Erlik (Erlik Khan) rules the underworld in Altai telling. He is present at creation alongside Ülgen, is then sent down from the sky, and the world below is left to him.
Erlik is not evil as such; he owns the land of the dead and keeps order in it. He sits in a tent made of iron and counts as the patron of smiths. The shaman's descent is usually a negotiation with him: going to fetch back the runaway soul of a sick person.
In Balbal the Underworld opens at Erlik's Gate and its fifth floor is The Iron Tent — the iron tent of the telling itself. Erlik is also the third Spirit tile.