The Sorcerer's Stone

• Type: Magical Device, Alchemical Substance
• Owners: Nicolas Flamel, Albus Dumbledore (for safekeeping), Harry Potter (briefly)
• Maker: Nicolas Flamel

The Sorcerer's Stone is described as a blood-red stone, roughly the size of a large egg. It has an irregular shape and a rough, unpolished surface. When Harry Potter saw it materialize in his pocket from the Mirror of Erised, he noted it felt warm.

The Sorcerer's Stone is an immensely powerful alchemical substance with two primary, legendary properties:

• Transmutation: It possesses the ability to transform any base metal, such as lead, into pure gold. This is one of the ultimate goals of alchemy.
• Immortality: The Stone can be used to create the Elixir of Life, a potion that grants the drinker an extended, potentially immortal, life. To maintain this effect, the drinker must consume the Elixir on a regular basis. Nicolas Flamel and his wife, Perenelle Flamel, used the Elixir to live for over six hundred years.

The only known Sorcerer's Stone in existence was created by the renowned alchemist and close friend of Albus Dumbledore, Nicolas Flamel. For centuries, Flamel used the Stone and its Elixir of Life to sustain his and his wife's lives. In 1991, Lord Voldemort, in his weakened, bodiless form, began actively seeking the Stone to regain a physical body and achieve true immortality. Aware of this threat, Dumbledore arranged with Flamel to move the Stone from its vault (Vault 713) at Gringotts Wizarding Bank to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for enhanced protection. On 31 July 1991, Rubeus Hagrid retrieved the Stone from Gringotts just before Professor Quirrell, who was possessed by Voldemort, attempted to steal it. At Hogwarts, the Stone was hidden in a secret chamber and protected by a series of powerful enchantments created by several professors:

1. A giant three-headed dog named Fluffy, placed by Rubeus Hagrid.
2. A patch of Devil's Snare, placed by Professor Sprout.
3. A room full of enchanted, flying keys, created by Professor Flitwick.
4. A life-sized Wizard's Chess set, enchanted by Professor McGonagall.
5. A Mountain Troll, which was already knocked out by Professor Quirrell when Harry, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger arrived.
6. A potions riddle requiring logic, devised by Professor Snape.
7. The Mirror of Erised, enchanted by Albus Dumbledore to give the Stone only to someone who wanted to find it, but not use it for personal gain.

In June of 1992, Harry Potter passed through these protections to confront Professor Quirrell, who revealed that Voldemort was living on the back of his head. Due to Dumbledore's enchantment on the Mirror of Erised, Harry's pure-hearted desire to protect the Stone allowed it to appear in his pocket. He successfully prevented Voldemort from acquiring it. Following this event, Albus Dumbledore and Nicolas Flamel mutually agreed that the Stone was too dangerous to exist. It was subsequently destroyed. Flamel and his wife had enough Elixir of Life remaining to put their affairs in order before they would eventually die.

The Sorcerer's Stone is the central object of conflict and the primary plot device in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Its pursuit by Lord Voldemort drives the narrative of the first book and serves as Harry Potter's first major confrontation with his nemesis. The Stone introduces key themes of the series, particularly the nature of death and the corrupting influence of the desire for immortality. Dumbledore's final conversation with Harry about the Stone highlights a core moral lesson: that a selfless acceptance of mortality is a more noble path than a selfish quest for eternal life, stating, “to the well-organised mind, death is but the next great adventure.”

• Title Note: The object is known as the Philosopher's Stone in the original British publication, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. The American publisher, Scholastic, changed the title to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, and the name of the object within the text, believing the term “sorcerer” would be more appealing and understandable to an American audience. All subsequent references in the American editions and the worldwide film adaptations use the name “Sorcerer's Stone.”
• Real-World Legend: The Philosopher's Stone is a central concept in traditional alchemy. Nicolas Flamel was a real historical figure (c. 1330 – 1418), a French scribe who gained a posthumous reputation as an alchemist who had discovered the secret of the Stone and achieved immortality. J.K. Rowling incorporated this legend directly into the wizarding world.
• Film Depiction: In the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, the Stone is shown as a more ornate, brightly glowing, crystalline object, in contrast to the book's description of it being a simple, rough, and irregular stone (film).