Countless gamers were hoping to get their hands on a video game similar to Sword Art Online. Players could enter virtual reality by putting on the Nervegear and control their character. Their only option was to complete all levels and eventually beat the strongest boss on the 100th level. Some players had an advantage as they took part in beta testing, therefore they knew the game much better.
Still, there were participants, who were born heroes of virtual reality. Players were fighting for their lives and improved their skills so they could reach the next level. Sword Art Online quickly became one of the most dangerous and difficult games the players ever had to play. While the game was brutal it gave fans some of the most exciting and powerful characters.
10 Quinella
Quinella, who referred to herself as Administrator was the main antagonist in the Alicization Arc’s first half. The over 350-year old character was a pretty tough ruler in her world.
Quinella was very strong and had everyone in her hand, but probably she was a little too confident. She was often in a dormant state and only woke up to take a quick look at her subordinates. However, after her clash with Alice, Eugeo, and Kirito, she had to retreat and was eventually killed.
9 Leafa
In the real world, she was known as Kirigaya Suguha, a middle school student with short black hair. Once she entered the SAO world, everyone knew her as Leafa. She was a very energetic character in the series who was able to defeat a number of opponents.
Leafa was often quite surprising as her character didn’t suggest as much aggression as she occasionally displayed. When she was annoyed or the situation demanded, Leafa never hesitated and was able to defeat most of her enemies.
8 General Eugene
The Salamander armed forces’ leader proved to be very strong over the series. Without a doubt, he was the strongest in his group and he was always looking for tough challenges.
He didn’t engage in a fight with others, who seemed weaker than him. Besides his physical abilities, he was wearing the ultra-rare Blood armor and fought with the second strongest sword in the game. Thanks to his equipment, he was considered the strongest character in ALfheim Online for a good while.
7 Sinon
Asada Shino AKA Sinon was a huge game nerd, who first began playing with Gun Gale Online to overcome her fear of guns. Later, she started playing with Sword Art Online as a Cait Sith archer. She mastered shooting to such a high level, she was able to hit her targets from over two hundred meters.
Sinon became stronger and stronger as she managed to deal with her childhood trauma. While she usually remained cool in fights, she was often seen as violent and angry.
6 Alice
Alice is a remarkably strong character in Sword Art Online. Quinella kidnapped her and turned her into an Integrity Knight. Later she showed her true powers when she fought against Quinella alongside Kirito and Eugeo. Alice was a strong-willed character, who wouldn’t ever back out from any challenge. She wanted to master the Sacred Arts to become even stronger.
Fans thought Alice was among the most important characters because without her Kirito may have died.
5 Yui
Yui was actually an AI, whom Kirito and Asuna found upon their investigation of a ghost in a forest. The little girl seemed to have lost all her memories and the couple looked after her. As time passed she proved to possess extraordinary powers such as being able to track every player’s real-life location and rewrite codes in the system.
Yui was also able to jump between virtual worlds. Yui became one of the most beloved SAO characters and inspired many fan art and cosplays.
4 Oberon
Fairy Dance Arc’s antagonist Fairy King Oberon shocked fans with his incredible greediness and cruelty.
His real name was Sugou Nobuyuki, chief of the RECT Inc research institute and Asuna’s husband. He hacked into the game and managed to reroute 300 players for his research. He thought of himself as a god, which proved to be a fatal mistake, as Kirito managed to finish him. Oberon was among the strongest characters, but his intellect and deviant personality made him extremely dangerous.
3 Asuna
Asuna was very difficult to beat by her opponents, thanks to her Sword Skills. In the beginning, she wasn’t worried about dying, because she felt lost and didn’t want to return to the real world. That made her even more dangerous, but when she met Kirito, Asuna found a new meaning in her life. From that on she was invincible and among the most motivated characters in Sword Art Online.
Generally, she was a caring and helpful person, who never left anyone behind.
2 Heathcliff
For many, he was known as Kayaba Akihiko, SAO’s creator, and founder. Without a doubt, he was one of the strongest characters, since he knew the game inside out. Additionally, he possessed the first unique skill called the Holly Sword.
Due to using the Liberator set, he was very quick in combat. He was also famous for being able to engage alone with the 50th floor’s boss for ten minutes. Although he was considered to be the main antagonist, he was very soft-spoken. Still, fans knew he must have been a psychopath for sentencing so many people to death.
1 Kirito
Narusaka Kazuto or Kirito was a true hero everyone looked up to. He helped the weak and supported those worthy of his sympathy. He was one of the beta testers therefore he knew the game much better than most.
Throughout the series, Kirito was always great at combat, never wasted time, he was kind to other players, and fans grew very fond of him. Kirito adapted quickly to every change that occurred in the game and remained calm at all times. His relationship with Asuna made him even more motivated to get out alive.