It’s a common elemental theme we see across stories, fantasies, etc. It seems like it is an element that should be part of that pantheon but maybe there is a scientific explanation of why it isn’t? Or is it simply, they did not have enough understanding of it at the time those 4 were suggested.
Electricity is pretty much just very directed fire if you think about it in a sorta abstract way.
Thats why ATLA was objectively correct that fire benders could also handle lightning.
Maybe they just didnt know what electricity was. Maybe it was lumped in with air and/or fire.
Mostly because the only real exposure to electricity the people who came up with the “classical” elements had was lightning. I’m sure they experienced static electricity from time to time, but they probably didn’t associate it with lightning.
From their perspective, lightning is a very brief moment of extreme light, then maybe a fire if they can actually see the impact site. So it seems a lot more closely related to fire than we would suppose.
maybe there is a scientific explanation of why it isn’t
Nothing about the “classical elements” is rooted in what we would understand as science today. It was just people making guesses about how the world around them worked without the rigor of the scientific process. It was little more than wild speculation.
I mean, what is “Aether” in a historical/classical context? Would that fit?
Edit: I guess not. Aether seems to be more like…‘dark matter’ or ‘gravity’ than electricity.
Because ancient people are dumb.
In Avatar: The Last Airbender, Lightning is part of Firebending.
In Chinese culture its actually: 金木水火土
There is apparantly 5 elements. And Metal (金) and Earth (土) are separate elements. In this universe Toph Beifong is not an Earthbender, but can only do Metalbending. Lolol.
There should be a 电 （Electricity）
Funny how Air isn’t even in the Chinese version of the elements, so:
金木水火土电 and 气
Metal Wood Water Fire Earth Electricity Air
7 Elements to conquer the world?
Might as well just pull up the periodic table lmao.
Could be fun.
Long ago, the 118 nations lived together in harmony. Then, everything changed when the Ytterbium Nation attacked.
Because electricity isn’t an element, it’s fairies. That’s why when there’s a short you see smoke: it’s really the fairies escaping the wires.
Electricity was invented some 7000 years later.
It’s a combination of fire and air, possibly just fire
In antiquity people probably considered it a form of fire since anything struck by lightening tends to burn or at least get extremely hot? Or possibly they saw it as some combination of wind and fire maybe?
