twilight fact file

Irina

Irina

Irina (pronounced Ear-ee-na) was one of the original Denali "sisters", along with Tanya and Kate, and an originator of the myth of the succubus. She was a "vegetarian" and led a very peaceful lifestyle with her "family". The Denalis consider themselves to be the Cullens' extended family or "cousins". She and Laurent were in a relationship before he was killed by the shape-shifters in New Moon. Irina was killed by Caius to enrage her sisters, after giving false information to the Volturi about Renesmee Cullen.

Irina was the third vampire added to the Denali coven, after Tanya and Kate. As a human, she was a pretty peasant girl living in a small farm community. She physically resembled Kate and Tanya, and Sasha decided to change her with the idea of adding a new sister to her "daughters". Irina, Tanya, and Kate loved their mother as much as she loved them. They were orphaned by the Volturi because their mother was harboring an immortal child named Vasilii; a human child that was turned and therefore couldn't learn to control himself due to his primitive mind. Irina and her sisters were devastated by their mother's death, but they did not fault the Volturi for their decision. Sasha knew the laws as well as they did, and none of the sisters could understand what she'd done. They did, however, understand her decision to keep them in the dark about Vasilii's existence; sisters' total innocence of Sasha's act was the only reason the Volturi spared them.

To avoid their pain, the sisters started flirting with men, both human and immortal, though - flirtatious by nature - none of them settled with one mate. In the beginning, their relationships with humans usually ended with the man's death. Their behavior earned them a place in human legend as the succubus: a female demon who seduces her prey before draining them of life. Eventually, the pain and guilt of these losses became unbearable for them: there were some men that they grew attached to, which made it painful for them when they died at their hands. The Denali sisters then lived a vegetarian lifestyle to avoid slaughtering the men that they grew fond of and yet maintain intimacy with them. Over a century later, they were later joined by two compassionate vampires named Eleazar and Carmen.

The Denalis never met any other coven that shared their way of life until they crossed paths with the Cullens. They quickly bonded over their shared lifestyle, and considered one another extended family from that time forward.

In the books, Irina did not show up at Bella and Edward's wedding because she was still upset with the Cullens. In the movie, she did attend the wedding and had promised to behave, but felt utterly hurt when she saw Seth Clearwater, one of the shape-shifters, and refused to believe the Cullens about Laurent trying to kill Bella. After their brief confrontation, she left the reception.

Three months later, Irina was on her way to Forks to make peace with the Cullens when she suddenly spotted Bella, Jacob, and Renesmee hunting from a distance. The moment she saw Renesmee, she was misled to believe that she was an immortal child created by the Cullens. Knowing that creating an immortal child is an illegal action, Irina ran to tell the Volturi, but not before Bella saw her.

A few days later, Alice foresaw the Volturi's decision to visit Forks, and explaining that she was not trying to predict their actions, but trying to find Irina, Bella came to the conclusion that Irina assumed that Renesmee was an immortal child and that she must have decided to go to the Volturi to tell them about Renesmee.

Irina arrived in Forks with the Volturi, with the intent to punish the Cullens. She was called upon by Caius to bear witness to Renesmee. She explained to the Volturi that she was upset because the shape-shifters killed Laurent, but the Cullens refused to let her avenge him. However, upon realizing her mistake, she no longer wanted to complain against the wolves or the Cullens and sincerely apologized to them for the situation she had put them through. The moment she said that she was willing to take full responsibility for her error, Caius signaled the guard and Irina was destroyed in front of all the vampires present. Caius merely looked on and proceeded to set Irina ablaze, as a plot to enrage Kate and Tanya into making the attack and starting the fight. Caius later justified this by saying that "now she has taken full responsibility of her actions". The situation did not turn for the worse and Irina's sacrifice was not in vain.

After the confrontation ended with only Irina's death, the Denalis returned home to mourn for their fallen sister and celebrate the addition of a new comrade, Garrett, who had become Kate's mate