Hey everyone,
Welcome to another installment of Harry Potter Theory. In this video, we’re going to be
discussing the life of none other than Nicolas Flamel.
In my last video we looked at the story of Merlin, an enigmatic figure that appears to
have made his way in to endless adaptations of folklore and pseudo-historical accounts.
The way that his story is told in some instances makes it seem as though Merlin really walked
the earth in exactly the way that he has been described to us. However, by analyzing the
texts, we can deduce that Merlin was created by Geoffrey of Monmouth- combining two real
and prominent historical figures - Myrddin Wyltt, A north Brythonic prophet, and Ambrosius
Aurelianus, a Romano-British war leader. So, Merlin was real, in a way. But the thing that
makes Nicolas Flamel even more of an enigma than Merlin, is the fact that he completely
and totally existed, and his name and identity didn’t really change along the way. Like
Merlin, Flamel is included in all sorts of folklore, pseudo-historical accounts, and
even historical accounts- he’s all over the place, and it makes him that much more
intriguing. His character and identity, the man he really was, was clearly interesting
enough for people to adapt in to folklore, and that’s exactly the way Flamel found
his way in to Harry Potter.
Let’s start by taking a look at the real Nicolas Flamel, the man that all of these
fictional adaptations were based on. Flamel was a French scribe born in the year 1330
in the city of Pontoise- he lived in Paris for the majority of his life, and spent much
time there over the course of the 14th and 15th century. Flamel was such an influential
figure in Parisian history that there is even a road named after him, called ‘Rue Nicolas
Flamel’. Even more interesting than that, one of Flamel’s original houses still exists
in Paris to this day, at 51 Rue de Montmorency. It’s been expressed that Flamel’s former
home is the oldest stone house in the city, and there is even an inscription on the wall
which states:
“We, plowmen and women living at the porch of this house, built in 1407, are requested
to say every day an 'Our Father' and an 'Ave Maria' praying God that His grace forgive
poor and dead sinners."
On a day-to-day basis, Flamel worked as a scribe and manuscript-seller, and ran two
shops offering these services in Paris. Flamel achieved a great deal of success in his career
and as a result became quite wealthy. In the year 1368, Flamel would go on to marry his
wife Perenelle, a generous benefactress who had a great deal of money from her former
2 marriages. Like Flamel, a road was named in her honour after her demise - rue Perenelle.
The pair were a couple of wealthy philanthropists who lived good, solid lives. Perenelle passed
away before Nicolas, in the year 1397, and Nicolas lived until the year 1418- which was
a considerable amount of time for someone to live in that era.
But posthumously is when things really start to get interesting for the enigmatic figure
that is Nicolas Flamel. Sometime in the 17th century, hundreds of years after his death,
legends started to appear about Flamel- claiming that he was a successful alchemist who A.
Discovered the Philosopher’s Stone, and B. achieved immortality. The texts claimed
that Flamel had learned his alchemical secrets from a Jewish converso on the road to Santiago
de Compostela. And that was really what sparked the identity of Flamel in fictional works-
from that point onward, Flamel was no longer just a wealthy scribe who lived a reasonably
long life, suddenly he was a master alchemist who achieved immortality. It’s crazy what
can happen hundreds of years after your death.
Flamel’s legendary accomplishments as an alchemist were first mentioned in Livre des
figures hiéroglyphiques, an alchemical text first published in 1612. The text outlined
that Flamel had succeeded with two great achievements in alchemy, the first being that he created
the philosopher’s stone, which was purported to have turned base metals in to gold. The
second achievement was that he and his wife had succeeded in creating an ‘elixir of
life’ which allowed them to achieve immortality.
Flamel was truly an icon in alchemy, and had reached legendary status within the circles
of alchemy by the mid 17th century. He was even mentioned in Sir Isaac Newton’s journals.
So that pretty much covers both the real Flamel, as well as the fictionally adapted Flamel,
but what about the Flamel of Harry Potter? Where does he fit in to all of this?
In Harry Potter lore, Flamel actually wasn’t all too different than the Flamel of the 17th
century texts, and it’s clear that he had an influence on Rowling as the first film
is named after the very object which he is purported to have created. In an interview,
Rowling discusses Flamel:
"Nicolas Flamel is a historical character. Flamel lived in France in the fourteenth century
and is supposed to have discovered how to make a Philosopher's Stone. There are mentions
of sightings of him through the centuries because he was supposed to have gained immortality.
There are still streets named after Flamel and his wife Perenelle in Paris."
The Flamel of the Harry Potter universe was born in the year 1326, I’m not sure why
this is 4 years earlier than the real Flamel, but there you go. There is a stark difference
in his lifespan, however, as the original Flamel died in the year 1418, and the Flamel
of Harry Potter lived until sometime between 1992 and 1996- not a bad go. He ended up being
one of the oldest wizards in history, losing out only to wizard Barry Winkle who lived
to the age of 755.
The Nicolas Flamel of the Harry Potter universe, like every other witch and wizard, of course
also attended a wizarding school. In the early 14th century, Flamel began attending Beauxbatons
Academy of Magic, a French wizarding school located in the Pyrenees Mountains of France.
This is apparently also where he met his wife, Perenelle, who stayed by his side for their
considerably long existence. Nicolas kept a relatively low profile for a lot of his
life- remaining in his Parisian home and pursuing all sorts of alchemical endeavours. In the
1890s, Flamel first met Albus Dumbledore, who at the time was a brilliant teenager that
showed immense magical promise. As mentioned on Dumbledore’s chocolate frog card, Dumbledore
also achieved a great deal of success in alchemy during his lifetime, and I have no doubt that
this was the result of joint-ventures with Flamel.
Though Flamel is referenced in the Harry Potter books and films time and time again, he never
actually gets any screen time in the original Harry Potter franchise. However, Flamel was
featured and shown on-screen for the first time in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.
During Gellert Grindelwald’s attempt at a tyrannical revolution, Flamel reaches out
to Dumbledore and offers up his home as a safehouse for any of their allies should they
require it. Flamel was supposedly a ‘kindly old man with a polite disposition’ and this
is clearly shown in the film, when he welcomes Newt, Jacob, Tina and Yusuf in to his home
in Paris. During the events of Fantastic Beasts, Flamel was already over 600 years old, but
he still dedicated a considerable amount of energy toward helping Dumbledore, Newt, and
his other new allies, with defeating Gellert Grindelwald.
Flamel, in addition to being an exceptionally gifted alchemist- the most famous of all time
in fact, was also skilled in other areas of magic. His alchemical skill allowed him to
exercise his potion-making ability to the greatest extent- eventually creating an elixir
of life that made the drinker immortal. Flamel also had an extensive knowledge of the dark
arts, and a knowledge of defensive magic that matched it. He even mastered divination-being
able to use a crystal ball to see events unfold, and was versed in both wandless, and non-verbal
magic.
Though Flamel could have lived forever had he continued to utilize the philosopher’s
stone, him and his wife eventually embraced death. Flamel knew that the stone that he
had created would ultimately bring more harm than good if it fell in to the wrong hands-
and that’s why he and Dumbledore made the decision to destroy it.
Flamel is such an interesting person both inside and outside of the Harry Potter universe,
and I’m interested to see what his role brings in the future Fantastic Beasts films.
We’ve got 3 more on the way, so I’m confident that we’ll see more of Flamel.
What did you guys already know about Flamel? I’m always wanting to continually learn
about these interesting historical figures that have made their way in to the Harry Potter
universe. If I’ve missed something, comment it down below. I’d love to hear what you
guys have to say.
Until next
YER A WIZARD ARRY