Best Heroic Fantasy Manhwa

Heroics are feats that are remembered ages after they’ve been performed, transforming cultures and becoming embedded in legend. The heroes who perform them are immortalized for their contributions to society, and the great pains they’ve gone through are forever appreciated by the population.

Though this kind of story isn’t uncommon, it has become rare in the modern fantasy manhwa scene because of the increasing trend of villainous, unscrupulous, or otherwise evil-aligned main characters that don’t adhere to the traditional definition of what a protagonist should do. While it can be refreshing to read a different type of story, the overabundance of this particular genre has made viewers thirst for a return to the classics where the heroes don’t have morally dubious goals, and the world is as magical as it gets.

8 Disciple of the Holy Sword

Live and Learn

• Genre: Action, Fantasy
• Chapters: 88
• Where to Read:Tapas Comics

There’s no doubt that Disciple of the Holy Sword is a fairly generic manhwa, but it has a few interesting takes that help it stand out from the crowd. The main premise of the story is that an under-powered main character finds a holy sword that helps him climb the ranks in the royal academy.

The main character’s disposition and outlook on life are refreshing, and his dive into the meaning of being a hero is quite interesting to follow. The side characters within the story are well-fleshed out and add a lot of depth to an otherwise generic story.

7 The Advanced Player of the Tutorial Tower

Post-Tower Climb Story

• Genre: Overpowered MC, Revenge, Modern World
• Chapters: 220
• Where to Read:Webtoons

There’s nothing quite like having an overpowered character mowing through hordes of demons and monsters to achieve a goal, and that’s exactly the kind of storytelling viewers can expect to find in The Advanced Player of the Tutorial Tower.

The story follows Hyeonu Kim, a tower player who spent 12 years fighting against monsters constantly against his wishes. After finally getting out, he’s on a mission to find the ones responsible for the situation he was stuck in, and exact his due revenge.

6 The Lazy Lord Masters the Sword

A Little Motivation Goes A Long Way

• Genre: Tragedy, Fantasy, Swordsmanship
• Chapters: 121
• Where to Read:Webtoons

The Lazy Lord Masters the Sword is a story about a traumatized young lord who overcomes his trauma with a little help from a mysterious swordsman, and an incredible amount of hard work. This is the kind of story where hard work trumps all, and it is incredibly satisfying to read.

The comic has a lot of time skips and can feel a little rushed at times, but the well-written characters and the constant improvement of the main character makes the pacing feel justified. Power isn’t given out, it is earned.

5 The Divine Surgeon

Bring A Scalpel to a Sword Fight

• Genre: Historical, Medical, Kind MC
• Chapters: 119
• Where to Read:Tapas Comics

A departure from the typical murim and wuxia tropes, the Divine Surgeon takes the viewer on a journey of discovering ancient China through the lens of a legendary doctor of old. The tone shift this comic has compared to other media within the genre is quite refreshing and worth a read.

The story revolves around a simple doctor who gets reincarnated in ancient war-torn China. Instead of embracing martial arts, the doctor decides to help people with his knowledge of medicine, making a name for himself along the way.

4 Frozen Player Returns

When The First Time Isn’t Good Enough

• Genre: Game System, Time Skip, Overpowered MC
• Chapters: 120
• Where to Read:Tapas Comics

A fairly classic story about gates, gaming systems, and powerful skills, The Frozen Player Returns is a simple yet effective iteration of the Solo Leveling formula where the author adds the “Hidden Tiger” trope to keep things interesting.

There’s no escaping power creep when writing stories like these, so adding a condition where the main character tries to remain low-key and not attract attention is an effective way to keep things interesting for the audience. The main character is a legendary hero who recently got out of an induced cryostasis. He spends the story gathering his old comrades back in order to save the world one more time.

3 The World After the Fall

There Are Some Wrong Choices

• Genre: Tower Climbing, Apocalypse, Regression, Fantasy
• Chapters: 145
• Where to Read:Webtoons

The World After the Fall takes the classic trope of regression that has taken over modern manhwa and uses it in a way within the story that goes against all expectations. Instead of the main character regressing, everyone else around him does, leaving him alone in a dying world to clear the tower that took over it.

The main character manages to clear the tower after shedding a lot of blood, sweat, and tears. Instead of listening to the administrator of the tower and taking his due reward, he decides to fight the administrator to break the system entirely.

2 I Killed the Main Player

Replace the Hero With A Good Person

• Genre: Regression, Isekai, Action
• Chapters: 16
• Where to Read:Webtoons

There are plenty of isekai manhwa out there where the main character becomes a major part of the story they know all about, but not as many where the main character is reincarnated as a normal NPC in a world, though that concept has also started gaining traction in recent years.

I Killed the Main Player explores that concept, though the main character of the comic ends up, well, killing the main character to make sure the story doesn’t devolve, and the world can be saved. Despite the seemingly villainous title, the main character is a very heroic person who kills the previous main character as he had become more of a villain, and failed to save the world even after that.

1 SSS-Class Revival Hunter

Regression Fantasy to the Extreme

• Genre: Regression, Game System, Tower Climbing
• Chapters: 118
• Where to Read:Tapas Comics

Regression is a genre that has gripped the hearts of the masses in recent years. Traveling back in time and getting stuck in time loops has become much more prevalent in modern media. SSS-Class Revival Hunter takes the premise of a controllable time loop and takes it to its extreme logical conclusion.

This comic has everything a reader could want. It has incredible characters, amazing writing, a good game system, emotional breakdowns, gripping stories, and most of all, a fantastic main character.