Hagrid's 10 Worst Moments In Harry Potter, Ranked

Hagrid (played by Robbie Coltrane in the movies) is a lovable character from the Harry Potter series but makes some mistakes with lasting consequences. The worst things Hagrid does in the Harry Potter books include giving away vital information, endangering the kids through cluelessness, and just some generally dumb mishaps. Some moments surrounding Hagrid’s character, including Harry remembering in the last book how he once gave Voldemort information by mistake, are based on Hagrid’s genuine goodness clashing with unfortunate circumstances.

Hagrid’s biggest flaw, which the other characters are well aware of, is his penchant for some of the most dangerous pets in Harry Potter; he is too fond of magical creatures to be wary of the deadly ones. However, Harry, Ron, and Hermione always stick by Hagrid when he is one of the most loyal and protective people in their lives. Hagrid’s arc throughout the series can be interpreted as an object lesson in good intentions gone awry, but he is also very important symbolically when he brings Harry into the Wizarding World.

10 Hagrid Idolizes Dumbledore

Like Everyone Else, Hagrid Instills In Harry That Dumbledore Is Infallible

First and foremost, Hagrid is deeply loyal to Dumbledore, due to Dumbledore advocating for him and getting him a job after he was wrongly expelled from Hogwarts. Because Hagrid is the first person Harry meets from the Wizarding World, he is the first person to impress Dumbledore’s greatness on Harry. Throughout the rest of the series, all the adults in Harry’s life take Dumbledore’s word as absolute truth, following his exact orders without question.

Dumbledore is a movie character it took a long time to realize is a villain, manipulating Harry’s entire life when he could have been more upfront. Characters like Hagrid and the Weasleys obey Dumbledore’s commands when it comes to Harry’s upbringing when it doesn’t make any sense for a teacher to have this kind of say, rather than the people the child’s parents named as his guardians. Hagrid can’t be blamed for this too much when this is a problem with everyone, but refusing to give Harry to Sirius because Dumbledore said so isn’t his finest moment.

9 Hagrid Assigns Vicious Monster Books

Hagrid Could Have At Least Included A Note On How To Tame The Books

The Wizarding World gimmick that kicks off Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is Hagrid sending Harry the Monster Book of Monsters for his birthday, which Harry has to deal with without waking up the Dursleys. When all the students get to Hagrid’s first class, they have used various tools to bind shut the books. Ron and Hermione also report that when they went to buy their books at Flourish and Blotts, the “assistant nearly cried when [they] said they wanted two [books].”

Considering that Hagrid had an easy trick to calm the books so they could be read, he put the shop and the students through a lot of trouble and potential injury. Hagrid clearly knows his way around magical creatures, and it is possible that the textbook is well-researched and will be useful for the class. However, all it would have taken was to tell McGonagall to include a note in the book list of how to manage the books until they got to school.

8 Hagrid Tells The Golden Trio About Nicolas Flamel (& A Bunch Of Other Stuff)

Hagrid’s Tendency To Reveal Information Is A Running Gag

The Golden Trio figures out fast that if they get Hagrid talking, there’s a good chance he will reveal something he’s not supposed to. Dumbledore instructed Hagrid to pick up the Sorcerer’s Stone from Gringotts with Harry, so Harry being clued in here is not on Hagrid. However, once they are at school, Hagrid reveals that he owns Fluffy, that Nicolas Flamel is involved, which professors also provided enchantments to guard the stone, and that he gave away information about Fluffy.

This information leads to the trio attempting to claim the stone before Voldemort, putting themselves in danger. What can be said in Hagrid’s defense is that he had just met these kids this year, and might have convinced himself that they wouldn’t be undertaking any dangerous adventures because of what he said. Notably, in the later books, he keeps plenty of secrets from them to prevent the same thing.

7 Hagrid Doesn’t Tell Harry About Platform 9 3/4

Hagrid Not Mentioning This Doesn’t Make Any Sense

In the book, Harry lives with the Dursleys for another month after getting his school supplies with Hagrid. He has to ask them for a ride to King’s Cross because no one made any arrangements for Hagrid or someone else to pick him up. Given that Hagrid had just figured out that the Dursleys went 10 years without telling Harry anything about magic, trusting them with this is a mistake. Aunt Petunia would have gone to Platform 9 3/4 with Lily, but she’s proven she’s not invested in Harry actually getting to Hogwarts.

Therefore, it would have been smart for Hagrid to tell Harry how to get onto the platform, or to at least offer to Dumbledore to go pick Harry up again. The movie makes this plot hole even more of an issue because Hagrid takes Harry straight from shopping to the train station, and then leaves him there without further instructions. In both cases, this oversight is mostly included to facilitate Harry’s initial meeting with the Weasleys.

6 Hagrid Brings Grawp Back To Hogwarts

Hagrid Wanted To Help His Brother But Put The Trio In A Difficult Spot Again

Off-screen during Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Hagrid and Madame Maxine are sent by Hagrid to try and form an alliance with the giants. During this adventure, Hagrid finds his half-brother, a (comparatively) small giant who is abused by the others. Despite Grawp not wanting to leave, Hagrid brings him back to Hogwarts and asks the trio to look after him when Hagrid is inevitably forced to leave the school. For the sake of the runtime, the movie undermines exactly how freaked out the trio was when Hagrid asked this of them.

This leads to Hermione’s craziest plan ever, improvised on the spot to get rid of Umbridge. Additionally, Grawp gets easier to manage in the subsequent books, and Hagrid worrying about his family is at least admirable. Yet this is just another time in the franchise that Hagrid makes life even more difficult for a group of teenagers who are already dealing with too much.

5 Hagrid & Aragog

Hagrid’s Almost Gets Harry & Ron Killed With Aragog

Hagrid’s lifelong friendship with Aragog started when Hagrid received Aragog’s egg from a traveler and attempted to raise him in secret while at Hogwarts — not the smartest plan. However, these circumstances were made more dangerous by the Chamber of Secrets being opened, something completely outside Hagrid’s control. When Aragog was blamed for a student’s murder, Hagrid helped him escape and start a life and family in the Forbidden Forest.

Hagrid then leaves Harry and Ron a clue that enables them to prove his innocence by finding Aragog and learning the truth from him. However, they are almost eaten by Aragog’s family. In Hagrid’s defense, he did have reason to believe that Aragog would spare the kids in service of them going on to prove his innocence. However, it is more likely that Hagrid just overestimated Aragog’s kindness and again put the children in danger.

4 Hagrid Tells Voldemort & Quirrell How To Get Past Fluffy

Hagrid Accidentally But Willingly Revealed How Voldemort Could Get The Stone

Hagrid’s worst moment, which the books spend the most time on, emphasizing that it was a terrible mistake, is telling Quirrell how to get past Fluffy. Had Voldemort’s plan succeeded, this would have allowed him to regain his full strength three years earlier. While at the Hog’s Head in Hogsmeade, Hagrid meets a cloaked stranger who happens to have a dragon egg, using this as a conversation starter to ask Hagrid about the other magical creatures he has cared for.

Hagrid is also drinking a lot during this conversation and isn’t on his guard about this sketchy stranger with a dragon egg asking about Fluffy. Hagrid certainly didn’t mean any harm and made an honest mistake, but his carelessness shows. The matter of the Sorcerer’s Stone was being treated seriously by the other staff members involved, and even Hagrid when he was sober, but he still talked about it in public.

3 Hagrid Tries To Raise Norbert In Secret

Hagrid’s Plan To Raise A Dragon Was No Plan At All

After Hagrid gets hold of a dragon egg, he hatches it and attempts to raise the dragon in his wooden house (as Hermione points out). The trio feels honor-bound to not tell anyone what Hagrid is doing, and then ends up in detention because they were passing off Norbert to friends of Ron’s brother Charlie in the middle of the night. They technically didn’t have to do this for Hagrid, but still ended up in a lot of trouble because of him, which could have been even worse if they hadn’t gotten rid of Norbert before getting caught.

Which raises a lot of questions about what Hagrid thought he was doing. It was illegal for him to keep a dragon, and Norbert was eventually going to outgrow his house. There was no logic to it and Hagrid was risking his job, only because he had always wanted a dragon. In this case, Hagrid’s motivations were completely selfish, and the situation was only ever going to end with him having to get rid of Norbert.

2 Hagrid Does Months Of Blast-Ended Skrewts For Class

Hagrid’s Teaching At Its Worst

Hagrid’s track record with his classes isn’t as bad as the students make it out to be, but there is one type of magical creature that his bringing to class was disastrously dangerous: the Blast-Ended Skrewts. Hagrid may have bred these creatures himself, which are a cross between a Manticore and a Fire Crab. He puts this class through months of avoiding being stung or burned (and often failing) as they try to raise the Skrewts. Hermione even tells Harry and Ron after class that she agrees with Draco, and that they should kill the Skrewts while they’re small.

Hagrid might have been charged with raising them so they could be used in the final task of the Triwizard Tournament, but it’s unlikely the organizers meant for students to raise them. The trio is always skeptical of what Hagrid is going to bring to class, but the Hippogriffs and Thestrals were good lessons. The Skrewts are where his oversights when it came to teaching were impermissible for classes.

1 Hagrid Curses Dudley To Have A Pig’s Tail

Hagrid Punishes The Durselys With Only Malevolent Intentions

When Hagrid comes to get Harry and tells him he’s a wizard, he memorably gets so angry at the Dursleys that he curses Dudley to have a pig’s tail. Hagrid then discreetly asks Harry not to tell anyone at Hogwarts about it; it is an illegal attack on a muggle that could have resulted in imprisonment. Moreover, Dudley said nothing during this whole interaction, and Hagrid just wanted to punish Vernon and Petunia.

No one in the Wizarding World ever finds out about it and Vernon and Petunia take Dudley to get the tail surgically removed. After years of being abused by the Dursleys, Harry is not inclined at all to feel sorry about it, even though Hagrid should have behaved better. Petunia and Vernon should probably be in prison for child abuse, but Dudley was 11 years old at the time and had been spoiled his whole life. An attack on a child with only malevolent intent is Hagrid’s worst act in the entire Harry Potter series.