I Rank The Best and Worst Harry Potter Characters

[@laiacortes4163]

Honestly, I’m so tired of hearing people claim that Harry is a boring character because it couldn’t be further from the truth. The idea that someone is ‘boring’ simply for doing the right thing is quite unfair. Doing the right thing, especially when the odds are against you it's not easy at all. He’s a very resilient person who has endured many things and yet he never lets those experiences define him in a negative way. That’s not boring-it’s inspiring. Harry has also many flaws. He’s capable of immense courage and selflessness, yet he also struggles with anger, self-doubt, and impulsiveness. And let’s not overlook Harry’s sass and dry humor as a coping mechanism. But these flaws only make him a very relatable person. Harry is not a one-dimensional hero; he’s a flawed, brave, and deeply human individual

[@calebbowman]

I completely agree with you he's so underrated

[@DuckyDave]

Yes 💯

[@s6r231]

I think people discount Harry as a good character because we know much more about him than anyone else. With the others you're left guessing to as to other parts of their character and so they seem like they're "better" characters. I think pretty much all the characters in the books are good characters.

[@maja-kehn9130]

@@laiacortes4163 YES! Thank you. 🥰

[@lonewolf7396]

Agreed!

[@joanniepatterson6493]

Thanks for the video, Brett! :) Watching all the way from Canada 🇨🇦 I love hearing your perspective on different characters! Tiny little side note: Although I agree with your ranking of Katie Bell (26:34 to 26:46), I believe that is a picture of Pansy Parkinson (played by Scarlett Byrne), rather than of Katie Bell (played by Georgina Leonidas).

[@s6r231]

Umbridge is fantastic for two reasons. 1 we're shown her evil throughout the fifth book and 2 her evil is relatable. Everyone either has had an awful teacher or has heard stories about awful teachers whereas most people don't have a Hitler-esque person dogging their shadow. Thus, Umbridge is the more relatable evil. It also really shows how powerful show don't tell is in storytelling. Do we ever really see Voldemort being evil that much? Mostly we just hear that he's evil. As an aside, I would love to know how Bellatrix came to be that unhinged.

[@AndysEdits]

loved this brett, and look at the debates you've started in the comments - great video, and I back your logic on most of these!

[@blindmanwakeboarding2625]

Great video, think I mostly agree. And I absolutely love your description of Neville!

[@hhhaemmm]

This is the best video I’ve seen in a while. There is very thoughtful and well-argued reasoning behind every ranking. I agree with you wholeheartedly on some, and I am a bit reserved on others, but I thoroughly enjoyed this 30+ minute video. Cheers from 🇨🇦

[@BrettsThoughts]

I desperately want to visit Canada! Thanks for watching 🥰

[@NoneofyourBusiness-iv6pi]

your new hairstyle / haircut looks good

[@BrettsThoughts]

I actually filmed this months ago and forgot to post it, so it’s grown out now. But thanks!

[@maja-kehn9130]

Putting Harry in C tier, are we?????

[@BrettsThoughts]

Do you C why? 😏😏😏

[@maja-kehn9130]

@BrettsThoughts No sorry. Harry deserves at least B tier. For me, he is even A tier. But you have a right to your wrong opinion. 😆😂

[@BuccZak58]

Think people who really like snape, for the most part, are people who have only watched the films. Alan Rickman was incredible, and very likeable. But in the books he is purely just a bully to children and incredibly mean, like calling out Hermiones teeth, for no reason, other than she’s friends with Harry and a gryffindor.

[@ΕΥΘΥΜΙΟΣΚΑΛΙΤΣΟΣ]

He js the real hero

[@Alex-w1g3c]

Worst characters are golden trio, if we measure by formula (how good and deep character is)/(how many times it appears) cause they are much flatter then some other more interesting characters like Bellatrix, Sirius, Draco, Dumbledore and especially Snape

[@filip_aleksander_moen]

A lot of great rankings here! Although I passionately disagree on the Wormtail one. You seem to base your ranking on two things: The fact that he supposedly is a very complex character with many sides, and that a lot of the story rides on his actions, making him tremendously important. From what I can see, Wormtail has (at most) two sides: a coward, and a sulky, weak man-child. All his actions are based on him wanting protection, because he is a coward. The fact that his loyalty to Voldemort wavered for a second does not make him a good person, it just makes sense because his entire life (including this "loyalty") is based on fear, and not devotion, rendering him a weak-minded man. Even Voldemort sees him as the useless, scared, little man that he is. And even before he started working under Voldemort, he seems to have been part of the Marauders only because he wanted to have the protection/company of the power of James and Sirius, and they enjoyed his praise. And the argument of story-relevance, is completely nullified when you put Harry in C tier. Harry did SO MUCH for the story. Clearly that can't have anything to do with it. If importance to the story pushed people up, then Merope Gaunt would be S tier, since she made Voldemort, and Voldemort made the ENTIRE story what it was. You seem to like it when people have flaws, but aren't they supposed to have good sides too? Point is: Wormtail is a one-dimensional terrible person with one motivator: saving his own stinking neck. C tier at best.

[@BrettsThoughts]

I am so inconsistent with what I decide is valuable character-to-character 🤣 with wormtail, it felt like he was integral to the PoA, GoF, and good chunks of the DH plots - so I put him high. That said Harry is integral to all of the plots and I put him in C so what do I know? 🤷🏼‍♂️

[@Gamer-eu6mn]

Now you saying what do you know? On the Draco ranking you said you’re always right

[@BrettsThoughts]

@@Gamer-eu6mn both

[@HarryFernandes15]

Its ur opinions but holy are u cooked. Moaning myrtl above harry made me laugh

[@dmize2]

This list genuinely pisses me off

[@jxgalaxy3810]

I think the movies give people a very high opinion of Voldemort because of how well Ralph Fiennes portrayed him. He gave such a charismatic and likeable performance. I can see why you would put him lower but I think he deserves at least A Tier. The fact that he doesn't have much focus or time dedicated to him in the first three books helps his agenda, and even though he doesn't have much of a backstory until HBP, the CoS teenager Tom part (The only part of the book I fondly look back on tbh), his resurrection in GoF and the duel with Dumbledore in OotP I think give him just enough meat as a villain to be placed a bit higher, and his death is so cathartic and perfect in DH.

[@EltaninMalfoy]

To those wondering why Harry is a boring character, I suppose I can argue this 1. He’s just like Aragorn. What I mean is, HP is morphologically (structurally, if you will) a fairy tale and the main hero of any fairy tale equals his path. That is, Aragorn becomes a King because his path is a path of a King. He has all his wonderful qualities because these are the qualities of a King. Harry eventually kills Voldie because that’s his path. This kind of thing makes them wonderful people, but definitely not that exciting. Yes, I would argue Harry is more complex than Aragorn, but he remains first and foremost a function in the story. 2. His choices are not difficult at all. In fact, they are super easy. Why? Because they’re right. For him, for everyone around them and for us, readers. That’s why even though the decision to face Voldie and all the others seem so difficult and terrible for us, they to Harry come quickly and easily, without much thinking over. They are easy because they are right. And each of these choices makes him even stronger and more determined. Because he knows he’s doing the right thing. And having to make these choices doesn’t destroy him. Compare that to Draco, whose choices are difficult exactly because they are all wrong and how that basically destroys him. 3. That leads to the main thing. We don’t really fear for Harry. Why? Because we know he will end Voldie and he will make all the right choices. So, yeah. That’s why I believe some might consider him rather boring in comparison to other characters I, for myself, rather enjoy all his imperfections Edit: I believe Voldie IS indeed boring for exactly those reasons. He’s nothing more that a psychopath lead by fear of death and desire for immortality, nothing more. Everything else is just BS He’s as interesting as any other psycho

[@BobLeeeSwaggga]

Agreed with most of all of this list, well done sir

[@patrickcullen1959]

Absolutely horrific list

[@theblueartist259]

24:57 He didnt put Rubeus but he put Severus 😭😭

[@Crazy_Peanutz]

The need to clarify that Dumbledore is not an S tier person (debatable), but not about Wormtail before him worries me a lot.

[@JamesMC04]

As a literary creation, I think Snape is best. *Very* flawed person, great character. Ron is the character I like best. I think Snape is fractionally more sympathetic a character than Draco.

[@elisaduarte7245]

16:24 Which character was skipped after Dobby? They ended up in S tier between Dobby and Hagrid but were never discussed.

[@ObsessiveGeek]

18:18 the phrase is “a bad rap” yes it technically should be rep - it’s unclear how this occurred though is commonly considered a spelling error, however the phrase has stuck around long enough to be considered correct

[@BrettsThoughts]

Thanks for letting me know!

[@matthiascoast9680]

Opinion is discounted for putting Harry in C.

[@wakkerdamidm3213]

That was Pansy Parkinson, not Katie Bell. Pansy belongs in the D-tier as well though.

[@TriforceTrends]

Oh dear we are in troubleee Seriously though I actually don’t hate this list as much as I thought I did initially, every placement makes a lot of sense

[@alachon205]

i agrre so much with umbridges placement, such a good character. She is one of the reasosn why i love order of the pheonix so much.

[@charischislett-mcdonald2001]

Wasn't the picture you called Katie Bell not actually Pansy Parkinson from the later films?

[@tomw4014]

Currently watching the video but wanted to jump in to say, I never noticed the TARDIS in your vids before haha Fellow Whovian here :)

[@tomw4014]

Nice work on the video mate, it’s tough going with so many players, but I appreciated the insight and reasons provided for them. I do wonder, however, after seeing your other characters that you’ve placed alongside Harry Potter, would you ever reconsider putting him higher when you look at the context of where he sits and the reasons provided for the others in his tier? I ask as I agree, I don’t think he’s necessarily a god tier protagonist, and someone that’s as capable or as resourceful as say someone like Hermione… Buuuuut he is the audience surrogate so I guess he has to have a level of accessibility and relatability for us as the reader to be immersed in this new world. He can’t be amazing in the outset or be the best because he hasn’t grown up around the things he gets exposed to. I think Harry has some really good moments where he isn’t just a passive protagonist in his world too, things don’t just happen to him and he goes along with it from one plot point to the next, I think there are some really great active plot points he sets out to discover, particularly around the mysteries in the first couple and the last couple books, Anyway, those are just some thoughts I had, and aren’t a matter of me saying “I hate your opinion” because that’s not what I intended lol, I was just wondering about any further recontextualisation now I’ve finished seeing your vid :) Keep up the good work anyway mate, always appreciate your insights into the world!

[@tomw4014]

Sorry, I also meant to add, I ask as you put Harry in his tier right at the start, so I just wondered after seeing further secondary and peripheral characters later on, whether if you had reviewed Harry later, you might have put him higher :)

[@austindmilligan]

Bro did this to trigger people and cause discord madness. Guarantee he doesn’t feel this way about most the characters lol it’s low hanging fruit to make everyone’s fav characters rank lower in the tiers haha this guys a fool…

[@theo1951]

26:34 thats pansy

[@remirenrin]

that was pansy 26:35

[@stene123]

I can't believe you think Lavender and Harry are in the same tier and someone like Fleur is higher? I think you did that just to get angry comments to help YT algorithm 😅 Otherwise good ranking.

[@arinerm1331]

In fairness to Snape (and I was never a fan of the man), he did have good reason to mistreat Harry and Harry's friends. He needed those memories to allow Voldemort to see them whenever the Dark Lord practiced Legilimency on Snape. Sure, Snape was a superior Occlumens, but he needed to show his master **something** in those moments of personal contact, lest Snape be untrusted.

[@KBtheKiwi944]

👍

[@ashleyjohnson9990]

Agree with a lot of it but Harry is definitley no BORING and deserves a spot on S tier along with the rest of the golden trio. To put Filtch above Harry is ludacris

[@adamt7527]

It's funny you put harry in C when I think everyone in C u said they didn't add much to the story at all, 1 of the few I disagree with imo he'd be A/S

[@chrisbrooker7260]

Theee lists are so sureties by their very nature. For mine I really dislike Hagrid, who I don’t find in any way a ‘nice’ character (he’s an awful teacher, and his torture of Dudley is repulsive). My other usual faves who I dislike are Dobby, who is just annoying, and Luna. She’s ok, but I don’t get the fuss.,. The fandom has become much more nuanced as the core audience has aged, and I think the Hermione devotion has been tempered somewhat as her flaws have become more obvious (and the movies recede into the past). She’s still one of the very best characters but people are much more willing to see her ruthless, spiteful sides than before The big flaw in the Potter series fit me is increasingly the almost total Harry POV it gives us. I think it would’ve been so much richer if we had multiple PoV characters in each book. Sideline plots and characters - Dean Thomas’ backstory, the Tonks family, the Delacours, Krum, Dean, Ted Tonks, Dirk Cresswell and the Goblins on the run, seeing more of other houses, Lavender and Parvati , Stan Shunpike and do many more would make for a richer story. And Pottermore etc never lived up to the initial promise of filling some of the gaps . Any of these stories would be just as interesting as the much fabled Marauders.

[@arsenal7saka]

the weasley twins being an a tier is a discrace there not just funny there smart ambitios brave there the best charecters including peeves

[@milesfrills6969]

First please pin bro your very bin fan day2

[@dannylagangonzalez6832]

I'm glad you put Ginny and Hermione very high up, as they're my top 2 favorite characters. I have to strongly disagree about Molly though, she's not even a great character, let alone person. 95 percent of the time we see her, we see her just treating people like shit, regardless if they're adult or child. She's not evil, but far from a good person, when you just look at all of her individual moments. I was also never a fan of Luna either, she's just weird. Morally fantastic and very powerful sure, but personality wise, not for me. Ron's attitude can be really terrible at times and both of his abandonments of Harry weren't justified. Him standing up to Sirius in POA I agree is amazing though. Also, please can you stop with this "I'm always right" thing. Joking or not, it's not a good look.

[@BrettsThoughts]

Lol the “I’m always right” thing is entirely ironic because I’m the least confrontational person on god’s green earth

[@dannylagangonzalez6832]

@@BrettsThoughts still though, icl it is annoying