Within the wizarding world of Harry Potter, there seem to be some near-universal truths. Voldemort is one of the most powerful but one of the worst wizard who ever lived. Albus Dumbledore is the greatest of all time. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is the best magical education in the world. And no one wants to be in house Slytherin unless they’re the bad guys or proud, arrogant purebloods.
While it’s true that most of the dark wizards who came from Hogwarts got their education in house Slytherin, the home of the snake isn’t only filled with snaky students. Many Slytherin students have done terrible things, but many others have also achieved greatness and goodness that most witches and wizards couldn’t even dream of accomplishing. And boy, did some of them pack a powerful punch!
Here are the five most powerful students in Slytherin history, along with the five worst.
Worst: Draco Malfoy
As far as dark wizards go, Draco Malfoy is hardly the evilest to ever walk the halls of Hogwarts. Mainly, he is just kind of a smug little jerk, and his willingness to join the Death Eaters was not only an unwise decision but also arrogant as the teenager wrote checks that he couldn’t cash.
Draco’s moral strength, as well as his backbone, was obviously tragically lacking during most of his time at Hogwarts. However, Draco’s failure as a student and Death Eater was probably because he assumed his pureblood made him a stronger wizard, but he found himself bested by others in almost every battle.
Most Powerful: Bellatrix Lestrange
To be able to single yourself out as the most unappealing and insufferable Death Eater in Voldemort’s army is an accomplishment all on its own. Bellatrix Lestrange is absolutely deranged even on her best days, and her fawning school girl crush on the noseless wonder that is the dark lord is as gross as it is inexplicable.
The crimes Bellatrix has committed are too many to count, and she performed every one with her typical manic glee. Watching Molly Weasley finally put Bellatrix in her place for good provided some unforgettable catharsis that every normal person needed after seeing her disgusting shenanigans.
Worst: Lucius Malfoy
Clearly the apple doesn’t fall very far from the tree. Draco is a shifty little weasel, but it’s easy to see where he learned that behavior from. Lucius Malfoy is pretty clearly a bad person, but he’s a perfect example of how banal cruelty and evilness can be.
Lucius likes to control, humiliate, and cause people pain, but he’s also too weak and self-absorbed to really become one of the evil “greats,” so to speak. Lucius is more powerful than some wizards, but relatively speaking he isn’t nearly as powerful as he should be considering his role in Voldemort’s army. Furthermore, Lucius is mentally weak, an opportunistic person who only has allegiance to himself.
Most Powerful: Severus Snape
Severus Snape was a Death Eater turned Hogwarts professor who could apparently call Lord Voldemort and Albus Dumbledore two of his best friends, and it wasn’t until his literal last moments of life that it was clear whose side he was truly on.
In a moment that shocked everyone, Snape was revealed to have been an undercover good guy all along, but the mere fact that he could fool absolutely everyone, even the legendary dark lord, served as an astounding testament to his incredible skill as a wizard. Although Snape was never easy to swallow, he used those skills for good.
Worst: Dolores Umbridge
Who knew that pure evil was such a fan of fluffy pink bolero jackets? Before her tenure at Hogwarts, Harry Potter and his compatriots had never heard the name Dolores Umbridge, and after they met her they undoubtedly wished they could still say the same.
Professor Umbridge embodies everything that is wrong with the organized magical world, and it’s easy to see why she prefers being a pencil pusher over practicing actual magic. Dolores appears to have somewhat formidable magical powers, but the mere fact that she chooses to control and abuse people through bureaucracy makes it seem like she’s much less powerful than she’d like to admit.
Most Powerful: Voldemort
While old Voldy wanted to be known as the greatest wizard who ever lived, he fell short in his aims. However, he was glad to take the consolation prize of being the most powerful and dangerous dark wizard who ever lived. Furthermore, Voldemort probably would have appreciated the distinction of being the craziest student in the history of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Voldemort’s most powerful (and vile) exploits took place after he had already left Hogwarts, but throughout his school career, he had proven that his power was unlike anything the world had ever seen.
Worst: Goyle
Prior to the Battle of Hogwarts, Draco’s lackeys - Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle - were almost entirely indistinguishable from one another. The dubious way in which Crabbe managed to separate himself from Goyle is something that will be covered later, but Goyle was a Hogwarts student who seemed barely capable of functioning as a normal person let alone as a wizard.
It didn’t appear that Goyle had any natural powers of note. His lack of intelligence, coupled with the fact that he seemed to torment other students in the most mundane of ways, make it seem as if Goyle was just a step above a squib.
Most Powerful: Merlin
There are powerful wizards, then there are POWERFUL wizards. There are plenty of legends who have left a permanent mark on the wizarding world, but few accomplished so much that they became legends in the muggle world as well.
Merlin is one such wizard. Merlin’s most famous and well-known exploits were clearly as part of King Arthur’s fabled Knights of the Round Table, but the wizard actually started his career at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. That’s right, Merlin was sorted into house Slytherin.
Worst: Crabbe
The goal of the Tweedledee and Tweedledum duo of Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle seems to simply be Draco’s little bully henchmen, and it’s easy to see why. To be frank, someone like Vincent Crabbe doesn’t appear to have the aptitude to even use magic correctly let alone wield any legitimate power.
Consequently, Crabbe falls back on the one thing that he knows he can rely on: His fists. If that wasn’t enough, this nitwit managed to accidentally kill himself with the Fiendfyre during the Battle of Hogwarts.
Most Powerful: Salazar Slytherin
It’s pretty tough to top someone like Merlin, but it wouldn’t be right for any wizard besides Salazar Slytherin to take the top spot. Obviously Salazar was one of the most powerful wizards of his era, and his influence on the wizarding world became seemingly everlasting once he decided to become a part of the OG Hogwarts quartet.
While the house that bears his name earned a pretty bad rap, Salazar had some pretty admirable qualities that made him a great wizard on top of being a skilled one.
