‘Solo Leveling’: Jinwoo’s strongest shadows, ranked
Compared to Solo Leveling‘s Sung Jinwoo, Peter Pan gets a raw deal when it comes to shadow. All his shadow can do is slip free to creep around the house, and can easily be defeated with a needle and thread wielded by an adolescent English girl.
Jinwoo’s shadows are in a different league, granted they aren’t inanimate shapes formed by blocked light, but living (sort of) breathing (theoretically) supernatural beings capable of untold destruction (definitely). While Jinwoo collects shadows with the fervor of a Pokemon trainer on speed, not all of these undead beasties are equal in might. Compared to his starter shadows, the monsters on this list are Legendaries. Here they are: Jinwoo’s 10 strongest shadows, ranked. To the shadows that didn’t make the list, no shade.
10. Tank
The local government of Svalbard, Norway recommends that all travelers carry a gun while moving between settlements in order to protect themselves from polar bears. To protect yourself from Tank, it would be a better idea to carry a clear conscience, because this Ice Bear is going to send you straight to your maker. Jinwoo first encountered Ice Bears in the frigid Red Gate dungeon, and after killing their leader, he renamed it Tank and has been siccing it one foes ever since. As the name suggests, Tank is juggernaut capable of tearing through the toughest of enemies. What he lacks in magic power or cunning he certainly makes up for in sheer, unbridled strength. Polar bears should carry guns to protect themselves from him.
9. Kaisel
Kaisel may not be the strongest dragon that Jinwoo has ever encountered, but he’s still a DRAGON. That’s gotta count for something? The nuclear option of the Game of Thrones world, dragons are some of the most powerful magical creatures across all the world’s folklore – and Kaisel is no exception. Jinwoo first encountered the beast when fighting the Demon King Baran, who was using the dragon as his own personal steed: Nazgul style. Jinwoo decided to stand between a Nazgul and its prey, so to speak, and was able defeat the demon and claim his sweet ride. We haven’t seen much of Kaisel’s power in the source material, but his Elite Knight ranking speaks for itself. To put things in perspective, the mighty Tank is only a Knight. Do better, Tank.
8. Jima
Jinwoo first encountered Jima as a raid boss, World of Warcraft veterans know exactly how devastating such beasts can be. The combined might of all the Hunters in the Ahjin Guild wasn’t enough to defeat this mer-dragon monstrosity, and Jinwoo had take matters into his own hands. After a grueling fight, Jinwoo was able to subdue the serpent, renaming it Jima. Unlike the previous shadows on this list, Jima is capable of fighting with a degree of finesse – which is impressive given its gargantuan proportions. The mer-dragon wields deadly tridents in battle, and is capable of magically growing in size in order to match up against any foe. And just look at those scaly biceps! Jima’s a grower and a show-er.
7. Iron
Tank wasn’t the only perk of Jinwoo’s trip to the Red Gate dungeon. Aside from its deadly population of Ice Bears, the dungeon is home to even MORE dangerous Ice Elves. God of War fans, you know just how deadly them elves can be. In a stunning display of incompetence, Jinwoo’s White Tiger Guild member companion Kim Chul attempted to attack Jinwoo while the adventuring party was exploring the dungeon. Jinwoo protagonist’ed the tar out of Kim Chul, and then added insult to injury by resurrecting him as the shadow warrior Iron. From beyond the grave, Kim Chul finally proved useful by helping Jinwoo defeat the powerful Ice Elf Baruka and conquer the dungeon. If you can beat an Ice Elf King, you belong on this list for sure.
6. Greed
Like Iron, Greed was a former human named Hwang Dong-Soo – a Hunter from the Scavenger Guild. Unlike Iron, Greed was an S-ranked Hunter in human form, a step above Kim Chul’s shoddy A-rank. Sorry Iron, if you wanna make it to the shadow Big Leagues, you gotta do better in life. Granted, Hwang Dong-Soo didn’t make good life choices either, and was murdered off-screen by Jinwoo after the protagonist discovered that Hwang Dong-Soo tried to have him killed by American Hunter Thomas Andre. Jinwoo resurrected Hwang Dong-Soo as the spectral warrior Greed, who is a General ranked Shadow – very nice. As a Shadow, Greed is quiet and reserved, but displays a fierce lust for battle when provoked.
5. Kamish
While we haven’t gotten to see much of Kamish, this dragon’s fearsome reputation precedes it. While alive, Kamish was known as the Greatest Calamity on Earth, and can add Annihilator of the U.S. West Coast to his LinkedIn resume. He was defeated by the combined might of hundreds of S-ranks and five National Level Hunters, and only appeared as a Shadow briefly after Jinwoo resurrected him. Due the generous amount of time that Kamish spent as a corpse, the beast crumbled away minutes after Jinwoo brought him back to life, but not before doing an adorable lil’ tail wag. Had Jinwoo resurrected Kamish sooner after his demise, the beast could have potentially been the most powerful Shadow in Jinwoo’s arsenal.
4. Tusk
While mages are often (unfairly) saddled with a reputation of being squishy and weak, Tusk is doing his best to break the stigma. Former Shaman of the High Orks, Tusk is easily the strongest raw magic user we’ve seen in all of Solo Leveling, famous for his devastating area of effect arcane attacks. Tusk was one of the few Shadows that Jinwoo wasn’t able to resurrect into service on the first try, proving how stubbornly powerful the Ork’s spirit could be (Orks aren’t known for their agreeableness, after all). His fire spells are so powerful that they are capable of beating dragons at their own incendiary game (embarrassing for the dragons) and he has quite literally taken on thousands of enemies at once and left only charred corpses in his wake. Fleetwood Mac may or may not have named a song after him.
3. Igris
Igris called The Black Knight of Death, which is any would be foe’s cue to start walking in the other direction. Igris is hands down the finest swordsman in Jinwoo’s arsenal, capable of cutting through skyscrapers in a single swing. Igris is so tough that that the Frost Monarch Sillad considers him (not the higher ranked members on this list) but HIM to be the greatest threat that the icy king has ever faced. Before serving Jinwoo, Igris was known as one of the two most powerful warriors in Ashborn’s army of shadows. I can’t think of a better career reference than the King of the Dead himself. There’s a reason why Igris is a Marshall Grade Shadow, in the immortal words of Joe Esposito, Igris is “the best around.”
2. Beru
Beru was known as the Ant King – which doesn’t sound all that impressive until you realize that he was one of the most powerful monsters the series has ever seen. The Ant King famously killed 16 S-rank Hunter’s including Goto Ryuji, the greatest Hunter in all of Japan. Beru owes his strength to his Gluttony skill, which allows him to absorb the knowledge and skills of his defeated foes. He’s killed scores of powerful beings like giants and army ants, and was even able to pull a Saitama and kill a Lich King in one punch. His only weakness? He has a soft spot for Jinwoo’s toddler son, it’s as adorable as it sounds.
1. Bellion
As the only Grand Marshall ranked Shadow in Solo Leveling, Bellion is officially the GOAT. He was the first ever shadow soldier created by the King of the Dead Ashborn, and as such is one of the most powerful beings in existence. He can easily beat the daylights out of any other shadow on this list, considering he was able to defeat Beru without breaking a sweat. Speed, strength, regeneration, intelligence, Bellion easily outclasses every other Shadow in each category by orders of magnitude. He could likely defeat the combined might every single Hunter in the entire world if he wanted to, but thankfully for the world, he’s on our side. No shade to Jinwoo’s other Shadows, but they could all just quit and he’d be fine with Bellion alone.
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