The Haunting of Bly Manor characters, ranked

The Haunting of Bly Manor premiered on Netflix on October 9 and I watched the entire season in a day. I absolutely loved The Haunting of Hill House and I couldn’t wait to see what kind of story the new season would tell. Once again, creator Mike Mike Flanagan has managed to tell an entrancing tale about death, love, and family.

Several actors from Hill House returned to portray new characters on Bly Manor and their roles couldn’t have been more different from the ones they played last season. This season also featured several new actors who really brought their A-game to the anthology horror series.

Now that I’ve watched the whole season, it’s time to talk about which characters were the best this season and which ones I’d vote off the island.

Without further ado, here is my ranking of all of the main characters from The Haunting of Bly Manor.

10. Peter Quint

I think we can all agree that Peter is the absolute worst. He was so possessive over Rebecca after knowing her for what seemed like five minutes. I do love Oliver Jackson-Cohen in a turtleneck, but when he got mad at Rebecca for taste testing Owen’s cake batter, I couldn’t wait for him to get his just desserts (pun intended).

9. Miles Wingrave

I know what you’re going to say: Miles is just a kid, why is he so low on this list? Well, I’ll tell you why. I thought about the ghost-logic in The Haunting of Bly Manor and I realized something. At first, I thought that Miles was possessed at boarding school when he attacked that other kid and killed his teacher’s bird.

However, by Bly Manor‘s logic, Peter couldn’t have left the estate unless Miles took him in permanently, which doesn’t happen until after Miles is sent home. That means that Miles did all of that willingly. Plus, I don’t think he did that great a job of protecting his little sister.

8. Henry Wingrave

I wasn’t that fond of Henry Wingrave (Henry Thomas), except for right at the end of the season.

When we first meet him, he’s spending most of his time at the office getting drunk. The real twist came when we learned that Henry had been having an affair with his brother’s wife and is in fact Flora’s biological father. It took Henry a while to get his priorities straight, but in the end, he decided to raise Miles and Flora as his own.

The last time we see Henry, he is happily dancing with Flora at her wedding, and I feel like he made up for his inaction during most of the season in the long run.

7. Viola Lloyd

I love a good villain, and Viola Lloyd was certainly that. The episode explaining how Viola came to be the Lady in the Lake was really interesting. It was Viola’s bitterness, anger, and cruelty that ultimately bound souls to Bly Manor, and I was riddled with anxiety as we watched her identity fade along with her face over the years.

Kate Siegel did a great job playing Viola, a role that is such a departure from Theo Crain, Siegel’s character in The Haunting of Hill House.

6. Rebecca Jessel

Rebecca Jessel’s (Tahirah Sharif) story was one of the more tragic ones this season. However, considering how intelligent Rebecca was made out to be, I genuinely don’t understand her infatuation with Peter. He was obviously a bad guy from the start, and when he started getting possessive, Rebecca should have run as fast as she could in the opposite direction.

Rebecca was in over her head with Peter, and I was screaming at my television when he led her into the lake to drown.

5. Flora Wingrave

In my opinion, Flora (Amelie Bea Smith) was a perfectly splendid character. The flashbacks where we got to watch Flora interact with her mother were absolutely heartbreaking, and I loved the speech she gave to Owen about death after his mother passed away. You can tell that Flora really cared about everyone at Bly Manor, even her absent Uncle Henry.

It was also really cute the way Flora made friends with several of the faceless ghosts roaming the house, even though they were terrifying to look at.

4. Owen Sharma

I loved Owen and his lame food puns. I really liked Rahul Kohli as Dr. Ravi Chakrabarti on iZombie, and his performance in The Haunting of Bly Manor was no different.

Owen was so sweet to Flora and Miles and incredibly welcoming towards Dani when she arrived at Bly. His almost-romance with Hannah was a beautiful touch this season and I loved seeing how Owen memorialized her at his restaurant.

I am truly glad that Owen got some version of a happy ending in the finale episode of the season.

3. Hannah Grose

The episode about Hannah (T’Nia Miller) and her history at Bly Manor was a little confusing, but the payoff was so worth it. Hannah was loyal, fierce, and incredibly protective of her friends. She saw Peter Quint for exactly who he was and she was really the only person who stood up to him all season.

When you find out why Hannah keeps seeing that crack in the walls, I seriously got chills. T’Nia Miller was a wonderful addition to the cast, and I hope she returns if there is another season in this series!

2. Dani Clayton

Victoria Pedretti stole the show this season as Dani Clayton. Dani is kind, fierce, compassionate, and determined, attributes that allowed her to lift the curse at Bly Manor through her selfless actions. Even though she hadn’t known Miles and Flora for long, she did everything in her power to protect them.

That last episode was gut-wrenching, but Dani’s strong heart still resonates even after she’s long gone. Plus, her love story with Jamie was beautiful.

1. Jamie

Last but certainly not least, Jamie (Amelia Eve) has landed the #1 spot on this list of The Haunting of Bly Manor characters for me. The reveal that The Storyteller (Carla Gugino) was actually an older Jamie telling the story to Flora at her wedding was so good.

All of Jamie and Dani’s scenes together were lovely to watch, especially when Jamie showed Dani the moonflowers and later the scene when Dani used the same bloom to propose.

Even years after Dani’s death, Jamie still leaves the door open a crack, hoping that one day her lover might return.