This came up on the forum recently - we suddenly realised after months, or possibly years, of happily assuming that marids are water spirits because they are in Arabic mythology and djinni and afrits follow their Arabic mythology elements, it doesn't actually say they are anywhere in the trilogy or related material. So, are they? If not, what element are they?

Hello Sentynel,

Good question. To be honest I've not considered marids very carefully thus far, since in the Trilogy we didn't actually meet one. You're right that with both afrits and djinn I more or less followed hints that I found in Arabic folklore. I quite like the idea of marids being associated with water, at least in part. Probably it would be in conjunction with one or two of the other elements, in the same way that Bart professes himself a being of fire and air. A marid is evidently pretty formidable, and it makes sense that some of that power comes from an element to which Bart doesn't have strong access. So, an interim answer is: yes, water may well feature heavily, but they're unlikely to be solely water-spirits (in the Trilogy that would fall into the category of water Elementals).

All the best,

Jonathan

"marid is evidently pretty formidable, and it makes sense that some of that power comes from an element to which Bart doesn't have strong access"

Thats so fansinating, I dont know why