History Main / ElementalPlane

* ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'': The FlatWorld of Creation is "pinned" in place by the Elemental Poles of Fire in the south, Water in the west, Air in the north, Wood in the east and Earth in the center. The closer you get to the pole, the more prominent the element becomes; the South is a vast desert and then volcanoes, the West opens to a vast ocean, the North is frozen and windblown tundras, and the East is thicker and thicker forests. The Elemental Pole of Earth, in the center of Creation, is a ''colossal'' mountain.

* In the ''Literature/TheDeathGateCycle'', after the Earth is destroyed, the demigod-like Sartan remake it into four worlds, each based on classical element: Arianus, the world of air (a WorldInTheSky where people live on floating islands); Pryan, the world of fire (a HollowWorld of sweltering temperatures and towering jungles); Chelestra, the world of water (another hollow world but full of water, where people live in hollow spaces within artificial floating structures); and Abarrach, the world of stone (a massive volume of rock honeycombed with caverns and tunnels, highly volcanic).
* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': Death's Domain and the Palace of Time symbolize their concepts as much as the {{Anthropomorphic Personification}}s who inhabit them do.
* In ''Literature/TheGreatTreeOfAvalon'' trilogy, each of the seven roots of the WorldTree is attuned to a different element which dominates its landscape (Woodroot is heavily forested, Waterroot consists of a system of rivers leading to a vast ocean, Stoneroot is very mountainous, Mudroot is nothing but mudflats, Airroot consists entirely of open skies, Fireroot is nothing but volcanic mountains and Shadowroot is shrouded in darkness) and is home to races attuned to that element (elves in Woodroot, gnomes in Mudroot, dragons in Fireroot, etc.), even though they usually aren't its sole inhabitants (this depends mainly on how inviting it is to other races; you won't find many humans willing to settle in Shadowroot or Waterroot, but you’ll find plenty in Woodroot and Stoneroot, for example).
* In ''Literature/SonOfMan'', a 1970s-era novel by Creator/RobertSilverberg, the entire world is like this, billions of years in the future.

[[folder: Video Games ]]

* The old ''VideoGame/MightAndMagic'' universe had four Elemental Planes, the classic Fire, Water, Air and Earth. While an important background element right from the start of the franchise (as the Ancients' method of world/[[spoiler:Nacelle]]-creation involves manipulating both elemental energies and the four Elemental Lords), the planes themselves only play an important role in ''VIII'', where portals to them have opened and they're preparing an invasion for reasons at first unknown, and ''Heroes Chronicles: Masters of the Elements'', where the main character has to sojourn to the planes in an attempt to stop an invasion motivated by entirely different things than the one in ''VIII''.

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'': One of several ''D&D'' references involved Grim trying to take Billy and Mandy to the elemental plane of fire.
* The ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'' episode "Room With A Moose" has two consecutive examples of this trope, with Zim showing Dib other places he could have used the wormhole to send him. The first is "a dimension of pure itching" which is only shown as a green mist, Zim [[TakeOurWordForIt assuring]] Dib "that stuff's really itchy", while the second is "[[ToiletHumor a dimension of pure dooky]]" which isn't shown at all, only Dib's [[TakeOurWordForIt horrified reaction visible]].

%%Image chosen via crowner in the Image Suggestion thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/crowner.php/ImagePickin/ImageSuggestions106

* The Five Forbidden Regions in the ''Literature/{{Xanth}}'' series: the void, the region of water, the region of fire, the region of earth, and the region of air. Each region is filled with terrain and weather that represent it: the region of water, for example, contains a lot of lakes and it rains often.
* Death's Domain and the Palace of Time in ''Literature/{{Discworld}}''. Both symbolizing their concepts as much as the {{Anthropomorphic Personification}}s who inhabit them do.
* In Creator/RobertSilverberg's 1970s-era novel ''Literature/SonOfMan'', the entire world is like this, billions of years in the future.
* ''[[Literature/TheTygrineCat The Tygrine Cat On The Run]]'' has the three realms at the heart of [[SpiritWorld Fiåney]]: the Harakar, which contains PrimordialChaos and represents the virtue of Instinct; Sienta, home of the first cat ever to exist, which represents the virtue of Judgment; and Ra'ha, [[spoiler: the equivalent of {{Heaven}}]], which represents the virtue of Spirit.

* There's the "land of the trolls," "land of perpetual Wednesday," "crazy melty land," "world without shrimp," and "world with nothing but shrimp" mentioned as a gag on ''Series/{{Buffy|The Vampire Slayer}}''[=/=]''Series/{{Angel}}''.

* In Myth/NorseMythology, most of [[TheWorldTree the Nine Realms]] can be seen as one of these, though their elemental connotations are believed to be metaphors for the human psyche.
** The realms that can be considered elemental planes are [[LightEmUp Alfheim]], home of the Light Elves; [[CastingAShadow Svartalfheim]], home of the Dark Elves and the Dwarfs; [[PlayingWithFire Muspellheim]], the primordial realm of fire and light and home of the Fire Giants; [[AnIcePerson Niflheim]], the primordial realm of ice and darkness and sometimes conflated with the land of the dead; [[MakingASplash Vanaheim]], home of the Vanir gods (typically seen as marshes or wetlands); and [[DishingOutDirt Jotunheim]], home of the giants, trolls and ettins (very mountainous).

* All of the [[AnthropomorphicPersonification Tit]][[OurTitansAreDifferent ans]] seen in ''TabletopGame/{{Scion}}'', as of yet. Of those that haven't been, it's safe to assume that the vast majority also are.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'': The FlatWorld of Creation is "pinned" in place by the Elemental Poles of Fire in the south, Water in the west, Air in the north, Wood in the east and Earth in the center. The closer you get to the pole, the more prominent the element becomes; the South is a vast desert and then volcanoes, the West opens to a vast ocean, the North is frozen and windblown tundras, and the East is thicker and thicker forests. The Elemental Pole of Earth, in the center of Creation, is a ''colossal'' mountain.
* ''TabletopGame/InvisibleSun'': The realm of Actuality has Nine Suns, eight of which are actually alternate planes of existence that represent fundamental concepts and abstract ideals. For example, the Indigo Sun, where most vislae characters start out, is the realm of truth and ideas. The Green Sun represents ideals such as life, prosperity, and success, while the Red Sun covers not only destruction and alien natures, but also change as a whole. The one Sun exempt from this is the Invisible Sun, which has no world to visit and exists outside the other Suns, yet shines on all of them and connects them. It serves as the source of magic and power for the Actuality.

* ''VideoGame/EverQuest'' has a bunch of these. Indeed, an entire expansion is called "The Planes of Power", and contains something like 15 different planes. And there are more planes from other expansions.
* The old ''VideoGame/MightAndMagic'' universe had (at least) four Elemental Planes (the classic Fire, Water, Air and Earth). While an important background element right from the start of the franchise (as the Ancients' method of world/[[spoiler: Nacelle]]-creation involves manipulating both elemental energies and the four Elemental Lords), the planes themselves only play an important role in ''VIII'' (portals to them have opened, and they're preparing an invasion for reasons at first unknown) and ''Heroes Chronicles: Masters of the Elements'', where the main character has to sojourn to the planes in an attempt to stop an invasion (motivated by entirely different things than the one in ''VIII'').
* ''VideoGame/{{Rift}}'': The planes, where each one of the six elements (Fire, Water, Earth, Air, Life and Death) rules unrestrained. Closing portals that their inhabitants can get through is a core part of the game.
* ''VideoGame/NetHack'': The late game.
* ''VideoGame/UltimaVIII'': The world of Pagan is divided roughly into four regions, each dominated by a Titan (an elemental demi-god). Unsurprisingly, each region is heavily characterized by the relevant element. Additionally, an actual Elemental Plane of [[ElementNumberFive Aether]] exists outside of Pagan.

* ''Webcomic/IrregularWebcomic'': The Infinite Featureless Plane of Death. Note that this is apparently a parody/shout out to ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'', even though the author denies (in jest) ever reading that series.
* In ''Webcomic/DominicDeegan'' we've seen the Plane of Destruction, and got a brief glimpse of the Plane of Air; the existence of the other elemental planes is referenced occasionally.
* ''Webcomic/AwfulHospital'': The Zones, with "element" replaced by "concept".

* The ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' episode [[Recap/FamilyGuyS8E1RoadToTheMultiverse "Road to the Multiverse"]] featured quite a few of these.
* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' had several. When Timmy wishes to become a fairy and attempts to get to "Fairy World", he first ends up in "Scary World" and "Hairy World". A cow then shows up in Hairy World asking if she's in "Dairy World".
* One of several D&D references in ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'' involved Grim trying to take Billy and Mandy to the elemental plane of fire.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'' has the same elemental planes as ''Dungeons and Dragons'', forming the inner part of the Inner Sphere of outer planes immediately around the material world, with Air closest to the "center", then water, then Earth, then Fire. Unlike ''D&D'', while elementals are present and common, the true rulers of the planes are the various races of genies, as well as the four breeds of primal dragon associated with the elements.

** This comes epsecialy to the fore in the ''TabletopGame/{{Planescape}}'' setting, which takes place in the multiverse at large. The most notable are the “inner planes”, which represent physical matter, and the “outer planes”, which represent more philosophical concepts.
*** The inner planes, the ones actually referred to as elemental planes in-lore, include the traditional planes of Air, Earth, Fire, and Water, as well as the planes of Positive Energy (which animates living creatures and from where healing spells draw their power) and Negative Energy (which animates the undead and from where necromancy draws its power). There are also the quasielemental planes (formed by an element interacting with either positive or negative energy) and paraelemental planes (formed by two elements interacting)[[note]]These are Dust (Earth + Negative Energy), Ash (Fire + Negative Energy), Salt (Water + Negative Energy), Vacuum (Air + Negative Energy), Mineral (Earth + Positive Energy), Radiance (Fire + Positive Energy), Steam (Water + Positive Energy), Lightning (Air + Positive Energy), Magma (Earth + Fire), Smoke (Fire + Air), Ice (Air + Water) and Ooze (Water + Earth)[[/note]].

** 4th Edition takes the elemental planes, the ChaoticEvil Abyss and the ChaoticNeutral Limbo and mixes them into one plane, the [[PrimordialChaos Elemental Chaos]].
* ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'' has the same elemental planes as ''Dungeons and Dragons'', forming part of the Inner Sphere of outer planes immediately around the material world, with Air closest to it, followed by Water, then Earth, then Fire.

[[folder: Web Comics ]]

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

* In ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', there are many of these. The "inner planes" include planes of Air, Earth, Fire, and Water, as well as the planes of "Positive Energy" and "Negative Energy".
** In the ''TabletopGame/{{Planescape}}'' setting, the "outer planes" include a plane representing each of the {{Character Alignment}}s, and the "inner planes" also include "quasielemental" (an element interacting with either positive or negative energy) or "paraelemental" (two elements interacting) planes such as "the Plane of Dust", "the Plane of Lightning", "the Plane of Ice", etc.

** 4th Edition takes the elemental planes and mixes them into one plane, the [[PrimordialChaos Elemental Chaos]].

[[folder: Literature ]]

[[folder: Tabletop Games ]]

A setting that represents or is made of a concept/thing. It may be [[GeniusLoci sentient]], in which case it may also have an avatar running around. {{Elemental Embodiment}}s are likely to have come from this place.

Compare ElementalNation, for when it's a society rather than a physical place that embodies and element or concept, which may still be an example. Compare and contrast AnthropomorphicPersonification, for when it's a person rather than a place.

Compare ElementalNation, which may be an example. Compare and contrast AnthropomorphicPersonification, for when it's a person rather than a place.

** The realms that can be considered elemental planes are [[LightEmUp Alfheim]], home of the Light Elves; [[CastingAShadow Svartalfheim]], home of the Dark Elves; [[PlayingWithFire Muspellheim]], the primordial realm of fire and light and home of the Fire Giants; [[AnIcePerson Niflheim]], the primordial realm of ice and darkness and sometimes conflated with the land of the dead; [[MakingASplash Vanaheim]], home of the Vanir gods (typically seen as marshes or wetlands); and [[DishingOutDirt Jotunheim]], home of the giants, trolls and ettins (very mountainous).

* In ''WorldOfWarcraft'' the elemental lords who served the Old Gods would be constantly reborn so the Titans chose to seal them into the Elemental Plane, which in turn was split into four regions. They played a major role in ''Cataclysm''.

* ''EverQuest'' has a bunch of these. Indeed, an entire expansion is called "The Planes of Power", and contains something like 15 different planes. And there are more planes from other expansions.

** Later, the Elemental Plane of Earth is shown to exist. It has its own cult worshipping the element itself, and is apparently home to the metallic elementals seen elsewhere in the comic.

* In ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' (which is an AffectionateParody of ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''), [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0802.html Varsuvius was magically transported to "The Plane of Ranch Dressing".]]

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]

* ''[[Literature/TheTygrineCat The Tygrine Cat On The Run]]'' has the three realms at the heart of [[SpiritWorld Fiåney]]: the Harakar, which contains PrimordialChaos and represents the virtue of Instinct; Sienta, home of the first cat ever to exist, which represents the virtue of Judgment; and Ra'ha, [[spoiler: the equivalent of {{Heaven}}]], which represents the virtue of Spirit.

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]

[[AC:{{Mythology}}]]

[[AC:TabletopGames]]

[[AC:VideoGames]]

[[AC:WebComics]]

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]

* The ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'' episode "Room With A Moose" has two consecutive examples of this trope, with Zim showing Dib other places he could have used the wormhole to send him. The first is "a dimension of pure itching" which is only shown as a green mist, Zim [[TakeOurWordForIt assuring]] Dib "that stuff's really itchy", while the second is "[[ToiletHumor a dimension of pure dooky]]" which isn't shown at all, only Dib's [[TakeOurWordForIt horrified reaction visible]].

* ''IrregularWebcomic'': The Infinite Featureless Plane of Death. Note that this is apparently a parody/shout out to ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'', even though the author denies (in jest) ever reading that series.

* ''VideoGame/{{Rift}}'': The planes, where each one of the six elements rules unrestrained. Closing portals that their inhabitants can get through is a core part of the game.

** The realms that can be attributed to be elemental planes are [[LightEmUp Alfheim]], home of the Light Alfs; [[CastingAShadow Svartalfheim]], home of the Dark Alfs; [[PlayingWithFire Muspellheim]], home of the Fire Giants; [[AnIcePerson Niflheim]], home of the Ice Giants; [[MakingASplash Vanaheim]], home of the Vana Gods (typically seen as marshes or wetlands); and [[DishingOutDirt Jotunheim]], home of etins (very mountainous).

** In the ''TabletopGame/{{Planescape}}'' setting, the "outer planes" include a plane representing each of the {{Character Alignment}}s, and the "inner planes" also include "quasielemental" (an element interacting with either positive or negative energy) or "paraelemental" (two elements interacting) planes such as "the Plane of Dust", "the Plane of Lightning", etc.

* The ''WesternAnimation/Invader Zim'' episode "Room With A Moose" has two consecutive examples of this trope, with Zim showing Dib other places he could have used the wormhole to send him. The first is "a dimension of pure itching" which is only shown as a green mist, Zim [[TakeOurWordForIt assuring]] Dib "that stuff's really itchy", while the second is "[[ToiletHumor a dimension of pure dooky]]" which isn't shown at all, only Dib's [[TakeOurWordForIt horrified reaction visible]].

* ''WorldOfWarcraft'' hinted at those in the past, but really went nuts with the concept in ''Cataclysm'':

* In NorseMythology, most of [[TheWorldTree the Nine Realms]] can be seen as one of these, though their elemental connotations are believed to be metaphors for the human psyche.

* There's a universe of shrimp mentioned as a gag on ''Series/{{Buffy|The Vampire Slayer}}''[=/=]''Series/{{Angel}}''.

* One of several D&D references in ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'' involved Grim trying to take Billy and Mandy to the elemental plane of fire.

* In ''Webcomic/DominicDeegan'' we've seen the Plane of Destruction; the existence of the other elemental planes is referenced occasionally.