Who Dies in Squid Game? Every Death, in Chronological Order
Editor's note: The following contains spoilers for Squid Game.
With its long run as Number 1 on Netflix's Top Ten list, the Korean Netflix series Squid Game has taken the world by storm, broken records, and sparked some of the best memes we've seen since the final season of Game of Thrones. Of course, that means there is no shortage of Squid Game-related content here at Collider. Last week, we ranked some of the show's most memorable deaths — of which there is no shortage! — so now, we'd like to present to you a list of all of the major deaths in chronological order. As a word of caution: it's best to be armed with tissues before you proceed with reading this list.
Players 324 & 250 (Park Ji-hoon) - Episode 1, "Red Light, Green Light"
The first players to be eliminated from the games, Player 324 and Player 250 wager a friendly bet during the first game, "Red Light, Green Light," on who will cross the finish line first, not yet realizing that this familiar childhood game is far from child's play. Player 324 is the first player to be eliminated from the game, followed by Player 250, who turns to run when he sees Player 324 crumpled in a heap on the ground. Player 250 is shot, his blood splashing across another player's face, who lets out a petrified scream. And on that note, let the games begin!
Player 119 - Episode 3, "The Man With the Umbrella"
The nameless Player 119 was the first example of what happens when a player tries (and fails) to rebel against the staff. At the end of the honeycomb game in Episode 3, Player 119 — who has failed to successfully remove his umbrella from the sugary snack — tackles a guard member and grabs his gun before he can kill him. Player 119 then shoots the guard member in the arm before holding the gun to his head, threatening to kill him if the guards step any closer. After he forces the guard to take off his mask, Player 119 is horrified to see that under the mask is a man much younger than he expected. After a few tense seconds, Player 119 shoots himself in the head.
Player 271 (Min Tae-yul) - Episode 4, "Stick to the Team"
It was only a matter of time before the players realized that they could take matters into their own hands. In one of the most shocking deaths of the season, Player 271 confronts Deok-su (Heo Sung-tae) after he and his crew cut in line during mealtime, leaving Player 271 and four others without food. After Player 271 tries to grab Deok-su's drink from him, causing the glass bottle to fall to the ground and shatter, Deok-su, in an unprecedented move in the games, ruthlessly beats Player 271 to death. While the staff stands motionless, with clearly no intent to intervene, the players begin to realize with a sickening clarity a new unspoken rule: players can kill other players with no repercussions. Player 271's death marked the start of a terrifying chapter in the games where no one is safe inside or outside the game.
Player 111, Byeong-gi (Yoo Sung-joo) - Episode 5, "A Fair World"
Player 111, or Byeong-gi, figured out early on how to play to his strengths when he secretly helped a rogue group of staff members harvest organs of dead players in exchange for information on upcoming games. In Episode 5, however, one of the staff informs Player 111 that they haven't been told what the next game will be yet. Player 111 is enraged and pulls a scalpel on one of the guards, demanding that they figure out what the next game is. The guard disarms him and after a fight in the operating room, one of the guards chases him into the room where they played the honeycomb game. When the guard pulls out his knife to kill Player 111, the Front Man (Lee Byung-hun) enters along with a group of guards and kills the guard before one of the remaining guards shoots Player 111 dead.
Player 199, Abdul Ali (Anupam Tripathi) - Episode 6, "Gganbu"
In one of the most tragic deaths of the season, Sang-woo (Hae-soo Park) shows his true colors and kills Ali, the selfless player who saved Gi-hun's life in the first game and who deeply respected and trusted Sang-woo with his life. Sang-woo and Ali team up for the marble game in Episode 6, but like everyone else, they had no idea they were not actually working together as a team, but rather competing with each other to the death. When Sang-woo only has one marble left, it becomes clear that Ali is going to be the winner. Sang-woo drops to his knees and begs Ali to join him so that they can win together. In the ultimate act of betrayal that sealed Sang-woo as perhaps the show's truest antagonist, Sang-woo tricks Ali by secretly taking all of his marbles and then replacing them with stones. We don't see Ali's death, but what we see is perhaps even worse: the devastating look on his face of realization that he had been betrayed by someone he trusted most.
Player 240, Ji-yeong (Lee Yoo-mi) - Episode 6, "Gganbu"
Even though we spent relatively little time with Player 240, Ji-yeong, in comparison to other supporting characters, Ji-yeong's death was still one of the most crushing. Ji-yeong and Sae-byeok team up for the game of marbles and decide they will bet everything and end the game in a single round in the last minute of the game. While they wait, Ji-yeong convinces Sae-byeok that they spend the precious time left on the clock talking about things they wouldn't tell anyone else. We learn that Ji-yeong killed her abusive father after he killed her mother. She came back to the games because she had nowhere else to go. Sae-byeok, known for keeping her guard up, opens up and tells Ji-yeong about her family.
When it comes time to play, Ji-yeong purposefully throws it, making sure that Sae-byeok wins. Ji-yeong says that she has nothing to go back to, but Sae-byeok does. Before the shot is fired, she smiles through tears and thanks Sae-byeok for playing the game with her. Between Ji-yeong and Ali — and yes, Oh Il-Nam (Oh Yeong-su), since at this point we weren't aware he was a billionaire mastermind — it's no wonder Episode 6 is regarded as the most heartbreaking episode of Squid Game.
Players 069 (Kim Yun-tae) and 070 (Lee Ji-ha) - Episode 7, "VIPs"
When we first met Player 069 and Player 070 in Episode 4, it instantly became clear that they would suffer a terrible fate because of one crucial factor: they were husband and wife. Naturally, they paired up for the marble game because like everyone else, they didn't realize they would be competing against each other. It becomes clear that Player 070 died when a grieving Player 069 begs for everyone to agree to end the games. The next morning, he is found dead, having hanged himself during the night.
Player 101, Jang Deok-su (Heo Sung-tae) and Player 212, Han Mi-nyeo (Kim Joo-ryeong) - Episode 7, "VIPs"
Han Mi-nyeo, Player 212, was not kidding when she told Deok-su, Player 101, that she would kill him if he betrayed her. In perhaps one of the most stress-inducing games of the season, the glass bridge, Han Mi-nyeo is so determined to get her revenge against her short-lived lover that she sacrifices herself in the process. She jumps onto Deok-su's tile and wraps him in a fatal hug as she pulls him down with her. Now that is commitment.
Player 017 (Lee Sang-hee) - Episode 7, "VIPs"
Even though Sang-woo showed his true colors when he betrayed Ali in the previous episode, it still comes as a brutal shock when he shoves Player 017 off the tile during the glass bridge game. An appalled Gi-hun asks why he would do such a heinous thing, especially since Player 017 was the only reason they even made it as far as they did. Sang-woo forcefully defends his choice and lashes out at Gi-hun, who now sees once and for all who Sang-woo really is. If there was any doubt before, there isn't now: Sang-woo will stop at nothing to make it out of the games alive, 45.6 billion in his bank account — no matter the cost.
Hwang Jun-ho (Wi Ha-joon) - Episode 8, "Front Man"
Although it is implied that Jun-ho, the determined cop hell-bent on finding his brother and exposing the games to the authorities, died in Episode 8, we will call Jun-ho's death unconfirmed, going with the cardinal rule in television that if there's no body, then you can't count someone as dead (the moment they didn't show Oh Il-Nam's death, my plot-twist detector immediately went off). In the startling reveal that the Front Man is in fact Jun-ho's missing brother In-ho, In-ho is forced to shoot Jun-ho to prevent him from exposing them. He shoots Jun-ho in the shoulder, sending Jun-ho tumbling off the cliff. Sure, that cliff is pretty high, but we can't help but cling to the tiny shred of hope that Jun-ho made it out after all.
Player 067, Kang Sae-byeok (Jung Ho-yeon) - Episode 8, "Front Man"
Another of Squid Game's most tragic deaths, Sae-byeok meets her end in the penultimate episode of the season. First, she gets impaled with a broken shard of glass after the remaining tiles shatter at the conclusion of the glass bridge game. It feels horrifically unfair, seeing as how she was one of the final three to win the game. After barely eating during their extravagant dinner, during which the guards leave them each with a knife following their meal, Sae-byeok struggles to stay awake that night as she clutches her knife in her hand. Gi-hun approaches her and they share an intimate conversation where she asks him to take care of her brother should she not make it. When he realizes that she is fatally injured, he runs to call for help. He is stunned and horrified when the guard members enter the room carrying a box. He turns and finds Sae-byeok dead, Sang-woo standing over her, knife in hand. Again, Sang-woo is always there to kill off our favorites.
Player 218, Cho Sang-woo (Park Hae-soo) - Episode 9, "One Lucky Day"
During the momentous final game, Sang-woo and Gi-hun face off in — you guessed it — a little game called Squid Game. Gi-hun takes the position of offense, leaving Sang-woo as defense as the two old friends fight to the death. Gi-hun manages to take the lead, but when Sang-woo is on the ground defenseless, nearly beaten, Gi-hun begs Sang-woo to quit the games with him so that they can leave together, alive. Sang-woo instead chooses to take his own life, stabbing himself in the neck, but not before the two childhood friends share a brief moment together where Sang-woo reminisces about when they used to play as kids. Even after his ruthless performance in the games, it still is heartbreaking to hear Sang-woo say faintly, "No one calls us anymore," before he kills himself, his final words being "my mom."
Oh Mal-soon (Kim Young-ok) - Episode 9, "One Lucky Day"
Although this death happened off-screen, it doesn't make it any less devastating. After winning the games, a broken Gi-hun returns home to find his mother, Oh Mal-soon, dead. He sobs, laying next to her holding her body. Her death hits hard with devastating irony: Gi-hun finally has money to help her, but in the end, it was too late anyway. She died, and he wasn't even there for her when it happened.
Player 001, Oh Il-Nam (O Yeong-su) - Episode 9, "One Lucky Day"
There was always something about Player 001 that didn't sit right for me. No one should be smiling that much during a life or death game of Red Light, Green Light.
Although we thought Oh II-nam died in Episode 6, it turns out that not only did he live, but he was in fact the mastermind behind the games, a billionaire who created the games because he grew bored of a life of riches. His supposed death in Episode 6 was one of the most devastating, so it is doubly disappointing to see he was the mysterious host the entire time. It does turn out to be true, however, that Oh II-nam really is dying of a brain tumor. When he calls a shocked Gi-hun to meet him, Gi-hun finds him on the brink of death, just in time to ask Gi-hun to play one last game with him. He bets that no one will stop to help a homeless man outside before the clock strikes midnight, while Gi-hun bets that someone will, and if they do, he gets to kill Oh II-nam with his bare hands. Moments before the clock strikes twelve, someone arrives to help the homeless man, but not before Oh II-nam drifts off, death finally taking him.
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