There’s no question that Harry Potter is one of the most influential fantasy series ever written. It is the sort of saga that is designed to be popular, with an existential conflict between good and evil that pits heroes against villains. The villains are especially compelling, given that they are largely comprised of Death Eaters, men and women who have sworn their service to Lord Voldemort.
However, it also has to be said that not all Death Eaters are not made equal, and so it is worth taking another look to see just which of them should be seen as the most evil.
Draco
In many ways, Draco is the least evil of the many Death Eaters that appear. While he can be, at times, quite cruel–particularly to Harry and his friends–he also shows that he’s more complicated than his outward behavior would suggest. Most notably, he shows that he is unable to actually kill Dumbledore, despite the fact that he was specifically ordered to do so by Voldemort. In the end, he shows that, deep down, he is genuinely a good person.
Narcissa
Narcissa, like her son, shows that she is a very complex character, and there’s a good reason that she is seen as one of the better members of House Slytherin. Though she hovers in the background of the story for several of the movies, she truly comes to her own in Deathly Hallows, when she shows that she is willing to lie to Lord Voldemort himself in order to protect Harry and, more importantly, her own family. Whatever she may be, she is clearly not one of the most evil of the Death Eaters.
Lucius
Lucius Malfoy is widely regarded as one of Jason Isaacs’ best roles, and he brings a sneering contempt to his interpretation of the character. While he can be quite cruel to those that he deems beneath him–i.e., almost everyone who isn’t a member of one of the great wizarding families–it’s also true that he doesn’t show as much evil behavior as some of the other Death Eaters. When he flees with Narcissa and Draco rather than continuing to fight with Voldemort, it shows that there might be at least a germ of goodness in him after all.
Fenrir Greyback
There are many sinister creatures that appear in the Harry Potter universe, but there’s no doubt that the werewolves are some of the most terrifying. Among those, Fenrir is definitely one of the most evil. What truly sets him apart is his rampant desire to not only infect as many people as possible, but to focus especially on children. His advice that such children should be taken away from their parents is yet more evidence that he is one of the most evil of individuals.
The Carrows
The Carrow siblings, Alecto and Amycus, were renowned for their cruelty and their sadism, particularly once they took over the running of Hogwarts. There’s no question that they should be regarded as some of the most evil of the Death Eaters, particularly since they saw no reason not to torture the children that they had under their supervision.
Though they both also showed themselves to be very cowardly, this simply heightens the sense that they were evil, since they couldn’t even summon the strength of will to be courageous in their cruelty.
Dolohov
One of the marks of a truly evil Death Eater is their attitude, and even among his fellows Dolohov was remarkable for his arrogance. Just as importantly, however, he also showed that he was able to commit horrendous acts of cruelty without a second thought. He was a tremendously powerful wizard, meaning that his evil was even more threatening than it would be otherwise, and his skills allowed him to kill no less a figure than Remus Lupin (one of the series’ most likable Gryffindors).
MacNair
MacNair is one of the more contradictory Death Eaters, for while he didn’t do much to try to find Voldemort after his defeat, he nevertheless made it clear that he was still one of the most evil characters to appear.
In particular, he showed that he had a lust for killing that made him a very sinister character, and he also demonstrated that he was capable of being very violent and brutal, often for no other reason than that he could do so without fear of reprisal.
Peter Pettigrew
Peter Pettigrew was capable of doing almost anything, and the list of the worst things that he ever did is quite long. He definitely ranks at the top of those who should be regarded as the most evil members of the Death Eaters, if for no other reason than that he was more than willing to betray Lily and James to their certain deaths at Voldemort’s hands. Though he almost redeemed himself by not revealing Harry, the truth is that he is one of the series’ examples of someone beyond the pale of salvation.
Barty Crouch Jr
Some of the characters that appear in Harry Potter are nothing less than spine-chilling in their capacity to commit acts of evil, and Barty Crouch Jr. is just such a character. He repeatedly shows that there is almost nothing that he won’t do in the service of Voldemort, whether that’s killing his father or pretending to be Alastor Moody. What makes him especially chilling to witness is his absolute and fervent belief in Voldemort, which was second to almost none of the other Death Eaters.
Bellatrix
Of all of the Death Eaters that appear in Harry Potter, there’s no doubt that Bellatrix is the most evil. In addition to the fact that she was selflessly devoted to Voldemort and his mission (in fact, she was obsessed with him), she also showed that there was no depth of cruelty or malice to which she would not sink. The fact that she was the one who tortured the Longbottoms into insanity (one of the worst things she did) is just one piece of evidence that demonstrates why she is not just one of the most evil Death Eaters, but also one of the most evil characters altogether.