If you’ve seen Tangled, which more than likely you have, then you remember when Flynn Rider, the loveable rogue, tries to win over Rapunzel with a smoldering gaze. She doesn’t fall for his charms, but what about other characters with a more tempting version of “the smolder?”
“I didn’t want to have to do this, but you leave me no choice. Here comes the smolder!”
What is smoldering, you might ask?
The Urban Dictionary defines it humorously as:
Smoldering
“The act of accessing your deep, inner, and molten sexuality and shooting it through your eyes into an undeniably sexy stare.”
For this week’s list, I decided it would be fun to share some of the male characters who smolder with that piercing gaze that may or may not make you a little bit weak in the knees.
From overconfident or tortured vampires who find the object of their obsession (or affection) to Romantic Austen heroes with that eye gaze felt across the room or even to love-struck characters unable to disguise their feelings and more…
RELATED: Check out our Top 35 Vampires in Film and Television
So, let’s get right to it. Here’s a countdown of thirty (as of 2013) of the best male characters with…
…THE SMOLDER.
30. Mr. Knightley – Emma
There is something about Jeremy Northam as Mr. Knightley and all his little looks, smirks, and gazes.
29. Tom Lefroy – Becoming Jane
Tom Lefroy knows just how to flirt and stare at Jane Austen.
28. The 10th Doctor – Doctor Who
The way the 10th Doctor looked at Rose…sigh!
27. Jack Robinson – Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries
Jack is witty, romantic, and full of longing stares for Miss Fisher.
26. Max – Roswell
Max has that broody smolder down to an art form.
25. Gilbert Blythe – Anne of Green Gables
Gilbert gives Anne the best looks of love and longing.
24. Lancelot – King Arthur
Ioan Gruffudd plays an underrated version of Lancelot, and what makes him so fantastic are his smiles and loving gazes at Guinevere.
23. Mick St. John – Moonlight
Mick is the perfect example of how not to make a romantic vampire creepy. He’s a gentleman through and through and full of romantic looks for Beth.
22. Mr. Rochester – Jane Eyre (2011)
Mr. Rochester’s gazes range from serious to broody to romantic.
21. Edward Cullen – Twilight
Edward looks at Bella in an almost predatory way. Let’s call it the Byronic smolder.
20. Lancelot – Merlin
All Santiago Cabrera does as Lancelot is smolder. He’s the chivalrous knight with pure love for Gwen – even if they can’t be together.
19. Bill Compton – True Blood
Sure, Bill is kind of creepy and intense. But he sure does know how to gaze at Sookie.
18. Eric Northman – True Blood
If you like the bad boy smolder, look no further…
17. Henry Fitzroy – Blood Ties
Henry is an underrated romantic vampire who oozes sensuality in every look.
16. Captain Hook – Once Upon a Time
Hook is a redeemable bad boy who’s mastered the art of smoldering.
15. Colonel Brandon – Sense and Sensibility
Colonel Brandon (as played by Alan Rickman) looks at Marianne the way we all dream of being looked at.
14. Angel – Buffy the Vampire Slayer
The broody, emotional look every time Angel sees Buffy.
13. Spike – Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Sometimes Spike is good, often bad, but he sure does love Buffy – and gives her the best stares.
12. Mr. Rochester – Jane Eyre (2006)
No one knows how to smolder like Toby Stephens does as Mr. Rochester. Just look at that flirty smirk.
11. Captain Wentworth – Persuasion
Rupert Penry-Jones as Captain Wentworth. Enough said.
10. James “Sawyer” Ford – Lost
Sawyer is a rakish conman – who starts to become good due to his love for Kate. But rakes are particularly good at the smolder.
9. Guy of Gisborne – Robin Hood
Now, that’s a smolder!
8. Damon Salvatore – The Vampire Diaries
Damon has a dangerous smolder that hardly anyone can resist.
7. Davis Bloome – Smallville, season 8
Sure, Davis Bloome had a horrible end. But the way he looked at Chloe was perfection while it lasted.
6. Mr. Darcy – Pride and Prejudice (2005)
Matthew Macfadyen’s Mr. Darcy had a quiet but romantic intensity in all his swoony stares (and walks).
5. Mr. Rochester – Jane Eyre (1983)
Timothy Dalton understands the Byronic smolder.
4. Fox Mulder – The X-Files
Mulder in The X-Files: “I do not gaze at Scully.” Right…
3. Mr. Thornton – North and South
“Look back at me.” – Mr. Thornton as he gazes longingly at Margaret leaving – perhaps forever.
2. Mr. Darcy – Bridget Jones’s Diary
Colin Firth brought his perfected Romantic Hero gaze to the rom-com world.
1. Mr. Darcy – Pride and Prejudice (1995)
The art of the smolder was perfected in period dramas – and no one was better than Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy.
What character has your favorite smolder? Did I leave any of your favorites off the list? Sound off below…
Well any list that includes Henry Fitzroy automatically makes it a fantastic list but then you included Rochester, Tom Lefroy AND Lancelot. And Mr. Darcy (both incarnations!)
Okay so I could go on forever but the upshot is this is a great list…. most of your posts are perfect but this one is especially so.
Haha! Thank you. 🙂 I think we must have very similar taste! Someone else who actually has heard of Henry Fitzroy…finally!
Excellent list!
Thank you. 🙂
Why can’t I be this good looking? haha
I didn’t want to have to do this, but you leave me no choice
Here comes the Mulder
Haha! Love it. 🙂
Richard Armitage FOREVER!! I notice North & South is only every list that has anything to do with romance. Ugh, he is too good.
Half of these are not smolders.
Agree with them all but in particular #3 and #27!!! In fact, #27 should rate higher in my opinion when you consider his voice in addition to his eyes. Other examples of #27’s smolder can be hard to find since he’s never worked outside of Australia but I highly recommend a program called “Underbelly: Squizzy” for more examples.
Yes, Jack Robinson! Love Nathan Page. I will have to look up that show. I’m always looking for good imports.
My favourite would have to be Timothy Dalton’s Rochester *fans self vigorously*, but some fairly recent ones would include Richard Castle (Nathan Fillion) from CASTLE and Henry Morgan (Ioan Gruffudd) from the sadly short-lived FOREVER. Also, Thomas Sharpe (Tom Hiddleston) in Crimson Peak. Great list!
That look Hawkeye gave Cora in the 1992 version of Last of the Mohicans. Cora:”What are you looking at, sir?” Hawkeye:” I’m looking at you, miss.” Yowza!
The fact you didn’t include the lead actor from prison break (Wentworth Miller) leaves this list incomplete….
I’m disappointed that there’s not one single male that is not of European descent on this list. Surely there’s some racial diversity of characters even within period dramas. Maybe this is more of a critique of the website on the whole—it’s almost entirely Anglo/Euro-centric, which is fine if that’s the purpose. But, it’s a shame. There’s a whole world, histories of people from every nation with so much beauty, story, and romance from these different periods of time gone unrecognized.
Actually, we have a lot of diversity on this site and have had writers around the world contributing. Sure, many popular period dramas are British and often white which we do cover a lot of since it’s relevant to our audience. But we regularly cover international and diverse content. We have dozens of articles about Kdramas, for example. We have categories dedicated entirely to International, Foreign Romance, and even Korean dramas. Our monthly book picks are typically diverse too. I’d also recommend checking out many of our lists. We try to make sure we have a good variety of choices from around the world. But we’re not perfect. This website is our passion, but it’s just two of us doing it on our own, and we do make mistakes. Recently, we’ve been working with Acorn TV and BritBox, if that’s your complaint. This article was written a long time ago when we first started this blog and we have evolved a lot since then, so I understand your frustration with this article. But we’d love to update it in the future with more diversity. Anyway, we agree with you. We love promoting romance from around the world and do often. However, it is true that some of the big focuses of our website are Jane Austen, British period dramas, etc. So, maybe we’re not the site for you. And that’s fine. 🙂
Agreed!!
Please girl, this site is not for us, of diverse backgrounds…obviously
I think the person that does the best smoldering face ever DWAYNE JOHNSON (THE ROCK) Im suprised that his not even on that list.
Good point! Except that he’s probably not in this list because most of his movies are not romantic. Come to think of it, there may be a few moments in a couple of family friendly movies (in the few romantic scenes ) that could have been included.