Solo Leveling: What are the goals of the Monarchs? Their motivations and objectives, explained

Solo Leveling is getting more exposure than ever before due to the successful anime adaptation by A-1 Pictures. The adaptation has led to a lot of people being curious about the lore and world-building of the franchise. When it comes to that, there is a group of characters that has become very prominent in the fandom and those are the Monarchs.

The Monarchs are some of the main antagonists in the Solo Leveling series and hold a lot of power, becoming a few of the strongest individuals in the story. Many of them have proven to be difficult adversaries to Sung Jin-Woo and their motivation to destroy the human race is something that goes back to the beginning of time itself.

Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers for the Solo Leveling series. Any opinion expressed here belongs to the author and not Sportskeeda as a whole.

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Explaining the motivations of the Monarchs in Solo Leveling

The origin of the Monarchs goes back to the very beginning of time itself in the Solo Leveling series and the Absolute Being divided light and darkness, which was everything that existed at the time, into the Rulers and the Monarchs. This event is what led to the original conflict between these two sides, with the Monarchs representing darkness itself and wanting to destroy the world and humanity as a whole.

The Monarchs were also attempting to destroy humanity so they could rebuild their armies after centuries of war and the Rulers were trying to stop them. The Rulers understood that the Monarchs couldn't be stopped and that humanity was going to be destroyed. This was why they decided to use the Cup of Reincarnation to set back events ten years, although the cycle kept repeating itself.

Much like the Rulers, the Monarchs are spiritual figures and cannot exist in the physical world, so they have to take human bodies as vessels. The Rulers usually coexist with the human vessels while the Monarchs take over the bodies without consent. The exception to this is Ashborn and Sung Jin-Woo but that is because of the relationship between the two characters.

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The nature of the Monarchs

Ashborn in the Solo Leveling manhwa (Image via D&C Media).

According to the origin of the Rulers and the Monarchs in the Solo Leveling manhwa, the latter is a representation of darkness and evil. This is shown by the way they go about things and how they are capable of taking over a person's body without their consent, simply because they need to reach out to the physical world.

The Monarchs also have very little honor and think less of humans, which is shown when they are constantly undermining Sung Jin-Woo's achievements. Ashborn is one of the few examples among the Monarchs and it is worth pointing out that his strength was so notorious that he was feared by both sides in the war. This is one of the reasons he was betrayed at one point in the series.

They are also among the biggest threats Sung Jin-Woo faces in the manhwa, which serves as a measuring stick for his growth in the story. The Monarchs also worked as a natural contrast to Sung Jin-Woo's selfless human nature and how he fights for those he cares about. This made the clash feel a lot more notorious and impactful to the reader.

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Final thoughts

The Monarchs, along with the Rulers, were created when the Absolute Being split light and darkness at the beginning of time in the Solo Leveling series. They are entities of pure evil and they want to destroy humanity to take over their bodies and have a greater army.