The Lost One
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@lostkiera
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Post by The Lost One on Mar 24, 2017 13:20:59 GMT
I think an argument could be made for any of the below:
- Albus Dumbledore: Defeated Grindelward in a duel despite the latter being armed with the Elder Wand. Escaped the Ministry's attempt to arrest him almost effortlessly. A master tactician and very knowledgeable on every field of magic. Impressed the greats of the wizarding world when still just a child himself.
- Severus Snape: Created several useful spells himself as a child. Was able to hold his own in a duel against both McGonagall and Flitwick despite the fact he was holding back and not trying to hurt them. Effortlessly deflected Harry's spells at the end of Half Blood Prince. Extremely knowledgable about potions, finding a way to delay a killing curse for a year and a way to stop werewolf transformations.
- Tom "Lord Voldemort" Riddle: The top student of his time in Hogwarts, created more Horcruxes than any wizard before him, achieved spells of great wonder even with a wand not bonded to him.
- Harry Potter: The best student at Defence Against the Dark Arts. Winner of the Triwizard Tournament (with a bit of help!). Survived several events that would have finished lesser wizards.
- Hermione Granger: Overall, the best student in Hogwarts of her time and pretty good at every field (bar divination!). While others may be slightly better in natural ability, she excels at breadth of knowledge.
- Molly Weasley: Pretty unremarkable - until you threaten her child then even accomplished duellists like Bellatrix L'Estrange are mincemeat.
- Lily Evans: One of the best potions students in her year but what makes her standout is the power of her love which protected Harry long after her death (and even inadvertently did so for Voldemort). Dumbledore did always say no magic is more powerful than love.
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Post by ArArArchStanton on Mar 31, 2017 22:10:55 GMT
I think an argument could be made for any of the below:
- Albus Dumbledore: Defeated Grindelward in a duel despite the latter being armed with the Elder Wand. Escaped the Ministry's attempt to arrest him almost effortlessly. A master tactician and very knowledgeable on every field of magic. Impressed the greats of the wizarding world when still just a child himself.
- Severus Snape: Created several useful spells himself as a child. Was able to hold his own in a duel against both McGonagall and Flitwick despite the fact he was holding back and not trying to hurt them. Effortlessly deflected Harry's spells at the end of Half Blood Prince. Extremely knowledgable about potions, finding a way to delay a killing curse for a year and a way to stop werewolf transformations.
- Tom "Lord Voldemort" Riddle: The top student of his time in Hogwarts, created more Horcruxes than any wizard before him, achieved spells of great wonder even with a wand not bonded to him.
- Harry Potter: The best student at Defence Against the Dark Arts. Winner of the Triwizard Tournament (with a bit of help!). Survived several events that would have finished lesser wizards.
- Hermione Granger: Overall, the best student in Hogwarts of her time and pretty good at every field (bar divination!). While others may be slightly better in natural ability, she excels at breadth of knowledge.
- Molly Weasley: Pretty unremarkable - until you threaten her child then even accomplished duellists like Bellatrix L'Estrange are mincemeat.
- Lily Evans: One of the best potions students in her year but what makes her standout is the power of her love which protected Harry long after her death (and even inadvertently did so for Voldemort). Dumbledore did always say no magic is more powerful than love.
Only the top three are even in contention. Potter isn't close and the ones below aren't either. |
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Post by pennypacker on Mar 31, 2017 23:00:02 GMT
- Harry Potter: The best student at Defence Against the Dark Arts. Winner of the Triwizard Tournament (with a bit of help!). Survived several events that would have finished lesser wizards.
Maybe I've completely overlooked something, but I've always felt as though Potter was a fairly average student (Defence Against the Dark Arts aside). Yes he excelled in one subject, and as an athlete, but he wasn't particularly remarkable in any other way. He was just the chosen one and the boy who lived - and that wasn't the result of skill or knowledge. It was the luck of the draw. He was well respected by other wizards because he was almost mythological - the baby that led to Voldemort's downfall and the only one that survived the killing curse (as far as I can remember, Voldemort doesn't count in my opinion). But he didn't even do that, it was the result of his mother. He just had terrible, or great depending on how you look at it, luck. He wasn't ever a powerful or exceptional wizard. |
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The Lost One
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@lostkiera
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Post by The Lost One on Mar 31, 2017 23:57:28 GMT
Only the top three are even in contention. Potter isn't close and the ones below aren't either. I was torn between Dumbledore and Snape personally. I think I would give Dumbledore the edge because I think he died undefeated (unless you count Malfoy disarming him). While as Snape was killed by Nagini (though in his defence, he expected the attack to come from Voldemort directly). It's kinda hard to judge Voldemort's abilities. We're told he's done wondrous magic but there aren't that many specific examples. I think most of his reputation was due to how far he was willing to delve into the dark arts. I more or less agree with you about the others. I think Hermione had peaked by the end of the books though Harry could still grow to be in the same league as the others. With Molly, she was one of the few other wizards who does anything all that impressive. Perhaps Jk Rowling was trying to imply Molly was very powerful but had no interest in power compared to her family. But we just don't see enough of her to be sure. I think a case could still be made for Lily, her protection, though not exactly a spell, was more powerful than pretty much every other spell in the books. Slughorn also thought extremely highly of her and he was good at singling out winners. |
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The Lost One
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@lostkiera
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Post by The Lost One on Apr 1, 2017 0:04:00 GMT
Maybe I've completely overlooked something, but I've always felt as though Potter was a fairly average student (Defence Against the Dark Arts aside). Yes he excelled in one subject, and as an athlete, but he wasn't particularly remarkable in any other way. He was just the chosen one and the boy who lived - and that wasn't the result of skill or knowledge. It was the luck of the draw. He was well respected by other wizards because he was almost mythological - the baby that led to Voldemort's downfall and the only one that survived the killing curse (as far as I can remember, Voldemort doesn't count in my opinion). But he didn't even do that, it was the result of his mother. He just had terrible, or great depending on how you look at it, luck. He wasn't ever a powerful or exceptional wizard. I think he was a bit better than that. He's a natural at attack spells and he seems to be above average in most of the other subjects despite bring pretty lazy (remember how well he did in his OWLS? The only subjects he did badly in were the non-action oriented ones). He's a quick thinker and athletic. He also defeats quite a few death eaters in battle. I don't think he was as good as Snape or Dumbledore at his age but that's probably due to his being less studious. |
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camimac
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Post by camimac on Apr 1, 2017 17:15:56 GMT
I really think Dumbledore is the more powerful wizard; and I know we are talking bookverse and not movieverse, but still when I think of Snape I think of the late great Alan Rickman. So, in his honor I had to cast my vote for Snape.
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Post by politicidal on Apr 3, 2017 18:29:27 GMT
The dude who can appear in your near death experience despite already being dead.
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Post by Jillian on Apr 3, 2017 18:32:10 GMT
Uuh, most interesting poll so far  I love the Harry Potter books and the whole story is pure brilliance. I chose Dumbledore, however, ultimately I´d say it´s a tie between professor Snape, Dumbledore and Harry. |
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Post by coldenhaulfield on Apr 4, 2017 5:33:11 GMT
Dumbledore!
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Post by PreachCaleb on Apr 6, 2017 13:07:03 GMT
Definitely not Harry. As he himself said, most of the time, he was lucky.
I'm gonna go with Dumbledore. The guy who defeated Gellert Grindelwald, master of the elder wand.
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Post by Jillian on Apr 6, 2017 16:37:59 GMT
Harry was just being modest. He was more than lucky.
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Post by PreachCaleb on Apr 6, 2017 18:41:56 GMT
Gotta disagree.
The love spell that rebounded the original killing curse. That was luck.
Fawkes showing up to battle the Basilisk. Luck.
Priori Incantantem. Luck.
And those are just the major instances.
I'm not saying he's a terrible wizard. But he definitely wasn't in Voldemort or Dumbledore's league.
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Post by Jillian on Apr 6, 2017 19:04:55 GMT
Gotta disagree. The love spell that rebounded the original killing curse. That was luck. Fawkes showing up to battle the Basilisk. Luck. Priori Incantantem. Luck. And those are just the major instances. I'm not saying he's a terrible wizard. But he definitely wasn't in Voldemort or Dumbledore's league. The spell put on Harry in the first place was not luck- Voldemort chose him as his equal and that makes priori Incantantem so much more than just luck as well! The spell rebounded because of Lily´s love towards her son. Love, not luck. Fawkes showing up was NOT luck. Fawkes showed up because of the true loyalty that Harry Showed towards Dumbledore- that was one of the main cores of the story in the second book and throughout the whole story. Harry was always better than Voldemort in every regard. |
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Post by PreachCaleb on Apr 6, 2017 19:24:30 GMT
That's pretty much the very definition of luck. Harry didn't do anything. It just happened. Voldemort chose Harry over Neville.
That's also just luck because Harry didn't do anything to activate that spell. Harry was using Expelliarmus. Once again, it just happened at the right time. Luck.
But it wasn't something Harry knew was going to happen. Heck, there's nothing in the story prior to that that says Fawkes would show up for anyone who was loyal to Dumbledore. It was luck he did. It was something Fawkes did. Not Harry.
Except in wizardry. And not through anything he intentionally did. Harry was lucky.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 6, 2017 19:32:46 GMT
Voldemort all the way. Even Dumbledore wasn't able to beat him. Withstand him, yes, but not beat him.
Yes, ultimately Harry Potter defeated him, and we all know that Harry isn't the best wizard out there, by a mile, enthousiastic and driven, sure, but not much more than that. That was luck and the inevitable consequence of Voldemort's own actions. And Harry had a ton of help, he did not do it by himself.
Voldemort was willing to go all the way to obtain what he wanted. Even a reflection of himself caused havoc on Hogwarts.
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Post by Jillian on Apr 6, 2017 19:35:12 GMT
I disagree with you. Voldemort was obsessed by blood, and he chose the one boy who reminded him of himself. The one thing Voldemort could not understand was loyalty and love, and that made him a worse wizard than Harry. He was better than Harry at dark magic in the beginning of Harry´s journey though of course. Nothing just happened, because just by existing, Harry activated the spell.
No, it wasn´t anything he was consciously aware of, but that does not mean that it was luck. Only a true Gryffindor could have pulled that sword out of that hat and only someone brilliant could have showed Dumbledore such loyalty out of compassion and love. That was Harry being Harry, not luck.
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Post by PreachCaleb on Apr 6, 2017 19:53:29 GMT
Luck. Harry didn't do anything to make himself like Voldemort. Voldemort just chose.
That's incidental. Harry didn't do anything. Harry didn't activate any spell. Voldemort made the choice. He activated it.
Actually it does. If you're not intending to do something, and it happens by chance, that's luck.
All that, yes. What happened because of it though was luck. It was luck Dumbledore owned a Phoenix to take a sword that had been crafted to Harry centuries ago in an ancient hat.
Harry didn't do any of that. Heck, Fawkes is the one who blinds the basilisk.
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Post by Jillian on Apr 6, 2017 20:06:42 GMT
Luck. Harry didn't do anything to make himself like Voldemort. Voldemort just chose. That's incidental. Harry didn't do anything. Harry didn't activate any spell. Voldemort made the choice. He activated it. Actually it does. If you're not intending to do something, and it happens by chance, that's luck. All that, yes. What happened because of it though was luck. It was luck Dumbledore owned a Phoenix to take a sword that had been crafted to Harry centuries ago in an ancient hat. Harry didn't do any of that. Heck, Fawkes is the one who blinds the basilisk. How wonderful to have found someone to argue Harry Potter details with! Which book is your favorite? Yes, and by making that choice, Voldemort put the wheels in motion. He made a conscious choice by choosing Harry because he saw him as a threat. By choosing Harry, Voldemort made Harry his equal. He could have chosen Neville, but he Chose Harry. Harry did not choose any of it, but his mere existence made Voldemort worried. I suppose it was luck that Trelawney made that prophecy in the first place and that Voldemort made it so significant, but then again, the way I see it, few things are luck where magic and wizards are concerned in that (Harry´s) world. Harry intended to fight Voldemort with every fibre of his being and he did so brilliantly, albeit unconsciously. You think it was luck that Dumbledore had that phoenix in his office in that exact moment of time? Yes, of course it blinded the basilisk. It was summoned there by Harry. |
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Post by PreachCaleb on Apr 6, 2017 20:16:06 GMT
Prisoner of Azkaban. Particularly, because that was the first Harry Potter movie I watched in theaters. But specifically because it's the first book where we learn things are not as black and white in the world of Harry Potter as we might've assumed them to be. It's not the darkest of the stories, nor the most tragic, but like the movie, it's a clear turning point for Harry and the audience.
Exactly. So much of what happens is out of Harry's hands.
It was luck that Dumbledore owned a phoenix at all.
Unintentionally. Also, Fawkes responded to Harry's loyalty. It's possible to be loyal without having grand wizarding powers.
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Post by Jillian on Apr 6, 2017 20:22:12 GMT
Prisoner of Azkaban. Particularly, because that was the first Harry Potter movie I watched in theaters. But specifically because it's the first book where we learn things are not as black and white in the world of Harry Potter as we might've assumed them to be. It's not the darkest of the stories, nor the most tragic, but like the movie, it's a clear turning point for Harry and the audience. Exactly. So much of what happens is out of Harry's hands. It was luck that Dumbledore owned a phoenix at all. Unintentionally. Also, Fawkes responded to Harry's loyalty. It's possible to be loyal without having grand wizarding powers. And as much happens because of Harry´s mere existence and what he embodies as a person and as a wizard. No, I do not think it was luck that Dumbledore owned a phoenix. In fact, I think that Dumbledore owned one because he knew that it was one of the wisest of magical creatures and he was aware of their abilities. Yes, but Harry´s loyalty was the catalyst for it coming there in the first place. |
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I love the Harry Potter books and the whole story is pure brilliance. I chose Dumbledore, however, ultimately I´d say it´s a tie between professor Snape, Dumbledore and Harry.
