Irkalla, the Mesopotamian underworld ruled by Ereshkigal, is depicted as a realm of despair and darkness where the dead exist in a joyless state, stripped of identity and bound by the unyielding laws of divine judgment. In the “Epic of Gilgamesh,” Enkidu’s vision of Irkalla reflects Mesopotamian fears of death and the afterlife, portraying it as a realm of shadows where all souls endure a grim and inescapable existence.