Patrick Hockstetter

"You liked it!"
—Patrick to Henry^{[[^[1]|[source]]]}

Patrick Hockstetter is a supporting antagonist of the Stephen King multiverse.

Serving as a major antagonist of the novel IT, and its 2017 film adaptation of the same name, and a posthumous antagonist of it's sequel IT: Chapter Two. He is also a mentioned antagonist in 11/22/63.

He was a bully, member of Henry Bowers' gang, and a sociopath.

First Appearance (Novel)[]

Patrick Hockstetter first appeared when Eddie Kaspbrak spied on him with Henry Bowers, Victor Criss and Moose Sadler pooling their money on Criss' baseball shirt.

The four bigger boys spot Eddie and they proceed to bash the smaller boy, Patrick included. Patrick tops it off by spitting in Eddie's bloodied face (who is sprawled on the pavement, agonizing over a broken arm) and rasping: "Don't eat it all at once if you don't want. Save some for later, if you want."

Backstory (Novel)[]

The novel states that Patrick was a sociopath, he had the peculiar delusion known as solipsism disorder that he was the only 'real' being and that everybody else in the universe was merely fake. Patrick also had no sense of hurting and no real sense of being hurt.

His teachers found him to be an apathetic student - and a rather disturbing one too (the children agreed with these assumptions, as Patrick had the creepy hobby that involved him killing flies with his green Schooltime ruler and putting them in his pencil case - he also often exhibited the dead flies to new students on the playground). The narrator states that if Patrick had been born ten years later, a child psychologist would have realized just how dangerous Patrick's real persona was behind his "slack and pallid moon face."

Patrick attended summer school with other members of the Bowers Gang, but unlike his rowdy friends who often acted out violently, Patrick misbehaved more quietly, so his teachers easily ignored him.

Strangely enough, Patrick enjoys arts and crafts. Patrick used to draw his mother pictures, amounting to nothing more than brown scribbles on a piece of paper. However, he only did this when he was quite young. While witnessing his untimely death, Beverly Marsh mentions seeing a handmade duct tape wallet fall from his pocket.

When he was five years old, Patrick murdered his baby brother Avery. He had been unhappy when his mother had brought Avery home from the hospital, as the baby's needs interrupted Patrick's settled routine. The baby's nightly cries kept him awake and he often found that his dinner was served late, along with his mother's other pre-occupations in caring for the infant. Patrick also became worried that his parents might send him away, thinking they'd decide they didn't want him any longer. On a wintry day after school, Patrick went into Avery's room to find Avery sleeping on his stomach in his crib. He observed his brother for a moment before turning Avery's face into the pillow and holding it there. The baby struggled and Patrick let go, but he repeated the action not long after. That time, when his brother struggled, Patrick did not let go. The baby began to cry but Patrick held it down, the baby died shortly after from suffocation.

Patrick's mother didn't discover Avery's death until 5:00 pm and Patrick was watching television when she appeared screaming and holding the baby's corpse in the kitchen doorway. A doctor was called and he told Patrick's mother, who was screaming and struggling in her husband's arms that he diagnosed it as crib-death. The doctor observed Patrick's deep and unquestioning stare and assumed the boy was in shock. He wanted Patrick to take a pill. Evidently, Patrick “didn't mind.”

Patrick's father was the only person who came within a hair's breadth of discovering the truth: when he went back into Avery's room he noticed some dried patches on the floor near the crib that were once puddles formed by the snow and ice that had dripped off of Patrick's winter boots. Patrick's father, still overwhelmed by the death of his younger son, quickly dismisses his theory.

The Death of Patrick Hockstetter[]

Midway through the hot July summer of 1958, Patrick, Henry, Victor and Belch were playing down in the local junkyard. The four boys were lighting their own farts with Henry's lighter, enjoying watching the jet of fire shooting out of their bottoms. Not long after, Victor and Belch say that they can't stay any longer, saying that they had jobs to get to. Henry bitterly let them go, relieved when Patrick said that he could stay. Shortly after the others leave, the two remaining boys are bored with the lighter and Patrick says "Let me show you something," claiming that it "feels good." Henry obliged, allowing Patrick to give him a hand job, and even boldly offers Henry oral sex, to which Henry responding by punching Patrick in the face.

Worried that Patrick might tell his friends about the incident, Henry blackmails Patrick, threatening to tell the police about his "secret fridge". For several months prior, Patrick had been trapping small animals in an old refrigerator in the dump, one that the dump's manager, Mandy Fazio, had not removed the door from, insuring that nothing would die inside. The story suggests that the fridge had a strange sort of power surrounding it that would keep Fazio from dealing properly with it, making it the perfect instrument for Patrick's torture of the animals. Patrick would make victims of birds, cats and small dogs, one of the dogs taking at least three days to suffocate in the fridge.

After Henry stormed out of the junkyard, Patrick played by himself with the lighter for a while before getting cold feet and headed off to dispose of the dead animals that he kept in his fridge, scared that Henry's bluff was real. Planning to remove the corpse of his latest victim and clean the fridge out, he opened the fridge door only to be attacked by It in the form of flying leeches (leeches were his worst fear from when he was eight after having to have had his father pull leeches off a screaming Patrick after taking a swim in a lake). The parasites drained him of most of his blood. Eventually It came along and dragged away the unconscious Patrick. The boy awoke later to find It had already begun feeding on him.

In the 1990 television miniseries, Patrick's hideous demise is not depicted. In the 2017 film, Patrick's death was different; his worst fear is zombies instead of leeches, which It uses to terrorize him in the form of several of the missing kids of Derry. He is chased into a dead end of the sewers and attacked by Pennywise before the film cuts away after venturing into Derry sewers in pursuit of victim Ben Hanscom. We do not explicitly see Hockstetter’s death as the camera cuts.

1985[]

In 1985, IT took the form of Patrick, Greta Bowie and a boy called Tony Tracker. They all appeared in the form of decaying corpses wearing ruined Baseball trikots. They were all chasing after Eddie, who just returned to Derry and went on a walk to regain his memories.

2016[]

While Henry is in the insane asylum, he sees a red balloon beneath his bed. He pulls on it until it pops, before a deformed, rotting Patrick emerges from under the bed, holding Henry’s knife. He can be heard making chattering noises. Patrick’s corpse then drives Henry to kill the Losers.

Physical Appearance[]

In the novel, Patrick is described to be overweight enough so that "his belly always hung slightly over his belt." He has grey-green eyes, a “perfectly round” face, and a husky voice. In the film however, he is portrayed differently as a teenager. Here, he is taller than the rest of his friends and slim and gangly in physique, and he has black, shady hair and his voice has a slight nasal tone to it.

Appearances[]

IT
11/22/63 (mentioned)
It: Chapter One (2017 film)
IT Chapter Two (2019 film) (Form of IT)

Quotes[]

Novel[]

"You liked it! You got a boner! Biggest boner I ever saw!!"

―Patrick to Henry, chapter 17

2017 film[]

"Nice frisbee Flamer!"

―Patrick to Stan Uris, before throwing his yarmulke.

"Let me light his hair, like Michael Jackson!"

―Patrick threatening to light Ben's hair on fire

"I hear you, tits! Don't think you can stay down here all damn day now."

―Patrick, in the Barrens

Trivia[]

In Firestarter, a doctor and minor character share his full name with Patrick. This most likely means nothing though and it is almost certain that the two aren’t related in any way, nor are they the same person. Contrariwise, this could have been the name for Patrick father, and the Patrick in 'It' could be a Jr.
In the novel, Patrick is said to be afraid of flying leeches, but in the 2017 alternate adaptation, he is shown to be afraid of zombies. This could be because it would be a more era-relevant fear, or for convenience.
Beverly notes that Patrick seems to have some kind of ritual to opening his freezer in the book, humming something and appearing to her to sway.
In the Novel, Patrick gave Henry head.
Patrick is described in the book as being not "as fat as Ben, but he was pudgy"; as well as "moonfaced" by Elizabeth Bridges.
Patrick is far less sadistic and psychotic in the movie compared to the novel, possibly just due to screen time.
Is frequently misidentified as one of the kids with The Hostess when Henry kills his father, but the actor confirmed he did not film this scene, as it is likely Eddie Corcoran.
Though when the 2017 film released his missing poster read his age as 15, pre-release materials including versions of this poster read his age as 17 (reflecting that, as in the book, he was held back two grades). Why the change was made for the films release is unknown.
Raised in a Catholic home.
In the miniseries, Moose had a stocky build like Patrick. It could be possible that it was actually Patrick.
The movie, like in the novel, gives a brief implication of Patrick's perverted tendencies. As Richie walks by him in an early scene, Patrick creepily smiles at him and licks his lips.
He is 5'11 in the 2017 movie, based off of the missing poster.
He is the second kid Pennywise kills in IT (2017), with the first being Georgie Denbrough.

Gallery[]

References[]

↑ IT (2017)

[1] IT (2017)

[1]

Stephen King Wiki