Is Draco Malfoy a powerful wizard?

[HedwigOwl]

Originally Posted by CheddarTrek

I agree with this more or less.

Neither Harry nor Draco is shown to be a particularly powerful wizard. Certainly I don't think either of them will ever attain the type of power that Dumbledore/Grindelwald/Voldemort had.

But they're both a cut above the average, perhaps. Harry because he had to be, given his experiences, and Draco because he really did have some talent and had a lot of resources at his disposal to polish it.

I don't think that Draco showed any unusual level of talent until he had to, either. And even then I think it was more persistence and desperation that drove him to succeed with the vanishing cabinet. He also did a couple skills well -- occlumency and the imperius curse -- but he was no doubt coached in both by Bella. So that's more down to hard work and help rather than an extraordinary talent. And I think he was always clever, although that's not down to being powerful.


I think that Draco was average in power, and motivated by circumstance.

[snapes_witch]

I don't think Draco is a particularly powerful wizard.

He did well enough in school but we must consider that he came from a wealthy pureblood family and no doubt had excellent tutoring before entering Hogwarts.

Yes, he blocked Snape's legilimency, but it was hardly the advanced occlumency that Snape was able to use against Voldemort. It was merely sufficient to keep Snape out and he made no further attempt to break down Draco's defenses.

[TheShley]

Originally Posted by RegulusBlackFan

[b]Would you describe Draco as a 'powerful wizard'?

I don't think is he more powerful than say, Hermione, Ron or Harry. But, I don't think he is unskilled either.

How do you think his dueling/fighting ability compares to Harry's?

Draco certainly knows spells that Harry does not, but at the heart of it, he hasn't got the same nerve, and determination that Harry possess.

Do you think that Draco Malfoy isn't magically powerful enough to be a strong enemy of Harry and the trio?

He probably had the potential to be a dangerous enemy of Harry, Ron and Hermione. The thing with Draco is that his heart wasn't really in the whole Death Eater thing. Yeah, he boasted about being pure blood, and was eager to join Voldemort's ranks, but I don't believe that he really, truly believed Voldemort's line was right. It was clear, by his actions, that he had conflicting views on the matter. So, for those reasons, I don't think he was really all that much of a threat to them. Magically, he probably would have been well matched for any of them.

Is he less powerful than the other death eaters, or just more moral?

Draco is a lot younger than the other Death Eaters, so, I would say he probably was less powerful. Though, saying that, his skills are nothing compared to the likes of Bellatrix, for example. I'm not sure if his moral standards are all that high, but I think he has more of conscience than the rest of the Death Eaters.

Is his disarming of Dumbledore testament to his magical skill/power?

I really don't think so. Dumbledore was seriously weakened at that point, and if he wasn't, there was no way - in my opinion - that he would have been able to disarm him. If Dumbledore had been in full health, perhaps Draco would have still disarmed him, but that wouldn't have been due to Malfoys skills, more to do with Dumbledore's knowledge of Voldemorts plans for the murder of Dumbledore.

[Quickquill]

Draco was one of the top students at Hogwarts, even though Hermione did better than he on tests. But Hermione was something of a genius. Harry struck me as being merely an average student, who did well mainly because of his association with Hermione (Harry and Ron relied on Hermione to check their homework). All of them had plenty of innate talent. But what makes a powerful wizard is the use he makes of what he knows.

[TheShley]

Originally Posted by Quickquill

Draco was one of the top students at Hogwarts,.

Was he? I don't remember that being said... I do recall Lucious saying something about his grades not being all that great. Was it in CoS, in Borgin and Burkes? Ah yes... It was when Borgin says that the Hand of Glory was great for sneak thieves (or similar) and Lucious expresses that he would hope his son would amount to more, but if his grades didn't improve it be all he's good for... or something.

[GingerCat1]

Originally Posted by Quickquill

Draco was one of the top students at Hogwarts,

Do you have any proof of this?

[Quickquill]

Originally Posted by TheShley

Was he? I don't remember that being said... I do recall Lucious saying something about his grades not being all that great. Was it in CoS, in Borgin and Burkes? Ah yes... It was when Borgin says that the Hand of Glory was great for sneak thieves (or similar) and Lucious expresses that he would hope his son would amount to more, but if his grades didn't improve it be all he's good for... or something.

What he said was that Hermione had done better than Draco. He felt it was a disgrace that a mudblood should do better than his son.

Draco came to school already knowing a good bit of magic, and he always appears to do well in his classes. Harry is clearly a better seeker in Quidditch, but that doesn't mean that Draco isn't good too.

[GingerCat1]

Originally Posted by Quickquill

What he said was that Hermione had done better than Draco. He felt it was a disgrace that a mudblood should do better than his son.

Draco came to school already knowing a good bit of magic, and he always appears to do well in his classes. Harry is clearly a better seeker in Quidditch, but that doesn't mean that Draco isn't good too.

Except it is very reasonable to assume that Draco had a tutor before Hogwarts which is not something the trio had.

Also i can't think of any particular instance other than maybe Potions where Draco does better than Ron or Harry. In fact Draco stuffed up a very simple first year spell when he was doing his OWLS.

[Quickquill]

I never said Draco did better than the trio, but they were supposed to be among the most outstanding students in the school. Not bettering the best did not make Draco a bad student. He still was likely to have been among the better students in Slytherin, and not very far behind Harry, Ron and Hermione in ability. Some parents will never be satisfied with their children's grades. They think that by comparing them to better students, they will improve their performance. It almost never works. Notice, Lucius never said that Draco was worse than other Slytherin students, so his grades must have been among the best in Slytherin house.

As far as pre-Hogwarts studies go, most pureblood students picked up a fair amount of magic at home. While Ron may not have been able to transmute Scabbers' color on the train, he had already traveled by flue powder and no doubt had other experience with simple magic. At the Quidditch world Cup Harry saw toddlers riding "kiddie" brooms that apparently had built in height limits, and later on we learn that Harry himself had had such a toy before his parents were killed.

[ShadowSonic]

I think Ron not being able to change Scabbers' color was really because he was an animagus and not a proper Rat.

But with Draco the thing is that his abilities seem to waver when the plot needs them too. In the second book he performs some dark magic curses that apparently he shouldn't be able to do, but then afterwards he more or less is harmless in a duel. Then in 6th year he does pull off some impressive stuff but it's all via help or instruction from someone else.

[HRW]

Originally Posted by Quickquill

I never said Draco did better than the trio, but they were supposed to be among the most outstanding students in the school. Not bettering the best did not make Draco a bad student. He still was likely to have been among the better students in Slytherin, and not very far behind Harry, Ron and Hermione in ability. Some parents will never be satisfied with their children's grades. They think that by comparing them to better students, they will improve their performance. It almost never works. Notice, Lucius never said that Draco was worse than other Slytherin students, so his grades must have been among the best in Slytherin house.

I am not sure you can conclude that his grades were among the best in Slytherin just because Lucius only compared him to Hermione. Hermione was used as a comparison mainly because she was a mudblood and it rankled Lucius that a mudblood should beat his son. That does not to me indicate that Draco's grades were among the best in Slytherin, but more that Lucius wasn't as bothered about other purebloods bettering his son. Either way nothing to indicate he was among the best students at Hogwarts.

As far as pre-Hogwarts studies go, most pureblood students picked up a fair amount of magic at home. While Ron may not have been able to transmute Scabbers' color on the train, he had already traveled by flue powder and no doubt had other experience with simple magic. At the Quidditch world Cup Harry saw toddlers riding "kiddie" brooms that apparently had built in height limits, and later on we learn that Harry himself had had such a toy before his parents were killed.

I am not sure how this makes any difference. Harry was all of 1 year old when he had the toy broom and I can't see how that would make a difference given that he spent the rest of his childhood as a muggle.

Ron's effort with the rat rather proves the point that he had barely any idea of what he was doing. The spell he was given was obviously a dud but he didn't appear to know that. Bill and Charlie had seemingly disappeared after graduation and the twins never taught him anything worthwhile. And we do know that his parents did stick to the underage wizard rule.

[BrianTung]

Boy, tough question. I have a nagging feeling that "powerful" isn't quite the right word, but we'll go with it.

My gut sense is that Draco has quite a few skills, and there is some evidence for this--albeit quite circumstantial evidence. MerryLore has mentioned his being selected as Prefect, although this is plausibly the result of his family name (and perhaps not a little meddling by his front-running father). Perhaps a bit more relevant is his repair of the Vanishing Cabinet. Yes, it took him the better part of a year, but he did fix it. If it had been trivial to fix it, I think someone else would have fixed it. And he did it alone, as an adolescent.

There is also some scattered evidence that he was a fairly successful duellist. It took Harry using a spell created by Snape "for enemies" to fell him.

In general (as I said in the similar thread on Harry), I find comparisons between Draco (and Harry) on one hand, to adult wizards on the other hand, to be mostly uncompelling. The general impression I get from the books is that there is ordinarily a yawning gap between the abilities of the Hogwarts students and the Hogwarts faculty. Expecting a 16-year-old student to be able to match up, not only to the rank and file teachers, but to Dumbledore and Voldemort, and to find them not particularly powerful when they fail to do so, seems an error to me. As I've said before, it's like expecting a high-school basketballer to be able to go 1-on-1 with Michael Jordan, and claiming he's not powerful because he fails. High school Michael Jordan would himself have failed against adult Jordan, and I think the same applies to Draco and Harry.

There obviously isn't much to go on, so the best I feel I can say is that Draco has the potential to be quite powerful, but it's completely unclear at the end of the series whether he will in fact fulfill that promise. I think it's entirely reckless for me to say for certain one way or the other. YMMV, of course.

Incidentally, Draco in addition has failings in both morals and vision, as well, but I don't find those relevant in an estimation of power. Greatness, perhaps, but not power.

[HedwigOwl]

Originally Posted by ShadowSonic

I think Ron not being able to change Scabbers' color was really because he was an animagus and not a proper Rat.

But with Draco the thing is that his abilities seem to waver when the plot needs them too. In the second book he performs some dark magic curses that apparently he shouldn't be able to do, but then afterwards he more or less is harmless in a duel. Then in 6th year he does pull off some impressive stuff but it's all via help or instruction from someone else.

I think Ron's spell failed because his brother lied about its being a real spell.

[Quickquill]

Originally Posted by HedwigOwl

I think Ron's spell failed because his brother lied about its being a real spell.

While that may, or may not be true, McGonagall mentioned at some point that transformations were fairly advanced magic that first and second years could not be expected to do on the first try.

As has been pointed out, the Weasleys pretty much avoided giving magic instruction to their underage children, and Fred and George were inveterate practical jokers. So even if Scabbers' being an animagus did not preclude a color change, Ron was probably too unschooled and immature to use that spell, and they would have known it.

Originally Posted by BrianTung

Incidentally, Draco in addition has failings in both morals and vision, as well, but I don't find those relevant in an estimation of power. Greatness, perhaps, but not power.

It is also irrelevant to greatness. Olivander told Harry that Voldemort was a "great" wizard. "after all,He Who Must Not Be Named did great things - terrible, yes, but great."

[TheShley]

Originally Posted by Quickquill

What he said was that Hermione had done better than Draco. He felt it was a disgrace that a mudblood should do better than his son.

I don't think that's right. I'm pretty sure Lucious mentioned his grades first, then Draco said something about the teachers having favourites and saying 'that Hermione Granger...' and that is when Lucious said about being ashamed of a 'Mudblood' doing better than he... But, I can't be bothered to get my book to check...

[Quickquill]

Originally Posted by TheShley

I don't think that's right. I'm pretty sure Lucious mentioned his grades first, then Draco said something about the teachers having favourites and saying 'that Hermione Granger...' and that is when Lucious said about being ashamed of a 'Mudblood' doing better than he... But, I can't be bothered to get my book to check...

He did make a disparaging remark about Draco's grades, but then he compared him to Hermione. Not just some run of the mill mudblood, of which there were plenty at Hogwarts, but Hermione who was one of the best students at the school.

If Draco's grades were really that poor, he would have made some comment about half the mudbloods in his grade doing better than him. But he didn't because Hermione was the only Mudblood in his year that had better grades than Draco did, and possibly the only student who did better than him. Parents only pull that kind of stunt with children who they believe are intelligent but lazy.

[GingerCat1]

Originally Posted by Quickquill

He did make a disparaging remark about Draco's grades, but then he compared him to Hermione. Not just some run of the mill mudblood, of which there were plenty at Hogwarts, but Hermione who was one of the best students at the school.

If Draco's grades were really that poor, he would have made some comment about half the mudbloods in his grade doing better than him. But he didn't because Hermione was the only Mudblood in his year that had better grades than Draco did, and possibly the only student who did better than him. Parents only pull that kind of stunt with children who they believe are intelligent but lazy.

I think you are drawing a very very long bow there.

For starters do we even know how many other muggleborns there were in Hermione's year and if there were others then how would Draco be aware of their grades. The reason Draco was aware of Hermione's was because he was hyper aware of the trio since he hated them and because they had a lot of spotlight on them at the end of the first book with all the points they were awarded.

[BrianTung]

Originally Posted by Quickquill

It is also irrelevant to greatness. Olivander told Harry that Voldemort was a "great" wizard. "after all,He Who Must Not Be Named did great things - terrible, yes, but great."

I realize that Rowling (as Ollivander) used the word that way, but I was hedging in recognition that some people might make moral rectitude a requisite for greatness in their own interpretation. (I'm pretty sure I know a few people on here who would indeed qualify it that way.

In short, whether it's relevant or not depends on how you interpret "greatness."

[wickedwickedboy]

He seemed like a talented wizard in the books. Powerful is a slightly different question though. I don't know if we have a means of determining his power level.

[TheShley]

Originally Posted by Quickquill

He did make a disparaging remark about Draco's grades, but then he compared him to Hermione. Not just some run of the mill mudblood, of which there were plenty at Hogwarts, but Hermione who was one of the best students at the school.

If Draco's grades were really that poor, he would have made some comment about half the mudbloods in his grade doing better than him. But he didn't because Hermione was the only Mudblood in his year that had better grades than Draco did, and possibly the only student who did better than him. Parents only pull that kind of stunt with children who they believe are intelligent but lazy.

This is the actual quote from the book (CS; C4)

"Though if his grades don't pick up," said Mr. Malfoy, more coldly still, "that may be all he is fit for -"

"It's not my fault," retorted Draco, "The teachers all have favourites, that Hermione Granger -"

"I would have thought you'd be ashamed that a girl from no wizard family beat you in every exam," snapped Mr. Malfoy.

So, yeah, I was right... It was Draco who brought Hermione up, not Lucious. He is showing distaste at Draco's poor grades, not that Hermione had done better. Draco was using her as excuse for doing poorly. For all we know, he could have been way down the scale. Anyway, how would Draco even know what grades Hermione got? It's not like she would have gone up to him and said 'Oh, Draco, what marks did you get? I got these!" He probably hasn't got a clue what marks she got...