Broadly speaking, the story of the Harry Potter franchise focuses on the feud between good and evil, as represented by the ongoing battle between Harry and Voldemort. For every morally upright witch or wizard, there are those in the Harry Potter universe who are unquestionably evil. Voldemort leads an entire army of Death Eaters, after all. Even if their loyalty stems from fear, the fact is that they choose to be on the dark side.
Since the story is told from Harry's perspective, viewers are encouraged to side with the "light", which represents good. As such, fans tend to dislike the evil characters, but some of the less likable characters aren't necessarily evil. It's also worth noting that not all evil characters are witches or wizards, and that evil comes in many different forms.
Updated on March 15th, 2021 by Svetlana Sterlin: The world of Harry Potter continues to expand with new sequels and prequels to Harry's story, adding more characters to the already extensive cast. But the original crew remains the most memorable, setting the bar for future installments. Not all of Harry's enemies are of magical blood, so we've added five additional characters who deserve to have their evilness ranked along with the rest of the worst.
Dudley Dursley
Dudley Dursley may be a spoiled little boy, but he's not evil. He doesn't usually bully Harry, just gets everything that he doesn't get to have - and that's through no fault of his own. It's Petunia and Vernon who spoil him and make him greedy.
Harry and Dudley even have a few adventures together, most of which leave Harry at least a little satisfied to have gotten some amusement. Still, Dudley is petulant and annoying, so he's easily one of the least likable characters in the series.
Lavender Brown
Lavender Brown is one of the most disliked characters in the Harry Potter universe, but truth be told, she's not all that evil. Rather than having a tendency toward the dark side, she’s just unlikeable because she's needy, emotionally dependent, and gets between Ron and Hermione. Understandably, this rubs many fans the wrong way.
As annoying as she is, she really doesn't deserve to die at the hands of Fenrir Greyback (more on him later) during the Battle of Hogwarts. Lavender may be annoying, but she's pretty harmless.
Mundungus Fletcher
Mundungus Fletcher is a petty thief and criminal who doesn't have much thought for anyone but himself. However, it's important to that he's one of the founding of the Order of the Phoenix.
While he may have initially sought to do good in the world, he eventually betrays his friends - all except Dumbledore. Needless to say, he's no help to Harry, Ron, or Hermione when they meet him at Grimmauld Place in The Deathly Hallows.
Petunia Dursley
Harry's Aunt Petunia is ashamed of her affiliation with the wizarding world, and she takes her resentment for Lily out on Harry, who's done nothing wrong. This makes her unlikable, and maybe a little evil.
Mostly, Petunia just follows her husband's lead, but it's unfair of her to project so much prejudice onto Harry. She may not be the evilest character in the series, but she's not very likable. One thing she does to redeem herself is to it to Harry that when Lily died, Harry didn't just lose his mother - she also lost her sister.
Vernon Dursley
Vernon only seeks to make Harry's life miserable, so compared to other characters on this list, he's not doing that much harm in the grand scheme of things. Still, it's pretty despicable of him to try so hard to make this lonely orphan's life worse than it already is.
Vernon is petty, ungrateful, pessimistic, and selfish, which makes him easy to dislike. His determination to ruin Harry's future only makes his own life unhappy and reflects his low sense of self-worth. Is he evil? To an extent.
Rita Skeeter
There are many characters in the Harry Potter universe whose morals are worse than Rita Skeeter's - she's really just an annoying tabloid writer more than anything. Still, this nosy reporter has slightly more malicious tendencies than the average witch or wizard.
She’ll do anything for a story and is totally fine with manipulating her interview subjects and invading their privacy to get the best story. She’s not a Death Eater, but it’s still easy to see why most fans can’t stand her.
Gilderoy Lockhart
Gilderoy Lockhart might not be a dark wizard or a Death Eater, but it takes a certain amount of evil to steal other people’s work and take credit for it.
Along with plagiarizing the work of other wizards before him, Lockhart is completely and utterly useless as a wizard himself. This is probably the main reason why most fans of the franchise don’t have a lot of time for him.
Pansy Parkinson
Pansy rarely appears in the movies, and most of her screentime is dedicated to being Draco's silent sidepiece. She later marries him, but while they're at Hogwarts, all she does is agree with him on everything.
She comes from a pureblood family, which may be her main reason for ing Voldemort - that, and wanting to save her own skin. When the time comes, she's ready to sacrifice Harry without a thought for his safety, or anyone else's. Even Draco feels conflicted about giving Harry up, but Pansy does it without a second thought.
Peter Pettigrew
Although there are a few fans who have a lot of sympathy for Peter Pettigrew, most hate him for his role in the deaths of Lily and James Potter. He betrayed them along with the other Marauders, Sirius and Lupin, to become Voldemort's sleazy assistant.
He’s considerably more evil than Brown, Skeeter, and Lockhart, but still, his malice seems to come from fear and insecurity rather than sheer hatred. Whether fans feel sorry for him or hold a grudge against him, it’s clear that he’s a pathetic and miserable figure.
Lucius Malfoy
To begin with, Lucius Malfoy is a pretty sinister character. Firmly believing in the superiority of purebloods makes him prejudiced, as well as one of Voldemort's most devout ers - or so it seems. His cowardice and insecurity become clear when he treats Dobby with cruelty and belittles other, more noble wizards.
By the end of the story, Lucius is reduced to a cowardly mess. He’s still got that evil inside him, but it’s no longer quite as developed as it was in some of the other disliked characters of the franchise. It's clear that he only became a Death Eater on something like a whim, but when things got too dark, he was too afraid to be a deserter.
