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The following contains spoilers for Solo Leveling.
For anime-only watchers ofSolo Leveling,there are still many mysteries surrounding the limits of Jinwoo’s powers that exist at the end of Season 2. It feels like Jinwoo is not using his shadow extraction capabilities to his fullest extent. He does not resurrect any of the fallen S-Rank hunters from Jeju Island as his shadow soldiers, and for big fights, he appears to prefer to let his shadow army stand aside while he fights the big bosses.
Just what exactly arethe limits of Jinwoo’s shadow extraction abilitiesinSolo Leveling? What people can he actually use it on, and does this include himself if he were ever killed in battle?
The Limits of Jinwoo’s Shadow Extraction
Not an All-Powerful Ability
We already see in the first two seasonsthat Jinwoo’s shadow extraction ability does not work on anyone that he wants it to. He failed to raise the Ice Elf boss of the red gate dungeon, and the power is stated not to work on beings that have been deceased for too long. As the story inSolo Levelingcontinues, some of these restrictions are lessened, but still others are introduced.
Despite having been dead for a long time,Jinwoo managed to resurrect the dragon Kamishin manhwa Chapter 143.
“Wait, even the powers of the Shadow Monarch aren’t enough to overcome a time span of eight years?!” -Jinwoo talking to Kamish’s shadow in Chapter 143.
However, this resurrection was only temporary, and Kamish disappeared after giving Jinwoo a clue about what his next step to oppose the Monarchs could be. This failure reinforces the limits of the shadow extraction ability for the story, leaving doubt in the minds of the viewer for the question of whether Jinwoo could use the ability on himself if he were ever in trouble. Would Jinwoo be able to overcome the limits of his power in a similar way, but his self-resurrection would only be temporary?
Jinwoo’s Ultimate ‘Arise’
Embracing His Identity As the Shadow Monarch
This question of self-resurrection is addressed directly in the story once Jinwoo squares off against the first wave of Monarchs. While he valiantly fights against the Frost, Fangs, and Plagues Monarchs, they are ultimately able to team up and land a lethal blow on Jinwoo. His HP falls to zero, and he experiences a strange dream where he finally meets Ashborn face-to-face. After being offered a choice to exist in an eternal pleasant dream where everyone is still alive or to go back to the real world,Jinwoo chooses to shoulder the burdensof being the Shadow Monarch and remain in control of his body.
“Arise.” -Jinwoo’s final words before returning to the real world in Chapter 163.
After uttering those words, Jinwoo’s frozen body begins to come back to life with the full powers of the Shadow Monarch unlocked. It’s possible that now that he has his full power, the previous restrictions on his shadow extraction ability that came from the system could be lessened or even non-existent. The narrative seems to imply that Jinwoo used shadow extraction on himself in this moment; however, he comes back just as he was before in his human body.
Jinwoo did not become a shadow-like being, and there was no message or acknowledgment from Jinwoo that he had completed a shadow extraction. This leaves some room to be critical of this instance of Jinwoo using the command word. It’s possible he only symbolically used the word, and it was not a form of shadow extraction. However, it’s more likely that he did resurrect himself since we are explicitly told by the System that he had died, even if he did not come back as a shadow soldier. To counter this, one could also argue that fully becoming the Shadow Monarch counts as being brought back as a shadow soldier and a successful use of his shadow extraction.
What if Jinwoo were ever brought backto this position of needing to use shadow extraction, would it still work on him to reverse his death? The story seems to imply that shadow extraction wouldn’t work on him the same way again, even if it did work the first time. Now that he and the Shadow Monarch have become one, he supposedly possesses an astral body, which shadow extractions specifically don’t work on. Overall, while it’s possible that Jinwoo’s shadow extraction ability could work on himself one time, in the majority of cases, it most likely would not work on himself, especially after releasing himself from the System.
Solo Leveling
Cast
A-1 Pictures' Solo Leveling is an anime based on Chugong’s popular web novel. Set in an unforgiving fantasy world where hunters explore dungeons filled with monsters, the vulnerable Sung Jinwoo gains a significant power boost after he is picked to be a solo player by the System.
