Harry Potter: 5 Most Satisfying Character Endings (& The 5 Least)

Harry Potter’s film and book adventures may now be mostly over (at least for the moment) but that doesn’t mean they’re losing their popularity. Fans continue to be interested in the franchise that spawned not only the seven main books and eight movies, but also the Fantastic Beasts franchise.

Many of the Harry Potter heroes led complex lives, sometimes happy, sometimes not. The focus mostly lay on Harry and his young friends, but there were also plenty of adult characters who got their chance to shine, or make Harry’s life more difficult. Some of the Harry Potter heroes then got what they deserved, while others had a much less satisfying ending.

10 Most Satisfying: Luna Lovegood

Luna Lovegood was different than most of her classmates, which made her a target of jokes and pranks more than once. But she took all the teasing in stride and went on to fight for her school and her friends more than once, proving how brave she was.

After leaving school, Luna became a Magizoologist, which gave her the chance to work with the magical creatures she always loved. Plus, she got married and had twins, so she was one of the Hogwarts students who did very well for themselves.

9 Least Satisfying: Fred Weasley

It was to be expected that some people would die in the Battle of Hogwarts, and not just the bad guys. Still, almost nobody expected that one of these people would be Fred Weasley. Fred died during an explosion while he was fighting alongside his older brother Percy.

Fred was only 20 at the time, which is too young to die. Plus, it was a heavy blow for all of his family, especially for his twin brother George, since the two were very close. George later named his first son Fred, after his late brother.

8 Most Satisfying: Neville Longbottom

Similarly to Luna Lovegood, Neville Longbottom also started his journey in Hogwarts as an outsider. Draco Malfoy and his friends liked to pick on Neville. Neville had also lost his parents. who went insane after they were tortured by Death Eaters.

Despite all of this, Neville still found the courage to face his enemies in the Battle of Hogwarts, and he killed Voldemort’s snake, which helped the heroes a lot. He later became a Hogwarts professor of his favorite subject, Herbology, and married Hannah Abbott.

7 Least Satisfying: Cedric Diggory

Fred Weasley wasn’t the only Hogwarts student who met his untimely death in the Harry Potter series – so did Cedric Diggory, whose death was even more prominent. Cedric was not only popular among his fellow students, but was also an excellent young wizard.

Otherwise, he never would have become the Triwizard Tournament champion. Cedric was the first victim of Voldemort’s return, and he was only 17 when he died, which means he had a whole life ahead of him.

6 Most Satisfying: Ginny Weasley

Ginny didn’t get that much space in the films, and the books also could have seen more of her. Still, she was a courageous and intelligent young woman who knew how to get what she wanted.

Ginny didn’t waste her time pining after Harry, and she worked on building both her skills and relationships. That served her well, since she became a Quidditch player and also finally got the boy she wanted.

5 Least Satisfying: Sirius Black

Sirius started out his life in a similarly glorious fashion as Cedric did. Yes, his family mostly wasn’t fond of him since he belonged to Gryffindor and not Slytherin, but Sirius was charismatic, popular, and had three great friends.

His life went south when he was accused of killing Peter Pettigrew and betraying his friends. Sirius spent years in prison, and when he finally got out, he was still forced to hide from the world so that he didn’t see much from it – and then he died. Some characters died young, but Sirius never got the chance to properly live as an adult.

4 Most Satisfying: Hermione Granger

Some fans weren’t so happy about Hermione and Ron as a couple, but the truth is that Hermione’s not the type of person who would be willing to settle for a mediocre life.

So whatever she did, she also wanted, and that includes her marriage with Ron. Hermione managed to balance both her personal life and her professional life at the Ministry of Magic, so it could be argued she did very well for herself.

3 Least Satisfying: Remus Lupin + Nymphadora Tonks

It might be cheating since it’s two in one, but both of these characters deserve a spot on the list. Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks were both another victims of the Battle of Hogwarts. Remus didn’t lead a happy life as a werewolf since he was forced to hide the truth from almost everybody he knew.

And when he finally found happiness with Nymphadora and had a son with her, they were killed by the Death Eaters and never got the chance to see their baby son Teddy grow up.

2 Most Satisfying: Harry Potter

Of course, the most satisfying ending probably has to go to Harry himself. After everything he’s been through, the mistreatment by the Dursleys and his repeated battles with Voldemort and his allies, Harry has finally overcome all the obstacles in his way.

He found a job he enjoyed, married the love of his life, and had three children with her, which sounds like a happy ending.

1 Least Satisfying: Severus Snape

All of the above-mentioned characters who deserved better experienced at least a temporary period of happiness in their lives (sometimes longer, sometimes shorter). But Severus Snape’s life was pretty much grim for most of its course, his only happy time during his friendship with Lily Evans.

Severus lost the only woman he ever loved and he had to play a double agent, kill the man he respected, and deal with the hate of those who didn’t know the truth about him. Not an easy task, but he still excelled at everything he did.

About The Author

Kath Leroy
(523 Articles Published)

Kath Leroy is a writer at Screen Rant. She also publishes in a number of Czech magazines. She works as an actress and appeared in feature films, short films, as well as TV series. Kath has loved movies, TV, and literature ever since she was a child and her father first played Star Trek for her. Since she has a background in writing genre fiction and screenplays, Kath enjoys fantasy, sci-fi, and superhero films and shows above all – however, she likes to watch films of all genres.

Visit Kath Leroy’s blog for her articles about culture, acting life as well as other topics, follow her on Twitter and on Instagram as @girlartistgeek or contact her directly at [email protected]

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