Solo Leveling: Who betrayed Ashborn? Reasons Explained

Solo Leveling has a lot of interesting questions that newcomers are asking, and who betrayed Ashborn usually comes up as one of the most prominent doubts. Considering that he is one of the strongest Monarchs in the entire series, arguably the strongest by a considerable margin, it would be difficult to determine why someone on his side would want to go up against him.

However, the main reason Ashborn was betrayed was because a lot of people on his side were afraid of him and decided to get rid of him, which happened many centuries prior to the events of the Solo Leveling series.

All of this proved to be very important for the character of Ashborn as the Shadow Monarch and how that eventually played in his connection with the protagonist, Sung Jin-Woo, when they met one another.

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

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Explaining why the Monarchs betrayed Ashborn before the beginning of the Solo Leveling series

Eons prior to the beginning of the story, the Rulers and the Monarchs were waging war against one another, with the latter usually having the upper hand in the conflict. However, once the Absolute Being, their creator, was murdered, the Rulers decided to use tools with some parts of the former's power and managed to capture the extremely strong Monarch known as Legia, which is how they managed to change the tides to their favor.

It was during this situation that Ashborn rose to prominence and guided the Monarchs to dominance in this battle once again, although many of his comrades, particularly Baran and Rakan, wanted to get rid of him because he was too powerful and didn't trust him.

Ashborn managed to defeat and kill Baran but the latter and Rakan destroyed most of the former's army, which led him to escape and lick his wounds.

Eventually, the story revealed that the reason Ashborn was so feared was due to him being created by the Absolute Being as a last resource if his creations lost their control and started to cause unnecessary havoc.

That is something that Sung Jin-Woo, the protagonist of the series, found out and was another reason he sided with Ashborn.

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Ashborn's role in the story

Ashborn in the manhwa (Image via Chugong, D&C Media)

There is no denying that Ashborn is one of the strongest entities throughout the entirety of the Solo Leveling series and has had a lot of titles in the manhwa, such as King of the Dead, the Monarch of Shadows, the strongest of the eight Rulers and the Greatest Fragment of Brilliant Light.

The fact that the Absolute Being had him as a last resource in case the Rulers and Monarchs went rogue is something that highlights his strength.

Furthermore, Ashborn is probably the most developed character among the Monarchs because of his unique perception of things and how he was a pariah of sorts, much like Sung Jin-Woo, to a degree. That is one of the many reasons they ended up joining forces and Jin-Woo eventually became the Shadow Monarch by the end of the series.

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Final thoughts

Ashborn was betrayed by the Monarchs before the beginning of the Solo Leveling series because they feared his strength and how he was created by the Absolute Being to destroy them and the Rulers if they went out of control.

However, he was cast aside and had to eventually join forces with Sung Jin-Woo.

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