Irys

Daiei's Gamera Series
File:Tn iris.jpg
Irys
Species	Mutant Gyaos?
Form(s)	Baby Form Adult Form
Height	99 metres
Tentacle Length	1999 metres
Weight	199 tons
Air speed	Mach 9
Relationships	Atlanteans (creators) Gyaos (possible blueprints) Ayana Hirasaka (adoptive mother/spiritual connector)
Major enemies	Gamera
First appearance	Gamera 3: Awakening of Irys
Created by
Portrayed by:

Irys is the antagonist Kaiju from the third film in the Heisei Gamera trilogy, "Gamera 3: Awakening of Irys".

History

File:Tn baby iris.jpg

Irys in its baby form.

Gamera's ultimate foe is a bizarre collection of features, harkening back to the tentacled entities of the Cthulhu Mythos. Iris begins its life as a stone egg, said to belong to a demon called Ryu-Sei-Cho, sealed within a small underground temple and guarded over by a line of priestesses. A young girl named Ayana (whose parents were killed by Super Gyaos, but thinks Gamera killed them) takes a dare to enter the cave and discovers the egg that hatches. Ayana has nothing but total hatred for Gamera and raises Iris in hopes that it will become strong enough to kill the giant turtle for her. The baby Iris has an armored, mouth-less head with small black eyes, and several long tentacles which sprout from a snail-like shell.

It's not long before Iris wanders off into the woods and, unbeknownst to Ayana, kills some woodland animals with its energy/food absorbing tentacles. When she finds it, it attempts to merge with her by sealing her in a type of cocoon. Fortunately, Ayana's friend Mirobe discovers her and cuts her free. She is then taken to a hospital.

While Ayana is gone, Iris grows ever larger in the woods as it kills several villagers, including Ayana's adoptive parents and brother. Shortly, the monster grows into its adult form.

The adult Iris is difficult to describe, basically a bipedal creature with two hooved legs and sword-like arms, topped by a head that resembles a pointed seashell. Its back is a mass of saw-edged plates, and from its sides spring four tentacles hundreds of meters long. Each of these is tipped with a bony spearhead, from which Iris can fire a sonic beam similar to the Gyaos. Iris is also able to drain the life force from its victims, both human and monster, using its arm-swords or tentacle-spears, and in the case of a monster, can absorb the opponent's abilities. Its chest region is also covered in glossy, bioluminescent patches. The center patch can suck things into it's body.

The Japanese Self Defense Forces quickly deploy and surround Iris as it sleeps, attempting to take it out with machine guns and bazookas. Some of the soldiers are killed before Iris takes to the sky and heads for Kyoto, where Ayana had been transferred earlier.

The JSDF sends two F-15s in an attempt to shoot Iris down, but before they get the chance to launch missiles, it attacks them with its tentacles. The fighter pilots are saved by the sudden arrival of Gamera, who engages Iris in a mid-air battle. Iris won the battle because the JSDF attacked Gamera, and while Gamera flew only at a top speed of mach 3.5, Iris could reach mach 9.0.

Soon, Iris lands in Kyoto and fights Gamera on land with Ayana watching and commanding to kill it. Iris manages to knock Gamera down for the count and then attempts again to merge with Ayana by sucking her into its body. While inside, Ayana realizes that she fueled Iris' destruction with her emotions - it was her hatred that led to the death of her adopted parents, and Super Gyaos instead of Gamera actually killed her parents. All seems lost until Gamera suddenly punches through Iris' armor and rips Ayana out.

Infuriated, Iris pins Gamera's hand to a wall with its spear hand and begins to absorb its energy. Its tentacles begin to form plasma balls, when Gamera quickly uses a plasma ball itself to sever its own hand. Iris fires the absorbed plasma balls at Gamera who uses its stump to turn the plasma into a plasma fist. Gamera then uses the fist to slice through Iris' chest, killing it and ending the reign of terror.

Based on its continued attempts to "absorb" Ayana, it would seem that Iris gains strength through human contact, much like Gamera's relationship with Asagi via her jewel. Ayana's hatred and malice towards Gamera shaped Iris into its evil form, as it absorbs her feelings during its development and then acts out her desires.

To many, there is an argument between Gamera fans on whether Iris or Legion is stronger. Iris is obviously stronger,he just ade a few wrong desicions:1. he left gamera for dead,never leave a kaju for dead,2. he had to asorb ayanna to continue a bond,he could of simply strengthend the bond. Also, they wonder what the gender of Iris is. In the film, the characters refer Iris as "he", but on the G3 DVD commentary released by ADV they refer to Iris as "she" possibly because if you look closely at the scene when Ayana is floating inside Iris you can see something that looks like a fetus. Iris could also be an "it" and be asexual since it is said to be Gyaos mutation(The Gyaos in the Heisei series are asexual).However it is more than likely Iris is a male.