History Main / PhilosophersStone

* The Soft Stone in ''Manga/KarakuriCircus'' is used to created Aqua Vitae, "Water of Life", which is used in the creation of Shiroganes. Among other things, it can grant supernatural resilience and long life, [[spoiler:especially if you dissolve yourself in it: whoever drinks the water afterwards will inherit part of your memories and personality]].

* In ''VideoGame/GoldenSunDarkDawn'', it is revealed that the Wise One is a Philosopher's Stone. Apparently, in this world, Philospher's Stones are [[AGodAmI extremely powerful and intelligent beings forged through Alchemy]].

* The ''VideoGame/{{Atelier}}'' series is all about crafting items, so it's not surprising that the Philosopher's Stone is a high-end synthesizable item in each of the games in the ''Mysterious'' trilogy of the series - ''VideoGame/AtelierSophieTheAlchemistOfTheMysteriousBook'', ''VideoGame/AtelierFirisTheAlchemistAndTheMysteriousJourney'' and ''VideoGame/AtelierLydieAndSuelleTheAlchemistsAndTheMysteriousPaintings''. Rather than being anymore particularly useful than any of the other powerful end-game items, though, crafting it is really more just a mark of a powerful alchemist. As such, each game in the trilogy has a side-quest which requires the player to craft it. ''Lydie and Suelle'' even has a second sidequest in which you can create "Cute Philosopher's Stones" for Lydie and Suelle's alchemy teacher, Ilmeria.

* Appears, naturally enough, in ''Literature/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone'',[[note]]Renamed ''...and the Sorcerer's Stone'' for the American market, because apparently Rowling's publishers thought Americans wouldn't read a book with the word "philosopher" in the title.[[/note]] displaying its traditional powers of turning lead to gold and creating the elixir of life. [[spoiler: There is also a nod to its origins in that the Mirror of Erised is used to protect it by ensuring that only someone who wanted to ''find'' the stone but not ''use'' it is able to retrieve it.]] At the end, it's destroyed to prevent Voldemort using it, with Nicolas Flamel and Perenelle accepting death as "the next great adventure" after more than six centuries of life.
* Used In ''Literature/TheAlchemist''. After all, it's the title character's Personal Legend.

* In ''Literature/TheUnhandsomePrince'', it was Prince Hal's attempt to steal this from Emily's mother that led to him getting turned into a frog. It also turns out that in addition to helping turn things into gold, touching also tends to make you start [[RuleOfFunny spouting philosophy]]. (Although not necessarily very ''deep'' philosophy.)

* The Soft Stone in ''Manga/KarakuriCircus'' is used to created Aqua Vitae, "Water of Life", which is used in the creation of Shiroganes.

* Creating a clone.
* Creating [[OurHomunculiAreDifferent a Homunculus.]]

* In their attempts to make a Philosopher's Stone, the alchemists of ''Manga/BusouRenkin'' made the kakugane, which, while not granting immortality, do give a HealingFactor. The Black Kakugane gets even closer, [[spoiler: in that it can be used as a transplant heart, at the cost of acting as a PsychoSerum.]]

* In ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'', the Philosopher's Stone seemingly has the power to violate the law of EquivalentExchange in alchemy and allow the user to perform miraculous feats. It turns out that the law isn't actually broken, but[[spoiler: [[PoweredByAForsakenChild the stone is composed of human souls]] that serve as a massive battery. It is even worse in the [[Anime/FullmetalAlchemist 2003 anime adaptation]], where thousands of souls are required to create a single stone.]]

* In ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'', the Philosopher's Stone seemingly has the power to violate the law of EquivalentExchange in alchemy and allow the user to perform miraculous feats. It turns out that the law isn't actually broken, but [[PoweredByAForsakenChild the stone is composed of human souls]] that serve as a massive battery. It is even worse in the [[Anime/FullmetalAlchemist 2003 anime adaptation]], where thousands of souls are required to create a single stone.

* In ''Touhou's'' ''[[VideoGame/{{Touhou}} Embodiment of Scarlet Devil]]'''s Extra Stage, local alchemist Patchouli Knowledge combines her five elements into the single spellcard ''Fire Water Wood Metal Earth Sign: Philosopher's Stone''.

* In ''[[VideoGame/{{Touhou}} Embodiment of Scarlet Devil]]'''s Extra Stage, local alchemist Patchouli Knowledge combines her five elements into the single spellcard ''Fire Water Wood Metal Earth Sign: Philosopher's Stone''.

* In ''VideoGame/OperatorsSide''/''Lifeline'', this is what drives the whole plot of the game.
* In ''VideoGame/GoldenSunDarkDawn'', it is revealed that the Wise One is a Philosopher's Stone. Apparently, in this world, Philospher's Stones are [[AGodAmI extremely powerful and intelligent beings forged through Alchemy]].

* In ''VideoGame/ValkyrieProfile'' the Philosopher's Stone takes the form of the GreatBigBookOfEverything. It allows the sorcerer Lezard Valeth to look up and know just about any bit of lost information and in the end allows him to survive Ragnarok.

* Alchemists in ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' produce Philosopher's Stones at higher levels of their profession. They can act as modestly-useful trinkets, but their main use is in allowing the alchemist to transmute rare materials out of common materials.
* In ''{{VideoGame/Darklands}}'' the party holds a Philosopher's Stone, which an alchemist uses as a catalyst to make potions. The more pure the Stone, the greater your chance of making the potions. More advanced potions (or greater volumes of a less advanced potion) can be made with better stones, and improving the quality of your stone is a significant part of the game.

* In ''VisualNovel/CodeRealize'', the protagonist Cardia Beckford [[spoiler: is an ArtificialHuman who]] has a gem known as the Horologium embedded in her chest. It turns out to be a precursor to a true Philosopher's Stone created by her father, alchemist Isaac Beckford. It's also highly toxic, causing her touch to corrode any object that hasn't been chemically protected.
* The ''VideoGame/{{Atelier}}'' series is all about crafting items, so it's not surprising that the Philosopher's Stone is a high-end synthesizable item in each of the games in the ''Mysterious'' trilogy of the series - ''VideoGame/AtelierSophieTheAlchemistOfTheMysteriousBook'', ''VideoGame/AtelierFirisTheAlchemistAndTheMysteriousJourney'' and ''VideoGame/AtelierLydieAndSuelleTheAlchemistsAndTheMysteriousPaintings''. Rather than being anymore particularly useful than any of the other powerful end-game items, though, crafting it is really more just a mark of a powerful alchemist. As such, each game in the trilogy has a side-quest which requires the player to craft it. ''Lydie and Suelle'' even has a second sidequest in which you can create "Cute Philosopher's Stones" for Lydie and Suelle's alchemy teacher, Ilmeria.

** In 5th edition a Transmutation specialist wizard can create a generic 'transmuter's stone' which stores transmutation magic in it. Three functions of the stone that a 14th level transmuter can perform are {{Panacea}} (remove all curses/poisons/diseases and heal all health), Restore Life (a 'raise dead' spell), and Restore Youth (reduce a willing creature's apparent age from 13-30 years)

* Appears in ''Series/{{Warehouse 13}}'', created by Paracelsus in an attempt to make himself immortal. He tests is on his brother and his brother's family, making them immortal. However, the experiment results in several hundred dead villagers. When the Warehouse 9 agents find out, they [[AndIMustScream bronze]] him and break the stone into three parts, so they could be hidden far from one another. After being de-bronzed in the 21st century, Paracelsus recovers the stone, makes his brother and his family mortal again, and then makes himself immortal (by sucking the life out of terminal patients).

** The Philosopher's Stone is a minor artifact. It takes the form of a small bit of black rock which can be broken open to find a small bit of quicksilver. This quicksilver can be used to turn large amounts of iron into silver or lead into gold, and can also be mixed with a cure potion to bring someone back to life with none of the usual level drain being resurrected causes. Its SpiritualSuccessor, TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}, has the alchemist base class at 20th level can choose the Philosopher's Stone from one of several "grand discoveries" they can make, allowing them to make one ''per month''.
** A Transmutation specialist wizard can create a generic 'transmuter's stone' which stores transmutation magic in it. Three functions of the stone that a 14th level transmuter can perform are {{Panacea}} (remove all curses/poisons/diseases and heal all health), Restore Life (a 'raise dead' spell), and Restore Youth (reduce a willing creature's apparent age from 13-30 years)

According to legend, the Philosopher's Stone is a mysterious MacGuffin, almost always a red rock in reference to the alchemy term [[AltumVidetur "rubedo"]], created by either magic or alchemy, which allows you to do any number of things, including transmuting any metal into gold, allowing you to live forever through an elixir of life, or ascendance into Godhood. (Note that these uses are connected: gold can not rust, thus it is a substance that makes things immortal.) Other possible attributes include:

* [[ComicBook/TheFlash Flash]] villain Doctor Alchemy has the Philosophers' Stone, and uses its powerful ability to transmute any element to commit crimes. Yup, he uses something ''that can turn anything to pure gold'' to rob banks. On the bright side, he hasn't collapsed the DC Universe's gold market.
** Funnily enough, someone rifling through the effects of Marvel's Chemistro did find his matter transmutation gun and realized he could use it to produce gold, but the villain's tech can only make the change for as long as the gun's wielder keeps willing it, making it useless for long-term changes.

* In ''TabletopGame/{{Dungeons and Dragons}}'', the Philosopher's Stone is a minor artifact. It takes the form of a small bit of black rock which can be broken open to find a small bit of quicksilver. This quicksilver can be used to turn large amounts of iron into silver or lead into gold, and can also be mixed with a cure potion to bring someone back to life with none of the usual level drain being resurrected causes. Its SpiritualSuccessor, TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}, has the alchemist base class at 20th level can choose the Philosopher's Stone from one of several "grand discoveries" they can make, allowing them to make one ''per month''.

lusion.

* In ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'', the Philosopher's Stone seemingly has the power to violate the law of EquivalentExchange in alchemy and allow the user to perform miraculous feats. It turns out that the law isn't actually broken, but the stone is [[PoweredByAForsakenChild the stone is composed of human souls]] that serve as a massive battery. It is even worse in the [[Anime/FullmetalAlchemist 2003 anime adaptation]], where thousands of souls are required to create a single stone.

* In the ''Comicbook/JohanAndPeewit'' book "Le Sortilège de Maltrochu", Peewit's alchemical experiments somehow creates some reverse Philosophers' Stone, that turns gold into lead.

* In ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'', the Philosopher's Stone has the power to violate the law of equivalent exchange in alchemy, but it comes at a terrible price: [[PoweredByAForsakenChild the stone is composed of human souls]]. It is even worse in the [[Anime/FullmetalAlchemist 2003 anime adaptation]], where thousands of souls are required to create a single stone.
** It turns out that the stone actually does ''not'' allow one to violate the law of equivalent exchange. As it happens, the stone actually acts like a massive battery for the alchemist, allowing them to perform energy-to-matter conversions which look to an outsider to be a total violation of equivalent exchange. Those human souls are converted into a "high-energy substance" which makes up the stone. Kimblee is also able to perform alchemy using a Stone after Ed cuts one of the circles on his palms, which he normally would not be able to do.

* Alchemists in ''WorldOfWarcraft'' produce Philosopher's Stones at higher levels of their profession. They can act as modestly-useful trinkets, but their main use is in allowing the alchemist to transmute rare materials out of common materials.

* ''LostKingdoms'': Rune Stones are quite similar in concept, affording the user amazing power. Like many above examples, they're created by [[YourSoulIsMine infusing a normal gemstone with an entity's soul]]. The original Rune Stones [[PiecesOfGod contained the souls of the Creator Deities]], but it turns out [[PoweredByAForsakenChild human souls also work]] ([[EvilKnockoff though not as well]]).