It Lives

**It Lives** is a boss that can appear on the second floor of Chapter 4 (Womb, Utero, Scarred Womb). It is unlocked by beating Mom's Heart 11 times; after that, it permanently replaces it.

## Behavior

It Lives behaves identically to Mom's Heart, with the exceptions of different spawns for its phases:

* In phase 1 its order is now:
	+ 2 Eyes
	+ 3 Flesh Mobile Hosts
	+ Polycephalus
	+ Fistula
* In phase 2 its order is now:
	+ 2 Knights
	+ 4 Walking Boils
	+ Teratoma
	+ Chub
* In phase 3 its order is now:
	+ 3 Lumps
	+ 3 Globins
	+ 4 Tumors
	+ 4 Hearts

## Gallery

* It Lives! in-game.
* It Lives! as one of  Delirium's forms.

## Unlockable Achievements

* A Halo - Defeat Mom, Mom's Heart, or It Lives! using .

* Flooded Caves - Defeat It Lives! 16 times.

* Dank Depths - Defeat It Lives! 21 times.

* Scarred Womb - Defeat It Lives! 30 times.

* Lost Baby - Defeat Mom's Heart on Hard mode as  Isaac.

* Cute Baby - Defeat Mom's Heart on Hard mode as  Magdalene.

* Glass Baby - Defeat Mom's Heart on Hard mode as  Cain.

* Shadow Baby - Defeat Mom's Heart on Hard mode as  Judas.

* Dead Baby - Defeat Mom's Heart on Hard mode as  ???.

* Crow Baby - Defeat Mom's Heart on Hard mode as  Eve.

* Fighting Baby - Defeat Mom's Heart on Hard mode as  Samson.

* Wrapped Baby -  Defeat Mom's Heart on Hard mode as  Azazel
 Defeat Mom's Heart on Hard mode as  Lazarus.

* Begotten Baby -  Defeat Mom's Heart on Hard mode as  Lazarus
 Defeat Mom's Heart on Hard mode as  Azazel.

* Glitch Baby - Defeat Mom's Heart on Hard mode as  Eden.

* -0- Baby - Defeat Mom's Heart on Hard mode as  The Lost.

* Goat Head Baby - Defeat Mom's Heart on Hard mode as  Lilith.

* Super Greed Baby - Defeat Mom's Heart on Hard mode as  Keeper.

* Smelter - Defeat Mom's Heart or It Lives! on Hard mode as  Apollyon.

* Marrow - Defeat Mom's Heart or It Lives! on Hard mode as  The Forgotten.

* Wisp Baby - Defeat Mom's Heart or It Lives! on Hard mode as  Bethany.

* Double Baby - Defeat Mom's Heart or It Lives! on Hard mode as  Jacob and Esau.

## Notes

* Just like Mom and Mom's Heart, using  or  against It Lives will kill it instantly.
* Isaac can encounter It Lives in the nightmare boss wave of chapter 4 in Greed/Greedier mode even if it has not been unlocked.

## Trivia

* It Lives! appeared in the original *The Binding of Isaac.* Unlike its appearance in Rebirth, It Lives had opened eyes, a simple poker face, and hung to the ceiling in a sideways position via an umbilical cord.
* The music that plays during this fight is titled *Ventricide*. Ventricide is a portmanteau formed from the word ventricle (chamber of the heart) and the suffix -cide, which denotes an act of killing. This theme is used in other tracks, such as Matricide, Hericide, and Infanticide.
	+ Ventricide could also be a junction of the prefix *ventr-* (from the latin word *venter*), which could denote "belly", "stomach", "womb" or "fetus", with the suffix *-cide*.
	+ It Lives shares this theme with Mom's Heart.
* It Lives, according to the developers, takes the shape of what Isaac looked like as a fetus.
* According to Edmund McMillen, It Lives supposedly represents Isaac wishing that he were never born.
* The boss could be represented as literally breaking Mom's Heart. This would explain **Mom's Heart** eventually becoming **It Lives**, as Mom worries more and more about Isaac, getting consumed thinking about him all the time & trying to control his life. The fully empty room in Mom's Heart endings shows Isaac's jump into chest from a different angle as well - he feels guilty for disappointing his Mother / He can't handle the worldview she's trying to force on him anymore, leading him to hide in the Chest from all worries. The endings with golden chests also show how when Isaac is alone in his room with lack of motherly love, something tends to always go badly.
* It Lives makes the same sounds as Mom's Heart.
	+ Like Mom's Heart, if Isaac takes damage from It Lives'  attack, Mom's laugh can be heard.
* Despite being a major boss, It Lives isn't linked to any Ending, instead, it opens up entrances to both Sheol and the Cathedral, as well as ??? if beaten in under 30 minutes.
* The unlock note for It Lives states "Your futures past awaits.", referencing *Time Fcuk*, another game by Edmund Mcmillen.
* During the versus screen, It Lives' enemy/boss-spawning sound can be heard. It Lives is one of seven/five bosses that can be heard during the versus screen, the other six/four being  The Stain,  The Forsaken,  Big Horn, Mom,  Mom's Heart and  Mother.