The Ant Queen's importance in Solo Leveling, explained

Modified Mar 18, 2025 05:30 GMT

Solo Leveling's Ant Queen has had a small but important role in the second season of the anime at the moment, which is why the character is enjoying a decent surge in popularity. Therefore, her importance is connected to the bulk of the plot of the Jeju Island arc, to the point there wouldn't be said arc without her.

She is the mother and protector of the ants that the Korean S-Rank Hunters faced in the current Solo Leveling arc in the anime, with her putting up a good fight during the bulk of the storyline. However, her biggest contribution was birthing the Ant King and how the latter would end up serving as one of the best Shadows in Sung Jinwoo's arsenal, Beru.

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

Solo Leveling's Ant Queen and her importance in the series

The Ant King is seen in the anime (Image via A-1 Pictures).

Regarding the importance of the Ant Queen in the series, her biggest contribution was her role as the mother of the ants of Jeju Island. The vast majority of the arc wouldn't have happened without her, to the point that she created a threat so big that it required an alliance between the Japanese and Korean S-Rank Hunters, pushing them to come up with a plan to deal with them.

Furthermore, while this element might be deemed of lesser importance, she is also a decent enough challenge for the Hunters, and Cha Hae-in was given a chance to shine in this arc. This is quite relevant since the supporting cast doesn't get a lot of moments in the spotlight, which is something that deserves attention in that regard.

Most notably, the Ant Queen gave birth to the Ant King, perhaps her biggest contribution to the entire series. That is because of that character's status as a final boss in Jeju Island, which influenced the roles of the story in a somewhat less direct manner.

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It is difficult to separate Solo Leveling's Ant Queen from the Ant King since the latter couldn't exist without the former. Furthermore, the King proves to be a massive challenge for the main cast and is also someone who breaks away from the classic power level of his race, which is why a lot of people compare him to Meruem from the Hunter X Hunter anime series.

Therefore, her contributions to the story are a bit more connected to the fact that Sung Jinwoo managed to create a new Shadow, Beru, thanks to the defeat of the Ant King. All of this wouldn't have happened without the Ant Queen and she is a major catalyst in the protagonist's rise to the Shadow Monarch position in all its glory while also showcasing his loss of humanity since he didn't view her as worthy of becoming a Shadow.

Final thoughts

Solo Leveling has many enemies and some of them can be forgotten, but the Ant Queen's contributions to the story are somewhat underrated. When it comes to Jinwoo's development in terms of power, which is something very important in the story, the Queen created the Ant King, thus leading to the creation of Beru.

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Edited by Bharath S