Are Sprites "wild" elementals?

[MilesSaintboroguh]

too much moose to quote

Sounds logical. Now how about the ones found inside dungeons? Those are aggressive by default.

[Anonymoose]

Sounds logical. Now how about the ones found inside dungeons? Those are aggressive by default.

Ignoring "because game mechanics" (everything is aggressive by default)...
stares into the distance in cold calculation, blowing into a bubble pipe

We're often sent into dungeons to purge them of some threat or imbalance. The aether that gave birth to or sustains the sprites (or the sprites themselves by that point) would likely be either in jeopardy, in a tumultuous state, or outright tainted. Aether doesn't react well to imbalace e.g. elementals are easily angered, an enraged elemental enrages entities around it, etc. Bottle up an elemental and, like a primal, it will blindly attack everything around it when freed. The imbalance of Dalamud or even Toto-Rak caused fiends to grow restless and violent.

While not conscious, that might be enough to prime a sprite to lash out at a lower threshold.