If we have to whittle all of the Hogwarts staff down to just the two with most importance in both Harry’s life and the plot of the franchise, it would be Dumbledore and Snape. Both of them are very interesting Harry Potter characters in a variety of ways, and became fan favorites (if ‘favorite’ can be the right word for Snape) from the very start.
It’s difficult to choose between them though; who is the better character? We’ve stuck our abnormally large noses into the middle of the debate and come up with five reasons why Dumbledore was JK Rowling’s finest creation, and five reasons why that title has to go to Severus Snape.
DUMBLEDORE WAS A BETTER CHARACTER: He Was More Powerful
Albus Dumbledore was the most powerful wizard we ever met in Harry Potter and if there is one thing viewers like, it’s power. Throughout the entire franchise, we wanted to see just what Dumbledore was capable of, and boy did he show it... eventually.
Snape, while great at making potions, just couldn’t compete with Dumbledore in a physical sense, so he loses out on this one.
SNAPE WAS A BETTER CHARACTER: He Was More Original
No matter how powerful he was, Dumbledore was basically the most stereotypical wizard of all time. In fact, he was alarmingly similar to Gandalf. Snape, on the other hand, was an incredibly unique character with basically no parallels: dry, sarcastic, troubled, infatuated, and secretly loyal all rolled into one.
DUMBLEDORE WAS A BETTER CHARACTER: He Was More Knowledgeable
Dumbledore also seemed to have all the answers. Snape, admittedly, knew more than most, but he got this knowledge from Dumbledore himself. This is enough to prove that Dumbledore was a wiser wizard.
Having said that, Snape did lead a much shorter life than Dumbledore, so who knows what he could have accomplished far into the future?
SNAPE WAS A BETTER CHARACTER: He Was More Interesting
The originality of Snape also ties into how interesting he was. We know Dumbledore: very powerful wizard, very old, very wise. What we wanted to know throughout the series was why Snape was the way he was. This kept us on the edge of our seats trying to figure him out throughout, and JK Rowling absolutely hit it out of the park with the reveal.
DUMBLEDORE WAS A BETTER CHARACTER: He Looked Cooler
Severus Snape looked like a pale skinned, dark haired guy in a black robe, so nothing particularly special was going on there.
Dumbledore, on the other hand, made Michael Gambon almost unrecognizable under his huge amounts of fake hair and flowing, grand robe.
SNAPE WAS A BETTER CHARACTER: He Was The Centre Of The Franchise’s Biggest Moment
The death of Dumbledore was a huge moment in Harry Potter, and at the time it was probably the franchise’s most dramatic scene. However, when we find out that Snape was working for Dumbledore all along and that the headmaster’s death had been planned it does two things: undermine the impact of Dumbledore’s death slightly, and make that moment the most important in Potter history.
DUMBLEDORE WAS A BETTER CHARACTER: Snape Was Still Quite Heartless
No matter how much we loved Snape by the end thanks to his commitment to Dumbledore and love of Lily, he was still a pretty horrible man.
He still hated Harry because he saw James in him, he was still cruel to his students, and most importantly, he was once an actual Death Eater.
SNAPE WAS A BETTER CHARACTER: But Dumbledore Could Be Pretty Cruel Himself
Dumbledore still proved himself to be pretty questionable in his morality at times too. Not only does his backstory regarding his sister’s death paint him in a rather negative light, his occasional moments of explosive rage, inability to give Harry direct information, and his desire to turn the hunt for Horcruxes into a time-wasting riddle showed that he wasn’t perfect.
DUMBLEDORE WAS A BETTER CHARACTER: He Could Be Incredibly Cool At Times
Dumbledore was a bit like Yoda. He would quietly sit back and impart knowledge as necessary. He was an old man, after all. Every now and again, however, he would explode into a force to be reckoned with.
For example, when Dumbledore and Voldemort fight at the end of The Order Of The Phoenix, he gives a far more dramatic and cool performance than anything we ever see from Snape.
SNAPE WAS A BETTER CHARACTER: He Gave The Best One-Liners
The final point in support of Snape comes down to something very disconnected from magic. His sarcastic anger makes you wonder whether he ever actually tried to be funny, or if humor just radiated from his one-liners naturally, but he still had some of the best lines in the franchise: “Ah yes, Harry Potter, our new celebrity”; “five points from Gryffindor for being an insufferable know-it-all”; “nearly six years of magical education have not been wasted on you Potter...”.