1 Lambert: A fire elemental! Go on, Kyros, destroy it in an all-consuming globe of flame!
2 Kyros: There's just one problem. Fire elementals are immune to fire.
3 Lambert: You mean the one time we actually have confidence in your abilities and they're useless?
4 Alvissa: No, no... I've been confident his abilities are useless before.

Elementals are, depending on your assumptions, either a lot older or a lot more recent than you might think. They weren't invented for roleplaying games like Dungeons & Dragons, nor were they based on ancient legends of the vintage of the Greeks and Romans.

In fact, the first recorded reference to physical creatures embodying the four ancient elements of earth, fire, air, and water was in the alchemical works of the 16th century Swiss physician and occultist Paracelsus.