According to Buffy the Vampire creator Joss Whedon, the character of Buffy Summers was created to slam the stereotypical image of the weak, screaming horror victim. Sarah Michelle Gellar played the role of Buffy in Whedon’s TV series offshoot of the 1992 film of the same name. Buffy the Vampire Slayer garnered critical acclaim and a cult-like fan following, launching Gellar into the television history books as one of TV’s most successful female action-heroes in the last decade. Although the show ended its run in after its seventh season, the adventures of Buffy continue in the ongoing Dark Horse comic books.

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Kennedy, played by Iyari Limon, arrived on the scene in Buffy the Vampire Slayer season seven. An out lesbian, Kennedy aggressively stalked Willow until she finally gave in and the two eventually begin a relationship. They remain a couple throughout the rest of the series and even into the comic book series launched after the show ended. Some fans were disappointed with Kennedy as Tara’s successor for Willow’s love. One Buffy critic is famously noted as penning a formula for how popular an episode of Buffy would be in the final season based on how many lines of dialogue Kennedy had during the show—more lines = less popularity. However, other fans embraced Kennedy as a kick-ass babe and yet another positive example of a lesbian character on television.

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All in all, Emma Caulfield looked mighty fine as a thousand year-old demon. Sunnydale highs school student Anya Emerson (otherwise known as Anyanka the vengeance demon for scorned women) starts off looking to wreak havoc on Xander Harris for cheating on his girlfriend. But things don’t quite turn out as planned when she fails in her plans and eventually becomes stuck as a mortal. Although Anya was not originally planned as a regular character, she quickly became a regular and part of the so-called ‘Scooby Gang’—and ended up in a tumultuous relationship with the former target of her vengeance, Xander. Anya was nastily killed in season seven, showing once again that Joss Whedon had no hesitation in doing in major characters of the show.

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Eliza Dushku, who first appeared in the third season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, quickly garnered a fan following for her bad-ass, sexpot portrayal of rogue slayer Faith. Although Faith repeatedly tries to do the right thing in the beginning during various points in the series, she inevitably finds herself on the wrong side of the good vs. evil battle. Still, as bad as Faith often was (or perhaps because of it), fans just couldn’t get enough of her. Unfortunately, Eliza Dushku didn’t quite feel the same way about the character. Joss Whedon offered Dushku a spin-off series after the final season of Buffy, but the actress declined.

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One of the most beloved characters on Buffy, Tara Maclay (Amber Benson) meets Willow Rosenberg (Alyson Hannigan) during a meeting of a college Wicca group. Willow eventually begins a romantic relationship with Tara, thus starting the first-ever U.S. prime-time lesbian couple involving a major series character. When Tara was murdered, enraged fans protested and accused the show’s creator of destroying the historic TV relationship simply for the shock factor to boost ratings. Joss Whedon claimed Tara’s death was just a natural progression of the plot that would have happened regardless of Willow’s sexual orientation. Although Whedon revealed at the Wizard World Chicago Convention in 2004 that he had considered bringing Tara back from the dead in season seven, Benson was not available for filming and the idea was abandoned.

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For many lesbian fans, Alyson Hannigan as Willow Rosenberg was the real star of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. One of the most prominent lesbian characters to ever appear on television, Willow was an inspiration to a horde of female fans—which made it completely horrible when her partner on the show, Tara Maclay (played by Amber Benson), was killed. Tara’s death prompts Willow to turn fully to the dark side (which she’d been close to doing before anyway) and she goes so far to attempt to destroy the whole world in her grief. Eventually, she finds her way back to the light (much damaged) and finds a new love in vampire slayer Kennedy (Iyari Limon).

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Gabrielle, known by fans as the Battling Bard of Potidaea, began her journey in Xena: Warrior Princess with an innocent heart and the ugliest outfits one could possibly imagine. Over the course of the show, Gabrielle evolved into a formidable warrior in her own right—and even briefly reigns as Queen of the Amazons, before handing over the crown to Ephiny. Eventually Gabrielle stands as her partner Xena’s equal—and in much better, much sexier outfits. Thank the gods! For her ever-evolving role as Gabrielle, Renee O’Connor acquired a legion of dedicated fans will never give up the place in their hearts reserved for the warrior-bard.

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The legendary leading protagonist of Xena: Warrior Princess, Xena is a bad-ass babe in black leather who can knock you flat with a raised eyebrow. With lovely soulmate Gabrielle in tow, Xena traveled the world righting wrongs and saving innocents from the horrors of evil. Along the way, Lucy Lawless garnered millions of fans for her protrayel of the tough-as-nails, but vulnerable warrior princess. The implied lesbian ‘subtext’ surrounding Xena on the show, involving Gabrielle and several other female characters was so pervasive that eventually Lawless said after the show’s finale episode that there wasn’t “any doubt” that the warrior-princess was romantically fond of the ladies. As for Gabrielle, Renee O’Connor summed up her relationship with Xena as finding her “soul mate” and “the love of her life.”

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Xena’s ultimate nemesis, Callisto tortured the warrior princess and her partner Gabrielle endlessly throughout much of the series. Callisto lost her family when Xena’s army torched her village—and the blond-haired vixen had a serious case of revenge insanity. Sadistic and psychopathic, Callisto was nonetheless something of a love-hate icon for both Xena and the show’s fans (especially when she was licking girls). You couldn’t help rooting for Hudson Leick’s twisted creation half the time—even when she was doing something nasty to your favorite heroines. Eventually Xena helps Callisto find redemption in the afterlife by sacrificing herself to save her from eternal damnation. Afterwards, in a seriously strange twist, Callisto is reincarnated as Xena’s child, Eve.

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Under the definition of Amazon Warrior in the encyclopedia, a picture of Danielle Cormack as Ephiny would make a gorgeous example. Sexy Ephiny inspired loads of crushes from lesbian fans and no few fan fiction stories involving her and Xena or/and Gabrielle in compromising positions. Although sadly Ephiny was tragically killed off in the series and never appeared in enough episodes to satisfy her followers, she still remains one of the biggest fan favorites of the show—as her presence on our list attests to.

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Alti was arguably the most evil of all the villainesses on Xena: Warrior Princess. Although Callisto might have been nastier at times, somewhere in there always lurked a sad little girl waiting to be redeemed. But Alti was just all bad, all the time. She tried to make eventual heroine Xena into a ‘destroyer of nations,’ but her former protégé came back to bite her in the ass—hard. Alti may not have been a girl you want to bring home to mom, but her evil sexiness (especially in the future time episode of season 6) makes her a villainess worthy of a bit of lust. That holds especially true for this writer, who had a close-up glimpse of Claire Stanfield’s luscious curves when she teased the lesbians mercilessly at a Xena party in Atlanta in 2001.

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The smoking hot goddess of love, Aphrodite is a trouble-maker with a heart of gold. Played by the lovely Alexandra Tydings, Aphrodite follows Xena and Gabrielle around a bit like a lonely puppy-dog looking for attention. But, for all her pink, bubbly silliness, she is still a goddess—and she can implement some wicked damage if she’s riled up too far. We’re especially fond of Alexandra after watching her get very ‘friendly’ with a certain Babylon 5 actress at a Xena party in Atlanta in 2001.

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