History Main / LandSeaSky

** Although the three elements are not the main source of their power, Sora means 'sky' in Japanese, Riku can be translated into 'land', and 'Kai' in Kairi can be translated into 'ocean'. Sora and Riku pick up some specific wind and earth attacks in ''3D'' - we'll see if Kairi does the same.

** The bird starters and their evolutions also have this pattern: the fire chicken Torchic for Land, the water penguin Piplup for Sea and the grass owl Rowlet for Sky.

* ''Fanfic/AbraxasHrodvitnon'': The main heroic Titans have this dynamic. [[AdaptationalHeroism Monster X]] and Thor are land-bound Titans, Godzilla is aquatic, and Rodan is a flyer.

* ''VideoGame/MonsterHunter'' has Rathian as the Queen of Earth, Rathalos as the King of the Skies, and Lagiacrus as the Lord of the Seas. This is best noticed in ''3'' and ''Generations'' (and by extension their ''Ultimate'' editions), as the three monsters appear in them together. Appropiately, the three Elder Dragons that appear in ''3'' (as well as ''3 Ultimate'' prior to G Rank) are Ceadeus (which swims in the Underwater Ruins), Jhen Mohran (which dwells in the sands of the Great Desert) and Alatreon (a winged dragon who guards the Sacred Land).

* Very common in ''Franchise/SuperSentai'' and ''Franchise/PowerRangers'' series, such as ''Series/TaiyouSentaiSunVulcan'' (Vul Eagle = air, Vul Shark = sea, Vul Panther = land). The most important position, that of the [[LawOfChromaticSuperiority Red Ranger]], is usually the one with sky.

** As of the Season 6 finale, Daenerys' forces use this motif. In addition to having an army of Dothraki and Unsullied at her command, the core of Dany's faction is an alliance between the dragon-riding Targaryens (Sky), the desert-dwelling Martells of Dorne (Land), and the sea-faring Greyjoys of the Iron Islands (Sea).

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'': Seen in ''[[Recap/ThePowerpuffGirlsS1E12TheRowdyruffBoys The Rowdyruff Boys]]'' when the titular antagonists hurl large vehicles at the heroines; a bus, a plane, and a ship.

* Magmatron from ''Anime/BeastWarsNeo'' is made of three units: Landsaur, Skysaur and Seasaur.
* The Bigs from ''Anime/TheBigO'' fit the common characterizations of their spheres — [[TheHero Big O (land)]] [[WildCard Big Duo (sky)]] [[BigBad Big Fau (sea)]]

* In ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'', there's a subtle name theming referred to these three elements in the Shiba siblings: Kaien (Kai = Sea),[[note]] Bonus points for Kaien's Shikai controlling water.[[/note]] Ganju (Gan = Rock, hence earth)[[note]] He has a earth manipulating technique.[[/note]] and Kukaku (Ku = Sky).[[note]]Whose main skills involves shooting people in the sky with her special cannon and cannonballs.[[/note]]

* The three new Digi-Destined from ''Anime/DigimonAdventure02'' have quadruped Armor Digivolutions to travel faster over the vast Digital World: Davis' Raidramon (Land), Yolei's Halsemon (Sky) and Cody's Submarimon (Sea). Even the opening features a scene of them running to the distance.

* ''Anime/GoLion'' had Kogane and Suzuishi for sky (Black Lion powered by Thunder, Green Lion powered by Wind), Kurogane and Saidou for land (Red Lion powered by Magma, Yellow Lion powered by Sand), and Shirogane and Farla for sea (the Water powered Blue Lion Was owned by Shirogane, then Farla after the former’s death).
* The three major humanoids in ''Manga/LandOfTheLustrous'' follow this rule. The Gems, being landlocked and born from a cliff, represent Land; the aquatic and ever changing Admirabilis represent Sea; and the ghostly and form-changing Lunarians represent Sky, as they also live on the Moon.
* The first three cures in ''Anime/GoPrincessPrettyCure'' are Cure Flora (Land), Cure Mermaid (Sea) and Cure Twinkle (Sky/Star). In a variant of this trope, the sky character's powers are [[HardLight based more on star shaped projectiles]] instead of [[BlowYouAway wind]]. [[spoiler:Later they're joined by [[PlayingWithFire Cure Scarlett]], creating a FourElementEnsemble instead, though the [[LegacyCharacter previous generation of cures in this setting]] still fits the bill- there was no previous Cure Scarlett]].
* The Gundam Tryon-3 in ''Anime/GundamBuildFightersTry'' is spitted in Riku Tryon (Land), Umi Tryon (Sea) and Sora Tryon (Sky).
* First half of ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEEDDestiny'' featured with Earth Alliance's [[TransformingMecha transformable]] [[SuperPrototype Gundam]] [[PowerTrio trio]]: ground combat Gaia (transform into dog-like mode), aquatic combat Abyss (transform into stingray-like mode), and aerial/space combat Chaos (transform into bird-like mode) representing land, sea, and sky respectively. The first two even bearing MeaningfulName.
* In the ''[[Franchise/DotHack .Hack//]]'' first series, the great heroes of The World MMORPG are Balmung of the Azure Sky and Orca of the Azure Sea. Eventually, Kite joins them, although his title is "Azure Flame" rather than earth.
* In ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaStrikerS'', Nanoha is a Tactical Instructor for the Air Force, Fate is an Enforcer who is also part of the Dimensional Navy, and Hayate is part of the Ground Forces. However, after the GrandFinale, Hayate eventually joins the Dimensional Navy as well. Chrono, Lindy, Reinforce Zwei, Teana, Shario, Griffith, Lucino, Cinque, Dieci and Wendi are part of the Dimensional Navy. Vita, Signum and Agito are part of the Air Force. Shamal, Zafira, Erio, Caro, Vice, Alto, Genya, Ginga, and Subaru are part of the Ground Forces.
* The main characters and their Mashin in ''Manga/MagicKnightRayearth'': Hikaru/Rayearth (Land), Umi/Selece (Sea), Fuu/Windam (Sky). Note that Hikaru's attacks use fire, but since her Mashin lived in a volcano, it's earth heat.
* ''Manga/DragonQuestTheAdventureOfDai'':
** The three main techniques of the Avan school are Earth Slash (a CleanCut), Wave Slash (a high-speed RazorWind) and Sky Slash (an [[IaijutsuPractitioner iai strike]] which damages the soul). All three are [[AbilityMixing combined]] to form the school's ultimate technique, [[SwordBeam Avan Strash]].
-->'''Dai:''' "Slice the earth... Slice the sea... Slice the air... And slice everything!"
** The Dragon Riders, [[QuirkyMinibossSquad a group of three powerful warriors serving the Dragon Knight]], each lay claim to one of these elements and ride a dragon native to that environment. Sea Rider Borahorn is a walrus-like BeastMan, Sky Rider Galdandy is a [[BirdPeople bird-like one]], while Land Rider Larhart is a [[HalfHumanHybrid human/demon hybrid]] resembling a classical elf. The Dragon Knight himself is also described as in legend as mastering land, sea and sky, a reference to his nature as a three-way LiminalBeing.

* The Amazon Trio from ''Franchise/SailorMoon'': Tiger's Eye (land), Hawk's Eye (sky) and Fisheye (sea).

* In ''Anime/Pokemon3'', each of Molly's battles with Ash, Misty and Brock followed this motif. She battled Brock on land. Then she battled Misty underwater. And finally, Ash took the battle with Entei to the skies once Charizard arrives.

* Pariodied in ''Anime/LoveLive'' where Honoka suggests their idol group name be "Land, Sea, Air" with Umi being Sea for her name, Kotori being Air since her name means "little bird", and Honoka taking land at the end. They don't go with it as Kotori points out that the name isn't fitting for an idol group.

* ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'': In ''Last But Not Beast'', Dexter invents a HumongousMecha composed of four vehicles to fight a monster that he accidentally set free. To secure the operators he needs to pilot the vehicles, he finally reveals his secret lab to his parents, and brings in Dee Dee as well (desperate times call for desperate measures).
** Dexter pilots a helicopter and Dee Dee a jet (sky); Mom drives a van (land); and Dad steers a boat (sea).

** Zeus got sky, Poseidon got the ocean, and Hades drew the short straw for the Underworld but he also gained control of everything found underground, including gold and precious gems, making him the richest of the gods. Land was left for humanity.

* The Terrible Trio, a group of ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' villains introduced in UsefulNotes/{{the Silver Age|of Comic Books}}, were criminals wearing masks of animals: Fox (Land), Shark (Sea) and Vulture (Sky).

* ''ComicBook/RobinSeries'': A trio of villains Tim encounters in Bludhaven include Monsoon, a woman with hydrokinesis, Badlands, who looks like he's made out of stone and can cause localized tremors, and an unnamed flyer. He's luckily with ComicBook/{{Shadowpact}} at the time since these powers are a bit much for a BadassNormal to deal with on his own.

* ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire'': The three tasks of the Triwizard Tournament can be categorized as this: the first task is sky, with Harry using his broomstick in order to get past a dragon, the second task is water, where the competitors have to dive under the lake, and the third task is land, taking place in a magical hedge labyrinth.

** There are the primordial gods Gaia (the earth), Oranos (the sky), and Pontus (the sea). Gaia, the first and born out of Chaos, conceived Oranus and Pontus via parthenogenesis, and [[IncestIsRelative then mated with them]]. Most notably, the Titans and Greek pantheon were the byproduct of her union with Oranos. Additionally, Tartarus (the hell-pit) was sometimes perceived as a primordial deity/force of nature.

* ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire'': The three tasks of the Triwizard Tournament can be categorized as this: the first task is sky, and involves Harry using his broomstick to win it, the second task is water, where the competitors have to dive under the lake, and the third task is land, taking place in a magical hedge labyrinth.

* ''WesternAnimation/ThunderCats1985'': Meta-example. Set on land and feline-themed, with its RecycledINSPACE counterparts ''[[WesternAnimation/TheComicStrip TigerSharks]]'' (set in the ocean, sea creature-themed) and ''WesternAnimation/SilverHawks'' (set in space, bird-themed).

* In Julian May's continuity of the ''Literature/BlackTrillium'' series, there are three Archwizards: of the land, sea, and sky. Binah, the only non-evil sorceress in the original book, is retconned as the Archmage of the Land.
* In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire'', the three tasks of the Triwizard Tournament can be categorized as this: the first task is sky, and involves Harry using his broomstick to win it, the second task is water, where the competitors have to dive under the lake, and the third task is land, taking place in a magical hedge labyrinth.
* In ''Literature/{{Dinotopia}}'', every human is assigned a different position in one of said habitats.
* Creator/JRRTolkien's ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings''

* In ''Literature/SeptimusHeap'', during the '''Triple Restore''', Septimus, Jenna and Aunt Zelda take the roles of the Air, Water and Land during the spell.
* The Dr. Seuss book ''Literature/YertleTheTurtleAndOtherStories'' features three stories: one featuring turtles (sea), one featuring birds (sky), and one featuring a rabbit and a bear (land).
* ''Literature/TheLorax'' features three species threatened by the Once-ler harming the environment: the Brown Bar-ba-loots (who are threatened by deforestation), the Humming-Fish (who are threatened by water pollution), and the Swomee-Swans (who are threatened by air pollution).
* Creator/ChinaMieville's Literature/BasLagCycle has this as a central motif, with each of the books revolving around one of the three. ''Literature/PerdidoStreetStation'' is about a WingedHumanoid trying to regain the ability to fly, and about an invasion by giant winged moths (Sky); ''Literature/TheScar'' is about an ocean voyage to the edge of the world, and about a floating city ruled by pirates (Sea); and ''Literature/IronCouncil'' is about a war between two cities, and about an effort to build a railway across a great desert (Land).
* In ''Literature/JourneyToTheWest'', out of the six Kings serving Sun Wukong before he served in Heaven, the three with the "Demon King" moniker fit the theme, being the Bull Demon King (Land), Water Dragon/Alligator Demon King (Sea) and the Peng/Roc Demon King (Sky). Later on, the three main characters have this as a subtle theme: Sun Wukong himself is the most agile of the trio and fond of his ability to leap across the sky on a cloud, and is a proud trickster (Sky), Pigsy is a fat, lazy and gluttonous oaf who fights with a rake and is the least spiritually-aware of the trio (Land), while Sandy is a large and intimidating ogre who's also the best swimmer of the trio and lived in a swamp (Sea).
* The three Endbringers from ''Literature/{{Worm}}'': first came Behemoth (Land), who lives in the Earth's mantle and is the strongest but slowest of them; then was Leviathan (Sea), who lives in the oceans and is the quickest, and finally Simurgh (Sky) who lives in orbit around Earth and is the most intelligent of them.

** ''Series/KishiryuSentaiRyusoulger'' has three main mecha; based on a Tyrannosaurus (land), Mosasaur (sea), and Pteranodon (sky).

** The bird starters and their evolutions also have this pattern: the fire chicken Torchic for Land, the water penguin Piplup for Sea and the grass Rowlet for Sky.

* In ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'', there's a subtle name theming referred to these three elements in the Shiba siblings: Kaien (Kai = Sea)[[note]] Bonus points for Kaien's Shikai controlling water.[[/note]], Ganju (Gan = Rock, hence earth)[[note]] He has a earth manipulating technique.[[/note]] and Kukaku (Ku = Sky)[[note]] Whose main skills involves shooting people in the sky with her special cannon and cannonballs.[[/note]].

In an ElementalRockPaperScissors setting, expect Sea to overcome Land,[[note]]The seas will wear away even the toughest landscapes[[/note]] Land to overpower Sky,[[note]]Land blocks the wind and can withstand whatever the sky throws at it[[/note]] and Sky to defeat Sea.[[note]]The waters of the sea are easily tossed around by the sky's winds and storms[[/note]].

In an ElementalRockPaperScissors setting, expect Sea to overcome Land[[note]]The seas will wear away even the toughest landscapes[[/note]], Land to overpower Sky[[note]]Land blocks the wind and can withstand whatever the sky throws at it[[/note]], and Sky to defeat Sea[[note]]The waters of the sea are easily tossed around by the sky's winds and storms[[/note]].

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Centurions}}'' features Max Ray ("brilliant sea operations commander"), Jake Rockwell ("rugged land operations specialist") and Ace [=McCloud=] ("daring air operations expert").
* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'' has Scrooge [=McDuck=] a treasure hunter (land), Donald Duck a sailor (sea) and Della Duck an aviator (sky).

* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/TeamoSupremo'' featured three recurring villains teaming up with this trope in mind- Laser Pirate (Land[[note]]Laser Pirate is ironically hydrophopic, committing his crimes from a hover ship[[/note]]), Dehydro (sea), and Helius Inflato (sky).
* Meta-example with ''WesternAnimation/ThunderCats1985'' (set on land, feline-themed) and its RecycledINSPACE counterparts ''[[WesternAnimation/TheComicStrip TigerSharks]]'' (set in the ocean, sea creature-themed) and ''WesternAnimation/SilverHawks'' (set in space, bird-themed).

In an ElementalRockPaperScissors setting, expect Sea to overcome Land [[note]]The seas will wear away even the toughest landscapes[[/note]], Land to overpower Sky [[note]]Land blocks the wind and can withstand whatever the sky throws at it[[/note]], and Sky to defeat Sea [[note]]The waters of the sea are easily tossed around by the sky's winds and storms[[/note]].

* In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire'', the three tasks of the Triwizard Tournament can be categorized as this: the first task is sky, and involves Harry using his broomstick to win it, the second task is water, where the competitors have to dive under the lake, and the third task is land, and takes place in a magical hedge labyrinth.

** There are the primordial gods Gaia (the earth), Oranos (the sky), and Pontus (the sea). Gaia, the first and born out of Chaos, conceived Oranus and Pontus via parthenogenesis, and [[IncestIsRelative then mated with them]]. Most notably, the Titans and Greek pantheon were the byproduct of her union with Oranos. Additionally, Tartarus (the hell-pit) was sometimes perceived as a primordial deity/force of nature