Best Harry Potter Characters Ranked
a Yourlist ranking · the crowd decides the order
From the boy who lived to the potions master with a heart of shadow, which Harry Potter character reigns supreme? Cast your vote and see how the wizarding world's favorites stack up.
What counts: Ranked by overall fan popularity, narrative impact, and depth of character arc across the books and films; screen time, popularity, and impact ratings are approximate, crowd-sourced estimates and not official figures.
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The bullied boy who became the bully, Snape spent seven books as the most gloriously ambiguous man in fiction, and 'Always' turned a lifetime of cruelty into the series' most gutting retroactive reread. He protected the son of the woman he loved while tormenting that same son daily, and that contradiction is exactly why he's endlessly debated instead of easily loved. No character in the saga earns a higher ranking on sheer narrative audacity.
First Appearance: Screen Time (min, approx): 90 minFan Popularity: 9.5/10Character Depth: 10/10Heroic Alignment: ✓
added by IJRSeverus Snape
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She started as an insufferable know-it-all and ended as the brains, conscience, and occasional muscle of the entire war effort, punching Malfoy in book three and erasing her own parents' memories to protect them in book seven. Hermione proves that competence and compassion can be the same character trait, and without her Ron and Harry die in about a week. She's the franchise's moral spine, which is a harder job than being the Chosen One.
First Appearance: Screen Time (min, approx): 230 minFan Popularity: 9.3/10Character Depth: 8.5/10Heroic Alignment: ✓
added by IJRin 2 rankingsHermione Granger
0A scrawny orphan under the stairs who turns out to be the reluctant fulcrum of an entire wizarding war, Harry's walk into the Forbidden Forest to die is the single bravest moment in the series and it isn't close. He's not the cleverest or the funniest character in his own story, but he's the one who keeps choosing to sacrifice himself for people who barely deserve it. The title character earns the top spot because the whole saga is literally his arc from victim to willing martyr to reluctant hero.
First Appearance: Screen Time (min, approx): 330 minFan Popularity: 9/10Character Depth: 8/10Heroic Alignment: ✓
added by IJRin 3 rankings
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The wise old wizard who turns out to have been manipulating a child's entire life 'for the greater good,' Dumbledore's late-series unraveling into a flawed, guilt-ridden man made him infinitely more interesting than the twinkly mentor archetype he started as. His death atop the Astronomy Tower, orchestrated by his own request, is the hinge the whole final act turns on. Few characters get retconned this hard this well.
First Appearance: Screen Time (min, approx): 110 minFan Popularity: 9/10Character Depth: 9/10Heroic Alignment: ✓
added by IJRin 2 rankingsAlbus Dumbledore
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Perpetually the third wheel, Ron's insecurity boiled over when he abandoned his best friends in the middle of a horcrux hunt, then redeemed himself by destroying one with sheer force of will and a whispered apology. He's the emotional heart of the trio precisely because he's the one most visibly human, jealous, hungry, and scared, rather than destined for greatness. The spider-fearing kid who plays a life-size game of wizard's chess to save his friends deserves his spot in the upper-middle tier.
First Appearance: Screen Time (min, approx): 210 minFan Popularity: 8.5/10Character Depth: 7/10Heroic Alignment: ✓
added by IJRRon Weasley
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Wrongly imprisoned for twelve years for a crime he didn't commit, Sirius burst out of Azkaban as a desperate, loyal godfather only to be yanked away again by Bellatrix's curse at the Department of Mysteries, robbing Harry of the closest thing he had to a parent. His tragedy is that freedom never actually freed him from his past. He's beloved because he represents everything Harry could have had, snatched away almost as soon as it arrived.
First Appearance: Screen Time (min, approx): 75 minFan Popularity: 8.7/10Character Depth: 8/10Heroic Alignment: ✓
added by IJRSirius Black
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Tom Riddle's transformation from a charismatic orphan into a nose-less horcrux-fragmented tyrant is the engine of the entire seven-book war, and his fatal blind spot, love, is what ultimately destroys him. He's terrifying not because he's invincible but because he's a cautionary tale about a child failed so completely he chose to stop being human. As the villain the whole saga is built to defeat, his ranking here is non-negotiable.
First Appearance: Screen Time (min, approx): 80 minFan Popularity: 8.8/10Character Depth: 8.5/10Heroic Alignment: —
added by IJRLord Voldemort
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Stern, exacting, and secretly the fiercest defender Hogwarts has, McGonagall transforms desks into a fighting force and stands toe-to-toe with Voldemort himself during the Battle of Hogwarts without flinching. She's the rare authority figure who never once loses the students' respect because she earns it through fairness rather than fear. Decades of being the strict-but-fair professor pay off spectacularly when she finally gets to be a warrior.
First Appearance: Screen Time (min, approx): 85 minFan Popularity: 8.3/10Character Depth: 7/10Heroic Alignment: ✓
added by IJRMinerva McGonagall
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Dismissed by classmates as 'Loony' for talking about nargles and thestrals, Luna turns out to be one of the few people who ever comforts Harry honestly about death, having lost her own mother young. Her total immunity to social pressure makes her the DA's secret weapon and its emotional ballast. She's proof that the story's biggest hearts often come wrapped in its weirdest packaging.
First Appearance: Screen Time (min, approx): 45 minFan Popularity: 8.4/10Character Depth: 6.5/10Heroic Alignment: ✓
added by IJRLuna Lovegood
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The privileged bully handed an impossible task, killing Dumbledore, Draco's arc collapses under the weight of a mission he never wanted and a family he can't save, culminating in him lowering his wand rather than following through. His inability to actually be evil, despite trying so hard to seem it, makes him one of the series' most human antagonists. He's ranked here because his cowardice is more relatable than most characters' courage.
First Appearance: Screen Time (min, approx): 65 minFan Popularity: 7.8/10Character Depth: 7.5/10Heroic Alignment: —
added by IJRDraco Malfoy
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The half-giant gamekeeper who first tells Harry he's a wizard becomes the series' warmest constant, smuggling dragon eggs, carrying Harry's supposedly dead body out of the forest, and loving monsters nobody else could tolerate. His unwavering loyalty and heartbreaking softness, especially grieving Aragog or Buckbeak, ground the magic in genuine emotion. Hagrid earns his place as the character who makes the wizarding world feel like a home rather than just a setting.
First Appearance: Screen Time (min, approx): 70 minFan Popularity: 8.2/10Character Depth: 6/10Heroic Alignment: ✓
added by IJRRubeus Hagrid
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The boy who was almost the Chosen One instead of Harry spends six books as comic relief and punchline before beheading Nagini with the Sword of Gryffindor in the series' most cathartic underdog moment. His entire arc is a rebuke to the idea that heroism only belongs to the chosen; Neville becomes the leader of Hogwarts' resistance simply because he refuses to stop standing up. Few redemption arcs in the franchise are as earned or as satisfying.
First Appearance: Screen Time (min, approx): 55 minFan Popularity: 8/10Character Depth: 7/10Heroic Alignment: ✓
added by IJRNeville Longbottom
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Cackling, unhinged, and utterly devoted to Voldemort, Bellatrix tortures the Longbottoms into madness and later kills Sirius and Dobby, making her arguably the most personally destructive villain in Harry's life outside Voldemort himself. Molly Weasley's 'not my daughter, you bitch' duel that finally kills her is one of the franchise's most crowd-pleasing payoffs. She's ranked high because pure, gleeful sadism rarely gets performed this memorably.
First Appearance: Screen Time (min, approx): 40 minFan Popularity: 7.9/10Character Depth: 6.5/10Heroic Alignment: —
added by IJRBellatrix Lestrange
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The twins turn Hogwarts into their personal comedy stage, exiting in a literal blaze of fireworks during their O.W.L. year, and their joke shop becomes an act of quiet resistance against Umbridge's tyranny. Fred's death in the Battle of Hogwarts, mid-laugh, is one of the war's cruelest gut-punches precisely because they represented joy refusing to die even under fascism. Together they prove comic relief can carry as much narrative weight as any tragic hero.
First Appearance: Screen Time (min, approx): 60 minFan Popularity: 7.7/10Character Depth: 5.5/10Heroic Alignment: ✓
added by IJRFred and George Weasley
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A werewolf forced to hide his condition his whole life, Lupin becomes the most patient and understanding teacher Harry ever has, only to briefly abandon his own newborn son out of self-loathing before dying alongside his wife Tonks in the final battle. His arc is a quiet tragedy about how prejudice makes good people doubt their own worth even after finding happiness. He's remembered as proof that found family in this series often outshines the biological kind.
First Appearance: Screen Time (min, approx): 50 minFan Popularity: 7.6/10Character Depth: 7/10Heroic Alignment: ✓
added by IJRRemus Lupin
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Possessed and nearly killed by Voldemort's diary in her first year, Ginny transforms from a shy girl with a crush into a fierce Quidditch captain and DA fighter who Harry ultimately builds a life with. Her growth is subtle compared to the trio's, but her steel is unmistakable when she's dueling Death Eaters at sixteen. She belongs on this list as proof the story's female characters are never just love interests.
First Appearance: Screen Time (min, approx): 45 minFan Popularity: 7.3/10Character Depth: 6/10Heroic Alignment: ✓
added by IJRGinny Weasley
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Armed with kitten plates and a saccharine smile, Umbridge is scarier than most Death Eaters because her cruelty, carving lines into students' hands, is bureaucratic and sanctioned by the state itself. She weaponizes politeness as a form of torture, making her the series' sharpest satire of institutional evil. Fans rank her this high precisely because she's hated more viscerally than villains who actually kill people.
First Appearance: Screen Time (min, approx): 40 minFan Popularity: 7.5/10Character Depth: 6/10Heroic Alignment: —
added by IJRin 2 rankingsDolores Umbridge
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She never appears alive on page, yet Lily's sacrifice for baby Harry is the ancient magic that powers the entire seven-book plot, and Snape's lifelong devotion to her memory drives one of the story's biggest twists. Her love literally becomes Harry's shield against Voldemort for over a decade. Few characters have this much narrative gravity while having almost zero screen time.
First Appearance: Screen Time (min, approx): 15 minFan Popularity: 7.4/10Character Depth: 6.5/10Heroic Alignment: ✓
added by IJRLily Potter
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The ultimate mother hen of the Burrow, Molly knits sweaters and scolds Fred and George one moment, then obliterates Bellatrix Lestrange with a killing blow the next, proving maternal love can be a battlefield weapon. Her fierce, unconditional embrace of Harry as a surrogate son gives him the family warmth he never had. She's beloved because she makes domesticity look like heroism.
First Appearance: Screen Time (min, approx): 35 minFan Popularity: 7.2/10Character Depth: 5.5/10Heroic Alignment: ✓
added by IJRMolly Weasley
0Enslaved and abused by the Malfoys, Dobby free himself through Harry's cleverness with a sock, then spends the rest of the series repaying that kindness with fierce, occasionally destructive loyalty, ultimately dying to save Harry and his friends from Malfoy Manor. His death and burial, dug by hand with no magic, is one of the most quietly devastating scenes in the entire saga. A house-elf outshining wizards in courage is exactly why he's remembered so fondly.
First Appearance: Screen Time (min, approx): 30 minFan Popularity: 7.6/10Character Depth: 5/10Heroic Alignment: ✓
added by IJR
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