Last Updated: December 18, 2019

Warning! Contains major SPOILERS for IT Chapter Two.

IT Chapter Two's ending brings the story of the Losers Club and their battle with Pennywise the Dancing Clown to a true conclusion that changes Stephen King's book while still staying true to the spirit of the source material. Let's break down what happens in IT Chapter 2's ending.

Directed once again by Andy Muschietti, IT Chapter Two picks up 27 years after the events of IT (2017), with almost all the members of the Losers Club having left Derry behind and forged new lives for themselves, struggling to remember what even happened. Only Mike Hanlon (Isaiah Mustafa) remains, and when Pennywise (Bill Skarsgård) returns, he calls the other Losers back to Derry to honor their pact and defeat IT.

IT Chapter 2 finds each of the Losers going through their own personal journey against IT, but ultimately finding their strength lies together, and they reunite to beat the monster, maybe even for good. After collecting each of their individual tokens needed to perform the Ritual of Chüd that will ostensibly defeat IT, the six Losers - Mike, Bill (James McAvoy), Beverly (Jessica Chastain), Ben (Jay Ryan), Eddie (James Ransone), and Richie (Bill Hader) - head back into the old house on Neibolt Street to kill the clown for good. IT Chapter Two is a long, ambitious film that doesn't always work, but its ending is a satisfying close to this story, and here's how it goes down.

IT Chapter 2 Ending: How The Losers Beat Pennywise

The Losers' Club heads down into the sewers and begins to perform the ritual, which involves chanting and burning the tokens, but it doesn't work. Mike lied about the Ritual of Chüd, not revealing that the Native Americans who attempted it were killed by Pennywise, but he insists the key is to have belief that it'll work. That's a big change from Stephen King's book, in which two different Rituals of Chüd prove effective in helping the Losers' slay their shape-shifting nemesis. Then again, the ritual is suggested to Bill by Maturin the cosmic turtle in the book, which perhaps gave it more weight. It could be argued that IT Chapter Two's version of the Losers just didn't have enough belief that the ritual would be successful, and considering what they had recently went through, that's not hard to imagine being true. Of course, the Losers still defeat Pennywise, they just go about it a bit differently onscreen.

The Losers Club' eventually realize that the best way to beat the bully that is Pennywise is to stand up to it and make it seem small. They shout at IT that it's nothing but a clown, eventually shrinking it down until it's tiny. Finally, Bill reaches in and pulls what IT calls a heart out of its chest, crushing it and seemingly killing IT for good. This comes shortly after Eddie is killed by Pennywise's clown-spider hybrid form, and it's quite possible that the pain of watching their friend die is what finally gave the rest of the Losers in IT Chapter Two the resolve they needed to overcome Pennywise's trickery. Pennywise's entire existence as a monster is based on fear, and the Losers' perception that IT is unbeatable contributes to their inability to win the battle. Once the Losers are able to overcome their fear of Pennywise for good, his power evaporates, making him easy pickings for a taste of his own medicine.

IT Chapter 2 Ending: Richie's Secret & R+E

In a departure from Stephen King's IT (although it's arguably subtext there), and even the first movie in this series, IT Chapter 2 has numerous allusions throughout to Richie Tozier's sexuality, implying (though not outright stating) that he's gay. There are references to him struggling with his feelings, although it's kept a little vague at first. When he has to find his token, he's taken back to a memory at the arcade when he shared a moment with another boy, and was then called gay by Henry Bowers and his gang. Pennywise also taunts him with a refrain of "I know your secret!," and insists that the other Losers won't understand or accept it once revealed. Afterward, another flashback sees Richie carving initials into a fence, although we don't get to see what they are.

When Eddie is killed by IT, Richie is distraught, and understandably so. Eddie was Richie's best friend when they were kids, and that friendship had been revived and seemed natural once again. But following on from the previous allusions throughout IT Chapter Two, it further suggests that Richie was in love with Eddie, something the end of the movie confirms by revealing those initials: R+E. Richie loved Eddie, and kept that with him his entire adult life, and now he's lost him. In hindsight, it makes sense, as Richie was always closest to Eddie, and it's possible his rampant sexual jokes about women as a kid were just an attempt to disguise his true feelings. Back in the 1980s, coming out of the closet was much more likely to earn one a rebuke from loved ones than it is today. What makes Eddie's death all the more heartbreaking though is that one imagines he and the other adult Losers' would've offered Richie nothing but acceptance if he came out as gay, even if Eddie didn't reciprocate his romantic feelings.