The absolute best Harry Potter character laid a fine blueprint for life
Harry Potter continues to be my favorite book series overall, even if some have come close or even threatened to surpass it. Why? Life lessons.
If I were to rank my top five favorite characters from J.K. Rowling’s classic Harry Potter series, it’d go something like this:
5. Neville Longbottom
4. Lord Voldemort
3. Sirius Black
2. Albus Dumbledore
1. Redacted (For Now)
Now, it’s the ‘why’ for Characters No. 5 through No. 2. Starting with Neville, I loved his arc. He’s somebody who should provide a confidence boost for anyone struggling to find their god given abilities, especially if one’s going through years of trying and frustration.
We first met Neville in Sorcerer’s (Philosopher’s) Stone, and for the next four books, he was known for being forgetful, accident-prone, and talentless unless it had something to do with Herbology. And no, movie watchers, Neville never gave Harry gillyweed nor did he stumble upon the Room of Requirement in the books. That was Dobby the House Elf.
Lord Voldemort is a character you’ll feel antagonistic sympathy for
Throughout the first five books, Lord Voldemort was, for the most part, a flat character. He symbolized pure evil and in many cases, he was. In Half-Blood Prince, however, Rowling provided layers for his character.
While we knew Voldemort’s dad, Tom Riddle Sr., abandoned his mother, Merope Gaunt, while she was pregnant with him, we then learned why that was. Merope hoodwinked Riddle Sr. with a love potion, meaning Voldemort stemmed from a “loveless relationship.”
A heartbroken Merope died shortly after giving birth to Voldemort (Tom Marvolo Riddle), basically choosing to die over living for her son. Tom then spent his youth in an orphanage that he hated and never felt loved by anyone.
Yeah, he was dealt a horrific hand, and it makes you wonder what would’ve happened if Merope chose, or managed, to live. While Tom was an evil psychopath, and barely human at the end of the day, his situation is one I’d never wish on anyone.
Sirius Black also got a raw deal
Sirius was that “cool kid” in school everyone wanted to be friends with. Or, almost everyone. Besides its boring curriculum, Sirius was one of the reasons I was more interested in goofing around in middle school and high school as opposed to taking it seriously.
It was just more fun to sleep in class, throw bits of paper across the room when the teacher wasn’t looking, act like I was reading my textbook when I was actually reading a novel - just hide the book in front of the textbook and the teacher would never know - and taking a zero on select midterm and final exams because I didn’t feel like showing up.
You can probably call Sirius a bad influence. But there’s a lot we can learn about Sirius’ situation and how it pertains to, well, bad government. In Goblet of Fire, (Padfoot Returns) Sirius recounts that when he was convicted of murdering 12 Muggles and Peter Pettigrew (Wormtail), he was never given a trial.
Instead, Sirius was sent to rot in Azkaban. You’d have thought a bright wizard like Albus Dumbledore would’ve come to Sirius’ aid, or at least requested a fair trial, right? I mean, Dumbledore did go to bat for Harry in Order of the Phoenix.
So, here’s Sirius, condemned to a life sentence in Azkaban without even being given a speedy and public trial. Meanwhile, Sirius knew the truth the entire time. Then, a couple years after he breaks out of Azkaban, and while on the run during Voldemort’s return to power, he’s basically forced under house arrest. Living in a home that he hated growing up in and with a House Elf who hated him (and Buckbeak the hippogriff) as his only company unless it was a holiday.
Sirius’ tragic tale doesn’t justify his reckless and sometimes short personality. But he lived a difficult and resentful life, mainly because forces he couldn’t control condemned him to it.
Albus Dumbledore had skeletons in his closet the whole time
My two favorite characters on this list are those fans love, hate, or love to hate. One of them is Albus Dumbledore, mainly for a few reasons. For one, Dumbledore had some dark thoughts shortly after his youth and was a believer in wizarding supremacy.
Sounds like Lord Voldemort, right? He also had his blinders on, with his love interest, Gellert Grindelwald, seeking the same thing. Of course, this New Wizarding Order (insert nWo theme song here - nah, just joking) never got off the ground with Dumbledore leading it, thanks to intervention from his sometimes-estranged brother, Aberforth.
Of course, we know what happened. There was a duel, someone killed his and Aberforth’s sister, Ariana, and Albus changed for the better. Still, could you imagine how much one would torture themselves mentally and emotionally if they ended up in a similar situation? Bonus Points: I actually used this as inspiration for a storyline in my dark epic fantasy, Spirit and Fire.
Dumbledore himself may’ve killed Ariana, for all he knew. At that point, he became a force for good. He put an end to Grindelwald’s reign of terror, led the fight against Voldemort, and also understood he wasn’t fit to run the Wizarding government - how many people in real life should admit the same?
Some fans may not like Dumbledore much because of the way he consistently concealed the truth about Harry Potter’s ultimate fate from everyone. Or, what would’ve been his ultimate fate if there wasn’t a flaw in Voldemort’s plan? But honestly, is there any way one could relay this to a teenager? Wouldn’t be a fun endeavor.
Anyway, in my mind, Dumbledore’s been redeemed, and it shows us that we don’t need to judge others based on their past.
Severus Snape
Oh yes, Severus Snape teaches us more life lessons than anything else. For one, don’t get so obsessed over a girl or you may “dwell on dreams and forget to live.” Yeah, Snape may have personified that, and it’s the first life and one of the more basic life lessons he can teach us.
Secondly, Snape outsmarted academia from a young age. He knew a lot about the dark arts before setting foot inside Hogwarts, and that puts a damper on his character to some.
But still, he tossed textbook potion ingredients aside and made his own, invented his own spells, and was arguably the most powerful wizard in the series next to Dumbledore (No. 1) and Voldemort (No. 2). Hey, Dumbledore won that duel in the Atrium, despite it technically being ruled a stalemate.
Still, what jumped out at me the most regarding Snape was his willingness to put himself in more danger than anyone in the series, including Harry. Yeah, Voldemort and his Death Eaters were after Harry and they all wanted him dead. This made Harry a marked man unlike any other.
But Snape was the one willing to face Voldemort often even when he jumped ship to side with Dumbledore and his Order of the Phoenix. That same Voldemort who saw through lies with ease and it was something Snape knew rather well.
Snape’s No. 1 life lesson
Still, Snape managed to infiltrate Voldemort’s ranks, look him in the eye, and continually pretend he was still a Death Eater. And that’s the biggest takeaway here. In today’s world, we see so many instances in which we’re faced with something we don’t agree with or even like, whether it’s in school, the workplace, or wherever.
To change things, sometimes we need to put ourselves in a position to get to know what the other side is saying. Take DEI, for example. It’s something many of us libertarians aren’t fond of, yet if we’re serious about ending it for good, getting to know and even finding ways to help dismantle it might mean getting up close, and personal, and exposing its flaws through reason.
Doing this on a rather grassroots level even. Within communities, which can ultimately create a snowball effect. Exposing its notoriety for not only shunting individuals into collective groups but also its potential violations of, say, the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
As Jon Miltimore wrote in a recent article via his Substack:
“ESG and DEI have been in retreat for some time, but an avalanche of new lawsuits suggest that Americans are waking up to the fact that many of these policies are not just unethical but illegal.”
That said, Snape shows us that it’s okay to take risks, some that are necessary, and to have courage in doing so. The second it was confirmed to me in The Prince’s Tale, of Deathly Hallows, he became my favorite character right then and there, and it remains true to this day.
Characters can carry redemption arcs
Redemption arcs are among my favorite tropes in fiction, and while you don’t see it in the prequel of my own upcoming Harry Potter-inspired series, Arcane Elemental Academy, Book I, The Arcane Prophecy, might just set the wheels in motion.
Okay, so maybe I spoke too soon. You might indeed find some character redemption in that short, little prequel of mine, Arcane Awakenings. And it opens the door to a world rife with elemental magic. One that tells a tale through a libertarian perspective of education. Or, one of a few libertarian perspectives regarding the issue.
Download your free copy of Arcane Awakenings - no, you’re not required to join my mailing list but you may receive some goodies if you do - and dig into the prequel today.