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He thrusts his fist against the post, and still insists he sees the ghost.
~ The poem that helps Bill stop his stuttering.
Look, you don't have to come in with me, but what happens when another Georgie goes missing, or another Betty, or another Ed Corcoran, or... one of us? Are you just gonna pretend it isn't happening like everyone else in this town? Because I can't. I go home and all I see is that Georgie isn't there. His clothes, his toys, his stupid stuffed animals... but he isn't. So, walking into this house, for me, it's easier than walking into my own house.
~ Bill to the losers in It (2017).
Memory, it's a funny thing. People want to believe they are what they choose to remember; the good stuff, the moments, the places - the people we all hold on to. But sometimes .. sometimes, we are what we wish we could forget.
~ Bill's opening narration in It: Chapter Two.
"Swear, swear, if IT isn't dead, if IT ever comes back, we'll come back too."
~ Bill to the Losers Club for IT's upcoming return.
"No, you were the best big brother there ever was. He loved you, and just because you didn't wanna play on rainy day, just one time? That does not make it our fault. And it never... ever... did.
~ Adult Bill to younger Bill (IT) in IT: Chapter Two.

William "Bill" Denbrough is the main protagonist of Stephen King's 1986 novel, It.

He is the leader of the Losers Club, ever since he lost his then-six-year-old brother George to the creature It. He blamed himself for it, and his parents blamed him too. He became friends with the other members, who became his followers. Bill stutters when he speaks. The cause of this was most likely a car accident when he was little, but there is no proof of this. He is the arch-enemy of IT (Pennywise the Dancing Clown).

As a kid in the 1990 miniseries, Bill is portrayed by the late Jonathan Brandis, who also portrays Bastian Balthazar Bux in The Neverending Story II: The Next Chapter.

As an adult in the 1990 miniseries, he is portrayed by Richard Thomas.

As a kid in the 2017 film, he is portrayed by Jaeden Martell, who also portrays Henry Carpenter in The Book of Henry, Jacob Thrombey in Knives Out, and Jacob Barber in Defending Jacob.

As an adult in the 2019 sequel, he is portrayed by James McAvoy, who also portrays Bruce Robertson in Filth, young Charles Xavier in the X-Men films, and Wesley Gibson in Wanted, and voices Gnomeo in Gnomeo and Juliet and Sherlock Gnomes and Hazel in Watership Down.

Biography[]

Bill, sometimes also called “Big Bill” due to his height, is the unofficial leader of the Losers’ Club—a motley group of adolescent social outcasts who are brought together through their mutual experiences of being bullied by Henry Bowers and of the evil supernatural forces that rule Derry’s sewers. He is the son of Zack and SharonDenbrough and the older brother of George Denbrough. At the age of three, he is hit by a car and knocked into the side of a building, an accident that left him unconscious for seven hours and that becomes his mother’s explanation for his persistent stutter. Bill is sent to a speech school in Bangor where he learns techniques to correct his stutter, such as reciting a poem, which he uses later to help him combat It. When George is killed by Pennywise the Dancing Clown, Bill is ten years old and a student at Derry Elementary School. After George’s death, Bill’s parents shut him out, which he internalizes as a sense that he is partly responsible for George’s death and that they value him less than they did his younger brother. Around the time that he befriends the other members of the Losers’ Club, he gets an oversized bike that he calls “Silver.” Bill writes a novel about ghosts while still a student at the University of Maine and supports himself by working part-time in a textile mill. Bill becomes a successful author at the age of twenty-three and his next book, The Black Rapids, is an even greater success. The book is adapted into a film entitled Pit of the Black Demon and stars his future wife, Audra Phillips. In adulthood, Bill is described as a tall, balding man. He is the novel’s protagonist because he leads the pursuit of It, spurred both by the death of his younger brother as well as his wish to quell the darker forces in his life.

Personality[]

I'm still Bill Denbrough. You killed my brother and you killed Stan the Man you tried to kill Mike. And I'm going to tell you something: this time I'm not going to stop until the job's done.
~ Bill to It in the novel.

Bill has been steadfast for most of his life, using his bravery and instinct to unite his friends in turmoil and is also a talented writer, 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.

Likewise, he is the most self-assured member of the club. He wants to avenge the death of his younger brother, George. He feels partly responsible for his death as it was he who made George the boat and sent him outside to play with it during a rainstorm. In addition, his parents have become cold and withdrawn towards him after the loss of their youngest son, and he secretly hopes the death of the murderer will awaken his parents to his presence again. He has a bad stuttering issue, which his mother attributes to a car accident that occurred when he was three years old, and which earned him the nickname "Stuttering Bill".

Abilities[]

At the beginning, Bill is quite skilled at paper craft and made a paper boat out of newspaper for his brother Georgie. Later in the story, he has the power to mentally communicate using thoughts alone and used the power to taunt and threaten IT while in it's spider form. Bill can also communicate with the other Loser's though telepathy such as hearing Mike's cry for help and talking to Richie while they fought IT. Bill's greatest asset is to unite and lead the Loser's Club though many hardships and lift up their often broken spirits. Bill's authority and guidance is something the others tend to rely on, as in where Bill falls into despair when Audra is captured, and the others demand that he bring himself together as 'they need him.'

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