Hey everyone,
Welcome to another installment of Harry Potter Theory. In today’s video, we’re going
to be discussing the 10 most HATED characters in the wizarding world. Now, let me preface
this list by saying that not all of these people are evil- in fact, some of them aren’t
evil at all. We must remember that being evil isn’t the only prerequisite for being hated-
some of these characters are just outright ANNOYING and OBNOXIOUS. Some of them made
it on to the list for evil acts, and some of them made it on the list for simply popping
their head up where they shouldn’t have. I’ll also mention that I don’t really
DISLIKE any of these characters, they all make the Harry Potter story more interesting,
and for that I’m thankful for their existence. What kind of successful story is full of neutral
characters with neutral opinions? Doesn’t sound interesting to me. I’ve tried to balance
my own opinions with the opinions of the internet, so hopefully I’ve struck a reasonable balance
there. My OWN top 10 list (based purely off of my own opinions) might look a little bit
different.
Anyway- I’m about to dive in, but before we get started I want to ask YOU guys to pause
the video and comment YOUR top 10 (or even top 5) most hated Harry Potter characters
down below.
10. Gilderoy Lockhart
Order of Merlin Third Class, Honorary Member of the Dark Force Defence League, Hogwarts
Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor, and five-time winner of Witch Weekly's Most Charming
Smile Award. But let’s not talk about his smile- he didn’t get rid of the Bandon Banshee
by smiling at her!
This is an interesting one, and I only put him at #10 because the overwhelming majority
of Harry Potter fans dislike Lockhart. However, with that said, I actually quite enjoy Lockharts
character- and his portrayal by Kenneth Branagh in the films is phenomenal- he’s just so
good at making him hateable- which makes him sort of likeable (does that make sense?).
So- why do people hate Lockhart SO MUCH? Well- put quite succinctly, people aren’t a fan
of his obnoxious (and undeserved) ego. He loves himself, he’s a bit of a bigot, and
he’s quite judgemental. He’s also a fraud that built his entire career from staking
claim of other people’s accomplishments. His whole ‘persona’ is just so ungenuine.
9. Percy Weasley
The Weasley’s are certainly a fan favourite family- that is, with the exception of one,
shall we say, PROBLEMATIC Weasley- Percy. Though the films didn’t do a great job of
portraying it- at one point in the story Percy’s relationship with his family starts to deteriorate.
Percy, like Fudge, refused to believe that Voldemort had returned to Power- and so he
had trouble coping with his family who were BIG Harry and Dumbledore supporters. While
it’s completely fine to have opinions of your own, Percy really turned his back on
his loving family in a BIG way, which is why fans hated him so much. They mainly quarreled
because he sided with the Ministry at a time when the Ministry was more questionable than
ever.
Percy was raised the same as all of his other siblings- but somehow, somewhere, something
went wrong. Fortunately, however, Percy does eventually make peace with his family.
8. The Carrows
While many of the people on this list made it on here for being ‘annoying’ or untrustworthy-
the Carrow’s- Alecto and Amycus, mainly made it on here for being evil. The Carrows
were dark pure-blood wizards and death eaters who served lord voldemort, and eventually
taught at Hogwarts during Snape’s regime as headmaster. Alecto was the muggle studies
professor- teaching students that muggles were ‘no better than animals’ and Amycus
was the ‘Defence Against the Dark Arts’ or should I just say ‘Dark Arts’ professor.
Their very existence at the school was extremely unwelcome, and the way they dealt with the
student body was unforgivable. But new meaning is brought to the term ‘unforgivable’
if we consider the fact that on the evening of May 1st 1998, Amycus spat in the face of
the beloved Minerva McGonagall.
7. Mundungus Fletcher
Coward. Thief. Fraud. These are just some of the words that come to mind when I think
of Mundungus Fletcher. A member of the Order of the Phoenix (somehow)- Mundungus Fletcher
was a half-blood wizard with a rich history of criminal activity.
Due to his reputation, Mundungus was not well-liked within the order, but was loyal to its cause
due to Dumbledore getting him out of trouble in some way. So, why do we hate Mundungus?
Well, for starters- he abandoned Moody during the battle of the Seven Potters- and is partly
responsible for Moody’s death.
What’s worse- after Sirius Black dies, Mundungus shamelessly raids 12 Grimmauld place- looting
and selling all of the valuables that lay within the Order’s headquarters.
He’s just a snivelling excuse for a person- think Pettigrew-lite.
6. Lavender Brown
Oh boy, where do I start with Lavender Brown. Mentioned as early as the very first book-
the very first student to be sorted in to Gryffindor, Lavender only really begins to
become relevant later on.
However, in sixth year, Lavender begins to develop feelings for Ron Weasley- Gryffindor
house’s impressive Keeper. She quickly becomes infatuated with Ron, and struts around the
school referring to her new boyfriend with the painfully annoying nickname ‘Won-Won’.
If that’s not painful enough for you, she also bought him a necklace with the words
‘my sweetheart’.
Her absolutely over-the-top approach to loving Ron was already enough to annoy fans, but
the icing on the cake was that their relationship bothered the very-well-liked Hermione Granger.
Anything that annoys and upsets Hermione probably annoys most fans.
5. Cornelius Fudge
Cornelius Fudge was the 32nd minister for magic, and served from 1990-1996, spanning
most of Harry’s years at Hogwarts. So- what’s the big deal? Why does everyone hate fudge
so much? Well, besides abusing his power and making irrational decisions where he refuses
to even TRY and see reason, he treats a lot of people really badly. He was an incompetent
fool that couldn’t have been a worse representative for the wizarding population- and if he had
taken action and actually listened to Dumbledore, the imminent threat that was Voldemort could
have been handled much better. His persistent denial of Voldemort’s return eventually
cost Fudge his job. Thank goodness.
4. The Dursleys
I’ve grouped the Dursleys together because, for most of the story, they’re equally as
awful. By the end of Harry Potter, I had a bit of a different opinion on each of them,
but I’m going to focus on Harry’s formative years.
With no living parents, and the existence of a sacrifice that meant he was safe under
their roof, Harry had no choice but to live with the Dursleys. But, despite him being
blood-related to Petunia, they certainly didn’t treat Harry like family.
He was like their lowly servant, and was punished in unthinkable ways, including locking him
in a closet, putting bars on his window, and even preventing him from accessing his own
mail. And as if the treatment from his ‘parental’ figures wasn’t bad enough, Dudley bullied
him too. They were terrible, and I don’t think it should be a surprise to ANYONE that
they made it on to this list.
3. Rita Skeeter
I know what you’re thinking- #3? Who could possibly be more hated than RITA SKEETER?
Well, we’ll get to that in a moment.
As far as journalists go- British witch Rita Skeeter is about as conniving as it comes.
She was a journalist that would write defamation pieces full of misinformation for the Daily
Prophet. Her reputation was awful, and no one was safe from her poison pieces- even
Albus Dumbledore who once remarked that Skeeter was ‘enchantingly nasty’.
The dangerous, poisonous, TERRIBLE misinformation that she spread about people that she did
PURELY to boost her own reputation certainly makes her ONE of the most hated people inside
and outside of the wizarding world.
2. Peter Pettigrew
Originally a good-guy ‘kind of’- Peter Pettigrew wasn’t always quite so hated-
though I’m not sure he ever really fit in. However, as he grew older, Pettigrew never
quite built his own ‘identity’- instead just mirroring those around him. This meant
that he had a very low opinion of himself, and very little strength of character.
Sadly, the internal struggle that Pettigrew faced manifested itself in a few ways:
-First he betrayed the Potters, resulting in the deaths of some of his ‘closest friends’
-Next, he murdered 12 muggles with a powerful blasting curse, and subsequently framed his
other ‘close’ friend Sirius Black
He also sided with VOLDEMORT.
Peter’s actions throughout the Harry Potter story are truly sinister and unforgivable,
and for this reason he is and always will be one of the most HATED Harry Potter characters.
1. Dolores Umbridge
Surprise surprise. Dolores Umbridge. Bet you expected her to be here, didn’t you? Well,
I think it’s safe to say that Umbridge is unequivocally the most hated character in
Harry Potter.
She was ignorant, prejudiced, bigoted, fraudelent, dismissive and very annoying- she really didn’t
have ONE redeeming quality. Her intense hatred for all people and creatures that weren’t
‘pure-bloods’ also made no sense, and was highly hypocritical, as Umbridge’s own
mother was a muggle- Elen Cracknell.
With backing from the ministry, Umbridge made the lives of Hogwarts staff and students a
living hell- imposing all kinds of ridiculous ‘rules’ under her tyrannical regime. After
being ousted from the school, she actually later becomes even more hateable, as she goes
on to serve as head of the Muggle-born registration commission.
If you want to know more about her family history or the life of Umbridge, I’ll leave
a link in the pinned comment.
And that’s it for this video- Honourable mentions go out to Argus Filch, Aunt Muriel,
Lucius Malfoy, Moaning Myrtle, Cormac Mclaggen, James Potter- and anyone else that I may have
forgotten.
Until next time
Remember
It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live