The seventh episode of IT: Welcome to Derry, aptly titled “The Black Spot,” delivers yet another relentless hour of horror on HBO. This installment presents a chilling race massacre, delves into the backstory of the original Pennywise the Dancing Clown (portrayed by Bill Skarsgård), and showcases the terrifying might of the Deadlights.

**Spoilers ahead for IT: Welcome to Derry Episode 7, currently available on HBO Max**

The episode begins with a flashback to 1908, shedding light on how the cosmic malevolence known as It became intertwined with a clown’s persona. The original Pennywise, a performer in a sorrowful comic act about mourning his deceased wife, Periwinkle the Clown, inadvertently captivates local children with his pitiable demeanor. His act concludes with children rushing the stage to torment him, much to the oblivion of his daughter, Ingrid (Emma-Leigh Cullum), who only sees the joy in the children’s eyes. It’s Pennywise’s innate ability to attract children that first draws It to him.

As the episode unfolds, Pennywise manifests in his most sinister form amidst the chaos at the Black Spot, reveling in the grotesque slaughter. When an adult Ingrid (Madeline Stowe) finally faces Pennywise as Periwinkle, she confesses to alerting Derry’s bigoted police chief, Clint Bowers (Peter Outerbridge), about her own lover, Hank Grogan (Stephen Rider), hiding at the bar. She did so with the intent to provoke violence and coax Pennywise into the open. However, when Ingrid begins to realize that Pennywise is indeed It and not her father, she is struck by the Deadlights, leaving her nearly catatonic.

The Deadlights make another appearance in this episode before It returns to a dormant state. The U.S. military inadvertently awakens the entity by dismantling one of the structures confining it. Despite Leroy Hanlon’s (Jovan Adepo) efforts to intervene, General Francis Shaw (James Remar) insists that unleashing It is necessary to unite people through fear. The episode concludes with Pennywise, now free, targeting Will Hanlon (Blake Cameron James). In a haunting scene, Pennywise, adorned with Indigenous war paint, attacks the boy and exposes him to the Deadlights.

So what are the Deadlights? What do they do to a person? Will Will survive? Here’s everything we know about the Deadlights in IT: Welcome to Derry Episode 7…

IT: Welcome to Derry Episode 7 Ending Explained: What Did Pennywise Do to Will Hanlon and Mrs. Kersh? What are the Deadlights?

Pennywise hits not one, but two characters with an eerily evil blast of orange light in IT: Welcome to Derry Episode 7. These are the Deadlights and they are a core part of It’s powers and very nature.

The Deadlights are a grotesque, eternal, eldritch horror. These “lights” are deadly, mysterious, and not just It’s superpowers, but It’s truest, nakedest form. Underneath Pennywise and all of It’s other incarnations, the Deadlights are what It essentially is. A blinding, gaping maw that doesn’t just kill the physical flesh, but also devours souls.

The Deadlights appear throughout Stephen King’s canon, as not just the essence of It, but the powers of his universe’s overarching villain, the Crimson King. However, they are most commonly identified with It thanks to the role they play in the book and various film and television adaptations.

In Stephen King’s It, Pennywise hits bully Henry Bowers with the Deadlights, transforming him into a loyal foot soldier to his cause. Later, in the book, It uses the Deadlights to put Bill Denbrough’s wife Audra into a catatonic state. She only wakes up from it after he revives her with a ride on his childhood bike, Silver.

In Andy Muschietti’s It, young Beverly Marsh (Sophia Lillis) falls under the Deadlights’s spell, but is saved with a kiss from Ben Hanscom (Jeremy Ray Taylor). Adult Richie Tozier (Bill Hader) also is caught in the Deadlights’s thrall in IT: Chapter Two, until Eddie Kaspbrak (James Ransome) saves him.

The Deadlights can have all sorts of debilitating influences on its victims, from causing insanity to the aforementioned catatonic state. We have already seen that although Ingrid Kersh appears to be in a coma, her head snapped at the children in IT: Welcome to Derry Episode 7. Expect Ingrid to likely be a tool of Pennywise in next week’s finale.

So what about Will Hanlon? We know that Will is destined to grow up to be Mike Hanlon’s father, but it’s unclear what state Will be left in. In King’s novel, Will raised Mike on the family’s thriving farm. However, in Muschietti’s films, Mike’s (Chosen Jacobs) parents both died in a fire when he was young, ergo he was raised by his jaded grandfather Leroy (Steven Williams). In It, Mike has to convince his grandfather that he’s not like his father, Will. It’s unclear whether Leroy and Will’s acrimony will continue to evolve naturally between the events of the show and films or if Will will be somehow altered by his experiences with the Deadlights.

The IT: Welcome to Derry Season 1 finale premieres on HBO and HBO Max on Sunday, December 14.