Solo Leveling: Who is the main villain?

Solo Leveling follows the struggle of superhuman Hunters against dangerous monsters and interdimensional gates threatening the world. The protagonist, Sung Jinwoo, initially an extremely weak Hunter, gains a mysterious system that allows him to level up. Through this, he rapidly accumulates strength and soon discovers the main antagonists of the series.

While Solo Leveling features countless intimidating enemies, there are primary villains responsible for its events. These are the Monarchs, celestial monsters created to cause destruction by the Absolute Being. The leader of the Monarchs, Antares, is the main villain of Solo Leveling.

Antares is the oldest of the Monarchs and goes by the moniker of the King of Dragons and the Monarch of Destruction. Having been created from the darkness, Antares stands at the forefront of the Monarchs’ efforts to destroy the world.

In the past, he had fought against the Rulers to achieve his objective. After the Absolute Being’s death, Antares even joined hands with Ashborn to not lose the war. Unfortunately, having grown fearsome of the Shadow Monarch’s immense powers, he tried to kill him, though ultimately failing.

This drove a wedge between the two and made the Shadow Monarch leave Antares’ forces. Consequently, the balance was broken, and the Rulers defeated the Monarchs. Antares refused to give up, however, and decided to rebuild his forces in the human world. While the other Monarchs were able to infiltrate Earth by selecting vessels, Antares was too powerful to do so.

As a result, he had to wait till the Final Battle Arc, where a large gate was opened, to personally join the fight. Both Ashborn and the Rulers had feared the consequences of Antares and the Monarchs joining the war on Earth. Therefore, the Rulers selected vessels of their own and began strengthening mankind through mana. Ashborn allied with the Architect to train a vessel, which turned out to be Sung Jinwoo.

Hence, Antares is one of the most influential beings in Solo Leveling. He was the only individual powerful enough to never attain a vessel, and his eventual introduction would spell the end of the world. When he finally appeared, the hype surrounding him only grew bigger.

Antares is a very confident person who looks down on those around him. He does not easily get angry and even shows respect when his opponent is strong enough. At the same time, during the heat of battle, he can get excited and showcase extreme brutality. His powers justify his reputation and have helped him fight against the Rulers for several generations.

As the Monarch of Destruction and the King of Dragons, Antares commands over ten million soldiers in his army, including dragons that burn the strongest Hunters to a crisp. His strength, speed, and senses are immeasurable, to the degree that he could overpower Jinwoo for a long time during their confrontation.

Antares is capable of turning into a dragon hybrid and using skills such as Dragon’s Fear to dominate those weaker than him. Very few characters in Solo Leveling can survive his fire-breathing and magic.

Most notably, having lived for an immeasurable number of years, Antares is very wise and is always in control during a battle. His vast expertise in various areas forced Jinwoo to think outside the box to gain victory.

Antares’ final fate in Solo Leveling

After appearing in Solo Leveling’s Final Battle Arc with his forces, Antares immediately caused severe chaos and destruction. Jinwoo, who was preparing for his arrival, used his Shadow Swap skill to take the two of them to a remote island without any interference.

Here, the protagonist and main villain had the final fight of the series. Despite his best efforts, however, Jinwoo struggled and couldn’t land a fatal blow on the Monarch. However, once Antares left his guard open, Jinwoo cut him in half with his father’s dagger.

This was still not enough to kill Antares, but Jinwoo’s secret plan had finally paid off. Due to the energy generated from their battle, space had been distorted, allowing the Rulers to enter the human world. Hence, the Fragments of Light could finally conclude their war by stabbing and killing Antares with their spears.

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This marked the end of the Monarch of Destruction in the original timeline. Jinwoo later used the Cup of Reincarnation to reset the world and set off to defeat the Monarchs before gates and monsters ever appeared. After a long journey, he beat all other enemies and faced Antares in his palace.

Having accumulated far more strength than in the previous timeline, Jinwoo could one-sidedly defeat the King of Dragons this time. This was the decisive end of Solo Leveling's main villain, who only appeared for a few chapters but was extremely influential on the series’ events.

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