Quirrell was the superior teacher

Let’s start off with addressing the elephant in the room. Yes, Quirrell had Lord Voldemort poking out the back of head. Yes, he tried to steal the Philosopher’s Stone. Yes, he tried to kill Harry… but we still think he was the superior teacher.

Quirrell might have been evil at worst or weak at best, but we don’t remember any complaints about his actual Defence Against the Dark Arts lessons. He was an intelligent man, a Ravenclaw no less, who had plenty of knowledge of the Dark Arts. You might even go so far as to say his relationship with Voldemort gave him a rather unique insight into the subject.

And when we come to think about it, there was not one time when Hermione questioned the syllabus and there was no mention of any of Harry’s class failing their first-year exam. The only real quibble about Quirrell was that he appeared to be nervous. We would definitely take an anxious teacher over an atrocious teacher any day.

Speaking of atrocious teachers, Lockhart definitely fell into that category. Must we remind you of his very first lesson with the Cornish Pixies? Disastrous. Or his ‘quiz’ with questions that were just about him? Awful. Or the way that every single bit of his experience with tackling Dark Arts was fake? Terrible. Lockhart might not have been in cahoots with Voldemort, but he was thoroughly underqualified for the job.

We also can’t forget that Lockhart turned out to be something of a rotter too. After all, he was going to leave Harry and Ron to die in the Chamber of Secrets after wiping their memories. We consider that to be an evil act. At least Quirrell might be able to claim that he had to do what Voldemort asked. With Lockhart, he just wanted to protect his own fraudulent reputation.

In reality, these were two human beings that had made some truly awful choices – levelling the moral playing field somewhat. The real debate comes when you examine their teaching styles. Lockhart might have had the gift of the gab, but he was a fake. Quirrell was a knowledgeable man who happened to suffer with his nerves. Ultimately, we would take substance over style any day.

Lockhart was the better teacher

It’s important to note that right from the first time we meet Gilderoy Lockhart, we discover him to be arrogant, hubristic and absolutely not qualified for the job of Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher whatsoever. And yet! He still had one redeeming feature that Quirrell did not: he wasn’t hosting the body of the half-dead, most evil wizard of all time, Lord Voldemort! And that feels like a solid foundation to work upwards from.

Yes, we do concede that during Professor Lockhart’s short tenure in the post (making his debut in Chamber of Secrets) the celebrity author’s teaching style seemed to consist of putting his students in danger and removing the bones in Harry Potter’s arm. He also didn’t seem to know much about the Dark Arts, despite having ‘written’ several books on the matter.

However! This floppy haired, lilac-loving luminary sure did have a way of keeping peoples’ attention – and despite his shortcomings as a professor, his charisma won the hearts of several students. Even Hermione, usually able to sniff out facile educators, was besotted. Why? Because Lockhart knew how to use that charming smile of his to full effect.

And though Lockhart wasn’t teaching his pupils anything particularly useful (apart from how to run away from Cornish Pixies) he was, at least, still getting people into the classroom in the first place. Nobody was falling asleep like they were in Professor Binns’ classes, that’s for sure.

When it was revealed that Lockhart had indeed used a bit of artistic license in his banshee-banishing, werewolf-warring books, nobody was surprised. But you have to hand it to Lockhart (who is a Ravenclaw, by the way) that using his cachet to get such a prestigious job was an impressive move. After all, everybody’s got to make a living.

Does it make him a good person? No. A good teacher? No. But once again, we must ask you, was he secretly harbouring the soul of Lord Voldemort behind a turban? No. So by default, does that make him better than Quirrell? Yes. Yes, it does.

Fancy getting stuck into another wizarding debate?

Why not see whether Ron or Harry should have been Hermione's end game.

Or decide whether you think Sirius Black was an excellent role model or reckless rogue.