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Is It Hot in Here? The Steamiest Outlander Sex Scenes, Ranked

Are you here for the wedding or the castle?

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Megan Vick

[Warning: The following post contains images that could be considered explicit or NSFW]

Outlanderhas a lot to offer: time-travel, adventure, sweeping landscapes, sword fights and kilts. Let's face it though, the real reason the Starz epic has such a devoted die-hard fan base is because of the romance.

In fact, Outlander has some of the best love scenes on television. It helps that the show has a cast made up of beautiful people -- Caitriona Balfe, Sam Heughan and Tobias Menzies to start -- but the main reason the love scenes resonate is because the show doesn't let anyone get naked without purpose. Each intimate encounter carries a weight, which emotionally invests the viewer in what's happening on screen... Beyond seeing hot actors in their birthday suits.

From Frank (Menzies) and Claire's (Balfe) castle foreplay in the series premiere, to Claire and Jamie's (Heughan) reunion sex, TVGuide.com undertook the difficult task of ranking Outlander's steamiest love scenes below. It's a hard job, but someone has to do it.

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7. Claire and Jamie's first time -- Season 1, episode 7, "The Wedding"

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Caitriona Balfe and Sam Heughan, Outlander Starz

It's the first time that Jamie and Claire have sex, so it makes the list for sentimental reasons. It may have started as a marriage of convenience but after a night of sharing (almost) everything about each other, the two are finally in love. However, it's clear that virgin Jamie still has some things to learn about pleasing a woman. Luckily for us, he's a quick learner.

6. Claire and Frank's second honeymoon -- Season 1, episode 1 "Sassenach"

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Caitriona Balfe and Tobias Menzies, Outlander Starz

It's the first love scene of the series and sets the tone for everything that's to come next. More importantly, Claire's voiceover informs us that sex has become an avenue for her and Frank to emotionally find their way back to each other, after being separated by WWII. It shows that sex doubles as communication device for the characters when words aren't adequately expressing how they feel about each other.

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5. Claire and Jamie in the woods -- Season 1, episode 11, "The Devil's Mark"

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Caitriona Balfe and Sam Heughan, Outlander Starz

Claire and Jamie have very bad luck when it comes to hooking up in the woods, but the night after Claire tells Jamie the truth about being from the future turns into a magical encounter. Jamie forgoes having full on sex and chooses instead to focus solely on Claire. "I want to watch you," he whispers as he touches her intimately.

This is the first time that he's seeing her for who she truly is and he knows that this might be the last time they're together, which adds a whole other layer to his affections. Let's be real, this move probably had a lot to do with why Claire didn't return to Frank the next day, when Jamie brought her back to the stones that transported her through time in the first place.

4. Claire and Jamie reunion -- Season 2, episode 4, "La Dame Blanche"

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Caitriona Balfe and Sam Heughan, Outlander Starz

There have been a number of long lasting repercussions for Black Jack Randall (Tobias Menzies) raping Jamie in the first season finale -- including Jamie being unable to sleep with Claire without picturing Randall's face. It takes months in Paris and four episodes after the incident for our central couple to find their way back to each other. It's almost a mirror to Claire and Frank in the series premiere; and the scene doesn't just bring Jamie and Claire back together physically, but emotionally since their time in Paris has nearly torn them apart.

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3. Claire and Frank foreplay in the castle -- Season 1, episode 1, "Sassenach"

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Caitriona Balfe, Outlander Starz

Outlander made it clear from the very first episode that this was a show from Claire's point of view, and that includes the sex she's having. She and Frank are exploring Scottish ruins when he discovers that she's not wearing any underwear. Claire takes control of the situation and directs Frank to his knees so that he can go down on her. It shifts the expected power dynamic between the two and clearly establishes Claire as a woman who not only knows what she wants, but isn't afraid to go after it.

2. Claire and Jamie post-punishment -- Season 1, episode 9, "The Reckoning"

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Sam Heughan, Outlander Starz

Claire knows what she doesn't want as much as she does. That becomes clear in "The Reckoning" when Jamie decides he needs to punish his wife for getting herself caught by the British and risking the lives of his men to save her. It may be normal for an 18th century Scotsman to spank his wife with a belt, but that did not go over well with Claire. Once Jamie realized the error of his ways, Claire was willing to show him that they could play rough -- it just needs to be consensual. "Raise your hand to me again James Fraser and I will cut your heart out," Claire warns him. Damn, can someone get a safe word around here?

1. Claire and Jamie's wedding night Part 2-- Season 1, episode 7, "The Wedding"

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Caitriona Balfe and Sam Heughan, Outlander Starz

When we said that Jamie was a quick learner in the bedroom, we meant it. His first time may not have been stellar, but by round 3 of Claire and Jamie's wedding night the Scottish laird had become a master of the bedroom. It starts off steamy from the moment Claire tells Jamie to strip for her. By the time they actually make it to the bed to do the actual deed you're at a full flush.

The push and pull of their third time around perfectly demonstrates the push and pull of their actual relationship and the heat between them is enough to fog up any viewing screen. After timidly getting to know each other and going through so much to make it to this point, this is the scene that confirms Jamie and Claire are soulmates.

What is your favorite Outlander love scene?

Outlander continues Saturdays at 9/8c on Starz.