For a book series initially created for kids and later morphing into a mature young adult series, there were a lot of significant deaths in the Harry Potter series. For a family movie franchise, many of those deaths carried over to the films with frequently heartbreaking and devastating manners.
Who dies in Harry Potter? Of course, the entire story started with violent deaths, as both Harry Potter's parents died, and he left marked following the attack by the evil Lord Voldemort. As an orphan whose aunt and uncle adopted him and then treated him horribly, the entire series built on a tragedy and played out to the bitter end, with no one safe from death's grasp.
Updated on February 1st, 2022, by Shawn S. Lealos: The saddest deaths in the Harry Potter franchise hit many readers hard. Whether it was a student that readers and movie viewers had grown to love or warriors that fell in battle, they were all characters fans had grown to love.
This has continued to cause problems for the characters in the Fantastic Beasts franchise. Anyone and everyone could die in the Harry Potter movies and the sacrifices have already started to rise in just two movies in the new spin-off series. All the deaths, regardless of how small the characters, affected the story in tragic and unexpected ways. Who died in Harry Potter changed the main characters forever.
Aragog
Aragog was a giant spider creature. He was large and scary and could have easily killed Harry Potter and his friends when they were young. However, Hagrid had a relationship with the giant spiders and he was there to care for them and protect them as best he could.
Aragog ended up contracting a deadly illness and there was nothing that Hagrid could do to help him. He wanted to ensure that Aragog had a proper burial and he was able to get the body back before the spider's children devoured it. When he buried Aragog, it was a hard moment for Hagrid.
Charity Burbage
The death of Charity Burbage was one of the most horrific in the Harry Potter franchise. She wasn't killed instantly like many others. She didn't die in battle like the most heroic of the witches and wizards. She was tortured by Voldemort and put on display for the Death Eaters to mock and laugh at.
Ms. Burbage was a Hogwarts professor who taught Muggle Studies. Because of his intense hatred for Muggles, Voldemort made an example of her for polluting the minds of the children. Even when she asked Snape to help her, he could do nothing and Voldemort killed her and fed her to Nagini.
Irma Dugard
Irma Dugard was part of the Fantastic Beasts franchise. She was a half-elf who worked for the Lestrange family. It was her job to care for the young Credence Barebone and it was her who signed his adoption papers.
Sadly, it was her job as a caregiver that led to her eventual death. Credence wanted to learn more about his family since he learned that he wasn't who he believed he was. Before he could get any real information from her, Grindelwald sent Gunnar Grimmson to her residence and he killed her.
Gellert Grindelwald
Gellert Grindelwald is the villain in the Fantastic Beasts trilogy, but this was not the first time Harry Potter fans met the evil wizard. He was a prisoner in Nurmengard in the original series of movies. He was serving time when Voldemort arrived to learn the location of the Elder Wand.
While Grindelwald was an evil man himself, he faced a monster worse than even he and stood defiant. He stood up to Voldemort, refused to give up the location, and mocked the wizard, leading to his death, defiant to the end.
Leta Lestrange
Leta Lestrange was one of the heroes in the Fantastic Beasts series, a former girlfriend of Newt Scamander and current girlfriend of his brother Theseus. Sadly, she would never marry Theseus because she was one of the people who stood up to Grindelwald.
Leta ed Newt, Theseus, and others in an attack on Grindelwald at a gathering and she served as a distraction to help her allies escape. She then destroyed Grindelwald's skull hookah, disrupting his plans, and died in the flames in the ultimate sacrifice and one of the saddest deaths in the Harry Potter prequels.
Ariana Dumbledore
Ariana Dumbledore was killed in the past, but it was a loss that was felt hard by Albus Dumbledore. Since fans loved Dumbledore so much, his loss hurt others, and when he talked about his beloved sister, it was clear the hurt was still there.
The fact that Dumbledore could have killed his sister while in a duel with Gellert Grindelwald made it even worse, as she fell in a three-way battle that included brother Aberforth Dumbledore as well.
Lavender Brown
Readers and movie fans watched Lavender Brown grow up in the world of the Potterverse. She made her first appearance when she started school alongside Harry Potter. She then went on to become a part of Dumbledore's Army and was an ally all along.
Sadly, she died in the Battle of Hogwarts when the savage werewolf Fenrir Greyback attacked her. Friends tried to save her, but they were too late, and she succumbed to her injuries.
Colin Creevey
Colin Creevey might be the most senseless death of them all. He showed up late when he came in as a wide-eyed new student. His innocence and enthusiasm were on display immediately when he showed up with his camera to take a picture of Harry Potter, a wizard he had the utmost respect for.
There was no way fans couldn't fall in love with the little guy. Sadly, he died during the Battle of Hogwarts, killed by unknown Death Eaters.
James Potter
The most significant loss in the Harry Potter books when it came to the Boy Wizard's family was his mother, Lily. The pain that it left in Snape was heartbreaking in every way.
However, while Lily's death was hard to take, there is no discounting Harry's loss of his father. Yes, James Potter was a jerk as a student, but he was still Harry Potter's dad, and he was always there to help Harry from the afterlife when his son needed him.
Hedwig
When a pet dies, it is a genuinely tragic death, yet it happened so fast that many people might have forgotten it amongst the in-your-face deaths of the franchise. In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Harry was escaping from Death Eaters, and he was in flight when they started firing Killing Curses at him.
Harry was able to dodge them, but one curse intended for Hagrid slipped by and struck Hedwig, Harry's beloved owl, and it fell dead during the fight.
