If you are diving into the deep lore of Chugong's hit web novel and manhwa and wondering exactly what are the Monarchs Solo Leveling, the short answer is this: they are god-like, primordial entities created from pure darkness, designed with a singular, terrifying purpose—to destroy the universe. Alongside their counterparts, the Rulers, the Monarchs form the cosmological backbone of the entire Solo Leveling universe. They are the ultimate antagonists of the series, pulling the strings behind the magic beasts, the Gates, and the apocalyptic threat facing Earth.
But reducing them to mere "villains" ignores the complex world-building that makes the series a masterpiece. The Monarchs are bound by ancient cosmic laws, requiring human vessels to manifest, and their internal politics are as deadly as their sheer physical power.
To outrank the shallow wiki summaries and truly understand the stakes of Sung Jin-Woo's journey, we need to dissect the complete hierarchy of these cosmic beings. Here is the definitive guide to the Monarchs, their domains, their human hosts, and how a weak E-Rank hunter became the most feared entity among them.
What Are the Monarchs Solo Leveling? Origins and The Absolute Being
To understand the Monarchs, you have to look at the genesis of the Solo Leveling universe. In the beginning, there was only the Absolute Being—a supreme creator god. Boredom, or perhaps a cruel sense of narrative drama, drove the Absolute Being to split the primordial universe into two opposing forces.
From the primordial darkness, the Absolute Being created the Monarchs (the 9 Kings), embedding them with the instinct to destroy everything in existence. From the primordial light, he created the Rulers (the Fragments of Brilliant Light), embedding them with the instinct to protect and maintain existence.
This deliberate binary guaranteed an eternal, unending cosmic war. The Monarchs and Rulers slaughtered each other for eons, completely unaware that their endless suffering was merely entertainment for their creator. When the Rulers finally discovered this grim truth, they rebelled against and assassinated the Absolute Being. However, the Monarchs remained true to their original programming: the absolute annihilation of all worlds. With the Absolute Being dead, the war shifted from a controlled cosmic game to a desperate fight for survival, eventually spilling over onto a mana-less, fragile planet called Earth.
What Are the Monarchs Solo Leveling? The Human Vessel Mechanism
Earth was never meant to be a battlefield for gods. The planet's innate mana network was practically nonexistent. If a Monarch or a Ruler were to descend upon Earth in their true "Spiritual Body," the sheer density of their presence would shatter the planet's dimensional fabric, tearing reality apart.
To circumvent this, both factions rely on a proxy system: Human Vessels.
For a Monarch to walk on Earth, they must find a human host whose physical and magical fortitude can withstand their soul. This is not a simple possession. The process is parasitic and total.
- The Search: Monarchs actively seek out the strongest magical humans (S-Rank Hunters or National Level Hunters).
- The Assimilation: Unlike the Rulers, who "borrow" the bodies of humans (creating Awakened beings and National Level Hunters) and allow the host to retain their consciousness, the Monarchs completely obliterate the human host's ego. The human dies, and the body becomes a permanent flesh-suit for the Monarch.
- The Limitation: Finding a suitable vessel is incredibly difficult. If a host is too weak, the Monarch's power will literally burn the body to ash from the inside out. This limitation is the only reason Earth wasn't instantly vaporized when the Gates first opened.
What Are the Monarchs Solo Leveling? The 9 Kings Ranked
The hierarchy of the Monarchs is dictated by their raw destructive power and their specific domains. Here is the complete breakdown of the 9 original Monarchs, their titles, and their capabilities.
1. Antares (Monarch of Destruction / King of Dragons)
Antares is the absolute strongest of the Monarchs and the final antagonist of Solo Leveling. As the King of Dragons, his power is so incomprehensibly vast that he fundamentally could not find a human vessel on Earth capable of holding him. He was forced to wait until Earth was sufficiently saturated with mana to descend in his true form. His signature ability, the Breath of Destruction, can erase anything it touches from existence—not just physically incinerating it, but deleting it from reality.
2. Ashborn (Shadow Monarch / King of the Dead)
Ashborn is the anomaly. Originally, he was the Greatest Fragment of Brilliant Light—a Ruler. When the other Rulers rebelled against the Absolute Being, Ashborn stayed loyal and was killed. However, the Absolute Being had hidden a fragment of primordial darkness within him. Upon his "death," this darkness awakened, resurrecting him as the Shadow Monarch. He possesses the unique ability of Shadow Extraction, allowing him to raise the dead as an immortal army of shadow soldiers. Disillusioned with both the Rulers and the Monarchs, Ashborn plays his own game.
3. Baran (Monarch of White Flames / King of Demons)
Baran is a ruthless combatant who rules over the demonic realm. Long before the events of the main story, Baran betrayed Ashborn, leading a sneak attack alongside the Beast Monarch. Ashborn easily overpowered and killed him. The "Baran" that Sung Jin-Woo fights on the 100th floor of the Demon Castle is merely a magical recreation generated by the System, but it still possessed terrifying lightning and hellfire magic.
4. Sillad (Monarch of Frost / King of Snow Folk)
An arrogant and deeply paranoid entity, Sillad controls ice and absolute zero temperatures. He is one of the first Monarchs to actively descend to Earth via a human vessel (an elderly ice-magic user). Sillad recognizes the threat Sung Jin-Woo poses early on and attempts to assassinate him before the Shadow Monarch's power fully matures. He wields ice weaponry that can freeze S-Rank hunters instantly.
5. Rakan (Monarch of Beasts / King of Beasts)
Rakan represents primal savagery. He can transform into a massive, apocalyptic werewolf-like creature. Despite his ferocious appearance, Rakan is famously cowardly; he betrayed Ashborn in the past and is quick to flee when a battle turns against him. He possesses extreme regenerative abilities, physical strength, and telekinesis, but ultimately falls prey to his own fear.
6. Querehsha (Monarch of Plagues / Queen of Insects)
Querehsha is the embodiment of rot, disease, and parasitism. She uses a female human vessel and commands endless swarms of demonic insects. Her power lies in necromancy-adjacent abilities, using parasites to control the corpses of the dead, and generating highly lethal, corrosive poisons. She views humans merely as breeding grounds for her swarms.
7. Tarnak (Monarch of Iron Blood / King of Monstrous Humanoids)
Tarnak commands the monstrous humanoids (orcs, goblins, ogres). He is heavily armored, immensely durable, and arrogant. In the final war, he clashes with Jin-Woo's top shadows, including Bellion and Beru. Tarnak relies on brute, overwhelming physical force rather than complex magic.
8. Legia (Monarch of the Beginning / King of Giants)
Legia's fate is one of the most unique in the lore. Early in the cosmic war, he was captured by the Rulers. Instead of killing him, they bound him in unbreakable magical chains and used him as a massive mana battery to fuel the Gates on Earth. Jin-Woo discovers him chained up in the S-Rank Gate in Japan. Despite Legia's attempts to trick Jin-Woo into freeing him, Jin-Woo deduces his true nature and executes him.
9. Yogumunt (Monarch of Transfiguration / King of Demonic Specters)
Yogumunt is the tactician and magic specialist of the Monarchs. He rarely engages in physical brawling, preferring to manipulate space, cast high-tier dimensional magic, and command phantom-like specters. He holds a deep-seated grudge against Ashborn for the Shadow Monarch's immense, rule-breaking power.
Sung Jin-Woo and the Shadow Monarch Connection
If the Monarchs require human vessels, how did Sung Jin-Woo become so uniquely powerful without losing his mind? The answer lies in the System.
Ashborn, exhausted by eons of betrayal and war, wanted an heir rather than just a flesh-suit. He contracted a brilliant, sadistic magical engineer known as the Architect to find him a human vessel. The Architect created "The System"—a video game-like UI visible only to Jin-Woo.
The System was not a gift; it was a ruthless conditioning program. By forcing Jin-Woo to complete daily quests, clear dungeons, and level up, the System was artificially reinforcing Jin-Woo's physical body and expanding his mana capacity. It was slowly adapting a weak E-Rank human to withstand the catastrophic weight of Ashborn's "Black Heart."
However, Jin-Woo's sheer willpower exceeded all expectations. When the Architect attempted to forcefully take over Jin-Woo's body for Ashborn, Ashborn intervened. The original Shadow Monarch had grown to respect humanity through watching Jin-Woo's struggles. Instead of consuming Jin-Woo's soul (as the other Monarchs do to their vessels), Ashborn chose to merge with him completely, erasing his own ego and passing the entirety of the Shadow Monarch's mantle to the human. Sung Jin-Woo didn't just become a vessel; he became the new Shadow Monarch.
Monarchs vs. Rulers: The Eternal War Explained
The conflict between the Monarchs and Rulers is the reason Earth is infested with magic beasts. The Rulers, seeking to protect the universe from the Monarchs, realized that Earth was strategically vital but too fragile to survive the crossfire.
To save Earth, the Rulers initiated the "Gate" phenomenon. They intentionally sent magic beasts (captured armies of the Monarchs) through dimensional rifts to Earth. The ambient mana leaking from these Gates slowly saturated the planet, forcefully triggering the "Awakening" in a small percentage of humans. The Rulers were essentially stress-testing and fortifying Earth, terraforming it with mana so it wouldn't shatter when the actual war began. The Monarchs, realizing the Rulers' plan, began sending their own forces to intercept and accelerate Earth's destruction before the Rulers' defenses could solidify.
Humanity was never the main character in this war; they were just the collateral damage on a cosmic chessboard. That is, until Sung Jin-Woo flipped the board entirely.
FAQ: What Are the Monarchs Solo Leveling?
Who is the strongest Monarch in Solo Leveling? Antares, the Monarch of Destruction and King of Dragons, is the strongest. His power is so immense that no human vessel could contain him, and his Breath of Destruction can erase matter from existence.
Is Sung Jin-Woo a Monarch or a Ruler? Sung Jin-Woo is a Monarch. Specifically, he is the second Shadow Monarch, having fully inherited the title, powers, and domain from the original Shadow Monarch, Ashborn.
Why did the Monarchs invade Earth? Earth became the final battleground in the eternal war between the Monarchs and the Rulers. The Monarchs sought to destroy Earth to eliminate the Rulers' foothold and fulfill their innate purpose of universal annihilation.
How many Monarchs are there in total? There are 9 original Monarchs created by the Absolute Being. Sung Jin-Woo makes 10 if you count him as the successor to Ashborn, though there are only ever 9 active seats of power at one time.
Sources
- Chugong. Solo Leveling (Web Novel & Manhwa). D&C Media.
- A-1 Pictures. Solo Leveling (Anime Adaptation).
- Official Solo Leveling Lore and Translation Notes regarding the Absolute Being and the Architect's System.