Top 10 Most Powerful Witches and Wizards from Harry Potter

The Top Ten
1 Albus Dumbledore Professor Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore is a fictional character in J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series.

Not only is he a great wizard, but we must look at one important fact! Some time after Dumbledore's sister died, he stopped looking for power! He knew that power was his weakness! If he continued to gain more power, along with the elder wand, he would have been with out a doubt the most powerful wizard in History. He never used magic to hurt people his sisters death, he instead became a teacher and was able to become the wizard he is and always will be. Voldemort at full power could only bring Dumbledore to a stale mate. Dumbledore never tried to defeat him, because he Knew that it was HARRY who must defeat him. Other wise, our beloved headmaster was kind, loving, yes flawed, great, powerful, wise, and always Supreme to all other wizards of his time.

Albus Dumbledore is correct to be here. He is surely the most powerful, smart, and wise character in the series. More than the teachers, or Voldemort. His wiseness shone out a lot. When Harry needed advice or was in trouble, he was told to go to Dumbledore. Dumbledore always had the advice you would need when you were in trouble. That beard and wise-looking face make him look even wiser. He protected Harry even when it infuriated Harry, and made sure Voldemort did not get him. And if you defeat the Elder Wand... well, that almost seems impossible. Dumbledore is very much the wisest.

2 Lord Voldemort Lord Voldemort is a fictional character and the central main antagonist in J. K. Rowling's series of Harry Potter novels. Voldemort first appeared in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, which was released in 1997.

Voldemort is the most powerful wizard, possibly ever. Dumbledore is the more versatile, well-rounded, and intelligent wizard. He knows magic that Voldemort can not fathom due to relative (relative to Dumbledore) inexperience and character flaws. Knowledge, experience, versatility, and intelligence are great advantages to have but they are not the same thing as power. Voldemort's advantage in raw power is the only reason Dumbledore, with his many advantages including the elder wand, could not outright defeat Voldemort in the duel in the ministry atrium.

Albus Dumbledore, even with his Elder Wand, didn't dare challenge Voldemort to a duel unlike Grindelwald's case. If Dumbledore could defeat Voldemort with his Elder wand as he did to Grindelwald, surely people would not have to suffer this much in Voldemort's hands. During their duel at Ministry of Magic, Dumbledore would have been dead, had it not been for Fawkes the phoenix that it swallowed one death -curse through his beak. Voldemort retreated from the duel more because he understood that defeating a prodigious skilled-wizard like Dumbledore is time consuming. Voldemort did not have much time in his hand specially being at Ministry of Magic then the most dangerous place for him without the risk of revealing homself! Remember? The duel between Dumbledore and Grindelwald lasted for several hours.

3 Gellert Grindelwald

Probably not more powerful than Dumbledore, though what really happened in their duel in 1945 is still unclear. Definitely more powerful than Voldemort. His reign was for about 20+ years, whereas Voldemort was only at the height of his power about 10, 14 years. He knew more magic than Tom, had a better understanding of magic, and even lived longer than Voldemort. He mastered the Elder Wand, didn't harm his soul once, never underestimated the power of love, and, last but not least, was defeated by the greatest wizard of the age, not a seventeen year old who hadn't even finished school.

If you take away Voldemort's Horcruxes, then one could argue that Grindelwald is almost if not just as powerful as Voldemort. Yes, he had the Elder Wand; but he was able to contend with Dumbledore in the most legendary duel of all time by two wizards. In their first skirmish, he was able to duel Aberforth and Albus simultaneously! When he was interrogated by Voldemort, Voldemort couldn't tap into his mind while he had no wand and was in prison at his weakest. This made him a very powerful occlumens since Voldemort was unmatched in interrogating people. The only other wizards that could shield their true thoughts from Voldemort were Dumbledore, Snape, and oh wait that it! Grindelwald was also able to manipulate Dumbledore because of their attachment and reason that by becoming the masters of death, that it would be, "for the Greater Good." Thanks for reading!

4 Severus Snape Severus Snape is a fictional character in J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. He is characterised as a person of great complexity, whose coldly sarcastic and controlled exterior conceals deep emotions and anguish.

Exceptional potion master. He easily occlumented Voldy and perhaps Dumbledore too. Skilled Dark Art magician. Great Healer. When he was 11 years old, he knew more hexes and jinxes then adults. He is the only Death Eater who can cast Patronus. Unfurtunatelly, we never saw him fight with his full power, although he can easily deal with three other professors, when leaving school. But he did not want to hurt anybody. Great reputation among Death Eaters. Great reputation among the Order of Phoenix. Voldy's favorite. Dumbledore's favorite. Can move without broomstick (as Voldy, Dumbledore cannot). Can LOVE (rather selfishly, but can, Voldy can't). So he is the most universal and most skilled wizard.

He was the Half blood prince, invented potions, spells, changed ingredients and still managed to do a perfect potion. Skilled Occlulumens, could lie to VOLDY, which is practically impossible. In fact the only other person I know that was able to lie to Voldy was Narcissa Malfoy. He had to see how the girl he loved went to his biggest enemy, and all because a mistake he made. Then, he protected Harry, even if he saw James Potter every time Harry walked past him. Don't you think that are great accomplishments?

5 Minerva McGonagall

Minerva is the most powerful after Dumbledore and Voldemort. Madam Pomfrey said even 4 aurors wouldn't stand a chance against Minerva. I've read J.K. rowling herself said that she would have defeated Snape (altough it would have been close). She was second in command after Dumbledore and no one was ever stupid enough to attack her. She survived every battle without any injury. She has loads of experience and she knows very very much about all kinds of magic and spells, including dark magic. After Minerva, I'd put Snape in a very strong 4th place and Bellatrix 5th. Bellatrix was super powerful, she won all of her battles except when she underestimated Molly and didn't fight with her own wand. Moody is very powerful too.. It's up for debate if he or Bella should be in 5th place. I think because Moody got defeated a few times during the Second Wizarding War, I'd put Bella ahead of Moody.

6 Harry Potter Harry James Potter is the title character of J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. The majority of the books' plot covers seven years in the life of the orphan Potter, who, on his eleventh birthday, learns he is a wizard.

Put it this way: if every wizard in the history of magic were to duel against each other in equal conditions, one on one with no additional help, I can think of only two wizards who would outright beat Harry - Dumbledore and Voldemort. You could make a case for Grindelwald, Snape and Minerva, but even that I say with hesitation.

However, it is important to remember that magic is an art that requires sheer talent, work, experience and practice. At 17 years of age it is unrealistic to expect Harry to have the skill of wizards/ witches many, many years his senior where they have honed their craft. What Harry has is insane talent and potential who was destined for power and greatness, right from the beginning. Yes, he is raw and makes mistakes, but he learns as the series progresses, and by defeating the Dark Lord he demonstrates a skill and talent that very few could ever manage - something Minerva and Snape, for example, were incapable of doing. Harry 30/ 40 years down the line would probably be arguably the most powerful wizard of all time, bar none: No one could have done what he did better.

As for those that say Hermione is the better wizard/ witch: being intelligent and good at spells does not necessarily make you a brilliant and powerful magician. Hermione knows all the spells and potions, but when it came down to it, she was reliant - as was every other character in the book - on Harry to protect humanity, and this shows that will never be as powerful a wizard as Harry.

7 Bellatrix Lestrange A psychotic death eater who escaped from Azkaban, and is fiercely loyal to Voldemort. Murderer of many people such as Sirius Black, and also a sadist who drove the Longbottoms mad.

While the movies focus on her madness, the books actually focus more on her magical prowess, as well as on the fear she instills in others.
From Order of the Phoenix onwards, she outduels every single person she faces : Sirius, Kingsley, Tonks...
She even defeats them one after the other, without catching a break.
Her mere presence brought Harry's fear to new heights in Malfoy Manor, because he realized she was in a league of her own.
In magical strength order, it should be Dumbledore, Voldemort, throw in Grindlewald somewhere near them of course, and then directly Bellatrix. While McGonagall would most likely hold her own, there is no doubt who would win in a duel bewteen these two frightening witches.

She was seriously messed up--twisted in the mind, soulless, a heartless killing machine that only served Voldemort out of blind, puppy-dog devotion. BUT... regardless of how horrible a person she was, she has got to be one of the most powerful witches in the 20th century Wizarding World. She struck fear into the hearts of many--her reputation didn't precede her.

8 Hermione Granger

Hermione deserves to be ahead of Harry. I mean, it was just Fate Harry was in a prophecy, were as Hermione was actually smart after hard work

Hermione needs to be higher because she could do spells before she went to hogwarts. She is very talented wizard in the book for her age. She always helped harry with the knowledge and how to get pass certain things. For example in her first year she was the one who helped harry get to the stone. She always knows the answer to every question. She was compared to Harry's mother Lily during her sixth year at hogwarts by Professor Slughorn. Hermione is also very loyal to her friends.

Hermione is the glue that sticks the group together! Ron even mentioned in the movie that they wouldn't last a day without her. She is an expert at brewing potions- she brew the polyjuice potion in her second year! She got 9 outstanding OWLS too. She has an encyclopedia in her head. Without her, Voldemort would have never been defeated- Ron and Harry would've died! She always has been the one with the most common sense and focus. She has become quite good with wordless spells too. Hermione for the win people!

9 Alastor Moody

The biggest thing in Moody's favor is his reputation. Think about it, this is the guy who has an Eye that can see through invisibility cloaks. He's taken down so many Death Eaters and Dark Wizards that he is constantly being reported as being attacked. And what's his motto? "Constant Vigilance! " So while he may not be more powerful than Dumbledore or Voldemort, this guy needs to be at least third on the list.

I think he must be equal to voldemort, when moody is on the peak of his power, being able to capture tons of dark wizards and witches, even bellatrix didn't stand a chance against him,. he was the greatest auror of all time and no one could surpass him, he can switch from defense to offense quickly that makes him a formidable opponent,.
Though he was defeated because of years from retirement, and his powers and skills have gone rusty, yet he is still powerful,.

Sirius himself said that Alastor filled half the cells in Azkaban with death eaters and the azkaban cells are tiny and the prison goes above the clouds so that is a lot of death eaters. He was the greatest Auror of all time and you know the Aurors a pretty powerful so what does that make this guy.

10 Merlin

Though he does not come out in the book, he was mentioned before as the greatest wizard o all time by Harry, and Dumbledore. Merlin would just give a flick of his wand, and Voldemort would turn to ashes.

What on earth why is Merlin so far behind Dumbledore? With all due respect to Dumbledore, Merlin is WAY more powerful than him...

"Hello Tom," Merlin greeted. "A nice day, Riddle?"
"Yes, to complete it I need to murder you, and I will!" spat Voldemort.
Merlin flicked his wand, and Voldemort died.

The Contenders
11 James Potter

Animagus at 15, the cleverest student at Hogwarts, defied Voldemort three times, Snape couldn't touch him unless James Back was turned. He said he would hex Lily Evans too (a powerful witch herself) when she confronted him. She didn't refute his claim, which means that she knows he is more talented than herself, right? And Lord Voldemort tried to recruit him more than once. To me, he is the most powerful of their generation. He has power, wealth, stubbornness, willpower, courage and bravery (fighting Voldemort without a wand so that his wife can have more time), and loyalty (Remus?). That makes him one of the greatest of their generation.

P.S. For everyone who thought he was arrogant, every great wizard was arrogant, Dumbledore, Gellert, Tom, etc. That is not what matters, what matters is what they choose to do with their power.

As Harry's father I think he is best. Being one of the top in Defense Against the Dark Arts class, he even defeated Snape when he was a fifth year. He may have been killed by Voldemort, but he basically tried to lose. This is what I think:

12 Sirius Black

Why is Sirius so low? Give the man some credit.

Consider this, he spent 12 years in Azkaban. The toll that took on his mind, body and spirit could be immeasurable. Yet, he still managed to duel and defeat Lucious Malfoy and hold his own against Bellatrix, arguably the most dangerous death eater. While Bellatrix also resided in Azkaban, she was insane. She also didn't have to bear the guilt of Sirius. Before that, Sirius was the heir of the Black family and considered to be the most brilliant wizard of his age, alongside James.

Although his death was tragic, he was one of the better wizards. Firstly, he was protecting Harry Potter and stuck by his friends. He was incredibly powerful, and did his best to help his friends. Despite the pressure from his family and Azkaban, he stuck by what he believed in that's what it takes to be a true wizard. Loyalty, powerful and could be trusted.

13 Salazar Slytherin

While many of the other wizards in this list are pretty powerful, cough Dumbledore cough... Don't forget that Slytherin was one of the most powerful wizards in the history of magic. He created a new magical language or was the original posessor of the magical language parseltongue and he created the original basilisk. It could very well be argued that the most powerful and influential pieces of Dark Magic in the book stem from this single wizard, most probably without the elder wand, although I will admit I'm not entirely sure where the creation of the elder wand took place in history. His magic hid the Chamber of Secrets for thousands of years after his death and his magical line exists as one of the most powerful even by today's standards through Voldemort.

It wasn't Salazar who created the original Basilisk. It was Herpo the Foul. Otherwise I agree about him being historically one of the strongest wizards of his time, and possibly of all time.

14 Godric Gryffindor

I know I sound like a Slytherin when I say this, but I don't think Godric Gryffindor should be in 12th place. I know that he was one of the creators of Hogwarts, but there were also three other people helping him. Everyone gives Gryffindor too much praise just because Harry Potter was in his house. All the houses of remarkable qualities that make them amazing and unique. I, for one, believe all houses are equal, and that they should stand together rather than bicker amongst each other and try force everyone to believe their house is the best. Like the Sorting Hat said, "The four houses must come together rather than stand and fight alone (I know that wasn't the exact quote)."

The problem with putting the Hogwarts founders up here is that we don't know how powerful any of them actually were. We actually know very little about them, including the year that they actually founded Hogwarts. Mcgonagal mentions that he was one of the four most powerful wizards alive at the time, the other three being Ravenclaw, Hufflebuff and Slytherin, so I would assume that he is a fairly powerful wizard.

15 Aberforth Dumbledore

Aberforth Dumbledore is an exceptionally good character. He helps Harry, Ronald, and Hermione plenty in the deathly Hallows book. He sends Dobby, the coolest house elf ever, into the Malfoy Manor to save Harry and Rom from the dungeons and Hermione from the grasp of hands of Bellatrix Lastrange. Aberforth also helped the three by getting them into Hog's Head and showing them a secret passage to Hogwarts room of requirement. He is a lovely man and a loyal character that has a little part in harry potter

Although we don't see much of Aberforth, we know his ranks are near dumbledore, grindewald and Voldemort. I think many just forget about him. Although we don't get to see much of Aberforths capabilities we know he's tremendously powerful. One spell we do get to see him cast is in the deathly gallows part 2. Aberforth casts the most powerful patrons we'd throughout the entire series blowing hundreds of dementors away. I think aberforth woould have to be in the top 4 most powerful wizards!

16 Filius Flitwick

A know champion of the dueling league. Helped Mcgonagall run off Snape, dueled Yaxley, and defeated Dolohov. Plus he was one of the greatest Charms practitioners of his time. Think he deserves better than 12th.

He is charms master and did lots of protective spells. Not to mention duelled tons of bad guys!

Awesome! When your sad he cheers you up by making cupcakes DANCE!

17 Lily Potter

^ is this a joke? Ron before Professor *McGonagall, Sirius, *Severus Snape, Voldemort dead last? Ron is average. Voldemort is 1st or 2nd. Harry is not that great. He has amazing qualities that make him great like his bravery, but as far as power, no. Other than his Defense Against the Dark Arts skill he's no better than Ron, who isn't anything special. The only reason Harry did anything special was because of Dumbledores incredible skill and smarts planning everything out so thoroughly. The only reason he can do cool stuff like talk to snakes is because of Voldemorts mistake, that could have just as easily been Neville. Did we even read the same book?

Lily Potter is considered to be one of the most powerful witches of her time with exceptional skill and talent according to her previous classmates and teaches, for example Slughorn. Little else is known about her but she is not as powerful as Hermione as mentioned though she is still an exceptionally powerful witch.

18 Molly Weasley

She defeated Bellatrix the strongest death eater after Voldemort. If somebody says "But Bellatrix only lost because she was suprised" no in the book the battle was long so bellatrix had time too realise Molly was strong.

Oh I don't know. She couldn't fight off a bogart but she could defeat Bellatrix? And although she had and advantage Harry couldn't fight Bellatrix and she could.

I think she's powerful when provoked... Obviously. Bellatrix was operating at a disadvantage, but Molly always had some magiking going on around her. Lot of power in a modest body.

19 Kingsley Shacklebolt

Kingsley May not be one of the top 5 however he should be in the conversation. Kingsley not only was an auror, when he is introduced to the series he is in charge of finding the first person to ever escape from Azkaban as well as becoming the minister of magic in the epilogue. In the battle at the ministry of magic he is fighting 2 death eaters at once and behind moody is the second person he targets when escorting harry to the burrow. So behind dumbedore, voldemort, snape, moody, mcgonagal (in that order) he is the sixth most powerful wizard in the HP series

Not the best but certainly the one that has been most underrated on this list. Kingsley is almost always charged with a high responsibility by all those around him. Both in the Order of the Phoenix and in the Ministry of Magic he is highly thought of and is given important roles.
Deserves to be 3 or 4 in my opinion, not sure whether I'd rate Snape as better.

20 Helga Hufflepuff

Helga Hufflepuff is one of four founders of Hogwarts. The students of her house said she was loyal and hardworking. She accepted all her students, muggle-born, too.
She was described as one of the greatest witches of her age. She used her abilities to help create the sorting hat.

How can we know which founders were more powerful than the others.

She was the only fair founder.

21 Luna Lovegood Luna Lovegood was a witch from the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. She was the only child of Xenophilius and Pandora Lovegood. Her mother accidentally died while experimenting with spells when Luna was nine and Luna was raised by her father, who was the editor of the magazine The Quibbler, in a rook-like house near the village of Ottery St Catchpole in Devon... read more

Luna was amazing. She has an ability to dream, even when awake. She was amazing at finding Harry when he was covered with his invisibility cloak. She even survived the Deathly Hallows Part II, for God's sake!

Luna is the best! She sees more in the world then what other can she can see the world as it should be seen and oh most smart any wiz. that you though her way... Luna is better way better then Hermione even she is the best...

She is Brave She is kind caring loving sweet and awesome. She is the best harry potter person. She is nice and very strong.

22 Ron Weasley Ronald Bilius "Ron" Weasley is a fictional character in J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. His first appearance was in the first book of the series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone as the best friend of Harry Potter and Hermione Granger.

Ron was the best friend. He may not have been as smart as Hermione or as brave as Harry but he was a great friend. All friendships have rows, and honestly Ron was just scared of the outside world. His loving mother and father kept him shielded from the darkness of the world while on his eleventh birthday Hagrid had to tell Harry his parents were murdered

Also in First Year Ron wrote to Molly and Arthur asking for presents for Harry cause he had said he didn't get any, get my point?

I'm sorry Ron, I'm so sorry. The damned retards that are the filmmakers made you this way. He is powerful, able to mimick Parsletounge, which is extremely hard to learn. He also was able to cast a very complicated spell in his second year, mind you. The slug-vomiting spell. He is talented and powerful. He's not book smart, like Hermione, but his strategical mind and hands on personality helps him to cast spells fluidly, if not really being able to memorize what Beedle the Bard said on his 16th birthday.

23 Rowena Ravenclaw

When people look upon bravery, ambition, and hard work, they tend to view wisdom, "as a mean's to an end." Exactly like magic- a mean's to an end. Rowena Ravenclaw managed to hide the fact that her diadem disappeared for years until her death! Ravenclaw also had a deep love for her daughter even though Helena betrayed her! Not to mention that she's a smart knockout- or at least that's how she's described.

Wisdom is the second strongest power that anyone can have (number one is magic). For instance, humans are more powerful than animals because humans are considerably more intelligent.

Reputation only - likely top ten
If only Rowling made a story about the Founders doing something - we can debate her exact placing as she would have feats.

24 Nicolas Flamel

This guy is powerful. He made a stone that could make people immortal

I would like to add a few items to this list.

25 Antonin Dolohov

I think Dolohov and Lily were in the same league. Why do you think Voldemort wanted her as a follower so badly? Plus, someone else might argue she's more powerful than Voldemort (which I won't) since her love was able to protect Harry throughout the entire series.

Lily potter over dolohov? That is crazy. He had his own curse took on harry heroine and Neville at the same time and would've won if not for the other stupid death eater and he killed Remus lupin. A very powerful wizard

Antonin should be way higher in the list.
He is extremely powerful, it does not give him justice to be in 21.
Check his page on hp wiki.

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