Dolores Umbridge

Dolores Jane Umbridge is a fictional character from the Harry Potter series created by J. K. Rowling. Umbridge is the main antagonist of the fifth novel, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, where she has been stationed at Hogwarts by the Ministry of Magic to take power away from Albus Dumbledore.

During her time at Hogwarts, Umbridge grows in power and is appointed High Inquisitor by the Minister for Magic in an attempt to control the school. Despite being assigned as the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Umbridge refuses to teach anything practical in the subject, which leads to the formation of Dumbledore's Army as a way for the students to learn how to defend themselves. Umbridge is physically described in the narrative as a fat, toad-like woman with a wide slack mouth, a large black bow that is often in her mousy brown hair and a high-pitched voice.

Critics have recognised Umbridge as one of the most hated, as well as the most compelling, villains in the series. Umbridge was portrayed by Imelda Staunton in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1, and in 2026 by Keira Knightley in the Audible dramatised recordings of the fifth and seventh novels.