The entire saga of the Harry Potter book and film series is at its heart a battle between good and evil. It follows the story of Harry Potter, the boy who lived, and the evil wizard who tried to kill him. And because the story is so clearly about the sides of right and wrong, all of the characters within the series are forced to align themselves with the forces of good or evil (or sometimes remain neutral, if that's possible).
So if all of the main characters in the Harry Potter saga had to be classified into their Dungeons & Dragons character alignments, where on the character alignment map would they land? Would they be good, evil, or neutral? And would they be lawful, chaotic, or neutral? The Sorting Hat can't tell you the character alignments of the Harry Potter characters, but we sure can, so here they are.
Neville Longbottom - Lawful Good
For most of Neville Longbottom's career as a student at Hogwarts, most of his fellow students were dumbfounded as to how exactly the most cowardly kid in the school managed to wind up in the Hogwarts house for the boldest and bravest. But as time went on Neville undoubtedly came into his own, ultimately proving himself worth of the Gryffindor sword (basically the highest honor any Gryffindor can achieve). But what always distinguished Neville as a character was his belief in doing the right thing. He was the kid who always followed the rules, even when it was less frightening not to, which makes him a clearly lawful good character.
Vernon Dursley - Lawful Evil
It's ironic that in a story about the boy who lived versus the darkest wizard of all time that there was a character like Vernon Dursley. He was both painfully human, and painfully awful. Whereas someone like Neville obeyed the rules for the sake of good, Vernon Dursley has always been the type of person who used laws, rules, and basic decorum as excuses to behave in the vilest and cruelest ways possible. Vernon was a character who abused an orphan boy and who seemed to have absolutely no redeeming qualities, which makes him a pretty perfect fit for a lawful evil character.
Bellatrix Lestrange - Chaotic Evil
Some characters might have character alignments that are up for debate, but Bellatrix Lestrange is not one of them. Bellatrix is and can only be a chaotic evil character, because she is literally chaos and evil made flesh. Bellatrix always tackles her cruelty with childlike delight, but nothing about her evil is premeditated or well thought out.
She acts on pure instinct at almost all times, and every single one of her instincts and impulses is to do the worst, craziest, and cruelest thing that she can. She may be Voldemort's biggest stan, but it's only because his life philosophy enabled her to act out her basest desires.
Rubeus Hagrid - Chaotic Good
When it comes to characters within the Harry Potter universe, there really isn't anyone who is as clearly and irrefutably good as Rubeus Hagrid is. Hagrid is unfailingly kind, considerate, and loving. He is very much the opposite of someone like Bellatrix Lestrange, which is why he's obviously a chaotic good character. Hagrid is just a decent man who always wants to do the decent thing, which often times means he completely disregards the rules or commands that other people have set out. He doesn't need to abide by their rules or even understand them, because he instinctively does what's right at all times.
Severus Snape - Chaotic Neutral
Severus Snape may have ended up on the side of good, but he certainly didn't start out there, and he probably wouldn't have ended up there if he didn't have personal motivations for doing so. And that really is what defines Snape as a character, he doesn't seem to have a moral commitment to good, evil, or anything in between.
He is simply driven by what he wants or doesn't want, and he is more than willing to switch sides if it helps him achieve his own ends. He makes a good show of playing by the rules but he really doesn't do it, which makes him a pretty chaotic neutral character.
Albus Dumbledore - Chaotic Good
Albus Dumbledore is undeniably a good man, but he's also more of an enigma than any other character in the Harry Potter series. He has his own motives and motivations for everything, but he doesn't like to show them to other people, and he can go about achieving his ends in very straightforward ways or in very underhanded ways. And it's actually pretty ironic that he's meant to be one of the biggest leaders and rule enforcers in the wizarding world, because while he will abide by the rules if he can he also has no qualms about doing whatever it takes to accomplish what needs doing, which is quintessential chaotic good behavior.
Voldemort - Neutral Evil
The running theory behind why Voldemort may be such an unabashed, pure sociopath is that he was conceived while his father was under the influence of a love potion, so no "real" love went into his creation. And in a lot of ways that is Voldemort to a T, just the absence of any goodness or humanity.
He doesn't have any ethos or ideological commitment to evil, he just is evil and he has no regard for anything besides himself. In that sense he seems like a very neutral evil character, because there is no real motivation or ideology behind his behavior, it's only about his own wants and needs.
Ron Weasley - Chaotic Good
The golden trio is really a perfect balance to each other in a lot of ways, one of the most obvious ways being that while they're all good people they all attempt to enact their goodness in different ways. And when it comes to Ron Weasley, he's more than happy to do whatever he thinks is right regardless of what anyone else says or what society tells him he should or must do. When it comes to the golden trio breaking the rules, Ron is always the first one willing to step over the line, which makes him the clear chaotic good component of the group.
Hermione Granger - Lawful Good
And of course, Hermione Granger serves as the perfect counterbalance to Ron's reckless behavior with her absolute obsession with rules and regulations. Hermione is a very good person but she always wants to go about things in the "right" way, and she is so good at following the letter of the law that she has managed to actually weaponize it in a strange way. Hermione works within the rules set before her to a fault, and to the point where she can play the situation to her advantage and ensure her own victory. She is the picture of a lawful good character.
Harry Potter - Neutral Good
Throughout the entire Harry Potter series Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort are constantly positioned as two sides of the same coin, and that still applies to their Dungeons & Dragons character alignments too. Voldemort is clearly a neutral evil character, and Harry is clearly a neutral good character. Neutral characters typically do what they want to do or what they feel they must do without any regard for law or chaos, and that suits Harry Potter perfectly. He is a good person who only cares about doing what's right, and he doesn't care what he has to do or how he has to do it.