One of Sung Jinwoo’s greatest abilities inSolo Levelingis his ability to capture the Shadows of his enemies, but there’s one group who he can never control. Jinwoo has added some of his most beastly opposition to his ever-growing Shadow Army, creating an immortal legion that has helped make him one ofthe strongest characters inSolo Leveling.
While characters like the Ant King, Igris, and Kargalgan are all some of the strongest characters in the series in their own right, even they have nothing on Jinwoo’s strongest enemies. These villains are so powerful, other Hunters can’t even lay a finger on them.
These villains are none other than the Monarchs, one of the two celestial groups created by the Absolute Being. They’re wickedly powerful, andthey have one key trait that will never allow Jinwoo to add their Shadows to his legion.
Jinwoo Obtained the Power of the Shadow Monarch
He Became One of the Strongest Characters in the Series
There are nine Monarchs inSolo Leveling.After the events of the first arc of the series, Jinwoo obtained part of the powers of the Shadow Monarch, one ofthe strongest Monarchs in the entire franchise. Each Monarch has a different ability that they bring to the table, but none are quite as deadly as the Shadow Monarch’s.
As the Second Shadow Monarch, Jinwoo has the ability to steal the Shadows of his opponents after he’s defeated them. He then adds their Shadows to his Army, and so long as he has mana, he can resurrect them infinitely.
It’s an ability that only gets stronger as Jinwoo fights tougher enemies: the tougher the enemy, the tougher the Shadow. No enemy is as strong as the Monarchs are, butthere’s one key reason as to why Jinwoo will never have a Monarch in his Shadow Army.
Monarchs Don’t Have Shadows
They’d Be Too Powerful for the Series Anyways
In order for Jinwoo to extract a character’s Shadow, he needs to be able to extract their mana relatively quickly after they die. He’s been able to convert almost every Shadow he’s extracted into one of his soldiers except for a few, so it makes sense that most people would think he’d be able to extract the Monarch’s Shadows too.
For better or for worse, Monarchs don’t have Shadows inSolo Leveling.When Jinwoo meets the Monarch of the Beginning and the King of Giants, Legia, he explains to the main character that"Both Monarchs and Rulers possess spiritual bodies. Spiritual bodies are destroyed when they are killed, so they cannot turn into Shadows".
Jinwoo is already one of the most broken characters in anime, so it’s probably for the best that he’s not able to convert his strongest enemies into allies. It’s an interesting bit of logic that makes a lot of sense towards the end of the series, but it would have been great to see Jinwoo commanding the strongest Monarchs inSolo Leveling.
