In mysticism, mythology and alchemy, an elemental is a creature (usually a spirit) that is attuned with, or composed of, one of the classical elements: air, earth, fire and water.
The concept of elementals seems to have been conceived by Paracelsus in the 16th century. Paracelsus' elementals were:
| Element
| Elemental
| Source
|
| Air
| Sylph
| invented by Paracelsus, though supposedly part of Greek and Egyptian mythologies (not confirmed)
|
| Earth
| Gnome
| invented by Paracelsus, but probably based on the traditional kobold
|
| Fire
| Salamander
| invented by Paracelsus
|
| Water
| Undine
| invented by Paracelsus, but based off of the water nymph
|
Antroposophy is also known to have knowledge of elementals.
Elementals are commonly mentioned in grimoires dealing with alchemy and sorcery and are usually called by summoning.
In fantasy role-playing, computer and trading card games, elementals are common, albeit difficult, opponents. They can often only be defeated by an element of a conflicting type (for exmple, fire elementals are beaten by water), although in some games they are instead immune to that element and only that element. Many games use elementals composed of non-standard elements — elementals made of darkness, ice, life energy, light, lightning, magical energy, magma, mana, mud, plants, smoke, temporal energy and weather phenomena are all relatively common.
