ben feels he's lost enough weight to try out for the track team. He's victorious during his attempt, easily showing up the best tryouts, and haughtily confronts the coach. Furious, the coach responds by punching Ben in the mouth. Ben grants the man the hit for free and walks off. Later, Ben receives notice that the coach has excused Ben from any further physical education classes. Ben tells his old friends that the single idea that really kept him going was that anyone outside of their group that would face It like they did when they were united as kids, would likely freeze from fear and possibly die, Ben's gym teacher included.

Near the end of the book, it's implied or outright stated that Ben and Beverly will leave/left Derry together.

### Derry Library

After meeting with the rest of the Loser's Club, each person goes their separate way around town. Ben visits the Derry Public Library to get a library card, and is greeted from above by It, standing on the staircase near the second floor of the library in his regular form. Soon after, It transforms into Count Dracula with *Gillete* razor blades positioned at odd angles in its mouth tearing off pieces of flesh and dripping blood onto the library patrons below every time it speaks, taunting Ben about the deceased Stan Uris and what he saw before his death. As Ben glances back when leaving several moments later, the vampire has vanished, but he sees a balloon with text confirming that his childhood adult friend and librarian, Barbara Starrett, was murdered by It.