A 1988 novel by Paulo Coelho.
Shepherd Santiago lives a peaceful life in the fields of Andalusia, tending his flocks and crushing on a local wool merchant's daughter, untroubled save for a strange recurring dream. When a fortune-teller interprets his dream as a prophecy telling him to find treasure hidden in the pyramids Santiago, (with encouragement from a strange old man who calls himself the King of Salem) follows the dream's message, seeking out his "personal legend." Aided by Urim and Thummim, a pair of fortune-telling stones gifted to him by the King, Santiago travels on foot to Egypt, meeting diverse range of people along the way: a crystal merchant dreaming of making Hajjnote , a desert-dwelling beauty named Fatima, an Englishman seeking the philosopher's stone, and the titular Alchemist. From each encounter and event Santiago gains a new understanding of himself and what he seeks, and ultimately leads his quest to the most unexpected of conclusions.
Written in the span of two weeks, The Alchemist was an unexpected bestseller, remaining to this day one of Coelho's most popular works. Surrounding the main plot is a mythology combining the mystical traditions of the Abrahamic religions with Hermetic philosophy and aspects of Alchemy, a surprisingly sensitive (one might say affectionate) portrayal of Bedouin culture through the eyes of a Spanish youth, and an overarching message about following your dreams to even the most unexpected of places. These factors have contributed to the novel's success, giving it a broad appeal across cultures and age groups.
The Alchemist provides examples of:
- Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder: Why Santiago goes to Africa (without realizing it) and later returns to the oasis: to be with Fatima.
- Alchemy Is Magic: Averted: Alchemy is used to do some pretty amazing stuff, but it's very explicitly not magic; it's a form of understanding "The Soul of the World". At the most, it can be considered a sort of Enlightenment Superpower.
- All Myths Are True: The book treats some of the fundamental truths of Christianity, Islam, and Hermeticism not only as true, but ultimately in harmony with each other.
- Ambiguous Time Period: The time the story takes place is never given— though given the uniforms in the illustrations and the Englishman's knowledge of Esperanto, it appears to take place at the tail-end of the 19th century or the beginning of the 20th.
- An Aesop: "Following what you truly want in your life, even if it is a lot of hard work, will ultimately make you happier than living a comfortable life dictated by what other people think that you should do." Also, "Sometimes you have to go a long ways away in order to discover something that was with or near you the whole time."
- Arc Words: Many, especially one's Personal Legend, The Language of the Soul, and maktub (Arabic for "destiny", literally "written").
- As the Good Book Says...: The Alchemist quotes the New Testament directly. "Where your treasure is, there your heart shall be also" is a direct quote from Luke 12:34 (and Matthew 6:21). He also offers a paraphrase of the story of Joseph.
- Bag of Spilling: Santiago loses his money three times throughout the story.
- Blithe Spirit: Santiago, pretty much wherever he goes, but especially in the crystal shop.
- Book Ends: The story begins and ends with Santiago in a church.
- Chekhov's Gun: The sycamore tree.
- Draw Sword, Draw Blood: While travelling with a caravan, Santiago gets a premonition that they're going to be attacked. He informs the chief, who tells him that they'll make defensive preparations, but if he was wrong they'll kill him, since apparently "blood must be shed once weapons are drawn". Fortunately for him, he was right.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: A journey from Andalusia to Egypt, which takes well over a year.
- Hidden Depths: Melchizedek at first appears to be an annoying old man who asks to see Santiago's book. He's actually an angelic figure whose job it is to encourage people on their quests to find their own Personal Legends. Santiago appears to be just another shepherd, but is actually literate and quite intelligent. He was training to become a priest but left the seminary to pursue a life of adventure.
- It's the Journey That Counts: Santiago goes through the whole book just to find out that the treasure was buried right under his location from the first page. While dismayed at first, he realizes that he never would have learned a new language, seen the Pyramids, met the love of his life, or learned how to turn himself into the wind.
- It Was with You All Along: Santiago's knowledge of alchemy, which helps him transform into wind to escape from hostile Arabs, and find the treasure.
- I Will Wait for You: Fatima to Santiago, before he leaves the oasis for Egypt.
- Jumped at the Call: Santiago is eager to set out for Egypt immediately, but things don't quite turn out as planned at first...
- Knight in Sour Armor: The Englishman, who has spent years searching for the secrets of alchemy without much luck, and is very bitter about it. Luckily, the Alchemist sets him on the right track.
- Language of Love: Not what you think it is. It's that everything in the universe is connected and love renders one capable of understanding it.
- Last Girl Wins: Santiago is infatuated with a girl from the village at first, and it looks like it might go somewhere. But at the end of the book, he decides to go back to Fatima.
- Love at First Sight: Santiago and Fatima.
- The Power of Love: Directly invoked. Santiago's "listening to his heart" allows him to finally understand the secrets of alchemy and lets him turn himself into wind.
- Really 700 Years Old: The Alchemist is over 200 years old, since he has the Elixir of Life.
- Rule of Symbolism: The book is pretty heavy on Christian symbolism, including many Bible references, as befits Coelho's devout Catholicism.
- Shown Their Work: Coelho mentions a lot of details about Islam and North Africa which he mostly gets right, as well as Christianity, classical mythology and of course alchemy.
- This Is Something He's Got to Do Himself: The Alchemist leaves Santiago on the last stage of his journey.
- Wanting Is Better Than Having: The crystal merchant and his pilgrimage to Mecca.
- Whole-Plot Reference: Tale Of Two Dreamers, a short story of Jorge Luis Borges, which in turn is based fron a story of the Arabian Nights.
