Harry Potter: 15 Most Powerful Wizards In The Wizarding World

Though JK Rowling went to great efforts to establish that it was love rather than any hex or curse or charm that was the most powerful force in the Wizarding World she created, she also made sure to furnish her world with wizards of incredible skill and power. For the most part, great magical acts are limited in the books to battle situations, or within Hogwarts, as Rowling's world was as full of rules and regulations as it was free spirited wizards and witches. But those tend to be the easiest way to show off who is the most powerful anyway.

And therein lies an almost unexpressed fascination in the world of Harry Potter. Fans will talk endlessly about who the BEST character is, or whose death is the most heart-breaking (it's Dobby's, stop trying to debate the issue), but the issue of power obsession seems almost a taboo subject. It's terribly Slytherin, after all, to even be particularly bothered about how great your ability unless it's used for great acts or wholesome achievements.

Luckily though, there are some of us in Salazar's house who need to know how the Wizarding World's finest and most fearsome sorcerors stack up against one another. And looking at their various achievements in the books and movies, it's also very easy to rank them.

Here are the 15 most powerful wizards in the Wizarding World...

Albus Dumbledore's brother may well be the most low-key powerful wizard in the entire wizarding world, and that's probably exactly as he would prefer it, given his tragic past. And while he's somewhat relegated to a comedic footnote in Harry Potter history (thanks to those jokes about his supposedly "unhealthy" fondness for goats), he is only a magical outcast by choice.

Don't forget, Aberforth was able to hold his own in a three-way duel with two of the most powerful wizards who ever lived when Gellert Grindelwald attempted to use a Killing Curse on him and his brother stepped in. Ultimately, that duel caused the death of Arianna, but what seems to go largely unmentioned is the fact that Aberforth - a wizard who apparently could not even read - was able to defend against a Cruciatus Curse thrown by Grindelwald and to fight to a stalemate with him and Albus.

During the Battle Of Hogwarts he also casually stunned Rookwood, almost in passing, despite him being one of Voldemort's most gifted followers. And that's not to mention that sordid business with the "inappropriate" charms on a goat he was prosecuted for around 1982. That would be no mere conjuror's parlour trick...