Villains In HP

[Iverian Gnash]

There are countless villains in Harry Potter from the obvious ones like Lord Voldemort and Bellatrix Lestrange to the less so like Severus Snape and Dolores Umbridge (not that they'd appreciate being paired together at all). This got me thinking about how we define a villain in general. Is it someone that purposely hurts others or is it a person working towards their own desires without a thought for anyone else?

There are many characters in Harry Potter that people would classify as a villain while others would adamantly argue against it. The debate about Severus Snape will never come to an end. Furthermore, even the worst villains have their reasons for doing something. We can see Lord Voldemort's came from his father shunning his mother because of her magical background.

Of course, we also have our own favorite villains as well, and some that don't really get much representation like the lesser known Death Eaters and Snatchers we see highlighted more in Deathly Hallows. Maybe they had their reasons for doing what they did - money, respect, fear, etc...

What are your thoughts on villains? Are they all bad or do they have their good parts being smothered by their lesser so sides? Do you have any favorite villains? What about those underrepresented?

[Prof. Sindor Aloyarc]

When it comes to the "light" and "dark" it's a spectrum like anything else, and there's certainly something to be said for the importance of villains. We learn so much through our own life experience, but also through the wisdom and stories of others (which is kinda what it's like when reading a book or watching something on stage/screen).

Antagonists often force us to grow in ways we may not have otherwise, in spite of how challenging (even traumatizing) it may come across, and we can't always see the forest for the trees. A 3yo child may like to play that they're "just like" their parent(s) or other role models –even going so far as to become upset if they aren't being taken seriously as though they believe they're practically an adult already, which is adorable to us and wildly annoying to them– yet they simply don't have the same understanding that a grown-up does. Similarly, as a collective we can only understand things from the level of our own perspective. We "don't know what we don't know!"

When I see a villain, that character is pushing the plot forward as much as anybody else, and oftentimes a writer will give you opportunities to see their human side, making them more relatable. Rowling's depiction of Snape throughout the series is genius for this back-and-forth tug on our hearts, which makes him my favorite pseudo-villain in the books. That being said, truth be told I'm wild about Umbridge in the movies. Prior to seeing her on screen I was incredibly skeptical of the casting choice, but as with so many others in the films they really hit the nail on the head for me here.

If "all the world's a stage," perhaps on some level we really are all merely players coming on and off for our scene(s) and are meant to play a role in order to progress the worldwide plot. When you're "In the zone" as an actor (or you may have felt this while "performing" other activities you love!), you completely lose yourself and are immersed in whatever you're doing, almost possessed in a meditative trance really. We see one of our favorite actors playing a particularly devious character and we can sometimes come to loathe them, yet as a person in real life we compartmentalize that it isn't really who they are. It's just a story. One we get to empathize with and relate to, that sometimes repels us away from certain actions and ideals as we watch the dominoes fall. From this perspective, I think that a villain (and "darkness/evil" in general) plays an important part of the ongoing process for individuals, species, and worlds alike. At least for the time being as we continue growing UP together!

[Prof. Maxim Trevelyan]

I always preferred more realistic villains so to speak. Not the Dark Lords that come once in a century and are the Big Bad, but those that are human, and you can find anywhere. Which is why I love Dolores Umbridge so much. Umbridge is just a normal woman with prejudices and biases that turned her into the sort of monster who would make laws against the most vulnerable in society and torture children during detention. No wonder she is more hated than Voldemort.

[Scarlett Drake]

I personally would define a villain as someone who purposely hurts others, instead of someone who just looks out for them-self all the time. Even people with good intentions can be selfish- but someone who tries to hurt others and doesn't really see the bad in it, that defines a true villain in my opinion. Of course, I've seen arguments that there are different "degrees" of villains, like there are truly bad ones, and ones that do wrong things because of internal or external pressure. I personally wouldn't consider that person a villain though, but of course, that is just my personal opinion.

True villains in the HP series? Lord Voldemort, Bellatrix Lestrange, and Dolores Umbridge, are three that come right to mind. Sure, they all had things happen to them that could have turned them into the villains they are, but they are characters that truly don't mind hurting others. They even enjoy it at times. I actually despise Dolores Umbridge more than Lord Voldemort, and sometimes I think she's more of a villain- because she is deluded enough that she thinks the evil that she is doing is the right thing to do!

I like to think of the Malfoys as villains who weren't "true" villains. They just had so much pride in their family name and pure bloodlines that they had to keep up this image that made them seem like villains. I remember in Deathly Hallows Part 1, when the Death Eaters meet at the Black's manor- seeing Lucius Malfoy's expressions throughout the whole meeting made me realize that he wasn't a "true" villain. He looked absolutely miserable, and he also stalled when Lord Voldemort asked for his wand. He just looked like he was thinking, "When I signed up for this (being a Death Eater), I didn't foresee what it would turn into." And of course there is Draco, who couldn't cast the killing curse on Dumbledore, who refused to identify Harry, who basically handed Harry his wand, and I could go on and on. In the beginning, Draco seemed like a true villain because he was always picking on Harry and his friends. But that was because he felt superior because of his pureblood status and that was the way he was brought up. When it came down to it in the end though, Draco didn't choose to enjoy hurting others like a true villain would.