Hi, Mr Stroud. I'm a big fan, loved the trilogy, looking for other books by you... usual grovelling fanboy stuff. You've probably heard it a hundred times. So... I guess, ignoring the platitudes and bowing before your comedic majesty, I present my questions.

I have an inexplicable obsession with elementals, so I'd like to know more about them in the books. You mentioned them once or twice, but you never went into any real detail. So, I guess my questions are;

1; What are elementals?

2; Under the 5 types of spirit (not including sprites and higher entites), what do they come under? Or are they another type of spirit altogether?

3; Can they use magic?

4; Are they summoned for anything other than binding into spheres?

And, on a slightly related point;

In The Amulet of Samarkand, elemental spheres are described as using all four types of elementals in the same ball. But in subsequent books, each one uses only one element in its detonation. Why?

Thanks

Hi Legion,

Thanks for your questions. Elementals, eh? Okay, here goes:

1. To get to the Other Place, Kitty passes through 4 barriers, each one formed of one of the four elements - earth, fire, air, water. Although it isn't spelled out, I think that these elements are at the heart of all spirits' essence, and are what the OP is formed from. When they're drawn over to the human world, the exact nature of each spirit - and its individual essence - varies. Bart says more than once that he's a being of 'fire and air', implying that two of the four elements are strong components of his personal essence. (Traditional djinn in Arabic mythology are likewise associated with these elements.) But the elementals that appear in the trilogy are spirits whose essence is entirely associated with one element or another, rather than a mix.

2. Good question. I reckon that elementals is a description rather than a rank, so that it's possible to have (say) a water elemental of afrit strength, or a fire elemental no more potent than an imp. Because their nature is so extreme, elementals tend to get categorised separately as a class, even though strictly speaking you could probably label each one as 'foliot', 'djinni' etc.

3. I don't think they can use magic in the way that Bart does. I think their intelligence is relatively low and that most of the time they don't consciously act, but just tend to lash out in a fairly unprogrammed way. That's why they're good for encasing in orbs.

4. I suppose they might be - say to do something v. simple like attack someone. But in general, their lack of brains means that they're quite dangerous to the summoner, so orbs (and other prisons) are the prefered option.

5. Elemental spheres can be either 'pure': ie. contain only one type only, or 'mixed', ie. with a mix of types. The 'mixed' versions are particularly powerful, because the elementals hate opposing types, and will (when given the chance) explode away from each other with extreme force. This is the type used by the Resistance in the attack on Parliament.

Cheers,

J