Who is the first casualty of the novel, IT by Stephen King?

The first casualty in Stephen King’s novel *It* is Bill Denbrough’s little brother, Georgie Denbrough. In the opening 1957 sequence, six-year-old Georgie follows a paper boat into the rain and encounters It in the form of Pennywise the Dancing Clown.

Pennywise lures Georgie toward the storm drain by offering to return his boat. It then attacks him, tearing off his arm and leaving him mortally wounded. Georgie’s death becomes the central trauma of Bill Denbrough’s childhood and motivates Bill’s later determination to confront It with the other members of the Losers’ Club.

A common mix-up comes from the screen adaptations. In the 2017 film, Pennywise pulls Georgie into the storm drain after biting his arm. In King’s novel, Georgie is left in the gutter to die, and his body is later discovered. Ben, Beverly, and Billy are not the novel’s first casualty: Ben and Beverly become members of the Losers’ Club, while “Billy” is likely a mistaken shortening of Bill Denbrough’s name.

The novel was published in 1986, but Georgie’s death occurs in Derry’s 1957 timeline. The story later shifts to 1984, when It resurfaces and begins attacking again.