darkest characters harry hagrid neville

The Harry Potter universe is populated with some of the most iconic and popular fictional characters of the modern era, ranging from the titular Boy Who Lived to the terrifying Lord Voldemort to the misunderstood antihero Severus Snape, Dumbledore’s right-hand man. And as expected, many of these characters are pretty dark, even in the relatively innocent earlier books/movies.



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There are many ways to make a fictional character dark, such as making that character suffer many cruel or unjust things or having that character inflict horrors on other people. Dark characters are often defined by tragedy, grief, acts of unforgivable evil, despair, and much more, and a handful of truly dark Harry Potter characters rise to the top.

10 Harry Potter Has Been Through A Lot

The protagonist himself, Harry Potter, has always been a bastion of courage, hope, and compassion in this tale of witches and wizards, but that doesn’t stop him from being quite dark in the story. To begin with, he must live his entire life knowing he will never meet his parents. It’s an emptiness he can never fill.

And there’s much more. Harry endured years of abuse from the Dursley family, he’s been accused of being the Heir of Slytherin, he’s seen friends such as Cedric Diggory die, and Harry himself temporarily died in the final battle against Voldemort. He’s got too many mental scars to count.

9 Rubeus Hagrid Had It Rough

Fighting back against racism, classism, and other forms of intolerance is a major theme in Harry Potter, and the half-giant Rubeus Hagrid embodies it. He must keep his giant lineage a secret because people fear and hate giants. And when his heritage was revealed, Hagrid was devastated by the hatred he faced.

Hagrid also got expelled from Hogwarts when he was framed for opening the Chamber of Secrets, which was a terrible experience for him. He also endured the deaths of both parents, and Hagrid was widely criticized for doing what he loved most – teaching Care of Magical Creatures.

8 Draco Malfoy Internalized Some Dark Stuff

On one hand, the bully Draco Malfoy must be held accountable for his countless acts of bullying against the Golden Trio, Neville Longbottom, and countless other characters. He is far from innocent, and he knew what he was doing. But then again, Draco was born into a family that guaranteed he’d go down a dark path.

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Draco’s scheming father Lucius made sure Draco grew up to be a deeply racist, classist, and arrogant person, a wannabe aristocrat who looks down on all others. Malfoy was also unfairly pressured to serve Voldemort as a teenage Death Eater. In the end, Draco got overwhelmed and fell apart when ordered to assassinate Dumbledore.

7 Neville Longbottom Is Like A Second Harry Potter

The meek Gryffindor student Neville Longbottom is known for his love of magical plants, his lack of courage, and his sheer forgetfulness, but he’s not exactly a typical comic relief character. Neville is actually one of Harry Potter‘s darkest and most tragic characters, even if he doesn’t act like it.

Neville, like Harry, had his family torn apart by the Death Eaters, with his Auror parents having their minds broken by the Cruciatus Curse. Neville’s parents, Frank and Alice, don’t recognize or remember their son, and that weighs heavily on the boy. Neville also experiences constant bullying and doubt from others, and even the normally kind Minerva McGonagall often loses her patience with him.

6 Bartemius Crouch Jr. Revels In Evil

The enthusiastic Death Eater Bartemius Crouch Jr. is totally dark not because he suffered, but because he made others suffer. Most of all, Barty Crouch Jr. is dark because he is so genuinely evil, just like the Dark Lord whom he idolizes. Barty Crouch Jr. could have grown up to be an upstanding citizen, but he was determined to become a bad guy instead.

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All that makes Barty Crouch Jr. disturbingly evil and dark, since some villains were driven to evil due to desperation or terrible circumstances. But not him. He infiltrated Hogwarts with his Polyjuice Potion disguise and made sure to deliver Harry right into Voldemort’s arms when the time was right, and he didn’t regret a thing.

5 Remus Lupin Faces Constant Discrimination As A Werewolf

Remus Lupin is one of several Harry Potter characters who embodies the theme of discrimination in this world. He is hated not for being a half-giant, but for being a werewolf who contracted lycanthropy from the werewolf Death Eater Fenrir Grayback. Lupin has suffered greatly ever since.

Lupin is described as being prematurely aged and worn out from his incredibly hard life, and it seems no one will ever help him. Later, he married Tonks and had a son with her, but for a time, he felt unworthy of being a parent. Harry harshly criticized Lupin for trying to run away, and later, Lupin died heroically in the Battle of Hogwarts.

4 Lord Voldemort Was Destined To Become Evil

Tom Marvolo Riddle was doomed to be a supervillain no matter what. His mother, Merope Gaunt, used a powerful love potion to seduce the Muggle man Tom Riddle, and thus their son was born without any love at all. And as a boy, Tom Riddle Jr. was also selfish, cunning, and utterly lacked empathy of any kind as an orphan.

RELATED: 10 Strongest Dark Wizards in Harry Potter, Ranked

With such a grim upbringing, it’s no wonder this ultra-dark wizard grew up to become the wizarding world’s most terrifying villain of all time. Voldemort dreamed of conquering the entire world, starting from England, and he exploited, deceived, abused, and slaughtered countless people along the way.

3 Merope Gaunt Was Born Into Sheer Misery

Voldemort’s tragic mother, Merope Gaunt, also seemed doomed to darkness no matter what she did. This character, viewed only through memories in the Pensieve, was born into the impoverished, desperate Gaunt family, which can trace its lineage to Salazar Slytherin himself. And the Gaunts take way too much pride in that.

Merope was a meek, weak-willed person who was pushed around by her father and brother, and she was harshly warned against falling in love with the handsome Muggle Tom Riddle. When she got her chance, Merope made her move with Tom, but it was a loveless union, and Tom left Merope. Finally, in December 1926, Merope gave birth to her son Tom Jr. in London, only to perish minutes later.

2 Severus Snape Always Had It Bad

Severus Snape is known for teaching the Potions subject at Hogwarts, though he was also a double agent among the Death Eaters, secretly being on Dumbledore’s side the entire time. Snape died for this duty, and he had his redemption at the very last moment with Harry being there to see it.

Snape never had it easy. His parents often fought and he had no real friends until he met Lily Evans soon before starting at Hogwarts. Then Lily abandoned him for the smug James Potter, and then Snape was devastated when Lily died at Voldemort’s hands. Finally, he resents Harry because the boy reminds him of James, the young man who “stole” Lily from him.

1 Albus Dumbledore Has More Than A Few Dark Secrets

At first, Dumbledore seemed like Harry Potter‘s own Obi-Wan Kenobi or Gandalf, but while Dumbledore may be an excellent duelist and a responsible Headmaster at Hogwarts, he’s got many dirty secrets. It’s tough to call him a true hero at this point.

In some ways, Dumbledore saw Harry as a weapon to be honed over time to take down Voldemort, but there’s still more. In his younger years, Dumbledore was actually allied with Gellert Grindelwald and agreed with his “for the greater good” stance. Dumbledore did turn on him, but it’s pretty dark all the same. And his family is loaded with tragic drama, too.

Next: 10 Strongest Dark Wizards In Harry Potter, Ranked

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