While Ravenclaw house doesn’t get its due attention in the Harry Potter series, there’s no denying that the franchise is packed with some of the most powerful Ravenclaws — and some of the worse. Ravenclaw house was founded by renowned witch Rowena Ravenclaw back in the 10th century. While Gryffindor chose the bravest students, Slytherin the most ambitious, and Hufflepuff the most loyal, Ravenclaw had the desire to teach the wittiest of the bunch her magic, with the iconic house words being, “wit beyond measure is a man’s greatest treasure.”
The two most well-known Ravenclaws from the series are arguably Cho Chang and Luna Lovegood. While Cho mainly served as Harry’s first love interest, Luna took on a central role from Order of the Phoenix and beyond proving that oddness should be embraced and to never judge a book by its cover. Surprisingly enough, Luna isn’t even one of the most powerful Ravenclaws in the Harry Potter franchise, as the house churned out a number of famous wizards that have proven their worth. Diligent study and an acceptance of the abstract have proved fruitful traits in Ravenclaws, leading to some of the most powerful forces in Harry Potter.
Most Powerful Ravenclaw Wizards
Filius Flitwick
The Head of Ravenclaw House while Harry Potter attended Hogwarts, Filius Flitwick was the professor of Charms class, head of Ravenclaw house, and one of the most powerful Ravenclaws. He spent most of his life teaching young minds how to properly use their wands to cast spells. That takes a certain amount of power and patience. What some fans might not know, however, is that Professor Flitwick also happened to be a champion dueler in his youth. He’s also half Goblin, giving him the likelihood of stronger magic and a longer lifespan.
Garrick Ollivander
Long before Harry Potter went to Diagon Alley to get his first wand, the Ollivander family opened up their wand shop. Members of the Ollivander family, much like the Weasleys in Gryffindor, were traditionally sorted into Ravenclaw, and arguably some of the most powerful Ravenclaws. Garrick Ollivander, the man running the shop in Harry’s youth, not only created perfect wands but had a knack for finding which one was suited to which wizard. Without him, the witches and wizards of the United Kingdom wouldn’t have been able to perform magic nearly as effectively. He also remembered every wand he ever sold and to whom.
Quirinus Quirrell
Professor Quirrell could also be listed among the worst of Ravenclaws, but is technically one of the most powerful Ravenclaws. While he’s intelligent and powerful, he spent at least a year with Voldemort living on the back of his head. A master of deception, Professor Quirrell had all of his students believing he was a coward who had garlic in his turban to ward off vampires. In reality, he was a cold and calculating follower of Voldemort who used his intelligence to find the dark wizard and plan a way to bring him back to life. He was eventually bested by Harry, but he certainly put up a good fight.
Ignatia Wildsmith
Not much is known about Ignatia Wildsmith, but she was one of the most powerful Ravenclaws. She didn’t feature in the Harry Potter films or novels. Instead, she’s a bit of trivia on chocolate frog cards and other official merchandise. Ignatia was a witch in the thirteenth century who had a particular interest in herbology. She stayed within her favorite field long after attending Hogwarts and made a fantastic discovery. Ignatia is the one who developed Floo Powder from the leaves of a plant. By the 1990s, it was the most popular way for wizards to travel and the price of a scoop hadn’t changed since she made it available.
Rowena Ravenclaw
It seems impossible to talk about the most powerful Ravenclaws without talking about the woman who started it all. One of the founders of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Rowena Ravenclaw prized knowledge above all else. She believed it was important to have a curious mind and think outside of the box. Those are the traits she imparted to the sorting hat.
Audiences know of her great power through a few of her acts. Proficient in Charms, she came up with the ever-changing floor plan for Hogwarts as well as enchanting the sorting hat. Rowena also had powers of divination; prophetic dreams led to the naming of Hogwarts. She enchanted her prized diadem to enhance the wisdom of the wearer, and no other witch or wizard could replicate her work.
Worst Ravenclaw Wizards
Gilderoy Lockhart
One of the most famous wizards to graduate from Ravenclaw, Gilderoy Lockhart made a name for himself by writing books about his exploits. The trouble was, they weren’t actually his exploits, going from one of the most powerful Ravenclaws to one of the worst. Lockhart’s most valuable skills are an ability to weave tall tales and proficiency with memory charms.
He made people forget that they ever talked to him, allowing him to pass off the stories he wrote as biographical. That eventually backfired on him when he tried to use a memory charm against Harry Potter and Ron Weasley with a broken wand. He obliterated his own memory instead, the results of which can be seen in the only Harry Potter post-credits scene in history.
Uric The Oddball
Not a character viewers will know from the movies, Uric the Oddball got a few mentions in the book series, but doesn’t stand a chance against the most powerful Ravenclaws. He also appears as a character on chocolate frog cards and has been a bit of trivia on various official Harry Potter websites.
Uric leans more toward the eccentric side of Ravenclaw rather than the intelligent. His place in history is documented because he wore a jellyfish as a hat. Uric also spent ten days with a concussion after thinking his wailing pet auguries were telling him he died. He ran into the wall thinking he would be able to walk right through it as a ghost. Uric the Oddball is an anecdote most Ravenclaws would rather hide in the footnotes of their history.
Moaning Myrtle
Myrtle probably wouldn’t be among the worst if she wasn’t such an unhappy ghost, but she’s certainly not one of the most powerful Ravenclaws. During her life, poor Myrtle was picked on by her classmates and then wound up stuck haunting the toilets in death. Moaning Myrtle was whiny and liked to spy on the students. If she attempted to help them with more than just whether the bubbles in the bathwater ran low, she might not have made the list. To spend decades haunting the plumbing at Hogwarts only to use it to spy on the students doesn’t seem like a very Ravenclaw thing to do.
Marietta Edgecombe
Surprisingly, the film Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix cut out Marietta Edgecombe’s major contribution to the franchise, but she definitely wasn’t one of the most powerful Ravenclaws. In the novels, she featured as a friend of Cho Chang’s who decided that belonging to Dumbledore’s Army wasn’t worth getting into trouble.
Marietta broke the terms of the enchanted contract to tell Dolores Umbridge about the secret organization. What she didn’t realize was that Hermione Granger had made sure anyone who betrayed the group would be obvious – with acne in the form of “SNEAK” across her face. Not only did she lie and betray the group, but she couldn’t find a way to remove the evidence.
Sybill Trelawney
Another Hogwarts professor amongst the Ravenclaws, and definitely not one of the most powerful Ravenclaws, Sybill Trelawney made her home at Hogwarts for more than a decade. An eccentric woman, she believed in all methods of divination. It’s just a shame she wasn’t very good at it. In all her years of staring into tea leaves and crystal balls, Professor Trelawney only seemed to make one true prediction. She made the prophecy that set Voldemort on his path against Harry Potter. Outside of that single proclamation, however, she didn’t seem to impart much wisdom to her students.
