The  Ijiraat change shape. They can transform into caribou. Into ravens.  Bears. Wolves. And even…. humans. But it’s impossible to tell what they really look like:  they don’t want to be seen in their real form.  Some say these shape-shifters are helpful and bring messages to travellers. Some say the Ijiraat like to sing. Others say they are dangerous, and that they, just like the Qallupilluit kidnap children. They hide them, then abandon them. The children who manage to get away from the Ijiraat have to find their way home. Some make it back home, thanks to the inuksuit, the stone structures that help travellers find their way in the North.

These shape-shifters are believed to live between the worlds of the living and of the dead.  They came to be when some Inuit hunters hunted too far north and ended up trapped between the two worlds.