Template:It Character
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"You punched me in the face, you made me walk through shitty water, brought me to a fucking crackhead house and now... I'm gonna have to kill this fucking clown. Welcome to The Losers' Club, asshole!" |
Richard "Richie" "Trashmouth" Tozier is one of the members of the Losers club, who fought against It.
Background
As a child, his closest friends were Bill Denbrough, Eddie Kaspbrak, and Beverly Marsh, with Bill Denbrough being his best friend. He was also friends with Stan Uris, Mike Hanlon, and Ben Hanscom, though readers recieved less interactions between them than with the aformentioned Losers. Like the others in the Losers' Club, he looked up to Bill and was cited as the one who 'understood Bill better than anyone'. He also thought Beverly was pretty, but perceived her as if she was the same as any other friend. He often teases the other Losers, especially Eddie and Bill, though it's generally mutual banter with Bill while he pokes fun at Eddie by referring to him as 'Eds' and 'cute'. In the 2017 adaption, Richie is shown as the only one attending Stan’s bar mitzvah. In the novel, it's speculated that Richie has ADHD as he is described to not have much control of the things he says or when he says them. However, his hyperactivity seems to have been toned down in the 2017 adaptation.
He wore thick black glasses and had huge front buck teeth which earned him the name "Bucky Beaver" by others in his school, though he was later dubbed "Trashmouth" by the Losers due to his foul language and loud mouth that often got him into trouble. He hated wearing the glasses, but found comfort in that one of his idols, Buddy Holly, was famous and also wore thick glasses. The other Losers often used the phrase "Beep-beep" whenever they needed to silence him. Although Richie misbehaved a lot in school, he received good grades besides the grades in behaviour. At some point in the book, Richie accidentally insults Henry Bowers and his gang out loud, resulting in him getting chased and almost beaten.
Richie is known for his hobby of doing Voices and impersonations, although when he is younger most of them were awful and sounded the same.
Family
Richie is shown to have had a positive upbringing. Richie's father, Wentworth, was an intelligent man with a career in dentistry who would happily indulge Richie's interest in 'voices', going so far as to use some of his son's phrases himself. Richie knew how to read his parents like 'well-worn and well-loved' books. While Richie's father did regard his son as a little silly, it's made clear that he cares about him and loves him dearly. Richie's mother, Maggie, was kind and attempted to understand her son, but experienced some difficulty due to Richie's gender. She goes so far as to wish Richie had been born a girl so he would be able to better understand some of the things he does, demonstrating her desire to be a good mother to him. While Richie's parents may falter on occasion, it is never nearly as severe as the other parents of Derry, who demonstrate great neglect and abuse toward their children (i.e. Eddie's overbearing, isolating, and manipulative mother; Bill's negligent parents, Beverly's abusive father and so on).
It is popular fan theory that Richie’s family isn’t so kind in the 2017 remake. Many theorize that Richie’s family has the tendency to neglect him, though this is pure speculation based on his hyperactivity.
One of Richie’s greatest fears, other than clowns and werewolves, seems to be going missing (i.e; the missing poster). It was already proven earlier that the children of Derry were forgotten weeks (or possibly days) after they disappear, and he seems to fear that he, too, will be forgotten if he were to go missing, though he could simply be afraid of the implications that going missing meant he would die.
Plot
Richie and Beverly Meet
One day, Richie was walking to the Aladdin movie theater to watch movies with Ben Hanscom. While he was trying to teach himself how to use a yo-yo, he spotted Beverly Marsh. He didn't have a crush on her but he thought she was pretty and tough, so he went up to her and they got along instantly. He invited her to the movies and she joked about his invitation being a date. Richie started to feel weird and flustered, which was unlike him. Beverly jokes that he isn't a very romantic person. He manages to joke his way out of his discomfort and they meet Ben at the Aladdin Theater.
While in the theater, Ben, Bev, and Richie noticed the Bowers gang sitting in front of them. When the movies were over the Bowers gang saw the three of them and they decided to go out an alternate exit in order to get away from the bullies. Unfortunately they got caught by the Bowers gang and Beverly tried to defend her friends, but they still got beaten up.
Speculation of Richie's Sexuality
It has been speculated that Richie is bi in the book, which has recently been given futher credence by Muschietti regarding him as bi/gay. Like in the movie, Richie demonstrates fear of being percieved as gay, but this occurs while he's being affectionate and caring with Bill, who he also regards as 'handsome', 'strong and good', and likens to a knight. He could have also had romantic feelings for Eddie, as Richie pinches his cheek and calls him cute as a child and is the most distraught of all the Losers when he dies.
Encounters with It
Richie had his personal encounter with It after running away from the Bowers gang in Freezes. Catching his breath on a bench in the city center near the giant Paul Bunyan statue, he is alarmed as it comes alive, off its podium and swings its giant axe at him, smashing the bench. He runs, and turns around to find the statue back on its podium and the bench intact. Because he was so exhausted from running he thought it was a dream and did not tell the others about it when they were all confessing their own encounters. In the 2019 film he is recovering on the bench from being run out of the arcade because the Bowers gang felt he had been hitting on Henry Bowers cousin. As an adult in 2016, he remembers this as he sees It atop the statue, taunting him for his 'Dirty Little Secret', asking him to play truth or dare, and having his see the towns people singing along with It. Adrian Mellon passes by, giving him an invitation to his own funeral service.
Another encounter that Richie has with It as a child is after Bill tells the Losers what he had seen when he had opened Georgie's photo album, how it had bled and how Georgie had winked at him. Richie told Bill that he wanted to see it for himself, and reluctantly Bill agreed to show him. Before this encounter, Richie had not taken It or even the concept of death seriously-- perhaps he had not thought about it at all. However, after stepping into Georgie's room, the reality of death hit him for the first time in his life. He began to understand that anyone could die at any time or at any age, which causes him to panic. When he and Bill finally open the book, they witness an image of Derry many years ago, and they see boys that look identical to themselves in the picture as well. Bill instinctivly reaches for the page when IT pops up as a clown version of Georgie Denbrough and it's only Richie's quick intervention that prevents him from serious harm. Luckily, Bill only comes away with deep cuts. This is truly the first time Richie understands the reality of It.
Later, Richie goes with Bill into the house on Neibolt Street, the one where Eddie saw his encounter with it (the leper). In the house, he sees It take form as the Teenage Werewolf from the movie I Was a Teenage Werewolf that he had seen at the Aladdin Movie Theater days before. The Werewolf was wearing a varsity jacket with "Richie Tozier" embroidered on the chest pocket. After the werewolf got a hold of Bill, Richie managed to help Bill get free and threw a packet of sneezing powder at the werewolf's face, which momentarily incapacitated it. It pursued them, and Bill rescued Richie in return, pulling him out of the way before the beast could tear out his throat. They managed to get on Silver (Bill's bike) and flee, but Richie still got struck by the werewolf's paw above his eyes. After regaining consciousness, they collapsed into each other's arms and cried.
In the 2017 movie adaptation, It lured Richie into a room by taking the form of Eddie Kaspbrak. The room was filled with clowns, which in the movie were Richie’s biggest fear. Inside, he found a coffin containing a doll of him, decaying and complete with maggots. The lid showed him his missing poster and had, “Found” written on it. He quickly shut the coffin, prompting Pennywise to leap out of it, saying “Beep Beep Richie”, a phrase from the book used by the losers to shut him up. He screamed and ran as Bill Denbrough opened the door, and they managed to escape the room.
1985
As an adult, he is a famous radio DJ, going by Rich "Records" Tozier living in Beverly Hills. Richie had several failed relationships but had never gotten married. The voices that he constantly practiced as a kid improved greatly and became highly revered and loved, making a lot of money off the notoriety of his comedic voices. He began wearing contact lenses as an adult as well. Once returning to Derry however, his contacts begin to sting and he has to return to using his glasses.
Along with the other Losers, he returns to Derry after receiving a phone call from Mike Hanlon alerting him that It had returned. They all go into the sewers and Bill performs the Ritual of Chüd as he did as a kid, to put a stop to It once and for all. When Bill's grip on It falters, Richie risks his life to enter the Macroverse with Bill and tears him free of It's grip. Eddie senses something is wrong from Richie mumbling, and uses his aspirator as he had when they were kids, weakening it, but putting his arm deeply in It's mouth.
Richie and Bill end up striking the final blow against It together, after which Richie is knocked out and Bill weeps over his inert body, convinced that Richie is dead. It is only after carrying Richie to the others that Richie regains consciousness and assures them that he is alright.
In the final fight, Eddie loses his arm and dies. Richie has the most difficult time dealing with Eddie's death. Richie is the last person Eddie talks to before dying, stroking Richie's face with his hand and telling him, for the last time, not to call him "Eds" as he always had. At first, both Beverly and Richie refuse to leave his body in the sewers, insisting it was too dark and Eddie would not want to stay down there. After Ben assures him that it was where Eddie was 'supposed to be', he kisses Eddie on the cheek before leaving.
After these events, Richie remains in Derry with Bill for a few days before flying back to California, where he steadily starts to forget the Losers and what they had accomplished.
2016
Richie is shown to be a stand-up comedian, and gets Mike's call to come back to Derry just before going on stage. He vomits, and on stage forgets his set. He appears to go by Richie "Trashmouth" Tozier, but it maybe be memory resurfacing causing him to say Trashmouth and forget the punchline. He also reveals he doesn't write all his own material later, after not recognizing a line from a fan and thinking the child was Pennywise taunting them. The 'token' he must recover for the Ritual of Chüd is a literal arcade token. It doesn't appear that this version of Richie ever got contacts, or fears blindness, though the eye still appears as his fortune cookie.
In the library he uses a historic axe on display to kill Henry Bowers and save Mike. He vomits despite trying to make a joke.
After the Ritual of Chüd, and the Losers are separated, he and Eddie face the three 'Not Scary,' 'Scary,' and 'Very Scary' doors he and Bill faced in the Neibolt House in Chapter One. They first open the 'Very Scary' door, revealing a closet, a girl asking where he shoe is, and the waist down walking out – paralleling Richie and Bill seeing just her amputated upper body in the first film. They then open 'Not Scary' to see a small Pomeranian in a hallway, which grows into a monstrous form.
Richie, approaching It, asking it to play truth or dare and telling It the truth is "You're a sloppy bitch!" and throwing rocks at it. He is then caught in its Deadlights. This motivates Eddie to use the spear given to him and strike a serious blow on It, saving Richie from the Deadlights. Eddie is killed by one of Its legs as he stands over Richie. Richie stays with Eddies dead body, in denial, for sometime as the other Losers try to follow Eddies advice to make It small. Eventually he joins them to defeat It. Beverly is needed to convince Richie that Eddie is dead, and they have no way of taking him out of It's lair. Later, as they wash in the quarry, the Losers comfort him over the loss, and he later returns to the kissing bridge to recarve his and Eddie's initials.
Appearance in 11/22/63
Richie briefly appears in the novel 11/22/63 a few months after the events of IT. Sometime in October, when the main character Jake Epping arrives in Derry he sees Richie dancing with Beverly in a picnic area not too far away from the Barrens. Jake (using the alias George Amberson) asks the two if they know about the Dunning children to prevent the Dunning family murders. He notices the special relationship they have: not romantic, but that of two friends that had gone through a lot together. He notes they were the only thing that felt good about Derry and helps them practice dancing. Their meeting does eventually become erased when Jake removes his mark on the past at the end of the novel.
Appearances
Quotes
Book
- "“Don’t open that again!” Richie cried, grabbing frantically at Bill’s shoulder. “Jesus Christ, Billy, you almost lost your fingers!”"
- ―Richie to Bill
- "The kid in you just leaked out, like the air out of a tire. And one day you looked in the mirror and there was a grownup looking back at you"
- ―Richie
- "Richie offered a large, sincere smile. “Thank you, Bill, for those words of support. The word ‘fuck’ was used two hundred and six times in your last book. I counted.”"
- ―Richie to Bill
- "That's cause they know how cute you are, Eds - just like me. I saw what a cutie you were the first time I met you"
- ―Richie to Eddie
- "“I keep trying, Big Bill,” Richie said. “I feel like, if I get good enough, someday I’ll earn your love.” He made dainty kissing gestures at the air. Bill shot him the finger."
- ―Richie to Bill
- "And there was something else: Bill was good. It was stupid to think such a thing (he did not, in fact, precisely think it; he felt it), but there it was. Goodness and strength seemed to radiate from Bill. He was like a knight in an old movie, a movie that was corny but still had the power to make you cry and cheer and clap at the end. Strong and good."
- ―Richie about Bill
- "Bill was here, and Bill would take care; Bill would not let things get out of control. He was the tallest of them, and surely the most handsome."
- ―Richie about Bill
1990 Miniseries
- "I didn't hear that! I didn't!"
- ―Richie.
- "Richie Tozier's the name, and doing voices is my game."
- ―Richie.
- "Well I can't help you there, pal."
- ―Richie to Eddie
- "Help! Down in the basement! There's a werewolf."
- ―Richie.
- "Oh, come on! Not the Paramount, you slimeballs! Where are the people of this city supposed to get their culture?!"
- ―Richie.
- "That's him. That's him!"
- ―Richie to the other losers
- "They'd just laugh their heads off and put us in a nuthatch."
- ―Richie to the other losers
2017 film
- "What the fuck?! Holy shit, we just got shown up by a girl!"
- ―Richie to the boys of the group after Beverly jumps off the cliff before them
- "I'm glad I got to meet you before you died."
- ―Richie to Ben after he escaped Bowers gang
- "She hot?"
- ―Richie asking Stan about the woman he keeps seeing
- "Doesn't smell like caca to me, Señor!"
- ―Richie, in his Pancho Vanilla voice, to Eddie
- ""It's probably your breath wafting back to your face.""
- ―Richie to Eddie
- "Go blow your dad, you mullet-wearing asshole!"
- ―Richie to Henry after winning the rock fight.
- "Wait, can only virgins see this stuff? Is that why I’m not seeing this shit?"
- ―Richie about the Losers experiences with It
- "Welcome to the Losers' Club, asshole!"
- ―Richie to IT
- "ROCK WAR!!"
- ―Richie before getting hit in the face by a rock
- "And look at this motherfucker! He's leaking Hamburger Helper!"
- ―Richie about Ben
- "I hear the list is longer than my wang."
- ―Richie to the other losers, referencing rumors of Beverly's promiscuity.
- "Oh Yeah? Try tickling your pickle for the first time."
- ―Richie to Stanley.
- "I can't believe I pulled the short straw. You guys are lucky you're not measuring dicks."
- ―Richie to Bill and Eddie when entering the Neibolt House for the first time.
2019 film
- "I guess you could say that was long overdue. Get it, cause we're in a library?"
- ―Richie to Mike after killing Henry Bowers
Trivia
- Raised Catholic, and though as a child he's just as ready to make fun of his own religion as he is Stan's, he scoffs at the idea of eating meat on Fridays.
- In the 2019 movie, Richie is revealed to be gay or bi and was in love with Eddie as kids, carving their initials into the Kissing Bridge. When they are reunited as adults, Richie is shown to still be deeply in love with Eddie and recarves their initials after Eddie's death which leaves him inconsolable with grief.
- The axe he uses to kill Henry Bowers in the 2019 movie may be Claude Heroux's, or a call back to the slaughter at the Sleepy Silver Dollar
Gallery
