Bill Denbrough

He is the leader of the Losers' Club, as well as the eldest son of Zack and Sharon Denbrough, as well as the older brother of the late George Denbrough. He is the main archenemy of Pennywise.

## About

Along with Beverly Marsh, Richie Tozier, Eddie Kaspbrak, Mike Hanlon, Stan Uris and, Ben Hanscom, Bill was a member of the Loser’s Club and one of the main protagonists of IT. Often nicknamed 'Stuttering Bill' (due to his tendency to stutter), he stood out among the seven adherents as being the most optimistic and valiant member. As a result, Bill is generally viewed as the undisputed leader of the club. Bill has the foremost desire which his dear friends follow in defeating the ancient demonic entity It and is driven by his brother's horrific murder to destroy It (aka. Pennywise).

## Appearance

In the novel, Bill is described as a handsome boy with cropped red hair, dancing blue eyes, and a small frame along with a “goofball grin” whenever he rides his bike, Silver. As an adult, Bill has gone to sea; shaving his balding head into a buzz-cut and also sports a pair of spectacles. Bill is also described to have become quite homely when entering adulthood.

Bill's appearance is inconsistent in the two film adaptations of the novel. In the 1990 Mini-Series, Bill has ash-blonde hair as a child and long brown hair as an adult. In the 2017 remake, his appearance is more faithful to the book, as Bill's hair is auburn.

Also, of 2019, Bill was played by James McAvoy, who stands at 5'7 and has a full set of brown hair.

## Personality

Bill has been steadfast for most of his life, using his bravery and instinct to unite his friends in turmoil. He is also a talented writer, and even from a young age, he would write stories in his room with the typewriter his parents gave him. Though he is a brilliant wordsmith, Bill's verbal speech is nowhere near as finely tuned since Bill has a severe speech impediment for the entirety of his childhood.

Bill overcame his stutter during his teenage years due to a private speech therapist, however his stutter returned unexpectedly after receiving a call from Mike Hanlon that summoned him back to Derry. Bill's stutter noticeably gets worse when he is upset, angry, or afraid. The speech impediment will sometimes not be apparent such as when he is reading a different language, doing an impression (e.g. Henry Bowers) or when he is making a speech. It's because of his stutter that Henry Bowers and many others to bullied Bill viciously. Although upset with being treated in this manner, Bill doesn't mind when his friends poke fun at his stutter.

Bill's greatest attribute is undying love for his younger brother Georgie, which was only strengthened when Georgie was brutally murdered by IT. Bill uses Georgie's memory as a guiding light to destroy Pennywise. While his love for Georgie is endearing, it's also a great source of guilt, as he feels Georgie died as a direct result of him helping Georgie make the paper boat that ultimately led to his death. Though he is told by Richie that it isn't his fault, the guilt follows him throughout his childhood and adulthood and enables IT to torment him with illusions of Georgie. After Georgie's death, Bill's parents grow distant and begin to neglect him, to the point that he wonders if they ever loved him at all. His relationship with his parents unfortunately never recovers. Decades later, Bill is still convinced that he is to blame for Georgie's death and doesn't recognize that what his parents did to him was wrong and abusive. This doesn't change until IT forces him to confront his greatest fear by turning into Georgie and accusing him of being the reason Georgie died.

"*"He thrusts his fists against the posts and still insists he sees the ghosts!" Bill thundered. He advanced on the George-thing. "You're no ghost! George knows I didn't mean for him to die! My folks were wrong! They took it out on me and that was wrong! Do you hear me?"*"
―Bill Denbrough to IT
IT

Bill is shown to be reckless and impulsive on multiple occasions, especially when he is face to face with IT. But despite his headstrong demeanor, Bill is extremely intelligent and shows great maturity. He has the power to pull the Loser's Club together through the horrors that IT sets upon them.

The 2017 version shows a new take on Bill and his dynamic with Georgie (post-death), as he is shown to be more delusional in thinking that Georgie must have survived and takes the majority of the movie to come to terms with his brother's death. He not only concerns himself with Georgie's disappearance, but with all children that have disappeared in Derry, and is convinced that they can be found and reunited with their families. This is, of course, proven wrong by the end of the movie.

Bill demonstrates great difficulty in coping with the possibility of Georgie being dead. He goes so far as to plead with his father that they could still find Georgie, even showing his father a diagram model of the Derry sewer system to no avail. When Bill and Richie get into an argument over the necessity of facing IT and Richie insists that Georgie is dead, salting Bill's wound, he ends up punching Richie when Richie refuses to take it back. At this time, he states that he understands that everyone is scared, which shows that he is still able to show empathy while under great duress. Later in the movie, he apologizes to Richie.

During the final fight with IT, IT seems to recognize Bill as the leader and subdues him, telling the Losers IT is willing to let them leave provided IT gets to keep Bill. Quite needlessly, Bill apologizes to them for putting them in harm's way - something all the Losers did voluntarily and out of love for Beverly and each other - and pleads with them to save themselves. Richie finds his bravery at this moment and saves Bill, attacking IT with a baseball bat.

On a more positive note, Bill demonstrates artistic ability in the film with a drawing of Beverly and has horror movie posters up on his walls, a subtle nod to Bill's future career as a horror writer. Indeed, when Bill grows up, he is a very successful mystery-horror writer, but is shown to be frustrated and irritated by frequent criticisms of his endings due to their being unsatisfactory. Bill justifies his endings by stating that they are a reflection of reality, as the concepts of closure and happy-endings are impractical; this attitude most likely being subconscious residual guilt he feels at having lost his brother during his youth.

When Bill isn't hyper focused on IT and IT's doing, he's an average teenage boy, making jokes, playing with his friends, and wanting nothing more than to be happy and secure at a time of great turmoil.