Top 20 Bad Boys – The Best Byronic Heroes in Television You’ll Love

 #20  Captain Jack Harkness in Doctor Who/Torchwood

“Captain Jack Harkness. And who are you?”

 #19 Captain Wentworth from Persuasion (2007)

“Miss Elliot, I can bear this no longer. You pierce my soul. I’m half agony, half hope. Unjust I may have been. Weak and resentful I have been, but never inconstant. I offer myself to you again with a heart even more your own than when you almost broke it eight years ago.”

 #18 Luther

DCI John Luther: Boss, these are very special circumstances; same rules do not apply.

DSU Rose Teller: Chain of evidence is like the ten commandments: it applies unto time and all eternal. Anything in the evidence safe is sacrosanct; we tamper, we risk voiding active cases.

DCI John Luther: Only if we get found out.

 #17 Arvin Sloane in Alias

“I must admit, I was concerned for you when Sydney resurfaced. I remembered seeing her with Vaughn: their relationship reminded me of my own with my late wife. It was the kind of bond that even death cannot sever. Hmm, well apparently I misjudged.”

#16 Henry in Blood Ties

Henry Fitzroy: I knew you wouldn’t be able to stay away.

Vicki Nelson: You’re one of those guys who’s just riddled with nagging self-doubt, aren’t you?

Henry Fitzroy: I have a fair opinion of myself and hundreds of years of positive reinforcement.

 #15 (Tie) John Druitt in Sanctuary

John Druitt: You’re with her now. Aren’t you? I know you, old friend. Your passion. Your passion for her it just comes off you like a bad smell.

James Watson: You leaked intelligence and had us ambushed by the SS just so that you could see her one more time. You are like a pathetic schoolboy with a crush!

#15 (Tie) Tesla in Sanctuary

Helen Magnus: You’ve always been like this, haven’t you? Selfish and arrogant, putting your own desires before everyone else’s.

Nikola Tesla: I brought you here for two reasons: Because only you can help me finish what I’m working on and because I love you.

 #14 Dean in Supernatural

Sam Winchester: Are you just supposed to sit there in the dark and suffer, even when there’s nothing that can be done at that moment?

Dean Winchester: Yes! You sit in the dark and you feel the loss.

#13 Guy in Robin Hood

Guy of Gisborne: So tired. Every time I close my eyes, they come.

Friar Tuck: They?

Guy of Gisborne: Demons. Clawing at my brain. How can I get some peace?

#12 (Tie) Oliver Queen in Smallville

“Take it from me, living without love is not really living, it’s just sort of existing. The question you have to ask yourself is what are you willing to risk for love?”

 #12 (Tie) Lex in Smallville

“Anyone who doesn’t appreciate poetry doesn’t understand that it’s all about seduction.”

 #11 (Tie) Damon in The Vampire Diaries

“I’m lost. I have a secret, a big one. But I’ve never said it out loud. What’s the point? It’s not gonna change anything. It’s not gonna make me good, make me adopt a puppy. I can’t be what other people want me to be. What she wants me to be. This is who I am. You are my existential crisis. Do I kill you or do I not kill you? But I have to Jessica because I’m not human. And I miss it. I miss it more than anything in the world. That is my secret. But there is only so much hurt a man can take.”

#11 (Tie) Klaus in The Vampire Diaries/The Originals

“And I could let you, die, if that’s what you want if you really believe your existence has no meaning. I thought about it myself once or twice over the centuries, truth be told. But I’ll let you in on a little secret, there’s a whole world out there waiting for you, great cities and art and music, genuine beauty, and you can have all of it, you can have a thousand more birthdays. All you have to do is ask.”

 #10 Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights

“I would die a thousand deaths if I knew she were waiting for me!”

 #9 (Tie) Bill in True Blood

“She will never be yours and there’s nothing you can do. In this you are powerless. Accept it.”

 #9 (Tie) Eric in True Blood

“Everyone who claims to love you: your friends, your brother, even Bill Compton; they all gave up on you. I never did.”

 #8 (Tie) Sawyer in Lost

“Baby, I am tied to a tree in the jungle of mystery. I’ve just got tortured by a damn spinal surgeon and a genuine Iraqi. Of course, I’m serious. Just not seein’ the big picture here, Freckles. You really gonna let that girl suffocate ’cause you can’t bring yourself to give me one little kiss. Hell, it’s only first base. Lucky for you, I ain’t greedy.”

#8 (Tie) Sayid in Lost

John Locke: What if I told you that you could have anything you wanted. What if I said you can have anything in the entire world?

Sayid Jarrah: I would tell you that the only thing I ever wanted, died in my arms, and I’ll never see it again.

John Locke: What if you could?

#7 Mick St. John in Moonlight

“Sixty years is a long time to deny yourself the touch of another, but you do it. Because you just can’t bear the thought of seeing yourself as a monster in someone else’s eyes.”

#6 Davis in Smallville

Davis Bloome: A world without Chloe? No, you better have a plan “B” because I’m not losing her.

Clark Kent: Davis, if you truly care about her, you would let her go.

Davis Bloome: You got it all wrong, Clark. She *chose* to protect me. It was her idea for us to leave Smallville forever…The darkness – it doesn’t come out when Chloe’s around. She makes me…human.

 #5 The Doctor in Doctor Who

“If I kill you, I kill her. But that implies, in this big grand scheme of gods and devils, that she’s just a victim. Well, I’ve seen a lot of this universe. I’ve seen fake gods and bad gods and demi-gods and would-be gods. I’ve had the whole pantheon. But if I believe in one thing – just one thing…I believe in her!”

 #4 Cole in Charmed

“I was dead before I met you, I was born the day you loved me, and my love for you will keep me alive, forever.”

 #3 (Tie) Angel in Buffy/Angel

“I want to take comfort in you, and I know it’ll cost me my soul, and a part of me doesn’t care.”

#3 (Tie) Spike in Buffy/Angel

“Great love is wild and passionate and dangerous. It burns and consumes.”

#2 Mitchell in Being Human

“You and me, it’s for eternity. Really forever…I don’t want to live without you. I can’t live without you. I can’t…I can’t.”

 #1 (Tie) Mr. Rochester in Jane Eyre (2006)

“God forgive me. And let no man meddle with me. I aim to keep her.”

#1 (Tie) Mr. Rochester in Jane Eyre (1983)