10 Funniest Harry Potter Characters

Aside from Harry, Severus Snape was the most nuanced and well-rounded of Rowling’s characters. He was simultaneously mean, creepy, bitter, brave, and exceptionally talented when it came to spells and potions. Though he never intended to be funny, both his dialogue and his actions were highly amusing to those with a dark sense of humour.

Granted, his treatment of Gryffindor in Harry’s first Potions class didn’t suggest that he was going to be a regular source of comedy. However, his general hatred of anyone not in Slytherin combined with his brutal honesty made for some nasty but somewhat truthful insults of students over the years.

Yet it was Alan Rickman’s performance that really brought some humour to this character. His slow, melancholic delivery was frequently amusing. Indeed, no one could say the word ‘obviously’ quite like Rickman could.

Rickman’s version of Snape was also fond of physically attacking his students when he felt like it. In The Goblet of Fire, for instance, he hit Harry and Ron several times when they were supposed to be working in the Great Hall, and in The Order of the Phoenix, he whacked Ron over the head with a book when he sniggered during Umbridge’s inspection.

Snape may seem an odd choice when it comes to the funniest characters in Harry Potter, but for those with a darker, more melancholic sense of humour, Snape was a regular source of comedy.