The main thing about Solo Leveling’s much-deserved hype is that you never know what will be in store for our protagonist next. By the end of Season 2 of Solo Leveling’s anime, Sung Jinwoo has surpassed the S Rankers that have been so painstakingly built up and is standing in a league of his own as Korea’s lone savior. All this comes after Jinwoo has been trying so hard to avoid the spotlight. However, he does mention setting up his own guild after being discovered, a very in-character move that proves he has no allegiance to anyone in particular.
Season 3 of Solo Leveling has already been set up to deep dive into the lore of the ‘System’ with the introduction of Sillad, the Monarch of Frost, and Rakan, the Monarch of Fangs at the end of Season 2, not to mention Jinwoo’s advancement to Level 100 where he has now gained his own title of Monarch of Shadows.
But will Jinwoo progress through Season 3 and learn the truth of the mysterious ‘System’ that’s been governing him without neglecting his humanity? Is it possible that a series of events could be put in motion that could force Jinwoo to abandon his ambiguity and become the villain?
Perfectly Villainous Timing
The ruthlessness of the ‘System‘ has been a major factor in Sung Jinwoo’s development since he was chosen through the ‘Courage of the Weak’ achievement to be a player at the end of the second episode of Solo Leveling. When Jinwoo failed to complete his first set of tasks in the hospital, the System punished him by transporting him against his will to a dimension with a monster far too difficult to face head-on. Jinwoo subsequently spent an inordinate amount of time outrunning the thing, only to be transported back to the hospital when his punishment time was up.
Similarly to this, Jinwoo ended up slaughtering a party of bullying Hunters, following the instructions of the ‘System’, forced to choose his own survival in a stark contrast to the personal sacrifice he made for his teammates in Episode 2. In the more recent season, the ‘System’ feels like it’s become less ruthless, but how much of that is in line with the fact that Jinwoo and the ‘System’s goals currently align?
Within Solo Leveling’s second Season, Jinwoo meets Esil, a demon on one of the higher floors of the infernal dungeon. He dares to ask her about the System and is told that he has ‘exceeded his allotted information’. The question is: how long before the ‘System’ requires something more of Jinwoo? And what will it try to take away from him to get what it wants?
The Shadow of Season 3
The ending of Solo Leveling’s Season 2 has put Sung Jinwoo in the perfect position to explore this. The goal of making Shadow Monarch has been achieved, his mother has awakened from the Eternal Sleep, and Korea is once again safe following Jinwoo’s defeat of the Ant King. He is currently in a teetering state where he has everything to lose, and more than that, he is in a position where he could choose not to continue on his path to get stronger.
If this happens, it would make sense for the ‘System’ to intervene and provide Jinwoo with new motivations to do its bidding. After all, what’s the point of a game-like leveling system if there are no players left to level up? The slide of Sung Jinwoo’s character into gradual depravity would be uniquely compelling.
Unlike Eren Jaeger in Attack on Titan, this slide wouldn’t be an abrupt one-eighty of character, but something more akin to the gradual loss of sense exhibited by Star Wars’ Anakin Skywalker, though substantially better written, most likely. It’s not like it would be entirely out of character, either, but a follow-up to what was hinted at with the events of Episode 6 and Jinwoo’s murder of the enemy Hunter party.
Utterly fascinating is the concept of just how far a naturally altruistic character like Sung Jinwoo would let himself fall to facilitate his ideal world, to get his family back, or to prevent the overall destruction of Korea. And of course, the real question will always be, are his actions truly villainous?
Secondary Character Spotlight
Fans have speculated significantly on the fact that the S Rankers were nerfed with the rise of the Ant King, their power rendered moot in the face of Jinwoo, who got only a scratch during the entire altercation, and this alien creature. If Jinwoo were to take the path of a villain, for whatever motivation, then it would be nice to distribute the spotlight amongst the other S Rankers like Cha Hae-In and Baek Yoonho as they tried to navigate their way around fighting this new enemy.
For Cha Hae-In, in particular, it would be nice to see her take up her dormant leadership qualities, as she does in the spin-off ‘Pure Sword Princess’. It might be fun to experience the story and the world of Solo Leveling from the perspective of someone who isn’t essentially OP and playing a completely different God-level game to the rest of humanity. Any major clashes between the main characters would be fraught with peril because we already know just how powerful Jinwoo is, in all that marvellous dramatic irony.
What a wonderful exploration of morality, too, to see Jinwoo, whose motivations would most likely be as gray as they are in the current canon material, act with conviction against those on the ‘moral high ground’ like Cha Hae-In. The dialogue alone would be intensely hard-hitting and electric enough to keep fans hooked for the long haul.
Who Is Solo Leveling’s Weakest Hunter?
If Sung Jinwoo were to take the path of the villain in what could be the greatest negative character arc ever written, there are a lot of people who could end up in trouble, particularly those of weaker standing. Despite being a B Rank Hunter, Lee Johee is considered one of the weakest Hunters in Solo Leveling simply because she’s unable to handle a lot of pressure.
When the statue comes to life in the double dungeon at the beginning of Solo Leveling, Johee goes to pieces, curling up immediately into the foetal position on the floor. Her weakness serves to brilliantly highlight Jinwoo’s strengths as he tries to keep calm and navigate his way through the dire situation almost entirely alone.
By the end of Solo Leveling Season 2, we’ve yet to see Johee make a real comeback, but would something like villainy from a now-famous Sung Jinwoo be enough to persuade her to join the fray once more? Perhaps persuading Jinwoo to reconnect with the right path would be enough of a kick up the backside to get her involved in future endeavours. Either way, this just proves that a villainous arc for Sung Jinwoo could open many doors within the narrative for a lot of secondary characters and offer an expanse of the world itself that could make the series feel a lot less hyper-focused on the singular progression of Sung Jinwoo.
