While theHarry Potterseries features quite a few antagonists, none are as infamous as Dolores Umbridge. Appearing for the first time in the fifth book,Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Umbridge is a character who presents a lot of major obstacles for the main characters of the story. She’s perhaps the most hated villain inHarry Potterby the fandom, even more so than Voldemort. Even though she’s just a normal human with a terrible agenda, that humanity is perhaps what makes her scary, knowing that she’s as capable of evil as some of the more malevolent beings in the series.
That all sounds very dramatic, obviously, butUmbridge is so heavily disliked by theHarry Potterfanbasethat it’s become a sort of running joke within the fandom. Apart from just being strict and imposing a lot of unfair rules at Hogwarts, what did she do that was so bad? Did she have ties to Voldemort and the Death Eaters? Or was she simply just an unbearable person with no other evil ulterior motives?
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Who Is Dolores Umbridge?
Dolores Umbridge was a witch who worked for the British Ministry of Magic as the Senior Undersecretary for the Minister for Magic, and thereby also had a place on the Wizengamot. This is where she first appears in the series, as one of the Wizengamot members during Harry’s trial. Later, she was instilled asthe Defense Against The Dark Arts professorat Hogwarts by the Ministry, mainly as a measure to monitor Dumbledore’s activities, as the Minister believed that Dumbledore was trying to usurp his position. Umbridge was clearly not meant to be a teacher, as she outwardly disliked children and was more concerned with controlling them than actually teaching them.
She taught a Ministry-approved curriculum that was very restrictive, and she gave harsh and abusive punishments to students who stepped out of line. She was appointed the High Inquisitor at Hogwarts, and she abused this power by harassing students and staff and even firing professors that were not up to her standards. When Umbridge tried to prosecute Harry forcreating Dumbledore’s Army, Dumbledore instead took the blame and disappeared from the school, allowing the space for the Ministry to appoint Umbridge as Headmaster. Her fall at Hogwarts came when she was tricked by Hermione to follow her and Harry into the Forbidden Forest, where she was subsequently abducted by centaurs. She eventually made her way back to the school, where she was ousted, and then returned to the Ministry of Magic.
Was Dolores Umbridge Officially a Death Eater?
With someone this despicable, it’s safe to assume that they’re working for the bad guys, right? Well, in Umbridge’s case, while she may have been working for the bad guys of bureaucracy, she was never under Voldemort’s thumb. She was allied with the Death Eaters and definitely enabled them, she was never an official part of the organization. After her stint at Hogwarts, Umbridge was back at the Ministry as Senior Undersecretary. When the Death Eaters took over at the Ministry, they found that Umbridge actually had a lot in common with them and their beliefs, and they allowed her to stay in her position. They had her oversee the Muggle-Born Registration Commission, which in turn led to the widespread persecution ofMuggle-born wizards.
At one point, Umbridge received a locket as a bribe from Mundungus Fletcher, which turned out to be Salazar Slytherin’s Locket. Unbeknownst to Umbridge, this wasone of Voldemort’s Horcruxes. Harry managed to steal the Horcrux from her during the trial of an innocent woman, where he was able to take the locket from her using the Invisibility Cloak and a fake necklace that Hermione had created to replace it, and eventually destroyed said Horcrux. So while Umbridge had never sworn an oath or anything to Lord Voldemort, her beliefs were just as bad as those of the Death Eaters, and she certainly enabled their dangerous behavior.
What Happens To Dolores Umbridge?
After Umbridge’s reign of terror over both Hogwarts and the Ministry of Magic,she was finally brought down. Following the defeat of Lord Voldemort at the hands of Harry Potter, Death Eaters and those that associated with them were put under investigation and arrested. Kingsley Shacklebolt took over at the Ministry of Magic and did his best to reform the now-corrupt organization back to its former glory. Umbridge was arrested, tried, and given a life sentence in Azkaban for her crimes against Muggle-born wizards, as not all of those she had terrorized (or been indirectly responsible for terrorizing) had survived. After her hateful actions and the amount of trouble she caused Harry and co., it’s satisfying to see her locked up where she can’t hurt anyone else.
