5 Worst Harry Potter Characters, Ranked

The "Harry Potter" franchise has defined an entire generation. Witnessing young Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) learn not only that he's a wizard, but is the only one who can take down Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) is quite a bit to process for an 11-year-old. He handles it best he can, thanks to the help and support of those around him. Harry has a great friend group in Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson), and votes of confidence from Albus Dumbledore (Richard Harris, Michael Gambon), Rubeus Hagrid (Robbie Coltrane), and Kingsley Shacklebolt (George Harris), among other peers.

However, for every positive influence on Harry's life, there's someone causing problems. After all, not everyone in the Wizarding World can be good, or even tolerable. The worst though are those who lack empathy, are willingly cruel, and whose actions are motivated solely by personal gain. Their "efforts" impact countless people, either directly or indirectly, and they lack remorse, at least from what we can see. While these five witches and wizards are far from the only guilty individuals in the "Harry Potter" universe, they're by far the worst of the worst. 

The five-time winner of Witch Weekly's Most Charming Smile Award may feel like an odd addition to this list, but hear us out. Gilderoy Lockhart (Kenneth Branagh) is a wolf in sheep's clothing. He's gathered a fan base of witches who swoon at anything he says, all rooted in achievements that aren't actually his own. When Lockhart's dark truths are revealed, he comes across as sinister and rotten to the core.

His Ravenclaw shows in how he secured his fame. Using his skills in memory charm casting, Lockhart took the accomplishments of others and used them to make it seem to the unknowing as though he can take down any beast. Lockhart's arrogance and vanity creates his downfall while making him incredibly unlikable, especially towards Harry. It causes him to vanish the bones in Harry's arm, inadvertently outing Harry as a Parseltongue, and even nearly erasing Harry and Ron's memories to take the credit for saving Ginny (Bonnie Wright) from the basilisk. Actively ruining the lives of two 12-year-olds, possibly putting them into St. Mungo's permanently, all to maintain his image is arguably one of the worst things someone tried doing to Harry, which is saying a lot. 

Let's get this out of the way first — Lucius Malfoy (Jason Isaacs) isn't on this list because of his attitude, abilities as a wizard, or even the side of war he's on. Rather, Lucius Malfoy is an awful person due to forever being a follower, guided by leaders he thinks will make him great, no matter their cause. When it backfires, he tries to distance himself, refusing to own up to his actions.

After the first fall of Lord Voldemort, he claimed he was coerced by means of the Imperius Curse. Is that true? Probably not, considering how quickly he crawls back to the Dark Lord when he rises again at the end of "Goblet of Fire." But it works, adding to his arrogance as a pureblood wizard. He considers himself above the rest, and even above the law, and few challenge him.

That said, Lucius Malfoy is a coward. Though he claims to have not willingly followed Lord Voldemort, he gives the Dark wizard his home to carry out heinous crimes. He allows his son to take the fall for his failures, doing nothing to save Draco (Tom Felton) from his impossible task. 

One of Lord Voldemort's Death Eaters, Bellatrix Lestrange (Helena Bonham Carter) is the "Harry Potter" character many would immediately think of for this list. She is sadistically cruel, doing anything she can to gain the approval of the Dark Lord. The plot of "Cursed Child" aside, she is his most devoted follower, hiding a Horcrux in her Gringotts vault and throwing Unforgivable Curses like candy on Halloween. While she has a soft spot for her sister Narcissa (Helen McCrory), she is willing to throw anyone under the bus if it means getting Voldemort's approval.

Lestrange thrives on torturing others, widely known for her spirted use of the Cruciatus Curse on anyone who gets in her way. She casts it well, putting Neville Longbottom's (Matthew Lewis) parents in St. Mungo's for the rest of their lives. Not only does she torture people, she wants them to remember it. It's why she carves the word "Mudblood" into Hermione's arm in "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2" — a constant reminder to the brightest witch of what happened in Malfoy Manor, even if the Golden Trio wins the war. 

Lord Voldemort is easily one of the worst characters in "Harry Potter." His entire platform is built on blood prejudice that he doesn't even line up with since he's a half-blood. He uses magic, the very thing that made him "weird" in an orphanage, as his ultimate tool, creating Horcruxes to ensure a prolonged life and utilizing magical objects like the Sorcerer's Stone to revive himself. 

Voldemort always found ways to trick and deceive across his dark history. Even as a student, the then-named Tom Riddle used charm to his advantage, deluding professors into teaching him how to split his soul and throwing an innocent student under the bus when he revived the basilisk. Everything he does has been for personal gain, but on a much wider scale than anyone else on this list once he takes on his moniker. His actions impact thousands, and he has no empathy.

He's the cause of a massive war, the deaths of countless people, and took Gellert Grindelwald's (Michael Byrne) teachings to a darker level. Lord Voldemort successfully infiltrated the Ministry of Magic and the public was none the wiser, which is how he nearly achieved his ultimate goal. Say what you want, but Lord Voldemort was intelligent, even if his ambition got the best of him. 

"Harry Potter" fans probably aren't surprised that Dolores Umbridge (Imelda Staunton), Senior Undersecretary to the Minister for Magic and Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, is the worst character in the series. Is she going around making Horcruxes? No, but she's arguably doing much worse.

In "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," she's perfectly content to expel Harry from school. While Dobby (Toby Jones) tried keeping Harry from going to school because of what he knew, Umbridge wanted to get the wizard out of the picture entirely, seeing him as a threat. He was vocal about what happened during the Triwizard Tournament, which ruined the Ministry's efforts to diminish Voldemort's return. They wanted to keep people in the dark so they couldn't be scared, and Harry was going to ruin that.

When Umbridge is unsuccessful in that, she becomes a professor, eventually forcing Albus Dumbledore out of his own school and creating rules that only serve to control the student body, not keep them safe. Her punishments were inhumane, and in the end, her true colors showed in her discrimination towards creatures like centaurs, even despite being a half-blood herself. Umbridge's only personality trait is her cruelty, and she wears it with pride.