It's hard to find a more detestable character than Dolores Umbridge. The witch who symbolizes the corruption and hypocrisy of the Ministry of Magic appears in the Harry Potter film series in the fifth installment: The Order of the Phoenix. She serves as the main antagonist before the bespectacled wizard and his friends embark on a Horcrux hunt against Voldemort. In the film, she spends her time tightening the rules at Hogwarts, punishing students, and generally curbing all magic. But David Yates' feature film misses out on a few anecdotes about the infernal Grand Inquisitor, which only readers who have devoured the literary saga know.
#4 She sends two Dementors to attack Harry at Privet Drive
At the very beginning of the film, two Dementors attack Harry (Dudley is a collateral victim) at Little Whinging. While the goal was undoubtedly to silence Harry about Voldemort's return and expel him from Hogwarts, we don't know exactly who sent the two ghosts into the Muggle world. However, we suspect that it is the Ministry of Magic, since the Dementors are supposed to act under their authority.
It was precisely Dolores Umbridge who took charge of the mission from her office at the Ministry of Magic, in the hope that the young wizard would take out his wand, and thus be expelled from the school of magic, the use of magic being forbidden outside the wizarding world. Later in the book, she confesses her actions after intercepting him using his fireplace to leave the school: "Yes, it was me. I couldn't bear it when you kept spreading your lies about You-Know-Who's return." A forbidden act that portrays a crueler witch than in the film. This event will be named Grawp, a half-giant and half-brother of Hagrid who lifts the witch before throwing her to the Centaurs, who hate her for oppressing them and regularly reducing their territory. We don't see her again in the film. So what happened to her? In the book, we learn that she came back traumatized from the experience. Saved by Dumbledore, she spent a brief time in the hospital wing. But the after-effects are profound. She can't stand the hoofbeats Ron makes to tease her, and emerges weakened from the event several years later. Later, after Voldemort's fall, she is finally found guilty.
#2 She terrorizes and oppresses Muggle-borns
Like the great figures of Slytherin and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, Dolores Umbridge has a deep contempt for wizards born to Muggle parents (commonly called Mudbloods) like Hermione. Under Voldemort, she actively participates in their persecution by working at the Muggle-Born Registration Commission. Between harsh interrogations and paradoxically unfair trials, she strives to hunt them down and punish them unfairly. Where does this apparent hatred come from? From her family tree. She was born to a Muggle mother, and had a Squib brother. Unable to accept her condition, she built herself in opposition to her family unit, hiding her past and pretending to be pure-blood.
#1 She carries a Horcrux without knowing it
In the seventh film in the saga, Harry, Ron, and Hermione infiltrate the Ministry of Magic in search of the Slytherin Locket, one of Voldemort's Horcruxes hidden in Dolores Umbridge's office. But in the books, readers discover that she wears it around her neck as a trophy, a symbol of her power and supposed pure-blood descent. However, she has no idea that it is the Dark Lord's Horcrux. Interestingly, she is completely unaffected by the relic's evil power, unlike Ron and Harry when they wear it after stealing it. Yet another example that highlights the dark and evil nature of Imelda Staunton's character.
Want to continue reading? Discover these anecdotes about the Ministry of Magic.
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