The Defense Against the Dark Arts job at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was widely considered to be a cursed role. Each professor that took on the challenge of teaching defensive magic to the next generation found themselves unemployed (or worse) by the end of the year.
Across Harry’s time at Hogwarts, as well as its larger history, there have been a wide variety of professors in the role. Most of them have been incompetent at best, but some were even cruel to the students. It’s fair to say that it’s a department that performed poorly year in and year out, due to the uneven nature of the teaching and the calamities that befell each teacher. Let’s take a look at the stories of these professors and see who ranks as the worst and best!
PROFESSOR CARROW
Amycus Carrow was a Death Eater brought in by Severus Snape, during his brief stint as headmaster of the school. During the dark reign of Lord Voldemort, the Carrow twins were responsible for brainwashing and torturing the next generation of young wizards and witches. He is one of the most hated teachers in the school’s history.
Technically, Carrow’s lessons taught the Dark Arts, period, rather than any form of defense against them. He even had students practise their spells on the first years, although its fair to say that we doubt many of them actually took anything away from the lessons apart from misery.
PROFESSOR UMBRIDGE
Dolores Umbridge was sent by the Ministry of Magic to change the way Hogwarts operated. In her new role she took on one of the worst jobs in the school. Instead of stepping up to the plate, however, she instead folded and decided to teach the kids from textbooks.
This lack of a practical approach war criticised by many of her students, but the truth of the matter is that she didn’t want any of them learning how to fight back against her. Her cruel methods allowed her to maintain control and meant that the students would be woefully unprepared for Voldemort’s return… or would have been, without Harry and Dumbledore’s Army.
PROFESSOR LOCKHART
Gilderoy Lockhart was charming and arrogant. He was supposedly a bestselling author and gifted explorer, but in actuality, the only thing that he was talented at was memory charms. He was a thief, stealing the discoveries and accomplishments of others by making those great witches and wizards forget what they had done!
As a teacher, he was reckless and inattentive. He set tasks that even he couldn’t complete himself, and when he’s not setting cornish pixies loose in his classroom, he’s instead signing autographs. He perhaps meant well, but Lockhart was pretty useless throughout his career.
PROFESSOR QUIRRELL
We’re not too sure how good Quirrell was as a teacher. It appears that he may have had some talent for the arts, but his nervous act probably cost him a lot of time in lessons. He seemed to stumble over his words and was perhaps too scared to teach about certain hexes.
Of course, Quirrell held a dark secret throughout. He was no help at all when a troll was unleashed in the school, because he had set the troll loose in the first place. His alliance with Voldemort meant that he put all the students in danger, although at least he’d taught them a little about how to defend themselves first.
PROFESSOR RAKEPICK
We know even less about Rakepick. The Defense Against the Dark Arts role has been around for some time and Rakepick is one of the many professors to take up the mantle. Appearing in the extended universe of the wizarding world, she seems quite competent for the most part.
Fans can meet Rakepick in the Hogwarts Mystery game that can be found in most app stores. However, much like many of the other professors on this list, Rakepick does in fact hold a dark secret. She’s actually a hidden antagonist within the game.
PROFESSOR MOODY
The problem with Mad-Eye Moody is that he never actually got to teach at Hogwarts. While we imagine he would be an excellent teacher, the Alastor Moody who did teach during Harry’s fourth year was actually Barty Crouch Jr, using Polyjuice Potion to disguise himself.
Crouch actually taught the students a lot, however. He instructed them on how to defend themselves against the Unforgivable Curses and was a great help to Harry during the Triwizard Tournament, even though he was manipulating the boy for his own ghastly gains. He was very competent and its fair to say the students probably learnt more from him than other teachers.
PROFESSOR SNAPE
Snape has knowledge of so many powerful spells and has used them throughout his time as a teacher at Hogwarts. His alliances have made him a complicated man, but as a teacher he wasn’t too shabby. He always wanted this job, which is why he often neglected his students when he taught them Potions.
When it came his time to shine in the role, he tried to capitalise on the opportunity. He had a brief moment to showcase his skills when Lupin was on a break, but he really came into his own towards the end of his career at the school. He was probably distracted by his efforts with Draco, but nonetheless, he did teach the students a thing or two.
PROFESSOR DUMBLEDORE
Albus Dumbledore has been revealed to be one of the earlier professors to take on the role. Teaching during Newt Scamander’s days at the school, Albus managed to encompass a wide variety of lessons into each session he had with the students. Of course, series fans will know that Dumbledore was, first and foremost, a Transfiguration teacher, but Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald sees him in the Defense Against The Dark Arts role instead.
It’s easy to see that Dumbledore is kind and patient and has a certain charm that cannot be replicated. However, we don’t know much about what he was like as a teacher. We’ve caught glimpses here and there and he was an excellent mentor to Harry, but we’ve never seen a full year with the professor.
PROFESSOR LUPIN
Remus Lupin is at the top of this list for a few reasons. He’s perhaps the only professor that both the audience and Harry wished had stayed longer at the school. He taught the students how to face down Boggarts and, most importantly, taught harry how to fight off the Dementors.
Without the kind heart and good nature of Lupin, Harry might have died many times over at these ghastly creatures’ hands. Granted, he was a werewolf, which isn’t the most desirable trait to have in a teacher, but he knew what he was doing and most of the students actually enjoyed his lessons. That’s more than you can say for most of these professors!
