Everybody loves a baddie, but no one’s more rotten to the core than this Harry Potter villain. And before you ask, no. We’re not talking about Voldemort. Nor Grindelwald. Not even Lucius Malfoy or Bellatrix Lestrange. Ekrizdis is the one who takes the crown of most deplorable Harry Potter villain of all time.
You might not have heard of him, but Ekrizdis is a pivotal figure in Harry Potter history. The Harry Potter villain became well-known sometime in the fifteenth century after taking up residence on a remote island and building a fortress that would later become the infamous wizarding prison Azkaban. There, the wizard devoted all his energy to mastering the dark arts — but that was just the start of the Harry Potter character‘s reign of terror.
He’d lure Muggle fishermen to his fortress and use them as human guinea pigs, torturing them using experimental dark magic. But beyond this sadism, Ekrizdis is perhaps best known for inventing Dementors — you know, the malevolent, soul-sucking beings that guard Azkaban?
It’s unclear whether Ekrizdis meant to create Dementors or not, but somehow the idea of them being accidental feels even more sinister: if you can make such an evil being by accident, imagine the horrors Ekrizdis was able to do when he actually set his mind to it.
Nobody is quite sure of the extent of Ekrizdis’ monstrous deeds, but after his death, the various concealment charms on his fortress were lifted. But according to reports, the things wizards discovered there were so twisted and horrific they vowed never to speak of it again.
What sets Ekrizdis apart from other Harry Potter villains is his motivations. Even Voldemort and Grindewalds’ shared lust for power at least made sense. But the accounts detailing Ekrizdis’ crimes seem to suggest that he just tortured people for no reason other than fun and pure sadism, and you can’t really get much more evil than that.
Ekrizdis isn’t in any of the Harry Potter movies, nor is he likely to appear in the Harry Potter TV series — but you have to admit, that he’d make a pretty compelling movie villain.
For more on the wizarding world, check out our guides on the Harry Potter movies in order, the Harry Potter cast, and Harry Potter plot holes. Or, get back to basics with our guides to the best movies of all time and all the new movies coming your way this year.