Another Question on the Elements....

JPSpideyCJ · Mar 22, 2007

..... What are all the Elements of Fantasy?

I already know Earth, Fire, Water and Air, but someone mentioned in another thread there is an Element of the Stars. What others are there? Dies anyone know?

veinglory · Mar 22, 2007

They come from different real systems, and the there are fition ones. Option include stone, metal, spirit, plasma (from a holodeck childrens program on Star Trek LOL) and many others. Whatever is of prime importance to your world.

Michael Dracon · Mar 22, 2007

Wood and metal are often in there. In fact, the Chinese system, from which this came, has metal instead of air.

Spirit is also often another element, and in most of those it is the fifth.

In one of the RPG games I played (Exalted, for those who want to know) they have 5 regular ones: Water, Earth, Fire, Wood and Air. And Air actually also included ice. Spirit is also in there, but seperate from those 5.

Tallymark · Mar 22, 2007

I want to see a magic world where people have power over the elements from the periodic table.

You can control carbon, oxygen, magnesium, and more!

Really, though, it's whatever you want it to be--what you consider to be the primal elements in the world you're making (or perhaps, what it's people consider to be the primal elements). What you choose will probably say something about the nature of that world.

veinglory · Mar 22, 2007

Sapphire and Steel was a TV program loosely based on people representing the real elements--although then they screwed it up by adding gemstones. It was still fun though, scenes like Steel and Lead getting together in one of the weirdest TV programs I have ever laid eyes on--and a very young Joanna Lumley as I recall?

TheIT · Mar 22, 2007

Sapphire and Steel = Joanna Lumley and David McCallum. It ran for six episodic stories, then they cancelled it and ended the series with a cliffhanger. I always wanted to know what element "Sapphire" was supposed to be. Silver (David Collings) was fun.

As for other fantasy elements, wood is the one which came to mind, also the story "Daughter of Regals" by Stephen R. Donaldson.

benbradley · Mar 22, 2007

Tallymark said:
I want to see a magic world where people have power over the elements from the periodic table. You can control carbon, oxygen, magnesium, and more!

There are machines that can transmute the elements, and you can probably turn any elemt into any other - lead into gold has actually been done. These machines are called particle accelerators, and as Carl Sagan might say, they cost billions and billions of dollars. There was a big one being built in Texas years ago, but then political winds blew elsewhere.

Oh, you didn't want technology, you wanted MAGIC. Down the hall, second door to the left.

MMWyrm · Mar 22, 2007

I've once had someone give me an impressive list of supposed elements that included most mentioned above as well as dark, light, and death being elements.

That, quite frankly, didn't work for me though.

Sage · Mar 22, 2007

In the Air/Earth/Water/Fire element group, there is occasionally another, which usually varies based on what the writer wants it to be. Sometimes it's love/heart (The Fifth Element, Captain Planet). Sometimes it's ether/stars (only seen this in the game Aquarius). I've seen a gaming system where the fifth was "Void."

Then you have systems where all sorts of things are used as elements. For example, Sailor Moon, which includes water, fire, wood, metal, love, music, lightning, earth, death, silence, & soul.

Oddsocks · Mar 22, 2007

Electricity sometimes gets to be an element. Also, sometimes earth includes animally and wood-like things, whereas sometimes wood is treated as it's own element, or 'life', that kind of thing. Sometimes ice gets its own (which has always seemed weird to me - looks like it should fall under water).

herdon · Mar 22, 2007

The beauty of fantasy is that you can have anything you want as elements. You could have fire and not water if it pleases you. You could have the soul. You could have plastic. So long as you can make it work then anything you want can be an element.

JPSpideyCJ · Mar 23, 2007

I'm going to have:

Earth
Air
Fire
Water
Cosmic
Love
Hate
Body
Soul
Mind

Mr. Jinx · Mar 23, 2007

Besides the big 4 (Air, Earth, Fire, Water) I use light and darkness.

Light and Darkness are sort of related to the Alesian Fields (Heaven-like) and the Shadowlands (Hell-like) in my mauscript.

Momento Mori · Mar 23, 2007

At the back of my mind, the 'creatures' in my WIP each have one ability based on one of the following elements:

- Earth

- Fire

- Water

- Air

- Flesh.

But I don't make it explicit because (and this is just a personal thing), I've seen fantasy books use the elements so badly that I worry it's sometimes got a whiff of naffness to it.

MM

veinglory · Mar 23, 2007

I think flesh sounds like a good choice. Elements should have some feature that seems indivisable and essential. IMHO it should be in balance with all other elements rather than an interacting dichotomy.

preyer · Mar 28, 2007

i'm pretty sure alchemists (not the philosophical ones, rather the guys into transmuting metals) considered moonlight an element. conversely, if moonlight in an element, then sunlight should be considered one, too, eh?

JPSpideyCJ · Mar 28, 2007

I could have Light and Darkness instead of Love and Hate since they are often used. The reason I picked these Elements is because they are part of the creatures of my world. I researched this on Wikipedia.

Air- Breath
Earth- Body
Fire- Conciousness
Water- Body Fluid

And my own additions:

Aether/Cosmic- Soul
Spirit- Body Spirit
Light- Love
Darkness- Hate

PeeDee · Mar 28, 2007

Good replies, the lot of them. That said, it's your story. Have what you want, don't have what you don't want. There aren't any regulations for writing a fantasy novel. Thankfully.

JBI · Mar 29, 2007

Think of the Aristotelian elements.

Fire

Water

Air

Earth

Divine Substance.

Another Question on the Elements....

JPSpideyCJ

veinglory

volitare nequeo

Michael Dracon

Urban Fantasy Geek

Tallymark

veinglory

volitare nequeo

TheIT

Infuriatingly Theoretical

benbradley

It's a doggy dog world

MMWyrm

Sage

Our Lady of Parentheticals

Oddsocks

herdon

What's up?

JPSpideyCJ

Mr. Jinx

Momento Mori

Tired and Disillusioned

veinglory

volitare nequeo

preyer

excessively spartan

JPSpideyCJ

PeeDee

Where's my tea, please...?

JBI