Question about the Iriali.

[sonofgonzo]

Who or what are the Iriali? What book/story are they originally from? I'm reading Tress right now and in the beginning of the book the Iriali are mentioned. The name seems so familiar but I can't place where the hell I know them from. I feel like I should know about them but I can't remember where from. 

No spoilers please, I have read all the available stormlight books plus the novellas (haven't started Wind and Truth yet), and I've read Elantris, Warbreaker and all Mistborn books except for the Lost Metal (and only halfway through Secret History right now).

[+Lewis Nethur He/Him]

7 minutes ago, sonofgonzo said:

Do we know any characters that are from there? Have any of the books taken us to Iriali yet?

Okay, I just read through the coppermind page and, as long as you don't click on the hyperlinks for footnotes 6 or 7, I don't believe there should be any meaningful spoilers for you based on your description of what you have read if you would like a good broad strokes overview:

https://coppermind.net/wiki/Iriali

Buyer (link clicker) beware as always; I'm not psychic and my sincere apologies if I missed a reference you do not have in recollection.

That said, they appear to be religiously aligned closest with the IRL religions of Hinduism/Buddhism. I don't recall any named irali offhand but I think there were some somewhere in stormlight archive that we just didn't learn very much about. Their origin world is not yet disclosed and they appear to be intentionally seeding or exodusing between worlds (in parallel, I assume, but they could be hitting cosmere planets one-at-a-time in series for all we know for certain).

Hopefully that helps!

[Treamayne]

28 minutes ago, sonofgonzo said:

Do we know any characters that are from there? Have any of the books taken us to Iriali yet?

Without @hwiles's links - WoK Interlude 3 (Axies the Collector) takes place in Iri (specifically Kasitor), and Dalinar's wife was part-Iriali* (but from Rira)

Spoiler

Riran people superficially share some physical traits with the Iriali. They are tall, and have light skin and blond hair.^[8][18][2] However, Rirans do not have the Iriali trait of a metallic tinge to their skin and hair.^[17] Rirans have a mixed ancestry

Hope that helps

Edited November 6, 2024 by Treamayne
SPAG

[alder24]

1 hour ago, sonofgonzo said:

Who or what are the Iriali? What book/story are they originally from? I'm reading Tress right now and in the beginning of the book the Iriali are mentioned. The name seems so familiar but I can't place where the hell I know them from. I feel like I should know about them but I can't remember where from. 

No spoilers please, I have read all the available stormlight books plus the novellas (haven't started Wind and Truth yet), and I've read Elantris, Warbreaker and all Mistborn books except for the Lost Metal (and only halfway through Secret History right now).

Currently, as of SA, they are on Roshar and they live in the kingdom of Iri (you can read more about them in the Ym interlude in WoR I-2). However, by their beliefs they are a worldhopping culture on a pilgrimage known as the Long Trail. They migrate between worlds in the search of the Seventh Land, where they will become thr One again. Roshar is the Fourth Land and they arrived there separately from Ashynites. Tress is happening far into the future of Cosmere, which means at some point Iriali left Roshar to continue along their Long Trail.

Unfortunately, we don't know where they came from before settling on Roshar.

Edited November 6, 2024 by alder24

[Quantus he/him]

They were/are a culture on Roshar, notable for their metallic gold-blond skin and hair.

[sonofgonzo]

18 minutes ago, Quantus said:

They were/are a culture on Roshar, notable for their metallic gold-blond skin and hair.

Do we know any characters that are from there? Have any of the books taken us to Iriali yet?

[listerfeend]

On 11/6/2024 at 11:35 AM, sonofgonzo said:

Do we know any characters that are from there? Have any of the books taken us to Iriali yet?

No, we don't know where they originated, or where they are going. As @alder24 mentioned, they are on the Long Trail, Seven planets that their people have to travel to in order to fulfill their...I guess purpose? Of rejoining the One. We are not sure where the originated, or even which planet they were on before Roshar, or which they went to after, though it seems that they will leave Roshar "soon" and I think they will end up on Lumar after Roshar (Lumar being the planet Tress is set on).

In the Cosmere, and from a narrative perspective, it seems as though the Iriali are being set up for some kind of major reveal in the future books, likely sometime around Mistborn Era 4, in my opinion. There are many theories on them that float around on these forums. It's hard to tell if their belief in "The One" is a belief in Adonalsium, or perhaps (more likely, in my opinion) the One the reference is the Unnamed and Unmet 16th Shard of Ado, the Shard whose name will be something like Prudence/Wisdom/Something along those lines.