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7 Reasons Peter Pettigrew Was a Powerful Villain in Harry Potter

7 Reasons Peter Pettigrew Was a Powerful Villain in Harry Potter
Image credit: Warner Bros. Pictures

Some say Wormtail was a pathetic greasy coward, but don’t listen to the haters. Peter Pettigrew was a powerful, insidious, and dangerous villain in his own right.

7. Wormtail Fooled Even Dumbledore

No one knows for sure when exactly Peter Pettigrew changed his allegiance, but we can only assume he’d been Voldemort’s agent for quite some time before betraying the Potters. As a member of the Order of the Phoenix, he fooled even Dumbledore!

6. Wormtail Was a Great Sleeping Agent

When he was exposed, Pettigrew managed to create the perfect cover story while in panic: he set up the person that was hunting him and played dead. Then, he kept his cover for many years, proving to be an invaluable sleeping agent for Voldemort.

5. Wormtail Found Lord Voldemort’s Shadow

Pettigrew did what no other Death Eater could: he actually found Lord Voldemort’s shadow, proving he was an excellent investigator capable of tracing even the faintest magic his master was capable of without his body. It was all Wormtail’s doing!

4. Wormtail Resurrected the Dark Lord

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We can’t confirm how much of the resurrection ritual really depended on Peter Pettigrew, but his important part in it is undeniable. How many people can say they’ve successfully brought the most terrifying wizarding terrorist from the dead?

3. Wormtail Became an Animagus

Becoming an Animagus is an extremely difficult magical feat, and throughout the Harry Potter series, we’ve only learned about six people capable of that. Peter Pettigrew was among them, and he was brilliant at using his Animagus form, too.

2. Wormtail Used Some Powerful Magic

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When escaping from Sirius Black, Pettigrew managed to blow up a dozen people with a single blast, meaning he knew and used some powerful spells and could execute them in a rush. He also timed it perfectly to vanish without a trace himself.

1. Wormtail Could Cast the Killing Curse

The most powerful curses demand a large amount of raw magical power, as was explained by Barty Crouch Jr., and most wizards couldn’t have successfully pulled off the Killing Curse. Peter Pettigrew, however, could do it effortlessly, as he barely paid attention to it when killing Cedric Diggory at the graveyard.