Solo Leveling: The Meaning of the Altar Explained!

Solo Leveling is a South Korean novel series that has recently seen an anime adaptation. Arguably the most popular manhwa in the world, Solo Leveling is sure to attract a lot of attention, especially in light of the fact that the anime adaptation is truly great. While we’re enjoying the episodes, we have decided to cover some aspects that appear in the series, and the one we are going to be covering here is related to the Cartenon Temple. In this article specifically, we are going to discuss the Altar that appeared as part of the Dungeon and explain its importance for the series.

The Altar is related to the last commandment – “Prove Your Faith”!

The story of the Cartenon Temple started when Sung Jinwoo’s guild entered a relatively benign D-Rank Dungeon in order to clear it out and shut it down. Everything was in order; the Guild members dealt with the monsters, but the Dungeon wasn’t closing even though they had cleared it out. They then learned that there was an additional hidden dungeon within this one; this is an uncommon but not entirely unheard-of circumstance, and the Hunters realized that they were dealing with a Double Dungeon. It soon turned out that it was the Cartenon Temple, one of the most powerful Dungeons in the entire series

Though it was connected to a D-Rank Dungeon, the Cartenon Temple was truly a strong S-Rank Dungeon, and the initial Guild that entered it stood no chance. It should be noted that the formidable being referred to as the Architect made use of the Temple as his headquarters. We were first introduced to the extent of his might when the Guild member arrived, as he killed multiple of them with ease. The Cartenon Temple had three basic commandments, as we have written on Fiction Horizon, and the question of the altar – the principal question of this article – is part of the third test, which was a reference to the last commandment – “Prove Your Faith.”

In short, the Hunters realized that they had to bow to the Architect to avoid death, and that they later had to reach the musician statues to show respect to their Lord. After they succeeded, an altar appeared, and that was the introduction to the final test, which was the commandment “Prove Your Faith.” So, what was the importance of the altar there?

Well, as soon as the Hunters realized it was an altar, they deduced that it would require some sacrifice from them. As they approached it, yellow flames started appearing, and when the flames closed a circle, the door opened. At that moment, a larger circle consisting of blue flames appeared, and the statues became alive and started going towards the Hunters. The blue flames were – as we soon discovered – a timer that signaled how long the statues would remain active. Seeing the statues come at them, some of the Hunters began escaping through the open door, suggesting that they saved themselves, but no one knew what happened to them initially.

The remaining Hunters believed that they all needed to remain near the altar, but as it turned out – it was not true. At one moment, they realized that only one of them had to be sacrificed, so the heavily wounded Sung Jinwoo told the others to leave and seemingly sacrificed himself. Did he die?

Well, he was attacked by the statues, but soon – a message appeared confirming that Sung Jinwoo “proved his faith,” i.e., that he passed the test and that he now has the chance to become a Player of the System, which would ultimately allow him to survive the Temple. Sung Jinwoo, of course, accepted, and this is where and when the protagonist of Solo Leveling was born. And this is also the end of our tale of the altar and the final exam of the Cartenon Temple.

Have something to add? Let us know in the comments below!