Ijiraat

The Ijiraat are the shape-shifters. These land spirits are elusive and can transform into any arctic animal to disguise themselves. Most often they take the shape of a raven, bear, wolf or even a human. The only part of the Ijiraat that it cannot disguise is its red eyes. In all of it forms, both human and animal, its eyes always remain red.

These hidden creatures are portrayed as evil and malicious in many stories. These stories warn that the Ijiraat lie in wait for lone travelers, changing shape to fool and get close to the travelers.

Some elders argue that these land spirits and are not inherently evil, but rather misunderstood. One elder warned that these spirits are surrounded by mirages. When mountains or islands on the horizon look bigger or closer than they really are, an Ijiraat might be near. It seems some elders believe that the Ijiraat often appear to bring messages to travelers.

Although many interpretations of the Ijiraat exist, one thing seems to be certain: After an encounter with the Ijiraat people tend to experience memory loss and quickly forget the details of what happened.

If you ever encountered an Ijiraat, remember to talk to as many people as possible before your memory begins to fail and you forget the experience.