Warning: The following contains spoilers for Solo Leveling's manhwa!!

Due to the nature of Solo Leveling's story, which is more focused on Jinwoo, so many theories have been born looking to explain certain aspects of some characters that didn’t add up to some fans. Thankfully, Solo Leveling’s author, Chugong, often shares his insights about the story, with new details about some characters’ lore. This has led to many theories being debunked, with the latest example being Chugong new comments unexpectedly framing the context surrounding Jinwoo shadow soldier's powers.

With the spotlight on Jinwoo, many characters didn’t have enough battle time for fans to properly measure their strength and place them in the series’ power scale ladder, which has fueled debates based on their short appearances in the story. However, this has negatively affected some characters, which was the case of Hwan Dongsoo, whose few encounters led to fans being puzzled about why Greed was given the General Rank upon being awakened as Jinwoo's shadow soldier if Dongsoo was weaker than Beru.

Solo leveling’s Creator Has Confirmed Why the Shadow Soldier Greed is General Rank

Hwan Dongsoo’s Shadow Soldier Rank Caused Confusion Among Readers

Due to only fighting Jinwoo and his father Sung II-Hwan and being massively overpowered by them, Hwan Dongsoo was often placed among the lower end of S-Rank hunters. However, according to a comment by Chugong on the Korean platform Dcinside shared on Reddit by xPapaGrim, Hwan Dongsoo was actually quite strong.

"Hwang Dong-Su didn't get much spotlight in the novel because the only ones he fought were Jin-Woo's dad and Jin-Woo himself. But he was very, very strong. Originally, he was an S-Rank hunter who sured even Cha Hae-in, and on top of that, he received a power boost from Madam, making him incredibly strong... However, as a result of only being beaten up by overpowered characters, he seems to have been perceived as very weak. That's why many people were puzzled when he received the General rank. I find that a bit disappointing." - Chugong

Additionally, Solo Leveling’s author confirmed that Hwan Dongsoo was weaker than Goto Ryuji and since Greed confused some readers because he was ranked as a general like Beru was upon being resurrected by Jinwoo, this might add to their questions. However, this has been explained in Solo Leveling's story, as new shadows' real powers are limited due to the restrictions imposed by the system upon being added to Jinwoo’s army, but this decrease in stats diminished as he steps closer to awakening the true powers of the Shadow Monarch.

This way, as Jinwoo was stronger when he used shadow extraction on Greed that when he acquired Beru, his stats were less reduced and closer to his real power. Additionally, Beru was closer to the Marshall rank when Greed ed the shadow army, and later it becomes evident how much stronger the Ant sured Greed. However, this puts into perspective for fans just how much the shadow soldiers' powers were limited in the early chapters of Solo Leveling.

Solo Leveling’s Author Revealed Igris’s True Strength Is Greater Than Fans Thought

Igris Was one of the Wings of Ashborne’s Shadow Army for a Reason

Solo Leveling’s author has confirmed that there's a reason why Marshall Shadows were so powerful and that Igris’s true strength is far higher than what was seen when he was the Blood Red Commander in his fight against Jinwoo in the Job Change Arc.

"If Igris had descended in his true form, even if all the S-rank hunters in the world, including the National Level hunters, had ed forces, they still wouldn't have been able to defeat him." - Chugong

This was also seen in the chapter dedicated to Igris in Solo Leveling’s epilogue, where he explained that he didn’t lose in strength to Jinwoo considered him a worthy successor to the Shadow Monarch. Yet, it serves to highlight how it's not that the power of the shadows increases along with Jinwoo, but rather that when the restrictions of the system start to decrease, they begin to show their real strength. Nevertheless, Chugong’s statement might recontextualize how fans see Jinwoo’s shadow soldiers but also prove that Solo Leveling’s story has a knack for continuing power scaling, which is interesting for fans.

Source: Reddit