Top 10 Most Evil Harry Potter Villains

You've met them in the shadows of corridors, in whispers passed behind classroom doors, in the chill that creeps into your spine when someone like Bellatrix smiles. These are the characters who remind you that magic, for all its wonder, can twist into something horrifying. Their names alone are enough to darken a room. They manipulate, betray, torment, and kill, not out of necessity but because they choose to. Because they enjoy it. Because rules are for other people.

You might've cheered when they were defeated, but admit it. Some small part of you was glued to the page every time they appeared. Their cruelty wasn't loud or brash. Often, it was quiet. Systematic. They wrapped it in politeness or loyalty or even laws, like wolves in tweed. And when they finally showed you what they truly were, you couldn't look away.

This list is a reckoning. It's your turn to decide who among them truly belongs at the top. Cast your vote for the ones who chilled you, disturbed you, made you question just how far a person can fall.

The Top Ten

Dolores Umbridge

Dolores Umbridge is a fictional character in the Harry Potter book series written by J. K. Rowling. She first appears in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix as a Ministry of Magic official who becomes the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts. Umbridge is widely regarded as one of the... read more

Umbridge wasn't worse than Voldemort. She was just more annoying and realistic. People can relate to annoying teachers like Umbridge who give detentions for stupid reasons. Teachers used to give the cane, like Umbridge's terrible detentions.
Teachers used to cane, slap kids, and throw a board and duster at a kid. That's what makes her so intolerable, because Umbridge could be a real person. Voldemort just wanted to rule the world and kills people to do it. Umbridge is a bully following the agendas of government.

She made students write lines with their blood! She tortured them for nothing and was so hard-headed! If you go onto Pottermore and read about her past, she'll seem even more terrible. She hated both her parents, bullied her coworkers, and prejudiced and hated Muggle-borns. She even lied about her heritage, claiming she was pure-blood when her mom was a Muggle and her brother was a Squib! She had power she could have used for good, but instead, she used it for her own wants. At least Voldemort waited until the end of the school year to try to kill Harry. She tortured him during his school year!
Sorry if I used bad grammar/spelling. I'm just so frustrated with this woman! I'm usually the grammar police, always using perfect grammar, good spelling, and interesting words.
Lord Voldemort

Lord Voldemort is a fictional character and the primary antagonist in J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter book series. He first appears in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, published in 1997. Born as Tom Marvolo Riddle, he becomes the dark wizard known as Voldemort and is characterized by his obsession... read more

Voldemort killed Harry's parents and his own parents. He and Harry fought many times until Deathly Hallows: Part 2, when Harry finally killed Voldemort. He enjoyed killing people. He killed Cedric Diggory, Severus Snape, and Fred Weasley. He made Severus Snape work for him for a long time and turned Snape into a bad guy, but Snape became good in the end. Voldemort made Severus Snape, Bellatrix Lestrange, and Lucius Malfoy all become Death Eaters. Voldemort was so powerful he was really hard to kill. He had strong magical powers that could not be easily defeated.

Voldemort is the most evil, annoying, ugly, angry, hard-hearted, noseless, etc., creature in the book. It's because of this evil character of his that he is one of the top characters of the series.
I think he was jealous of everyone's noses, and that's why he tried to kill them. Haha.
Bellatrix Lestrange

Bellatrix Lestrange is a fictional character in the Harry Potter series. She is a psychotic Death Eater who escaped from Azkaban and is fiercely loyal to Lord Voldemort. She murdered Sirius Black and tortured Frank and Alice Longbottom into insanity.

Bellatrix is the Harry Potter villain I hate most of all. Most people say Umbridge is the worst villain, but I disagree. Umbridge was only ever cruel. Bellatrix is a murderer and just as evil as Voldemort.
1. First of all, Bellatrix killed Sirius. I will never forgive her for that. Ever.
2. She killed Tonks (one of my favorite characters).
3. She killed Dobby.
4. She tortured Alice and Frank Longbottom to insanity.
5. She tortured Hermione.
6. She tried to kill Ginny.
7. She alienated her sister Andromeda just because Andromeda married a Muggle.
8. She's in love with Voldemort. Like... what?!

Bellatrix Lestrange killed a lot of people at Hogwarts and really liked Voldemort. She liked copying what Voldemort did.
She was only afraid of Voldemort, even though she still liked him. She killed Harry's godfather, Sirius Black. She frightened Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Luna, Dumbledore, McGonagall, Neville, Cho, the Weasley twins George and Fred, and Hagrid.
Fenrir Greyback

Fenrir Greyback is a fearsome werewolf that attacks children at Hogwarts. He had a strong army to kill as many people as he could. He and his pack of werewolves joined Voldemort during the Second Wizarding War. He fought in the Battle of the Astronomy Tower and became a very powerful werewolf, frightening many children at Hogwarts.

I think Greyback is more evil than Pettigrew because he wants to turn children's lives into nightmares. Pettigrew is evil, but he is only a supporter of Voldemort because he is a coward.
Peter Pettigrew

He deserves to be number one. He betrayed all of his friends, and because of it, Sirius and Lupin lost their friends. Peter is a spineless, no-good, evil, low-down, ratty little man who I want at the top of this list!

He betrayed his best friends by turning to the dark side. He is indirectly responsible for James' and Lily's deaths, and he helped Voldemort come back to power.

Peter was a Death Eater. His friends trusted him with their lives, and he went to the Dark Lord and revealed where they were hiding. He is the primary reason his "best friends" died.
Barty Crouch Jr.

Barty Crouch Jr. was a worker for Voldemort, but he didn't last long. He tried to kill Harry, Hermione, and Ron until his father, Barty Crouch, told him not to. Instead, he killed his own father, even though he only lasted for five or ten minutes in the movie.

Voldemort said he was his most loyal servant. He helped Voldemort come back to power and put Harry's name in the Goblet of Fire. He also killed his own father and participated in the torture of Frank and Alice Longbottom.
Quirinus Quirrell

Quirrell brought Voldemort back to life so he could kill Harry for good. He made Voldemort powerful and a tough opponent. He decided to resurrect Voldemort just because he didn't like Harry in his class, and he liked that Voldemort killed his parents. He worked for Voldemort even though he thought Voldemort was dead.

He was a villain. The Weasley twins threw snowballs at his turban at Christmas, hitting Voldemort with snowballs. But I doubt Quirrell was anti-Muggle. He taught Muggle Studies before Defense Against the Dark Arts.
Lucius Malfoy

A very slippery man, he was a big coward. He slipped the diary into Ginny Weasley's cauldron and caused the Chamber of Secrets to be opened. He was also very mean to his house-elf, Dobby, and was one of Voldemort's most loyal supporters.

In the end, Lucius may be weak, but he didn't just jump into action. He tried to remain calm, and a calm villain is better than one who yells at everyone. Also, he put a diary into another book without anyone noticing. He actually got the prophecy, though it broke shortly after.
Vernon Dursley

He only cared for Dudley and hated Harry.
He made Dudley bully others. When Dudley had a tantrum about his presents on his 11th birthday, Vernon said something about money like his father, calling fruit and vegetables "rabbit food." He even bought a gun to shoot whoever entered the hut on the rock. Fortunately, it was Hagrid. He didn't tell his wife he bought the gun.
He decided to starve Harry when he found out from a letter that wizards couldn't use magic outside of Hogwarts, but Harry was rescued. He also shouted out of rage because Harry said the word "magic."

The Dursleys were so mean and terrible to Harry. They only cared about their own son and themselves, never about anyone else, including Harry. Vernon and Petunia taught their son Dudley how to be horrible to Harry, who was Dudley's cousin. Harry had to live with his aunt and uncle after his parents died when he was a baby. The Dursleys did not treat Harry right or take care of him at all. They made a terrible rule that he could not have food for a week, which was really horrible.
Basilisk

Giant, ugly snake who can kill you with one look directly in the eye.

The Newcomers

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Vincent Crabbe
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Gregory Goyle

The Contenders

Dementor

They are creatures that feast on fear and sadness. They make people relive their worst memories and use them in what is basically Alcatraz.
Draco Malfoy

Draco Lucius Malfoy is a character in J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. He is a student in the same year as Harry Potter and belongs to Slytherin House. Draco comes from a wealthy pure-blood family and is often portrayed as Harry's rival throughout the series.

He was only mean out of jealousy. His father was very successful, and maybe Draco just wanted to make him proud. However, Harry Potter always got the attention. He was taught from an early age that he was better than everyone else. His dad was horrible, but Draco was just under a terrible influence.
In the end, we saw he didn't really have the heart to kill anyone. We realized he was human too, facing things no 16-year-old should ever face in his life. Murder or be murdered. Draco Malfoy would have been better if only his parents were better.

Draco is not evil, just an annoying secondary-school pupil who has been raised by Death Eaters and expresses their opinions in the wrong way.
I felt so sorry for him in the sixth book. He was placed under a lot of pressure by a very intimidating figure and has the most pitiful storyline in the entire series.
Nagini

It's a snake. Snakes are evil animals, but Nagini is probably a good (person?) snake. However, she's possessed by Voldemort.
Dudley Dursley

More like a spoiled brat. Who gives a kid 36 presents for their birthday? He was a bully but was never punished by his parents, which was wrong. His mum was ignorant and saw him as an angel, and his dad egged him on.
When he saw how horrible he was during the Dementor attack, he didn't really say anything. In the sixth book, he made Harry a cup of tea and thought Harry was coming with him and his parents when they had to leave their home for protection.
Gellert Grindelwald

I know he is not really in the Harry Potter books except for a small part in the seventh and a mention in the first on Dumbledore's chocolate frog card. However, he is the second most evil wizard in the universe, only after Voldemort.
Severus Snape

Severus Snape is a fictional character in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. He is portrayed as a complex figure whose cold and sarcastic demeanor hides deep emotions and a troubled past. Snape plays a pivotal role in the series, ultimately being revealed as a tragic hero.

He was an ex-Death Eater, yet he never seemed to care about Harry, only about his mother. He probably would've stayed a Death Eater if he hadn't supposedly loved Lily Potter. He couldn't be nice to Harry, even though he loved Lily, because he still held a grudge against James.

I read he was based on J.K. Rowling's chemistry teacher. The chemistry teacher probably had the cane and threw the blackboard duster at them. Kids were just unlucky back then, probably making Severus Snape in the book a nasty teacher.
Salazar Slytherin
Rita Skeeter

She wrote so many lies about everybody. I wish one day Hermione would put a magnifying glass on her and burn her alive.
Cornelius Fudge

He refused to believe that Voldemort had returned, even though the signs were clearly there. He didn't want to believe it because it'd be harder to rule the country and there'd be chaos in the Ministry. He cared more about making his job easy than about the well-being of both wizards and Muggles. He also put Harry and Dumbledore in a bad light.

He completely ignored the danger only for his and the Ministry's image!

He didn't believe Voldemort was back. The giants, Dementors, and every evil thing joined Voldemort's side because he didn't listen to Harry.
Alecto Carrow
Amycus Carrow
Antonin Dolohov

He was a loyal Death Eater who broke out of Azkaban. He killed Gideon and Fabian Prewett, Molly Weasley's brothers.
Igor Karkaroff
Augustus Rookwood
Marjorie Dursley