History Main / ElementalPowers

* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' has ''eighteen'' types: [[BigCreepyCrawlies Bug]], [[CombatPragmatist Da]][[CastingAShadow rk]], [[InstantAwesomeJustAddDragons Dragon]], [[ShockAndAwe Electric]], [[OurFairiesAreDifferent Fairy]], [[CharlesAtlasSuperpower Fighting]], [[PlayingWithFire Fire]], [[BlowYouAway Fly]][[{{Flight}} ing]], [[SoulPower Ghost]], [[GreenThumb Grass]], [[DishingOutDirt Ground]], [[AnIcePerson Ice]], [[NonElemental Normal]], [[PoisonousPerson Poison]], [[PsychicPowers Psychic]], [[RockSteady Rock]], [[ExtraOreDinary Steel]], and [[MakingASplash Water]]. To make it even more complicated, a Pokémon can either have one of those types, or have ''two'' types and get the Weaknesses and Resistances of both.

** The majority of genetically-exclusive bloodline powers, or ''Kekkai Genkai'', work by combining two elements to create a new one; Earth and Water makes [[GreenThumb Wood]], Air and Water becomes [[AnIcePerson Ice]], Fire and Earth gives us [[MagmaCumLaude Lava]], Fire and Water makes [[HollywoodAcid "Boil"]] (A corrosive/acidic mist), Water and Lightning creates [[LightEmUp "Storm"]] (BeamSpam), and Earth, Wind & Fire (amusingly enough) creates "Dust" (basically a DisintegratorRay). Other elemental bloodline abilities include "Scorch" (which boils the water out of your body), [[HavingABlast "Explosion"]], and [[SelectiveMagnetism Magnetism]]. Sasuke has a special "Blaze" nature in which he uses "shape transformation" to manipulate the [[{{Hellfire}} Amaterasu]] created by his [[EvilEye Mangekyo Sharingan]].

** BlowYouAway / ShockAndAwe: Rana

* Some ''SuperSentai'' (and by extension, ''Franchise/PowerRangers'') teams use elements for the motif:

** ChoudenshiBioman: Fire (Red), Wind (Green), Thunder (Blue and Yellow), and Light (Pink).

** GoseiSentaiDairanger: Fire (Red), Illusions (Green), Gravity (Blue), Time (Yellow), and Wind (Pink). Kibaranger represents Sound, although he does not represent one of the Five Heaven Stars.
** NinjaSentaiKakuranger: Fire (Red), Air (White), Water (Blue), Wood (Yellow), and Earth (Black).
** SeijuuSentaiGingaman: Fire (Red), Wind (Green), Water (Blue), Lightning (Yellow), and Earth/Wood (Pink). (''Series/PowerRangersLostGalaxy'' edits these almost completely out, save for Red's fire motif; and even then it's ''merely'' a motif rather than explicit power over fire.)
** NinpuuSentaiHurricaneger / Series/PowerRangersNinjaStorm: [[LandSeaSky Sky/Wind (Red), Water (Blue), Land/Earth (Yellow)]], Thunder (Goraigers/Thunder Rangers), and either Fire (Shurikenger) or NonElemental (Samurai Ranger).
** MahouSentaiMagiranger / Series/PowerRangersMysticForce: Fire (Red and Wolzard Fire/Wolf Warrior), Lightning (Yellow), Water (Blue), Wind (Pink), Earth/Nature (Green), Sun (Shine/Solaris Knight), and Ice/Snow (Mother/White).
** SamuraiSentaiShinkenger / Series/PowerRangersSamurai: Fire (Red), Water (Blue), Heaven/Sky (Pink), Wood/Forest (Green), Earth (Yellow), and Light (Gold). [[note]]Red also sometimes used Lightning.[[/note]]
** TensouSentaiGoseiger / Series/PowerRangersMegaforce: [[LandSeaSky Sky (Red and Pink), Land (Black and Yellow), and Sea (Blue and the late Green)]]. [=GoseiKnight=] can [[AllYourPowersCombined use all three elements]]. [[note]]They also use cards with different elements that correspond to their own: Thunder (Red and Pink's Comprethunder card and Black and Yellow's Sparquake card), Wood/Forest (Black and Yellow's Roplant card), and Ice (Blue's Istop and Knight's Freezedrive cards). During their team-up with the Shinkengers, Red uses Fire (the Kaentornado card).[[/note]]

* ''[[Literature/TheDresdenFiles Harry Dresden]]'' generally conjures wind when he wants to move something or pull his punches and fire when he really wants something destroyed quickly. He also rarely calls on earth magic (in such aspects as magnetism and moving gravity for a moment) but considers that element "difficult, powerful, and dangerous" to deal with.

** Interestingly the [[TheFairFolk faeries]] refer to human technology as a form of "ferromancy" - whether this is simply them not really understanding human technology or something more remains to be seen.

* In ''Manga/OnePiece'' the Logia Devil Fruits let their users turn into whatever element they're given as well as create huge amounts of them out of nothing and manipulate it. However, this includes more than the basic elements as a result of the Logia's official definition being the loose concept of "Forces of Nature" which means bizarre "elements" such as Smoke, Swamp, and Gas get a pass. Oddly, Fire is the only classical element that has appeared yet.[[hottip:*: And was treated as nothing special, being defeated by Magma with the latter's user claiming his element is superior.]]; seen so far were:

* In ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive'', Soulcasting is a form of magic that allows turning one substance into another (vaguely resembling Alchemy from ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist''), and is based around [[ArcNumber ten]] elements: [[hottip:Zephyr:(air and clear gases)]], [[hottip:Vapor:(opaque gases, smoke, fog, etc.)]], [[hottip:Spark:(fire)]], [[hottip:Lucentia:(crystal)]], [[hottip:Pulp:(plant matter)]], [[hottip:Blood:(any non-oil liquid, but apparently blood is easiest)]], [[hottip:Tallow:(oil)]], [[hottip:Foil:(metal)]], [[hottip:Talus:(rock and bone)]] and [[hottip:Sinew:(flesh)]].

** SamuraiSentaiShinkenger / Series/PowerRangersSamurai: Fire (Red), Water (Blue), Heaven/Sky (Pink), Wood/Forest (Green), Earth (Yellow), and Light (Gold). [[hottip:*:Red also sometimes used Lightning.]]
** TensouSentaiGoseiger / Series/PowerRangersMegaforce: [[LandSeaSky Sky (Red and Pink), Land (Black and Yellow), and Sea (Blue and the late Green)]]. [=GoseiKnight=] can [[AllYourPowersCombined use all three elements]]. [[hottip:*:They also use cards with different elements that correspond to their own: Thunder (Red and Pink's Comprethunder card and Black and Yellow's Sparquake card), Wood/Forest (Black and Yellow's Roplant card), and Ice (Blue's Istop and Knight's Freezedrive cards). During their team-up with the Shinkengers, Red uses Fire (the Kaentornado card).]]

** Earlier editions of D&D, elaborated further in 2nd Edition's {{Planescape}} setting, were a lot more complicated [[hottip:*:[[TheyChangedItNowItSucks and we liked it that way!]]. First you had the four (classic) elemental planes, then two energy planes (Positive, or "life" energy, and Negative, or "death"/"unlife" energy) which aren't elements proper. Paraelemental planes occurred where the elemental planes crossed over each other ("magma" between earth and fire, for example), and quasielemental planes where the elemental planes crossed with the energy planes -- Fire + Positive = Radiance (plane of pure, blinding light of all colors), Air + Positive = Lightning (infinite storm), Air + Negative = Vacuum (the vast absence of air and most other things). So a quasielement touches energy, base element, 2 quasielements and two base's paraelements, and a paraelement touches 2 base elements and their 4 quasielements. Some fans went further and created planes to "fill in the gaps" between the paraelemental planes and the energy planes.

** Various planes of reality in Exalted all possess certain elements that dominate the makeup of that place, corresponding to the elements of Creation. [[EternalEngine Autochthonia]] has the peculiar elements of Steam and Smoke(Air), Electricity(Fire), Crystal(Wood), Oil(Water) and Metal(Earth) all with corresponding elementals and mechanical dragons (The Lesser Elemental Dragon of Smoke is lovingly titled [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast The Shogun of Genocide]]). The [[DarkWorld Underworld]] has the ghostly "Corpse Elements" of Prayer(Air), Pyreflame(Fire), Bone(Wood), Blood(Water) and Void(Earth)[[hottip:*:In-character, these are only theoretical as the Underworld doesn't actually have a physical substance...]]. [[BloodyBowelsOfHell Malfeas]] has Vitriol -- and that's it. It kind of sucks to live there.

* ''HarukanaruTokiNoNakaDe'' has a system based off both [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wu_Xing the Five Elements]] and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ba_gua the Eight Trigrams]][[hottip:* :specifically, the "Later Heaven" order]]. The eight characters in the party fit into the Eight Trigrams concept (to the point of it being used in the manga/anime to track down one of them), and their powers are also tied to it, yet the {{Combination Attack}}s utilise the Five Elements version (with wood, metal and earth assigned to two characters each -- and two of them aren't even tied to the same [[TheFourGods holy beast]]).

* ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' has the 12 Aspects that form half of a Hero's role (along with Class): [[BlowYouAway Breath]][[hottip:*: traditional Air powers]], [[LightEmUp Light]][[hottip:*: includes knowledge and luck, and possibly also water powers]], [[TimeMaster Time]][[hottip:*: seemingly also related to fire and machines]], [[SpaceMaster Space]][[hottip:*: seemingly also related to earth]], Life[[hottip:*: mostly healing]], [[ThePowerOfTheVoid Void]][[hottip:*: invisibility, obfuscation and AntiMagic]], [[HeartIsAnAwesomePower Heart]][[hottip:*: SoulMagic]], [[LightEmUp Hope]][[hottip:*: nature unknown]], [[PsychicPowers Mind]][[hottip:*: telepathy, mind reading, prediction]], [[BloodMagic Blood]][[hottip:*: nature unknown]], [[CastingAShadow Doom]][[hottip:*: related to death and destruction]] and Rage[[hottip:*: related to negative emotions like anger and fear]]

* In Literature/Percy Jackson and the Olympians: Various demigods can use the elements as based on their parentage. Percy, the son of Poseidon, controls water and earth to an extent, Thalia and Jason, children of Zeus/ [[spoiler: Jupiter]] lightning (And Jason air as Thalia, despite being his sister, afraid of heights), Leo, son of Hephaestus, controls fire, Nico and Hazel, children of [[spoiler: Hades and Pluto]] control earth and death and children of Demeter control plants. This doesn't even go into the all powerful gods and titans roaming around....

* Most characters in ''{{Bionicle}}'' have an element associated with them. The main ones that the various heroes wield are Fire, Ice, Water, Air, Stone, and Earth; while the {{Big Bad}}s have Shadow and the SixthRanger has Light. Time and Life are considered {{Infinity Plus One Element}}s; no person wields those elements naturally and the relics with those powers (one each) are dangerous to use. Occasionally some other elements are mentioned, from not-so-unusual ones like Lightning, Iron, and Plant Life; to offbeat ones like Sonics (sound), Magnetism, Gravity, Plasma, and Psionics (PsychicPowers). On top of that, some characters' powers like Acid and Vacuum are considered quasi-elements, mostly due to being part of a group whose other members use ''actual'' elements.

* Early seasons of ''Franchise/KamenRider'' would sometimes base the heroes' powers on ''single'' elements in no consistent pattern. The very first one used wind, and ''Stronger'' would be the first lightning one - but later ones like ''Super-1'' could switch between several at will. More so for the Noughties' seasons (commonly called the Heisei era), as changing colors and forms to shift the MultiformBalance ''and'' enable different elemental abilities became the standard.

** The Lore of Death is similar to {{Necromancer|Necromancy}}, in that it can contact souls and attack the life essence of the living, but it's not "conventional" NightOfTheLivingMooks style necromancy, and confusing the two is guaranteed to make an imperial practitioner [[BerserkButton very cross]]. Necromancy of the "classic" style, in this setting, is a form of Dark Magic powered by/focused through Death magic.

* '''[[BlowYouAway Air/Wind]]:''' The element of change and movement; unpredictably calm one moment and flying into a tempest the next. [[FragileSpeedster The quickest of the elements, but sometimes seen as the weakest (unless it is referred to as "sky" or "heaven")]], therefore, what it lacks in raw power it makes up for in offensive and defensive maneuvers. It can also include {{weather manipulation}}. Aligned with the sanguine temperament, air characters are often cheerful, energetic, free spirits. [[MakeMeWannaShout Noise]], when used as an elemental attack, is sometimes depicted and treated as an air-like attack. [[WindIsGreen Green is often used to represent it in eastern products]], but it's also fairly common to see Yellow, Light Blues, Purples, or White.

* '''[[MusicalAssassin Sound]]:''' Using sound as a method of attacking and/or battling with an instrument falls under this section.
* '''[[ILoveNuclearPower Radiation]]:''' Generally of the gamma kind, the kind related to reactors, bombs, and fallout. You're probably not going to see this very often at all, [[NuclearWeaponsTaboo for obvious reasons]], and when you do it'll generally be either BadPowersBadPeople or serious BlessedWithSuck. Has the potential to be DarkerAndEdgier [[DarkIsEdgy than dark]]. May overlap with [[LightIsNotGood light, if portrayed negatively]], since radiation is often associated with light (i.e. the Sun itself, that gives us light and skin cancer).

** TaiyouSentaiSunVulcan: [[LandSeaSky Fire (Red), Water (Blue), and Earth (Yellow)]].
** KagakuSentaiDynaman: Fire (Red), Light (Black), Water (Blue), Thunder (Yellow), and Sound (Pink).

** DengekiSentaiChangeman: Thunder (Red and Blue), Earth (Black), Water (White), and Fire (Pink).

** The famous western system revolves around the classic four elements, usually divided into "hot"/"cold" (fire and air = hot, water and earth = cold) and "dry"/"wet" (earth and fire = dry, water and air = wet) axis[[note]] In the original greek thought, it was pretty much a metaphor for seperation versus unity (heat spreading things apart, cold uniting them) and the form cohesion (dry being a distinct shape, wet being flexible/absent shape), but expect no one to remember this[[/note]]. May be aligned with seasons (nowadays Air/Spring, Summer/Fire, Water/Autumn, Winter/Earth, but appearently [[http://web.eecs.utk.edu/~mclennan/BA/JO-PE.txt originally starting]] in Greece as Water/Spring, Air/Summer, Fire/Autumn and Earth/Winter), and many other things. Aether was also always a part of it as the "superior element"; nowadays, it equals "Spirit", but historically it was pretty "[[LightEmUp light]]".

** In chinese thought, the elements are [[GreenThumb Wood]] (which is also synonimous with [[BlowYouAway Wind]]), [[PlayingWithFire Fire]], [[DishingOutDirt Earth]], [[ExtraOreDinary Metal]] (which also includes [[ShockAndAwe eletricity]] and [[LightEmUp light]]) and [[MakingASplash Water]]). They are pretty much described as states of matter and natural phases, so logically they're also closely tied with seasons (Wood/Spring, Fire/Summer, Metal/Autumn, Water/Winter, and Earth being the time between seasons) and life stages (Wood = birth/childhood, Fire = teenagehood, Earth = adulthood, Metal = old age and Water = old age or death). They're divided in the Yin/Yang axis (Wood and Fire = Yang, Metal and Water = Yin and Earth is both Yin and Yang). TheFourGods each represent an element (the often forgotten Yellow Dragon is the fifth, representing the Earth).

* Elemental Powers as a whole is one of the spheres of magic Mages can learn in the ''TabletopGame/MageTheAscension'' and ''TabletopGame/MageTheAwakening''.
** Notably, in ''MageTheAwakening'', there's the collection of legacies known as the Elemental Masteries, which allow a mage to develop powers based on a specific element. The five best known Masteries are Void, Air, Earth, Fire, and Water, with rumors of various others.

** In ''TabletopGame/ChangelingTheDreaming'', two races of changelings have elemental themes. However, they are not standard player characters and come across as exotic and alien to the Kithain, the more mainstream fae. The Western elements are represented by the Inanimae. They include the Solimonds (Fire; revolutionaries), Ondines (Water; watchers), Perosemes (Air; travellers), Glomes (Earth/Rock; soldiers), Kuberas (Earth/Plants; hedonists), and Mannikins (Anything human-shaped; enigmatic to Inanimae and Kithain alike). The Eastern Elements are represented by the Kamuii, the noble caste of Hsien (Asian Changelings; the commoners are [[{{Animorphism}} Animorphs]]. The Kamuii consist of the Chu-ih-yu (Metal; KnightsTemplar), Chu Jung (Fire; strategists), Hou-chi (Wood; healers), Komuko (Earth; Balanced), and Suijen (Water; jerkasses).

* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' has ''seventeen'' types: [[BigCreepyCrawlies Bug]], [[CombatPragmatist Da]][[CastingAShadow rk]], [[InstantAwesomeJustAddDragons Dragon]], [[ShockAndAwe Electric]], [[CharlesAtlasSuperpower Fighting]], [[PlayingWithFire Fire]], [[BlowYouAway Fly]][[{{Flight}} ing]], [[SoulPower Ghost]], [[GreenThumb Grass]], [[DishingOutDirt Ground]], [[AnIcePerson Ice]], [[NonElemental Normal]], [[PoisonousPerson Poison]], [[PsychicPowers Psychic]], [[RockSteady Rock]], [[ExtraOreDinary Steel]], and [[MakingASplash Water]]. To make it even more complicated, a Pokémon can either have one of those types, or have ''two'' types and get the Weaknesses and Resistances of both.

* The Monk class in DungeonsAndDragonsOnline come stock with elemental attacks in Air, Fire, Earth and Water, which adds electric, fire, acid and cold damage to attacks, respectively. Combining or repeating some attacks yield special results, such as shooting flames from your hand. Offensive/defense stances based on the elements are included, too. Earth gives best defense, Fire gives best strength to damage, Wind generates the fastest and most prolific attacks, and Water generates the best offensive/defensive balance. A [[PowerOfTheVoid Void attack]] is optionally available, which, in its ultimate form, sends a foe out of existence. Special attacks that generate light, force and negative energy damage make the class nearly a TropeCodifier, were it not for the online game's relative youth.

* '''{{Paper|Master}}''': Made from Wood, and is versatile in use, from bandages to weapons/familiars based on the user's imagination.

* '''[[OpenAndShut Boundaries/Bonds]]''': An honorary elemental power (it's also a StockSuperpower and a SemanticSuperpower, because the nature of its power is to ''connect'' things). It can [[ThinkingUpPortals unlock or lock doors]], [[BarrierWarrior create or destroy barriers]], [[CombinedEnergyAttack allow the rest of the group to combine powers]], or even cause [[ILoveNuclearPower nuclear fission/fusion]]. Typically, this power requires [[OutsideTheBoxTactic more creative minds to see the possibilities]], as otherwise the user is stuck with a glorified [[MagicTool sonic screwdriver]].

* '''[[OpenAndShut Boundaries/Bonds]]''': An honorary elemental power (it's also a StockSuperpower and a SemanticSuperpower, because the nature of its power is to ''connect'' things). It can [[ThinkingUpPortals unlock or lock doors]], [[BarrierWarrior create or destroy barriers]], [[CombinedEnergyAttack allow the rest of the to combine powers]], or even [[ILoveNuclearPower nuclear fission/fusion]]. Typically, this power requires [[OutsideTheBoxTactic more creative minds to see the possibilities]], as otherwise the user is stuck with a glorified [[MagicTool sonic screwdriver]].

* '''[[DishingOutDirt Earth]]:''' Stable and resilient, earth is the element of solidity and support. [[MightyGlacier It is the strongest element, but also the slowest.]] Earth characters are frequently dependable, strong, and, if female, motherly. However, they can also be stubborn and far too stuck in their ways. It is aligned with the melancholic temperament. Generally represented as by either the color Green, Brown, or Yellow (the latter two more often used if this element is based purely on [[DishingOutDirt actual earth]] rather than [[GreenThumb plants]] or other stuff).

* TheDarkEye has six elements: Water, Fire, Air, Ore, Humus, and Ice. Ore is the "dead" part of the more common element Earth: Anything from sand to gemstones and refined metals, and one aspect is gravity; the opposite of air. Humus is the "living" part, from fertile topsoil to plants and animals, and associated with growth. Its opposite Ice includes cold and darkness, and is also associated with logic. The magic system is not limited to elemental spells, but any magic user specialising in elemental magic must chose one element as their main one, which makes spells based on it easier to learn, gives a slight bonus in negotiations with elementals, etc. There are corresponding penalties when dealing with the opposite element.[[/folder]]

** If one has two "Hydrogeddons" and one "Oxygeddon" one can react them to create the "Water Dragon" (H2O), see?) Interestingly, Oxygeddon's effect is to explode when destroyed by a Fire attack, dealing damage to both players, which reflects that oxygen fuels fire.

* All mages in A.L. Phillips's ''Literature/QuestOfTheUnaligned'' are aligned to one of the four elements of the Balance. The only exceptions are the members of the unaligned royal house. [[spoiler: And orahs and hosheks. But those don't really exist.]]

* All mages in A.L. Phillips's QuestOfTheUnaligned are aligned to one of the four elements of the Balance. The only exceptions are the members of the unaligned royal house. [[spoiler: And orahs and hosheks. But those don't really exist.]]