Element Number Five: Difference between revisions

{{quote|''"The four elements, like man alone, are weak. But together they form the strong fifth element: boron."''|'''Brother Silence''', master of [[Metaphorgotten]], ''[[The Gamers|The Gamers: Dorkness Rising]]''}}

 

 

But wait- what's all this talk about a mysterious fifth element? That's right, boys and girls, turns out there's actually another element on top of these that is so incredibly bad-ass, it defies the normal classification system. Magic of this element is about as strong as the other four put together. Where a wind mage has control of, in general, wind, this element controls pretty much everything. It will have very few restrictions, but it will also be quite difficult to use. If the normal magic system is defined in term of [[Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors]], Element Number Five will usually exist outside of it. Sometimes it will actually be the source of all the other elements in the first place, making it more of a Zero-th element.

In spite of the name, this trope can also be another number- the Chinese elemental system, for example, normally contains five elements (Earth, Fire, Water, Metal, and Wood), so in works based on that mythology this will be Element Number Six. This trope occurs naturally in the [[wikipedia:Aether (classical element)|Greek]], [[wikipedia:Bön#Elements|Tibetan]], [[wikipedia:Classical element#Classical elements in Babylonia|Babylonian]] and [[wikipedia:Five elements (Japanese philosophy)|Japanese]] elemental systems, where Aether, Space, Sky and [[Power of the Void|Void]] fulfill the narrative role of this trope - note that these four are essentially the same thing.

 

 

See [[Infinity+1 Element]] for the gameplay ramifications of this trope occurring in [[Video Games]].

** With the advent of the fourth edition, ''[[Shadowrun]]'' has a definitive fifth element. When conjuring, magicians can summon up spirits of Earth, Fire, Air, Water, and/or Man.

* In ''[[Promethean: The Created]]'', Frankensteins are Fire, Tammuz are Earth, Galateids are Air, and Osirans are Water. Ulgans, the fifth Lineage? Ectoplasm. (They're deeply connected to the spirit world.) Later, we get a Sixth Element - ''Radiation''. Poor, miserable Zeka...

* Classic ''Advanced Dungeons & Dragons'' started with the four elemental planes of water, air, fire, and earth. And added the two energy planes, positive and negative. And the para-elemental planes, where the elemental planes touch: smoke, ice, magma, and ooze. And, ''also,'' the quasi-elemental planes, where the elemental planes touch the energy planes: lightning, minerals, radiance, and steam on the positive side; vacuum, dust, ash, and salt on the negative side.

* The now-defunct trading card game ''Anachronism'' merged traditional western elements with eastern ones, since both were covered by the game. Fire, water, wind, and earth were represented, as were wood, metal, and aether. For whatever reason, a single Norseman was all seven.

* ''[[Kingdom of Loathing]]'' has five elements to begin with (similar to the Chinese element system, which uses earth, water, metal, wood, and fire), but adds a sixth element, cute, in an arc that blatantly parodies ''[[The Fifth Element]]''.

** For reference, the five elements are [[Playing with Fire|Hot]], [[An Ice Person|Cold]], Spooky, Stench, and Sleaze.

* The four elements of magic spells in the ''[[Shin Megami Tensei]]'' games are [[Playing with Fire|Fire]], [[An Ice Person|Ice]], [[Blow You Away|Wind/Force]], and [[Shock and Awe|Electric]], with "Almighty" as the fifth, ultimate element. Nothing is weak to it, but usually nothing resists or nullifies Almighty either. It's a double-edged sword, as it gives both bosses and players a method to deal damage regardless of immunities.

** Interestingly enough, Almighty is not necessarily a literal FIFTH element per se, as there are other elements which could qualify as a fifth and sixth element. Most of the games in the [[Mega Ten]] universe include [[Light'Em Up|Light]] and [[Casting a Shadow|Dark]] elemental spells in the form of "Hama" and "Mudo", who, despite the fact that they function as [[One Hit KO|instant kill]] spells, are still classed as Elements since enemies can be weak to these spells. ''[[Digital Devil Saga]]'' even includes the [[Dishing Out Dirt|Earth]] element.

* An alchemist in ''[[The Elder Scrolls Four|Shivering Isles]]'' theorises that each of the four classical elements corresponds to a part of the body (fire is meat, earth is bone, water is blood and air is breath), and that these elements when brought together create the fifth element, Flesh.

* In ''[[Klonoa]] 2'', there are four bells — Tranquility, Joy, Discord and Indecision — but it is revealed there is a fifth: {{spoiler|Sorrow. In this case, it does exist within the [[Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors]] scheme, but it's been suppressed.}}

** Other ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' games also tend to have elements more obscure than the "main" ones. The four western elements (earth, fire, air and water) are [[Four-Element Ensemble|standard set]] for the crystals and the elemental archfiends, but the magic system is more complicated. While the standard three elements for spells are [[Fire, Ice, Lightning|fire, ice and lightning]], there are quite a few spells and special attacks with other elements or element-like properties, including air, water, earth, poison, holy, darkness, healing, gravity, as well as non-elemental spells.

* In ''[[Luminous Arc 2]]'', {{spoiler|[[Cool Big Sis|Ayano,]] [[The Dragon|Bharva]] and [[Final Boss|the Mage Queen,]] [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|Elicia]]}} possess the [[Anti-Magic|Silver element,]] which is resistant to all other elements. In particular, {{spoiler|[[Glass Cannon|Ayano]]}} can use it to the point that {{spoiler|she}} can efectively nullify all magical damage for a turn.

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[[Category:Elements of Nature]]