Nicolas Flamel (again)

[Neil Ward]

No: HPFGUIDX 22232

Anna said:

<<Hi all, I'm a newbie here, this is my first post so please don't be too
harsh on me... I hate to say this, but I believe you've all forgotten
something rather crucial about Nicholas Flamel. Namely, that he existed. In
real life, I mean.>>

Hi Anna, and congratulations on taking that first step under the spotlight.
No tomatoes heading your way, despite the fact that you're a self-confessed
Slytherin... <g>  Also, thanks for all that additional information on Flamel
and that stuff about adepts.

I did mention earlier that Flamel was a real person and posted a link to
some historical background on him and the Stone (and we have discussed him
previously on this list).  However, I'm no expert on the subject - despite
trying to sound like one - hence my suppostion that immortality was one of
Flamel's goals.  JKR seems to have assumed that Flamel *was* immortal, and
took a more romantic view of his life and work for her purposes.  Let's face
it, Flamel isn't going to sue... unless... duh-duh-DUH!!....he IS still
alive!!!   Eek.  Perhaps Nancy Stouffer is really Pernelle Flamel?  No,
that's getting silly.

**

Brian said: <<Flamel was born in 1330 + 665 = 1995  That's not *very* askew,
is it?  Seems reasonably close to me.>>

Not very, no, but why have it reasonably close - why not on the nail?  It
seems strange, having an actual birthdate for this man to get the dates
slightly wrong.  Okay, hand me my copy of 'L.O.O.N. Monthly'!

**

I said:  <<Would someone who had striven to discover the secret of
immortality give it up just because Albus Dumbledore was wagging his
finger?>>

Ali said: <<Well, yes...if they've grown tired of living.  Didn't Dumbledore
say something about it being like going to bed after a VERY long day?
Perhaps Nick and his wife were already considering this before Albus
approached them.>>

Dumbledore did say that, yes.  I don't disagree with the fact that Flamel
may have been bored with living and given up the Stone and eternal life, but
I do question Dumbledore's power to have persuaded Flamel and Perenelle
(apparently it was Pernelle in real life?) to do it.  We only have
Dumbledore's account of this.

**
I've had another thought, one that may have been raised before:  Can we be
sure that Nicolas Flamel was a wizard?  If he was just a Muggle alchemist
who worked with Dumbledore that might explain the fact that Dumbledore has
the reputation as the greatest wizard of modern times and that Flamel sat on
his hands while Dumbledore tackled Grindelwald.  It would also explain why
Harry and the others could not find Flamel in any of the books on wizardry
in recent history; they assumed this was because he was 600+ years old, but
it *may* have been because he wasn't a wizard.  Hermione finds a reference
to the alchemist in a dusty old book, but we know that alchemists existed in
the Muggle world.  Perhaps the book failed to note that he was a Muggle?

Am I going astray here?
**

Pertinent quotes from Philosopher's Stone:-

"He wasn't in Great Wizards of the Twentieth Century, or Notable Magical
Names of Our Time; he was missing, too, from Important Modern Magical
Discoveries, and A Study of Recent Developments in Wizardry."

[shift the emphasis from 'modern/recent' to 'magic/wizardry'...]

"And you could ask your parents if they know who Flamel is," said Ron. "It'd
be safe to ask them."
"Very safe, as they're both dentists," said Hermione.

[ironically, two Muggle dentists might know about alchemy and Flamel, since
there are accounts of it in Muggle history...and...wait a minute.... my
dentist once transmuted my tooth into gold!  Oh.  Now I'm scared!]

Neil
________________________________________

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