Philosopher's Stone

From Harry Potter Wiki

This article is about the magical object. For the book of the same name, see Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.

The Philosopher's Stone was a man-made, blood-red stone with magical properties. It could be used to create the Elixir of Life, which extended the drinker's lifespan, as well as transform any metal into pure gold.

The famed alchemist Nicolas Flamel created the only known Philosopher's Stone in existence. Flamel used the Elixir of Life made from the stone to extend his and his wife Perenelle's lifespan for centuries.

In 1991 the Philosopher's Stone became the target of the Dark wizard Lord Voldemort in his quest for immortality. Voldemort used a human host, Quirinus Quirrell, to seek it out at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where it was being held. The stone was originally stored at Gringotts Wizarding Bank in vault 713. However, possibly suspecting a threat, Albus Dumbledore had Rubeus Hagrid retreive the stone the very morning of an attempted robbery.

After that, the stone was placed in a special chamber and guarded by various enchantments and creatures: A massive Three-headed dog named Fluffy; a web of Devil's Snare; charmed, flying keys; a life-size board of Wizard Chess; a mountain troll; a potion riddle; and The Mirror of Erised.

Harry Potter and his schoolmates Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger suspected that the stone would be stolen. In overhearing out-of-context conversations, they believed the thief would be Hogwarts Professor Severus Snape. However, the intended thief was in fact Professor Quirinus Quirrell.

Harry felt compelled to protect the stone and he and his friends, using intellectual power and heroism far exceeding their years, fought past the obstacles, until finally Harry was forced to face Quirrell and Lord Voldemort himself. In the final showdown, Quirrell lost his life, and Lord Voldemort lost his hold on the physical world.

After securing the stone, Dumbledore and Flamel discussed its future, and agreed that it was best to destroy it. Flamel ensured he had enough remaining elixir to set his affairs in order before he would ultimately die.

[edit] Severus Snape's Potion Riddle

The Potion riddle was an obstacle created by Severus Snape to help guard the Philosopher's Stone. As Hermione Granger noted, to get past this obstacle required logic and intelligence; it wasn't a matter of magic power. The Potion riddle is not in the film Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.

The obstacle involved seven potions aligned on a surface. This poem was also present:

"Danger lies before you, while safety lies behind,
Two of us will help you, whichever you would find,
One among us seven will let you move ahead,
Another will transport the drinker back instead,
Two among our number hold only nettle wine,
Three of us are killers, waiting hidden in line.
Choose, unless you wish to stay here forevermore,
To help you in your choice, we give you these clues four:
First, however slyly the poison tries to hide
You will always find some on nettle wine's left side;
Second, different are those who stand at either end,
But if you would move onward, neither is your friend;
Third, as you see clearly, all are different size,
Neither dwarf nor giant holds death in their insides;
Fourth, the second left and the second on the right
Are twins once you taste them, though different at first sight."

Based on Hermione's deductions, one may understand the potion lineup to be as follows:

1- Poison
2- Nettle Wine
3- Potion to move the drinker forward through black flames
4- Poison
5- Poison
6- Nettle Wine
7- Potion to move the drinker backwards through purple flames
^[1]

The riddle would pose difficulty to some, but it was solved by both Quirrell and Hermione Granger.

[edit] Behind the scenes

• In the American book and film, the Philosopher's Stone is called the Sorceror's Stone.

[edit] Differences between the Obstacles

Book	Film	PC Game	PS Game	GBC/GBA Game
Fluffy's Chamber and Through the Trapdoor (Harry plays the flute Hagrid gave him)	Fluffy's Chamber and Through the Trapdoor (Quirrel bewitches a harp)	Fluffy's Chamber and Through the Trapdoor (Harry plays the flute Hagrid gave him)	PS1: Fluffy's Chamber and Through the Trapdoor (Harry plays the flute Hagrid gave him)	Fluffy's Chamber and Through the Trapdoor (Harry plays the flute Hagrid gave him)
Devil's Snare (Hermione defeats it with some sort of fire)	Devil's Snare (Hermione defeats it with an illuminating charm)	Devil's Snare (Harry defeats it with fire)	PS1: Devil's Snare (Harry defeats it with fire)	GBC: Devil's Snare (Harry defeats it dueling) GBA: Devil's Snare (Harry defeats it burning it with torches)
Winged Keys (Harry, Ron and Hermione catch the key)	Winged Keys (Harry catches the key)	Winged Keys (Harry catches the key)	PS1: Winged Keys (Harry catches the key)	Winged Keys (Harry catches the key)
Giant Chess Board (Harry is a bishop, Hermione is a rook, Ron gets injured and he's a Knight)	Giant Chess Board (Harry is a bishop, Hermione is a rook, Ron gets injured and he's a Knight)	Giant Chess Board (Ron defeats most of the pieces and gets injured, Harry defeats the rest, Hermione doesn't play))	PS1: Giant Chess Board (There are three boards; Ron defeats most of the pieces and gets injured, Harry defeats the rest, Hermione doesn't play)	GBC: Giant Chess Board (Ron defeats the Queen, Harry defeats the rest, Hermione doesn't play) GBA: Giant Chess Board (Harry paralises most of the pieces, Ron paralises the last and stays on the board)
Potion Riddle (Hermione solves the riddle; Harry goes through the Black Flames, Hermione goes through the Purple Flames	None	Potion Riddle (Harry solves the riddle; Harry goes through the Black Flames, Hermione goes through the Purple Flames	PS1: Potion Riddle (Harry has to guess which knight has the Ice Potion)	GBC: Potion Riddle (Harry has to mix and brew the potion, solving the riddle) GBA: Potion Riddle (Harry and Hermione have to look for the four potion ingredients, scattered trough the dungueon
None	None	Mirror of Erised Antechamber (Harry has to push the blocks to get to the Mirror of Erised room, wile Quirrel pushes the blocks back and tries to curse him)	PS1: Mirror of Erised Antechamber (Quirrel brings suits of armor to life and summons a gigantic suit of armor)	GBC: Mirror of Erised Chamber (Harry duels with Quirrel) GBC: Mirror of Erised Antechamber (Harry dodges Quirrel's curses, making him destroy the floor. Then, they both fall to the Mirror of Erised Chamber
Mirror of Erised Chamber (Harry struggles against Quirrel and Voldemort, but passes out before Quirrel dies)	Mirror of Erised Chamber (Harry struggles against Quirrel and Voldemort, watches Quirrel die, and passes out when Voldemort's soul passes through him)	Mirror of Erised Chamber (Harry trys to kill Quirrel/Voldemort by collapsing pillars on top of him and he also tries to deflect Voldemort's curses with the Mirror. Harry passes out at the same time Quirrel dies. Dumbledore then bursts in to the room)	PS1:Mirror of Erised Chamber (Harry trys to kill Quirrel/Voldemort by collapsing pillars on top of him and he also tries to boost his jinxes with the Mirror, and then directing it to Voldemort. Harry watches Quirrel die)	GBC:Mirror of Erised Chamber (Harry duels with Voldemort and passes out when he touches him. He doesn't see Quirrel die) GBA:Mirror of Erised Chamber (Harry deflects Voldemort's curses with the Mirror and passes out when he touches him. He doesn't see Quirrel die)