Solo Leveling: Who Are the Strongest Monarchs?

The Monarchs in Solo Levelingare easily some of the strongest characters in the entire series, but outside a few, it can be hard to see which are the strongest. There are a total of ten Monarchs in Solo Leveling, counting those past and present, and out of the ten, it can be hard to tell which is the absolute strongest. But Monarchs are already stronger than most characters, as even the weakest Monarchs are leagues above the strongest Hunters.

The Monarchs in Solo Leveling can be seen as the ultimate antagonists of the series. They're the beings responsible for the Gates created on Earth, and towards the end of the series, they also invade the Earth in the hopes of gaining enough power to defeat their ultimate enemies, the Rulers. If it wasn't for Sung Jinwoo and Ashborn, their plan would have succeeded.

10 Baran

The Monarch Of White Flames And The King Of Demons

Baran is the first Monarch featured in Solo Leveling. The series is all about Sung Jinwoo becoming stronger, and technically, he faced Baran when he was much weaker than when he faced the other Monarchs. He wasn't able to defeat any of the other Monarchs on his own either, and he defeated Baran almost entirely by himself (with a little help from Esil, of course).

Still, the Baran featured in Solo Leveling was technically only a copy of the original, as the original Baran was killed by Ashborn before the main events of the story unfolded. But that also means that Baran is the only Monarch to have died in the first place, most likely making him the weakest of the Monarchs.

As a Monarch, however, Baran is one of the strongest villains in Solo Leveling. His fight with Jinwoo is one of the most entertaining in the series, showcasing both the Monarch's destructive power and just how far Jinwoo has come as a Hunter.

9 Querehsha

The Monarch Of Plagues And The Queen Of Insects

Querehsha is the only female Monarch of the ten. She's the Monarch of Plagues and the Queen of Insects. During the final events of the series, she's one of the three Monarchs who begin hunting the strongest Hunters in the Solo Levelingbecause they're actually vessels of Rulers. Along with Sillad, Querehsha is one of the cruelest and most cynical Monarchs around.

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She teams up with Rakan and Tarnak to take down Christopher Reed, the third highest-ranking Hunter in the entire series. As the Queen of Insects, she's incredibly upset that Beru, the former Ant King, would stand against her.

Her relationship with Beru shows a deeper side to Solo Leveling that the series doesn't spend much time exploring. Funnily enough, Querehsha actually dies the same way her fellow insect, the Ant King, did: Jinwoo's unstoppable Mutilation skill.

8 Rakan

The Monarch Of Fangs And The King Of Beasts

Rakan is the Monarch of Fangs and the King of Beasts. He's one of the most straightforward and devastating Monarchs there are. He's also one of the few who didn't want to wait for Antares' return, instead opting to try and kill Sung Jinwoo before the King of Dragons was fully revived. Rakan is beastly both in character and appearance. He's a tall, muscular character who was strong enough to take on Thomas Andre without much effort.

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Rakan, along with Baran, tried to kill Ashborn when he was still the Monarch of Shadows. While Baran was killed in battle, Rakan fled to fight another day. He's also the Monarch that was able to kill Sung Jinwoo, and if it wasn't for Ashborn's abilities, Jinwoo would have stayed dead.

He's one of the weaker Monarchs because Jinwoo and Sung Il-Hwan were able to hold their own against them: a feat that can't be said about some of the other Monarchs in Solo Leveling.

7 Yogumunt

The Monarch Of Transfiguration And The King Of Demonic Specters

Yogumunt is one of the few Monarchs who is never really seen in battle. He's more of a strategist or a commander of forces during the final few arcs of Solo Leveling. While Sillad and Rakan fight in the vanguard, Yogumunt stays behind, creating portals for his forces to go through. He's the Monarch of Transfiguration and the King of Demonic Specters.

Yogumunt works closely with Antares, giving the Monarch of Destruction enough portals for his entire army. While Yogumunt is a pretty arrogant character, he's smart enough to know that without Antares, he's no match for Sung Jinwoo.

When Jinwoo uses the Cup of Reincarnation to rewind time, Yogumunt is the second to last Monarch he kills. He kills him quickly and effortlessly his second time around, showing that Yogumunt isn't much of a threat when he's on his own.

6 Sillad

The Monarch Of Frost And The King Of Snow Folk

Sillad is one of the first full Monarchs featured in Solo Leveling and one of the biggest antagonists of the series. While Baran was featured before him, it wasn't the real Baran. The Sillad seen towards the end of the second season of the series is the real deal. He's the Monarch of Frost and the King of Snow Folk like Baruka and the rest of the Ice Elves.

Sillad is cruel, maniacal, and egotistical. When his fight with Go Gunhee hopefully gets animated, he might go down as one of the most evil villains in anime. Sillad was arrogant until the end.

Towards the end of the series, he thinks that he has Jinwoo cornered, only to give the S-Rank Hunter access to all the Shadow Monarch's powers. It's a great fight that puts Sillad's full skills on display, but he turns out to be no match for the fully realized Second Shadow Monarch.

5 Tarnak

The Monarch Of The Iron Body And The King Of Monstrous Humanoids

Tarnak is the most human-looking Monarch of the ten, and it makes sense: he's the Monarch of Iron Body and the King of Monstrous Humanoids. He's the King of goblins, orcs, and other humanoid-looking monsters found in the dungeons of Solo Leveling. He's also one of the stronger Monarchs, and his ability to transform himself is one of the stronger abilities in the series.

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Tarnak is so strong that it took Thomas Andre, the second-strongest Hunter in the entire series, Bellion, the strongest Shadow in Sung Jinwoo's Army, and Beru, another top-ranking Shadow, all working together to take Tarnak down. When Tarnak thought he was just fighting Thomas Andre, he was more than confident in himself, but that's exactly what Jinwoo was expecting. He cornered Tarnak, trapped him with Tusk's magic, and let his troops do the work for him.

4 Legia

The Monarch Of The Beginning And The King Of Giants

Legia is the only Monarch who is never really seen fighting or even contributing to a fight in Solo Leveling. Even though he's never shown on the battlefield, there are a few components to his story that suggest that he's one of the strongest Monarchs in the group. First, Legia is the King of Giants.

The S-Rank Gate in Tokyo that killed Yuri Orloff showed that Giants are easily some of the strongest characters in the series, and Legia is their king. The Giants are so strong that Liu Zhigang, the third-strongest Hunter in the entire series, was tasked with killing one to save China.

Second, Legia was captured by the Rulers instead of being killed. They planted an essence stone in the back of his neck to give humans a chance to get stronger, showing that Legia was powerful enough to give Hunters a good amount of loot and experience from killing him.

3 Ashborn

The First Shadow Monarch And The King Of The Dead

Before Sung Jinwoo obtained the powers of the Shadow Monarch, Ashborn held the title as the first ever Shadow Monarch. He was said to be on an entirely different level in terms of strength from his fellow Monarchs, bar Antares. While Antares and Ashborn were said to be equals on the battlefield, Ashborn never really wanted to fight. Antares loved battle, giving him a slight edge over the King of the Dead.

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Before he became the Shadow Monarch, Ashborn was a Ruler and was known as the Greatest Fragment of Brilliant Light. He was the strongest Ruler in existence, but switched sides when the Rulers killed their creator, the Absolute Being. As the King of the Dead, Ashborn was the first character in the series to create his immortal Shadows.

Ashborn also put all his faith in humanity, choosing to give Sung Jinwoo his powers instead of using Jinwoo's body as a vessel like the other Monarchs did.

2 Antares

The Monarch Of Destruction And The King Of Dragons

Antares is the King of Dragons and the Monarch of Destruction. He's one of the strongest characters in Solo Levelingby some margin. He's so strong that he was able to destroy most of North America without any effort at all, killing S-Ranked Canadian Hunter Jay Mills before the 17th strongest Hunter in the world could even register that he was being attacked.

Antares is the strongest Monarch in Solo Leveling for most of the series. He's much stronger than Sung Jinwoo during their battle as well, but unfortunately for Antares, Jinwoo knew. He set Antares up, creating a moment where the Rulers could manifest on Earth and take down the King of Dragons themselves.

Antares is incredibly powerful, with some of the strongest abilities in Solo Leveling, including Dragon's Fear, Breath of Destruction, and an absurdly high level of Fire Magic.

1 Sung Jinwoo

The Second Shadow Monarch

During the epilogue of Solo Leveling, Sung Jinwoo finally takes the spot as the strongest Monarch in Solo Leveling. During the main events of the series, even with the Shadow Monarch's power, Antares is still much stronger than Sung Jinwoo. That all changes when Jinwoo spends 27 years hunting the Monarchs after using the Cup of Reincarnation.

Jinwoo becomes so strong that he kills all the Monarchs without any help from the Rulers. He gains so much strength that when he finally goes to fight Antares, the Monarch of Destruction immediately uses Spiritual Body Manifestation to kill Jinwoo. It didn't work, as the Second Shadow Monarch had gotten so strong at that point in the series that he stood alone at the top, finally becoming the strongest Monarch Solo Leveling had ever seen.