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The following contains minor spoilers for Solo Leveling.
While theSolo Levelingnarrative seemingly tries to make the protagonist Sung Jinwoo’s failures and successes attributable to his tenacity and hard work, it seems that on many occasions Jinwoo is accidentally saved by his own fortune. Despite getting extremely unlucky when he awakened as purportedly the weakest hunter, Jinwoo’s extreme plot armor seems to be the other side of that coin that often balances that initial bad luck out.
When looking at the first two seasons so far, just how many of Jinwoo’s victories came down to luck, and how much can we say he earned on his own. It’s an interesting question to ponder, considering the series is calledSolo Leveling.
Some of Jinwoo’s Early Major Fights He Accidentally Won
Jinwoo Accidentally Exploits the System Sometimes
One of the first instances that Jinwoo’s plot armorbecomes particularly noticeable is during his job change quest in Season 1. Not only does he get lucky in defeating the superior opponent in Igris, but he gets saved from being overwhelmed in the final battle because he accidentally forgot to do his daily quest that day. Jinwoo was completely outmatched by Igris, sitting on his throne and forced to play dead until the right moment. Fortunately for Jinwoo, Igris’ chivalrous personality did not suspect the hunter was playing a trick on him, and succumbed to the hunters’ final desperate attack that had a low chance of success.
“More of a fluke than a win. He had me beat in ability, technique, experience. Surpassed me on every level. Death was one screw up away” -Sung Jinwoo commenting on his win over Igris in Episode 11.
Next he is told to survive as long as he can while never-ended enemies keep spawning to take him out.Just as Jinwoo is on death’s door once again, he is teleported to the penalty zone. This allows him to heal, level up, and properly prepare for the fight against the never-ending waves. While it makes for a cool twist and exciting moment the way things happened, situations like this make it feel like Jinwoo is winning by luck more than things under his control. Although the story tries to imply Jinwoo is tactical in his approach, he doesn’t do his due diligence in exploring the limitations of the system and gets accidentally saved by some mechanic of it. Jinwoo should be punished for his negligence, but somehow he always comes out on top.
Later in the series,Jinwoo becomes so strong that there seems to be no way he can loseto most threats, but the beginning of his journey seems to heavily rely on his luck. Jinwoo never encounters a situation he needs to run from, always able to muddle through despite the odds. He luckily avoided meeting S-Rank Hwang Dongsoo by getting trapped in a red gate, a meeting he likely would have died from. He was also extremely fortunate to have survived so many years as a weak hunter beforehe became the chosen level-up hunter in the double dungeon incident. While Jinwoo increases several stats when he levels up, it seems that his luck stat has already been fixed to the max since his birth.
The System Wants Jinwoo to Stay Alive
One Explanation for Jinwoo’s Extreme Luck
While not yet revealed in theSolo Levelinganime, one explanation other than luck for why Jinwoo is so fortunate in his encounters is how the System works. Jinwoo himself catches a hint of this early on, feeling like the System is stacking the deck for him because it wants him to survive to be used for some purpose.
“The System wants me to live. It wants me strong…I think I get it now. If the System is bent on using me, I’m just gonna have to use the System.” -Sung Jinwoo in Episode 6.
One could argue that Jinwoo’s “luck” is merely the payoff for his hard work struggling for so long in dungeons as one of the weakest combatants. He still had to put in the effort to level up and make decisions to put him in the best possible spot to receive the grace of the System. In this way, Jinwoo’s luck is no different than any other protagonist who receives powers and goes out to save the world. However,it feels like Jinwoo stretches the definition of luckin many of his early encounters, being saved by things outside of his control that he could have had a plan for. Based on his performance in the first two seasons, it’s fair to say luck played a fairly significant role, and better planning on his part could have seen him win the day without relying so much on his plot armor.
Solo Leveling
Cast
A-1 Pictures' Solo Leveling is an anime based on Chugong’s popular web novel. Set in an unforgiving fantasy world where hunters explore dungeons filled with monsters, the vulnerable Sung Jinwoo gains a significant power boost after he is picked to be a solo player by the System.
