10 Harry Potter Characters And Their Doctor Who Counterparts

The Harry Potter franchise is a well-loved global phenomenon with committed fans in just about every corner of the Earth. Doctor Who is a TV show that has existed far longer than JK Rowling’s Wizarding World, but never gained quite the same level of attention, despite still being a worldwide sensation. Whatever your views on the child-friendly franchises, you can’t deny the colorful wealth of characters that belong to each.

There are certain overlaps between their characterization so let’s look at comparisons between 10 of the most prominent Harry Potter characters and their Doctor Who counterparts.

10 Voldemort and The Master

In Harry Potter, Voldemort is the main and most consistent adversary that Harry and his friends fight against. Doctor Who doesn’t have this one-foe mindset, and we are given new enemies in just about every episode.

However, the one person who constantly comes back to fight the Doctor, again and again, is his fellow Time Lord: The Master. Both Voldemort and The Master (in all of his forms) share delusions of grandeur, missed opportunities for redemption, and a sense of true evil.

9 Hermione and Martha

The Doctor seems to favor less-intelligent companions at times, so when he ended up traveling with the incredibly intelligent student doctor Martha Jones, he had really met his match. Obviously, she wasn’t as much of a know-it-all as Hermione, but there were strong similarities.

Martha clearly fell in love with the Doctor, but he was uninterested; Hermione was clearly in love with Ron for a long time before he realized and reciprocated.

8 Death Eaters and The Daleks

The Daleks are the personification of evil in the Doctor Who world. They roll around in their metal shell, emotionlessly exterminating those who get in their way. However, at their core, they spend most of their time serving the Dalek Emperor or their creator, Davros.

Death Eater’s aren’t quite as emotionless as Daleks, but they live to inflict fear in those they consider to be inferior, all the while serving their master, Lord Voldemort.

7 Neville and Mickey

When first introduced, Neville Longbottom and Mickey Smith were side-characters designed to entertain. Neither of them had a huge impact on the storyline of their respective franchises, but they were loved almost universally by fans.

Eventually, both developed into intelligent, brave, and important characters, whether it was Neville’s heroic actions in The Deathly Hallows or Mickey’s reappearance for the ‘Journey’s End’ arc.

6 Harry and The Ninth Doctor

You could keep things wide open and make a simple comparison between Harry Potter himself and the Doctor, but this would be a little reductive; each Doctor has a different personality.

The Ninth Doctor is arguably Harry’s biggest parallel. The two both have a misguided desire to attempt to do dangerous things alone, even when they definitely need help, while they both spend their time being pretty serious and moody, only occasionally springing into comedic action.

5 Newt Scamander and The Eleventh Doctor

Newt Scamander might not be a part of the main series of Harry Potter films, but he has a very important role in the history of magic and stars in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, which is a movie series set in the Wizarding World.

Pretty much every element of the manic, light-hearted and friendly characters of both the Eleventh Doctor and Newt Scamander overlap. Not to mention their similar voices and styles.

4 Moaning Myrtle and Ursula Blake

This one is very on-the-nose. The strange episode ‘Love and Monsters’ showcased Shirley Henderson’s portrayal of Ursula Blake, a woman who ended up stuck inside a paving slab. Henderson also played Moaning Myrtle in Harry Potter. On the surface, this meant they looked and sounded identical.

However, they also share character similarities: they both have a dreamy, airy way of speaking and they each have an unexpectedly dark sense of humor.

3 Dumbledore and The Face Of Boe

Wise, old and sadly no longer with us; these are the characteristics that The Face of Boe and Dumbledore share. They both impart important knowledge to their franchise’s central character, but in a confusing, time-consuming riddle format, shortly before their heartbreaking and dramatic deaths at their respective grand old ages.

Fans are also starting to learn more about Dumbledore through his presence in Fantastic Beasts, while we get to see the Face of Boe in his early days as Captain Jack Harkness.

2 Centaurs and The Ood

The Ood from Doctor Who and the Centaurs in Harry Potter share the gift of foresight. The Centaurs are proud creatures who don’t exactly enjoy any interaction with humans, but when Firenze took on a job as a Divination teacher at Hogwarts, we found out a lot about their ability to see the future.

The Ood and their gentle predictions are essential in the Tenth Doctor’s journey towards his regeneration.

1 Ron and Donna

Yes, it’s true that Ron and Donna are the two most prominent characters in the Harry Potter and Doctor Who series’ who are ginger. But they’re also a lot much more than just that.

They’re a persistent and close source of comic relief who can jump into serious-mode when they need to, proving themselves to be fiercely loyal and committed to doing the right thing. And they’re just so much fun to watch.