Lord Voldemort is the big bad guy of the Harry Potter series and, thanks to the brilliant work of actor Ralph Fiennes, has become one of the biggest villains in pop culture history. He was a wizard you couldn't afford to cross, with the Dark Lord blessed with not just amazing magical ability but also the ability to control people and make them do his bidding.
We now take a look at ten people who had the guts to disobey Voldemort which, when you consider just how villainous the character is, takes some doing.
Lily Potter
Audiences see Lily Potter die via a flashback in the first Harry Potter movie the Sorcerer's Stone, with Harry's mom perishing at Voldemort's hand in her own home at Godric's Hollow. The books, however, shed far more light on the murder.
It's revealed that Voldemort was actually going to spare Lily had she done as he said by moving out of the way of Harry, who is just one years old at the time. Her decision to disobey the Dark Lord ultimately cost her her life - but saved Harry's in the process.
Albus Dumbledore
After leaving Hogwarts, Tom Riddle goes off the grid. He surfaces, however, when he goes to Hogwarts and asks Professor Dumbledore about the possibility of him becoming Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher.
By this point, Dumbledore is aware of the person Tom is turning into it and the many villainous things he and his followers get up to. Consequently he leaves Voldemort furious by refusing to let him return to the school as a teacher. The villain instead spends his time back at his own home hunting for the lost diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw, an object he later transforms into a Horcrux.
Ginny Weasley
Ginny Weasley is enticed by Lord Voldemort via his old form as Tom Riddle. The Dark Lord instructs her to open the Chamber of Secrets and set the basilisk on all those within Hogwarts who are muggle-born.
While this works, Ginny ends up fighting back. She disobeys the villain and attempts to get rid of the diary in which a fragment of Voldemort's soul is contained. This backfires but Harry is able to get rid of Riddle at the end of the blockbuster, coming extremely close to death in the process.
Igor Karkaroff
Igor Karkaroff is the heaster of Durmstrang, a school known for the dark arts. It's no surprise, then, that Karkaroff has a sketchy past - he used to be a Death Eater for the Dark Lord but ended up putting many of his fellow bad wizards in Azkaban prison towards the end of the first wizarding war.
Karkaroff disobeys Voldemort by refusing to stand at the wizard's side upon his return to power in the Goblet of Fire. Less than two years later his body is discovered in the Shrieking Shack, with the Durmstrang professor seemingly killed as a result of his defiance.
Barty Crouch Jr.
Barty Crouch Jr considers himself to be Voldemort's most-devoted Death Eater (a title that Bellatrix Lestrange no doubt believes she should have). It's he who is able to get Harry to the graveyard of Little Hangleton in the Goblet of Fire, where the Boy Who Lived narrowly escapes death.
But when Harry goes back, Crouch Jr disobeys his master. He attempts to kill Harry despite knowing that Voldemort wanted to do it himself. It's probably a good job the Dementor's of Azkaban got to the Death Eater before his own master...
Draco Malfoy
Draco Malfoy is a wreck in the Half Blood Prince, a book and movie where he's charged with the task of killing Albus Dumbledore. After a year of stress, tears and trauma Malfoy is eventually able to succeed in getting Dumbledore right in front of him.
But the Slytherin student is unable to follow Voldemort's orders by killing the Hogwarts heaster. Severus Snape does the deed instead, saving Malfoy's soul from years of torment and regret as a result.
Rufus Scrimgeour
Rufus Scrimgeour succeeds Cornelius Fudge as Minister of Magic following Lord Voldemort's return to the public eye. And, like his predecessor, he and Harry Potter have a rocky relationship with the duo both having different views on the second wizarding war.
Despite this, however, Scrimgeour still defies Voldemort. When asked to give up Harry's location the former Auror doesn't buckle and is killed by the Dark Lord after keeping his mouth shut. It's something the Boy Who Lived appreciates, particularly given how the duo didn't exactly see eye to eye.
Wormtail
Wormtail helps Voldemort return to power but, while that in itself is an act of loyalty, he still isn't trusted by his master. So, when the Dark Lord gives his servant a shiny new hand in the Goblet of Fire, it's because the villain has something sinister in mind.
The hand is cursed, programmed to act against Peter Pettigrew should he ever disobey Voldemort. He finds this out in the Deathly Hallows book when the hand turns on its master and chokes Wormtail to death after he decides to let Harry and Ron escape their jail inside Malfoy Manor. It doesn't redeem him but it does show that Peter did have some remorse for all his crimes.
Narcissa Malfoy
Voldemort knows something is up when he hits Harry with the killing curse in the Deathly Hallows: Part 2. However, rather than checking whether the Boy Who Lived had somehow survived again, the Dark Lord instead tells Narcissa Malfoy to give him the honest verdict.
But she doesn't. She lies after Harry assures her that, amid the battle of Hogwarts, Draco is safe. Narcissa's risky decision pays off with the Boy Who Lived then able to triumph over the Dark Lord following a fiery final showdown.
Harry Potter
Of course, this list wouldn't be complete without Harry Potter himself featuring. He is, after all, possibly the character who disobeyed Lord Voldemort the most throughout the series.
Whether it be refusing to give him the Sorcerer's Stone, stopping him from killing Ginny Weasley, refusing to die in the graveyard of Little Hangleton or giving in entirely, Harry does everything to stop Voldemort. And he eventually succeeds, vanquishing Tom Riddle for good right at the end of Deathly Hallows: Part 2.
