Debate: Who was the worst character in Harry Potter

[Vanessa Tilley]

We all have our favorite characters and we all have our least favorite characters but who is actually the worst character? We want to see who you think deserves the title of worst Harry Potter character.

[Annabella Grinaldi]

This is open to what you define as worst...

The worst as far as a person's character and beliefs is Dolores Umbridge. I am open minded enough to get that she was a woman that felt strongly and stood by what she believed in. Rules are ok, but there has to be a balance. You cannot make rules that hurt someone else. She actually made a student hurt themselves over her rules and that is deplorable. More than that she stifled learning and growing in a school and that is the worst. She disrupted classes and teaching. She tried to kick the most harmless professor out of the school. I mean she wears pink. Pink is not a good color and is weird in a school like Hogwarts where the colors were not pastel.


Then there is worst as in most evil and I kind of still want to give that to Umbridge but I guess that would be Lord Voldemort. I mean he literally split his soul. Also he murdered a lot. Started a cult. I mean enough said.

[Gail Allen]

To me it also depends on how you define 'worst'. Because if you go by purely evil, I'd have to go with Voldemort. He is the great antagonist of the series and I don't think it's really possible to get around him.

But if you talk about which characters are underdeveloped or badly developed, Lavender Brown springs to mind. I dislike particularly how the movie treated her character. The movies made her out to be not just a bit over the top when it came to sentimentality as the books did, but made her appear annoying for caring and like she was so stupid for doing so and that we as the audience should laugh at her for her feelings. Yes, she expressed them in a rather over the top manner, but she was a teenager, and we're made to laugh at her for this. I don't like the idea that we're being given a narrative where having deep feelings and expressing them should be riddiculed, so the worst character in that way, in my opinion, is Lavender Brown.

[Elena Galatas]

I agree in the sense that this entirely depends on how you define 'worst' in a character.

If we're talking about worst in the sense of evil, then I have to say Lord Voldemort definitely takes the cake on that one. He's not the worst wizard in the history of the Wizarding World as a whole in my opinion, but he's definitely the worst in the sense of Harry Potter characters that we're introduced to throughout the seven books. The amount of pain and suffering that he inflicts on a multitude of characters throughout the series cannot be overlooked or forgiven.

If we're talking about characters who are seriously underwritten or underdeveloped, as Gail said, then...well there are quite a few characters who I believe are seriously underdeveloped. You have characters, such as Crabbe and Goyle, who were introduced in the beginning of the series but we never truly learned anything about them (though that's more Goyle than Crabbe). There are characters such as Theodore Nott and Blaise Zabini that I would have loved to get more insight into; they were mentioned in a few books as being friends of Draco's but nothing too developed. We were given this crumb about Blaise's family - his mother having been married seven times, all of whom died under mysterious circumstances and left the two large amounts of galleons in their wills - but then literally nothing more. I wouldn't have minded reading some kind of subplot at some point about it or something.

But, given the fact that literally all of those characters are Slytherins, and I don't expect to see much about them when the series is from Harry's point of view - someone who was not a fan of that house nor many of its members - I'll make my final answer someone much closer to Harry.

Ginny Weasley.

She is literally one of the only characters who was majorly featured in the novels, especially in the later ones, that we don't know much about. We know a lot about her in relation to her connection to the trio, but we don't know much about her as an individual. There is a reason that people seem to label her as a Mary-Sue character in the series.

This girl went from being some bumbling fan girl who could barely speak or sit in Harry's presence without losing her crap. Initially, she's portrayed as this girl who fangirled over briefly meeting him the entire summer, who was incredibly clumsy around him when he stayed with the Weasleys, who had a bad habit of knocking things over and just causing general small bits of chaos whenever he entered a room. She's not really present much during the third book with the exception of bringing him a get well card while he was hospitalized, still blushing like mad. The only slight hint we see at a change coming in her character is when Hermione suggests she relax around Harry and even date other boys. Then suddenly, BAM, in the sixth novel she's this vibrant, witty, independent young woman rather than the awkward and shy little girl she had been. Now, this is a normal development. Don't get me wrong. When girls are young, they're still learning who they are. The problem is that we don't really see how Ginny got to this point. Suddenly, Harry starts noticing her as more than Ron's little sister.

I don't know. I just love Ginny's character, and I do love her relationship with Harry; she's easily one of my favorites in the series, and I was always a fan of their relationship. I just wish that we would have been able to see more of her.

[Eliza Hawkins]

Like everyone else, I echo the idea that "worst" is subjective and that probably the most evil character in the story is Lord Voldemort. But in my personal opinion, I think the real debate lies within the worst written character.

I like the analysis of Ginny Weasley above, as it made me realize why I always have felt so off-put with that character even though I want to love her. But I will also have to disagree and say that Cho Chang is even worse. Granted, we know that Cedric's death puts a huge weight on her and changes her character, but she is quite an empty character besides being the expression of Harry's continued maturity. Also the scene of them in the tea shop in Hogsmeade is one of my least favorite scenes in that whole book, I'm not sure what Harry expected from a grieving teenager.

[Hannah Lovegood]

I think that all of the Death Eaters were bad characters. Another bad character is Mr. Lovegood. He was one of my least favorite characters because he tried to turn Harry in to the Ministry. Also, Dolores Umbridge was a mean and terrible character. She put Harry in detention a lot and did the pen torture.

[Maeve Madden]

This may be a hot take but I really believe that Dumbledore was the worst character in the Harry Potter series. He was very manipulative of Harry, operating under the guise of helping him. For example, leaving him with the Dursley's. There were many other arrangements that could've been made for Harry other than living in an abusive household with people who hated him. As well, Dumbledore basically raised Harry like a pig to slaughter, like Snape said. At least with Voldemort, his convictions were obvious and his manipulations were very outward; people knew what he was all about. Same with Umbridge.

[Emily Spencer]

This may be a hot take but I really believe that Dumbledore was the worst character in the Harry Potter series. He was very manipulative of Harry, operating under the guise of helping him. For example, leaving him with the Dursley's. There were many other arrangements that could've been made for Harry other than living in an abusive household with people who hated him. As well, Dumbledore basically raised Harry like a pig to slaughter, like Snape said. At least with Voldemort, his convictions were obvious and his manipulations were very outward; people knew what he was all about. Same with Umbridge.

A person after my own heart!!! I feel exactly the same about Dumbledore. He was, in my opinion, worse than Snape could have ever hoped to be. I think, too, I felt betrayed as the reader when his true nature came out because, throughout the series, he is touted as the ultimate 'good guy'. And then the truth comes out and flips everything you thought you felt/knew about Dumbledore on its head. I don't think it's that he didn't like Harry, he just didn't care. Harry was the means to an end..period.

[Iverian Gnash]

I'd have to agree with those who said Dolores Umbridge. She wasn't good enough to be on the light side, but she was also too afraid to be one of the Death Eaters. She really didn't fit on either side because she was too afraid to choose sides. It was showcased throughout the series that she craved power, but didn't do well when she had it. She was vain and thought way too highly of herself. She was a coward the entire time and wasn't very good at anything besides making everyone's lives miserable. Furthermore, she targeted children which goes to show that she didn't think of herself as strong because she wouldn't threaten those of her caliber, instead, she went after children.

[Astor Arensin]

My opinions are likely clouded and influenced by fanfiction, unfortunately, but they are how I feel about the characters now. There's some different characters I could list here. Albus Dumbledore, for how he treated Harry and Sirius. Ron Weasley for how rude and jealous he could be at times towards his friends. Dolores Umbridge for her hatred towards those she deemed 'less than her,' which is essentially anyone that is not pureblood and 100% human (which is ironic considering I don't believe it's ever been proven that she's a pureblood herself so she may be a hypocrite). James Potter for how he and his friends would bully other students, and for how he could have been accused of stalking Lily Evans in their Hogwarts years. Peter Pettigrew for being a cowardly and traitorous rat towards his friends and then attempting to kill young children.
I think ultimately I would settle on Peter Pettigrew as who I think the worst character is.

[Harry Walles]

In my opinion, the worst character was definitely Dolores Umbridge. The way she was portrayed was so annoying and her stupid behaviour mixed with being absolutely rude and so toxic to almost everyone at Hogwarts made me hate her so much. Throughout the whole series I just wished for her to be jinxed or something.

[Louis Walles]

I think for me, it was clear a lot of people will say Dolores Umbridge simply because of how toxic she was. I however, think Bellatrix Lestrange should be up for it. Not only was she awfully devoted to Lord Voldemort but also did other disgusting acts. She for a start, attacked Hermione and physically assaulted her. Let's remind you - Hermione was a child and Bellatrix a grown woman. She also tortured Frank and Alice Longbottom to the point they became insane. This was after the war, which makes her crime even more disgusting.

[Prof. Will Lestrange]

I share the frustration many have with Dolores Umbridge - and also with Albus Dumbledore (who, to his credit, genuinely believed he was working for the greater good). But right now I will choose Dolores Umbridge's former boss, Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge, as the worst character.

Fudge seems to have functioned as a figurehead who never really acted for himself; rather, he just chose to ignore any threats or danger in order to stay in power. Worse still, when threats did seem to present themselves, he tried to force others to ignore and hide those same threats because to him, holding onto power was the important thing even if he would do nothing productive with that power.

Think about everything Dolores Umbridge did at Hogwarts: it was all under the guidance of Minister Fudge (note that Umbridge cited Ministry approval and Ministry guidelines when explaining her syllabus of purely theoretical Defence without a practical component). So, as bad as Umbridge seems, so much of her actions simply seemed to be Minister Fudge's dirty work. From that light, it is only natural to give Fudge - not Umbridge - the label of 'worst'!

[Lex Green]

I'd agree that a lot of the characters mentioned here are all up for worst character - Voldemort, Bellatrix, Umbridge and even Dumbledore, all for different reasons. One point I think a lot of people miss when arguing about Dolores Umbridge being the worst character is part of the reason that it is such a universal opinion, which is that her character and position is far more relatable. What I mean by that is that each of us is far more likely to have encountered a mean, rude, overly harsh teacher or boss than a cult-leader who loves murdering other people, and as a result, we can really feel the hatred other characters have for her in a completely different way to the others mentioned.

[Aquaria Sandalwood]

I agree with what a lot of people have said on this topic, and it seems like a large number of us would agree that it is Umbridge who is the worst. I think, as others have said, that the universal aspect of how hated she is does play in there, because many people who haven’t even read or seen Harry Potter know that Umbridge is terrible. I do also think, though, that Bellatrix Lestrange does hold her own in the category of worst character. She is just overtly evil, has basically no redeeming qualities, and seems to have always been that way. She is entirely motivated by selfish ambitions, has an unswerving and blind devotion to Voldemort, and is absolutely ruthless in killing. That being said, I’m not sure which is actually the worst, but it’s definitely one of the two in my opinion. I may, in fact, lobby for the question to be changed from “who is the worst” to “who are the worst,” because I think there’s more than one.