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Natural Elements - TV Tropes

  • ️Wed May 31 2023

Before people discovered the atomic elements, past thinkers hypothesized the existence of other elements that were the building blocks of life and the physical world, referred to as the Natural Elements. These elements were the different forces of nature that humans encountered: water, fire, earth, air, lightning, thunder, dark, light, metal, sound, smoke, even space and cosmic energy, among several others. Though disproven, believing these forces of nature to be the base components of all matter has influenced several real world belief systems and practices and shows up in many fictional works, particularly those concerned with the mystical and magical. In fact, channeling these forces as a magical ability or power or using them as the basis of a Functional Magic system are some of the most popular ways this concept gets applied in modern works.

In addition, amongst these foundational elements were those considered the most basic, from which all others were derived. These are known as the Classical or Great Elements. The elements that make up this group are, broadly speaking, water, fire, earth, and air, though this does change slightly depending on which philosophical tradition you're referring to:

Different Philosophical Traditions 

  • Hinduism: Arguably the originator of this concept, Hinduism has the Pancha Bhuta,note  Sanskrit for "five great elements" or "five physical elements", which are said to be the foundation for all of creation. These are Agni (fire), Vayu (air), Jala/Varuna (water), Bhumi/Prithvi (earth), and Akasha/Dyaus (space/void), though some sects do not consider space a foundational element because of its lack of physical form.
    • Buddhism which takes many influences from Hinduism, also has the "great elements" of water, fire, earth, and air, but excludes space.
    • Japanese Tradition: Taking direct influence from both the Buddhist and Chinese traditions, Japan has the godai ("five greats"), five elements that are considered to be the building blocks of physical existence. These are earth, water, fire, wind, and void/sky/heaven.
  • Ancient Greece: The earliest example of "element" to refer to water, fire, earth, and air as a group by thinkers from this region comes from Plato, though pondering the idea of life's building blocks and attributing them to different natural forces predates him by quite a bit. This would later be expanded on by Aristotle, who included a new fifth element, aether, an immutable, incorruptible substance (as opposed to the other four that can be altered and changed) from which the heavens and stars were made.
    • Wicca: Most modern Wiccan traditions use the same five elements as the Grecian framework, however with differing opinions as to their specific meaning. Some associate them with the four phases of matter (earth = solid, water = liquid, air = gas, fire = plasma, aether = energy), while others take a different approach (earth = all matter, fire = energy, wind/water = phases of matter). Regardless, these elements are associated with the cardinal directions and are called upon during spellcasting with the drawing of the ritual pentacle.
  • Alchemy: Though early alchemists considered earth, water, fire, and air to be the smallest element one could reduce all life to, they expanded the concept to include three elements connected to the properties of metallic substances and agents of reactions: mercury, sulphur, and salt. Sulphur was the basis for combustion and flammability, mercury, the basis for volatility and metallicity, and salt was thought to be the basis for solidity.
  • Chinese Tradition: Wuxing ("five phases" or "five elements") refers to a cycle that ancient Chinese philosophers believed underpinned many natural phenomenon and human interactions. This makes it distinct from the other schools of thought on this list, which considered these elements the sub-components of all matter, rather than as the basis for change and processes. This cycle has five phases, the order of which changes depending on whether the process is creating (generative) or destroying (destructive), and each phase corresponds to a natural element: wood, fire, earth, metal, water.note 

The different elements in each tradition take on a wide assortment of meanings, functions, and roles, some of which are consistent across the different systems and others wholly unique to a particular system. So it is important to consider which conceptualization a work is (likely) referencing when analyzing this trope's application. See the Analysis page for further details.

Adhering to a tradition or not, any time a work makes use of the notion that the forces of nature are actually discrete "elements" falls under this trope, as do most references and allusions to the "classical elements" if it's not covered by one of the subtropes listed below. Bonus points if the elements' function in the work is connected to being a primordial substance or to the creation of life itself.

Subtropes 

For more tropes specifically related to Elemental Powers and its applications, see that page. See also Alchemy Is Magic, Transmutation, Eastern Zodiac, Western Zodiac, The Four Gods, and Four-Temperament Ensemble for tropes that typically incorporate some of the natural elements without necessarily being a direct subtrope.

Examples:

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Anime & Manga 

  • Digimon Adventure tri.: Several natural elements are mentioned in the opening of Loss by Homeostasis, explaining how they interact with and create one another.

    Light is born of darkness...

    Darkness sails north to become water...

    Light sails south to become fire...

    Wind flows between light and darkness...

    Light sinks into darkness and returns to earth.

Comic Books 

  • Monica's Gang: In "An Adventure in Time", the gang travels to different time periods to retrieve canisters containing essences of the four classical elements, though each one is being guarded by a villain that must be defeated:
    • Monica has to defeat Pitoco, a caveman who uses the fire element to convince his fellow tribesmen that he is a god and to coerce Thuga into becoming his bride.
    • Jimmy faces Cabeleira Negra, a space pirate who adds the wind canister to her treasure collection.
    • Smudge has to deal with Goldtooth, a degenerate treasure hunter who, seeking to harvest the gold at the bottom of the rivers, uses the water canister to cause a drought in the Amazon rainforest.
    • Maggy has to retrieve the earth element from baby Monica, who clings to it like a toy and creates earthquakes whenever someone tries to separate her from it. While the toddler is not nearly as malicious as the other antagonists, she is still the final obstacle the gang must face in their quest, and is alligned with the villains in the comic book cover.

Fan Works 

  • KibblesTasty: Circle of Elements Druids focus on creating manifestations of the typical D&D set of fire, water, earth, and air. At 10th level, they become capable of combining the elements to create the setting's paraelemental substances.
  • Laserllama: Aside from the Draconic and Wild options based on the official class' default options, the main subclass choices for the Alternate Sorcerer are based on the typical element assembly: Flame for fire, Ocean for water, Stone for earth, and Storm for air.
  • Call of Nudity: The central conflict revolves around Zavine fighting against four elemental cultists.

Film — Animated 

  • Elemental (2023): The movie is set in a world where the population is made out of either one of the four classical elements - water, fire, earth and air. The movie's main protagonists are Ember, a fire person, and Wade, a water person.
  • Frozen II: The classical elements (earth, fire, water, air) are associated with the Enchanted Forest and have elemental spirits associated with each one.
  • Scooby-Doo! and the Witch's Ghost is rife with Artistic License – Religion in its portrayal of Wicca, but just to make sure, at the end the Hex Girls sing a song naming the elements as "Earth, Wind, Fire, Air". Yes, it rhymes, yes it scans, but... it's missing water! And who considers "wind" and "air" separate elements? Although given how well witches and water normally mix...

Literature 

  • Discworld: The Disc, being a nearly-unreal world, uses the classical Elements, but adds a fifth. According to the History Monks, the world is made of Fire, Water, Air, and Earth, and the fifth element, Surprise, allows everything to keep happening.
  • Young Wizards by Diane Duane has the wizards assemble the Four Treasures of Ireland, which were identified with the four elements: Lia Fail — Earth; Spear Luin — Fire; the sword Fragrach — Air; Ardagh Chalice — Water. Together they can help defeat the Lone One.

Live-Action TV 

  • Charmed (1998):
    • In "Is There a Woogy in the House?," Prue and Piper figure out that the Manor is located on a spiritual Nexus by noticing that it is equidistant from five elements: water, fire, wood, metal and earth.
    • Another episode has the sisters using the four classical elements in a spell to reveal the Eternal Spring. They use dirt from the garden, a fan to create wind, matches to create fire, and some water from the tap.
  • Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Barkonians' natural philosophy believes there are four elements, like the Greek conception, but slightly different: their four elements are rock, water, sky and fire.

Music 

Myths & Religion 

  • There's little evidence for a concrete Native American system, though the Plains Indians attributed their directional winds to South/Fire, West/Lightning and North/Water (as ice). In general, directions and times of day seem to have been the concepts that got formalized instead, with groups from at least across the American Southwest (extending into Mexico) associating each direction (North, South, East, West) with a time of day (morning/predawn, midday, evening/twilight, full night) and a color (what colors are used, and for what direction, varies significantly from culture to culture).
  • The ritual of the Kabbalistic Cross is an Esoteric protection ritual use in Cermonial Magick and summons the protection of four archangels, one for each element - Michael: Fire, Raphael: Air, Gabriel: Water, Uriel: Earth.
  • The Four Classic Elements are sacred for Zoroastrians as they are thought to be the purest manifestation of the Creator. Therefore they don’t bury their dead as such thing would contaminate earth, don’t cremate them as that would contaminate both fire and air, and do not toss dead bodies on water as that would contaminate water. They left the bodies in especial towers for the vultures to feed on them. This could be seen as horrible for some cultures but for them is not only the only way not to pollute the elements but also a way to give life from dead.
  • Eliphas Levi linked each of the Tarot's symbols on the Minor Arcana to a specific element as; Batons for Fire, Cups for Water, Swords for Air, and Pentacles for Earth.

Tabletop Games 

  • Everway makes extensive but relatively subtle use of the four classical elements in character creation. To start with, characters' personal stats are named for the elements: "Fire" relates to active energy, dynamism, combat skills, and so on; "Water" determines sensitivity and intuitive feelings; "Earth" is the stat of raw might and resilience; "Air" determines thinking ability and verbal skills. Furthermore, special character powers and schools of magic are all linked to one element or another. However, these associations rarely involve direct invocation of the element itself; rather, "air magic" involves words of power, fire-linked powers can involve the manipulation of any sort of energy, and so on.
  • Critical Role: Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting: The Ashari are a collection of four tribes dedicated to guarding four portals to different dimensions, one for each classical element. In keeping with that theme, each tribe has developed elemental magic corresponding the portal they guard, as reflected in the stat-block each Ashari has at the end of the book.
    • The Zephrah Ashari are known as Skydancers and can fly using artificial wings known as a sky sail.
    • The Terrah Ashari are known as Stoneguards and have a special ability to turn their skin to stone as a reaction, halving all non-magical damage against them.
    • The Pyrah Ashari are known as Fire Tamers and can actually grow into ten-foot-tall behemoths made of fire.
    • The Vesrah Ashari are known as Wave Riders and can transform into sharks or octopi in addition to being able to talk to marine life.
  • Promethean: The Created: The original five Promethean Lineages were originally associated with an element that corresponded to the classical elements, but it's drifted away from it somewhat in subsequent editions: the Frankensteins' corresponded to fire (with the caveat that fire is extremely lethal to Prometheans, so they got Lightning as "symbolic" fire), Galateans air, Tammuz earth, Osirians water, and Ulgan's were Element No. 5 as ectoplasm. Then subsequent books introduced the Zeka (radiation), Unfleshed (Oil), and Extempore (can be of any element). It also introduced the Amirani, the extinct fire-associated lineage predating the Frankensteins, and since the fire-bad rule still applied they were instead created with forged metal in their bodies, representing the heat of the forge.
  • In Res Arcana, the Calm essence is tied to the classical elements of water and air, and the Elan essence is tied to fire and earth.
  • RuneQuest: The Glorantha setting has five basic elements: Darkness (the primal element), Earth, Sky (which includes fire), Water, and Storm (the air between Earth and Sky). The Lunar Empire regards "Moon" as a sixth element, and most other cultures hate and fear them.

Video Games 

  • Balls of Steel (1997): The "Barbarian" table requires the player to collect Air, Earth, Wind, and Fire elements.
  • In Brütal Legend, the elements of the world of Heavy Metal are Fire, Noise, Blood, and Metal. The Creation Myth in the game explains that Ormagöden, the Great Firebeast, chose to die by self-detonation rather than being drowned in mud by the First Ones, but his death destroyed the First Ones and gave the world these elements,which became the foundation of the Age of Metal. Fittingly, this fits with the four classical elements; Fire is obvious, but Noise is Air, Blood is Water, and Metal is Earth, they've just been rebranded for Heavy Metal aesthetics.
  • CrossCode uses a Fire, Ice, Lightning trio augmented with Wave, which seems to represent both water and sound. Each one primarily gets juxtaposed against its opposite: Heat with Cold, and Shock with Wave. Strangely enough, the god representing Cold also holds dominion over rock, apparently making it the earth representative in the elemental quartet.
  • In Draw Slasher, the player has access to special abilities (ninjutsu techniques) corresponding to Earth (immobilizes ground enemies), Lightning (one-shots all enemies close to Hanzo), Fire (damages all enemies), and Wind (makes the player invisible to the enemies). Curiously, a fifth special ability is available, linked to the "element" of Fury (attacks deal more damage and ignore armor).
  • Escape Lala: In the second game, Lala has gods for each of the four elements: water, earth, fire, and air. They are represented by stone faces placed around the map. There is a glass bottle that you must fill with each element and put in the corresponding stone face to open a door.
  • The Legend of Zelda:
  • In Luxaren Allure, there are the Fire, Ice, Bolt, and Nature elements.
  • Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero: The game's mid-section occurs inside the Temple of the Elements, in the Himalayan Mountains. The temple is divided into four stages, each representing "the four elements which comprise the very existence of Earthrealm": Wind, Earth, Water and Fire. The stage bosses are also Earthrealm's elemental gods.
  • Opus Magnum revolves around the creation of alchemical compounds. The atoms used to create the compounds correspond to classical elements (Salt, Fire, Air, Earth, Wind, and 7 metals from lead to gold.
  • In Ori and the Blind Forest, the three Elements of Light that sustain the forest of Nibel and are sources of power (Winds, Waters, and Warmth) are associated with three of the four Western classical elements (Wind, Water, and Fire), while the Spirit Tree, who regulates their power and oversees Nibel as a whole, represents Earth.
  • Potion Craft: The most basic ingredients available to use in potions are themed around fire, air, water, and earth. On the recipe map, Air takes you North, Water takes you East, Earth takes you South and Fire takes you West.
  • Reventure: There are four elements (Earth, Wind, Water and Fire) represented by the 4 gems which keep nature in balance. Collecting them is a crucial part in achieving the final ending, #100.
  • Sacred: One of the missions of the game is to retrieve the four elements (Air, Fire, Earth, Water) of which the land of Ancaria is made.
  • This Starry Midnight We Make: The game uses the classical Chinese elements of fire, wood, earth, metal and water, which are all part of yin and yang.
  • Tree of Savior: Here the natural elements are Water, Earth, Wind, and Fire. They are explicitly considered "the simplest forms of all things," and under the purview of the Goddesses.

Webcomics 

  • Nixvir: Each world in the World Oak is composed of the five Classical elements: that is, the four main Classical elements plus aether, which is the lesser-known fifth element which was added to the rostre during the Middle Ages.
  • Planeta Absurdo: According to Flowder, the natural elements are water, fire, propane, butane and Bill Murray.
  • Pure Light: Dragon elements are separated into Light Elements, which originate from the progenitor element Pure Light, and Dark Elements, descendent from Pure Darkness. Each of the main four elements is divided into branches of minor elements, which range from fairly straightforward to rather strange:
    • On the light end of the spectrum, there Wind, Tornado, Sound, Hypnosis and Nitrogen from Air, Ice and Blood on the Water branch, Earthquake, Metal, Stone, Sand and Crystal from Earth, and Blue Fire, Solar Flare and Laser from Fire.
    • From the dark end of the spectrum, there Shadow, Dark Fire and Night Fire from the Fire branch, Dark Wind and Fear from the Air branch, and Dark Ice, Dark Water and Poison from the Water branch.
    • A number of elements also exist as crosses between branches, such as Electricity between Fire and Air, Mist and Bubbles from Air and Water, Nature, Healing and Mud from Earth and Water, and Lava between Earth and Fire on the light side, and Smoke from Air and Fire and Dark Nature between Earth and Water on the dark end.
    • Not associated with any of the sides, there are also Time, Gravity and Convexity.
  • Talamak has 12 elements: water, fire, wind, earth, flora, fauna, flux, chimera, storm, time, space, and decay.

Western Animation