Kumoko

"Kumoko" is the nameless main protagonist of So I'm a Spider, So What? She is reincarnated in another world in the body of a Small Lesser Taratect, a weak monster, in the largest, most dangerous dungeon known to man: the Great Elroe Labyrinth. Her life in the labyrinth is fraught with danger, forcing her to fight and become stronger to survive. She fights, eats, levels up, and evolves continuously over two years until she becomes an Arachne and meets Ariel. Although enemies at first, they are forced into a cease-fire when both realize that neither one can kill the other. Afterwards, Kumoko journeys with Ariel, Sophia, Merazophis, and the Puppet Taratect sisters to the Demon Realm, picking up Wrath along the way. She is given the name White by Ariel. As an individual of the spider-type monster Small Lesser Taratect species, she has a white body with black splotches on her cephalothorax and abdomen, with eight red spider eyes. Additionally, her two forefeet have sharp claws. When she evolves into the Zoa Ele, she has a pitch-black body, and her two front claws turn into thin scythes. When she evolves into the unique monster Zana Horowa, she becomes snow-white while maintaining her scythe claws. Her final form is the Arachne evolution. Her main body is that of a young girl with bleach-white skin, white hair, and red eyes from the bottom of the waist up. From the waist down, the body is connected to a large spider by the head. The spider body is entirely white, like the Zana Horowa. The original mouth and eyes are also maintained on the spider, hinting that the entire form has two brains. She can keep functioning as long as one of the heads is intact. She also maintains her scythe-like front claws and even uses one of those claws to make a scythe weapon for herself, which she uses to channel Rot Attack. Kumoko's personality goes through several developments during her time as a spider. In the beginning, she is overwhelmed and stressed by her situation upon realizing that she reincarnated as a large spider monster, but remains hopeful. She even sets up some long-term goals for herself, such as learning how to talk to communicate with humans and other such details. She likes to relax in homes of her making and is easily scared if approached. She cries when she needs to eat the disgusting monsters of the Upper Stratum and is traumatized by some early events, but steels her mind with the goal set: get stronger, so she can leave the Great Elroe Labyrinth. As a coping mechanism, Kumoko tends to act and think in a happy-go-lucky or sarcastic manner. It distracts her from the situations she finds herself in a while in the Great Elroe Labyrinth because often she is fighting against the odds and facing death every day. As she experiences more and more hardship, her mind does start to wear down, little by little. Some examples of her difficulties are: losing half of her body, eating rot-infested bugs and poisonous monsters to avoid starvation, and losing her home. Those, among many other situations that no teenager should ever find themselves having to experience — cause her to lose hope and empathy, which she had during the beginning of her rebirth as a spider. However, it can be challenging to see this due to her mannerisms. Not to mention, the titles and skills she learns throughout her journey interfere with her mind and soul. She talks with herself when using the Parallel Minds skill and earns several mind-altering titles such as Merciless, Ruler of Pride, Sloth, and more. She eventually gets the title Ruler of Perseverance, which prevents the System from tampering with her soul further, due to earning Heresy Nullification. Still, accruing these titles and skills alters her mind irreversibly. By the time she leaves the Great Elroe Labyrinth, she barely considers interacting with humans beyond what will benefit herself. Some of her conscience remains, as is shown by the way she will save people under attack by bandits — though it is alluded to that she ends up eating the bandits due to the influence of her Parallel Minds. Kumoko doesn't consider this normal since she still finds herself mostly human and is freaked out by their behavior, which eating of the soul of the Queen Taratect altered. She also doesn't seem significantly invested in being friendly for it, as Kumoko will always attempt to justify a selfish reason for helping people, such as raising a skill, trying to earn a title, among various other excuses. It is plain to see after she begins her journey with Ariel that she is still capable of caring about others, even after her traumatizing experiences in the Great Elroe Labyrinth. However, she always tends to think of herself first. She's also utterly tongue-tied because of her two years of solitude, though she can still think of responses. As the group journeys together and Kumoko begins to care about them, her selfish justifications become more strained, as she seems to find herself unable to believe she can genuinely care about others anymore. Eventually, when Ariel selflessly throws herself between Potimas and Kumoko to save her, she discards her selfish reasoning for helping and realizes that she cares about Ariel and the rest of their group, even if she still has issues talking to them.