The Universe of Harry PotterLists about the wizarding world that captured the imaginations of children and adults alike and forever changed the way we view owls, brooms, and round eyeglasses.
October 29, 2021 6.3k votes 1.3k voters 55.8k views
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Vote up the 'Harry Potter' characters who deserve a little bit of good luck.
The Wizarding World of the Harry Potter series has plenty of ups and downs for its various witches and wizards, as all great fantasy epics do. That being said, there are some tragic Harry Potter characters who could've used a bit more sympathy from J.K. Rowling.
Wizards like Neville Longbottom and Remus Lupin seemed to be cursed from an early age. Sirius Black wastes more than a decade away in the cells of Azkaban. Even non-wizards like Dobby and Jacob Kowalski always seem to find themselves on the wrong side of metaphorical coin flips. Don't even bring up Moaning Myrtle. So, put on your sorting hats, you Muggles, and vote up those unlucky few who could've used a lucky break now and then.
Talk about a character who could never catch a break. Well, marrying Tonks and having a healthy baby boy certainly was a good thing that happened to Lupin, but his life wasn't an easy one. Remus Lupin's troubles started early, as he was bitten by Voldemort ally Fenrir Greyback as a child. As if having the uncontrollable curse of turning into a werewolf every month wasn't enough to bring a guy down, the fact that he is a werewolf (something he did not choose) consistently makes him a social pariah.
Remus was also a close friend to James Potter and Sirius Black, which opens up a whole different can of worms. For years, he thought one of his best friends murdered another one of his best friends. By the time Deathly Hallows comes around, both Lupin and Tonks end up perishing in the Battle of Hogwarts, leaving their young son, Teddy, an orphan in the process. From beginning to end, Lupin seemed a cursed man.
Man, oh man, did Sirius Black get a rough ride in the Harry Potter series. For starters, Sirius was born into the storied House of Black. A pure-blood family enamored with the dark arts, you might know some of Black's more infamous family members like Bellatrix Lestrange and Narcissa Malfoy. Sirius rejected the majority of his family and became a man alone in his own household at a young age.
After finding happy days throughout his education at Hogwarts, Sirius ended up being wrongly convicted of giving James and Lily Potter's location to Voldemort, as well as the demises of 12 Muggles. More than a decade at Azkaban followed, and though he wanted to be heavily involved in the life of his godchild, Harry, it wasn't meant to be. Sirius would end up perishing at the hands of his own cousin, Bellatrix, in Order of the Phoenix.
Being a house-elf doesn't really seem like a good time. Though various house-elves seem steadfastly dedicated and loyal to their masters, their existence is something you'd only wish upon your worst enemies. Being a belittled servant whose only means of freedom comes when your master presents you with an item of clothing? No, thank you. And the most famous house-elf of them all is undoubtedly Dobby.
After being granted his freedom via some Harry Potter trickery in Chamber of Secrets, Dobby seems to struggle to find his way in life. Whenever the little house-elf shows up in the series, whether it's in Goblet of Fire or Order of the Phoenix, he always ends up serving Harry in some way. And, we get it - Harry is the guy who freed Dobby, but the Boy Who Lived isn't the kind of guy who would hold that over someone's head. He even dies saving Harry in Deathly Hallows!
Is there a less dignified place to spend the afterlife than a school bathroom? Seriously, Moaning Myrtle has a pretty good reason for all that whimpering. She was about as unlucky as you can get in the Harry Potter series, being in the wrong place at the wrong time and becoming Tom Riddle's first victim because of it.
The young Voldemort sicced the Basilisk on her because she interrupted him as he was trying to enter the Chamber of Secrets, and that was that. Congratulations, Myrtle... you're now a bathroom ghost for all of eternity. And not a cool ghost like Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington, AKA Nearly Headless Nick, but a ghost most people go out of their way to avoid.
Colin Creevey was never going to be a major player in the Harry Potter series. His alliterative name all but gives that away. This isn't an Aaron Sorkin project we're talking about. His claim to fame centers on him being a slightly annoying young wizard with a penchant for photography. He ends up being petrified by the Basilisk before dropping off the map for a while. He would eventually become a part of Dumbledore's Army before being expelled from Hogwarts for being Muggle-born (you know, when Voldemort took over things and was a total curmudgeon).
Creevey returns to Hogwarts for the big battle in Deathly Hallows and perishes during the big battle of everyone's favorite school. Colin Creevey fought the good fight and ended up paying the ultimate price. And you probably forgot who he even was until now.
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Amos Diggory Never Gets Over The Loss Of His Son During The Triwizard Tournament
Had Harry Potter and the Cursed Child never come about, you'd probably never have given Amos Diggory a second thought. His only true claim to fame in the original series is his understandable freakout when his son, Cedric, perishes in Goblet of Fire. But, with Cursed Child, we revisit Amos in old age and find him utterly crippled by the loss of his son years later.
The loss of a child is something a parent never truly gets over, but the lengthy spiral Amos is sent into by Cedric's passing is very sad to behold. Cedric was taken from his family in the prime of his life, but his father is the one who had to suffer the consequences. Time only made things worse for Amos.