Ranking All Seven Defense Against the Dark Arts Professors

We all know Voldemort cursed the Defense Against the Dark Arts (DADA) position after he was rejected as a candidate. This allowed for an intriguing plot device as Harry has new and unique experiences with every DADA professor he encounters in his years at Hogwarts. Let’s see who was the best!

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7. Amycus Carrow

Decidedly the worst on the list, simply because we don’t know or see much about him since Harry isn’t at Hogwarts for most of his seventh year. We do know Amycus and his sister Alecto were horrible people though as they basically turned Hogwarts into a prison for their students. 

Somehow though, Amycus may not have even been the worst Death Eater to hold the DADA position. But he spit in McGonagall’s face, so that automatically puts him at the bottom of any list.

6. Quirinius Quirrell

Perhaps a surprise to rank so low, but Quirrell didn’t have much chance to leave a huge mark in the series since the Sorcerer’s Stone is such a short book. We get plenty of his fake stutter, and some easter eggs here and there about his deception with the troll and cursing Harry’s broomstick. But there is a lot of other things going on in the first book, and Quirrell doesn’t play nearly as big a role as the other DADA professors do on this list. 

Quirrell does get bonus points for being the first in a long line of fantastic plot twists in the series. However, there’s at least two better plot twists involving DADA professors in later books, so even that doesn’t rank him too high. Quirrell was a necessary character to kick off the series, but doesn’t turn out to be all that important or impactful overall.

5. Gilderoy Lockhart

One of the most annoying characters in the Harry Potter series, Lockhart is clearly a fraud from the beginning, but no one can quite provide proof of it. He’s the stereotype of not earning your place, and it makes you wonder why Dumbledore hired him in the first place. The DADA candidates were running thin already apparently.

He only ranks slightly higher on this list because he’s more involved with the plot and I suppose provides some comedic value in a sense. Harry asking him “Are you going somewhere?” always gets a laugh from me, and some of the things he does are so absurd you just have to shake your head. His backstory is also a creative way to explain how he took all the credit from those other witches and wizards while also showing early on that magic is a tool that can be used for all forms of evil outside of just unforgivable curses.

Yet he doesn’t stand out very much in the series as a DADA professor which is ironic given how much Lockhart worked to stand out in the Wizarding World.

4. Mad-Eye Moody/Barty Crouch Jr.

Now we’re getting into really tough ranking territory. Not all characters have to be good people for them to be good characters, and we see that first hand in Barty Crouch Jr. playing Mad-Eye Moody. In a way, Mad-Eye was one of the best actual DADA professors of Harry’s since he actually taught the students about the Dark Arts. Of course, he knows a lot about it since it turns out he’s a Death Eater in disguise, but who cares about the details? 

Goblet of Fire is a carefully crafted masterpiece that carefully walks the line of showing who Mad-Eye Moody actually is while also showing signs that he’s not himself. Part of the reason why Barty Crouch Jr. can play Mad-Eye is because the one-eyed man is slightly deranged himself. Yet you also see the increased level of coldness Crouch brings to the character. The development of two individual characters for the price of one is a genius plot device which reflects the overall meaning of the book as a whole. Goblet of Fire lands in the middle of the series, stuck between the early “light-hearted” books and the later darker books, just as light and dark collide in one being of Mad-Eye Moody/Barty Crouch Jr.

Mad-Eye Moody/Barty Crouch Jr. also serve as one of the best plot twists involving a DADA professor, but there are some others later on this list that rival it.

3. Dolores Umbridge

I know what you’re thinking. Why is Umbridge so high on this list? She’s the worst character in the series. True. But that’s why she is so highly ranked. She’s such a greatly written character that you just absolutely hate her. That’s what a good villain is. I mean, be honest, were you happier to see Voldemort or this woman vanquished? That tells how impactful this character is.

With Umbridge, we get some of the most visceral reactions from readers because of how realistic her character is. You may not see a Voldemort in your life, but you’re likely to stumble across an Umbridge at least once or twice. We also get some of the most memorable moments and lines because of this woman. From McGonagall helping Peeves cause chaos to I must not tell lies to “Have a biscuit, Potter”. 

Umbridge was a necessary evil to show that it wasn’t just Voldemort Harry and his friends were up against. If this was a ranking of how evil a character was, Umbridge would surely be close to the bottom. But this is a list of how important and well-written these characters are, and for that reason, she jumps to number three here.

2. Remus Lupin

I really wanted to put him at the top of the list because he is by far the most altruistic DADA professor Harry has. He also is one of the best in terms of actually teaching as he teaches Harry how to cast the complicated Patronus charm. But if this list takes into account importance and impact, then Lupin can’t be at the top.

A big part of why Lupin is so great is the story around him. We’ve already discussed how great the Prisoner of Azkaban is, and being a Marauder gives Lupin a sense of depth and importance to Harry that none of the other DADA professors have. Lupin is also a Werewolf which proves to be a complication to Harry and shows that to be qualified for the DADA position you must have at least one massive fatal flaw, preferably many, apparently. 

Lupin is the first DADA professor to really accept Harry and teach him. He also serves as an introduction into his parent’s past which turns out to be very important later. But really Lupin is so great because he encourages Harry to eat chocolate to ward off the coldness of Dementors and that alone is enough to get him a high ranking in the popularity category.

1. Severus Snape

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Arguably one of the best and most important characters in the entire series, Severus Snape has to be number one on this list. I struggled with the ranking, since he technically was not that great of a DADA teacher, and his actual time as DADA professor in Half-Blood Prince was overshadowed by some larger things at play such as Horcuxes and Horace Slughorn. But he’s too important a character to rank lower, and he obtained the DADA position for a reason.

Snape had been chasing the DADA chair his whole career, even though he must have known about the curse upon it. So when he finally got the role at the beginning of Harry’s 6th year, you knew something big was going to happen. You just don’t realize at the time that it is because Dumbledore is finally ready to let Snape be released from his vow to help Dumbledore once he kills him.

It isn’t until The Prince’s Tale where we finally see everything that Snape meant to the storyline and to Harry. The work he did behind the scenes to help Dumbledore throughout his life and especially during his time as DADA professor was crucial to bringing about the fall of Voldemort. He’s also the most developed DADA professor throughout the series, and unlike all the others, he isn’t just there for (mainly) one book. And to cap it all off, his plot twist of being a helper to Dumbledore all along takes the cake as the best and most important twist in the whole series.