Elementals
Everything is made up of a mixture of elements in different amounts. In ancient Chinese and Eastern teachings there are five elements: earth, fire, metal, water, and wood. It is thought that a philosopher named Empedocles (490-430 B.C) first developed the idea of the four elements. Then certainly Plato (428-348) and Aristotle (385-322 B.C) accepted this as a scientific fact.
Earth Elementals:
Gnomes belong to the earth. The earth is where they live. They are ancient and dark and often dressed in a monk’s habit. They can shape shift into giants at will.
Fire Elementals:
Salamanders are symbols of fire. Some believe that their skin was so cold that it could put fire out. Others think they chose to live in flames and could even strengthen them. However, these are stuff of fantasy. In reality the lizards, the black or gold ones, could survive the flames.
Air Elementals:
Slyphs are the light, ethereal sprits of the air. Like the gnomes and the Undines, they were first named by Paracelus (1493-1541) a physician and alchemist, whose real name was Theophrastus Bombastus Von Hohenheim. He was a famous Roman authority on medicine.
Water Elementals: Undines, or Nereids, are water elementals. They are rarely seen, although they may sometimes become visible in the spray from waterfalls or the mist that rises from surface of water.
Some movies and books that have Elementals are “The Tears of the Salamander” by Perer Dickinson
The Ragwitch by Garth Nix
Fantasia (1940)
Captain Planet (1990-95)
Avatar the Last Airbender (2005-2007)
I’m sure there are many other’s I’m missing. The oldest stories about elements have been told from the early humans with many ancient cultures weaving these materials into their creation myths and associating them with powerful deities.
Source: Fantasy Encyclopedia Judy Allan (2005)
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