The Harry Potter series is filled with fascinating heroes as well as villains, and there are also many characters who fall somewhere in the middle. Over the years, fans have had strong opinions about their favorite and least favorite characters, and sometimes, it’s not just the protagonists that people love.
There are some villains in the series that aren’t as bad as they seemed and some who got redeemed, and there are also some who were pretty awful but fans found compelling anyway. On the other hand, some of the heroic characters at times really annoyed fans. And, with so many characters, like Snape, who are hard to completely categorize, fans have some strong opinions.
Hated Hero: Harry Potter
Harry isn’t higher up on this list because many people do love him and think he made a good protagonist. However, there is a trend of people finding Harry to be obnoxious at times and lacking in common sense. While people might not have completely hated him, there were times they felt frustrated by him and wished he would handle things differently. But, there are enough fans who adore Harry so things even out.
Loved Villain: Gilderoy Lockhart
Gilderoy is someone who might not have been a villain when comparing him to characters like Umbridge and Voldemort, but he was a bad person. He stole the work of others and ruined their memories so he could take credit, and he was vain and incompetent. So, while fans never exactly loved him, they did at least find him to be entertaining and less awful than many of the other Defense Against the Dark Arts professors.
Hated Hero: Percy Weasley
Percy is someone who really didn't act like a hero through a lot of the series. While he was all right at first but a little pompous, he ended up turning his back on his family in a way that made fans despise him. While he wasn’t exactly a villain, he did willfully choose to ignore the truth and made things much more difficult for his loved ones. While it might not make him evil, it does make him unlikable.
Loved Villain: Lucius Malfoy
Lucius Malfoy is a character that is villainous in many ways. While some fans might try to justify things, overall, people can agree that he was a bad and cruel human being. However, he was still very fascinating.
The Malfoy family as a whole was very interesting to fans, and the way he was played by Jason Isaacs made fans like him even more. While he might have been a total bad guy, he did have style, and fans did enjoy scenes with him.
Hated Hero: Viktor Krum
Viktor Krum was mostly hated by fans because he acted as a roadblock to the Ron and Hermione relationship, and so fans who liked this couple didn’t enjoy Krum. Overall, fans found his interest in Hermione to be a bit creepy, especially with how he acted in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. He also had a fairly unlikeable personality and was kind of arrogant, so he wasn't going to be a favorite character overall.
Loved Villain: Bellatrix Lestrange
Similar to Lucius Malfoy, many fans liked Bellatrix not because they thought she could be redeemed but because she was just so fascinating to watch. She was obviously completely horrible, and there wasn’t much good about her. However, she did have a wild sense of style and was completely erratic in a way that made fans enjoy seeing what she was going to do next.
Hated Hero: Lavender Brown
Lavender is a character who probably got more hate than she deserved. While it’s true that she could be a bit annoying at times, the way she was treated by Ron wasn’t all right either. Really, it was Ron who ended up handling the situation with Hermione very badly, but Lavender wasn’t a nice person either. Overall, fans didn't like her much because they wanted Ron and Hermione to be together.
She was often one of the students who would make fun of Hermione over the years, and she definitely thought she was better than some of her peers. However, she wasn’t an evil person and even died while fighting at the Battle of Hogwarts.
Loved Villain: Severus Snape
Snape is one of the most complex and controversial characters from the series, and he’s rather polarizing when it comes to fans. While many fans hate him and think he wasn’t a good person, others felt he was redeemed and really love him. It's still debated today as to whether his rough life made his actions justifiable or not. Overall, he’s a character that is sometimes a bad guy and sometimes a good guy, but he does have an extremely devoted fan base and has for many years in the Harry Potter fandom.
Hated Hero: Albus Dumbledore
While, at first, Dumbledore was thought of by Harry, as well as fans, as a very benevolent and good mentor, the truth was a lot more complicated. Over the years, fans have been a lot more critical of Dumbledore and how he acted, and many people can’t stand him at all. Some fans believe he was manipulative and really not much of a hero at all. And, after everything that was revealed about him in Deathly Hallows, most fans don’t love him as much as they used to.
Loved Villain: Draco Malfoy
While Draco’s redemption arc was given less attention than Snape’s, he’s another character that did some bad things but wasn’t always completely evil. He’s really well-liked amongst fans, and many people think he should have been given the better redemption arc over Snape. While his level of heroism can be debated, there’s no denying he’s a fan favorite.