MuggleNet's Pottermore Feature of the Week: 'Nicolas Flamel'

This week, our look at the new information provided by author J.K. Rowling on the interactive site Pottermore, examines the famous 14th Century French Alchemist, Nicolas Flamel.

Nicolas Flamel and his wife Perenelle were in fact real people. The pure essence of Nicholas' reputation claims that he succedded at two magical goals of alchemy; that he made the Philosopher's Stone, which turns common metals into gold and ordinary stones into precious gems, and that his wife achieved immortality through the 'Elixir of Life'.

J.K. Rowling writes the following on Pottermore:

Nicolas Flamel was a real person. I read about him in my early twenties when I came across one of the versions of his life story. It told how he had bought a mysterious book called The Book of Abraham the Jew, which was full of strange symbols and which Flamel realised were instructions on alchemy. The story went that he subsequently made it his life's work to produce the Philosopher's Stone.

The real Flamel was a wealthy businessman and a noted philanthropist. There are streets in Paris named after him and his wife, Perenelle.

I remember having a highly detailed and exceptionally vivid dream about Flamel, several months into the writing of Philosopher's Stone, which was like a renaissance painting come to life. Flamel was leading me around his cluttered laboratory, which was bathed in golden light, and showing me exactly how to make the Stone (I wish I could remember how to do it).

Do you feel that the Philosopher's Stone and 'Elixir of Life' really do exist? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.