The Weasley family is an incredibly important, integral part of the magical world’s resistance towards the rising power of Lord Voldemort in the second Wizarding War, being notable members of both the Order of the Phoenix and Dumbledore’s Army. The family consisted of no less than four Hogwarts Prefects and two Head Boys. With the Weasley family being chock full of powerful Witches and Wizards, who is the best? In terms of power level, influence on events and sheer likability, who is the top dog?
With such a bustling family with many notable members past, present and cursed child future, I am only going to focus on the family as it was in the Harry Potter series and only Molly, Arthur and the kids, so no aunts, uncles, children’s children, members married into the family or pets!
Without further ado, from worst to first, let’s Revelio the list. Warning, this article contains spoilers.
Percy Weasley
It is prefectly obvious who is the worst Weasley, Percy takes the crown by a country mile. Although he has his redemption towards the end of the Deathly Hallows, throughout the book series he is a stuck up, toxically ambitious pain in the Weasley backside. He severs himself from the Weasley family with harsh words towards his mother and father, being more interested in his loyalty to the Ministry of Magic than his own family, he urges Ron to stop being associated with Harry Potter and is (almost) completely devoid of a sense of humour, as “Percy wouldn’t know a joke if it danced naked in front of him wearing Dobby’s tea cosy”. He was a talented, academic wizard though, being a Hogwarts Prefect and Head Boy besides, so there is that.
Charles (Charlie) Weasley
Charlie Weasley is pretty cool to be fair and it pains me to put him so far down on this list. The truth is though, he really doesn’t have a lot to do in the Harry Potter series. He is the only Weasley member to not be seen in person on screen in the Harry Potter film series (although he is present in a photograph in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and potentially a cameo in the wedding in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1). Charlie was a Captain in the Gryffindor Quidditch team, playing seeker. He is, however, most notable for his work with dragons. After leaving Hogwarts, he went to work in Romania to work with dragons, including Hagrid’s Norwegian Ridgeback, Norbert. He spends the Second Wizarding War recruiting wizards in Romania against Voldemort. He appears in the book at the end of Deathly Hallows, leading reinforcements towards the climax of the Battle of Hogwarts with Professor Slughorn, which likely changed the tide of the battle. However, apart from that, he is notably absent from the series.
William (Bill) Weasley
General Hux himself, Bill is another Weasley that is fairly absent from most of the Harry Potter events. He was Head Boy back in his day but during the series he was a Curse-Breaker for Gringotts Bank, being very proficient in counter-curses and the Defence Against the Dark Arts. He was one of the members of the Order of the Phoenix that guarded Hogwarts in Half-Blood Prince, where he was wounded by Fenrir Greyback, he was one of the seven Potters that spirited Harry away from Privet Drive and he sheltered Harry and his gathered group of companions in his cottage after escaping from Malfoy Manor. He also fought in the Battle of Hogwarts but is never really more than a background character in the series.
Arthur Weasley
Arthur Weasley is a thoroughly good egg. He is the patriarch of the Weasley Tribe and acts as a father figure for Harry throughout the series. He is kind and compassionate, being passionate about Wizard-Muggle relations. We don’t have much information to go on with regards to his actual proficiency with magic. He is good with charms, having charmed many Muggle artefacts in his spare time. He is also good enough duellist to be part of the Battle of the Seven potters, entrusted with guarding the Hall of Prophecy (although he was almost killed by Voldemort’s snake/Horcrux, Nagini) and confidently helped the Ministry in the Quidditch World Cup riots and fought well in the Battle of Hogwarts.
Fred Weasley
Fred is one half of the comedy duo, Fred and George, the two being identical twins. The Weasley twins are lovable, light-hearted and roguish. They are always a nuisance to Hogwarts and their family with practical jokes, but are very popular Weasleys in and out of school. Both the twins were incredibly gifted Wizards, having created charms and spells of their own creation that even Hermione Granger was impressed by. Their portable swamp was so impressive that Professor Flitwick kept a piece of it in Hogwarts when he cleaned it up, saying “it was a good bit of magic”. They both participated in the Battle of the Seven Potters and the Battle of Hogwarts, were unbeatable beaters in the Gryffindor Quidditch Team and were prudent businessmen, opening a joke shop (Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes) in Diagon Alley. The only thing that really separates them is that in the Battle of Hogwarts, Fred dies (spoilers) and George survives.
George Weasley
George Weasley really only beats his brother by way of last man standing, there really isn’t much to distinguish the two, other than that. After the Second Wizarding War, he is unable to produce a Patronus again because most of his happy memories are associated with his late twin brother. He continues to thrive in business though, eventually joined in Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes by Ron and he marries his Quidditch teammate, Angelina Johnson.
Ronald (Ron) Weasley
Many would perhaps be a bit disappointed with me putting Ron Weasley at only third in our Weasley family ranking, but I think it is fairly well justified. He is obviously a major part in Harry Potter’s success over the years, with achievements including the best game of chess that Hogwarts has seen these many years, conducting himself with distinction in pretty much every battle in the Harry Potter series and he defeated a mountain troll in his first year at Hogwarts. I think the beauty of Ron’s character in Harry Potter though is the fact that he’s not a supremely gifted wizard, he’s not the chosen one and has the emotional range of a teaspoon. He just wants to help his friends. He’s a regular guy, caught up in bigger events and more powerful magic than his level, yet he still keeps going. Well, apart from that bit in Deathly Hallows but we will let him off for that one. The issue comes with how you define the “best” Weasley. He is popular and integral to the series events, but in terms of power level, I would argue that he is magically one of the weakest Weasleys. We still love him though. Ron will always be our King.
Ginevra (Ginny) Weasley
Ok, I can hear your shouts. “How can you put Ginny in front of Ron and the twins?!”. Well, this one is purely personal preference. I think that Ginny is a badass. She is the youngest Weasley, yet I would say she was arguably one of the most prolific Weasleys in the fight against what she thought was wrong, pre and during the Second Wizarding War. She has the least magical experience, yet is good enough to fight much more established wizards in the Department of Mysteries, partook in a duel against arguably the most powerful witch in Harry Potter (Bellatrix Lestrange) and was talented enough to be selected in the esteemed Slug Club. She is fierce, rebellious and strong, an effective co-leader of Dumbledore’s Army in Deathly Hallows and good enough at Quidditch to turn pro. Where I put Ginny in the Weasley rankings eventually came down to who I saw would dare piss her off without having their backside handed to them. In the end, there is only one I could see who wouldn’t have bat bogey’s hanging from there nostrils after upsetting her.
Molly Weasley
Number one, the top Weasley, is easily Molly Weasley. The matriarch of the Weasley tribe. The three things I mentioned at the start were power level, influence on events and sheer likability and Molly Weasley has to rank highest in every category. She is supremely likeable, doing her best for her whole family despite impoverishment, being the motherly figure in Harry’s life, loving him as much as her own children (this is evident when her Boggart changed to incorporate Harry) and is a fierce, strong female role model. In terms of influence, she gave birth to quite a sizable portion of the second Order of the Phoenix and one-third of the trio that did Voldemort in. All this happened due to her influence. Without her raising such powerful, yet good-willed wizards (and I include Harry in that statement as she was more of a mother than Aunt Petunia ever was), I genuinely think that Voldemort would have won.
Lastly, there is power level. Apart from non-verbal magic, various clever charms and spells around the Burrow for housekeeping, we see no inclination that she is a particularly powerful witch. That is until we get to the Battle of Hogwarts. After seeing one of Bellatrix Lestrange’s killing curses narrowly miss Ginny, she barges in screaming “NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!” whilst Bellatrix eyes her new opponent, laughing. That’s when we see how powerful Molly Weasley is, as the two fought ferociously and the floor beneath them became hot and cracked. Eventually, Molly killed Bellatrix. Bellatrix, Voldemort’s most powerful witch, the witch that killed the expert duellist Sirius Black and was easily more than a match for three of the most powerful students of Hogwarts at the time, killed by the good-natured, homely, loving housewife. For this act alone, Molly deserves to be top of the pile.
Who Do You Think Is The Best Weasley?
Obviously lists like this are subjective, so who do you think is the best Weasley? How would you rank the Weasleys? Perhaps you think Ron should be number one or Bill should be higher. Maybe you think Fred is better than George. I don’t think we have anyone arguing over Percy’s position in the list though…
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Love Harry Potter lists? See our ranking of the series most powerful wizards and our wizard dream team.
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