| “ | Haven't I told you he's not going? He's going to Stonewall High and he'll be grateful for it. I've read those letters and he needs all sorts of rubbish — spell books and wands and──I AM NOT PAYING FOR SOME CRACKPOT OLD FOOL TO TEACH HIM MAGIC TRICKS!!! | „ |
| ~ Vernon furiously arguing with Hagrid over Harry getting accepted into Hogwarts. |
Vernon Dursley is a recurring antagonist in Harry Potter. He is Harry's cruel uncle, the husband of Petunia Dursley, and the father of Dudley Dursley.
In the movies he was portrayed by the late Richard Griffiths.
What Makes Him a Hate Sink?[]
- Along with his wife Petunia and his son Dudley, he's very cruel to his nephew, forcing him to sleep in a tiny cupboard under the stairs for all of his childhood, ignoring most of his birthdays (and giving him something minor like a toothpick on the few occasions where they don't), and forcing him to do the chores. He and Petunia also lied to Harry about his parents' fates, claiming they died in a car crash.
- While his abuse methods were not as cruel as his sister Marge, he compensates by mistreating Harry for far longer, making him the quantity to Marge's quality.
- While Petunia has a somewhat tragic backstory explaining her dislike of Harry, Vernon's only reasons for hating Harry are that he considers wizards and witches freaks due to not being normal, as well as the fact that he had a bad experience with Harry's father. And while Petunia does hold genuine love for Harry deep down (she feels a genuine obligation to take care of Harry despite her disliking of him and she kept his baby blanket and wanted Harry to have it after she died), Vernon for real hates his nephew. When Harry was going on trial for use of magic outside of Hogwarts, Vernon outright stated he hoped Harry got the death penalty. He was also perfectly willing to throw Harry out of the house and leave him at the mercy of the Dementors before Petunia stopped him.
- Even outside of how he treats Harry and the wizarding world, he's a horrible person in general; it's mentioned that he loves bullying his employees around at work, judges people based on how expensive their cars are, and supports capital punishment on alleged criminals. Letting Dudley get as heavy as a killer whale when he's too young to know what's best for his own health and never teaching him anything remotely useful is objectively child abuse and Albus Dumbledore calls him and Petunia out on this. And while he's not shown mistreating Petunia or Marge, it's only because they just happen to agree on practically everything.
- He encourages his son Dudley to bully Harry. In fact, all of Dudley's negativity comes from Vernon spending fifteen years telling him that the more he torments Harry, the better and he subverts it after the Dementor incident, which Vernon would clearly be aghast to realize.
- He is callous enough to state that Harry's parents deserved to die and that the world was better off without them.
- When Harry sends the Dursley's away to safety in Deathly Hallows, despite the fact that Vernon started to respect Harry a little and was about to shake hands with him but couldn’t bring himself to do it, he is still a hated person since this was only in the very end, as majority of the series he treated Harry cruelly. Even Petunia and Dudley felt remorse for how they treated Harry (the former kept Harry's blanket and wanted to apologize, while the latter did say sorry and even patched up his terrible relationship by hugging him and seeing him equal).
- He never shows any gratitude towards Harry after he saved Dudley from Dementors.
- While Dudley is more humanized in the last three books and Petunia is more humanized in the last one, Vernon is never given anything in terms of sympathy, remaining a spiteful, irredeemable scumbag until the very end.
- As stated prior, Dudley realized he had been a horrible person his entire life, and in Petunia's case, she is revealed to have sympathetic insecurities, and both of them are slightly emotional when Harry leaves, while Vernon is emotionless.
- He is also a Karma Houdini, facing no punishment for how horribly he raised his son and stepson.
- While his film counterpart is played a lot more comedically, it doesn't make him any less unlikable.
Trivia[]
- J.K. Rowling (who created Harry Potter) herself admitted that Vernon was her least favorite character, even ahead of Dolores Umbridge and the Carrows.
- In the movie adaptations, Vernon's negative traits and mistreatment of Harry were somewhat toned down. For example, he never says Harry's late parents were freaks who got what they deserved, nor does he express hope that Harry be put to death or try to throw him out of the house after learning about the Dementors. However, he still qualifies as a Hate Sink due to how horribly he treated Harry.
- He and Marge are the only two members of the Dursely family to be hate sinks, as Dudley eventually redeems himself after Harry saves him, and Petunia is far too sympathetic to qualify.
[]
 Hate Sinks
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Both Continuities:
Vernon Dursley |
Marge Dursley |
Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle |
Pansy Parkinson |
Gilderoy Lockhart |
Cornelius Fudge |
Dolores Umbridge |
Rita Skeeter |
Walden Macnair |
Antonin Dolohov |
Corban Yaxley |
Cormac McLaggen |
Mary Lou Barebone |
Corvus Lestrange |
Skender |
Anton Vogel |
Walburga Black |
Henry Shaw Jr. |
Mr Borgin Book Only:
Bellatrix Lestrange |
Fenrir Greyback |
Zacharias Smith |
Marvolo Gaunt |
Millicent Bullstrode Film Only:
Quirinus Quirrell |
Marcus Flint |
Peter Pettigrew Other:
Gormlaith Gaunt |
Patricia Rakepick |
Renka Rabblehouser |
Apolonia Black |
Kazuhiro Shiratori |
Raczidian |
Cecil Lee |
Victor Rookwood |
Ferdinand Octavious Pratt |
Theophilus Harlow |
Victor Gridley |
Bly |
Emily Tyler Fanon Crossovers | ||
External Links[]
- Vernon Dursley on the Villains Wiki.
- Vernon Dursley on the Antagonists Wiki.
- Vernon Dursley on the Heroes and Villains Wiki.
- Vernon Dursley on the Harry Potter Wiki.
- Vernon Dursley on the Pathetic Pinhead Wiki