# Sexiest Literary Character (Male/Female)
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sexiest-literary-character-male-female/71910
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [July 10, 2001, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sexiest-literary-character-male-female/71910 "2001-07-10T03:41:34Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2001, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sexiest-literary-character-male-female/71910/1 "2001-07-10T03:41:34Z")
So who is it? Out of all the great tomes of literature, which people (male/female) would you nominate for sexiest character?
I figure if we get enough, I’ll make a top three, or five, or whatever.
Here are my own nominations. Since I’m female, we’ll have to stick with male.
[li]Maxim de Winter (Rebecca) Mysterious, foreboding, and with a dark secret, to boot. :)[/li]
[li]Sherlock Holmes. As Homer Simpson once said, he was quite a character![/li]
[li]Hannibal Lector. I know, weird pick, but he’s so cultured. And that’s hard to find in a man nowadays.[/li]
If I think of others, i’ll mention them. Who would you consider?
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### Author:  [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2001, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sexiest-literary-character-male-female/71910/2 "2001-07-10T04:09:05Z")
Johnson Johnson, from Dorothy Dunnett’s _Dolly_ mystery novels. It’s the combination of bifocals and rumpled sweater that gets me, every time.
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### Author:  [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2001, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sexiest-literary-character-male-female/71910/3 "2001-07-10T04:10:24Z")
Really. 🙂
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### Author:  [@Kittie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kittie)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2001, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sexiest-literary-character-male-female/71910/4 "2001-07-10T04:19:19Z")
Tom Sawyer…a dirty rebel…what more could you want? 🙂
~Kittie
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### Author:  [@Hazel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazel)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2001, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sexiest-literary-character-male-female/71910/5 "2001-07-10T04:33:44Z")
Peter Wimsey
Miles Vorkosigan
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### Author:  [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2001, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sexiest-literary-character-male-female/71910/6 "2001-07-10T04:45:15Z")
Ah, **Hazel** already snatched up Peter Wimsey!
I would also add:
Niccolo, again from Dorothy Dunnet.
Porthos, from Three Musketeers. (So he’s a big lug, he’s still sexy!)
Sirius Black, from Harry Potter.
Fabrice Sauveterre, from Pursuit of Love (not so much for a relationship, but he would be wonderful on one glorious date in Paris)
Dave Barry (ok, he’s not fictional, but he’s in books, right?)
And although it would be criminal now that I’m an adult, I spent most of my pre-teen years pining away after Ponyboy Curtis.
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### Author:  [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2001, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sexiest-literary-character-male-female/71910/7 "2001-07-10T06:20:58Z")
Vina Aspara, from _The Ground Beneath Her Feet_. Absolutely fell in love with her.
Since **Hazel** said Miles, I’ve got to mention Honor Harrington.
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### Author:  [@Hamish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamish)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2001, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sexiest-literary-character-male-female/71910/8 "2001-07-10T06:48:17Z")
Billy Sive from _The Front Runner._ _sniff_
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### Author:  [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2001, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sexiest-literary-character-male-female/71910/9 "2001-07-10T06:58:48Z")
Mr. Rochester, ever since I was a girl. Oooh, my, a brooder!
Vlad Taltos, from Steven Brust’s books. He’s sexy as hell, he’s cute, he’s a cynic, and he cooks. What more do you want?
Yeah, Hannibal Lecter is awfully sexy. It’s the culture, the brains, and all that danger.
And George Cooper, from these children’s books by Tamora Pierce. He’s the kind of rough alternative to the prince the main character finally realizes is Not For Her, and I always liked him so much better.
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### Author:  [@jaimest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaimest)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2001, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sexiest-literary-character-male-female/71910/10 "2001-07-10T07:06:19Z")
Does Josie from “Josie and the Pussycats” count?
I admit I’m not exactly a denizen of café society here…
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### Author:  [@Gozu\_Tashoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gozu_Tashoya)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2001, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sexiest-literary-character-male-female/71910/11 "2001-07-10T08:02:44Z")
Not to start a debate on what counts as literature and what doesn’t but… **Death** , from Neil Gaiman’s _Sandman_ and limited edition _Death_ comics.
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### Author:  [@Ferggie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferggie)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2001, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sexiest-literary-character-male-female/71910/12 "2001-07-10T08:45:36Z")
Cyrano de Bergerac
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### Author:  [@Primaflora](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Primaflora)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2001, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sexiest-literary-character-male-female/71910/13 "2001-07-10T09:51:32Z")
Johnson? Niccolo? I spit.
Francis Crawford all the way for me!
Although I will settle for Miles Vorkosigan. if I have to.
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### Author:  [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2001, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sexiest-literary-character-male-female/71910/14 "2001-07-10T11:55:09Z")
Dejah Thoris. I don’t care if she _is_ oviparous.
And Modesty Blaise. Any woman who can kill with her bare hands and likes Sibelius is OK by me.
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### Author:  [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2001, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sexiest-literary-character-male-female/71910/15 "2001-07-10T12:42:35Z")
Yike…Johnson Johnson AND Modesty Blaise in the same thread? We are certainly plunging into the rarefied districts of crime fiction, here…
I’ll pick **Tintagieu,** the black-haired wanton from Mervyn Peake’s MR. PYE. I’d Bongo _her_ Wongo any time.
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### Author:  [@Aurora](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aurora)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2001, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sexiest-literary-character-male-female/71910/16 "2001-07-10T15:22:49Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by delphica \*
>
> Sirius Black, from Harry Potter.
>
> \*\*
OH YES!!! Sirius Black and Remus Lupin!!! (Yep! I’m a slash addict… 🙂 )
And Crowley from “Good Omens”. “And he could do really weird things with his tongue”! 😉
I LOVE Crowley!!
And I remember many years ago falling in love with Raistlin from “Dragonlance”… . :eek:
I guess my taste has changed a bit… . 😉
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### Author:  [@Katisha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katisha)
#### Post date: [July 11, 2001, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sexiest-literary-character-male-female/71910/17 "2001-07-11T06:16:03Z")
You know, I thought about starting a thread like this, but forgot about it and then went on vacation for a week (if anyone at all wondered where I’ve been)… 😃
Anyway, literature and sexy men are two favorite topics of mine, so let’s see…
Hamlet. The original tortured black-turtleneck-wearing philosophical guy.
I have the distinct impression that Hotspur (as portrayed in _Henry IV, Part I_) would be a lot of fun in the sack. 😉
Most of the Friends of the ABC in _Les Misérables,_ although Marius, the Designated Romantic Hero, does nothing for me. ('Course, the sexiest of all has absolutely no interest in sex. Isn’t that always the way? :p)
Aragorn, from _Lord of the Rings._ (I get the impression that most Rabid Tolkien Fangirls prefer Faramir, though. Which is fine, because he’s sexy too.)
Continuing on the Tolkien bent, Turin Turambar…if you like really dangerous guys (considering that everybody who had even a passing acquaintance with him met a horrible end). 😃
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### Author:  [@ricepad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricepad)
#### Post date: [July 11, 2001, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sexiest-literary-character-male-female/71910/18 "2001-07-11T06:51:25Z")
Portia, from Shakespeare’s _Merchant of Venice_.
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### Author:  [@Gozu\_Tashoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gozu_Tashoya)
#### Post date: [July 11, 2001, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sexiest-literary-character-male-female/71910/19 "2001-07-11T07:27:57Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Zoggie \*
> \*\*Here are my own nominations. Since I’m female, we’ll have to stick with male.
> \*\*
Who says? 😃
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### Author:  [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)
#### Post date: [July 11, 2001, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sexiest-literary-character-male-female/71910/20 "2001-07-11T22:07:35Z")
KK! I meant for my OWN nominations. You naughty boy, you.
I guess the real problem with having actual sex with these characters is danger of paper-cuts. 🙂 So let’s all practice safe-sex, shall we? Using the Straight Dope to vent. Hehe.
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