The Harry Potter franchise boasts of some magnificent antagonists and villains that not only act as obstacles for the lead trio but are also evil in the larger scheme of the universe. The ultimate antagonist of the series is Lord Voldemort, the adversary to Harry Potter himself.
However, the Dark Lord is not the first force of evil that the Wizarding World faced throughout its history. Just a few decades prior there was Gellert Grindelwald, who was seen in the Fantastic Beasts franchise, and much darker forces before him. However, the evilest of them all is one wizard who was so sinister that he created the dreadful Dementors.
The Villains Of Harry Potter Films So Far
A good protagonist always needs a good villain to bring necessary conflict to the hero’s journey. Batman has the Joker and Sherlock Holmes has Jim Moriarty as their adversary. Harry Potter has Lord Voldemort as his nemesis, whose fate is intertwined with the boy who lived. The Dark Lord’s evil is only accentuated by the powerful performance given by Ralph Fiennes.
While Potter has run-ins with the Dark Lord throughout the series until he finally regains his physical form, there are other villains to keep him company. The first film of the franchise Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone introduced Draco Malfoy as a potential antagonist. Although he has since had a change of heart, the Slytherin native was one of Harry’s biggest obstacles in Hogwarts.
Then comes his father, Lucius Malfoy, who is not just a bigot and the root cause of Draco’s personality, but is also a Death Eater, the cult of Lord Voldemort’s followers. The fifth film Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix introduces the character of Dolores Umbridge, who is often considered to be the most vile of all the antagonists that Potter faces.
A villain and force of evil that has been alluded to and one that finally makes an appearance in the Fantastic Beasts franchise is Gellert Grindelwald. He is a Hitler-esque figure who wants to take over the Muggle world and establish a New World Order. He has a checkered history with Albus Dumbledore. However, none of them come close to this villain, who was known for creating the Dementors.
Who Created Azkaban And The Dementors In The Harry Potter Franchise?
Of all the evil villains in the Harry Potter franchise, there is one who is the vilest of them all. Though this dark wizard does not appear in any of the films, his contributions to the Wizarding World have made appearances in the films and books. The dark wizard is named Ekrizdis, an old wizard who is speculated to be originating from Ancient Greece.
According to Pottermore, Ekrizdis traveled the world before setting up camp at an unknown island on the North Sea in Britain, where he hid from both the Muggle world and the Wizarding world by adding many concealment charms to the place. The Wizard practiced the worst kind of dark arts and was known to lure sailors at sea and then torture them.
Ekrizdis is known to have created the Dementors, the faceless monsters who feed on sadness and misery. After his death, the concealment charms were broken and the Wizarding World finally visited the island. The Ministro of Magic officials were appalled by the dark magic present on the island, including the Dementors, and decided to hide it from the outside world.
Officials who visited witnessed such horrors that they refused to talk about it once they returned. The island was forgotten about for years before the Wizarding World chose the fortress on the island as the location for their prison Azkaban, which is featured heavily in the Harry Potter franchise.
