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ChrisHallquist comments on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 18, chapter 87 - Less Wrong Discussion
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I just took this at face value, that no one alive but Flamel is powerful enough to make the Philosopher's Stone.
This could be because the magic is going away, so no wizard of any generation much later than Flamel's can possibly make the Philosopher's Stone.
I like the Interdict of Merlin theory too, though.
So why did nobody before Flamel make one?
Do we know that nobody before Flamel made one, as opposed to him being the last surviving wizard able to make one?
Explicitly, no. But it's a source of immortality - why wouldn't they still be around?
Someone killed them? The stone doesn't protect against unnatural death, and I imagine they'd be targets for powerful wizards.
That was my thought exactly. Any Dark (or Light) Lord rising to power would want to knock off any ancient immortal wizards who still happened to be around first, as they'd be an obvious threat to their plans. Historically immortals probably got wiped at the start of each big Wizarding War.
But the immortal and powerful wizards are exactly those who ought to be hardest to bump off, as well as those who are least likely to care about you rising to power(as long as you're not dumb enough to piss them off personally).
Yeah - also, when you multiply out the yearly chance of a random mishap over centuries, it adds up. Or to be more precise, when you multiply out the yearly chance of not dying in a random mishap over centuries, the product may be pretty small. Especially in a world where possible "random mishaps" include "roasted by dragon," "spell gone horribly wrong," etc.
Maybe they've gotten bored with the wizarding world.
Possibly. But it's not the default assumption.
I'm pretty sure he's referenced as the sole maker in the original canon.