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Warning: Contains spoilers for Solo Leveling.Anyone who’s read or watchedSolo Levelingwill know that it’s not a narrative-driven story. There’s an overarching plot, and the characters go through varying degrees of development, but both aspects tend to be very minimal as the story’s focus tends to be doing whatever it can to set up the next big fight scene for Jinwoo and the occasional ally.
Solo Levelinghas never been a story with a large focus on its narrative, and a character who best exemplifies that idea isIgris the Bloodred. The initial fight with Igris hinted at some sort of backstory for him, but neither the manhwa nor the novel ever fully elaborated on anything, despite him getting the most screentime of Jinwoo’s soldiers, and the anime is sure to be the same. Surprisingly, though,theSolo Levelingmobile game,Solo Leveling: Arise, has finally revealed Igris’ backstory, and there’s plenty to digest with it for old and new fans alike.
Solo Leveling Finally Reveals Igris’ Backstory, & It’s Nothing But Tragic
Why Igris Is Solo Leveling’s Most Tragic Hero
According tothe mobile gameSolo Leveling: Arise, Igris was once an ordinary human who rose to knighthood thanks to his godlike swordsmanship. Igris’ skills brought him plenty of wealth and fame, but he was only interested in finding a strong opponent, yet his prowess with the blade still resulted in him earning his king’s favor. In doing so, however, Igris drew the ire of jealous nobles envious of his power and fame, and so it was thatIgris, at the height of his power, fell victim to an assassination attempt by the nobles who wanted him dead.
The original story content forSolo Leveling: Arisewas written by series creator Chugong.
An army was sent to kill Igris, and while they were no match for him, the nobles had also taken Igris’ family hostage. Igris was forced to surrender himself to save his family, but even then, the nobles went back on their word and killed them right before his eyes. Igris died with his heart filled with rage and wanting nothing but revenge, and while his soul was initially fated to simply waste away in agony,Igris was eventually reborn as a soldier of Ashborn the Shadow Monarch and finally had the means of exacting his revenge, if only indirectly.
Igris’ Backstory Perfectly Explains His Character In Solo Leveling
Igris’ backstory is nothing but tragic, and it also perfectly explains why he’s the way he is. One of the first things the audience is shown about Igris is his love for a good fight to the point that he’ll handicap himself just to make things fair for his opponent, and now,Solo Leveling: Ariseestablishes that Igris’ bloodlust and his desire for a good fight stems from how he always longed for a good opponent in his past life. It’s a relatively minor detail, but regardless, it’s nice to see that it didn’t come from nowhere.
More importantly, however, is howSolo Leveling: Ariseexplains Igris’ signature loyalty. It’s one thing for Igris to be loyal to Jinwoo and Ashborn because of their powers, but now,Igris’ extreme loyalty can be seen as a result of the gratitude he feels for being given a chance to right the wrongs of his past life. That’s especially true for Jinwoo, as being with him would be his first chance to get back to that in centuries, and overall, it makes him go from being a largely one-note character to being one ofSolo Leveling’s best characters, by far.
Will Solo Leveling’s Anime Include Igris’ Backstory?
Igris’ backstory added a lot to his character, and that begs the question of whether it will be included in the anime. The anime has already expanded on the source material in a variety of ways, most notably in showing character moments that weren’t in the novel or manhwa, so it’s not adverse to changing the story around, in the slightest. With that in mind,theSolo Levelinganime could include Igris’ backstory as a means of further fleshing out the overarching story, and that would add a lot to the series, no matter how long it takes to happen.
Unfortunately, it might not be as simple as one would think. The anime is largely faithful to what’s been depicted in the novel and the manhwa, and as such,theSolo Levelinganime likely won’t include Igris’ backstory because it wasn’t something that originated from the novel or the manhwa. It’s too early to expect anything like that to play out, especially with what’s poised to happen inSolo Levelingseason 2, but hopefully, the anime’s team will see the benefit of including such a stellar backstory in the anime as soon as it would make sense to do so.
Solo Leveling: Arise From The Shadowreleases new episodes Saturdays on Crunchyroll.
Solo Leveling
Cast
Solo Leveling follows Sung Jin-woo, the world’s weakest hunter, who gains extraordinary powers through a mysterious program after surviving a brutal monster attack. As he navigates his newfound abilities, Jinwoo embarks on a quest to uncover the secrets of his powers and the dungeon that altered his fate.
