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What are the Rulers and the Monarchs in Solo Leveling, and where does the Shadow Monarch stand between them?Fiction

In-universe lore. Claims are judged against the fiction's own canon, not the real world.

Solo Leveling exists in three continuities: Chugong's Korean web novel, the webtoon illustrated by Jang Sung-rak, and the A-1 Pictures anime. The war between the Rulers and the Monarchs arrives late in all of them, and how much of it each version sets out is not the same.

10 established, 1 disputed, 1 debunked, 2 unresolved. We do not pick an answer; the evidence places each claim. How we decide

27 citations from 4 independent sources - 23 echo the same voices and count once. Graded C1-D1.

Added 5 Aug 2026 - canon current as of 5 Aug 2026

What the four states mean
  • Establishedsupported, uncontested
  • Disputedcredible sources disagree
  • Debunkedrefuted by the evidence
  • Unresolvedno settled answer

Established 10supported, uncontested

  • The Absolute Being split the light to create the Rulers and split the darkness to create the Monarchs, with the Monarchs born to destroy the world and the Rulers born to protect it.▰▰▰▱▱ likely2 points
    Supports
    • At the dawn of time, when light and darkness was all that existed, the Absolute Being split the light to create the Rulers and split the darkness to create the Monarchs. As the Monarchs were born to destroy the world and the Rulers were born to protect it, it wasn't long before they engaged in a devastating war against each other.Solo Leveling Wiki - Rulers analysis
    • The Absolute Being, who is Solo Leveling's version of God, created the Rulers from light and the Monarchs from the darkness. The Monarchs' purpose was to destroy the world while the Rulers' was to protect it.CBR - Solo Leveling: Who Are the Monarchs and What Do They Want? summary
  • The war between the two races never produced a victor, because the Absolute Being did not want the war to end and the fighting was entertainment to him.▰▰▰▱▱ likely2 points
    Supports
    • After eons of endless war with no victory in sight, the Rulers asked the Absolute Being to give them the strength to extinguish the Monarchs for good and put an end to the constant bloodshed. However, the Absolute Being did not reply to their request and it was at that moment that the Rulers finally realized that their war with the Monarchs was mere entertainment to him, and that the Absolute Being did not want the war to end.Solo Leveling Wiki - Rulers analysis
    • Because they were destined to fight one another, a war inevitably erupted between the Monarchs and the Rulers but it was a war that never ended. No matter how many times they killed each other, neither side ever emerged as the victor because the Absolute Being didn't want there to be a winner. Watching both sides kill each other was its only source of entertainment.CBR - Solo Leveling: Who Are the Monarchs and What Do They Want? summary
  • Seven of the eight Rulers rebelled against the Absolute Being, and every Ruler but one tried to overthrow him.▰▰▰▱▱ likely2 points
    Supports
  • The Rulers marched into the throne room and speared the Absolute Being to death, and Ashborn later found the god's corpse still sitting on his throne with the Rulers' spears sticking out of his body.▰▰▰▱▱ likely2 points
    Supports
    • With no one left to oppose them in their revolution, the Rulers marched into the throne room and speared the Absolute Being to death. After being reborn as the Shadow Monarch, Ashborn would later find the god's corpse still sitting on his throne, with the Rulers' spears sticking out of his body.Solo Leveling Wiki - Absolute Being analysis
    • These were the same Rulers who turned on the Absolute Being and even initially killed Ashborn because they wanted to take their fate into their own hands.CBR - The Controversial Solo Leveling Ending, Explained summary
  • Ashborn was left with fatal injuries, then discovered a power the Absolute Being had hidden inside his body and activated it, transforming himself into the Shadow Monarch.▰▰▰▱▱ likely2 points
    Supports
    • As his injuries were fatal, Ashborn believed that it was the end for him and prepared for death. However, before he could die, he discovered that the Absolute Being had hidden a monstrous power inside his body and promptly activated it, transforming himself into the Shadow Monarch.Solo Leveling Wiki - Ashborn analysis
    • The one Ruler, known as the Greatest Fragment of Brilliant Light, who remained loyal to the Absolute Being ended up fatally wounded. But the Absolute Being had one last trick up his sleeve: he had hidden power inside of his last loyal subject. On the brink of death, the Ruler was reborn into the ninth Monarch: King of the Dead, the Shadow Monarch. Out of light came the birth of a new darkness.CBR - Solo Leveling: Who Are the Monarchs and What Do They Want? summary
  • Ashborn carries the titles King of the Dead, Monarch of Shadows and Greatest Fragment of Brilliant Light.▰▰▰▱▱ likely2 points
    Supports
    • Ashborn (아스본) was the King of the Dead and the Monarch of Shadows. He was also the Greatest Fragment of Brilliant Light and the strongest of them all.Solo Leveling Wiki - Ashborn analysis
    • The one Ruler, known as the Greatest Fragment of Brilliant Light, who remained loyal to the Absolute Being ended up fatally wounded. But the Absolute Being had one last trick up his sleeve: he had hidden power inside of his last loyal subject. On the brink of death, the Ruler was reborn into the ninth Monarch: King of the Dead, the Shadow Monarch.CBR - Solo Leveling: Who Are the Monarchs and What Do They Want? summary
  • The Rulers spawned gates that caused enormous amounts of mana to pass into the human world and saturate it with enough magic to withstand the brunt of their war with the Monarchs, and they bestowed their powers on seven human vessels who went on to become the strongest hunters in the world.▰▰▰▱▱ likely2 points
    Supports
    • Ten years before the events of the main storyline, the Rulers turned to their last resort by spawning gates and exposing mankind to the existence of magic beasts, causing enormous amounts of mana to pass into the human world and slowly saturate it with enough magic to withstand the brunt of their war with the Monarchs. At the same time, they also bestowed their powers to seven human vessels, who would go on to become the strongest hunters in the world.Solo Leveling Wiki - Rulers analysis
    • The war went to Earth, nearly wiping out humankind. The Rulers turned back time in order to save humanity but it was no use: the Earth was too weak to withstand the fight between them and the Monarchs. That's how the Hunters and Gates were formed. The Gates were needed to increase mana and the Hunters were created to kill the monsters that emerged from the Gates.CBR - Solo Leveling: Who Are the Monarchs and What Do They Want? summary
  • Neither race can easily cross over into the human world without suitable human vessels, and they take those vessels in opposite ways: the Rulers borrow their vessels and allow them to retain complete control, while the Monarchs completely possess their vessels and steal their bodies for themselves.▰▰▰▱▱ likely3 points
    Supports
    • As they lack organic form and have mana-based biology, the Rulers cannot easily cross over into the human world without suitable human vessels. Unlike the Monarchs, the Rulers borrow their vessels for their bodies and allow them to retain complete control. While this technique allows the Rulers to remain alive even if their vessels die, it prevents them from being able to exert their full power in the human world.Solo Leveling Wiki - Rulers analysis
    • As they lack organic form and have mana-based biology, the Monarchs cannot easily cross over into the human world without suitable human vessels, a property that they share with the Rulers. Unlike the Rulers, the Monarchs also completely possess their vessels and essentially steal their bodies for themselves. Although this technique allows them to exert their full power in the human world, it also means that they will perish if their human vessels are slain in battle.Solo Leveling Wiki - Monarchs analysis
    • Both the Rulers and Monarchs have to use a human vessel to descend and the Shadow Monarch chose Jinwoo as his vessel.CBR - Solo Leveling: Who Are the Monarchs and What Do They Want? summary
  • The anime adapts a manhwa that is already an adaptation of a light novel, and it needs to condense and contextualize any content available to fit the animated style of storytelling.▰▰▰▱▱ likely2 points
    Supports
    • This is quite an achievement, considering the difficulty of adapting a manhwa that is already an adaptation of a light novel. The anime needs to condense and contextualize any content available to fit the animated style of storytelling, whether that is utilizing scenes present in the light novel but not the manhwa, or scenes that had never existed altogether, and A-1 Pictures does an excellent job.Screen Rant - Solo Leveling: Biggest Differences Between The Anime and Manhwa summary
    • A webtoon adaptation of Solo Leveling was first serialized in KakaoPage on March 4, 2018; it was illustrated by Jang Sung-rak (Dubu)Wikipedia - Solo Leveling analysis
  • The manhwa's ending is essentially a more rushed version of the ending in the original novels.▰▰▰▱▱ likely2 points
    Supports

Disputed 1credible sources disagree

  • Fans have viewed the Rulers' pressure on Jinwoo in the manhwa's ending as hypocritical and as making them no different from the Monarchs.▰▰▰▱▱ roughly even chance1 against2 points
    Supports
    • In an iconic scene in the Solo Leveling manhwa ending, the Brightest Fragment of Brilliant Light sat down with Jinwoo, giving him two choices: move away from Earth or get sealed away. Fans have viewed this pressure from the Rulers as entirely hypocritical, considering everything Jinwoo did for them. After all, it makes them no different from the Monarchs who tried to get rid of Ashborn because they feared his overwhelming power.CBR - The Controversial Solo Leveling Ending, Explained summary
    Against
    • As the Monarchs were born to destroy the world and the Rulers were born to protect it, it wasn't long before they engaged in a devastating war against each other.Solo Leveling Wiki - Rulers analysis

Debunked 1refuted by the evidence

  • Ashborn is Sung Jinwoo's father, as one account of the final battle against Antares has it. This is debunked: Il-Hwan was placed in Japan to take out Ashborn's human vessel, and there discovered that Jinwoo was the new Shadow Monarch and could not bring himself to kill his own son.Refuted bySeveral months after the events of the Jeju Island Raid, the Rulers gave Legia a way out by spawning a S-Rank Gate in Tokyo and placed Il-Hwan in Japan so that he could take out Ashborn's human vessel once the latter showed up. However, much to his horror, Il-Hwan discovered that Jinwoo was the new Shadow Monarch and could not bring himself to kill his own son.refuted1 against2 points
    The claim rested on
    Refuted by
    • Several months after the events of the Jeju Island Raid, the Rulers gave Legia a way out by spawning a S-Rank Gate in Tokyo and placed Il-Hwan in Japan so that he could take out Ashborn's human vessel once the latter showed up. However, much to his horror, Il-Hwan discovered that Jinwoo was the new Shadow Monarch and could not bring himself to kill his own son.Solo Leveling Wiki - Rulers analysis

Unresolved 2no settled answer

  • Whether the anime's conclusion diverges from the manhwa remains to be seen.▰▰▱▱▱ likelysummary-sourced1 source
    Supports
  • The Solo Leveling ending does not detail how the fight went when Jinwoo met with Antares again after beating all the Monarchs.▰▰▱▱▱ likelysummary-sourced1 source
    Supports
    • Another criticism about using the Cup of Reincarnation came at the Solo Leveling ending when Jinwoo beat all the Monarchs and met with Antares again. Unfortunately, the ending of the Solo Leveling manga didn't detail how their fight went, which was a little disappointing but unsurprising.CBR - The Controversial Solo Leveling Ending, Explained summary

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