Mar. 14th, 2008

edenfalling: stylized black-and-white line art of a sunset over water (question marks)
'Elemental magic' systems bother me. I mean, earth, air, fire, water... it's a thoroughly disproved pseudo-scientific theory from the ancient Mediterranean world. It's not even constant over the whole earth, because I think the ancient Chinese system goes earth, water, fire, metal, wood, or some such -- which is not just adding new items, but completely disregarding air, one of the supposed 'constants' of the universe (at least according to people who take elemental symbolism seriously).

But.

This division keeps turning up in stories I read -- and in stories I write, considering that I write fanfiction for Angel Sanctuary. So I am trying to come to terms with it. Here are two theories toward that goal.

Theory 1:
earth/water/air/fire = solid/liquid/gas/plasma

Theory 2:
earth/water/air/fire = stasis/physical change/chemical change/nuclear change


If you want to get really fancy, maybe both interpretations can be true at the same time!

Thoughts, anyone?
edenfalling: stylized black-and-white line art of a sunset over water (question marks)
'Elemental magic' systems bother me. I mean, earth, air, fire, water... it's a thoroughly disproved pseudo-scientific theory from the ancient Mediterranean world. It's not even constant over the whole earth, because I think the ancient Chinese system goes earth, water, fire, metal, wood, or some such -- which is not just adding new items, but completely disregarding air, one of the supposed 'constants' of the universe (at least according to people who take elemental symbolism seriously).

But.

This division keeps turning up in stories I read -- and in stories I write, considering that I write fanfiction for Angel Sanctuary. So I am trying to come to terms with it. Here are two theories toward that goal.

Theory 1:
earth/water/air/fire = solid/liquid/gas/plasma

Theory 2:
earth/water/air/fire = stasis/physical change/chemical change/nuclear change


If you want to get really fancy, maybe both interpretations can be true at the same time!

Thoughts, anyone?

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edenfalling: stylized black-and-white line art of a sunset over water (Default)
Elizabeth Culmer

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