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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/28666
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

It is a bit stereotypical, but for good reason. The two are opposing forces. I don't mean in the sense of physical frozen water and whatever the hell fire is, but in the sense of endothermic (absorbs heat) and exothermic (emits heat) reactions. The two are opposing ends of the 'thermal' spectrum, like how midday is the opposite of midnight. Using ice magic and fire magic is perfectly acceptable.

What would be stereotypical (and somewhat cliché) would be to make the characters a personification of those elements. Typically fire-users are energetic hot-heads who are quick to anger and ice-users are oddly calm and relaxed because those traits fit the elements. But if magic were to exist, people would not necissarily be personifications of the magic they use, people would have personalities and they would choose to use a certain magic. There is no reason to not have an excitable, bubbly ice-user or a miserable, lazy fire-user.

Admittedly there might be cultural influence (e.g. the fire nation favours power, the ice nation favours wisdom) but that would not be steadfast - there do exist Americans who don't like American football or hamburgers, there do exist Britons who do not like football or tea. Heck, all nations are divided by their politics alone, no matter what traits their culture favours.

TL;DR: Fire and Ice magic is fine, but don't make the people personifications of their powers.

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