5 Harry Potter villains ranked from worst to best

In any great piece of storytelling, there needs to be a protagonist and an antagonist. Many interpret this as a hero and a villain, and while this is the most typical structure, occasionally authors or writers will blur the lines and give complexity in personality to characters that confuses who is truly the hero. Harry Potter, one of the most popular pieces of pop culture of all time, has an interesting and unique blend of both.

Clearly, there are very established heroes. Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Albus Dumbledore, and the general crew surrounding these characters are quite clearly portrayed as heroes. Characters like Voldemort, Lucius Malfoy, Dolores Umbridge, Bellatrix Strange, and others are clear and obvious villains.

J.K. Rowling did not want everything black and white, though, and gave some complex character development and arcs that truly keep the reader guessing. Among the characters that fit this description are Sirius Black, Regulus Black, Draco Malfoy, Aberforth Dumbledore, Horace Slughorn, and, perhaps most famously, Severus Snape, along with many others. This means many villains do not actually fit the bill.

Still, there are several true and complete evil villains in the franchise that are there solely for the purpose of doing bad things. Among this group, we will rank 5 from worst to best, with worst meaning the least intriguing, evil, or impactful, and the most being the clearest, most impactful form of evil in the plot. Who would you put in this group of five, and who is your number one?

5. Vernon, Petunia, and Dudley Dursley

There is certainly no question that the Dursleys, Harry Potter's aunt, uncle, and cousin, are villains. While it appears upon first glance that they would be positive after taking Harry in upon his parents' deaths, but reality is anything but. Their fear of and hatred towards magic and Harry's parents caused them to be abusive, both physically and mentally, and incredibly neglectful.

The reason the group lands here as the "worst" of the villains is twofold. For one, there is absolutely nothing enjoyable about any of them. They are not even anyone you love to hate; you simply hate them and wish them ill. Second, while they are essential to the understanding of Harry Potter as a character and background, especially for Sorcerer's Stone, they have no real impact on the current or future movement of the plot. They exist purely to mistreat Harry, and really nothing more.

4. Gilderoy Lockhart

Gilderoy Lockhart appears to be a friendly and caring Professor, although his narcissistic personality does start to shine through pretty early on. He takes great pride in being a celebrity, and his vanity is seen as a positive attribute by his groupies, or at least those he wishes were his groupies. It becomes obvious very quickly, though, that he is actually nearly useless, and certainly a fraud. He tries to wipe out Harry and Ron, but ultimately fails.

Lockhart is certainly a villain and a pretty strong personality. However, he goes from being a villain to being a punching bag pretty quickly. He is too goofy to be taken seriously, and while he is clearly shooting to earn some shallow level of fame, his flaws are highlighted in an obvious way. Therefore, he is near the bottom of the villain board simply because he succeeds at absolutely nothing.

3. Bellatrix Lestrange

Bellatrix Lestrange is fairly minor in comparison to some of the other names that land on the list. At least until the final couple of books anyway. However, outside of Voldemort himself, she may be the purest evil of anyone. The incredible balance of youthfully giddiness and pure, utter chaotic violence is such a striking juxtaposition that it makes her all the more disturbing. She is purely, wholly, and fully dedicated to Voldemort and the Death Eaters, to the point of possibly being in love. Sounds a bit like a real-life cult.

Bellatrix, as it turns out, loves murdering people, torturing them, and causing pain, and wears the murders as a badge of honor for taking care of those who are inferior to her. Helena Bonham Carter, the actress who played her in the movie, even said, “I think I probably made her a bit more insane and unhinged than she was meant to be. I wanted to be conspicuous. So the rotten teeth were my idea because she had been in prison for so long. I wanted her to be quite savage." She is a true psychopath in every sense of the word.

2. Dolores Umbridge

What is so chilling about Dolores Umbridge is that she is the embodiment of what human evil can look like within our own lives. Most of the villains on the list (save the true pureblood humans, the Dursleys) are evil not just through their personality but through their magical prowess as well. Umbridge hides her true evils behind a facade of prim, proper, over-the-top femininity. She is so committed to the ministry that she stops at nothing to install order as per what she believes the ministry expects.

The best way to think of her type of evil is to think of someone who thrives and feeds off of control, where not a single trait is enjoyable. As Collider puts it, "Umbridge is the magical version of a 'Karen,' a woman who loves being in control and lashes out at anyone who dares question her."

Her character is meant to make every single person reading or watching hate her, and she absolutely succeeds. There is a reason she is so memorable all these years later, even if it is for all the wrong reasons.

1. Lord Voldemort / Tom Riddle

Could there really be any other number one? Lord Voldemort has come to power thanks to a skill he learned when he was known as Tom Riddle, a student at Hogwarts. His core is nothing but pure evil, and he happily kills with ease. The difference between him and Lestrange is his thought process, which is highly organized and intentional. He has the charisma and the ability to strike fear in anyone who questions him, ultimately allowing him to create the loyal cult known as the Death Eaters.

Voldemort came to be thanks to Tom Riddle's obsession with power and immortality, as well as his own self-hatred and need to overcome what he felt was an inferior half-blood ancestry. He achieves both to a level never seen before. However, his need to split himself into so many horcruxes is also what made him so evil, granting him immortality to a level never seen before, but stealing him of any shred of humanity that he had possessed, both in soul and in appearance. He has no emotions or affection towards anything, which makes him the most powerful and terrifying villain of all.

More from Wizards and Whatnot: