Elementals in fiction

Elementals are a common theme in fantasy fiction.

In fantasy role-playing, computer and trading card games, elementals are typically used as difficult opponents for the player. They can often only be defeated by an element of a conflicting type (for example, fire elementals beaten by water), although in some games they are instead immune to that element and only that element. Many games use elementals composed of non-standard elements aside from The Primary elements of earth, water, air and fire — elementals made of acids, darkness, death, dust, gemstone, gravitational forces, ice, life energy, light, lightning, magical energy, magma, mana power, metals, mud, nothingness, ooze, plants, psychic illusions, sand, smoke, sonic waves, space, steam, temporal energy, toxins, weather phenomena and spirit are all relatively common.

Role-playing and Wargaming

In the Dungeons & Dragons Third Edition role-playing game, the elemental languages are Auran (Air), Aquan (Water), Ignan (Fire) and Terran (Earth).

In the Exalted role-playing game, characters known as the Terrestrials can develop magical abilities related to the elements of air, earth, fire, water, or wood.

In the Battletech sci-fi universe, the name "elemental" is used to describe suits of powered armour employed by Kerensky's "Clans" as well as their pilots, who are genetically engineered to be significantly larger and stronger than ordinary men. There are various kinds of these armour, being suited to combat in various types of battlefield, some known as Sylph, Undine, Salamander, Gnome, as such drawing on the writings of Paracelsus. Later versions of the armor were combined until the system was equally capable under all conditions and "elements".

The MMORPG RuneScape created by Jagex Ltd. grants access to relatively weak elemental monsters after completing some of the "Elemental Workshop Part 1" quest.

Video and Computer Games

In the Mega Man Zero games, the titular character's weapons can be endowed with elemental chips. Thunder (Electric) beats Fire-based foes, Fire beats Ice-based enemies, and Ice weapons beat Electric.

In Tales of Phantasia, Sylph, Undine, Efreet, Gnome appear as their respective elemental summons for Klarth. Additional elementals are Aska (Light), Shadow (Shadow), and Volt (Electricity). There are more spirits, but they are not elemental-like and thus not listed here.

In the Final Fantasy series, the elements of Fire, Ice, Thunder, and Holy are embodied by many magic spells. Most other games in the series use at least one other element, but these elements are common to the entire series. Holy-element characterizes healing magic (such as "Cure"), and "Holy" (aka "White" or "Pearl") is the most powerful, and one of the few White Mage attack spells. While the four elements listed above appear in most Final Fantasy games, many games feature additional elements (Earth, Gravity, Darkness, Water, Poison, Aero (wind), etc.) In addition to the elements and spells, Final Fantasy games feature some sort of powerful summonable creatures. These creatures use elemental attacks. While each game has different summonable creatures, the three that represent the first three elements above are almost always present and are usually obtained first. They are Ifrit (Fire), Ramuh (Thunder), and Shiva (Ice).

Elementals are a major part of the Seiken Densetsu series; they are spirits of Mana that enable mortals to cast spells. The original Secret of Mana featured Paracelsus' four elementals as well as Shade (the elemental of Darkness, a one-eyed bat-like creature), Lumina (the elemental of Light, a pale flame with a face, renamed Wisp in later games), Luna (the elemental of the Moon; changed to Aura in Legend of Mana and represented the element of Gold) and Dryad (the elemental of plants and mana, appearing as a traditional Greek dryad.

In the game Lost Magic by Ubisoft and Taito for Nintendo DS, the four elementals can be found and captured using the Trap Dark Rune. The only difference is that the Sylph is called a Silfeed. Salamanders and Gnomes have projectile attacks, whereas Silfeeds and Undines do not.

The Pokémon universe is based on elementals. Each Pokémon has either one or two types, denoting what attacks can damage it normally, powerfully, or weakly. Also, each attack is of a single type. There are 17 types in all, some being standard (fire, water, earth) and others being non-standard (dragon, steel, flying)

In the adventure game/RPG hybrid Quest for Glory II: Trial by Fire, the desert city of Shapeir is attacked by four elementals - fire, air, earth, and water. Aziza, the enchantress of Shapeir, explains that elementals can never be fully destroyed, but they can be defeated. Only by confronting each elemental with its counter element can the hero of the game weaken and control it.

In the massively multiplayer online RPG game World of Warcraft, the Shaman class can choose to specialise in causing damage with the powers of the elements, in particular air, by specialising their 'talent points' into the elemental talent tree.

Novels

In Michael Moorcock's novels concerning Elric of Melniboné, elementals, such as Grome (elemental of Earth) and Straasha (elemental of water, and Grome's brother) help (and occasionally hinder) Elric in many of his quests. They are said to be neutral in the struggle between Law and Chaos.

In the third children of the lamp book (the cobra king of kathmandu by P.B. Kerr) a djinn unleashes a water elemental on a fire to put it out. Also, in the second book of the same series, a young djinn tricks two others into setting a water elemental on his stepmother, nothing is clear about the elemental itself as this was merely mentioned but the result seemed to be quite explosive, with a rainstorm inside the stepmother's apartment..

Fantasy author Mercedes Lackey wrote a series of books featuring Elemental Masters (those who can command and control elementals). The books include Phoenix and Ashes, The Gates of Sleep and the Fire Rose. Each book is a re-telling of a popular fairy tale.

in the fantasy series The Guardian Cycle, elementals play a major role in the plot.

Television

In the short lived series' by Saban, the Mystic Knights of Tir Na Nog, each of the knights was powered by an elemental. The red knight Rohan was the Knight of Fire. The blue knight Prince Ivar was the Knight of Water. The white knight Princess Deirdre was the Knight of Air. The silver knight Angus was the Knight of Earth. Prince Garrett, a fifth knight whose powers are not a traditional elemental, is the Knight of the Forest.

The Invincible Iron Man

In the 2007 animated movie The Invincible Iron Man, there are four statues which are brought to life. The statues are called Elementals, and each has a different elemental power.

Anime/Manga

In the anime and manga Shaman King, there are a group of five elemental spirits, known as the Godaiseirei. They are the Spirit of Fire, Spirit of Earth, Spirit of Thunder, Spirit of Rain, and Spirit of Wind.

Satire/Parody

The 1999 American film by Kevin Smith Dogma featured an "excremental" (or a creature originating in human biological waste), which attacked the protagonists, who defeated it by means of a breath freshener aerosol.

In the online webcomic The Order of the Stick Titanium elementals are used to assault a city, a clear parody of the Dungeons & Dragons elementals. Later, a Chlorine elemental also makes its appearance.