Highlights
- Guilds in Solo Leveling are structured with leaders, vice leaders, and members, following strict rules set by the Korean Hunters Association.
- Joining a guild offers strength in numbers for dungeon raids but comes with fierce competition and less freedom for hunters.
- The top five famous guilds in South Korea dominate high-rank gates, with strong leadership and unique approaches to training their members.
From the wide variety of monsters to the countless deathly skills of the merciless hunters, Solo Leveling has so many interesting things to talk about. After all, apart from the rapid character development and thrilling action sequence, Solo Leveling also has a compelling and believable worldbuilding, which means there’s no shortage of topics to discuss.
One such topic that may appear to be mundane at first glance but turns out to be quite interesting once you dig deep enough is the Guild system. From what it is, to the pros and cons of joining a guild, to some of the most famous guilds in Solo Leveling, this is all you need to know about the Guilds in Solo Leveling.
What is a Guild?
In the simplest terms, a guild is a group of hunters who work together under the same banner with the sole purpose of raiding gates. A guild can consist of as few as three people, such as the Ahjin Guild, or as many as hundreds of people, such as the Hunters Guild. One thing’s for sure, no matter how many members a guild may have, their structure usually remains the same.
The Structure of a Guild
At its most basic, a guild consists of a leader, also known as the Guild Master, a Vice Guild Master, and a member. The Vice Guild Master doesn’t have to be a hunter, but the Guild Master and the members have to be a hunter. It’ll be even better if the Guild Master is a high-ranking active hunter. For a small guild like Ahjin, a guild is not that different from a group of friends fighting together to earn some money and get stronger.
Once it becomes as big as the Hunters Guild, however, a guild is akin to an organization. The bigger the organization, the more complex the structure will be. It may have different divisions that are responsible for different areas, such as the Strike Squad, the Mining Squad, the Management Team, the Recruitment Team, etc.
“As you’ve guessed, I’m trying to become licensed as a Guild Master. In order to do that, I need at least twenty raids’ worth of experience.”
– Yoo Jinho, Episode 7
How to Make a Guild?
Every guild in Korea, and also every hunter for that matter, has to follow the rules and regulations set by the Korean Hunters Association. From who can challenge which gates to how to create a guild, everything has to go through and abide by the rules and decisions made by the Korean Hunters Association.
Some of the rules on Guild Creation are quite mundane, such as filling out the paperwork informing the name of the guild, the name of the members, the location of the base, etc. Others are quite difficult to fulfill, such as having at least twenty raids worth of experience, passing a mandatory written test, etc.
Once a potential Guild Master has fulfilled every requirement made by the Hunters Association, then the guild will be officially acknowledged by the state and can immediately start conquering gates.
The Pros and Cons of Joining a Guild
So why do people decide to join a guild? The simplest answer is because it’s highly beneficial for them. There are quite a few useful perks that a member of a guild can enjoy that won’t be accessible to a solo hunter. However, that doesn’t mean everything is always great either. Like most things in life, there are always pros and cons. Here are some of the pros and cons of joining a guild.
Pros: There’s Strength in Numbers
Unless you are an S-Class hunter like Jinwoo or Hae-In, it is extremely inadvisable to challenge a dungeon alone. Going together as part of a Strike Team will always yield a better result. That’s where it becomes highly advantageous to be part of a guild. After all, unlike a regular party that is mainly composed of any hunters who happen to be available at the time, a guild’s strike team is composed of hunters who not only specialize in their area but also have great teamwork and can cover each other’s weaknesses. Being part of a team like this will increase the chance of winning exponentially.
Cons: Fierce Competition
Unfortunately, just because you are part of a guild, doesn’t mean you will get a chance to be part of the strike team. This is double true for big guilds with tons of members like the Hunters Guild or the White Tiger Guild. The success of the strike team means the success of the guild, which is why they only send the best hunters among their members. This creates an atmosphere of fierce competition within the guild itself. After all, no matter how good you think you may be, if you are not good enough to be selected as part of the strike team, then you won’t be able to earn a living.
Pros: A Chance to Challenge High-Ranked Gates
Just like hunters, every gate has its ranking as well. For safety reasons, hunters can only challenge a gate with the same rank or lower than their own rank. After all, higher-rank gates will have much stronger and more dangerous monsters. Likewise, it will also have an abundance of Essence Stones, Mana Crystals, and other kinds of loot, all of which means more money to be made. As a member of a guild, especially the top ones, a hunter will have a much bigger chance to challenge those high-rank gates and live to enjoy the money.
Cons: Less Freedom
When a hunter joins a guild, no matter how big it may be, they are basically employed by said guild. While they get to enjoy all of the perks and benefits provided by the guild, it also means they can only fight for the guild. They are basically team players now. That means when the guild master orders them to join a certain strike team or enter certain gates, they have to obliged. Sure, there’s always room for negotiation, but for the most part, they are no longer allowed to fight wherever, whenever, and with whoever they want. Freedom is the price for fame and glory.
Famous Guilds in Solo Leveling
As of right now, there are five biggest guilds in South Korea. They practically corner the market when it comes to acquiring and conquering high-rank gates. They are the strongest, the wealthiest, and the most influential group of people in the nation. Here’s a brief summary of these giant guilds.
Hunters Guild
The Hunters Guild is the biggest and most powerful guild in South Korea. This is the only guild that has two S-Rank Hunters, the “Dragon Maiden” Cha Hae-In, and the guild master Choi Jong-In, also known as the “Ultimate Soldier”. As the biggest guild in the nation, the Hunters Guild has two Strike Teams that can be deployed at any given time. The first one is led by Choi Jong-In and Cha Hae-In and consists of nothing but A-Rank Hunters. The second one is led by the A-Rank hunter Son Kihoon and consists of A and B-Rank Hunters.
White Tiger Guild
The White Tiger Guild is famous not only as one of the biggest guilds in the country but also as one of the most hardcore ones. It all stems from its guild master, an S-Rank Hunter named Baek Yoonho. He is a man who loves to face the monsters head-on with nothing but his fists. That’s why, unlike other guilds that focus on recruiting high-rank hunters, White Tiger prefers to have low-rank hunters that they will put into hellish training by repeatedly forcing them to raid low-rank gates. As a result, the members who are still there after those hellish training sessions become hardcore hunters, just like their leader.
Reaper Guild
The Reaper Guild used to be the biggest and most powerful guild in the nation. This guild reached its height under the leadership of a cunning man named Lim Tae-Gyu. He may appear shrewd and untrustworthy at first, but nobody can deny his strategic mind and his unparalleled skill as an S-Rank Hunter. Unfortunately, Baek Yoonho who used to be a member of the Reaper Guild decided to leave the guild and create his own guild, which is the White Tiger Guild. Nowadays. The Reaper Guild is still one of the biggest guilds in the country, but it has become a shell of its former self.
Fame Guild
Unlike the previous guilds that are active around the Seoul Metropolitan Area, the Fame Guild is active in the Honam Region. The leader of this guild is a brazen man named Ma Dong Wook, an S-Rank Hunter. Despite its leader being a Tanker, most members of the Fame Guild are actually Mages. In fact, they take pride in the fact that they have some of the best mages in the country who can dominate the dungeon through the sheer power of their magical attacks.
Knights Guild
The Knights Guild is an outlier among the big five guilds because it doesn’t have a single S-Rank Hunter within its rank. Even the guild master, Park Jongsoo, is still an A-Rank Hunter. That being said, most of its members are also A-Rank hunters, which means their overall power as a guild is extremely high. Not only that, they also have solid teamwork which makes them incredibly effective during raids. Just like the Fame Guild, the Knights Guild is active outside of Seoul, specifically around the Yeongnam Region.
Solo Leveling is available to stream on Crunchyroll.