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Over three seasons and countless competitions, Squid Game saw the tragic deaths of several beloved characters. Even though the bleakness of the show's premise is established from episode 1, it is hard to grapple with the extent of the cruelty the game puts the characters through. By season 3, almost everyone whom fans grew to know and love is dead.
The show centers around Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) and other "Players" who enter a mysterious game with the promise of a large cash prize for the winner. Every character is at their lowest, and in such dire need of the cash that they are ready to do what it takes, even murder. In this dystopian reality, gut-wrenching deaths follow.
Here are seen of the most tragic deaths in Squid Game.
Disclaimer: All opinions belong to the writer. Major spoilers ahead. Reader's discretion is advised.
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Some of the most tragic deaths in Squid Game explored
1) Jang Geum-ja AKA Player 149 (Kang Ae-shim)
As gut-wrenching as it is to watch an old, frail woman like Geum-ja enter the game, it is even more heartbreaking when fans realize she wants to win to pay off her son's gambling debts. Her traditional sense of duty and loyalty to her son, Park Youngsik, is the cornerstone of her character in Squid Game.
But when Young-sik tries to kill Jun-hee and her newborn, Geum-ja has to make a decision. She attempts to kill her own son to save the more vulnerable of the two parties, and the guards shoot him.
While she understands that her choice is justified, her actions become too much for her to bear, and she takes her own life by hanging. The next day, she is carried out in a coffin.
2) Cho Hyun-ju, AKA Player 120 (Park Sung-hoon)
What makes Hyun-ju's end tragic isn't her death itself, but the nature of it. As one of the smartest and strongest players in Squid Game, she was expected to win the prize and survive. In season 3's Keys and Knives hide and seek game, Hyun-ju finds the exit and could've been safe. But, in a final moment of compassion, she comes back to help Jun-hee and Geum-ja get to the exit, while Jun-hee is in labor.
Myung-gi, who was scouring the maze with a knife and a crazed demeanor, finds Hyun-ju and stabs her in the back. Hyun-ju had no chance to fight back, and goes down in the end trying to help his murderer's ex-girlfriend and daughter get to safety. If given the chance, Hyun-ju could've easily defended herself, but it did not come to be.
3) Kim Jun-hee, AKA Player 222 (Jo Yu-ri)
As a new mother who fell down a flight of stairs and injured her ankle, Jun-hee didn't stand a chance in Squid Game season 3. Her story is tragic because she entered the game to give her unborn child a financially stable upbringing after losing all her money in Myung-gi's cryptocurrency scam, but she never got to see that in the end.
In the jumping rope segment of her game, she realizes that all attempts to try are futile and sacrifices herself by falling off a ledge. However, she entrusts Gi-hun with her daughter, plunging to her death without knowing what would happen to her child. Her death highlights the cruelty of the premise and how nobody is spared in the games.
4) Seong Gi-Hun, AKA Player 456 (Lee Jung-jae)
As the protagonist of the show who entered the game twice— once to win and once to destroy it— Gi-hun's death was simultaneously shocking and required to end the saga. It becomes tragic when fans realize just how much they had grown to know his persona, his trauma, and his motives, just to see him die in the end in a heroic sacrifice.
Gi-hun and Jun-hee's newborn are the last two Players left standing in the Sky Squid Game segment. All the VIPs and In-ho expect him to kill the baby easily and take the prize, but after waxing eloquent about how the Players are human beings and not horses for them to bet on, Gi-hun rebelliously takes his own life to make the newborn the winner.
5) Kang Sae-byeok, AKA Player 067 (Jung Ho-yeon)
Fans rooted for Sae-byeok from the moment she appeared in Squid Game as a North Korea defector trying to get her brother out of the country. Player 067 is hit where it hurts when Sang-woo slits her throat as she already lays injured.
In her dying moments, Gi-hun promises to help her brother get to safety, but she does not live to see that come to reality. Her last moments are filled with her yearning for home, while having run away from it to create a better life for herself and her brother. Nothing spells tragedy quite like her death.
6) Ali Abdul, AKA Player 199 (Anupam Tripathi)
Ali Abdul entered the games as an immigrant who struggled to support his wife and one-year-old son in Squid Game season 1. Optimistic to a fault and naive to the point of saving Gi-hun after barely knowing him, Ali's storyline was set up for an imminent and heartbreaking death.
Sang-woo ultimately tricks Ali in a game of marbles after Ali beats him in the first few rounds. Not believing for a second that his friend would betray him, Ali wanders around with the bag of marbles Sang-woo gave him, unaware that they were replaced by rocks. Sang-woo hands in Ali's marbles to the guards, and Ali is shot as he screams his friend's name in despair.
7) Park Jung-bae, AKA Player 390 (Lee Seo-hwan)
Jung-bae and Gi-hun have a history outside the game as friends facing financial hardships. So when the former enters as a contestant in Squid Game season 2, the stakes are higher for the duo. He is loyal to a fault and has a strong sense of justice, which means he was leading the rebellion on the frontline with Gi-hun.
In-ho's cruelty crescendos in the season finale, when he leaves Gi-hun alive and murders his best friend in front of him to teach him a lesson about who is in control. The duo exchange a final look before Jung-bae falls to a bullet. What makes his death worse is that he is hung on display alongside other dead Players to warn the survivors of the consequences.
Watch Squid Game only on Netflix.
