| NOTE: This page is only about Professor Quirrell's original book incarnation as his film incarnation is not a Villainous Benchmark, thus only the book version of Professor Quirrell's info and crimes should be put here. |
| “ | Troll in the dungeon! Troll in the dungeon. Thought you ought to know. | „ |
| ~ Professor Quirrell's most famous quote. |
| “ | Quirrell, full of hatred, greed, and ambition, sharing his soul with Voldemort, could not touch you for this reason. It was agony to touch a person marked by something so good. | „ |
| ~ Albus Dumbledore speaking of Professor Quirrell to Harry Potter. |
| “ | I met him when I traveled around the world. A foolish young man I was then, full of ridiculous ideas about good and evil. Lord Voldemort showed me how wrong I was. There is no good and evil, there is only power, and those too weak to seek it. | „ |
| ~ Professor Quirrell talking to Harry Potter about Lord Voldemort. |
Professor Quirinus Quirrell is a major antagonist in the Harry Potter franchise. He serves as the main antagonist of the 1997 book Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling, and a posthumous antagonist in later installments.
He became the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher during Harry Potter's first year at Hogwarts. He was the host of Lord Voldemort's non-corporeal form, scheming to steal the Philosopher's Stone and use it to give Voldemort a new physical body and power.
He was portrayed by Ian Hart.
His Evil Ranking[]
His Villainous Deeds[]
- His arrogant overestimation of his skills coming from his pent-up greed and hatefulness led to him traveling around the world to capture Lord Voldemort and eventually turning to evil.
- In addition, he hoped to learn dark magic skills from Voldemort even before joining his cause.
- Throughout the novel, he attempts to steal the Philosopher's Stone to restore Voldemort's physical form and power so that way the latter can proceed to harm millions of innocent people. He also adopts his old personality of being shy and nervous as a façade to hide his true nature.
- He futilely breaks into Gringotts to steal the Stone.
- He brings a troll into Hogwarts as a diversion for him to steal the Stone, endangering the entire school body and also nearly leading to Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger getting killed by the monster.
- He jinxes Harry's broomstick during a Quidditch match in an attempt to kill him, showing Quirrell is willing to hurt children.
- He preys on unicorns and drinks their blood to keep himself and Voldemort alive. Several unicorns have been murdered brutally in this way.
- He tries to attack Harry when seeing him in the Forbidden Forest, only abstaining from hurting the centaurs out of pure cowardice.
- Disguised as a stranger, he tricks Rubeus Hagrid into revealing the secret of how to get past Fluffy, one of the obstacles guarding the Stone. This would later cause Hagrid to feel incredible remorse and even call him an "evil git".
- He writes Albus Dumbledore a false letter to lure him to the Ministry of Magic.
- He uses Severus Snape as a scapegoat to divert suspicions from himself.
- He brutally incapacitates a troll in the Underground Chambers.
- He attempts to kill Harry during his final attempt to steal the Stone, only for Dumbledore to grab and restrain him at the last second.
Why Doesn't He Stand Out?[]
- While his actions are reprehensible and definitely push him past the baseline, Professor Quirrell fails the High Heinous Standard to Peter Pettigrew, Barty Crouch Jr., Dolores Umbridge, Antonin Dolohov, and Fenrir Greyback, who all did worse with comparable resources.
- Much of his actions are committed under the possession of Voldemort, making him come across as a generic enforcer to a purely evil man.
- He has a tragic past and insecurities, having been bullied for his timidity and nervousness during his youth, which serves as a motivation for his desire to gain fame and respect which led to his fall to villainy. This, combined with being abused, used as a pawn, and abandoned as he was dying by Voldemort's astral hand, makes him a scapegoat.
- He tried to resist Voldemort's influence at times but was easily overpowered, meaning he suffers from moral agency issues.
Trivia[]
- Only the novel version of Quirinus Quirrell can be considered a Villainous Benchmark, while his film version is Near Pure Evil because of his lack of redeeming qualities, his vague yet fanatical loyalty to Lord Voldemort, and his death being satisfactory and karmic. Furthermore, him failing the Heinous Standard is only a minor prevention as the films' Heinous Standard is lower (e.g., Fenrir Greyback is downplayed enormously and Damocles Rowle is never mentioned at all).
External Links[]
- Quirinus Quirrell on the Villains Wiki
- Quirinus Quirrell (Films) on the Near Pure Evil Wiki
- Quirinus Quirell on the Harry Potter Wiki
[]
 Villainous Benchmarks
Severus Snape | Professor Quirrell | Lucius Malfoy | Aurelius Dumbledore | Draco Malfoy | Salazar Slytherin |