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In Solo Leveling, shadow soldiers are the undead warriors Sung Jinwoo raises from eligible corpses with his Shadow Monarch skill, Shadow Extraction. He commands them with “Arise,” can try three times to extract an individual corpse, and stores the soldiers inside his own shadow. They retain abilities from life, grow through combat, and recover from ordinary damage—but they are not invincible: Monarch-level attacks can erase them permanently, and the army disappears if its Monarch dies.
How do shadow soldiers work in Solo Leveling?
A shadow soldier is a dead being remade as a loyal fighter by the power of the Shadow Monarch. Ashborn used the ability before Jinwoo; Jinwoo receives it with the Shadow Monarch class, and the power later passes to Sung Suho in Solo Leveling: Ragnarok. For Jinwoo, the skill is an army-building tool, but it is also a way to preserve useful combat abilities: a raised soldier retains much of its former skill and instinct, even when its new form and role differ from its life.
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1Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute2Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors3Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesThe soldiers dwell within Jinwoo’s shadow and can be summoned to fight or hidden there between battles. The source material describes a rest-world associated with the army, including Beru’s territory and Igris’s role as a teacher, but the main shadows reference does not develop that setting in the same terms. What matters tactically is that they can wait without food or fatigue, recover from ordinary damage, and follow spoken or telepathic orders. Their numbers do not create a corresponding control burden for Jinwoo.
The skill description, transcribed by the Solo Leveling Wiki, reads: “Extracts mana from a lifeless body and turns it into a Shadow Soldier. The failure rate is proportional to the target’s stats and the time elapsed since their death.” It also lists the cost as “[Shadow Power. No mana required]”. In ordinary use, extraction and summoning consume no mana; mana is spent to restore soldiers after losses.
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The result is more than a copy of the corpse. A High Orc shaman becomes Tusk, a mage; Baran’s wyvern becomes Kaisel, a flying mount; Beru keeps the Ant King’s combat abilities and adds powers gained later. Early in Jinwoo’s rise, a portion of each soldier’s power is sealed. That seal is lifted when he fully inherits Ashborn’s Shadow Monarch authority, according to the Wiki’s account of the story.
What is Shadow Extraction, and how does “Arise” work?
Shadow Extraction is the Shadow Monarch’s distinctive ability to draw a dead being’s shadow out of its remains and make it a soldier. Jinwoo unlocks it after defeating Igris in the Job Change Quest and receiving the Shadow Monarch class. “Arise” is the command word he chooses to activate the extraction; it is not the name of a separate class or a general resurrection spell.
When Jinwoo first raises Blood-Red Igris, he asks the guardian of the empty throne to serve him instead: “The owner of that throne is long gone, stop guarding an empty seat… how about protecting me, someone who’s standing here before you? Arise.” The moment establishes the ability’s central trade: the dead warrior’s former allegiance ends, and the raised shadow serves the new Monarch.
- Find an eligible corpse. The target must have died and left a usable body or remains. Shadow Extraction cannot turn an inanimate object into a soldier.
- Issue the command. Jinwoo uses “Arise.” He can attempt extraction within a large radius, and the skill can be applied to hundreds of corpses at once.
- Repeat if it fails. Each target can be attempted three times. A powerful target or one that has been dead for a long time is harder to raise; a strong will can also resist, as Tusk did.
- Accept the outcome. If all three attempts fail, that target’s soul is lost to Jinwoo and cannot be extracted later. If the extraction succeeds, the soldier can be summoned, ordered, and stored in his shadow.
Jinwoo’s line about the System—“The System uses me, and I use the System.”—is often used to frame his relationship with his powers. But the System does not make extraction automatic: the ability still has target-based limits. Once a soldier is raised, the user can also change its shape at a later level. The Ragnarok Chapter 157 skill window says: “You can freely change the appearance and shape of Shadow Soldiers.”
How many times can Jinwoo extract a shadow?
Jinwoo gets three attempts per corpse. If those attempts fail, the soul is gone from reach; there is no fourth try or later retry after the target becomes weaker.
The failure chance rises with the target’s stats and the time elapsed since death. In practical terms, an exceptionally strong opponent may resist Jinwoo, while a corpse that has deteriorated too far may no longer support a stable soldier. GameRant’s guide to the anime shadows notes that extracting Tusk, formerly the High Orc shaman Kargalgan, took time because “he resisted a lot.” Resistance can consume the three attempts before the extraction succeeds.
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Jinwoo can also stop an extraction. The NamuWiki account says a cancelled attempt returns the soul to nothingness, rather than leaving it available for another attempt. Min Byung-Gyu is the notable case: Jinwoo briefly raises the healer after the Jeju Island raid so he can heal Cha Hae-In, then releases him. In the anime, Jinwoo abandons the Ant Queen’s extraction after learning that her combat value is low. These choices are not additional failed attempts; they are decisions not to keep a shadow.
What are the shadow soldier ranks or grades?
Shadow grades describe a soldier’s standing and capability, with higher grades generally bringing greater strength, more developed personalities, and—at the upper levels—the ability to speak. The English Wiki ladder is the clearest main-series reference; the equivalent title for one upper grade changes between the novel and webtoon.
| Grade | Approximate hunter-rank analogue | Typical traits |
|---|---|---|
| Normal | E to C | Foot soldiers, usually with little or no personality and no speech. |
| Elite | B | The most common grade; soldiers generally do not speak. |
| Knight | A | May receive a name and show simple emotions. |
| Elite Knight | Basic S | Named soldiers with more complex combat ability; Baek Yoonho is the stated hunter-rank comparison. |
| General (webtoon) / Commander (novel) | Advanced S | Speech begins; a soldier at this level can overpower hunters such as Goto Ryuji. |
| Commander (webtoon) / Marshal (novel) | Above the ordinary evolution ladder | The strongest ordinary soldiers; Igris and Beru reach this level. |
| Grand Marshal | Unique position | Reserved for Bellion, the Shadow Monarch’s exceptional lieutenant. |
These titles are not fully consistent across translations and reference sites. The main-series ladder above follows English Wiki terminology, with novel/webtoon naming differences shown explicitly. Tusk is a specific disputed case: the English Wiki and FandomWire call him a Marshal, while NamuWiki and one recap list him as a General. Other recap discrepancies include Jima’s grade and Kaisel’s grade. GameRant’s 2024 explainer includes a “Basic Grade” below Normal, but the Wiki and NamuWiki do not treat Basic as a main-series rung.
Grades are not simply experience levels. Soldiers become stronger by killing monsters and gaining combat experience, but a grade promotion requires the Shadow Monarch’s approval. A particularly powerful corpse can also emerge at a higher grade immediately. NamuWiki says Igris began at Knight Grade Lv. 7 after shadow enhancement, in part because his shadow density was unusually thick. The same source says ordinary rank-and-file soldiers rarely reach General, while Tusk reached that grade just before the first battle with the Dragon Emperor.
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Personality develops along with rank. Normal and Elite soldiers have little individuality; Knights and Elite Knights can show simple emotions such as joy or anxiety; General and Marshal soldiers have fully formed personalities. Beru is especially expressive, with a distinctive speaking style and a fondness for Korean period dramas. Loyalty remains a defining trait at every grade. A soldier may even disregard an order to protect Jinwoo, as Beru does, but the sources characterize this as loyalty overriding a command—not betrayal.
How many shadow soldiers does Jinwoo have?
The original-series army grows from a small initial storage allowance to millions. The figures are in-story totals reported by secondary references, not a census published by author Chugong or D&C MEDIA. They also differ by point in the timeline and by source.
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| Story point | Reported capacity or force | How to read the figure |
|---|---|---|
| First unlock | 20 preserved soldiers | Initial storage limit reported by the Solo Leveling Wiki and NamuWiki; the cap grows with Jinwoo’s mana. |
| Full Shadow Lord awakening, before Bellion’s inheritance | About 2,000 | NamuWiki’s estimate for this stage of the original story. |
| After inheriting Ashborn’s remaining army | Over 100,000 (Wiki); 130,000 (NamuWiki) | These are different reported totals for the inherited force; NamuWiki specifies 130,000. |
| After the Cup of Reincarnation and the Monarchs’ war | Over 10,000,000 | Reported by the Solo Leveling Wiki and NamuWiki for the original-series end state. |
| Ragnarok, foreign war | Over 100 million | NamuWiki’s sequel-era figure. |
| Revised-timeline epilogue | Billions | The Wiki cites Ragnarok novel Chapter 374; this is a different sequel reference and does not match NamuWiki’s 100-million-plus figure. |
Jinwoo’s first limit is storage, not a fixed lifetime maximum. The initial 20-soldier capacity rises with his mana, and the army later expands through Ashborn’s inheritance and the forces Jinwoo absorbs during the Monarch war, including forces led by Tarnak, Yogumunt, and Antares. The sources do not give a single official census that resolves every sequel-era count, so the original-series milestones are more useful than treating the later figures as one continuous, universally agreed total.
Can shadow soldiers die or be permanently killed?
Ordinary injury does not usually kill a shadow soldier. They can be torn apart and regenerate, and ordinary hunters—including S-Rank hunters—cannot permanently destroy them. The exceptions are much more consequential: a Monarch-level attack can erase a soldier with no resurrection, and the whole army vanishes if its Monarch dies.
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Antares’s breath permanently destroys shadows. Rakan nearly erased Beru before Jinwoo intervened. These scenes set a different threat level from normal battlefield damage: a soldier may recover from an opponent’s physical attack, but an attack on the level of a Monarch can remove the shadow itself. NamuWiki’s account also states that the legion shares life and death with its Monarch. The army’s apparent durability therefore depends on Jinwoo’s continued survival.
There is a separate limitation on damaged remains. Kamish can be extracted from his deteriorated body, but only as a short-lived General because the remains cannot hold the soldier’s form for long. Extraction success does not guarantee that a raised shadow will remain stable indefinitely.
Why did Shadow Extraction fail?
Extraction can fail because the target is too powerful, too long dead, ineligible, or protected by a type of being the skill cannot raise. The three-attempt limit makes those distinctions important: repeating the command does not overcome every restriction.
- The target’s stats or will exceed Jinwoo’s reach. A stronger target can resist all three attempts. NamuWiki lists Baruka, the Red Gate boss, among beings Jinwoo failed to extract.
- Too much time has passed. A corpse that has been dead too long may no longer be usable. Kamish illustrates how severely deteriorated remains can produce only a temporary result.
- There is no corpse. Objects and other inanimate things cannot be extracted.
- The target’s nature blocks extraction. Demons cannot ordinarily be raised because of their contaminated mana. Rulers and Monarchs are also ineligible because of their mana-based biology.
- The target has no mana, under the original restriction. Jinwoo could not originally extract beings without mana; he bypasses that restriction after obtaining Ashborn’s true Shadow Monarch powers.
- The user cancels or abandons the attempt. A cancelled extraction does not leave the soul waiting for later recovery, according to NamuWiki.
There are story-specific exceptions, so “demons cannot be extracted” is not absolute across the entire franchise. Jinwoo raises Kaisellin, Baran’s wyvern—renamed Kaisel—from the Demon Castle, although the NamuWiki account says he killed hundreds of thousands of demons there and extracted only that drake. In Ragnarok Chapter 242, Suho later bypasses the demon restriction through Antares’s powers.
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Can Jinwoo extract demons, Monarchs, or old corpses?
Usually, no: demons, Rulers, and Monarchs are outside the ordinary extraction rules, and a corpse that is too old or damaged may fail even if its original owner was otherwise eligible. The exceptions are narrow story developments, not evidence that every target can eventually be raised.
For demons, contaminated mana is the stated barrier. Kaisel is the exceptional Demon Castle case, while Suho’s later use of Antares’s power changes the rule in Ragnarok. Rulers and Monarchs remain extraction-proof under Jinwoo’s standard ability. For old corpses, time and physical condition matter: the skill’s failure rate rises with elapsed time, and Kamish’s temporary General form shows that extraction may work without producing a durable soldier.
The original story also begins with a restriction against extracting beings with no mana. Jinwoo’s later access to Ashborn’s true authority broadens what he can do, but it does not remove the core limits around a dead target, failed attempts, or Monarch-level beings.
Who is stronger: Igris, Beru, or Bellion?
Bellion is the strongest of the three by rank and by the one-on-one head-servant duel: he defeats Beru. Igris and Beru are both Marshals at their end-state in the novel terminology, but their origins, fighting styles, and personalities make them useful in different ways.
| Shadow | Origin and grade path | Battlefield role and abilities | Speech and personality |
|---|---|---|---|
| Igris | Blood-Red Commander of the Job Change dungeon; initially a Knight as a shadow, later a Marshal. Ashborn placed him as a test for his successor. | Elite swordsman with telekinesis; Jinwoo’s first named extraction and a major melee fighter. | Silent for most of the original story. Later material shows him training to master a two-handed sword style. |
| Beru | The Ant King of Jeju Island; begins as a General and rises to Marshal. | Fast, flying fighter with poison, Gluttony, size-shifting, and healing abilities. Gluttony lets him gain abilities through consumption; he gains healing after consuming Min Byung-Gyu. | The first high-grade speaker and one of the most expressive shadows. He is fiercely protective of Jinwoo and later mentors Suho. |
| Bellion | Ashborn’s first shadow, born from a fruit of the World Tree; the only Grand Marshal. | Winged commander with a segmented whip-sword; leads Ashborn’s inherited 100,000-plus army. | Commands the old legion and defeats Beru in their head-servant spar. |
Bellion’s arrival is a major display of scale: he comes through a gigantic gate in Seoul that the Korean Hunters Association treats as an S-Rank emergency. Igris is instead tied to Jinwoo’s earliest proof of the Shadow Monarch’s power, while Beru represents the victory over Jeju’s Ant King and the addition of a high-level soldier with an unusually vivid personality. NamuWiki attributes to Chugong the claim that even a Grand Marshal cannot defeat a Monarch one-on-one; because that claim is reported through a secondary wiki, it should not be treated as a verified direct author interview.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Do shadow soldiers keep their personalities and memories?
They retain combat instincts and can develop individual personalities, but the degree of self-expression depends on grade. Lower-grade soldiers are largely anonymous foot soldiers; named upper-grade shadows can speak, show preferences, and act with judgment while remaining loyal to the Monarch.
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Speech begins around the General/Commander grade, and the soldiers speak in the language of monsters. Beru’s ability to use human languages comes later: after consuming Japanese hunters, he gains those languages through Gluttony. Exceptional devotion can shape behavior too. Beru sometimes acts to protect Jinwoo even when Jinwoo has ordered him to hold back.
The Cup of Reincarnation adds a distinction between monster-derived and human-derived shadows in the revised timeline. The Wiki and GameRant report that monster-derived shadows such as Beru and Igris retain memories, while human-derived shadows such as Iron and Greed are reborn as humans without those memories. A shadow’s existence after the war is therefore not always the same thing as a former human’s continued identity.
How does the anime show the army so far?
As of the sources dated March 2026, A-1 Pictures’ anime has 25 episodes across Seasons 1 and 2. The adaptation has introduced several of Jinwoo’s recognizable shadows, but it has not yet reached the full roster described in the webtoon and novel.
GameRant’s anime guide places Igris’s shadow debut in Episode 12, Iron in Episode 14, Tank in Episode 15, and Tusk in Episode 18. Beru appears at the end of Season 2. Kaisel, Jima, Greed, Kamish, and Bellion remain unadapted in that guide’s coverage. In the manhwa, Bellion appears around Chapter 166; the same source listed his anime episode as not yet available. Those are adaptation snapshots, not guarantees about future release dates.
The franchise spans distinct publication forms and regions: Chugong’s original web novel is Korean, with the Korean original on KakaoPage and English novel text on Tapas; the manhwa/webtoon is the visual source for many extraction scenes; the anime is produced by Japan’s A-1 Pictures and streams in English on Crunchyroll. Naming differences across the novel and webtoon, along with the disputed Tusk grade, are worth keeping in mind when comparing fan guides.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does Igris guard the empty throne before joining Jinwoo?
Ashborn left Igris in the Job Change dungeon as a test for the successor to the Shadow Monarch. Jinwoo’s offer to replace the vanished throne’s owner gives Igris a new liege rather than simply forcing a guardian to abandon his post.
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No. In the revised timeline, the sources distinguish monster-derived shadows, which can retain their memories, from human-derived shadows, who are reborn as people without those memories. That distinction means a familiar name does not always signal an unchanged identity.
Can Suho change a shadow soldier into a weapon?
Yes. The ability to transform a soldier into a weapon or item is described as an Authority-over-Death feature, and Suho masters it early in Ragnarok. It is separate from simply changing a soldier’s appearance or shape.
What does “Arise” sound like in the original Korean command?
NamuWiki gives the command block as “wake up / Arise. / 起きろ。” The English rendering most readers recognize is “Arise,” while the Korean phrase is the short command “일어나” in the series’ wording.
