We are proud PotterHeads, here at Filmyboy! And one of the greatest joy is look at the Harry Potter saga, and talk about thing that made this fantasy great and a world phenomenon.
And one of the best things about Harry Potter, is its characters. So, here we are ranking and explaining the best Harry Potter characters in the movie series or books.
There are indeed different Harry Potter rankings out there but here we are putting out list detailing why they worked, what are their impacts on the story as well as to the protagonist Harry himself.
So, without further ado, let’s dig deep into what makes Harry Potter characters great. Just remember we are ranking these characters on the basis of their impact on the story, likeablity, popularity and character arcs as well.
Ron Weasley
Ron Weasley, isn’t just one of the most important characters in the Harry Potter saga, one of the trifecta alongside Harry and Hermione, but also the most entertaining one.
And there are some disappointments regarding his character’s portrayal in the movies as compared to in book where he is smarter and has much meatier part to play.
Whereas in the film, lot of times, he get reduced to a comedic relief or a goofball in the franchise.
However, he does have moments to shine in later movies for sure, and also he does get a serious side to explore as well.
And who can forget his ultimate sacrifice in magical game of chess helping Harry to stop Professor Quill or apparently Voldemort.
But overall, his character has a great balance between an entertaining character as well as a character with much more depth and purpose.
His qualities lies with the fact that how much loyal he is to his friends, to Hermione and Harry. He always stick with Harry, his best friend even after so much insanity went on each year.
To say the very least, he is one of the most likeable character in the series which we get connected with right off the bat.
His family also comes as the second family to Harry who protected him, took him in and cared about him always, and without any hesitation.
And as we know that Harry falls in love with his younger sister Ginny Weasley and they eventually get married, hence putting him and Harry into this unshakeable bond.
Remus Lupin
Remus Lupin was first introduced in the Harry Potter and Prisoner of Azkaban movie, and was indeed one of the great introductions clarifying his intentions or what kind of person he is rightaway.
Harry was almost going to die by the hands of Dementors in the train to Hogwarts but just then, Remus Lupin who was initially only sleeping in the train woke up to do a patronus charm to save Harry from dementors.
Not just that, he grew closer to Harry, as his well-wisher and also was a friends with his parents.
More than that, he was the part of Order of phoenix back in his day alongside Harry’s parents, James and Lily Potter, his godfather Sirius Black and other wizards.
His character in the books are more fleshed out and also gets more to explore in comparison to the movie, like many other characters.
He is also famously known as Moony. Actually, he was attacked by a werewolf when he was a child which made him a werewolf himself, and has to turn into a full-blown wolf in full moon nights.
Not to forget, he was the one to teach Harry, the Patronus charm which proved to be a life-saver more than one time for Harry, and also made him a much more proficient wizard.
Lord Voldemort
The big bad villain of the Harry Potter saga is none other than Lord Voldemort, a character who has been teased and portrayed in couple of version before he actually arrives.
And what a great performance pulled off by actor Ralph Fiennes with his limited or comparatively less screen time but with great impact.
To begin with, this antagonist has a great backstory or an origin story and such a charisma and reputation becoming the most evil wizard of all time, so much so that people are scared to say his name.
Voldemorts as a villain also works perfectly for this story because he is more or less an anti-thesis to Harry, completely against and opposite, yet are two different sides of the same coin.
Voldemort’s character is neither just plain psychotic nor all-the time mellow and calm. It is a great blend of both, overall carrying the grandeur and experience of all evil he has done.
So, perhaps he has a stature of Dumbledore but then its evil that too against an amateur but brave, persistent and young wizard Harry Potter whose destiny is connected with him.
This character has to be the one of the greatest antagonist characters or performances in the cinematic history.
Bellatrix Lestrange
So, Belatrix Lestrange is our classic psychotic, maniac and bit out of mind antagonist, and that too with a juicy backstory.
She is essentially a murderer, and a death eater, fanatically loyal to the most dangerous and evil wizard, Lord Voldemort.
It is great touch to her character that she is basically the sister of Sirius Black, the Godfather to Harry Potter, and yet she is poles apart. In fact, she is the one who killed Sirius Black, her own brother.
She is also infamously known for capturing and torturing the Aurors Frank and Alice Longbottom, parents of Neville Longbottom, friends to Harry Potter in Hogwarts, to get information about Voldemort’s whereabouts.
However, she, along with three other death Eaters were caught and sentenced to life imprisonment in Azkaban.
Belatrix was behind many murders and participated in battles like Second Wizarding War, also was responsible for killing few important members of Order of Phoenix.
Apart from Sirius Black, she also murdered niece Nymphadora Tonks and one of the most beloved Harry Potter character, Dobby.
In the final battle between Harry and Voldemort at Hogwarts, she was the last death Eater standing on the grounds, eventually killed by Molly Weasley after she tried to kill Ginny Weasley.
Rubeus Hagrid
Rubeus Hagrid is one of the closest person to Harry, and amongst the most likeable characters in the series.
He is a half-giant wizard who attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry back in 1940s but he was expelled due to wrongly framed for opening Chamber of Secrets by Tom Riddle and attacking Muggle-born students.
However, later he was trained as gamekeeper of Hogwarts and allowed to live in the school grounds by Albus Dumbledore.
Not to forget, Dumbledore trust Hagrid as what he said in the first scene of the Sorcerer’s stone “I would trust Hagrid with my life”.
His character arc in the story is not very much changed or grown but his character is indeed one of the best in the series due to consistency in the traits explored about him in the whole saga.
Also, he has been a great support system to Harry throughout the years. He is the one who brought Harry as a kid to the Dursleys, as well as introduced him to the world of wizards and witches by giving him the Hogwarts letter.
We could have been seen more of him in the latter part of the Harry Potter movies but he still is, and always has been a crucial character in Harry Potter story.
Neville Longbottom
Neville Longbottom, has perhaps the best character arc or say, the most satisfying one in the Harry Potter movies.
We got to see him grow from a timid chubby kid to brave man standing tall against Voldemort even when every hope was dead, Harry seemingly was dead. He was the one to pull Gryffindor’s sword from the Sorting Hat.
He was the one to raise his voice against the most powerful wizard of all time- Voldemort, and later he become the one to slay Nagini, the last Horcrux helping Harry to defeat the dark wizard.
In that moment, he does prove himself a true Gryffindor just like Harry did in the Chamber of Secrets.
Actually, Neville always shown the signs of his strength within him, the first one was trying to stop Harry, Hermione and Ron from getting out of bed in the Sorcerer’s Stone to save Gryffindor house points.
He was also given points by Albus Dumbledoor to stand against his friends on what he thought to be right.
Neville’s character become more interesting and fun as the story unfolded. Even though his backstory wasn’t enough explored in the movies, there is still lot of makes him as interesting or sometime even more than Harry.
In fact, there was the idea that he could have been the chosen one instead of Harry. Because at the time of his birth, according to the prophecy, Neville was among the two potential kids destined to defeat Lord Voldemort.
As Voldemort attempted to kill the other kid, which was obviously Harry ensure the prophecy to be established, and that to be Harry.
So this means, If Voldemort has chosen first Neville to kill when he was a child, the chances was the same thing was happened what went with Harry, Voldemort would have been broken to horcuxes, Neville would be the one to defeat him.
Can you imagine that parallel universe, where Voldemort went for Neville and his family instead of Harry, and and whole story would have been surrounding Neville with Harry being supporting character In the story.
Well, take our money to see that! In Nutshell, Neville was one of the most important characters in the Harry Potter saga on every front.
Minerva McGonagall
Professor Minerva McGonagall was another most likeable character in the Harry Potter saga, somewhat around Hagrid, who has been always empathetic to Harry.
She also has attended the Hogwarts and was sorted in Gryffindor, and later become the Head of the Gryffindor House, and also teaches Transfiguration.
Even though she wasn’t the member of the Order of the Phoenix in the first Wizarding War but she still helped a lot to the Ministry of Magic to spy on Death Eaters and bringing the Aurors crucial information that can be game changing for the war.
Over the time, she even become the Deputy Headmistress and later the Headmistress of Hogwarts.
She was the one with Albus Dumbledore and Hagrid leaving infant Harry at the doorsteps of Dursleys at Private Drive. Including that scene, we have been seeing McGongall caring for Harry to the very end of the series in Deathly Hallows Part 2.
Also, in the second Wizarding war and even before in the Battle of Astronomy Tower, she fought with the resistance against Lord Voldemort.
After she survived the Second Wizarding War, she became the Headmistress of Hogwarts, as full time and held on to the title to early 2020s.
Her fondness and maternal love towards Harry comes from the fact that she cared for Harry’s late parents as well.
She almost felt like a grandmother to him, always getting in conversation with Dumbledore on her concerns towards Harry and the choices made for him.
Minerva McGonagall even spied on Dursleys in Harry’s growing years just to know whether Harry is being taken care of or not treated too harshly. However, she never did something because she would never go against Dumbledore.
When Harry came to Hogwarts, she was pleased to see him and sort him into Gryffindor, a house to whom she is the head of.
And time to time, she always showed her care to Harry. In the books, more of it was shown even though in movies, we seen little moments here and there.
Draco Malfoy
Draco Malfoy, the nemesis to Harry Potter is one of the layered character in Harry Potter universe.
What’s really great about his character that some things about him didn’t change whereas few things did, making him a more realistic antagonist.
At times, the audience are let to feel that he is not all bad or his cruelty and bigotry comes. a lot from his parents, the Malfoy prominently his Death Eater father Lucius Malfoy who serves Lord Voldemort.
He is also shown as this messed up kid or teen who himself dealing with a lot and perhaps just a victim. But then most of the times, he is a compelling ‘villain’ or just a ‘nemesis’ against Harry.
One of the most disturbing aspect of his personality is his strong belief, his prejudice towards half-blood. His character arc definitely goes beyond his rivalry to Harry.
The major shift in his character was after his father was imprisoned in Azkaban for being a Death Eater, and loyal to Dark Wizard, Lord Voldemort, after the battle of Department of Mysteries.
After that we see him going to his father’s way, becoming the Death Eater, given the task to murder Albus Dumbledore but couldn’t do it, and took over by Severus Snape.
He was indeed quite reluctant to kill Dumbledore and fearful that if he do not do it, Voldemort will kill him.
The relationship or rivalry between Draco and Harry has been fascinating, and so much interesting.
As there has been multiple instances where Draco cared for him, and or or two where he actually saved him indirectly or directly.
If you look at their first meet in Sorcerer’s stone, he was interested in him only because Harry was famous, but Harry didn’t responded well to him, and that’s was the beginning of the rivalry.
Malfoy didn’t identified Harry in front of Belatrix and other Voldemort’s servants in order to save him, pretty much lied.
There was a deleted scene where Draco threw wand to Harry where he jumped from Hagrid’s hands at the very end, to help him.
J.K Rowling was in fact asked about whether rivalry between Harry and Draco loses their animosity towards each other after the death of Voldemort
Here’s what exactly Rowling said “Not really. There would be a kind of rapprochement, in that Harry knows Draco hated being a Death Eater, and would not have killed Dumbledore; similarly, Draco would feel a grudging gratitude towards Harry for saving his life. Real friendship would be out of the question, though. Too much had happened prior to the final battle.”
So, over the years, Harry and Draco do resolve their problems and made their peace, however still not become friends at the time when Scorpius ( Draco’s son) and Albus ( Harry’s son) started their school in Hogwarts.
A Lot more is still explored in the Harry Potter books but not so much in the movies. Draco Malfoy is certainly one of the best Harry Potter characters, especially much more layered in amongst the kids at the Hogwarts.
Dobby
A character from Harry Potter chronicles who has been loved, adored and cried over throughout the series on his various appearances.
Dobby appeared in the Chamber of Secrets, the second part/book in Harry Potter saga in Harry’s room, came to beware him of the looming danger at Hogwarts and save his life.
He earlier was the house-elf who served Malfoy family who treated him cruelly all the time, however he disobeyed his masters, and that’s when he came to Harry to warn him.
Harry was the one who tricked Lucius Malfoy to free Dobby by putting his own sock in the T.M Diary which was given to Dobby by Senior Malfoy himself.
And he protected Harry from Lucius attacking him saying ” You shall not harm Harry Potter”, perhaps from a unforgivable spell.
In the books, there is much more about Dobby what he did after getting free from Malfoy’s family.
He apparently joined Hogwarts staff where he get to an agreement with Dumbledore where he got some remunerations.
Dobby has been helping Harry in many instances before his last appearance during the Deathly Hallows storyline.
He died in the arms of Harry, was stabbed by Bellatrix Lestrange after coming to rescue Harry Potter and his friend from Voldemort’s goons.
Dolores Umbridge
Dolores Umbridge wasn’t a regular character in the Harry Potter as she appeared in the fifth part or movie Order of Phoenix in the courtroom scene.
But he stayed longer and become quite a villain in the Harry Potter saga, perhaps the most evil character, however, in a different way than Bellatrix Lestrange or Lord Voldemort.
She was a half-blood witch, a British Ministry of Magic bureaucrat who served as Senior Undersecretary to the Ministry of Magic under the Minister Cornelius Fudge, Pius Thicknesse and Rufus Scrimgeour.
In Hogwarts, she came in 1995, the fifth year of Harry Potter as a Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor, where she later become Hogwarts High Inquisitor and eventually the Headmistress.
That’s the time when for brief period, Albus Dumbledore was fired from being the Headmaster.
Her character was projected to be cruel, cold and all-sinister, trying to control Hogwarts and push the narrative of Ministry, preventing students to learn magic.
She imposed controversial and abusive punishments against students crossing every line in the book.
After the fifth, she again appeared in the Deathly Hallows, the one who got herself the Horcrux, the locket which Harry, Hermione and Ron has to snatch away to destroy it.
It is safe to say that she is one of the most hated characters in the Harry Potter movies. In fact, she can be said to be one of the most hated characters ever as well!
Harry Potter
Well, Harry Potter, the protagonist himself is somewhere in-between the ranking of the best characters in the Harry Potter movies/books.
The reason is not because his character is not detailed, layered or doesn’t have arc, rather coming from a fantasy, Harry’s character is pretty much not entirely cliche as a hero.
He is not all-knowing type, he is neither extremely smart as Hermione or funny as Ron. He is certainly not as powerful or experienced as Lord Voldemort or Dumbledore, clearly.
So, there is indeed quite a nuisance in him. He does have an arrogant side or can be egoistic but most of the time he choses not to.
So, he is flawed, broken and even incompetent in some ways but what makes him a protagonist is being brave, fearless and good in his heart.
At the end of the day, he was a chosen orphan kid who found his way into this wizard world where his parents are from, where he always was part of, where he has a destiny to fulfil.
There can be so much discussion around Harry, and his choices, morals and characteristics but overall, he is a compelling character to be with.
He couldn’t be the top one because there are other characters whose journeys has been more interesting or they have a greater impact within their own limitation of appearances.
The best part about Harry is how relatable he is, how we can share his tragedies, feel the loneliness in coming to new worlds where we have to prove ourselves.
He is naive, stubborn and gains perspective and experience, and these traits makes him much more nearer than any other characters, even those who ranked at the top.
Sirius Black
Sirius Black, to whom, we as an audience as well as through Harry’s perspective, meet him as this prisoner of Azkaban who breaks out to kill him.
What next we learn with Harry was somewhat true but grossly fabricated, that he was friend of James and Lily potter, and is Godfather to Harry.
But it was him who betrayed Harry’s parents and outed their whereabouts to Lord Voldemort which resulted to their death.
However, we soon to learn, the betraying friend was Peter Pettigrew who has been living as Scabbers, a rat with Ron in his family.
Finally, we get to see Harry having someone to say as Family, someone closer to his parents, more like a father figure to him.
Sirius Black become a recurring character in the Harry Potter movies as he developed relationship with Harry.
In fourth part/book, he warned Harry that whoever put his name in Goblet of fire is not his friend and he has to lookout for himself, be closer to his friends.
But it was fifth book or movie where we see his character interacting with Harry more, sharing about his family.
In fact, Harry was invited by him to live with his Godfather which is a big deal for Harry who never had a real home to say.
His chemistry with Harry was heart-touching and that’s why his death in the Battle of the Department of Mysteries was so heart-breaking, for Harry as well as for the audiences as well.
He was murdered by his own cousin the evil Bellatrix Lestrange during the fight. However, Molly Weasley avenged his death by killing Bellatrix in the Second Wizarding War.
Sirius Black was also known as Padfoot or Snuffles in his Animagus form. Even he came from a pure blood family, he disagreed from his family’s prejudice towards half-blood and always the one defied them, making him the odd one in the family.
He was the part of the Order of the Phoenix Army fighting the First Wizarding War. After Pettigrew’s betrayal to Potter’s, he sought him out to get the revenge after which he was wrongly framed for it along with twelve muggle murders as well, and was sent to Azkaban.
His character had a huge impact on the story as well as Harry himself.
Albus Dumbledore
There is no Harry Potter saga without mentioning of Albus Dumbledore. His mostly presentation in the story was to this all-knowing and wise character guiding the protagonist, in this case- Harry!
Dumbledore’s character is one of the best because as much we know about him, there is so much we don’t, and that makes him also quite mysterious and even little not to trust on.
However, in few first movies, he was indeed a guide and a helper to Harry seem to answer his questions, and helping him find the right way to go.
He was the Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and has lived long, fighting many battles which we may not know of.
Well, he has to many secrets that Harry Potter franchise got themselves a prequel or a spin-off titled Fantastic Beasts and Secrets of Dumbledore, featuring Dumbledore’s past.
How Dumbledore earlier presented to be this guiding figure, all good and all knowing, and then slowly transitioned towards someone we hardly known, with secrets, broken relationships and so much more.
The very fact Dumbledore basically kept Harry around only to sacrifice him at the right time to battle Voldemort is not something goes with how Harry or we perceived it in earlier movies.
Overall we do know that he was one of the most powerful and wise wizards, so much that even the dark Wizard Lord Voldemort avoid him.
He was also the one who brought Tom Riddle, the boy who later become Voldemort to Hogwarts. Dumbledore has been a major player in the Harry’s life, and how his world turned out.
Even though, some of the things he did could be controversial or debatable, secretive and but at the end, he was good, had a soft corner towards Harry and wanted to keep Hogwarts safe.
Hermione Granger
There is a reason why Hermione is the second ranking character in the Harry Potter movies. Well, this one is not entirely on the basis of developed arc or a tragic past or something.
Hermione Granger singlehandedly is the charm of this story, the heart of this trio including Harry and Ron.
And like Ron mentioned in previous movies that without her, Harry and Ron couldn’t last longer in the world.
Well, it is indeed true! If you are look at Harry’s journey beginning from coming to Hogwarts, Hermione has been the brains and wits of their team.
Her smartness and persistence has been a key role in success of Harry, or even their survival.
More than that, Hermione as a character is so much enjoyable to watch, and she has phenomenal chemistry with both Harry and Ron.
Hermione has lost as much as Harry or Ron in this final war and her contribution is impeccable to the whole story.
Her character brings a lot into the drama, since the beginning. There are indeed underlying arcs to her character, and changes she gone through and lessons she learned, even though they are not very apparent in the movies.
Hermione’s character is much more fleshed out and detailed in the books as it is in the movies but still if you rank her on the basis of impact and fan base, she tops most of the Harry Potter characters.
Emma Watson, the actor who played her role did a fantastic job, and that is the least to say about this.
Hermione’s character though does changed every year in one way or another. In the first year and second year, she is much more snarky, witty, clever and lovely girl.
Third year, she contributed to a lot to the story by sharing her time turner to travel back in time and save Sirius Black and Buckbeak.
Fourth year, she does become a victim to the quarrel of Harry and Ron’s childish fight but she is there to help Harry, and also exploring the changes in herself, finding someone special for herself as well.
From fifth to the very end, she is as much the protagonist as Harry himself finding horcuxes, dealing with the loss, war and so much going on and even leaving her parents house with their memory magically forget their child ever existed.
Severus Snape
There is no other character in the Harry Potter universe that is much more interesting, detailed, mysterious, conflicting and transformative as Severus Snape.
He was introduced to us through Harry’s point of view, as the whole journey is through his eyes, seeing Snape as this bad guy trying to revive Voldemort.
But apparently we know that he was the one who trying to save Harry, so he is a good guy, and hence friends to Harry, right?
Well, apparently not! He still kind of hates Harry or at least it seem like or at least dislike him or hate his guts or whatever.
We also question his allegiance countless times but we soon learn that he is indeed with Voldemort when he kills Dumbledore.
It seem that Dumbledore trust Snape with his life and he backstabbed him which was a huge turning point in the story.
Before all this, Snape has been somewhat around Harry as this neutral character. For example, in Prisoner of Azkaban, he was trying to save Harry, Hermione and Ron, surely he was not aware of Peter Pettigrew and that whole thing.
So once he kills Dumbledore, there is no going back. And it seem that everything is settle for once that he is with Voldemort, and a Death Eater.
But soon when we came to know that it was Dumbledore himself who asked Snape to kill him, so he will become the owner of Elder wand.
More important, he was the one who came to Dumbledore before Lily Potter and James Potter died, asking for help to save him and in exchange of, he given his allegiance to Dumbledore.
It is revealed that Snape has been in love with Lilly potter at Hogwarts but she married to James Potter. Snape become the Death Eater but when he heard about the attack planned on Lilly he came to Dumbledore to save her.
Although, he failed because Peter, a friend among them shared the whereabouts of Harry’s parents to Voldemort. And after that, Snape has been looking out for Harry because he still love her mother, and he wanted to honor her.