[HPforGrownups] Stopper Death?

[Tammy Rizzo]

No: HPFGUIDX 56279

On 27 Apr 2003 at 10:45, rayheuer3 at aol.com wrote:

> Stopper death: Just a poetic way of saying he'll teach you how to brew
> poisons.
> 
>   --  Ray  

I'm positive that in something like 55,000 messages, this has been addressed 
before, but I have to say that I've *ALWAYS* read 'stopper death' not as dealing 
with poisons, but as putting a stopper, or a plug, into death itself, the death process.  
I see it as making potions to postpone, suspend, or even reverse the death process, 
so long as the process of dying hadn't been completed.  We know that Voldemort 
had taken great pains to ensure his continued survival.  We know that unicorn's 
blood will keep you alive even if you are an inch from death.  We know it helped 
maintain Vapormort.  I think Snape was very likely involved in some of Voldemort's 
preparations, brewing things for his master, some of which might have contained 
unicorn blood.  That's what I think of when I read 'stopper death' -- the extremely 
difficult and advanced potions that would put off the inevitability of dying.

Anyway, that's my take on it.
  
***
Tammy
tammy at mauswerks.net