Tower of God Explained: Where to Start
Tower of God is one of the biggest webtoons ever made and one of the most confusing to enter. Here is what the Tower is, who Bam is, and where to pick up the story after the anime.
The premise
The Tower is a colossal structure where each floor is a world, and climbing it grants whatever the climber desires. Regulars are chosen by the Tower and tested floor by floor. Irregulars are those who open the Tower’s door themselves, and they are feared because they break its rules. Twenty Fifth Bam is an Irregular who enters the Tower for one reason: to follow Rachel, the girl who left him.
The first arc
Season one of the anime adapts the Tower of God Part 1 webtoon, covering the Floor of Test, Bam’s first companions Khun and Rak, and the betrayal that ends the arc. Season two continues into Part 2, the Return of the Prince, jumping ahead six years with Bam under a new identity and a new set of allies.
Why people love it
SIU’s world rewards patience. The Tower’s politics, the Ten Great Families and the Zahard bloodline turn a simple climb into a generational conspiracy, and the cast grows into one of the largest in webtoons. It is closer to Hunter x Hunter’s tournament arcs than to a power fantasy.
Where to start reading
If you have watched both seasons, the webtoon’s Part 2 continues well beyond where the anime stopped, and Part 3, the Nest, is where the story is now. Start reading at the Hell Train arc if you want the biggest payoff first.
My take: Tower of God is a slow burn that becomes an obsession around the Hell Train. Give it that far before you judge it.
