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‘You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potionmaking,’ [Snape] began. He spoke in barely more than a whisper, but they caught every word – like Professor McGonagall, Snape had the gift of keeping a class silent without effort. ‘As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don’t expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses ... I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death – if you aren’t as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach.’¹

Philosopher's Stone - page 102 - Bloomsbury - chapter 8, The Potions Master

Are there any canon potions that actually grant fame or glory, or stopper death? I'm looking for specific canon-based answers from sources such as the Harry Potter books, interviews with J.K. Rowling, or information from Pottermore. Maybe because it's early I'm overlooking the obvious, but offhand I can't think of any canon potions that fit this criteria exactly.

¹I edited in the entire paragraph that I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death comes from for clarity. Hopefully this will be helpful and provide a better context for the comment in question.

Slytherincess
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3 Answers3

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  • Stopper death: since the pattern of the expression is "to <verb> <noun>", it means that "stopper" is a verb.

    Dictionary.com has only one verb usage:

    verb (used with object) 6. to close, secure, or fit with a stopper.

    This very clearly means that he was referring to collect - and close - a bottle of deadly poison, NOT potion that will stop death.

    While we don't know the names (sorry, the "draught of living death" is not actually fatal), there ARE known fatal poisons in Harry Potter - some of those in Philosopher's Stone used for a riddle were deadly:

    Three of us are killers, waiting bidden in line.

    ...

    Neither dwarf nor giant holds death in their insides; (implying, others do)

  • fame and glory:

    1. First, there's a bunch of potions which could, potentially, have the effect of achieving fame and glory for the drinker (all text from http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_potions but I verified that they are all referenced):

      • Above mentioned Felix Felicis (grants luck)

      • Baruffio's Brain Elixir (increases the taker's brain power)

      • Beautification Potion (makes the taker very beautiful)

    2. Second, some potions could make the maker famous or glorified, just for making them; such as elixir from Philosopher's stone; or inventing Felix Felicis, or inventing wolfesbane potion.

DVK-on-Ahch-To
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    Your interpretation of "stopper death" relies on a too-literal interpretation of a poetic phrase, and is quite wrong. – Martha Aug 01 '13 at 00:04
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    @Martha - It has not been my experience that JKR writes deeply poetic texts with deep subtext :) – DVK-on-Ahch-To Aug 01 '13 at 03:30
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    @Martha How is it wrong? This seems quite a reasonable conclusion to me, and I can't find any more suitable way to interpret "stopper death" (it certainly doesn't mean "stop death"). In what way is this "too literal" an interpretation, in particular? This is taking the words at their meaning, and I see no reason to believe they were meant to mean otherwise. There don't appear to be any tricks here. What's the correct interpretation, if this is wrong? – doppelgreener Aug 01 '13 at 04:05
  • While the Wolfsbane potion would certainly bring fame to the wizard who has invented it, that's not the same as "bottling fame". – b_jonas Aug 01 '13 at 07:28
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    I just thought of something and looked it up in Deathly Hallows. And now Harry stood in the Headmaster’s office yet again. It was night-time, and Dumbledore sagged sideways in the thronelike chair behind the desk, apparently semi-conscious. His right hand dangled over the side, blackened and burned. Snape was muttering incantations, pointing his wand at the wrist of the hand, while with his left hand he tipped a goblet full of thick golden potion down Dumbledore’s throat. After a moment or two, Dumbledore’s eyelids fluttered and opened. While temporary, this potion stopped DD from dying. – Slytherincess Aug 02 '13 at 07:51
  • That bit is from Deathly Hallows, chapter 33, The Prince's Tale. We know that Snape temporarily trapped the curse from the Peverell ring Horcrux in Dumbledore's hand. He gave Dumbledore approximately another year of life. Would this count as stoppering death? – Slytherincess Aug 02 '13 at 08:05
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    @Slytherincess - IMHO, not in JKR's typical English. It's "stopping", not "stoppering" (aka bottling). – DVK-on-Ahch-To Aug 02 '13 at 12:11
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    @DVK - I am not getting where you're coming from. The Cambridge dictionary indicates "stopper", in British English, means to plug or keep something from going to point B from point A. Also, LOL, I have to tell you that Baruffio's Brain Elixir is actually powdered Doxy dung, sold as a bona fide potion by Ravenclaw Eddie Carmichael, who appears about as trustworthy as Mundungus Fletcher (OOTP). Hermione confiscates the "brain elixir" as potentially harmful. Baruffio (PS) incanted Wingardium Leviosa incorrectly and found himself trapped under a buffalo. (It's Levi-O-sa, not Levi-o-SA!). – Slytherincess Aug 02 '13 at 20:19
  • @Slytherincess - sounds like too fancy a usage for the books written for kids. – DVK-on-Ahch-To Aug 02 '13 at 22:22
  • @DVK - What sounds exotic and fancy to us Americans are sometimes very typical words in the UK, hence the difference between British and American English. And, of course, some words are verbs and nouns ... – Slytherincess Aug 03 '13 at 02:48
  • @Slytherincess - you're forgetting that I learned Her Majesty's (per)version of American language first :) And precisely on Harry Potter language level :) – DVK-on-Ahch-To Aug 03 '13 at 02:50
  • @DVK - Then you know exactly what I'm talking about! ;) The British version is a verb; the American one a noun. I just totally made this up, but I think it works. – Slytherincess Aug 03 '13 at 03:00
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    @Slytherincess: Look, without a JKR quote, this is wild speculation. The dictionary gives an obvious definition which doesn't have anything wrong with it. That is the beginning and end of it unless you can find JKR saying otherwise in print. – Kevin Feb 07 '16 at 07:29
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If the film Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is considered canon, the potions that come close are Felix Felicis/Liquid Luck (glory) and the Draught of the Living Death ("stopper death" I interpret to mean bottled death; of course, the potions above are in the books too, if you don't consider the films canon)

Update:

From Chapter 9 pg 188 of Half-Blood Prince: Felix Felicis is a banned substance in organized competitions, such as sporting events, examinations, or elections.

So, in my opinion, FF could grant fame and glory if it were legal; but you could still use it to say invent something new and gain fame and glory that way.

djm
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    I think Slytherincess doesn't consider the film canons, and neither do I. However, the Liquid Luck is also present in the books (Felix Felicis) but it's liquid luck, not liquid glory. – Kalissar Jul 31 '13 at 13:07
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    @Kalissar the potions are mentioned in the book version of the Half Blood Prince, for some reason I went with the film and Felix Felicis can certainly lead to fame and glory; phantom42's comment above mirrors my thinking (and I agree that stopper death could mean something besides bottled death) – djm Jul 31 '13 at 13:24
  • Legal schmegal. Something being banned doesn't stop people from using it (see : performance-enhancing drugs in professional sports lately). Just means you need to not get caught. – Compro01 Aug 01 '13 at 14:31
  • @Compro01: that's nearly impossible, because they can detect Felix Felicis quite easily these days. I mean, look what happened to that Armstrong wizard... – djm Aug 01 '13 at 14:40
  • @djm - Not sure what Armstrong you're referring to. But I could hypothesize using it in very small doses to get a very short term (a couple minutes. AFAICT, dose only alters the duration, not the intensity of the effect) version of the effect, enough for a break or two to go your way and guarantee a win in a close thing. It would appear to be just ordinary luck. – Compro01 Aug 01 '13 at 16:31
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    How would they detect use of Felix Felicis? If the testing was 99.9999% accurate what results would it show on someone using the potion? Presumably they'd get lucky and it would so as clear, right? – Nick Aug 02 '13 at 08:24
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    @Nick - I think djm was just making a joke in reference to Lance Armstrong. However, if an individual were to take too much of Felix Felicis, there would be symptoms that others might possibly pick up on: giddiness, recklessness and dangerous overconfidence. It's also toxic in large quantities. (Half-Blood Prince, chapter 9, The Half-Blood Prince) I think these are the only symptoms of Felix Felicis use and they represent an overdose. I think it would be nearly impossible to detect regular, appropriate use of Felix Felicis by the typical wizard. – Slytherincess Aug 02 '13 at 09:19
  • One person got my lame attempt at humor! Thank you Slytherincess! (I'll do better next time... take some Felix Felicis maybe...) – djm Aug 02 '13 at 11:01
  • @djm - Heh, yes, I totally got your joke (and imagine if Mr. Armstrong could have gotten his hands on Felix Felicis, he would've been all over that!). No, I don't think the movies are canon, but in this instance you've referenced information identical to the books, so I think it's acceptable. The main difference is in the movie Slughorn says, about Harry Draught of Living Death, "One drop could kill us all." He doesn't say this in the book, which leads us back to the fact that this potion mimics death, it doesn't actually result in it. :) – Slytherincess Aug 02 '13 at 21:13
2

Perhaps this is a slight curve-ball but I belive the potions item that can "stopper death" is probably a bezoar.

It's particularly likely that this was what Snape was referring to in this instance since he refers to it within seconds of making his speech about fame, glory and death.

A bezoar is a stone taken from the stomach of a goat and will save you from most poisons.
(Philosopher's Stone, Chapter 8, The Potions Master)

The phrase "stopper death" is perhaps a playful twist on how the bezoar is administered - by shoving it down one's throat. The bezoar therefore acts as a stopper in the individual (like a wooden stopper in a bottle) whilst also preventing their immediate death, as Ron finds out in Half-Blood Prince.

Then he found it - the shrivelled kidney-like stone Slughorn had taken from him in Potions.
He hurtled back to Ron's side, wrenched open his jaw and thrust the bezoar into his mouth. Ron gave a great shudder, a rattling gasp and his body became limp and still.
(Half-Blood Prince, Chapter 18, Birthday Surprises)

Granted, a bezoar isn't a potion. It is, however, something the students wouldn't have known about without Potions lessons and so for me can be counted under 'important things with profound consequences that you learn about when you listen to Snape'. Which, after all, was the message Snape was trying to hammer home in that monologue in the first place. Indeed, Ron arguably owed his life to Snape's early attempt to destroy Harry's self-esteem - proving Snape's point that Potions can be a matter of life and death.

The other two answers interpret "stopper death" as referring to the creation of poisons whereas I'm interpreting it as a reference to antidotes. I think either is possible. It may be that I'm being influenced by the alternate wording in the film version of Snape's speech.

SNAPE: There will be no foolish wand waving or silly incantations in this class. As such, I don't expect many of you to enjoy the subtle science and exact art that is potion making. However, for those select few, who possess the predisposition, I can teach you how to bewitch the mind and ensnare the senses. I can tell you how to bottle fame, brew glory and even put a stopper in death.

A bezoar does not, of course, make you immortal. But it can protect you from mortal peril and therefore was probably what Snape was referring to.

The Dark Lord
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