Umbridge: The Almost Squib

Delores Umbridge . . . What can we say about her? . . . Rather what can we say about her that isn't negative or hateful? 

. . .  

Yeah. I couldn't come up with anything either. 

I do, however, have a theory. 


 In my vast reading of all things Harry Potter, including a plethora of material not an explicitly stated or inferred in the books and films, I learned a lot about wands & fingers and how they can signal a person's magical prowess . 

People with longer fingers are said to be more powerful than others.  This could be true. After all, Ollivander measures all sorts of angles on the arms (including fingers) of wizards and witches to get a general idea of where to start finding the proper wand for everyone.

For example, Dumbledore's fingers are referred to as being long several times through out the series and he is the only wizard feared by Voldemort. He is also arguably the most powerful wizard in existence (before the end of Half-Blood Prince anyway). I'm sure a lot of this is due to his own skill, but the finger thing helps. 

Umbridge, on the other hand, is short, toadlike, and has stubby fingers with ugly rings on her fingers. She also has the shortest wand on record in the series. That alone should sound suspicious. 

She also refuses to let any students use magic in her classroom. It would be understandable if she were teaching Potions, Flying, Divination or Herbology, but Defense Against the Dark Arts requires a wand to cast the spells. Also suspicious.

We see her attack centaurs (Order of the Phoenix) and cast a Patronus charm (Deathly Hallows), but not when the person she is fighting against has a wand. She prefers her victims wandless. Again, suspicious.

By combining these together, one might question Umbridge's magical abilities -- and rightly so. Short fingers + short wand + only really using her wand when others are defenseless = low magic ability. In fact, it could be that Umbridge is hardly more than a Squib -- just enough magical power to be accepted into Hogwarts. This could also be why she wears Slytherin's Locket and lies about what it is -- to protect herself from prying eyes that might see how unpowerful she is.  Furthermore, this could also be the reason she is attacking Muggle-Borns = she knows that they are more powerful than her.


I don't know how well this assessment is, but it is still an idea to consider. 

I really hate her, so I'll end with this.