The Sinner: The Main Characters, Ranked By Power

For a sinner to be redeemed, they have to defeat their darkest thoughts, and it takes a really powerful person to do that. The Sinner revolutionized crime drama by focussing on the villain rather than the crime fighters proving that sometimes, the sinner is not the devil the world perceives them to be.

As Harry Ambrose said, “We all have dark thoughts. We learn to live with them. We learn to contain them.” Each season of the show has brought different killers tormented by different demons from their past with each succumbing to their darkest thoughts at one point or another. Here is a ranking of each main character based on their ability to contain their worst demons.

11 Phoebe Lacey

“I grew up with God in my house. All he brought was more pain,” Cora said. God wasn’t the actual source of Cora’s pain though, it was Phoebe. Her younger sister Phoebe, despite being disabled, made her life a living hell. Phoebe was the real villain of the first sean. Phoebe knew that Cora would do anything she wanted as long as she brought up her disability. She had Cora carry out her dirty fantasies, getting her into trouble with her mother and later with J.D. She never understood that Cora’s life also mattered, as long she got what she wanted. She used Cora’s love against her, forcing her to make decisions that tormented her all her life.

10 Jamie Burns

Jamie was the first character in The Sinner to simply gave in to his temptations, going off the rails to become the worst killer in the show’s history. He had gotten over Nick’s influence, gotten married, and made a life for himself. However, his problems started when he called Nick back into his life. After Nick died, Jamie was tormented and soon turned into the very monster Nick had tempted him to become. He was easily manipulated and hardly put up a fight even with his family on the line. His weakness was proved when he turned into a serial killer going after Harry rather than sticking to his old habit of living life on the edge.

9 Mason Tannetti

Mason Tannetti had been a bad boy as a teenager but he obviously turned his life around when he met Cora and had a son with her. Most people would have given up on Cora after all the trouble her crime caused the family. Cora had also hidden most of her past life from him, and he had every reason to take his son and start a whole new life but he stayed and fought for his wife. He put his life on the line, fighting with J.D and the other criminals while trying to prove that Cora was a victim. When Cora went to prison, Mason kept visiting and brought Cora’s son to see her. He was the angel Cora needed when her life turned for the worst.

8 Heather Novack

Marin was weak and Heather tried to protect her until her father turned into a monster and raped her. Heather and Marin stumbled on Mosswood as an accident, but Marin falling for the cult was not Heather’s fault as she tried to prevent it. She loved Marin and even tried to save her from the cult despite the cold treatment she received.

Heather never gave up on her ex-girlfriend all those years though. She fought for Marin until the last minute. She was by far the best partner Harry Ambrose had in the show, digging deep while keeping a positive attitude until Marin finally showed up alive. She could have fallen off the rails and hurt Vera and later her father when she discovered the truth about Julian but she kept her cool, taking in all that betrayal without breaking.

7 Nick Haas

Nick Hass was the force that drove Jamie Burns to the darkness although Nick himself never killed anyone in the show. He had control over Jamie and used it to manipulate him, but he wasn’t the most powerful. He was just a manipulative psychopath who, like Phoebe, fed off making people bend to his will. His weakness was revealed in Jamie who decided to put the ideas to use after Nick’s death. Nick thought of himself as some revolutionary teacher that had the answer to happiness in life, but he was just a serial killer waiting to happen. His inability to keep his evil ideas in check cost him his life and created the worst monster in The Sinner.

6 Julian Walker

Julian was a strong-willed boy born to very ungrateful parents. His father was a rapist that couldn’t admit his crimes while his mother was just not ready to take care of a baby. He found a loving family in Vera’s community but even that group didn’t offer the best parenting for him. When he realized that he had been kidnapped, he got scared and decided to fight back by killing his kidnappers who were actually working for his mother. He was surrounded by love but with the wrong training which corrupted him at a young age. He wasn’t the strongest character but you couldn’t blame him for his weakness either. None of his crimes was his fault.

5 Leela Burns

It takes a strong woman to admit that the man she loves is a lost cause and deserves to go to prison. Jaime had turned into a monster and would have hurt her and the baby if she didn’t testify against him. Leela loved Jamie and tried to save him from his demons but Jamie wasn’t willing to change. She was just an innocent mother that was willing to do everything to keep her family safe.

4 Vera Walker

Vera Walker had her own demons and Mosswood helped her overcome them which is why she believed so much in the community. When her mentor turned into another monster, Vera put him in his place and took leadership of the community, helping the vulnerable people through their hardest moments.

She was the best mother Julian could ever hope for after Marin abandoned him. She was simply the pillar that everyone else that life failed relied on. Vera was one of the strongest women Harry met in the show. She deserved the just ending she received.

3 Sonya Barzel

It was good to see Harry finding love in the third season of The sinner in Sonya, one of the show’s most mysterious women. She lived in the large forested estate alone and wasn’t afraid of anything. She wouldn’t let the world limit her life. She simply waited out trouble when it came to her and faced danger in the eyes. She was the only person that made Jamie feel weak and stupid. She was rich and passionate about painting but not afraid of anything; a perfect match for Harry.

2 Cora Tannetti

Cora was the most innocent killer Harry Ambrose had ever met. She had zero collection of her actions. She couldn’t control her actions when the song was played and only happened to be holding a knife when it played that she killed someone. Away from the song, Cora was a strong woman that had overcome all the evils the world had thrown at her including being imprisoned and forced to get addicted to drugs. She made a life for herself, raising her son and living happily with Mason. She never gave in to her worst memories all those years. She was the perfect proof of Harry’s theory, an innocent strong woman fighting against a cruel world.

1 Harry Ambrose

Harry Ambrose gets so deeply connected with his suspects because he feels that they are like him. He has been through lots of trauma in his life and he lives in the fear of caving to his dark thoughts and probably doing something bad like them one day. Harry is a strong person though. He puts his own life on the line to save other people whom everyone else would rather see condemned and sent to prison. He even tried to save Jamie, a man that tormented him so much and even tried to hurt his family. Harry has been through the worst of temptations but always comes out on top.

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