Harry Potter: Top Five Most Evil Witches and Wizards of All Time

There are so many loathsome characters from the Harry Potter series, it will be hard to pick out which five were the worst. When I started this list, I came up with six loathsome ones, but as it was extremely hard to distinguish one from another, I decided that I would only include characters whose birthdates precede Harry's, hence the absence of Delphi Riddle (is that her real surname?). 

With this in mind, I will of course explain my criteria. This list does not reflect success, but rather how cruel and heartless you are or were. This is the main reason that, SPOILER ALERT, I left slightly more humane characters, such as Grindelwald out of the list.

5: Bellatrix Lestrange

Bellatrix is a true villainess, despite only being a follower, rather than first in command. She enjoyed torturing and killing over all else, and the only sign that she even had some sort of shriveled, twisted, corrupted heart was her affection for Voldemort, the main antagonist of Harry Potter.

She tortured many people, and her prey generally ended up permanently insane or dead. She particularly enjoyed killing family who had turned against the Dark Arts, which is demonstrated when she kills her cousin, Serious, and her niece, Tonks. Examples of witches and wizards whom she turned insane are Neville's parents, the Longbottoms.

4: Herpo the Foul

Herpo the Foul was a cruel and evil wizarding inventor, and "boasts" the "honor" of being the founding father of all sorts of Dark Magic. He is the first known Parselmouth, a trait he most likely gained through horrible Dark Magic. He is likely found somewhere in Salazar Slytherin's, and therefore Voldemort's, ancestry.

Other notable things he did are: he was the creator of the first basilisk, along with the first Horcrux. He likely lived for a very long time due to his Horcrux and some people theorize that he may still walk the Earth today in some horrible, half-alive form, which could be the subject of many a fan theory about where he is and who he may be disguised as...

3: Fenrir Greyback

Fenrir Greyback's true character was only brushed over in the Harry Potter books, but, as with most interesting minor characters, JK Rowling created an entire complicated backstory for him. He was bitten by a werewolf at a young age, and quickly grew angry at how he was shunned because of his condition. So he began to rebel.

He wanted to rule with all his werewolf brethren, and it was for this reason that, despite what the ministry said, he would spend every full moon attacking targets, preferably young children who he could convert to his cause more easily, and his army grew.

When Voldemort started taking over, he "joined" Voldemort, but really only ever wanted to put himself in a position of power so that when he had a powerful army he could overthrow Voldemort and become the ruler himself.

But not all he did was for power. He developed a taste for human flesh, and often attacked while in human form, a notable victim being Bill Weasley. He was a cannibalistic, power hungry phsyco, and it is likely he was inspired by all sorts of the worsts dredges in human history, such as the likes of Vlad the Impaler and many more.

2: Tom Riddle (Lord Voldemort)

Lord Voldemort was possibly the most successful dark wizard of all time, and someone we all love to hate. You could easily make a point for Voldemort being the most evil, but I think not. His success over number one is because he was slightly better at holding back, knowing when not to rush into things unnecessarily, at least more than the number one.

This shows that his brain was not completely corrupted. Another reason why I decided he was only deserving of second is because he, more than number one, was motivated mainly for power and may not have gone down the path of evil at all if power was more easily available through compliance, rather than defiance.

0: Dishonorable Mentions

Bartimaeus Crouch Jr

Raczidian

Corban Yaxley

Delphi Diggory (does not fit requirements)

Gormlaith Gaunt

And anyone else who just missed out!

1: Ekrizdis

Ekrizdis may not be very well known by Harry Potter fans, but I believe him to be the most loathsome, vile, crazy and purely evil creation brought about in one of Rowling's most twisted nightmares. The first inhabitant, and creator of Azkaban, he found the small island on which it is perched and couldn't pass the opportunity to have a quiet, secluded place to do his twisted experiments in peace.

He preyed on Muggle sailors who passed by to experiment on. He is the creator of Dementors and Azkaban, although it was originally only his fortress, which probably sent him over the edge completely if he wasn't completely off it already.

One twisted fan, aka me, has a theory which relates to what he actually consumed while living alone on that tiny island, which contained no life: well it is likely he lived of the blood and flesh of the passing sailors, which is enough to make anyone's stomach turn. He is thought to have died on the island, which broke it's magical protection, but his remains were never found...