History Main / ElementalBaggage

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--->'''Cornelia''': Plants don't exactly grow in thin air, you know.

* ''VideoGame/GoldenSun'' contains some pretty good examples of this, such as characters freezing small puddles of water into huge ice pillars.
** In a few instances in the sequel one must provide the water for the puddle by using a spell to fill a small indentation with water before it can be frozen, so it really is just a small puddle. However, since most of the magic in the game is situational (several of the cooler sounding magic will only work with certain terrain features, notably the "hover" and "teleport" spells), this is easily handwaved.

** The meteor shower at least, is semi-Justified by it actually being a [[HardLight materialized hologram]].
** It's averted by the Silk Shot from ''VideoGame/MegaManX2'', a weapon that attracts debris from around the level and coalesces it into a projectile that explodes in a spread. The debris is usually [[ExtraOreDinary scrap metal]], but in certain levels it can attract [[DishingOutDirt rocks]], [[GreenThumb leaves]], or [[GemstoneAssault crystals]].
* ''VideoGame/{{Okami}}'' also uses this one, where paintbrush techniques can pull various elements across the screen. It gets really bad when later brush techniques can pull these elements out of nowhere. Then again, we are talking about gods here...
** Interestingly, late-game weapons double as literal Elemental Baggage - if you need a stream of fire, you can just pull it from your flaming disc weapon. Which uses up a whole lot less ink then making it appear out of thin air. Same goes for your final rosary and glaive; Her rosary contains the ice element while her glaive contains thunder. As far as techniques that have you connecting two targets on-screen with a line, this just leaves the water power (which was obsolete in just about every way but one at that point) and the vine power (which was incredibly circumstantial and was mainly used for transportation).

* ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'': Pyro apparently took night classes in this trope seeing as one of his/her taunts produces fire out of thin air. (Their chi, perhaps, since it is a [[KamehameHadoken Hadokuen]].)
** Depending on who you ask, there's also the questions of where the Dispenser gets the matter to generate infinite amounts of ammunition and metal, where the Medigun gets the energy to promote endless healing, how Respawn is supposed to work, and where all of those ammo and health packs keep coming from.

* ''VideoGame/DungeonCrawl'' generally plays this straight, but makes an exception for summoning elementals and the Sandblast spell. Elementals require a large source of the element in question (Air and Earth are pretty easy; fire and water are tricky), and Sandblast works best if the caster is holding a large stone, or else it has to use the ambient grit
** Spells that create stuff always include the Conjurations spell school (for example, Bolt of Fire is a Fire/Conjuration spell). Spells that require a natural source never do.

* ComicBook/{{Storm}} from the ''ComicBook/XMen''. This was used to (sort of) explain that she can ''control'' weather, but not really ''create'' it. (For instance, when she makes it rain ''inside'' a room, it becomes much drier ''outside''.) Compare [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor]], who can make it rain ''anywhere'' because his powers are explicitly magical. It was also originally stated that her ability to shoot lightning bolts out of her hands was because her body naturally generated a strong [[CriticalResearchFailure positive]] electrical charge. This was rather swiftly dropped.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': Witches in the Abomination coven fight by summoning up a specialized goo to manipulate (most commonly in the form of semi-sentient {{Muck Monster}}s), though the implication is that it's pre-made and then teleported to their location. Amity is also shown carrying a small jar of the stuff on her belt in "Eclipse Lake" so she doesn't have to waste precious seconds summoning it in combat ([[ActorAllusion similar to]] [[WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender Katara's waterskin]]).

** This also makes Airbenders ([[LastOfHisKind the last one left, anyway]]) quite formidable, as they almost never run out of element to bend. The sole exception is when they get sent to the Spirit World because, as Aang found out, bending doesn't work without a physical body, which is pretty hard to get into the Spirit World. [[spoiler:It is possible to bend in the Spirit World by walking through a spirit portal, as shown in ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'']]).

* On ''WesternAnimation/{{Ben 10}}'', Osmosians, such as Kevin 11, can absorb anything into themselves, but they need to have something to absorb, so Gwen gets the idea for Kevin to carry rocks along with him to provide him with armor. He appreciates the gesture but explains that he needs a lot more material to make his armor.

* Averted in ''WesternAnimation/{{WITCH}}'' for the most part. Taranee is shown to absorb and exert heat from the human body, which is the source of her fire as she is shown to be unable to conjure fire when the heat from her body was drained away from her in "S is for Self". Irma also needs moisture in the air to create water. Cornelia subverts this the most when her element is useless in "N is for Narcissist" where the fighting takes place in a floating fortress in the sky with no plant-life at all.

* Truly {{Averted|Trope}} in ''WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers'': The Ring of Water could only control existing bodies of water. Used straight with the Ring of Fire, though.
** And it burns, burns, burns, the ring of fire, the ring of fire. (Sorry)
** Looking closely at the rings, what is noticeable is that Earth, Wind, and Water are Gold rings while Fire and Heart are Silver. The golden rings require external sources, while the silver rings come from within. Since most of their battles took place on land, The Ring of Earth has plenty of Earth to tap into; and the Ring of Wind can tap into the Air practically everywhere. As fire requires several factors to come together in order to happen naturally, a person's inner fire better suits the Ring of Fire.

** The precautions taken against airbenders are seen in season 4: [[spoiler:Zaheer]] (who can even ''fly'') is kept in and underground vault with metal doors bent open when someone needs to see him, and he's kept chained to the ground.

* ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'' often has characters summoning giant chunks of ice, balls of fire, pillars of stone, etc. out of nowhere. It's [[AWizardDidIt magic]], though, so no one seems to care.\\

* In the ''Comicbook/FantasticFour'', the Human Torch's power is the ability to set his body on fire, yet there's not usually any actual ''fuel'' for said fire.

* Played with in ''FanFic/PsychoDust'', where the main character Daisuke and his abilities over fire. Although he can control flames, he can't generate them himself, requiring such outside forces as a lighter or a pair of gloves that work like flints. However, when he does get a light, he can cause it to grow or even increase in temperature. Later revealed to be completely disregarded when it's revealed that the flames are coming from him and not outside forces, though they certainly do help.

* ''[[FanFic/TriptychContinuum (In)convenience]]'': After Applejack breaks her family's salad spinner, Rainbow Dash offers to let her borrow the ''wonder'' (a piece of pegasus {{Magitek}}) she uses for the same purpose. Unfortunately, though the ''wonder'' can instantly dry off soaked fruit or vegetables, that water still has to go somewhere. In a Pegasus cloud-house, this is actually a bonus because the extra moisture can be used to reinforce the kitchen walls. In an earth pony house, on the other hand, the water ends up going all over the kitchen.

* ''{{Franchise/Mistborn}}'' by Creator/BrandonSanderson has a very literal example where Allomancers must consume specific metals (both elemental and alloys) to fuel their abilities. Each metal corresponds to a specific power and running out a particular element is a consistent concern. Allomancers generally carry extra metal for refueling as needed. Controlling the supply of one particularly powerful (fictional) metal is part of how TheEmperor controls the economy as well.

** MageTheAwakening, another new world of darkness property, has a similar system since a mage's increasing power represents him being less bound by the laws of the universe. A rank-2 Arcana allows 'ruling' abilities that manipulate an existing instance of whatever the arcanum governs, such as matter 2 allowing a mage to reshape a solid object as if it were soft clay. Actually creating the element from scratch requires full mastery of the arcanum (5 ranks), as conservation laws are some of the most fundamental rules of the universe.

** Interestingly, late-game weapons double as literal Elemental Baggage - if you need a stream of fire, you can just pull it from your flaming disc weapon.
*** Which uses up a whole lot less ink then making it appear out of thin air.
*** Same goes for your final rosary and glaive; Her rosary contains the ice element while her glaive contains thunder. As far as techniques that have you connecting two targets on-screen with a line, this just leaves the water power (which was obsolete in just about every way but one at that point) and the vine power (which was incredibly circumstantial and was mainly used for transportation).

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* In the Russian webcomic ''{{Webcomic/Eighth}}''. The setting's magic manifests as summoning contracts between a mage and an ElementalEmbodiment, called their "element" or just "el".

* {{Averted|Trope}} in one of ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'' books: Rand specifically notes how dry it is in the desert, and after expanding his search in the air for hundreds of miles, just goes underground to an aquifer.
** However, also used straight; while weaving fire is often used to set people and objects on fire, as well as projecting illusions, the most common use for it is creating fireballs out of thin air. (To be fair, these are supposed to be balls of hot air held together with magic. "Fireball" just sounds better.)
** The "water from a desert" thing is used similarly in ''[[Literature/InheritanceCycle Eragon]]'', where the title character can't get enough water from the air, and attempting to control the weather to get rain would [[EquivalentExchange kill him]], so he digs a pit and uses a spell to draw up water from deep underground.

* {{Averted|Trope}} pretty reliably in the ''Literature/CircleOfMagic'' books and sequels. Tris may be an incredibly powerful "weather witch", but in order to summon rain, she has to ''bring'' it from somewhere, and to get rid of it, she has to send it somewhere else; tampering with the weather has a high ecological cost in this 'verse.

* Worked around in Literature/SkulduggeryPleasant. Any Elemental attack requires there to be some of the element around but once there's a bit of it in the vicinity it can be expanded on. Need a fireball? Snap your fingers and use the friction to create a spark. From there it can be turned into a proper fire with magic.

** This also makes Airbenders ([[LastOfHisKind the last one left anyway]]) quite formidable, as they effectively never run out of element to bend (unless they get sent to the Spirit World because, as Aang found out, bending doesn't work without a physical body, which is pretty hard to get into the Spirit World. [[spoiler:we get shown you can bend in the Spirit World by walking through a spirit portal in the Legend of Korra]]).

* Played straight for most wizards in ''Manga/FairyTail'' who can create elemental spells from nothing but their magic power but it's averted by Lucy who can only [[SummonMagic summon]] [[MakingASplash Aquarius]] when she has a fairly large source of water but to compensate Aquarius is [[GiantWallOfWateryDoom almost always a match deciding spell]].

Related to NoConservationOfEnergy, ShapeshifterBaggage and the HyperspaceArsenal. Often implied for SnowMeansCold.

* Apparently invoked only to be nastily averted in ''Anime/NowAndThenHereAndThere''. Lala Ru is introduced as having the ability to create endless water using her pendant. [[spoiler:This is later clarified as the pendant containing a vast but by now nearly emptied reservoir of water, the depletion of which is directly tied to Lala Ru's steadily worsening condition, and ''then'' it's heavily implied that, far from the pendant creating extra water, there's a connection between the slow emptying of Lala Ru's pendant and the fact the earth has turned into a desert. And then by the end Lala Ru finally uses the last of the water. And dies.]] But then, nothing in Now and Then, Here and There works out well for those involved.

** It should be noted that the "huge amounts of water appearing out of thin air" [[NoOntologicalInertia disappeared when the guy that made it appear was beaten]]. And given that people regular using SummonMagic for both magical animals and weapons, it likely that this involved summoning the water from a remote location. With the Second Hokage it's even specifically noted (as per the above quote) that not needing an existing water source had to do with his level of skill.

** This is pretty much the only thing that can possibly explain [[spoiler:the Sage of the Six Paths creating the moon without the sudden presence of a new body of gravity killing everything on the planet. Never mind the conspicuous lack of a moon sized crater that the material to create it should have come from.]]

** The Third Hokage actually had a jutsu which played this straight using ''dirt'' that just came out of his mouth to block attacks.
** At one point a character with the power to "absorb any ninjutsu" is able to absorb the water being pulled out of thin air by another character, but can't absorb the sand that Gaara carries around and and creates by grinding up nearby rocks. The implication is that when the element they need isn't nearby ninjas just create an artificial substitute with their own chakra, which is convenient but inferior in some ways to the real thing.

* [[AnIcePerson Ice]] and [[MakingASplash Water]] users from ''Manga/{{Bleach}}''. Hitsugaya, the most prominant ice-user, goes for the "humidity" explanation, even when conjuring icicles the size of buildings.

Lampshaded AllThereInTheManual, as it states high level ice magic is harder than high level fire magic because [[NoConservationOfEnergy it breaks more Laws of Thermodynamics]].

* Played straight for most wizards in ''Manga/FairyTail'' who can create elemental spells from nothing but their magic power but its averted by Lucy who can only [[SummonMagic summon]] [[MakingASplash Aquarius]] when she has a fairly large source of water but to compensate Aquarius is [[GiantWallOfWateryDoom almost always a match deciding spell]].
* Averted in a certain instance in ''[[Manga/SoulHunter Houshin Engi]]''. Koyuken of the Four Saints of Kuryuu Island wields the Paopei Kongenju (an orb the size of a basketball) which allows him to summon as much water as he wants, to the point that he's introduced flooding a montainous desert area with a colossal tsunami. During the fight against Taikobo (who notices that it's salt water), he explains that Kongenju is connected to a twin orb floating in the ocean of Kingo Island and thus it doesn't create water but rather summon the water from one orb to the other.

* ComicBook/{{Storm}} from the ''ComicBook/XMen''. This was used to (sort of) explain that she can ''control'' weather, but not really ''create'' it. (For instance, when she makes it rain ''inside'' a room, it becomes much drier ''outside''.) Compare [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor]], who can make it rain ''anywhere'', because his powers are explicitly magical. It was also originally stated that her ability to shoot lightning bolts out of her hands was because her body naturally generated a strong [[CriticalResearchFailure positive]] electrical charge. This was rather swiftly dropped.

* Played with in ''FanFic/PsychoDust'', where the main character Daisuke and his abilities over fire. Although he can control flames, he can't generate them himself, requiring such outside forces as a lighter or a pair of gloves that work like flints. However, when he does get a light, he can cause it grow or even increase in temperature. Later revealed to be completely disregarded when its revealed that the flames are coming from him and not outside forces, though they certainly do help.

* ''[[FanFic/TriptychContinuum (In)convenience]]'': After Applejack breaks her family's salad spinner, Rainbow Dash offers to let her borrow the ''wonder'' (a piece of pegasus {{Magitek}}) she uses for the same purpose. Unfortunately, though the ''wonder'' can instantly dry off soaked fruit or vegetables, that water still has to go somewhere. In a Pegasus cloud-house this is actually a bonus, because the extra moisture can be used to reinforce the kitchen walls. In an earth pony house, on the other hand, the water ends up going all over the kitchen.
* Averted in ''[[https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/the-heroic-chronicles-of-a-young-man-youjo-senki-my-hero-academia.875316/page-40#post-72474632 The Heroic Chronicles of a Young Man]]''. Tenya's family tend to have Quirks related to producing energy and/or materials, all of which come from internal reserves. One of Tenya's cousins can produce metal from her body, even items as complex as guns, but needs to eat metal to do so and regularly eats anything she creates to recycle the material. Tenya and his mother both produce energy from their bodies and require far more food than most to fill their reserves. Not knowing this actually caused Tenya's mother to suffer malnutrition as a child, leaving her with significantly stunted growth.

* {{Averted|Trope}} pretty reliably in the ''Literature/CircleOfMagic'' books and sequels. Tris may be an incredibly powerful "weather witch" but in order to summon rain, she has to ''bring'' it from somewhere, and to get rid of it, she has to send it somewhere else; tampering with the weather has a high ecological cost in this 'verse.

** In-universe it's explained that any effects, after being created with magic, will still follow the laws of physics as normal. After a fireball is thrown it just become normal fire, igniting anything flammable and buring out if it runs out of fuel.
* Averted five times out of six in the ''Literature/CodexAlera'' series, also by Jim Butcher. Everyone has powers corresponding to at least one of six elemental "furies" of earth, air, fire, water, metal and wood. Some basic techniques can be done with minimal amounts of the appropriate element, but their power is almost directly proportional to the amount available, to the point that being cut off from it completely (like a metalcrafter with no metal) renders the power totally inert. This is specifically used with prisoners, making cells that both contain their elemental opposite (which also can help cut off their powers) and giving them none of their appropriate element. The exception is firecrafters, who can make something room-temperature burst into flame instantly. On the other hand, skilled firecrafters are in high demand because being powerful enough to make it useful is apparently more difficult than other types of crafting. Aircrafting is also something of an exception, simply because if there's no air to craft there are bigger issue like breathing.

* {{Averted|Trope}} in the ''Literature/RoseOfTheProphet'' trilogy. When a wizard travels to a desert environment he teaches some locals how to cast a spell to create mist and fog in order to allow them to help captured love ones escape. He fails to remember his teachers warning never to use the spell in dry conditions and as a result all the water has to come from somewhere. Specifically from the enemies guarding the prisoners who end up as dehydrated corpses. The wizard is understandably upset to find out he accidentally caused the deaths of a few dozen people who were just doing their jobs.
* A version of this appears in Literature/TheDeathGateCycle. The magic in the books is based on possibilities. So if a wizard is going to cast a fireball, he shapes the waves of reality to find a possible situation where a ball of flame could be hurled through the air. Or if he is being shot by an arrow, he can turn air into solid shield in front of him. No need to really know why, just that there is a CHANCE that the effect might be possible. Only limitation is that more complex spells take longer to prepare. For example in the books the main character prepares weapons with enhancement to kill with each hit. They take hours to prepare (scratching runes into metal) and even a small mistake in rune carving means he must begin everything from the scratch.
* Averted in Dragon Weather, and its sequels. The titular dragons don't actually breath flame, they expel a fine mist of combustible fuel, much like a flame thrower.

* Worked around in Literature/SkulduggeryPleasant. Any Elemental attack requires there to be some of the element around but once there's a bit of it in the vicinity it can be expanded on. Need a fireball? Snap you fingers and use the friction to create a spark. From there it can be turned into a proper fire with magic.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

** MageTheAwakening, another new world of darkness property, has a similar system, since a mage's increasing power represents him being less bound by the laws of the universe. A rank-2 Arcana allows 'ruling' abilities which manipulate an existing instance of whatever the arcanum governs, such as matter 2 allowing a mage to reshape a solid object as if it were soft clay. Actually creating the element from scratch requires full mastery of the arcanum (5 ranks), as conservation laws are some of the most fundamental rules of the universe.
*** This gets interesting since Mage is very much not limited to the classical elements and the same limitations apply to "elements" like time, fate, minds and souls. Apparently conservation of 'years alive' is a physical law of nature in the world of darkness.
* In ''TabletopGame/TheDarkEye'', most magical traditions need a small amount of one of the six elements is to summon a servant, djinn or master elemental of that particular element. If the element in question is not pure (sand instead of stone for a stone elemental) it will be more difficult, should it be purer, it will be easier (diamond instead of stone for a stone elemental).

*** For example, in one of the online story serials, [[BlowYouAway Lewa]] and a group of other beings are suddenly transported into space and he's able to create air bubbles around their heads so they can breath.

* Sub-Zero of ''Franchise/MortalKombat'' at first only had the ability to freeze enemies without any superfluous ice forming, but these days is capable of creating ice out thin air. It's weakly {{Hand Wave}}d by him freezing water vapor in the air, but that doesn't quite account for how he can make something as large as a sword out of a thimbleful of surrounding moisture.

* ''VideoGame/{{Okami}}'' also uses this one, where paintbrush techniques can pull various elements across the screen. It gets really bad when later brush techniques can pull these elements out of nowhere. Then again, we are talking about gods here....

*** Same goes for your final rosary and glaive; Her rosary contains the ice element while her glaive contains thunder. As far as techniques that have you connecting two targets on screen with a line, this just leaves the water power (which was obsolete in just about every way but one at that point) and the vine power (which was incredibly circumstantial and was mainly used for transportation).

* Any ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' game, as well as most {{RPG}}'s in general, as magic usually allows you to make flames, ice chunks, etc. appear out of thin air. Although you do have to sacrifice some [[ManaMeter MP]].

* [[PlayerCharacter Geralt]] [[ExploitedTrope takes advantage of an aversion]] during the boss fight in Chapter 2 of ''VideoGame/TheWitcher''. [[spoiler:The mage [[TheDragon Azar Javed]] specializes in fire magic. Geralt lures him to a swamp, since water is fire's [[ElementalPowers opposite element]].]]

* ''VideoGame/MonsterHunter'' has a go at averting this through its use of FantasticScience. If a dragon breathes fire, that's because it has an organ in its chest that creates powder that ignites on contact with the air, and if you're lucky you might even be able to carve said organ from its corpse when you hunt it. The except is the Dragon element, which is considered an enigma InUniverse precisely because it breaks all the apparent rules.

* Undine of ''Webcomic/SleeplessDomain'' has a set amount of water, a roughly human sized sphere, she can conjure and control regardless of circumstances. However it's noted on several occasions that her powers are much more effective when she has outside water to use. Rainy nights or water from drainage ditches offer her much more power than she would have normally, and if the air is humid or foggy enough she can sense monsters' locations even better than Heartful Punch, who's generally one of the better {{Sensor Character}}s in the series.
* In the russian webcomic ''{{Webcomic/Eighth}}''. The setting's magic manifests as summoning contracts between a mage and an ElementalEmbodiment, called their "element" or just "el".

** Deep in the dungeons below the Academy of Esmer there is a room filled with various shiny metal items, which appears deliberately designed to vastly empower the unique el of metal. This is lampshaded by a rebel group entering the room [[spoiler: moments before said unique el accompanying them breaks mind-control, absorbs the metal and proceeds to reduce the rebellion to bloody smears.]]

* On ''WesternAnimation/{{Ben 10}}'', Osmosians, such as Kevin 11, can absorb anything into themselves, but they need to have something to absorb, so Gwen gets the idea for Kevin to carry rocks along with him to provide him with armor. He appreciates the gesture, but explains that he needs a lot more material to make his armor.
** Also, he never actually absorbs the material itself, mostly just replicating an appoximate amount; it's been shown that he himself is not now "made" from the material, it's just a covering that can be broken off. From the example above, Gwen tosses him a small metal marble. When he "absorbs" it, the marble goes nowhere nor does it shrink; however, only his hand and a bit of his wrist is covered from the process. However, this does not quite work the same when he absorbs a material from an alien who can create its own (ie, Diamondhead). And when he was forced to touch a piece of Taydenite crystal, he had an uncontrolled growth of crystals from his back that seemed very painful.

* ''{{Franchise/Mistborn}}'' by Creator/BrandonSanderson has a more literal example where Allomancers must literally consume specific metals (both elemental and alloys) to fuel their abilities. Each element and alloy corresponds to a specific power and running low on (or out of) a particular element comes up from time to time. Allomancers generally carry several vials of metal flakes suspended in alcohol to refuel during encounters. Controlling the single known source of one (fictional) metal is actually one of the pillars of the economy early on.
* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' by Creator/JimButcher averts this at times. While it is entirely possible to create fire, solid objects (formed from ectoplasm, they collapse when magic is no longer sustaining them), and energy through the use of a wizard's personal will, they can also channel existing energy. Emotions can also be used to power spells. Harry has frozen water by drawing heat from it to create fire and channeled the energy of a storm, but has also just created fire and tossed it around, and [[spoiler:after becoming the Winter Knight, gains the ability to create cold.]]
** The in-universe explanation is that you can call up fire with magic, but once it gets there, it behaves like real fire. So after the initial fire blast, anything flammable may ignite, and once you cut the magic powering it, any fire without anything to burn just dissipates.
* Averted five times out of six in the ''Literature/CodexAlera'' series, also by Jim Butcher. Everyone has powers corresponding to at least one of six elemental "furies" of earth, air, fire, water, metal and wood. The power of people with water furies varies greatly depending on how much water is around them. Same for aircrafters, earthcrafters, metalcrafters and woodcrafters: their power is almost directly proportional to the amount of that element within easy reach. The one exception is firecrafters. Their power is countered by water, but that's just because they are elemental opposites; it has nothing to do with physics or conservation of mass or energy. A good firecrafter can make something room-temperature burst into flame instantly, as long as both it and he are dry.
** On the other hand, firecrafters are in high demand because its apparently more difficult than other disciplines.
* In ''Literature/HarryPotter'' it is explicitly stated that you can't create matter out of thin air (explaining Mrs. Weasley's ability to conjure up food to cook). During the course of the books, Harry has used a spell to shoot a stream of water from his wand and conjure flame. However, it is never explained how exactly the fire is created. More specifically, food is one of Gamp's Five Untransmutables. Anything not on that list is fair game for being instantly generated.

* In ''Disney/{{Frozen}}'', Elsa summons massive quantities of ice and snow out of seemingly nowhere. In the finale, [[spoiler:she dissipates the products of her EndlessWinter, also seemingly into nothing]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', Hama reveals to Katara that using the water in the air is very doable, and when Firebenders imprisoned the Waterbenders from the Southern Water Tribe, they piped dry air into their cells to make sure they couldn't do anything. However, this is a more realistic instance; when they're pulling water from the air, Waterbenders only receive small portions. And when they're pulling it from living things, things tend to wither and die for quite a large area for a relatively small amount of water. Also averted with Earthbenders to the extent that keeping refined metal between them and any earth or stone is considered sufficient to imprison them... and only two have proven common wisdom wrong (one by commanding nearby stone with his exposed face, the other by figuring out how to control impurities in the metal). Though they're sometimes shown pulling boulders out of the ground without making a hole or noticeable mark in the ground [[FridgeLogic (closing said hole is also likely the result of Earthbending)]]. However, this is played straight in the case of Firebenders, who are capable of creating fire, though it's explained in-universe by [[KiAttacks chi]]; presumably, they sling around burning energy. This also explains why they can force their fire to explode at will.

* Played with in ''Discworld/GuardsGuards'', a ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novel. Swamp dragons, which are small pathetic creatures kept as house pets, ''can'' breathe fire but are obsessed with fuel and frequently explode from getting the mix wrong. 'Noble dragons', the series' name for the standard fantasy fire-breathing dragon, run on magic - whether this counts as fuel or not is debatable, although magical items are seen to crumble to dust once the magic is sucked out by [[spoiler:summoning the dragon]].

** This also makes Airbenders ([[LastOfHisKind the last one left anyway]]) quite formidable, as they effectively never run out of element to bend (unless they get sent to the Spirit World because, as Aang found out, bending doesn't work there).