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The following article contains spoilers for the Solo Leveling manhwa.
Welcome to “Solo Leveling is Deeper Than You Think,” a series dedicated to uncovering the unexpected depth in the renowned South Korean power fantasy.
Despite the massive popularity Solo Leveling has gained following its first two anime seasons, the series has its critics. Even some fans who enjoy the storyline often dismiss it as superficial, claiming it requires viewers to switch off their brains to enjoy it. However, this perception couldn’t be further from the truth—particularly when examining the profound developments in the later stages of Sung Jinwoo’s journey in the manhwa.
For as popular as Solo Leveling has become in the wake of its first two anime seasons, the series has its share of haters. Even many anime fans who admit to enjoying the series still consider it a shallow story that viewers need to shut their brains off to appreciate. That perspective couldn’t be more wrong – especially when taking into account the sheer beauty that occurs in the latter half of Sung Jinwoo’s story in the manhwa.
Solo Leveling isn’t a perfect story by any means, and the side characters do suffer from being overlooked, but the impressive depth of the series shines through when dissecting the finer details of Sung Jinwoo’s individual development arc. There’s no instance in the entire series where that depth is more apparent than in the manhwa’s adaptation of the scene when Sung Jinwoo first meets Ashborn, the original Shadow Monarch.
Sung Jinwoo’s Second Death is Solo Leveling’s Biggest Turning Point
In Solo Leveling manhwa Chapter 161, Sung Jinwoo’s 3 v 1 battle against the Frost, Beast and Plague Monarchs comes to a tragic conclusion when Jinwoo is stabbed through the stomach and killed. But that isn’t the end of his story.
As Jinwoo’s HP hits 0, the System activates the passive skill “unknown,” triggered by the Black Heart that Jinwoo received during his battle with the Architect. When Jinwoo comes to, he finds himself in a hospital bed, with the whole ordeal having appeared to be a dream. It seems that he has someone gone back in time, to the moment when he was first killed in the Double Dungeon. However, he has still retained all the stats and Skills he gained up to that point.
It’s a disorienting moment in the story that recaptures all the mystery that was apparently lost when Jinwoo finally met the Architect of the System for the first time. With a newfound oppurtunity to start over, Jinwoo tries time and time again to change the mistakes he made in the past. And each time he fails, the System asks him, “Would you like to restart the world?”
This question is actually a powerful piece of foreshadowing for the decision Jinwoo has to make to reset the world again using the Cup of Reincarnation at the end of the series.
Over and over, Jinwoo chooses to continue reliving his past. He tries to prevent Joohee from going through traum, he tries to prevent Haein from getting hurt by the Ant King, and he tries to prevent Go Gunhee’s murder. No matter how much he tries, he can’t fix everything.
Refusing to succumb to his fate, Jinwoo calls out as though to God himself: “I know this is all an illusion! So knock it off and show yourself!” Finally, Ashborn appears before Jinwoo to reveal the truth: “I am not the creator of this world,” Ashborn tells Jinwoo, “You are.”
I became you, and you became me. It wouldn’t be strange if either one of us became the owner of this body.
There are so many potential interpretations of this scene alone, but even taken at face value there’s a lot to unpack. To meet Ashborn, Sung Jinwoo had to literally die, because death is the Shadow Monarch’s true domain. Only in death can Jinwoo come to know Ashborn, and thereby come to know himself.
By failing to change the world repeatedly, Jinwoo was learning the deepest lesson that contemplating death reveals to a person: death is the inevitable fate of all human beings, and it’s as unavoidable as the fates of Jinwoo’s friends whom he couldn’t save. Of any in the manhwa, the stretch of three chapters from when Jinwoo dies in Chapter 161 to when he comes back in Chapter 163 is by far Solo Leveling’s greatest stroke of genius.
Jinwoo’s Meeting With Ashborn is The Manhwa’s Most Powerful Scene By Far
The scene in which Sung Jinwoo converses with Ashborn is easily Solo Leveling’s most powerful. It’s a perfect combination of profound storytelling and beautifully illustrated art that collaborate to convey the sheer majesty of Ashborn’s presence. Within the domain of death, Ashborn is an omnipresent and all-powerful god, able to take on the form of any being he wishes, and he uses it to switch continuously between familiar faces.
From Sung Ilhwan to Woo Jinchul to Lee Joohee, Ashborn’s various forms make this conversation feel like the culmination of everything Jinwoo has experienced throughout the series. It gives the scene a truly transformational feel, as though this is the point of no return and the climax of Jinwoo’s journey to level up – which it certainly is.
This scene not only reveals the depth of Jinwoo’s connection to Ashborn, as well as the deeper lore of the Solo Leveling universe, it also serves as the true full-circle moment for Jinwoo’s character development. Jinwoo is a person who cares very deeply about his family and loved ones, and would do anything to save them. However, it’s during this meeting with Ashborn when he realizes that, no matter what he does, there are some people he can’t save and some things beyond his control.
Your desire to correct your mistakes, combined with my power… that is what created this world.
Death is the relinquishment of control. The acceptance of death is the acceptance that some aspects of life are fundamentally out of a person’s hands. In the hands of a power fantasy series like Solo Leveling, the theme of “letting go of control” becomes an ever deeper insight, because most power fantasy series are all about feeding into the viewers’ desire to control parts of life they normally can’t. In contrast, Solo Leveling‘s final conclusion here is almost like the Taoist teaching of “effortless action,” which is all about letting go of control to ironically gain control of one’s life. It’s something like the common idiom: “true knowledge is knowing that one knows nothing.”
Jinwoo’s discussion with Ashborn culminates in the beautiful moment where Jinwoo, in pure acceptance of his fate, utters the iconic word “Arise,” thereby raising himself from the dead. It’s such an exceptionally drawn scene by DUBU, as Jinwoo closes his eyes in a perfectly serene field that conveys the pure peace of death. The imagery gives this poetic storyline the perfect backdrop to conjure that same sense of elation in the reader that Jinwoo is undoubtedly feeling.
Jinwoo’s Rebirth Scene Proves Solo Leveling is Deeper Than The Anime’s Haters Claim
Not only is Jinwoo’s meeting with Ashborn the most powerful scene in Solo Leveling, but it also sets the stage for another stretch of moments that are equally memorable. When Jinwoo awakens from death, he has acquired the full might of the Shadow Monarch, making him an untouchable powerhouse at a level unseen in the series thus far.
Jinwoo flexes his power against the Frost and Beast Monarchs with some of the manhwa’s most iconic aura farming panels, proving his newfound superiority. He then goes on to share a truly heartfelt and intimate moment with his father, Sung Ilhwan, who finds himself at death’s door.
Solo Leveling‘s story is by no means immune to criticism, but it’s also entirely deserving of all the praise it gets. The scene when Jinwoo meets Ashborn is the perfect example of how Solo Leveling knows how to deliver powerful character-driven drama at the times when it counts most. Breaking up those hype fights and aura farming moments is a story that secretly delves into thought-provoking questions.
Solo Leveling’s critics love to claim the series is a “mindless” power fantasy, but in just Jinwoo’s meeting with Ashborn alone, the story explores heady themes that definitely warrant deeper analysis. This single scene proves that most of the haters’ takes on the series are even more shallow than they claim Solo Leveling to be.
I am the record of your struggles, the evidence of your resistance, and the reward for your pain.
The moment when Jinwoo utters the word “Arise” to resurrect himself from Ashborn’s domain is the embodiment of why the manhwa has become so overwhelmingly popular. While the anime fandom calls those powerful moments of striking coolness “aura,” in the context of Solo Leveling, they could just as easily be called “triumphs for Jinwoo,” or “moments of admirable resolve.” It’s only because Jinwoo’s struggle from being the weakest to becoming the strongest is so well-written that fans find themselves so hyped to cheer him on when he faces a powerful Magic Beast with a cool and collected aura of confidence.
Obviously, anyone who writes off Solo Leveling as lacking substance is simply not looking deep enough. Or, at the very least, they haven’t read Chapters 161-163 of the Solo Leveling manhwa.
For more on the deeper aspects of the Solo Leveling storyline, check out the first two editions of this column: Solo Leveling is Deeper Than You Think – Its Berserk Connection Proves It and Solo Leveling’s Story is Much Deeper Than You Think – Sung Jinwoo’s Real Life Inspiration Proves It.
- Author
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Chugong
- Artist
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Dubu
- Release Date
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March 4, 2018
- Chapters
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190
