Where I come from, mages have a connection to the Fade — a world of spirits, essentially — that gives us the ability to do spells. Most of us have a preference for a certain element or two for basic magic on top of whatever else we're good at. I lean toward fire and ice, one of the Councilors prefers lightning, I think Dorian uses fire. We all have specialties, but if we're talking elements, that's that.