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Who was more powerful: Sirius Black or Dolores Umbridge?
For those of us who think this question has an obvious answer, we might blindly claim
Sirius as the mightier wizard.
But others, who consider this question carefully, know that it’s not as simple as black and
white.
Sirius Black was one of the greatest duelists in the entire Order of the Phoenix.
But Dolores Umbridge was a cunning strategist, and in her own way, was able to defeat even
Albus Dumbledore.
So today, we’re going to take a look at these two prominent members of the wizarding
world, and figure out who was more powerful.
HOW WE’LL DO IT
Now, whenever you compare wizards and witches to see who is more powerful, there are a few
different ways to go about it.
We can just stack up their list of dueling opponents,and see which one had defeated the
most powerful wizard or witch… but that doesn’t quite capture a full picture.
On the other side of the debate, we could just rifle through Sirius Black’s and Dolores
Umbridge’s proficiency with spells and potions, but that too doesn’t quite seem like enough
either.
To really get to the answer, we’re going to take a holistic approach.
We’ll break down these two opponents in three different categories:
1.
Magical Feats Dueling
And Intangibles
After taking a look at each of these, we should be able to get to the bottom of this matter,
and figure out who really was the more powerful magic-user between them.
MAGICAL FEATS
When we look at Sirius Black’s magical feats, there’s simply no shortage of achievements
to marvel at.
Sirius hails from one of the oldest pure-blood families in Britain.
And even though a wizard’s pureblood heritage didn’t necessarily have any great bearing
on their magical abilities, Sirius was certainly steeped in magical lore from an early age.
Perhaps, that’s what made him such a great member of the Marauders… a group of four
young Hogwarts friends who were all equally obsessed with perfecting spells, and disrupting
classes.
Sirius became an accomplished transfigurationist when he was just a teenager, a skilled potioneer
by just his fifth year in Hogwarts, and even helped construct the Marauder’s Map, which
had become the basis for many of Harry Potter’s adventures in the decades that followed.
But Sirius' greatest Magical Feat was certainly his escape from Azkaban.
That horrid prison, inhabited by the soul-eating Dementors, had never lost an inmate in a breakout.
And until Barty Crouch Jr. was revealed to be alive and well, Sirius Black was the very
first one in all of recorded history.
But the simple fact that he escaped Azkaban is somehow the least interesting part of it,
because he did so with relative ease.
Even though he had been imprisoned for over a decade, and had ample time to transfigure
into his Animagus form, Black had never tried to use it to escape.
With only a thought, Black was able to transform into a black dog, and since he never registered
that skill with the Ministry of Magic, none of the dementors, or other ministry officers,
would’ve known the mangy mutt was actually Sirius Black.
So, using his skills in transfiguration, Black simply changed into his Animagus, and walked
out of Azkaban, and swam across the sea to the mainland.
And, when we turn our attention to Dolores Umbridge’s magical feats, we’ll find an
equally impressive, although less bombastic, list of achievements.
In hindsight, after Umbridge was locked away for good, many of the wizards and witches
of Harry Potter’s generation looked back on Umbridge with disdain.
And for good reason.
She was an absolute tyrant during her time at Hogwarts, and tortured the students at
every chance she had.
But Harry and his peers’ dislike for Umbridge has led to the rise of a rumor that she wasn’t
a very great witch.
Which isn’t entirely fair.
She was one of the highest ranking members of the Ministry of Magic, and in time, the
headmistress of hogwarts.
Sure, when compared to the other professors at the school, like Minerva McGonagall or
Severus Snape, Umbridge wasn’t up to snuff.
But Snape and McGonagall were among the greatest wizards and witches of the entire century,
so holding Umbridge next to them isn’t giving her a fair shake..
If we set our sights a little bit lower, and measure Umbridge fairly, we’ll find that
she was a decent witch in her own right.
She created the Black Quill, which was able to painfully carve words into the top of students’
hands.
And her use of the fire-making spell and shield spell certainly didn't make her look like
a sub-par witch, as she used them in combat and classroom management.
But her greatest feat, was her ability to weaponize Dementors.
She set them loose on Harry and Dursley, which put Hogwarts on a course for the eventual
dismissal of Albus Dumbledore.
Even though the Ministry of Magic had a system for controlling Dementors… one that remains
a mystery, until this day…
it was rare for an individual to utilize dementors on their own.
And not only did Dolores Umbridge do that, but she managed to weaponize the dementors
without letting too many other members of the Ministry in on her plan.
DUELING
But let’s take a step away from their magical feats, and look at their dueling skills.
We’ll start with Sirius Black again, because he has the longest, and perhaps, most impressive
record.
When it comes to dueling during this era, the greatest combatants were either members
of the Order of the Phoenix, or members of the Death Eaters.
Sure, there were professional duelists all around the globe, but their duels had rules,
judges, and a strict system.
When the Order of the Phoenix went to war against Voldemort, both sides knew that death
was a certain possibility.
And even after being imprisoned for over a decade, the experience from his time in the
Order of the Phoenix served Sirius Black yet again, in the battle of the department of
mysteries.
Black easily defeated Antonin Dolohov in their fight, and immediately after, pushed Bellatrix
Lestrange to the absolute brink.
During that final fight, when Sirius Black fought his cousin, one on one, Black couldn’t
help but gloat at his obvious superiority in dueling.
But that brief moment of arrogance would cost him his life, as a spell from Bellatrix’s
wand caught Black square in his chest, and pushed him through the gateway of death.
Again, after taking a look at Sirius Black’s accomplishments in this field, it’s hard
to look at Dolores Umbridge’s, without seeing an obvious gap.
Unlike Sirius Black, Umbridge never spent her childhood getting into fights with her
fellow witches and wizards.
As a member of the Marauders, Black would regularly stomp around the grounds of Hogwarts,
and stir up trouble with other children, like an unwitting Severus Snape.
Although those years in school might have seemed like misguided youth… or worse: bullying…
Sirius Black certainly earned enough experience to make him a decent duelist by his seventh
year.
And once he joined the Order of the Phoenix, his abilities only improved.
But Umbridge, as we’ve already stated, didn’t have the same upbringing.
And she simply doesn’t have the same level of dueling opponents in her past.
Besides her one attempt to defeat Albus Dumbledore in a duel, there actually isn’t much that
we can go by.
She was obviously quite skilled with Transfiguration.
Unlike Sirius Black, who used that craft to conjure an Animagus, Umbridge used transfiguration
for her typical, darker form of magic.
She could use her expertise to cast the Incarcerous Spell, which she used to nearly murder a centaur
in the Forbidden Forest.
Conjuration is a skill reserved for the most TALENTED witches and wizards.
If she used similarly sinister magic during a duel against Sirius Black, or another witch
or wizard, then she could very well surprise them, and capture a victory.
INTANGIBLES
But when we look at Sirius Black and Dolores Umbridge, it’s not as simple as their spell
work or their dueling skills.
There’s a greater element of intangibles… the things that simply can’t be weighed
or measured.
And that’s where Dolores Umbridge seems to excel.
Because, for Sirius Black, his magical abilities are all pretty straight forward.
He uses them directly, in combat against the dark wizards serving under Lord Voldemort.
But Dolores Umbridge is rarely that direct.
She uses her magic to serve a simple end: her own rise through the politics of the wizarding
world.
And in that pursuit, she rarely seemed to abuse her magical powers.
When she wanted to impose her will on other teachers at Hogwarts, she didn’t use her
wand to do so… she artfully maneuvered the Ministry of Magic to defeat faculty members
on her behalf.
And when she wanted to target troubled students, she didn’t suddenly round them up with a
great show of forceful magic, like a proper dark wizard would.
Instead , like a surgeon, she used her own dark creations, like the Black Quill, or the
occasional use of the Cruciatus Curse, to impose her will.
And while Dolores Umbridge might not have wowed anyone with her use of magic, she certainly
got what she wanted.
She rose through the ranks of the Ministry, all the way to the very top by Voldemort’s
time.
All of that, despite the fact that her father was a humble janitor at the Ministry…
a fact that would have made any other ambitious ministry worker the subject of nonstop ridicule.
But Umbridge never allowed it, and in all likelihood, disposed of those who even attempted
to make fun of her heritage.
Umbridge also had the rare esteem of being a witch who defeated Dumbledore.
Again, not through the ways you might have expected, but that doesn't really matter.
In the end, Umbridge found a way, deliberately or through luck, to unseat Albus Dumbledore
as headmaster…
something that Voldemort couldn't even do.
And to be completely honest, something that Voldmeort didn’t have the patience to figure
out.
CONCLUSION
So, when we finally try to answer this question, who was more powerful, Sirius Black or Dolores
Umbridge, I think the answer lies with you.
What do you value more in your wizard?
If you prefer a duelist who could take on almost anyone in a fair fight, and come out
the victor, then you’d probably think Sirius Black was the more powerful wizard.
But if you are a bit more holistic, and think about what either one was able to achieve,
you might be surprised by the fact that Umbridge did so much.
I know I was.
Personally?
I’m giving it to Umbridge.
And that’s it for this video!
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Remember
If You Want To Know What A Man's Like, Take A Good Look At How He Treats His Inferiors,
Not His Equals.