Of the entire house of Slytherin, fans became most familiar with Draco Malfoy during the Harry Potter franchise. He was Harry’s sworn nemesis, who only seemed to get more and more evil over the course of the series. Eventually, his evil peaked and he became afraid and remorseful. He was endlessly followed around by Crabbe and Goyle, his incredibly stupid sidekicks, there for him to insult and use as protection.
Both Malfoy and Crabbe and Goyle were interesting characters, though, and showed us the darkest recesses of Slytherin house. We’ve compared five reasons Malfoy was the most interesting Slytherin, to five reasons Crabbe and Goyle were.
CRABBE AND GOYLE: They Were Pure Evil
The world of Harry Potter has a very exclusive club of characters who could be considered to be pure, unrelenting, unconflicted evil. Lord Voldemort, for example, makes his way onto that list with ease, as does Bellatrix Lestrange. Crabbe and Goyle have a similar level of evil.
They both gleefully used the cruciatus curse throughout their final year at school, while in Crabbe (in the books at least, in the film it was Goyle) furiously shot the killing curse around the Room of Requirement.
MALFOY: He Was Conflicted
While a character motivated by pure evil is interesting in many ways, it’s hard to create a primary character based on these traits. As such, Malfoy was never showed to motivated by evil alone.
His parents were Death Eaters, and some of the worst things he ever did came out of necessity to prove himself and his family to the Dark Lord. After The Battle of Hogwarts, Malfoy was clearly filled with regret for his actions for the rest of his life.
CRABBE AND GOYLE: They Had Dramatic Exits
The last big scene in which Crabbe and Goyle were present was in the Room Of Requirement. In the book, Crabbe died after accidentally being engulfed by his own Fiendfyre, while in the film, the same thing happened to Goyle.
The surviving member of the pair faded into obscurity after the Battle of Hogwarts, having possibly been arrested.
MALFOY: His Character Developed Hugely
The issue with the characters of Crabbe and Goyle was that their characters didn’t undergo a whole lot of development. We indirectly found out that their parents were Death Eaters in The Goblet Of Fire, but aside from that, they were introduced as evil and we said goodbye to them as evil.
We never saw either of them change at all, while Malfoy was one of the most developed characters in the entire franchise.
CRABBE AND GOYLE: They Were Funny
There are a few characters in the Harry Potter world who are there for comic relief. Crabbe and Goyle (until those dramatically violent last few scenes) were exactly that.
Their bumbling stupidity and inability to understand anything that was going on around them was funny pretty much every time they were on screen. Interestingly, as they spoke so infrequently, a lot of this was built on physical humor, something that didn’t appear in Harry Potter very often.
MALFOY: He Was Sarcastic
Draco Malfoy wasn’t traditionally funny. He didn’t drop one-liners or make the most of his stupidity through excellent moments of physical humor as Crabbe and Goyle did.
What he did have, was an unrivaled slippery sarcasm. Arguably his best line ever was directed at Goyle: “I didn’t know you could read.”
CRABBE AND GOYLE: They Were So Stupid
Convincing stupidity isn’t an easy thing to write, but JK Rowling outdid herself with a brilliant portrayal of two people who truly had no idea what they were doing.
Their dim outlook on life motivated by nothing but intimidation and menace was perfectly complimented by the fact that they were mocked continuously, and pretty much unable to realize.
MALFOY: He Knew What He Was Doing
Unlike Crabbe and Goyle, Malfoy was well-aware his actions at all times. If he was trying to enrage Harry with his well-timed sarcasm, it was done with poise and intelligence; if he was trying to get Harry and Ron in trouble, it was done convincingly with his Slytherin cunning.
The Malfoy we knew after his moral alignment had started to shift was also well-aware that he had to continue to obey the Dark Lord superficially to save himself and his family.
CRABBE AND GOYLE: They Loved Cake
If there is one Crabbe and Goyle moment that stands out to fans of Harry Potter it is the time they were fooled into eating magical floating cakes that knocked them unconscious.
Already wandering around with armfuls of food, there are only two characters in the Harry Potter universe who would drop everything for a bite of suspicious food.
MALFOY: He Was Turned Into A Ferret
It takes us until The Deathly Hallows to feel sympathy for Draco, a character who had flaunted his wealth and status in the worst way possible for six films up until now.
As such, one of the most satisfying moments in the entire franchise comes when Barty Crouch (disguised as Mad-Eye Moody) humiliated the bratty Slytherin by transfiguring him into a ferret.