The following contains spoilers for Solo Leveling Episode 20, “Looking Up Was Tiring Me Out” and the Solo Leveling manhwa.
Sung Jinwoo faces innumerable overwhelmingly powerful enemies in Solo Leveling. In just Season 1 alone, Jinwoo climbed the ranks from E Rank to A Rank, facing foes who were often even stronger than he was. Even as he slowly crept into the realm of an S Rank Hunter in Season 2, Jinwoo’s opponents only seemed to grow stronger along with him, as was apparent with the leader of the Ice Elves, Barca, and the High Orc Shaman, Kargalgan. It seems that, every time Jinwoo fights the strongest opponent in existence, there arises an even greater one.
However, Sung Jinwoo’s strongest enemy so far as of Solo Leveling Episode 20, “Looking Up Was Tiring Me Out”, actually never existed at all. After climbing all the way to the 100th floor of the Demon’s Castle, Jinwoo was confronted by Baran, the Demon Monarch. Baran was by far Jinwoo’s most difficult opponent in the Solo Leveling anime yet, and it’s not even close. Even so, the most horrifying thing about Baran isn’t even that he’s so strong; it’s that the Baran Jinwoo fought had only a fraction of the real Demon Monarch’s power.
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Solo Leveling’s 20th episode is also its best as Sung Jinwoo comes face to face with the terrifying Demon Monarch Baran in a can’t-miss fight.
Baran Was Easily Jinwoo’s Toughest Challenge Yet
Sung Jinwoo Fights Baran in Solo Leveling Episode 20, “Looking Up Was Tiring Me Out”
Comparatively speaking, no enemy Jinwoo fought in Solo Leveling before facing Baran was even close to the Demon Monarch’s power. By the time Jinwoo reached the 100th floor of the Demon’s Castle, he was far beyond the level of a basic S Rank. In fact, even Esil, a Demon Noble on the 80th floor, was comparable to an S Rank Hunter. Esil was so much weaker than Jinwoo that she literally cowered in fear at his power and begged for mercy from him.
Additionally, Jinwoo even had two Shadow Soldiers who were comparable to S Ranks as well: Igris and Tusk. All Elite Knight Rank Shadow Soldiers have powers equivalent to an S Rank, and Tusk was an Elite Knight Rank Shadow Soldier from the moment his shadow was extracted. Igris, on the other hand, was extracted as a Knight Rank, but he leveled up to Elite Knight Rank during Jinwoo’s ascent up the Demon’s Castle.
What is this scathing, murderous energy? I’ve never seen him before. So that’s the Demon Monarch Baran!
Facing off against Baran, Jinwoo was not only way stronger than any normal S Rank, but he also had two Shadow Soldiers comparable to S Ranks. This was still nothing to Baran. Baran was able to fight off a combined onslaught from Igris, Tusk, Tank and Jinwoo himself single-handedly. Baran also wielded impressive lightening-based magic, which even Jinwoo struggled to withstand.
One blast of Baran’s lightening could destroy the entirety of Jinwoo’s Shadow Army. In fact, not only did Baran’s magic do immense damage, it also contained a “stun debuff”, according to Jinwoo. Baran’s magic was extremely powerful, which is what makes the fact that he seemed to have “infinite mana” to Jinwoo even more terrifying to consider.
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Baran’s individual power was impressive, but that’s not even the extent of it. Baran also commanded a massive army of Demons which far surpassed any Jinwoo faced so far. As Jinwoo deduced in the manhwa, Baran summoned over a thousand Demon minions, and over a hundred of them were A Rank or higher. While the majority of Baran’s demonic underlings were no match for Tusk or Igris, they proved more than formidable for most of the regular footsoldiers of Jinwoo’s army.
As exciting as Jinwoo’s fight against Kargalgan was back in Season 2, Episode 6, Jinwoo dealt with the High Orc leader extremely easily in comparison to Baran. Jinwoo’s dominance over Kargalgan was even more apparent in the manhwa, in which he defeated Kargalgan with a single punch, as opposed to the more roundabout method of wrapping him in chains that he used in the anime (likely for added production value). On the other hand, Baran nearly killed Jinwoo multiple times during their fight.
At one point, Baran even lifted Jinwoo off the ground from his head, and would surely have dealt a finishing blow had Igris, Tank and Tusk not stepped in. Later, Baran would have easily killed Jinwoo again had it not been for Esil throwing her sword to destract the Demon Monarch at just the last second. Baran was easily the greatest threat Jinwoo faced throughout the first 20 episodes of the anime, which makes it ironic that the Baran Jinwoo fought wasn’t even the real thing.
Baran Was Already Dead Long Before Jinwoo Even Fought Him
Jinwoo Didn’t Even Face The Demon Monarch of White Lightening’s True Power
There’s only one enemy Jinwoo has faced in the anime who could be said to be potentially stronger than Baran as of Solo Leveling Episode 20, and that’s the Architect who “killed” Jinwoo early in Season 1. However, the statues that actually killed Jinwoo weren’t even the real Architect, only puppets controlled by his power, so it’s arguable Jinwoo still hadn’t even faced the Architect at that point.
Additionally, when considering that the Baran Jinwoo fought wasn’t even the real Demon Monarch Baran, but only an illusion with far less power, it’s clear that Jinwoo easily faced his toughest enemy yet in the entire series without realizing just how monstrously powerful he truly was. In truth, the Baran Jinwoo fought on the 100th floor of the Demon’s Castle was actually a clone created by the Architect, as a means of training Jinwoo to handle the Shadow Monarch’s power.
Given the nature of the entire Demon’s Castle as nothing more than a simulation of a past event, it may even be fair to say that the Baran Jinwoo fought never even existed to begin with. Prior to the events of Solo Leveling, the Architect created a simulation of a fragment of the Shadow Monarch’s memory of his final battle with Baran. Jinwoo was simply living out his own version of that memory, but it was never the real thing.
We could have ended the war today. Why did you betray me?
Similarly, the Baran Jinwoo fought was just an illusory version created from a memory, and was a very poor imitation of the real thing in terms of power. Not only was the Demon Monarch Jinwoo fought in Episode 20 not the actual Demon Monarch, but he wasn’t even close to the real Baran’s full power. It’s unknown whether the Architect can even create a being that’s more powerful than himself, which would help explain why Baran wasn’t at his strongest against Jinwoo.
But even if the Architect were able to create being stronger than himself to use for the System, the clone of the Demon Monarch that Jinwoo fought couldn’t have been anywhere near as strong as his actual form. When Jinwoo does eventually witness the true power of Baran in a flashback given to him by the original Shadow Monarch, Ashborn, it becomes clear just how far removed the Baran Jinwoo fought was from the original.
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The real Baran was able to put up a fight against a fully powered Ashborn, who was infinitely more powerful than Jinwoo was during his raid through the Demon’s Castle. Jinwoo even stated as much, realizing “if that were me with my current stats, my mana would have hit rock bottom.” While Jinwoo is nowhere near strong enough to defeat the real Baran until much later in the series, the same can’t be said for Ashborn.
In the flashback, Jinwoo witnesses Ashborn killing Baran, marking the definitive end of the actual Demon Monarch. While Ashborn is unable to raise a fellow Monarch as his Shadow Soldier, he does hold dominion over death itself – and that includes the afterlife. After Ashborn kills the Demon Monarch, he captures his soul and sends it to the afterlife, where it remains until it’s encountered by Sung Jinwoo’s son in the events of Solo Leveling: Ragnarok.
The Baran Ashborn fights in his flashback has white eyes, while the one Jinwoo fights in the Demon’s Castle has red eyes, symbolizing his nature as a soulless clone.
Is Esil Already Dead in Solo Leveling?
The Demon’s Castle Was Only a Simulation, But Its Inhabitants Weren’t
The Baran Jinwoo fought in episode 20 was never real to begin with – it was only a simulation created for the System based on a memory that Ashborn had of his first with the Monarchs and Rulers. That being the case, it would be reasonable to conclude that the rest of the Demon’s Castle may not have been real either. And, of course, that would theoretically suggest that Esil, everyone’s favorite Demon Noble, wouldn’t be real either.
Thankfully, that’s not quite the case. As Esil explained to Jinwoo when they first met, she and the rest of the Demons were forcibly brought to the Demon’s Castle and ordered to protect it. Originally, Esil, along with the other Demons in the Demon’s Castle, lived in the Demon Realm. At some point, the Architect transported them to the simulated realm of the Demon’s Castle using his magic as a means of helping train Jinwoo.
Technically, the Demon Monarch Baran that Jinwoo fought didn’t exist, because he was based on a past event crafted from a memory in the Shadow Monarch’s subconscious. However, the other Demons under his control, including Esil, were very real, because they were stolen directly from the Demon Realm by the Architect.
Jinwoo: Where were you before that?
Esil: The Demon Realm. But then we found ourselves here.
Jinwoo: And what were you doing in the Demon Realm?
Esil: War. We were preparing for war.
In fact, a key hint to this is the fact that Esil received a command from the Architect to “protect our home” just as the Magic Beasts received a command from the Rulers to “kill all humans”. If Esil were just a mere clone, she wouldn’t have had the autonomy to or free will to choose her own path, and therefore, she wouldn’t have needed to be commanded.
It’s a sobering thought to consider that Jinwoo’s closest call throughout twenty episodes of the anime was against a simulated clone that was only a fraction of the strength of the actual entity it was made to imitate. This is the first true taste that Jinwoo gets of the power of the real major villain of Solo Leveling, the Monarchs, and it’s barely even a hint at what’s to come. If nothing else, this highlights the sheer otherworldly power of the entities Jinwoo has to fight down the line.
These are true deities who make the S Rank Hunters who stand at the pinnacle of human strength look like mere ants in their presence. While Sung Jinwoo may seem to grow overly powerful extremely quickly in Solo Leveling, as of Episode 20, he’s still an utter weakling compared to the real Demon Monarch.
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The Baran who Jinwoo fought in the Demon’s Castle may not have been the real Demon Monarch, but the experience Jinwoo got from that fight was as real as can be. In fact, this makes Baran a great metaphor for the System itself, because the System does not have a physical reality outside Jinwoo’s conscious experience.
The System merely exists to allow Jinwoo to slowly gain access to that which is already inside him: the powers of the Shadow Monarch. However, to even control those powers, Jinwoo has to become stronger in a real way, which is the entire point of the System – and the fake Baran within the Demon’s Castle. Based on his performance against the mere copy of Baran in Season 2 Episode 8, any chance of Jinwoo defeating the real Monarchs with his current level of power simply doesn’t exist.
Solo Leveling
- Release Date
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January 7, 2024
- Directors
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Shunsuke Nakashige
- Writers
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Noboru Kimura
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Taito Ban
Shun Mizushino (voice)
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Genta Nakamura
Kenta Morobishi (voice)
