Immram

The immrama are identifiable by their focus on the exploits of the heroes during their search for the Otherworld, located in these cases in the islands far to the west of Ireland.

The hero sets out on his voyage for the sake of adventure or to fulfill his destiny, and generally stops on other fantastic islands before reaching his destination.

In an echtrae the protagonist only ever goes to one location and may arrive in the otherworld with no explanation of the journey, whereas in an immram the hero always has multiple adventures on several islands.

Immrama may have borrowed heavily from preexisting Christian genres, such as the sanctae vitae (saints' lives), the Liturgy (pilgrimage stories), and the vision tales.

[6] Perhaps the largest piece of evidence that immram are Christian works is that the characters in the story are generally wandering priests, monks, and nuns, or at least related to them.

Some of the parallels they make are between the Ambrose in the tales who bestow immortality on their lovers for the time they remain with them and the giant sheep on islands in both stories.