Why Sung Jinwoo Didn’t Turn Japanese Hunters into Shadows Revealed!

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Summary

  • Sung Jinwoo may avoid resurrecting human allies as shadows due to moral/emotional reasons.
  • Jinwoo resurrected a human hunter who had betrayed him, implying that his aversion varies based on the situation.
  • Beru’s ability to absorb the Japanese hunters may explain why Jinwoo does not use shadow extraction on them.

One distinctive feature of Sung Jinwoo in the series Solo Leveling is his unique power: when he defeats an opponent, they transform into shadows that become his allies in battle. These shadows remain everlasting and battle beside him, utilizing the abilities they possessed during their lifetime. As long as Jinwoo has mana energy, he can summon these shadow-warriors to his side.

In the course of the series thus far, Sung Jinwoo appears not to be fully utilizing his ability’s potential. An illustration of this can be seen in his choice to refrain from reviving any of the Japanese hunters following the raid on Jeju Island. One might wonder why Sung Jinwoo made this decision, considering these individuals would have significantly strengthened his cadre of shadows in Solo Leveling?

Sung Jinwoo Doesn’t Like Resurrecting Allies

One Possible Explanation

It appears that Sung Jinwoo generally feels uncomfortable or ethically opposed to reviving deceased humans as shadows in most cases. However, during the Jeju Island raid, he felt compelled to resurrect Min Byung-Gyu as a shadow due to Cha Hae-In’s critical injuries inflicted by the Ant King. After Min Byung-Gyu’s shadow utilized its powers to heal her, Jinwoo swiftly freed him from his service, indicating that he only resorted to using his shadow in this instance out of sheer necessity for the situation at hand.

It appears that this implies, at minimum, that Jinwoo might have reservations about utilizing deceased allies. In a past event, Jinwoo revived A-rank hunter Kim Chul to assist him during a battle against the dungeon boss in the Red Gate Dungeon. Following the combat’s end, Jinwoo elected to maintain Kim within his shadow army, giving him the new name Iron.

In contrast to his act of reviving Min Byung-Gyu, it might appear confusing. However, the situations were distinct. Kim Chul had turned against Jinwoo intentionally, making him an untrusted ally in the eyes of the leveling hunter. Moreover, Jinwoo was experiencing intense pressure from a formidable superior at that moment. This pressure could have prompted Jinwoo to create a shadow of Kim Chul in this instance, which he might not have done if his boss wasn’t so powerful.

Considering Kim Chul’s situation, it seems likely that Jinwoo might consider reviving the Japanese hunters. This is because the Japanese hunters intended to deceive and abandon the Korean hunters following the queen’s death. Moreover, there was no apparent camaraderie between the Japanese hunters and Jinwoo. Ryuji Goto even attempted to kill Jinwoo during their sparring session before the raid on Jeju Island.

From my perspective, it appears that Jinwoo harbors reluctance towards reanimating human hunters as shadows, but this alone doesn’t seem sufficient to justify why he declined to employ his shadow abilities against the Japanese hunters following the raid.

Beru’s Rampage Made Shadow Extraction Impossible

The Most Likely Explanation

A plausible alternative explanation for Jinwoo not summoning shadows from the S-rank Japanese hunters could be because Beru’s attacks disrupted any attempts to revive them, as their powers were absorbed by the Ant King when he consumed them. This concept is subtly suggested in the anime, but it is more explicitly detailed in the manhwa that the Ant King’s Gluttony skill allows him to take on the abilities of those he consumes.

He shows this by mimicking the voices of the human hunters he has apparently killed, such as Bin Byung-Gyu and Goto Ryuji. It appears that Beru is the one who killed all the Japanese hunters, possibly consuming their heads. This might suggest that Beru assimilating the essences of the hunters and leaving incomplete corpses could potentially impede Jinwoo’s shadow powers in some way.

In the latest episode, I can’t help but get excited about my unique talents: the art of extracting shadows and storing them! The first allows me to siphon mana energy to conjure up my loyal shadow soldiers, while the second enables me to keep these troops at the ready, summoning them whenever I need them!

Moreover, although Jinwoo doesn’t specify any specific conditions for the corpse when shadow extraction is applied, he does note that the likelihood of success decreases as more time elapses after death. It’s plausible that the idea of using Japanese hunters as shadows occurred to him only after he had departed from the island, and by then, it was no longer feasible.

Regrettably, the intriguing character designs and special abilities of the top-tier Japanese hunters were not utilized more extensively in the story. Instead, they were presented and then swiftly removed, leaving fans wishing for some trace of their characters to linger in Solo Leveling. It could have been an interesting twist if they had survived as silent aides or members of Jinwoo’s shadow team.

Solo Leveling can be streamed on Crunchyroll and Amazon.

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2025-04-26 19:44