Every Harry Potter Villain Ranked From Worst To Best

From cartoonish failures, to the curse casting, half blood berating, child torturing monsters.

Bellatrix Harry Potter
Warner Bros.

There's a reason why Harry Potter is as popular as it is. It has brilliant production values, incredible music, very solid direction, and one of the finest ensemble casts in British cinema. It comes as no surprise that a cast with this much talent and great British pedigree makes for some truly compelling characters. Among these characters are the villains, who stand out as some of the best characters of the saga.

There are villains who are weak and subservient to evil, those who are corrupted, and those who delight in pain and death. Seeing as Gellert Grindelwald has been in the news recently, there's no better time to rank all of the evil-doers in the Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts films from worst to best.

A few ground rules: any character who is unnamed in the films will not be making an appearance on this list, which rules out 'Death Eater'. Snape also won't be included, as he ultimately isn't a villain.

Take it away Ernie, it's going to be a bumpy ride.

23. Gellert Grindelwald

Bellatrix Harry Potter
Warner Bros.

Johnny Depp was a laughable choice for Grindelwald.

The two things the filmmakers needed to nail with this casting were someone menacing and charismatic who could inspire others to follow him, and someone who you could believe Dumbledore had a romantic past with. In other words, not Johnny Depp. The performance wavers between utterly goofy and completely limp. The hair and make-up are atrociously silly. The character's goals are so ridiculous they make the entire Fantastic Beasts series feel like fan fiction: he wants to stop the holocaust from happening, yet he's totally fine with destroying Paris with a giant magic dragon.

Grindelwald is easily the worst villain in the series; a corny joke in a sea of great bad-guys. Let's hope that Mads Mikkelsen does a better job.

Contributor
Contributor

Avid writer of screenplays, blog posts and more. Love Tarantino, pirates, horror, and the UFC. I'll watch or play just about anything. I adore every aspect of filmmaking; editing, writing, music, sound design, cinematography, production design, acting, and directing, I love to write more personal posts on my blog @ www.htmediabysamnicholson.wordpress.com.