15 underappreciated ladies of Harry Potter

Angelina Johnson

Angelina Johnson is an incredibly fierce, talented athlete with plenty of bravery. She is a Gryffindor in the same year as Fred and George Weasley, and often exists in the background of the series. Characters praise her Quidditch skills and Fred asks her to the Yule Ball in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, but she doesn’t get much time to shine. Then she becomes Gryffindor Quidditch captain in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and she steals every scene.

In the books, Angelina gets significantly more page time than she does screen time in the films. As one of the only characters played by a black actor, that’s incredibly sad. Obviously, the plot of J.K. Rowling’s books had to be basically gutted for the films to work (though now they’re so filled with plot holes that they’re difficult to enjoy as a medium unto themselves), and that meant sacrificing characters as well. The entire Quidditch plot was cut from the fifth film … meaning Angelina was cut, too.

This omission severely underserves one of the best secondary characters in the Potter-verse. Angelina constantly advocates for better treatment of women who play Quidditch, including the use of more inclusive language. She also fights off attacks that are arguably gender-based every time she gets on the pitch. Angelina is part of a severely underrepresented group of people in this series: take-no-nonsense women who have no time for casual sexism.

It would have also been good to have more from her in the final book, seeing as she fought in the final battle, survived, and went on to marry George Weasley and have two children with him. Angelina’s character is rich with possibility.