The reaction is almost always the same. When I tell people that I’m the associate editor of a fantasy website, a look of surprise, understanding, and finally quiet judgment passes over their faces, forcing me to explain, “Harry Potter fantasy. Not, like, whips and leather fantasy.”

The relief I then see is priceless.

But should I be so quick to distance myself from the whips-and-leather crowd? While fantasy does have a kid-friendly, wizards-and-adventure side, I think it would be naive to suggest that there aren’t some people who utilize the trappings of the genre to explore their sexual kinks. All one has to do is run a Google Image search of “fantasy art,” and you’ll very quickly wind up with images like this:

What one finds in much fantasy art is a remarkably common theme of sexuality, which often has a heavy BDSM element. (To the uniformed, that stands for Bondage, Discipline, and Sadomasochism.)

Sometimes, the bondage theme is explicit and openly embraced, such as in the Kushiel novels of Jacqueline Carey, whose main character is a bisexual masochist who finds sexual pleasure in being tortured. (You can read TheTorchOnline.com’s interview with Carey here.)

But sometimes the S&M factor is played more coyly, giving us bondage-themed imagery without ever truly owning it. In the ’50s and ’60s, there were a plethora of beefcake movies, such as the Hercules films starring Steve Reeves, featuring oiled-up hunks and sexy babes alike constantly bound in chains and other restraints.

Most of these movies were terrible by the standards of anyone who wants their films to have a plot. Mostly they played out like fodder for one scene after another of sexy skin pressed against chains.

The very concept of a damsel in distress has a flavoring of S&M, as a helpless maiden is often tied up and must be rescued. Return of the Jedi even showcased series heroine Leia in what has become the iconic, quintessential S&M-tinted damsel outfit — the infamous gold bikini — before employing a post-feminist twist and having her kill her captor herself. But nonetheless, the image of Leia bound and chained like a slave girl has inspired many a young libido to get started.

The trend followed through into the ’90s, where it began to take a more subtle approach. The character of Xena, perhaps the most enduring high fantasy creation of the last 20 years, certainly bore a striking resemblance to a dominatrix, with her leather outfit and arsenal of weapons, a whip very prominently among them.

And how many times throughout the course of the series did we see Xena chained and beaten? She even sometimes seemed to enjoy fighting an opponent who could get his or her licks in, absorbing the blows with a satisfied smile.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer certainly went there, most notably in the sixth season when Buffy began her mutually-abusive relationship with bad boy vamp Spike. Their first session together was so violent it destroyed the entire house they were in.

But as time marches on, the BDSM themes became more overt. Even the family-friendly series Legend of the Seeker features the Mord’Sith, an army of women dressed entirely in leather who specialize in torturing their victims. In one memorable episode, noble hero Richard is stripped and given the royal treatment by “Mistress Denna,” a dominatrix name if ever I heard one.

The vampire soap True Blood raised the bar, as virtually every sexual relationship on the show contains some form of sado-masochistic violence at its core. The show even boasts a brand-new fetish called fangbanging — that is, living humans who prefer to have sex exclusively with vampires. The moments on the show relevant to this article are far too many to mention, from Jason’s romance with a watiress who likes to be strangled in the firs season to Lorena’s twisted, torturous rendezvous with Bill a few episodes ago.

But the Golden Handcuff Award has to go to new kid on the block Spartacus: Blood and Sand. The entire first season’s plot plays out like an elaborate bondage fantasy, with a houseful of sexy slaves to be commanded and used at the pleasure of the masters, oversexed couple Batiatus and Lucretia.

No doubt, there are many fantasy fans who don’t respond to these particular themes. But it would be naive to suggest there isn’t a connection, at least for some, between the fantasy genre and very specific sexual leanings.

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Q: Given all the sex and violence in Spartacus: Blood and Sand, will there be anything new in the “uncut” DVD version? — Wayne, Lakewood, CO

The Oracle Speaks:

“There actually isn’t a ton of stuff on the cutting room floor,” Spartacus executive producer Steven DeKnight recently told a gathering of critics in L.A. “Especially in television, you don’t over-shoot like you will on a film. There are some things, mostly of a sexual nature, on the DVD. One involving — I believe we put this shot back — an extra shot of, if you remember the gladiator Segovax that came to a very painful, unfortunate end when they castrated him at the end of that episode. There is an extra shot of him in there that you might not want to see.”

As for sex, he said, “There’s also in episode, I believe it’s [episode] six, in the gladiator orgy scene, there is some additional material. But  practically everything we shoot ends up on the screen.”

Q: I don’t mean this the way it sounds (or maybe I do!), but why did God create the Tree of Knowledge? He had to have created it — he created everything, right? But he already had that knowledge, so why create it at all? It seems like the whole point was to tempt Adam and Eve — I mean, who doesn’t want knowledge? And why is wanting that a bad thing? Would you invite your friends over, make this incredible-looking chocolate cake, and then say to them, “But you can’t have any!” I’m trying to be fair to God here, but it seems like He was being a major jerk. – Justin, Friday Harbor, WA

The Oracle Speaks:

The sad truth is that God comes off like an off-the-charts jerk in much of the Old Testament – which is precisely why it can’t, and shouldn’t, be taken literally.

The Bible isn’t an historical record: it’s a collection of myths and legends designed to explain a certain philosophical and spiritual point-of-view. (In the pre-scientific, non-rational ancient world, it was also used to explain natural world truths, but using it the same way today, in a post-scientific world, is, well, stupid.)

What philosophical point is the story of the Garden of Eden and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (its full name) trying to explain?

That the world is far from a perfect place and that, seemingly unlike most other creatures on this planet, we are “cursed” to have an awareness of our plight and of our own mortality.

The Tree of Knowledge also represents free will, a fundamental component in most Western religious thinking. In God’s defense in the story, free will is pointless, symbolically and literally, without other choices. Since God gave Adam and Eve free will, he had to give them the option to “opt out” of paradise.

(Although the story doesn’t quite hang together here, does it? Isn’t free will meaningless without knowledge?)

Furthermore, the Garden of Eden story establishes perhaps the most fundamental component of the Judeo-Christian world-view: that human beings are fundamentally flawed and incomplete, and can only be made whole through a relationship with God (and religion).

Incidentally, I personally disagree with most of the points of the Garden of Eden story and its extremely negative view of the human condition: I don’t agree that human beings are fundamentally flawed in needing of salvation, or that human knowledge is a curse, or that the desire for it is a bad thing.

In this Oracle’s opinion, the limited world-view of the Garden of Eden story would infect Western religious thinking for generations to come, with the forces of religion being on the wrong side of almost every intellectual leap forward, before and since the Enlightenment.

And now The Oracle must go lie down. His head hurts. Next week, we go back to talking about Lucy Lawless’s breasts.

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Q: So I must know: will Lucy Lawless be back in the second season — not the “prequel” — of Spartacus? Basically, did she die in the finale? — MAGPIE, Toronto, Canada

The Oracle Speaks:

First, a spoiler alert.

“She was still twitching at the end of Season 1, if you look,” Spartacus‘ executive director Steven DeKnight said at the recent Television Critics Association conference in L.A.

In other words, yes, she’ll be back, not just in the prequel, but also in the subsequent second season.

“You know, the original plan with Lucy and that character was to kill her at the end of the season,” DeKnight said. “Basically we had John Hannah and Lucy Lawless for only one season. That’s what we could get them for. Towards the end of Season One, Lucy was having such a great time, and we all loved her so much, there was interest in bringing her back. And I got a call from Rob Tapert saying, ‘Starz called, and they’d really like Lucy to come back, and you know, Lucy really wants to come back,’ and I said, ‘Absolutely not. She’s got to die. That’s the way the story goes.’”

But DeKnight soon changed his mind, he said. “The next day I called him up and said, ‘Rob, I got an idea. And we’re thrilled to have — Lucy will be back in Season Two. And where the story goes with her is really something special. I’m very excited about that.”

What of John Hannah? “John Hannah is a little harder to bring back, obviously,” DeKnight joked.

Q: Are lembas magic or is it just a really, really impressive Powerbar recipe? — Jonah, Dallas, TX

The Oracle Speaks:

We know what Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson thinks: in the movies, one bite of lembas bread “is enough to fill the stomach of a grown man” — which is, of course, physically impossible, so magic must be involved.

But in the book, it’s a little different: “one cake” is enough for “a full day’s march,” which is much closer to the laws of physics and means that magic isn’t necessarily involved.

Still, there are repeated references to the fact that lembas don’t just sustain the body; they also sustain the spirit.

“Lembas does put heart into you,” J.R.R. Tolkien writes. “A more wholesome sort of feeling.” And Gollum can’t eat the bread.

This could, of course, all be psychological; when eating lembas, people often think of the elves (and the beauty of Galadriel), which could definitely provide a psychological boost.

But then there’s the fact that the elves, who created lembas, are an immortal, magical race — literally created by the magic of Eru IIuvater. Everything they do is suffused with magic — although not necessarily magic of the spellbook and incantation sort.

And come on: one thin cake for a full day’s march?

Count on it. Lembas are magic.

A more interesting question is why is the word always italicized when plenty of other elven words are not?

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This past January, Spartacus: Blood and Sand premiered on the Starz network to much hype and expectation, and in a truly shocking twist, it actually delivered.

The show almost immediately gained a cult following which soon became legion, an army of fans who just couldn’t get enough of the adventures in the ancient gladiator training camp. While many critics turned their noses up at the excessive gore and violence (not to mention the generous helpings of full-frontal nudity and sex scenes), websites across the blogosphere began to pop up, honoring the new series. That Spartacus was a hit, there can be no doubt.

On its surface, Spartacus was the ultimate guys’-guy show. Each episode seemed to be injected with a superdose of testosterone, and with each limb that was excised from a body, the fans became more and more bloodthirsty. The thirteen-episode first season culminated in what has to be one of the most shocking, blood-soaked climaxes in the history of television, in which Spartacus and his fellow slaves rebel and lay waste to an entire houseful of Roman citizens, brutally murdering men, women, and children.

Just as the network promised, Spartacus pushed the envelope farther than any show that had come before it.

But it did even more than expand the limits of violence and nudity on television. It accomplished a much higher goal, and it did this — if you can believe it — subtly.

Spartacus is the first of its kind: a guys’ show that is inclusive of women, minorities, and gay and bisexual characters, without ever calling attention to itself for this fact. It never pats itself on the back for being forward-thinking. There was never a “very special” episode of Spartacus that dealt with a character’s sexual identity, or a story in which they learn that beyond our skin color, we’re all really the same.

Spartacus just assumed this to be true, and in a rare display, it respected its audience enough to assume they would be on the same page.

So were they?

Most of them were. But not all, of course. Recently, series showrunner Steven S. Deknight spoke to TheTorchOnline.com writer Michael Jensen about the show’s two most significant gay characters, Barca and Pietros, who were killed halfway though the first season.

MJ: You’ve had some time since the season ended and people reacted to what happened with Barca and Pietros. Has any of the negative reactions changed how you write gay characters? Do you feel like you’re more aware of the issues than you were before?

SD: It still comes down to the story and what works best for the characters. The only time I had a reaction to anything that’s said, is every once in a while I’ll come across a comment on the Facebook site or the official site, and I’m sure all your readers have read similar things, where someone will say—usually a guy—”I love the show but can you cut out all the gay shit.” That’s the only thing that will trigger a violently negative response from me.

For me, and I think Rob too, it’s even more reason to continue including that in the story until people come to accept it. I don’t understand how you can watch Season 1 and fixate on that, especially when I think the Barca/Pietros storyline was beautiful and tragic. I was very heartened that even people who were a little uncomfortable with the gay content, when Barca got killed, they were very upset and very moved, which I think is a step in the right direction.

MJ: And a testament to the storytelling and the acting. You guys were able to overcome that internalized prejudice people have. Now, the show obviously had a lot of female nudity, but it had more male nudity than any show I’ve ever seen. It was very homoerotic, yet clearly it was a smash success. The show was hugely popular. Did you expect more negative reaction or less?

SD: I’m honestly always surprised by negative reactions to sexual content, language content, I was even surprised by some of the negative reaction to the violence in the show. For me, I look at shows at being entertaining and hopefully moving, but first and foremost our job is to entertain. I look at the show as something I would love to watch even if I wasn’t working on it. Sometimes I have to remind myself that I live in Los Angeles and things are a little bit different here, as they are in any big city. I’m always shocked when other people are shocked.

There are moments in the show where I’m like, “Oh, alright. I understand you being shocked when Segovax is castrated.” I mean, I cringed myself. At the end of the day, the important thing for us is we’re not actively trying to promote any single agenda. Everything comes together because we’re just trying to tell the best story we can, and if there’s a little bit of social activism in there, all the better.

Deknight casually makes a reference to social activism as an almost incidental side effect of their storytelling, but that is where the show is truly remarkable. That the show could be considered progressive is not a statement they’re attempting to make. It just is.

As stated above, the show has its share of gay and bisexual characters, and there are more to come in the coming seasons. Both Barca and Pietros were also people of color, as are other prominent characters like Doctore and Naevia. And speaking of Naevia, she was one of a batch of strong, resourceful women showcased on the show, in such company as Lucretia, Illyithia, and Mira.

Spartacus is an action show for the 21st century, truly the first of its kind. It is a landmark series and should be applauded for that fact. Of course, in a perfect world, such inclusion wouldn’t be newsworthy. But until we reach that day, it’s a good thing we have shows like Spartacus.

Last week, we reported on Spartacus: Gods of the Arena, the six-episode Spartacus “prequel” series coming in January, created as a result of star Andy Whitfield’s bout with cancer.

But what of the second full season that the producers were already working on when Whitfield’s cancer was discovered?

“The thing about Season 2 is it’s a bit of a different show,” showrunner and executive producer Steven DeKnight tells us. “We start down the path of what most people know about Spartacus — how this rebellion came together. But what always interested me is not that everybody broke out and it was, ‘Rah rah! We’re together! Let’s band together and form an army!’ It’s very contentious. There are a lot of mistakes made. It takes quite a while before they build anything close to an army.”

In other words, if it wasn’t already clear, Starz’s TV Spartacus is a far cry from the version of the story seen in the 1960 Kirk Douglas movie.

“As much as I love the Kubrick/Kirk Douglas movie, [the real history] was not a merry band of people,” DeKnight says. “There was a lot of this faction breaking off and looting and pillaging and then coming back, and there was a lot of infighting. What I take from that, and what I want to illustrate in the show, is that all that infighting comes from personal perspective and people’s desires and passions: some people wanting to be purely free and others wanting revenge. It is all a big mess.”

And, of course, the character of Spartacus will be in the center of the mess.

“One of the things I love working with Spartacus is he’s a hero, but as we’ve seen in Season 1, he doesn’t always do the right thing,” DeKnight says. “He can be reactionary, and he can let his passions drive him, which is something we want to explore. We want to explore how to take this man from that to a true, true leader. We saw a little of that at the end of Season 1.

“Tempers certainly flare quite a bit [in season 2]. Even among heroes there are betrayals, and people who think they are doing the best thing, and people who do the wrong things for the right reasons. It’s a slippery slope. It’s a learning curve for everyone involved in the story.”

What of the first season’s cliffhanger-like ending, where it wasn’t quite clear who was alive and who was dead, especially Lucy Lawless’s Lucretia character?

“I’m of two minds with the cliffhanger season finale [in general],” DeKnight says. “Sometimes it works: I have to go back to Season 2 or 3 of Star Trek: The Next Generation with the Borg and Jean Luc and the cliffhanger ending. But honestly in this day and age with so many channels, you just don’t know if you’re coming back, so my goal with this show is to have a thrilling conclusion to each season, but it’s a conclusion.

“So if it doesn’t come back you can say, ‘Yeah, I would have loved to know what happens next,’ but it’s not like this person is in a burning building and this one is going down in an airplane. Who lived? What happened? I want to put a firm exclamation mark on the end of each season. We’ve got a damn good one coming up in Season 2 and, I think, at the end of the prequel.”

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Clare, Ramirez, Murray

Dustin Clare, a popular Australian actor, has been cast as the lead of Spartacus: Gods of the Arena, a six-episode “prequel” Spartacus series that Starz put into production when lead actor Andy Whitfield was struck with cancer.

Clare plays Gannicus, a gladiator who becomes champion of the Capua prior to Spartacus’ arrival.

Whitfield, who has recovered from cancer treatment, will have a small role in two of the series’ episodes.

Spartacus actors Lucy Lawless, John Hannah, Peter Mensah, and Manu Bennett are also returning, in more substantial roles.

Other new actors joining Clare will be Jaime Murray, who plays a social-climbing friend of Lucy Lawless’s Lucretia, and Marisa Ramirez, who plays a slave-girl.

Spartacus: Gods in the Arena will air next January. A second “regular” season featuring Whitfield will reportedly begin production later this year.

The Starz network really put itself on the map this year with the breakout success of its flagship original series, Spartacus: Blood and Sand. The low-fantasy sword-and-sorcery epic attracted a huge following, largely due to the fact that it was just so original – there really was no other series like it. (And we really dug it here at TheTorchOnline.com!)

When the schedule for the upcoming season was announced, it was interesting to note that the network had added not one but two more fantasy or fantasy-ish series with Camelot and Pillars of the Earth (a mini-series). They’re also co-producing the next season of the UK sci-fi series Torchwood in collaboration with the BBC.

This, from a network whose only other original programming is currently a couple of reality shows (non-fantasy programming like Party Down was recently canceled).

Pillars of the Earth isn’t exactly fantasy, but rather historical fiction, set in Medieval England and focusing on an architect named Jack Jackson.

From Starz:

“This epic tale of passion and greed begins when a mysterious secret disrupts the succession to the English crown and an unlikely member of King Henry’s family takes the throne. A power struggle between Henry’s daughter, Maud, and nephew, Stephen, causes England to be torn by war as battles rage for the rightful heir. Meanwhile, Bishop Waleran Bigod and the Hamleigh family manipulate the conflict to satisfy their own ruthless ambitions. Within this tumultuous setting, Prior Philip fights insurmountable obstacles to keep Kingsbridge and his dream of building a magnificent cathedral alive. The task is daunting, but master-mason Tom Builder, his gifted stepson, Jack, and noblewoman Aliena work together to achieve their dreams. And in the process, the long-hidden secret is revealed.“

Despite its lack of magic, I’m going to hazard a guess that Pillars will have enough palace intrigue to keep readers of TheTorchOnline.com satisfied.

Their other medieval England series, Camelot, is yet another adaptation of Arthurian legend — apparently, the landscape has room enough for this and Merlin. Production has yet to begin, and no word has come out yet as to whether the tone will be similar to Spartacus – over the top, stylized, comic book aesthetic — or a more sober, serious Arthurian affair, such as the TNT version of Mists of Avalon.

What we do know is that they’ve amassed a number of reputable actors, including Eva Green as Morgana and Joseph Fiennes as Merlin, which is a sign of good things to come — good actors usually choose good projects.

So what do you think? Is Starz quietly branding itself the Fantasy Channel?

Well, one thing we’ve learned over the past few weeks is that when we ask you to chime in on what fantasy characters you think are sexiest, you don’t hold back!

When the polls opened, your votes poured in, as well as quite a few comments.

First things first, I have to offer a mea culpa. I always thought I kept a pretty good ear to the ground when it came to finding the hotties of the male persuasion that inhabited fantasy entertainment, but it turns out I missed three major studs, according to quite a number of comments we received:

Darken Rahl from Legend of the Seeker …

… and the Winchester brothers from Supernatural.

Forgive me, you ravenous fans of man meat. I’ll do better next year!

And now, on to the winner!

You voted for him …

You wanted him …

You appreciated his bravery and strength …

You watched in awe at his studly heroism …

You asked for it …

And now you’re getting it …

The winner of the Sexiest Man of Fantasy is …

… drum roll please …

Zeddicus Z’ul Zorander

From his first appearance in the pilot of Legend of the Seeker wearing nothing more than a well-placed chicken, fans worldwide swooned the moment this virile wizard took the stage. Who could compete with that cunning and mischievous grin, those flashing eyes, and that long, flowing silver hair?

Once this strapping sorcerer entered the world of genre entertainment, we all knew it would be a long while before he was dethroned as the Sexiest Man of Fantasy.

Okay, fine. Here’s the real winner:

Come on, was there ever any doubt? He got 70% of the vote!

If there’s one thing we learned from Legend of the Seeker fans, it’s that they know how to galvanize and get their online presence known. But lest you think Richard Rahl, as portrayed by the ab-licious Craig Horner,  took home the prize simply because fans are trying to save the series, I challenge you to look at that earnest, heroic visage, that Harlequin-romance-novel-cover head of hair, and all two and a half percent of that body fat.

The guy is, quite frankly, sex on a stick, but the best part is he puts all of that lean muscle to work defending the honor of his true love, Kahlan (who just happened to win Sexiest Woman of Fantasy this year), and conquering anyone who would bring destruction to the Midlands.

So congrats, Richie! You earned it.

There’s no two ways about it — Richard won by a landslide. In fact the only other guy on the list to even come close to giving him a run for his money is my boy Spartacus, played so bad-assly (Yeah, that’s an adverb. Look it up!) by Andy Whitfield on Spartacus: Blood and Sand (at 17% of the vote).

Coming in a distant third (at 5%) was True Blood’s Eric (Alexander Skarsgard).

So what have we learned about fantasy fans this week? You all like your men muscly, oiled-up, and ready to hack and slash. And hey, who can blame ya?

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Who’s ready for more sexy?

After our poll in which you all voted for Legend of the Seeker’s Kahlan Amnell as the sexiest woman of the past year’s fantasy entertainment, it’s time to bring on the men!

Once again, let’s get the ground rules out of the way. First and foremost, we are judging the characters, not the actors, on their sex appeal. The difference is subtle, sure, but it’s there. For example, despite Sam Worthington’s handsome looks and fit body, his Perseus may not exactly have started your heart a-racin’ in Clash of the Titans … but you can feel free to correct us in the polls if you see fit.

Second, these are fantasy characters we’re looking for, not sci-fi. We take a broad view of the fantasy genre — high fantasy, low fantasy, medieval fantasy, and supernatural fantasy — but specifically science-related speculative fiction is out.

And finally, the characters have to have appeared in some new work of entertainment in the 2009-2010 season.

Okay, enough with the boring stuff. Begin the cavalcade of men!

Jason Stackhouse

So he’s kind of a tool and not that bright … big deal. Jason Stackhouse, played by Ryan Kwanten, is the lothario of Bon Temps, Louisiana on HBO’s racy True Blood, and it sure doesn’t hurt that he seems to have an allergy to clothing.

Eric

Speaking of True Blood, while genteel southern vampire Bill Compton may have captured the heart of the heroine Sookie, even she can’t deny the animal magnetism of the super-hot vampire sheriff, Eric (Alexander Skarsgard).

Eggs

Our last True Blood hunk is the delicious Benedict Talley, known to his buddies as Eggs. Get it? Eggs Benedict? As played by Mehcad Brooks, he seems pretty appetizing to me.

Dastan

Based on a video game franchise of humble beginnings, Jake Gyllenhaal wowed movie-goers when he proved he has what it takes to be an action star as the dashing Dastan in Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. But did he wow you enough to win your vote?

Richard

Considering his true love took the crown for Sexiest Woman of Fantasy, methinks our boy Richard Rahl (Craig Horner) here has a pretty good shot. Over the past two seasons, fans of Legend of the Seeker were witness to the young Lord Rahl coming of age and growing into the hero he was born to be. And what’s sexier than that?

Alistair

Prince Dastan (above) is based on an animated character in a video game, but Alistair from Dragon Age: Origins is a character in a video game. So what?  Just as the sexy enchantress Morrigan was a nominee in our sexy female poll, the hunky Grey Warden Alistair (voiced by Steve Valentine) would surely be on any list of the year’s sexiest male characters.

Spartacus

When Spartacus: Blood and Sand hit the airwaves this past January, no one knew quite what to expect from the show that made a lot of promises to stretch the boundaries of what you could show on television. But it turns out they delivered and then some, and while doing so gave us the immortal hotness that is Spartacus, as played by Andy Whitfield.

Crixus

Spartacus’ enemy-turned-ally, Crixus (Manu Bennett) was the last one to drink the Spartacus Kool-Aid, spending most of his time in the first season as a nasty bully who tortured our poor hero. But you know what? He mostly did it naked, so all’s forgiven.

Pietros

Not everyone likes their men huge and hulking. Starting as a character hovering in the backgrounds, Pietros quickly revealed himself to be a sweet and compassionate man, who was fiercely devoted to his lover, Barca. Sure, his ending may have been quick and tragic, but at least we got a little time to get to know him. And though he may not have had the he-man muscles of the gladiators, check out that slammin’ six-pack!

So there are our official nominees. But if you want someone not mentioned on the list, check the “Other” box in the poll and mention the name in the comments! And stay tuned to find out who won in a week!

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What an exciting ride this was!

Last week, we posted an article asking you, our beloved readers, to tell us which recent female fantasy character was the sexiest in your eyes.

Well, you certainly responded in droves — more than 4000 of you voted (and more than 140 of you commented!). Turns out everyone has an opinion on this issue!

And so, without an further suspense, we here at the offices of TheTorchOnline.com give you the winner of the Sexiest Woman of Fantasy 2010 Contest!!

Here she is …

The Dowager Duchess of Thrice

The Dowager Duchess of Thrice made waves throughout the world of fantasy when she appeared in just one episode of Legend of the Seeker, entitled “Princess.” A combination of soft, feminine noblewoman and coy, fan-waving sex kitten, she made all of our geeky hearts leap into our throats, and sent shockwaves throughout the Midlands.

And so we crown her the Sexiest Woman of Fantasy, 2010.

Oh, I’m just kidding. The actual winner is …

Kahlan Amnell

Since the very first episode of Legend of the Seeker, we were all given a special treat, and that treat was named Kahlan. Brought to life by the luminous actress Bridget Regan, Kahlan was a multi-faceted woman, one who shined with beauty and virtue, and yet was a brutal warrior from a similar mold to her predecessor, Xena.

Yet unlike Xena, Kahlan strode about not in armor but a beautiful, feminine white dress, and her most effective power in battle — “confessing” — essentially caused her opponent to fall helplessly in love with her. Of course, over time, we witnessed Kahlan becoming more and more a hardened warrior, even adopting a more aggressive leather costume, which I affectionately refer to as her “Star Trek hooker outfit.”

Throughout two seasons of adversity, Kahlan triumphed over baddies and her own hormones alike, as she couldn’t consummate her relationship with her true love, Richard, lest she inadvertently confess him. But with the final episode, we learn the purity of their love overcame her powers, and they can now be free to express their love however they see fit.

And what’s sexier than that?

But for those of you who have been following the poll, it should be noted Kahlan just eked out a win (literally one percent more votes) over the runner-up, who, interestingly enough, shared the stage with her for a whole season, and just her name invokes images of sexuality. (And leads me to believe we had a lot of Legend of the Seeker fans voting.)

Cara

From her first appearance in last year’s season finale, Cara, as played by the gorgeous Tabrett Bethell, was a force to be reckoned with. Seemingly taking inspiration from Catwoman, Star Trek’s Seven of Nine, and X-Men’s Mystique, Cara put her sexuality out there, while at the same time showed her true colors as a decent,  loving human being behind all the eye-rolling and sneering.

Other high-rankers in our poll include two characters from Spartacus: Blood and Sand — Lucy Lawless’ Lucretia (at 17%) and Katrina Law’s Mira (at 9%) — and an animated character, Dragon Age: Origins’ Morrigan (voice of Claudia Black), at 4%.

So there you have it, Torchlings. The results of the Sexiest Woman of Fantasy 2009-2010.

Be sure to come back later this week and vote for the sexiest male character!

Andy Whitfield, the star of the Starz series Spartacus: Blood and Sand who was undergoing treatment for Stage 1 non-Hodgkin lymphoma, has been given a clean bill of health and is training to return to work on the TV show, Deadline.com reports.

His hair, which was shaved for the cancer treatment, has already begun to grow back.

In light of Whitfield’s cancer, Starz had begun work on a six-episode “prequel” series. Whitfield will now appear in two of those episodes.

“After the initial shock – I was a healthy young man and had no idea that this could happen – it was frustrating that the first season was ending on such a high note and we could’ve been rolling into season 2,” Whitfield told the publication by phone from New Zealand.

“I’m [now] raring to go,” he said.

Summer’s a great time, isn’t it? Gone are the long overcoats, the big fuzzy sweaters, and the scarves.

That’s right, people. It’s sexy time again.

Last year, we began what is now officially our annual tradition of the sexiest characters of fantasy. This year, we’re doin’ ya one better — we’re going to let YOU, our readers, decide for yourselves.

The guidelines are simple. One, we are judging characters for their sex appeal, not actors, so even if you happen to find Cate Blanchett the sexiest lady around, I think we can all agree that her turn as Galadriel didn’t exactly turn up the heat.

Two, we are specifically dealing with fantasy characters and not sci-fi, which means that Trinity, Aeon Flux, etc. are out of the running. Superheroes are okay, but we’re mostly going for high fantasy or urban fantasy, a la Legend of the Seeker, True Blood, and the like.

Three, we’re looking for recent entries into the world of fantasy. Basically, the character has to have appeared in an entertainment project released from 2009 to 2010.

And now that the rules are out of the way, here are our nominees. You can vote below!

Lucretia

Though Lucy Lawless will always be remembered for playing Xena, she still brings the sexy (and then some!) almost ten years later as the wickedly seductive Lucretia on Spartacus: Blood and Sand.

Naevia

Speaking of Lucretia, most Spartacus fans first got a glimpse of the surprisingly plucky slave girl, Naevia, when she was essentially being used as a human sex toy to get her domina, Lucretia, going so she could have sex with her husband and not have to bother with all that pesky foreplay stuff. But who would have thought that she would  blossom into a strong-willed character of her own who catches not only the eye but the heart and soul of the toughest gladiator in the ludus, Crixus?

Mira

The last Spartacus entry on the list is another humble-at-first-then-proves-to-be-resourceful slave girl. Mira, who only appeared in about the last third of the season, managed to arouse the man himself, Spartacus, and almost make him forget his late wife. Now that’s a woman.

Kate Austin

Over the past few years, Lost became such a ridiculously complex torrent of red herrings (by which I mean, of course, that the writers had absolutely no idea what they were doing) that it almost made one forget how, in 2004, an unknown actress named Evangeline Lilly created the character of Kate who was tough, capable, and looked damn good in a tank top and baggy jeans. Though the show may have ended on a whimper, no one can deny that for six years, Kate looked damn sexy running around that island.

Jennifer

There’s classy sexy, and then there’s slutty sexy. Hey, I’m not judging. To each his own. Though she was more Mortal Kombat’s Baraka than prom queen, the titular heroine/villainess of Jennifer’s Body was certainly not lacking in the sexuality department … even if she was eating boys (literally).

Persephone

A few months back, I reviewed Percy Jackson and the Olympians, and I won’t split hairs — I did not like it. But near the end, just as I was about to nod off, was woken up a big jolt of sexy in the form of Rosario Dawson’s luscious death goddess, Persephone. If that’s what awaits us in the Underworld, kill me now.

Io

Clash of the Titans may have been a gods-awful flick, but at least it did take a few seconds away from the constant boss-fight-after-boss-fight to allow us to soak in the sexiness that was Gemma Arterton’s enigmatic Io. (Gemma Arterton fans? Careful you don’t split your votes by voting for Arterton’s Princess Tamina in Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time!)

Neytiri

Go ahead. I dare you to tell me you didn’t feel a little stirring of something for some of the Na’vi when watching Avatar. No need to feel pervy for wanting to mack on blue monkey-cat people: their bodies were clearly designed to be lithe, sexy, and pleasurable to behold. And few were more behold-able than Neytiri, as performed by the delicious Zoe Saldana. (And lest you protest that Avatar was sci-fi, Pandora itself was clearly a fantasy setting, with its blue inhabitants, floating mountains, and soul transferring.)

Morrigan

What’s that, you say? Morrigan isn’t “real,” but is, instead, a character in the video game Dragon Age: Origin? Clearly, you have yet to play Dragon Age: Origin! When it comes to sexy sorceresses, we prefer ours with a “bad girl” vibe and more than a touch of ‘tude — which is Morrigan all the way. Plus, we have it on good authority that things get, uh, interesting if you “gift” her enough necklaces, amulets, and broaches!

Kahlan

Cara

Legend of the Seeker may have been unjustly canceled, but its characters will live on in our memories and imaginations forever. And while the plots and dialogue were fantastic, it certainly didn’t hurt that its two main female leads were so breathtaking to gaze upon. And so we give you the gorgeous Kahlan and Cara.

So there are our nominees. We also have a “none of the above” option for any glaring omissions, but be sure to add the name in our “comments,” below!

THE POLL IS NOW CLOSED! SEE THE RESULTS HERE

Tune in soon for the men!

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