In the Solo Leveling series, Sung Jin-Woo starts as the weakest hunter in the world. However, after a life-threatening encounter, the weakest hunter is given the chance to become a hunter who continually levels up and takes the world for his own.
The Evolution of Jinwoo's Personality So Far in Solo Leveling
Sung Jinwoo's journey from weakness to power unveils the blurred lines between light and darkness.
As Sung Jin-Woo explores new heights, he realizes that S-Class hunters are not the peak of the world, as there exist countless gods that could destroy the world if they so wish. Moreover, a faction of those gods, the Monarchs, have their eyes set on Earth. As Sung Jin-Woo gets stronger, he reaches the rank of god; however, he quickly realizes that there are more gods in the world than he would’ve thought.
12 Baran
The King Of Demons
Of the Monarchs portrayed in the series, Baran is the only one who was dead before the main timeline. Sung Jin-Woo didn’t meet Baran during his war with the Monarchs but met him on the 100th floor of the Demon's Castle.
The Monarch of White Flames that Sung Jin-Woo fought was only a stepping stone created by the Architect. While that version of Baran was relatively powerful, compared to the actual Monarchs, he wasn’t a threat. The true Baran portrayed in Ashborn's flashback is a fighter who gives all he has even when he is on the losing end, as seen in his battle against Ashborn.
11 Tarnak
The King Of Monstrous Humanoids
Like Yogumunt, the Monarch of the Iron Body decided not to fight against Sung Jin-Woo until Antares was present. His decisions and choices showed that, while he was proud and arrogant, he would not underestimate Ashborn's successor. Of all the Monarchs, Tarnak showed his extreme distaste for humans, believing Sung Jin-Woo was unworthy of being a Monarch because he was human.
While Sung Jin-Woo battled Antares, Tarnak simultaneously faced Beru, Bellion, and Thomas André. Faced with two of Sung Jin-Woo's strongest Marshall-level soldiers and America’s national-level hunter, the Monarch was put down.
10 Legia
The King Of Giants
The Monarch of the Beginning was only briefly portrayed in the Solo Leveling series, giving fans a hard time determining his true strength. Some believe that as Legia was the only Monarch captured by the Rulers, he must be the weakest; however, others surmise that Legia’s capture broke down the balance between the Rulers and the Monarchs, making him one of the stronger Monarchs.
Solo Leveling: The Birth of a King
The conclusion of the Job Change Quest brings forth a whole new beast in the form of E-Rank Hunter Sung Jinwoo.
Despite the speculations about his true strength, Legia is without a doubt more powerful than S-rank hunters, and is blessed with immense physical strength as the King of Giants. Despite his captured state, Legia attempted to fool Sung Jin-Woo, showing his cunning.
9 Rakan
The Monarch Of Fangs
The King of Beasts, Rakan, was a natural hunter with abilities far beyond those of S-class hunters. When hunter Baek Yoonho confronted him, his bestial instincts made him intuitively aware that he was no match for the Monarch.
Staying true to his name as the Monarch of Fangs, Rakan primarily fought with his limbs and claws, using physical attacks rather than magic. Rakan was a powerful Monarch; however, when backed into a corner, he fled the battlefield, leaving his allies to die, as seen in his battle against Sung Jin-Woo.
8 Sillad, Monarch Of Frost
The King Of The Snowfolk
After Antares, the Monarch of Frost was one of the Monarchs who actively opposed Sung Jin-Woo and sought to kill him at every opportunity. Unfortunately for him, after killing the chairman of the Korean Hunters Association, Go Gunhee, he was surely going to die at Jin-Woo’s hands.
Throughout the series, even though Sillad was extremely under-equipped to fight against Sung Jin-Woo, Ashborn's successor, he kept trying, and even recruited other Monarchs to join him. Up until he died, the Monarch of Frost was always trying to kill Jin-Woo before he could awaken his true powers.
7 Querehsha
The Monarch Of Plagues
The Queen of Insects was one of the first Monarchs to die in the series; however, that doesn’t mean she was weak. As a Monarch, Querehsha was recruited by the Monarch of Frost to kill Sung Jin-Woo before he fully awakened Ashborn's powers, and she agreed.
Solo Leveling: 6 Underrated Monarchs
By the time they clash with Sung Jin-Woo, the Monarchs come off as weak when compared to Solo Leveling's protagonist, which is far form the truth.
During their battle, Querehsha became more fixated on forcing Beru to submit to her than actually killing Sung Jin-Woo, allowing the hunter to strike her down. As the Queen of Insects and Monarch of Plagues, Querehsha rules over insects and has a wide range of poisons and diseases to incapacitate her enemies.
6 Yogumunt
The King Of Demonic Spectres
Despite being one of the Monarchs, the primary antagonists of the Solo Leveling series, the Monarch of Transfiguration, Yogumunt, only played minor roles throughout the series. While very little is known about him, Yogumunt is also known as the King of Demonic Specters and the greatest sorcerer in the Chaos World.
Throughout the series, Yogumunt makes just a few appearances; however, as a Monarch, he is without a doubt powerful. Neither Sung Jin-Woo or his allies killed Yogumunt before he used the Cup of Reincarnation, as he refused to face Sung Jin-Woo in battle before Antares arrived.
5 Antares
The King Of Dragons
The Monarch of Destruction is the only Monarch who was able to rival Ashborn while he was alive. During the war on Earth, Antares easily massacred various S-class hunters as he strode through the battlefield, waiting for Sung Jin-Woo to appear. During the main timeline, Sung Jin-Woo and Antares duked it out on a deserted island.
As the battle progressed, Sung Jin-Woo managed to injure Antares; however, he didn’t deliver the killing blow, as he had invited the Rulers to appear. Rather than chastise Sung Jin-Woo as a coward, Antares admired and praised his tactical strategies. For Antares, strength was all that mattered, and he admired the strong Jin-Woo's abilities.
4 Sung Jin-Woo
The New Shadow Monarch
Of the gods in Solo Leveling, Sung Jin-Woo remains the youngest and newest one. As Ashborn’s successor, Sung Jin-Woo had to grow his strength through the system created by the Architect to become strong enough to wield Ashborn’s powers. Immediately after inheriting Ashborn's full legacy, Sung Jin-Woo proceeded to kill the Monarch of Frost and the Monarch of Fangs.
As a human, Sung Jin-Woo’s actions were always based on protecting the future of humanity to ensure their survival amidst the war between the Monarchs and the Rulers. To this extent, he was even willing to go back in time to fight against the Monarchs alone to ensure that no humans were lost in the battle.
3 Ashborn
The King Of The Dead
In the beginning, Ashborn was a Ruler who fought against the Monarchs. However, after the Rulers’ betrayal, he awakened to find himself with a dark power that the Absolute Being had kept within him. From that point on, Ashborn decided to join the Monarchs, as he could not forgive the Rulers for their betrayal.
The former Ruler and Monarch of Shadows is quite an enigma. Whether because he was tired of the endless fighting, or because he felt pity and guilt towards the humans, or because of some other unexplainable reason, Ashborn decided to give his powers to Sung Jin-Woo and effectively retire.
2 The Rulers
The Adversaries Of The Monarchs
The opposites of the Monarchs, the Rulers, whose sole purpose was to protect the world, never descended upon Earth till Sung Jin-Woo enlisted their help to restrain Antares. As gods, the Rulers used human vessels such as Go Gun-Hee, Sung Il-Hwan, and Thomas Andre.
Solo Leveling: 8 Most Overpowered Hunter Abilities
These abilities are the broken ones in the series. Possession of one is enough to pose a massive threat to society.
While their human vessels became far more powerful than other human hunters, to actual gods such as the Monarchs, the powers of the Rulers' vessels were far from enough. As gods, the Rulers kept trying to find ways to ensure even a few humans survived the war between the Monarchs and the Rulers, and used the Cup of Reincarnation several times to that extent.
1 The Absolute Being
The Creator Of The Rulers And Monarchs
As the creator of the Rulers and Monarchs, The Absolute Being is one character that truly embodies the moniker of God. At the beginning of the Solo Leveling universe, The Absolute Being created the Rulers to protect the world and the Monarchs to destroy it, keeping them in an endless cycle of war.
Unfortunately, its creations, the Rulers, rebelled against it and killed The Absolute Being in an attempt to stop the endless war. While not much is known about The Absolute Being, it very much enjoyed watching the Rulers and Monarchs duke it out.
Solo Leveling
- Studio
- A-1 Pictures
- Creator
- Chugong
- Number of Episodes
- 12
- Streaming Service(s)
- Crunchyroll
