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Water Is Womanly covers some of the connections between water and women spellcasters.
See also Ice Magic Is Water.
Edited by PCD
I'm not sure... see, woman spellcasters are not necessary elves, and we do have Making a Splash, which is about magically controlling water. But water being magical and/or mysterious in its own right?
I recall maybe looking for something similar
before, although it was more "contact with water causes disastrous effects", but making a trope called Water Is Magical was suggested there too. That's all I can help with however, but maybe it can be (made) a supertrope?
Maybe. It'd cover all the hydromancy and Tir-na-nOg (I'm not spelling this right... it's four in the morning here) stuff.
Hmm. Is fair folk stuff automatically feminine stuff? Not that I mind, just... not sure. I've been thinking about how Faerie is always beyond the water, on an island or in the mist, about how oracles divine by looking into water, how water is home to creatures like rusałka, topielica, kelpie, selkie and kappa - dangerous, mystical and weird. Your triangle is a good pictorial summary of the vague thoughts I'm having.
nvm, missed that my addition had been mentioned
Edited by Scorpion451
It's okay, I've been busy. So - water is magic. Elves/fairies/magical creatures live in or beyond the water (I remember reading in a book about Middle Ages that water elementals - undines - were more like modern fantasy elves than like the other, non-sentient elementals). Water magic heals and lets you see the future, and sometimes protects from the undead (Cannot Cross Running Water) or evil magic. Anything else?
Water's powers are healing and powerful destruction, and there are tropes for both aspects here: Heal It with Water and Making a Splash. The first is likely more feminine, and the latter more masculine.
I suppose this is true of the elemental forces in general, as Earth can produce nuturing crops, yet we can also experience destructive earthquakes; Fire can warm our homes, but also consume houses and forests; and Wind may vary from soft breezes to tornadoes and hurricanes.
Edited by PCD
True, but that's not what I meant. See above.
You can always propose a trope page. There’s a link above this thread.
One of the functions of the trope finder is helping to figure out if there's a trope-shaped hole between other tropes- it seems like you've got a solid lead on a YKTTW here, but PCD brings up a good point:
You're ignoring half the mystical properties of water by focusing only on the White Magic connotations- it's true that water can soothe, cleanse, calm, and cool. Water sustains life, and is tied both to the birth of the individual and of life itself. Water can be a protective boundary between places, and also a means of travel. We speak of seas of wisdom and knowledge, and the flow of the future into the past.
You also have to account for mystical water's Black Magic side, however: Water can rage, churn, and sweep away; stagnate and freeze; drown, permeate, and erode; the tides are constant in their change. In water there be dragons- in the fathomless depths, at its endless horizons, and in places beyond. Water is mysterious and destructive just as much as it is protective and creative.
Edited by Scorpion451
^Thank you, Scorpion, I appreciate that.
Veanne, you asked if there were more details about water magic, and it occurred to me that we've all seen footage of floods, tsunamis, and torrential rains— and some have probably lived through these events. Nature is erratic, and it is no wonder that the Elements are dual-sided, both Light and Dark.
Okay, not that I'm not appreciating the advice, but wouldn't "water is home to creatures like rusałka, topielica, kelpie, selkie and kappa - dangerous, mystical and weird" cover dragons? What I meant is magicalness inherent in water, and that includes mysterious and destructive. Magic isn't safe.
I've been searching a bit, but nothing definitive came up - do we have one about how water often signifies something otherworldly? There's plenty of tropes about specific water - The Fair Folk or water - magic connections, like: Cannot Cross Running Water, Healing Spring, Symbolic Serene Submersion (especially Instant Oracle: Just Add Water!) and so on. But a general supertrope? Do we have one?