Fantasy interpretations often miss out that fact that if we really had a ‘four element’ system governing the world then everything would be made up of those four elements in differing amounts. So any liquid is presumably going to be mostly water. Perhaps oil is a mix of water and earth, or water with fire trapped in it (makes sense, right?), trees are mostly earth but clearly some water, and so on.
True manipulation of a single element would be insanely powerful because it would give you some degree of control over everything. Which, I suppose, is why we don’t get that interpretation - we get a quite literal one. Water gives you control over pure water and not much else.
Fantasy interpretations often miss out that fact that if we really had a ‘four element’ system governing the world then everything would be made up of those four elements in differing amounts. So any liquid is presumably going to be mostly water. Perhaps oil is a mix of water and earth, or water with fire trapped in it (makes sense, right?), trees are mostly earth but clearly some water, and so on.
True manipulation of a single element would be insanely powerful because it would give you some degree of control over everything. Which, I suppose, is why we don’t get that interpretation - we get a quite literal one. Water gives you control over pure water and not much else.