23 Unpopular "Harry Potter" Opinions That'll Have You Looking At The Entire Series In A New Light

All was NOT well.

We asked the brave members of the BuzzFeed Community to share their most unpopular Harry Potter opinions. Here are some opinions that'll have you remembering the series a lil' differently.

1. Neville should have been the chosen one:

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Neville is better than Harry. Neville is more caring, courageous, and dependable. Harry did a lot of the leg work because he was labelled “the chosen one,” but Neville was the one who destroyed the final horcrux in the end, allowing Voldemort to be killed.

—quirkyquarts

2. Fred and George are overrated:

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I never cared for Fred and George. I know fans loved them for their jokes, tricks, and wittiness, and they were devastated when Fred died, but I just didn’t have any attachment to them.

—emas494e25fd7

3. Hermione should have ended up with Viktor Krum:

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Hermione should not have been with Ron or Harry. If she had to end up with anyone, I actually only ever liked her being with Viktor Krum, the hot and chivalrous foreign athlete who appreciated her right from the start.

—k42915c1f3

4. Hermione should have ended up with Malfoy:

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I think that Malfoy and Hermione fought so much because of all the sexual tension between them. Yes, Malfoy said some really mean things to her, but that's because that's what his parents told him. You believe what your parents say when you're young and you don't really form your own independent opinions until you're older. Malfoy and Hermione are like-minded people who are intelligent and enjoy the same things. He would've appreciated a strong and ambitious woman like Hermione, unlike Ron. I really think that Malfoy and Hermione would've been a good fit together.

—vidishamittal22

5. Harry and Ginny should have named their child something else:

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Using the names of Albus Dumbledore — the world’s most manipulative wizard —and Severus Snape — an abusive teacher who wanted to hook up with Harry’s mom — was a mistake, especially when there were better wizards who actually helped Harry to name them after, like Arthur Weasley, Remus Lupin, Alastor Moody, Neville Longbottom, Aberforth Dumbledore, etc. Honoring two men who weren’t all that great kinda disrespects the good men who actively tried to make Harry’s life better and easier.

—jaydegleeks

6. Half-Blood Prince is the worst in the series:

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Specifically, the main plot about Harry trying to procure Slughorn’s full memory about Tom Riddle’s horcrux questions. Dumbledore already knew all about horcruxes, so the only thing we gained was that Voldemort created seven of them.

—shaneg47cb563a2

7. Hufflepuff is the best house:

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Gryffindors can have huge egos and be foolhardy, Ravenclaws can be know-it-all assholes, and Slytherins can be dishonest and conniving. But the vast majority of Hufflepuffs are kind, smart, and extremely capable — and don’t boast about it at all. They are just low-key great people who, mind you, never swayed to the dark arts. I never understood why everyone thinks so little of them.

—daniellet4a096c9f4

8. Gryffindor and Slytherin aren't all that different:

Pottermore

The Gryffindor and Slytherin houses are basically the same. They're two sides of the same coin. People need to give Slytherins more credit. They're not all brooding, psychopathic wizards.

—kelseyh4d6c4b757

9. Luna Lovegood is the best character:

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She’s unique, understanding, selfless, fights for her friends, and is kind to everyone, no matter what, despite all she’s been through!

—allisonistired

10. Draco Malfoy deserved better:

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Malfoy deserved a redemption arc far more than Snape did. Yes, he was a bit of a douche, but that was because he was influenced by his parents, who were terrible. He was forced into joining Voldemort’s side and becoming a Death Eater, along with plenty of other Slytherins. You can see his true nature in the later films — he's just a scared boy who doesn't have much say in what he can and cannot do. The only reason Harry and Malfoy hated each other was because of their initial meeting in The Sorcerer's Stone. Had that not occurred, I believe they could have been pretty good friends.

—stan_nct

11. Albus Dumbledore wasn't all that great:

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Dumbledore was a manipulative asshole. He didn’t care about ANYONE but himself. He used Harry, and everyone else around him, and didn't care how he accomplished his goals, because the ends always justified the means — like how he left Harry to suffer with the Dursleys rather than with anyone in the wizarding world, for "the greater good." He kept very important information from Harry, which left Harry struggling to find out everything on his own after Dumbledore died. He was a jerk and I hate how people still idolize him.

—amyf25

12. Severus Snape also wasn't all that great:

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Snape was a horrible, horrible human being. Just plain awful. I understand that Snape went through a lot of pain when he lost Lily, the love of his life. But everyone goes through hardships — that's life. Snape didn’t deal with his pain in a healthy way. He was verbally and physically abusive to his students — he was, simply put, a huge bully. There were a lot of people who suffered in this series who didn’t end up awful.

—julez1608

13. Actually, Harry ain't all that either:

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As much as I love the series and everybody in it, Harry Potter kinda sucks as a character. He’s selfish, only complains about his own problems, and low-key enjoys feeling like the world is against him to justify being a douche to people who care about him — for example, the majority of the plot of Order of the Phoenix was Harry being awful to his friends when all they were trying to do was help. Yes, I love Harry anyway, but he’s quite annoying if you really think about it.

—jasminel47d55bbe9

14. Harry didn't know how to take care of pets:

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Harry was an awful pet owner. He kept Hedwig locked up, yelled at her all the time, and tossed her around all the time due to his recklessness. Justice for Hedwig!

—jazzylovely714

15. The first four movies didn't do the books justice:

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Especially Prisoner of Azkaban. They barely mentioned Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs, who were what made PoA one of the best books. Even though Goblet of Fire was a BIT better, they glossed over the whole Barty Crouch storyline, which was extremely important. If I hadn't read the books, I wouldn't have understood who he was at all.

—shawnas0720

16. Harry deserved his detentions in Order of the Phoenix (but not the abusive punishment):

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While Umbridge was a despicable human and her abuse of children was reprehensible, Harry deserved every detention he was given in Order of the Phoenix. He mouthed off in class, even after being warned time and time again by teachers and friends that he was only hurting his cause. Yes, her teaching was trash and she was a horrible person, but she was the teacher, and in her classroom, she was the boss.

—bethv41793e629

17. Harry and Ginny's relationship wasn't believable:

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We never got any romantic tension between Harry and Ginny. The movies seemed to rely on the hope that the people who were watching the movies had also read the books and would be able to fill in the gaps themselves.

—jorgeannfayel

18. Harry and Dumbledore's bond wasn't what people thought it was:

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The books and movies always tried to show this strong bond between Harry and Dumbledore, but I never felt that at all. It was like they were trying to create the bond that Frodo and Gandalf had, but didn't quite succeed. The person Harry should have felt that bond with was Hagrid. Hagrid was always there for him, no matter what.

—gracelee32

19. Hagrid did more for Harry than Sirius Black:

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Sirius got all of the credit for being Harry’s only parental figure, when really it was Hagrid who was the only consistent parental figure in his life. The difference was that Sirius acted similarly to how a "stereotypical father figure" would, which earned him all of the credit. Meanwhile, Hagrid took on a more "maternal role," which got him less credit. Also, Sirius was always very selfishly motivated and very rarely had Harry’s best interests at heart.

—delaneyd46456a22a

20. Harry should not have lived past the final battle:

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Harry Potter should have died in the end as well as Voldemort. Put an end to an epic series.

—hardingcara89

21. Voldemort actually had the saddest backstory:

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The saddest character in the whole series was Voldemort. After reading The Half-Blood Prince, his backstory broke my heart and I understood his hatred. His actions were inexcusable and heinous, but I think they were rooted in hurt and tragedy more than pure evil.

—alexandriac469fed776

22. The finale of the series was anticlimactic:

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The final face-off with Voldemort was both over the top with all the flying around as well as underwhelming with Voldie turning into grey cornflakes and blowing away. I expected the film's ending to be exciting just like the last quarter of the book — it wasn't. And breaking the last book into two films was nothing but a cash grab.

—wayfield310

23. The movies are better than the books:

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I know they removed things that were in the books, changed some plots, blah blah blah. But when you take the books on their own and the movies on their own, the movies are just better.

—beccers

Submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.