Highlights
- Climbing the tower requires more than just physical strength; strategy & teamwork are vital as contestants navigate tests & challenges.
- Characters like Bam, Shibisu, & Khun showcase different types of intelligence, from quick learning to street-smart tactics.
- Yu Hansung’s mysterious schemes & hidden intentions make him one of the most complex & intelligent characters in Tower of God.
At first glance, Tower of God may appear to be a simple battle royale story where every participant is eager to kill each other to get to the top of the mythical tower. But the more you follow the story, the clearer it is that this competition is actually a lot more sophisticated than that.
To climb the tower and pass every test, pure muscle power alone is not enough. The contestants need to possess a sharp mind as well. In fact, the higher they climb the wall, the more important strategy and teamwork becomes. So with that in mind, these are the ten smartest characters in the series. By the way, to avoid any spoilers for the ongoing second season, this list will focus solely on characters from the first season of Tower of God.
10 Bam
He Is a Prodigious Newcomer
- Position: Wave Controller
- Rank: C-Rank Regular
- First Appearance: Episode 1
As somebody who has lost his memory, Bam is unquestionably the most clueless person on this list. Forget about finding loopholes in the rules or using secret techniques that nobody knows about, he doesn’t even know anything about the tower other than what Rachel has told him.
What Bam has, however, is an incredibly sharp instinct and the courage to try something new, no matter how outrageous it may seem. From learning about Shinsu to following his friend’s questionable strategy, he’d do it all without hesitation and always manage to pull it off. He may not be the smartest person in the room, but this prodigious newcomer is certainly a quick learner.
9 Shibisu
He Is a Street Smart Hustler
- Position: Scout
- Rank: C-Rank Regular
- First Appearance: Episode 2
When you first met him, Shibisu seemed like a boastful, goofy, and nosy character who didn’t really have anything special to offer. He gave the impression that the only reason he managed to get that far was because he had powerful companions.
Once we get to know him, however, we quickly realize there is more to him than meets the eye. He may not be as powerful as the other characters on this list, but he can at least defend himself. As for intelligence, he is the embodiment of street-smart. He is especially great at finding the right people for the right task and then offloading some of his responsibilities to them. The man is a hustler through and through.
8 Ha-Yuri Jahad
She Is a Well-Educated Princess
- Position: Fisherman
- Rank: High Ranker
- First Appearance: Episode 1
Although she is one of the highest-ranking princesses from the all-powerful Jahad family, Ha-Yuri Jahad is a free-spirited person who does things in her own way without caring about the consequences. The best example is when he gives the Black March, one of the sacred swords of the Jahad family, to Bam without a second thought.
As a member of the royal family, she certainly has access to the best education in all kinds of subjects, including politics and the military. Thanks to that, she can stay calm no matter what happens, grasp the situation at hand fairly quickly, and then act accordingly. The best example is when she meets Anaak who is fighting an assassin sent by the royal family. Yuri immediately understands what’s actually happening. She takes matters into her own hands and makes a decision that eventually saves everybody while obtaining what she wants at the same time.
7 Endorsi Jahad
She Is a Sly Princess
- Position: Fisherman
- Rank: D-Rank Regular
- First Appearance: Episode 5
Both Endorsi and Ha Yuri are free-spirited people despite their high-ranking status. But while Ha Yuri is still trying her best not to tarnish her reputation as a part of the royal family, Endorsi is quite the opposite. She got to her current position through her wit, power, and ruthlessness. So if she wants something, she will do anything to get it.
Endorsi is extremely good at hiding her true intentions. She may look like a charming and easygoing princess who is willing to work together as a team to achieve a common goal, but deep down, she always tries to find a way to get ahead of others. This sly princess won’t even hesitate to betray her team if necessary. That being said, she is starting to understand the true value of friendship. That’s why nowadays, she begins to formulate plans that will ensure the survival of not only herself but also her closest friends.
6 Evan Endroch
He Is a Resourceful Employee
- Position: Guide
- Rank: High Ranker
- First Appearance: Episode 1
When he first appears on screen, Evan looks like Ha Yuri’s helpless subordinate who always tries, and fails, to convince the princess to think before she acts. But then you realize that he is actually a High Ranker, just like the princess. Not only that, he is also a Guide, a special position that not many rankers have ever received before. So yes, Evan Endroch is a lot more impressive than you might think.
Where he shines the most is in his resourcefulness. He may not be book-smart like Ha Yuri or street-smart like Shibisu or even a tactical genius like Khun, but he is somebody who will find solutions to your problems. From contestants’ private information to the way to travel through different levels of the tower without permission or even the knowledge of the Administrator or the Floor Guardian, Evan knows everything. And if he doesn’t, he will find the answers one way or another.
5 Lero-Ro
He Is a Clever and Lawful Examiner
- Position: Light Bearer
- Rank: Ranker
- First Appearance: Episode 2
Lero-Ro is the first examiner that Bam and the other regulars encounter as they enter the second floor of the tower. He is a strict and serious man who considers this test a sacred rite of passage for those who wish to climb the tower. That’s why he refuses to have anybody trying to tamper with his tests, no matter who they are.
But as we all know, somebody does try to mess around with his tests. Lero-Ro is a man who just wants to do his job as best as he can, but that doesn’t mean he is clueless about what other people do behind his back. Lero-Ro is smart enough to find out about the sinister conspiracy that’s been going on since the beginning of the tests. However, he quickly realizes that unraveling that secret will turn everything into chaos, so Lero-Ro decides to leave the job instead.
4 Headon
He Is a Shrewd But Fair Administrator
- Position: Unknown
- Rank: Administrator
- First Appearance: Episode 1
Headon is the administrator of the first floor of the tower. He is the one who greets the people who are chosen by the tower to participate in the race to the top. The main job of the administrator for the first floor is to lay out the basic rules of the tower, explain the prize that awaits them at the top, answer any relevant questions that they may have, and most importantly, conduct the first test to find out whether or not they deserve to participate in the real test.
That being said, Headon often branches out from his main duties and starts making decisions outside of the official rulebook. After all, he is smart enough to know which rules he can bend and how much he can get away with. One of the biggest rules-breaking decisions that Headon has made is allowing Rachel to participate and grant a powerful bodyguard for her.
3 Rachel
She Is a Heartless and Manipulative Girl
- Position: Light Bearer
- Rank: D-Rank Regular
- First Appearance: Episode 1
Rachel is quite possibly the weakest person on this list. In terms of pure physical prowess, Rachel is no different than a regular human girl. She does have the ability to control Shinsu to some degree, but it’s honestly nothing to write home about. Even her performance as a Light Bearer falls short of other contestants who are in the same positions as her.
That being said, Rachel is quite possibly the most dangerous person on this list. Her ambition to reach the top of the tower is second to none and she is willing to do anything to achieve it. Even if it means betraying the one person who loves her the most. Besides, since her biggest strength is her ability to manipulate people, there’s really no need for her to be the smartest or the strongest. All she needs to do is manipulate smart and strong people to work and sacrifice themselves for her, which in a way makes her smarter, or at least much more cunning, than the rest of them.
2 Khun Aguero Agnes
He Is a Cunning and Calculative Tactician
- Position: Light Bearer
- Rank: C-Rank Regular
- First Appearance: Episode 2
Khun Aguero Agnes is quite possibly the smartest person among the whole contestants. He is the perfect combination of book-smart like Ha Yuri and street-smart like Shibisu, which turns him into a tactical genius. Everything he’s done throughout the test, from forming a team to crafting a complex strategy to complete the mission, is to increase his chance of climbing to the top of the tower. Judging from the current state of things, he is largely successful in that endeavor.
Khun is more than capable of engaging in close-quarter combat, but he much prefers to be the commander who dictates the flow of the battlefield. That’s why being a Light Bearer is the perfect position for him. His most brilliant moment has to be during the final placement test when Khun crafted a perfect strategy that allowed his team to outsmart a powerful Ranker.
1 Yu Hansung
He Is a Suspicious Man With Endless Schemes
- Position: Wave Controller
- Rank: Advanced Ranker
- First Appearance: Episode 3
It’s usually fairly easy to determine a character’s intelligence, moral compass, and objective based on their words and actions. It’s clear that Khun is the smartest person in the room, it’s obvious that Lero-Ro only wants to do his job properly, and it doesn’t take a long time for us to realize that Rachel is evil. This is not the case at all with Yu Hansung.
Yu Hansung’s exam focuses on the participants’ critical thinking ability but it is not as sophisticated as Quant’s test or the special mission, so it’s hard to gauge how smart he actually is. He lets a dangerous scheme unfold under his watch but he seems to do that for a good reason, so it’s hard to decide whether he is good or evil. He appears to simply do his job as the Test Director but as the story progresses it’s clear that he has other plans going on at the same time, which makes it difficult to figure out his true objective.
The greatest fear is the fear of the unknown. By the end of the first season, we still don’t know whether Yu Hansung is a guardian angel or an evil mastermind. The fact that he can hide his true intentions so well means every word that he has said and every action that he has taken thus far has been carefully calculated ahead of time. Considering he has lots of powerful people around him all the time, only somebody with a formidable mind can pull off such a feat. That’s why it’s not an exaggeration to say that Yu Hansung is the most intelligent character in the first season of Tower of God.
Leave a Reply