Ifir

**Ifir** was an Unseelie marid-djinn afrit, the husband of Adali, father of Vhadi, Eran Iliakambar, Ada, and Adalia, brother of Iliak, and former General for the Unseelie Court under Gwyn ap Nudd. Ifir served on Gwyn's Council of War Generals and mutinied against Gwyn during Albion's war against the Unseelie Court, was defeated, and eventually went back to working on the Unseelie Court's behalf, until he was killed in the ice plague.

## Appearance

Ifir has brown skin, thickly-lashed red-amber eyes that could glow like fire, curly black hair, and a black beard and mustache. He has black claws. As a marid-djinn afrit, he has large horns growing from his head, the length of which are a sign of age and status among his people. During his mutiny, his horns are 'slicked with gold oil'. After his mutiny, Gwyn removes three-quarters of one of his horns, though it is cut above the bone core so that it will have a chance to regrow again. Gwyn says Ifir smells like smoke.

Ifir wears leather and plate armor when working in his capacity as General. He carries a 'golden, fluted mace' to fight with, along with at least one dagger. Zudanna claims the mace during the mutiny and refuses to give it back, so Ifir obtains a new one.

Eran notes that Ifir's voice is 'oddly soothing' when he speaks with Vhadi about fighting Seelie fae. But it can also be loud and brash.

Ifir's true-form is that of 'a huge, fire-generating demon', and after his horn is cut, he still has only the one horn, even in true-form. Like other afrit, his true-form is 'viciously appointed with horns and crests of fur and flame-coloured scale. Their eyes glowed with active fire, their giant hands with claws displayed, as though they were ready to rip the world apart.'

## Personality

Gulvi Dubna Vajat says that Ifir is 'very competent, yes, but he is not prone to innovation and he is unimaginative as a general.' She also says of him: 'Never met a better indiscriminate killer'. Ifir himself states that between combat and his children, he has more than enough in life. He is also 'of an older school of Generals who did not believe in signs of empathy when a punishment was being meted out.' He also can rely on his true-form for combat, but chooses to rely on strategy instead. He is also a bit arrogant.

Eran states that 'Unseelie were supposed to put family first, and Ifir was dedicated to his family in so many ways'. Ifir enjoys cooking, and becomes 'softer and talked more when he cooked' and is delicate with his hands. 'He was not a gentle person. But he understood what the home was meant to be for.'

Eran wonders if it is hard for Ifir to 'kill Seelie fae and delight in it, and come home to Seelie family and delight in that too'.

Ifir visits the human realm only a few times, and doesn't like it.

## Life

Ifir hails from fae side of Iran, and his family resides in the Aram'kelton hills. At age nine, marid-djinn afrit are 'paired with a kratel gazelle that is about the same . . . in terms of maturity' and the fae have to 'make friends with it.' When it was Ifir's time, he paired up with four kratel, and hid them in his room. Since Eran did the same thing (just with *five* gazelles), presumably Ifir also ran himself ragged trying to take care of his duties and badly care for too many gazelles. When Eran does the same, Ifir was annoyed at first, but once all was revealed, he helps Eran mend the situation, even helping to care for the gazelles.

Many fae consider Ifir a hero. Although Ifir seems to support inter-alignment cooperation among the marid-djinn ambaros cabal, most of his soldiers don't live among the mixed alignment clan, and don't approve of its existence.

At the first meeting of Unseelie War Generals, Ifir laughs derisively at Gwyn's idea of rebuilding the Unseelie Court's reputation and honour as battle strategy. He then mocks Gwyn further. Ifir holds great respect amongst Gwyn's council of generals, so Gwyn can judge the trust the others have in himself by Ifir asking questions, even if Ifir is quick to harshly judge Gwyn's actions for the wrong reasons.

When the shapeshifter assassin using the form of Augus Each Uisge interrupts the Unseelie Council of Generals, Ifir spots and killed them. Although Ifir is correct at sniffing out the imposter, he is highly critical of Gwyn for failing to do so, and Gulvi points out that Ifir is still a problem. She and Gwyn work out a plan to keep a better watch on him.

Ifir is one of the War Generals to pledge soldiers towards the Unseelie Court military during the Triumphal Entry. He also offers to contact Iliak to have more informants on the Seelie Court. He is the one to emphasize that Gwyn needs to commission a 'proper set of plate armour . . . and a good sword. A sword [Gwyn could] *name*.' He means it to be inspiring to the Unseelie, and intimidating to their enemies.

Ifir commands Unseelie forces along with Gwyn and Zudanna against Polemarch Alysia mer Malakhy's forces. Ifir already starts not communicating with Gwyn fully at this point, and doesn't celebrate with him and Zudanna after the fight.

Ash Glashtyn approaches Ifir and works him over at a bar while they drink together, helping to convince Ifir to stage a mutiny against Gwyn, with the key point being that Gwyn's heartsong was surrender. Ifir tries to coax more generals to his side, but a number refuse, including Zudanna and Prince Vane.

Ifir summons the Council and Gwyn to tell them that Gwyn's heartsong is surrender, and to try to spur them to join the rest to join the mutiny. Alongside him are fellow Generals Kyoufu, Magisa, and Ocypete, all three of whom are killed in the resulting battle. Vane is badly injured when he jumps to take a fireball Ifir throws at Gwyn. Gwyn manages to defeat Ifir, injuring him badly to disable him, but keeping him alive. To help break him, Gwyn makes a show of ordering Gulvi to kill Ada and Adalia, Ifir's daughters. Gulvi does not *actually* kill them, also per Gwyn's orders in private, but makes a show as if she had. Ifir begs for Gwyn to spare them. Gwyn also threatens Ifir's sons. Then he demotes Ifir to underfae.

Gwyn has Ifir imprisoned and later interrogates him for further details about why he mutinied and who else might be on his side. Iliak temporarily takes charge of Ifir's military while Ifir is in custody. After interrogating Ifir, Gwyn removes three-quarters of one of Ifir's horns with a hacksaw as punishment, though he leaves the bone core so that it can regrow.

Gwyn later consults with Ifir about actions being taken by the Seelie military, at which time he tells Ifir that Gwyn wants to return Ifir to the field and will leave him at underfae status, as Ifir is on probation. However, during the opening of the Winter Court, Kabiri seeks Gwyn out and uses the first of Gwyn's life debts with him to order Ifir's release and to raise Ifir's status back to Court. Gwyn does so, and Ifir resumes command of his military, participating in battles against the Seelie military once more. He remains loyal to Gwyn from then on.

Ifir attends the last Wild Hunt, and seems to enjoy himself. After Vane shoots Mikkel, Ifir shoves Vane down to the ground and holds him there.

Eran notes that for 'a little while, [Ifir's] people saw that he only had one horn and assumed he’d done something terrible to [his] people, because that was an afrit punishment. . . . And Iliak really helped, but in those first few years it was hard. People wouldn’t always trade with him, and strangers stared at us. Ifir was mostly good about it'.

During the events of *Unwound*, there is 'a small skirmish that Ifir all but jumped to deal with, not having to answer to [Gwyn's] leadership', as Gwyn is incapacitated during a sleep cycle at the time.

Ifir is killed about ten years later, along with most of the afrit, when the ice plague overtakes their homeland. He is survived only by his younger son, Eran.

## Special Abilities

**Teleportation:** Ifir's teleportation is 'harsh, coarse fire'.

**Elemental abilities:** He can also throw fireballs that worked like lava.

**Martial arts:** He is well-skilled in physical combat, and fights with a mace and dagger, though he is also skilled in hand-to-hand: even as Underfae and heavily injured and unarmed, he put up quite the fight against Gwyn in the Unseelie dungeons.

**Fighting compulsions:** Ifir intended to teach Eran how to fight compulsions, but it was supposed to be another 70-80 years after Ifir's death. It's possible Ifir himself was trained in the skill, although in canon he's only shown fighting them while underfae, a status where even Gwyn was weak to them.

**Smell:** Ifir has a powerful sense of smell, as demonstrates when he could recognize the smell of his daughters' blood, and when he could smell out the shapeshifter.

## Relationships

### Ada and Adalia

Ifir's daughters would kiss his cheeks to calm him when he was taken with bloodlust. He cared deeply for them both.

### Aleutia the Rat-Maiden

Aleutia was very loyal to Ifir, as she served as 'battle healer of the Unseelie' for some time. Gwyn believed she was more loyal to Ifir than to him.

### Ash Glashtyn

Ash said that he'd been having drinks with Ifir for years, likely before planning the mutiny with Gwyn.

### Eran Iliakambar

Eran and his father sometimes had a 'thorny relationship', but 'his acceptance of Eran was sometimes so clear, so bright. Eran had never been able to offer the same in return. It’d been hard, to be a young, Seelie child around the war-hardened marid-djinn. The ones that gloated about how many Seelie kills they had behind them, some of them even stepping up that kind of talk just because Eran was there to hear it. . . . [T]hey’d do it to Eran just to see how he’d react.' Ifir hated that Eran only referred to Gwyn as the Traitor King. Eran wished to be more like his father than his mother.

### Fenwrel the Mouse-Maiden

Ifir spoke of Fenwrel with respect, and said she was integral to running the Unseelie Court.

### Gwyn ap Nudd

Ifir said that Gwyn was always serious. 'Ifir admired the Traitor King and called him by his first name and spoke of him like a colleague and even at times a strange friend. They’d shared marrow together on a battlefield, and mourned lost comrades. [Eran's] father, who had betrayed the Traitor King, turned a mutiny on him, lost a horn to him' and then became his friend. Gwyn trusted and respected Ifir, even to the point that he wanted to keep Eran safe out of that respect. Gwyn thinks Eran reminds him of Ifir.

### Iliak

Ifir and Iliak seemed to have great respect for each other, though Iliak also considered his younger brother to be 'foolhardy.' When Ifir didn't return home after his mutiny against Gwyn, Iliak immediately suspected Ifir had done something foolish. Ifir seemed to find Iliak too peace-focused at times.

### Kabiri

Kabiri called Ifir 'one of my people', in that he's 'all about fire. I'm all about fire.' Kabiri clearly valued Ifir's life and well-being enough to use a life debt with Gwyn to restore Ifir's status and military position.

### The Raven Prince

Ifir didn't like the Raven Prince because the Raven Prince 'was anti-military and he always treated [Ifir's people] with disrespect.'

### Prince Vane

Vane didn't support Ifir's tactics, but also seemingly despised Ifir nearly murdering Gwyn, simply because Vane wanted to be the one to kill Gwyn.

### Vhadi

Vhadi and his father would confer over their fights with Seelie, and potentially found strength in each other, as they were the only two Unseelie in their immediate family (outside Iliak) who were also charged with killing Seelie fae.

## Quotations

* ‘Do we look Seelie to you? Is this what we’re dealing with now? You want us to care about the *honour* of the Unseelie Kingdom?’
* Amhar: 'Your father was lucky to land her.’ Eran: ‘He always said she was blind'
* 'His father regretted that Eran was born Seelie, but he’d always had nothing but acceptance for Eran being a hybrid.'
* Eran: '[M]y mother loved my father’s meals, and he loved hers. The ambaros and afrit have different cuisines, use different spices, and eventually they made shared dishes too. It was one of the things that came out of it, Seelie and Unseelie living together. I never really noticed much else, but I remember getting excited as a child that they were inventing new dishes together, for each other.'
* 'Sometimes, Eran, not always – but sometimes – you can combine two things and make something stronger, maybe even better. That’s how you were made.'
* Gwyn: 'You have betrayed me, you have betrayed the Court, and you have betrayed your people. Now, I expect none of that to matter to you, because as you are so fond of saying – you are Unseelie. So let’s think instead of how you have betrayed your family and your children.'
* 'Eat something so that we can remember those who won’t eat flesh again.'

## Trivia

* Ifir once made Adali a magenta wreath, just because he loved her.
* Ifir spotted Eran's heartsong of determination early.
* Adali and Ifir taught Eran how to haggle.
* Eran seemingly watched his father die.
* Ifir didn't like the human world as it was dangerous for afrit. Humans who captured afrit could force them to grant wishes, but the afrit would have to use their life force to do so and would have to sleep afterward, and could be kept imprisoned in lamps for centuries.
* Ifir and Iliak were both Unseelie afrit who married Seelie ambaros. They were also a pair of brothers who married a pair of sisters.
* Eran sometimes cleaned his father's shield after battles.

## Folklore/Mythology

In Islamic mythology, the marid are a type of Shaitan, or evil spirit, whose name comes from the word for rebellious or recalcitrant. They are sometimes referred to interchangeably with the afrit, also known as the ifrit, efreet, or afreet, who are a powerful type of demon.

Afrit are well known underworld demonic figures from Islamic mythology. Despite being associated with the word jinn (djinn), they have been considered separate beings from each other in Moroccan and and other cultures. Whereas in *Fae Tales* they are rolled into one kind of fae with different subspecies.

The use of the word djinn indicates that marid-djinn are connected to more stereotypical genies, and the djinn of mythology.

## References

1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 not\_poignant. “The Court of Five Thrones.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 18 June 2014. https://archiveofourown.org/works/1749290/chapters/4283271. Chapter 4: Suspicions.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 not\_poignant. “The Court of Five Thrones.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 27 March 2015. https://archiveofourown.org/works/1749290/chapters/8003448. Chapter 37: Explosion.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 not\_poignant. “The Court of Five Thrones.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 26 December 2014. https://archiveofourown.org/works/1749290/chapters/6404462. Chapter 23: Confrontation.
4. ↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 not\_poignant. “The Court of Five Thrones.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 1 May 2015. https://archiveofourown.org/works/1749290/chapters/8608942. Chapter 41: Interrogation.
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 not\_poignant. “The Court of Five Thrones.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 24 July 2015. https://archiveofourown.org/works/1749290/chapters/10022663. Chapter 53: Arrow.
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 not\_poignant. “The Court of Five Thrones.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 26 June 2015. https://archiveofourown.org/works/1749290/chapters/9517437. Chapter 49: Battle.
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 not\_poignant. “The Ice Plague: Book 1 - The Forest of Fire.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 13 July 2018. https://archiveofourown.org/works/12036105/chapters/35433111. Chapter 24: Blessings in Disguise.
8. ↑ not\_poignant. “The Ice Plague: Book 1 - The Forest of Fire.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 23 September 2017. https://archiveofourown.org/works/12036105/chapters/27605331. Chapter 3: The Not-Quite Incubus.
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 not\_poignant. “The Ice Plague: Book 1 - The Forest of Fire.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 27 October 2017. https://archiveofourown.org/works/12036105/chapters/28495692. Chapter 6: The Court of Five Thrones.
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 not\_poignant. “The Ice Plague: Book 1 - The Forest of Fire.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 21 October 2017. https://archiveofourown.org/works/12036105/chapters/28296177. Chapter 5: Animosity.
11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 not\_poignant. “The Ice Plague: Book 1 - The Forest of Fire.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 19 January 2018. https://archiveofourown.org/works/12036105/chapters/30758403. Chapter 13: Captured.
12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 not\_poignant. “The Ice Plague: Book 1 - The Forest of Fire.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 26 July 2018. https://archiveofourown.org/works/12036105/chapters/35842707. Chapter 25: Circling Back Around.
13. ↑ not\_poignant. “The Ice Plague: Book 1 - The Forest of Fire.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 24 August 2018. https://archiveofourown.org/works/12036105/chapters/36709188. Chapter 27: A Bad Turn.
14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 not\_poignant. “The Ice Plague: Book 1 - The Forest of Fire.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 12 March 2018. https://archiveofourown.org/works/12036105/chapters/31845930. Chapter 16: Leave Be.
15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 not\_poignant. “The Ice Plague: Book 1 - The Forest of Fire.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 18 November 2017. https://archiveofourown.org/works/12036105/chapters/29092809. Chapter 8: Hand of God.
16. ↑ not\_poignant. “The Court of Five Thrones.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 4 July 2014. https://archiveofourown.org/works/1749290/chapters/4088631. Chapter 3: Disintegration.
17. ↑ not\_poignant. “The Court of Five Thrones.” *The Fae Tales Verse.* Archive of Our Own, 9 September 2015. https://archiveofourown.org/works/1749290/chapters/4957257. Chapter 8: Court.
18. ↑ not\_poignant. “The Court of Five Thrones.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 20 February 2015. https://archiveofourown.org/works/1749290/chapters/7438151. Chapter 31: Rupture.
19. ↑ not\_poignant. “The Court of Five Thrones.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 14 May 2015. https://archiveofourown.org/works/1749290/chapters/8820031. Chapter 43: Wildness.
20. ↑ not\_poignant. “The Court of Five Thrones.” *The Fae Tales Verse.* Archive of Our Own, 29 May 2015. https://archiveofourown.org/works/1749290/chapters/9068368. Chapter 45: Service.
21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 not\_poignant. “The Court of Five Thrones.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 5 June 2015. https://archiveofourown.org/works/1749290/chapters/9186013. Chapter 46: Masque.
22. ↑ not\_poignant. “The Ice Plague: Book 3 - The Ice Plague.” *Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 11 November 2021. https://archiveofourown.org/chapters/87334006. Chapter 19: Golden Bonds.
23. ↑ not\_poignant. “Unwound.” *The Fae Tales Verse - canon extras. Archive of Our Own,* 14 August 2016. https://archiveofourown.org/works/7562599/chapters/17712133. Chapter 8: VIII.
24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 not\_poignant. “The Ice Plague: Book 1 - The Forest of Fire.” *Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 9 September 2017. https://archiveofourown.org/works/12036105/chapters/27249219. Chapter 1: The End of the Hunt.
25. ↑ not\_poignant. “The Court of Five Thrones.” *The Fae Tales Verse.* Archive of Our Own, 10 April 2015. https://archiveofourown.org/works/1749290/chapters/8227330. Chapter 39: Want.
26. ↑ not\_poignant. “The Court of Five Thrones.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 12 February 2015. https://archiveofourown.org/works/1749290/chapters/7302011. Chapter 30: Gravity.
27. ↑ not\_poignant. “The Ice Plague: Book 1 - The Forest of Fire.” *Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 16 September 2017. https://archiveofourown.org/works/12036105/chapters/27454425. Chapter 2: I'll Not Feel Pity.
28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 28.2 not\_poignant. “The Ice Plague: Book 1 - The Forest of Fire.” *Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 1 December 2017. https://archiveofourown.org/works/12036105/chapters/29432541. Chapter 9: A Meeting.
29. ↑ not\_poignant. “The Ice Plague: Book 1 - The Forest of Fire.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 29 June 2018. https://archiveofourown.org/works/12036105/chapters/34995836. Chapter 23: The Arrow's Path.
30. ↑ not\_poignant. “The Court of Five Thrones.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 3 July 2015. https://archiveofourown.org/works/1749290/chapters/9645504. Chapter 50: Wayward.
31. ↑ not\_poignant. “The Ice Plague: Book 1 - The Forest of Fire.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 16 February 2018. https://archiveofourown.org/works/12036105/chapters/31475208. Chapter 15: Isn't This Better?
32. ↑ not\_poignant. “The Ice Plague: Book 3 - The Ice Plague.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 17 March 2022. https://archiveofourown.org/works/26266345/chapters/94345423. Chapter 28: Family.
33. ↑ "Marid". Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marid. Accessed 1 May 2021.
34. ↑ 34.0 34.1 "Ifrit". Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ifrit. Accessed 1 May 2021.