The latest Unearthed Arcana article for Dungeons & Dragons could be hinting at a primordial or elemental book in the future, bringing elements from D&D 4e into 5e. The D&D multiverse has planes ruled by gods, but there are also beings with powers that rival or surpass the gods, such as the Lady of Pain from the Planescape setting, or the rulers of the demons and devils. The primordials are beings that reside in the Elemental Chaos, which wraps around the Elemental Planes and connects to the Outer Planes.
The concept of the primordials was introduced in D&D 4e's Forgotten Realms campaign book, though they use concepts from throughout the history of the game. The primordials are elemental beings of incredible power, who reside within the Elemental Chaos plane, daring the gods to come to face them in their ever-shifting realm. The primordials that existed in 4e include Akadi: the Queen of Air, Bazim-Gorag: Lord of the Pandemonium Stone, Grumbar: Lord of Earth, Istishia: Lord of Water, and Kossuth: Lord of Fire. There are also beings known as the Seven Lost Gods, which may have been primordials, including Dendar the Night Serpent, who is worshiped by the yuan-ti.
D&D's Inner Planes are still part of the game. The D&D 5e Player's Handbook has a section dedicated to the multiverse, and the Elemental Chaos is listed among the Inner Planes. The primordials are not mentioned, which might be because they are connected to the Forgotten Realms campaign setting and not the multiverse as a whole. This could soon change, as the new D&D Unearthed Arcana article is hinting at content relating to primordials.
Unearthed Arcana Is Hinting At Primordials In D&D 5e
The D&D "Giant Options" Unearthed Arcana article references primordials, ancient elemental beings, and runic magic that has fallen out of use. The content in the article has many references to giants, elementals, and primal forces. It's possible that there will be a D&D book that brings the primordials into 5e as a whole and incorporates them into the multiverse, as powerful rulers of the Elemental Planes, who can act as foes on an epic scale. The return of Spelljammer means a lot of characters will be traveling the multiverse, and the primordials might decide that the time has come to act, and become players on a bigger scale. It's also possible that giants could be tied to primordials, in the same way the goblinoid races now originate from the Feywild.
Fizban's Treasury of Dragons introduced dragonsight to 5e, which is the ability of dragons to become aware of their other selves in different realities, in order to gain power. It's possible that an elemental, giant, or primordial book, in a similar manner to Fizban's Treasury of Dragons is on the way, and it will flesh out the Elemental Planes, and introduce concepts that will become standard across different campaign settings. It's also possible that new elemental content would appear in a campaign, as the new Feywild content debuted in The Wild Beyond the Witchlight. The Unearthed Arcana article hints at a lot of different things, and it will be interesting to see which Dungeons & Dragons book will feature its content.
Source: Unearthed Arcana