and in that moment, the entire movie theater burst into tears

i think this was the moment that made most of us despise umbridge more than voldemort

most of us?! don’t you mean ALL of us?? I don’t think even Voldemort liked this bitch!

No one likes Umbridge.

I heard, one time, a dementor kissed her and IT died

Voldemort committed genocide, but Umbridge dared to be female while she abused her power. 

The point isn’t that Umbridge was worse than Voldemort; it’s that everyone hates her more. And I think it has nothing to do with her being a woman and everything with being the sort of cruel most of us have actually experienced.

I mean, look at Voldemort. He’s basically Wizard Hitler, which is, obviously, an incredibly terrible thing to be. But most people—especially the younger people in Harry Potter’s target audience—have not had their parents murdered by a xenophobic cult leader. Nor have they fought for their lives against giant snakes, been kidnapped for dark rituals, or watched numerous friends die in front of them. Voldemort’s crimes are numerous, but they’re distant and fantastical, like hearing about a serial killer on the news.

But they have had that one teacher who inflicts extra punishments just because they don’t like you. They’ve complained to parents and authorities only to be ignored. They’ve sat through pointless classes and been silenced when they criticize. Umbridge is that teacher we all hated because she made our lives miserable and we were powerless to stop her. And as we grow out of school, there are still people in positions of power who act like her. The manager who denies your schedule requests and penalizes you for invented infractions. That customer who complains to corporate because their scam didn’t work, and the corporate decision to listen to their story. Cops performing illegal searches because they know you don’t have any proof.

Yes, torturing and killing numerous people is worse than terrorizing a handful of schoolchildren, but Voldemort is the bad guy in a fairy tale. Umbridge is personal.

Umbridge took a very real delight in the pain she caused and pleasure in her utter untouchability. You couldn’t tell her anything nor could you tell anyone about her (that could/would do anything). It’s like suffocating.

I had an abusive teacher who picked on me and tried to silence me. Gave me extra work and called me liar. Whenever Umbridge was brought up in the books, I had a hatred so intense, it felt like my stomach was on fire.

Voldemort would take your unhappy allegiance. Umbridge desires your exquisite and total oppression.

I would hate Umbridge exactly as much if she were a male character because I am going to hate any character that literally tortures children. Have we forgotten Harry’s “I must not tell lies” scar, or Lee Jordan’s time with the blood quill, or (in the filmverse) all the members of the DA?  She was going to use the Cruciatus Curse on Harry.

Voldemort has done more evil things, but both of them are across a moral line.

Also, not to take away from the extreme truth of the preceding comments, but she wasn’t even “just” a bad teacher. Sure, we hate Hitler more than anyone… but do we hate Himmler and Goebbels any less? Because that’s who Umbridge is. Everybody remembers when she was headmaster, but remember her appearance in the ministry, in book 7? She was in charge of anti-muggle born propaganda! She wasn’t roped into this, she took great delight in it. She also ran the show trials against muggle-borns. Remember that sadistic trial scene? One of the most torturous scenes in the books to not involve actual torture. Maybe the chill of it hit me harder and stuck with me longer because I heard it in audio form, but for everyone who didn’t have the benefit of hearing Jim Dale perform it, the facts were these:

Umbridge: “Could you please tell us from which witch or wizard you took that wand?”

Mary Cattermole: "T-took? I didn’t t-take it from anybody. I b-bought it when I was eleven years old. It – it – it – chose me."

Umbridge: “No. No, I don’t think so, Mrs. Cattermole. Wands only choose witches or wizards. You are not a witch.”

(Emphasis added.)

This is “I MUST NOT TELL LIES” in a life or death situation. The truth is no defense. Reality is no defense. State-enforced bigotry is the only truth the court recognizes. If you agree, you’re confessing. If you don’t, you’re lying. This is Kafka and Orwell in the wizarding world, inspired by the same (real world) totalitarian nightmares that informed their writings.

(And incidentally, it’s also Umbridge committing Voldemort’s genocide. She wasn’t even a soldier following orders. She was a leader issuing directives.)

If that part didn’t scare you, you weren’t putting yourself in Mary Cattermole’s shoes… and in fact, I think that’s the ultimate answer to the notion that people hate on Umbridge because she’s a woman. Can we empathize with Sybil Trelawney? She’s a woman, albeit a ridiculous one. Can we empathize with Mary Cattermole? She’s a woman, whom we never see when she isn’t consumed with fully justified mortal terror. We see these women at their most beaten down—emotional and spiritual wrecks—and do we empathize with them?

If we can empathize with these two women, how can we not despise Umbridge?