Four Elements

The four elements--earth, fire, air, and water--are commonly used in fantasy stories, and Tolkien is no exception. Literally and symbolically, Tolkien's works are filled with mentions of the four elements. Beyond that, fan fiction writers often use this theme to connect ideas in meaningful ways.

This month's challenge asks you to write four pieces, each of the four centered around a different one of the four elements. You are welcome to be as ambitious as you'd like with this project, and entries ranging from four hundred-word drabbles to four full-length stories are all welcome. Or four poems, or four nonfiction pieces, each exploring a topic that can be tied back to one of the four elements.

The ideas are limitless, but here are some possibilities:

• Consider the races of Arda. How does each relate to the elements of Arda compared to the others? Why is this meaningful for that race? Each story could show a young citizen of one of four different races learning his or her relationship with the element most important to his or her people.
• Follow a group of people or a character and how each of the elements was important over the course of their history. How did early Men discover fire? What about the role of Water to the Quendi?
• Explore the meaning behind the fates of the Silmarils or the three Elven Rings of Power and how they relate to the different elements.

This challenge opened in November 2006 .