#squid game theory

[angel-wing-feathers]

A controversial one but if it weren’t for main character plot armor, Sae-Byeok (067) would have won

[giveamadeuschohisownmovie]

Ways I can see Squid Game 3 can go in terms of story:

1) Front Man, once and for all, tries to convince Gi-hun that people are inherently bad and that the games are just reflecting human nature. Front Man says that when push comes to shove, people will turn on each other since they value self-preservation over everything else. Gi-hun then says, “So if you had to kill Jun-ho for the money, would you?” Then for the first time in years, In-ho begins to doubt his own ideology.

2) As a continuation to the point above, In-ho confronts Jun-ho again. This time, instead of shooting his brother, In-ho kills himself (which also acts as a callback to the Salesman’s death).

3) Myung-gi redemption arc. I’m 50/50 on him either surviving and promising to actually help take care of Jun-hee’s baby, or tragically sacrificing himself but not before telling the group that they need to help Jun-hee raise their baby.

4) Yong-sik and Geum-ja survive. Only saying this because we already did the fakeout of Geum-ja dying during mingle game and I’m not sure how killing off Yong-sik would benefit the story. What I mean by that is that the only characters who I’d see getting development from Yong-sik’s death is his mom and Hyun-ju. Since Hyun-ju already has to live with Young-mi’s death, the only storyline I can think of in which Yong-sik dies is for his mom’s character development, which feels exceptionally cruel since the whole point of her being in the game was to get her son out. I don’t know, it feels too cruel to the point of grimdark if Yong-sik were to die for his mom’s pain, which is why I’m leaning to him surviving.

5) I can definitely see an ending where Gi-hun manages to save the last few contestants, but loses faith in humanity. Especially if the games continue on since people still desire entertainment and you can’t destroy people’s greed/selfishness.

6) The ONLY happy ending I can see for Gi-hun is if A) In-ho realizes his ideology is flawed since he can’t bring himself to sacrifice his brother Jun-ho for wealth and power and B) the O’s finally come to their senses and switch over to the X’s. This is the only happy ending I can see for Gi-hun since even if he manages to take Front Man and the VIPs down, he saw just how cruel people can be to each other. At this point, it’s not enough to take the games down, the people have to show they’re willing to change. It’s just like the ending of Squid Game season 1 where the homeless man was helped by the bystanders, thus proving Gi-hun’s point that there’s still good in people.

[icantdrawrt]

Question

Did in-ho replace 001 or did he already plan to go in?

In red light green light we see on the board that there is a 001 present so we know he didn’t leave a gap incase he wanted to join

I’ve rewatched it and I don’t see a 001 and I don’t think they announce his elimination either. So like

Is that a picture of In-Ho? Did he kill 001 to take his place so they wouldn’t notice the eliminated number and be like “hey you’re dead”

(Plus at the end of red light green light we see that 001 is still in)

This is as clearly as we see the 001 picture and it just doesn’t look like the front man? Plus In-ho was not there for the pictures???

How did he just join and replace the original 001? Or was there even an original 001? Because before this I guessed they just didn’t have a 001 and left it open incase they needed a player on the inside but there is clearly a 001 on that board.

I can’t be the only person who’s noticed this right??

[nobodyssoidier]

457 theory 😋

i know this is so far fetched and delusional , but trust.

i think the voting scenes is so much more than staying and leaving when it comes to In Ho. during the first vote, he votes to stay. this is also during the time where he had no established relationship with gi hun, they hadn’t even met yet.

HOWEVER…..

once that relationship gets established and there is a form of connection, in ho begins to vote to leave. yes, this may be a manipulation tactic to get close to gi hun and break him, but for the sake of grumpy old man yaoi, its not.

i think its in ho, in a way, choosing gi hun over the games. he is the frontman, he runs the games, he seems to enjoy running them ( in a way. ) he could very easily vote to stay, but he doesn’t as soon as he gets close to gi hun.

Also bisexual lighting idk they kiss and stuff

[inhogihun]

Can we talk about how if the theory that Oh Il Nam ( the old man , player 001 ) is In Ho's father , making him Jun Ho's father as well since they don't have the same mother ( Jun Ho's mother calls herself In Ho's stepmother meaning they're related by the paternal side ) This makes Jun Ho literally the HEIR to the Squid games 😭 . His father made / hosted the Squid games for a long time , [ not sure if he created them but he was most definitely in charge for it all for a while ] AND his brother became the game master / frontman who over sees the games and makes sure everything is in working order ... This reveal will be so damn interesting to see , like will Jun Ho still go through with finding and destroying the games or will he hesitate since it was his literal family who created it in the first place ? Or even Take Over ... 🤔

[was-it-fun-playing-hero]

S1 focused on the circles/workers, S2 on the triangles/soldiers, so I'm assuming the squares/managers will be explored next season. I was having a discussion earlier on Reddit about something peculiar regarding the managers.

Why are all the squares we've seen unmasked so young?

It's happened twice now on seperate occasions, and I definitely think both squares being very young is leading into some reveal about how the guards are scouted.

I've seen multiple other people theorise that the squares are specially selected, coming from trafficking and severe poverty or abuse situations, for example. Younger people without a steady foothold in life are easier to manipulate, and the organisation knows this. As an additional benefit, people in such a standing are less likely to be missed. I think it's very likely that the squares are specifically approached because of their age and unstable position in society.

With this in mind, I don't believe that every single square is scouted that way. After all, we have the Recruiter's recounting of his ascent in the organisation. We know he started as a worker before "they gave him a gun". Whether this means he was promoted to a soldier or a manager isn't directly stated, but seeing his importance, I'll assume the latter. It is still possible to climb up the ranks without being especially selected.

[xenosnack]

In Ho is not Il Nam's son

Hi all,

While doing the dishes I got the idea why InHo can't be Il Nam's son. A lot of evidence suggest - like the milk - that he might be his son, but I don't think so.

My first evidence is the most obvious: In Ho was in the game, would you really think that his father would let his own grandson die? Chaebol life would suggest that, but even then he wouldn't be able to know Jun Ho. Was In Ho and Jun Ho brother in laws?

In the first season of Squid game Il Nam is a player, therefore he couldn't call the Frontman with orders as we see it in the first season. Even if he used the bathroom, do you really think that Gi Hun would let the old go man alone? Maybe, as we know that he is a morally gray character even if you would like to believe it or not.

So the Frontman was getting orders from someone else. Could that be Il Nam's real son? Of course this would only make sense if Il Nam had a son, who he didn't adopt.

Was the Frontman ordered to play the games? I really would like to know if Young Il was a name In Ho came up with, or was it the name of the man who sent him orders in the first season. As the gamemasters and vips think that these people are trash just as the Salesman/Reqruiter did, wouldn't that suggest that In Ho is only another cog in the system.

Il Nam wasn't as cruel as I thought first. While he did come up with the games - with some other rich assholes - I think, he still didn't think of those people as trash, at least he never mentions them this way. This could be a reason for In Ho reaching a position higher up.

[punkjet]

I dont even know why Inho even brought Gihun back in the games, I am not sure this is about the entertainment factor for the VIPs, I think it's to make an example out of Gihun (which is probably fandom consensus). After the first season they had a cop infiltrate their games. They had a (to be fair tolerated) organ harvesting operation that smuggled their own doctor into the games. And they had Gihun and his crew stalking them for two (?) years. I'm sure the game system had beem destabilized throughout that. Maybe they even needed the time skip to return to order.

Of course, during those two years, they've been observing Gihun and Junho. Were they this much of a risk for them? I mean you dont send out a fake fisherman with your brother to look for fake islands every week for two years if you didnt know you had to keep him busy from causing trouble.

I also think it was planned to bring Gihun back to the games. They want to show that these games cannot be changed, they cannot be stopped, not even from the inside. There's a reason why they didnt find the salesman for so long. Maybe he changed recruitment strategy or switched cities. If Gihun knew how the recruitement wroked and he had attacked someone before he might be a risk. I dont even think the Salesman's death was a coincidence. He sent Gihun's men in a wild goose chase just to ambush them and Gihun. If Gihun had lost russian roulette he'd be out of their way, good for them. If the salesman lost, Gihun would just enter the games, where they'd have him under control.

Inho only entered the game after he saw Gihun take action during red light green light. At that point he hadnt even told everyone he had been through the games before. So, Gihun had to have been a risk to tip the scales of fairness or just a general safety risk. So he went himself to keep the man under control just enough for Gihun to believe he was in power here.

I need to dissect Inho's brain

[coolbubblez59]

I just realized the character being based on Thanos might be intentional

Normally we may think it may just be some silly name he has (Thanos), but what if there's something else to it? By the time half of the characters players died, Thanos (Squid Game) was still alive, like how Thanos (Marvel) snapped away half of the world. His goal was also to be the sole winner of the game, which meant he would've wanted to eliminate everyone for all their money, which would've "costed everything". There may also be several details both characters had in common that I'm missing. But let me know if you agree or I'm just looking into something too hard.

[cg920fire]

So I watched Squid Game 2 with my family on New Year's Eve night. I really enjoyed it but there's a particular thing that doesn't seem to make much sense. Luckily, I got a couple theories to explain said thing.

Squid Game 2 spoilers under the cut

[ID: A closeup image featuring Squid Game 2 character Thanos that focuses on his hands. He is holding a cross pendant in his left hand whilst the right hand is about to open it. End ID] So, during the game, Thanos has a cross pendant that is filled with the drugs that he takes. The question here is how did Thanos sneak the cross in? After all, the Squid Game workers confiscate any and all personal belongings from the players when changing them into their uniforms. While Sae-byeok back in Season 1 was able to sneak in a pocket knife, that is easier to hide than the cross. And not just that, since the workers were thorough enough to find Gi-hun's tracker in his fake tooth and remove it, should they have found the drugs in the cross and confiscate it as well?

I have two personal theories on how Thanos still had his cross on him during the game (if they look familiar to you, that's because I actually added them to the WMG subpage on the TV Tropes page on Squid Game before writing this post lol).

Theory 1) The cross wasn't confiscated because the workers assumed Thanos was Christian

So, when someone wears a cross around their neck, it's usually an indication that they're a Christian. IDK if Thanos is canonically religious or not (IMO he doesn't seem to be the type to be religious). Perhaps, when the workers were going to remove Thanos' belongings, they found the cross and naturally assumed that he was Christian because he had it on him. In a rare act of kindness, the workers left the cross alone since it would be pretty disrespectful to confiscate an item connected to a player's religion. And they probably assumed that Thanos would use his faith to motivate him throughout the game or something. They allowed Thanos to keep his cross and didn't check to see if it contained anything inside it.

Theory 2) The game staff were well aware that Thanos hid drugs inside his cross but allowed him to keep it because the VIPs would find him hilarious

As mentioned earlier, the workers were thorough enough to find and remove Gi-hun's tracker. So, by that logic, they should have found the drugs in Thanos' cross. What if they did but decided to let him keep the cross? And if so, why? Well, the game isn't just for the unfortunate players who were desperate enough to join. It's also meant to be entertainment for the VIPs who are in kahoots with the game stuff. If the game gets boring for them, then they will complain about it and the Front Man will go out of his way to accommodate them as seen in the Glass Bridge episode. When the workers found drugs in Thanos' cross, they were ordered by a higher up (either the Front Man or the Masked Officer) to let him keep it since a player high on drugs during the game would be really entertaining for the VIPs to watch. Considering Thanos' role as a comic relief, it would be safe to say that the VIPs had a real good laugh at him. And that's all, folks! I hope y'all enjoyed these two theories I cooked up over the course of a morning.

[idciminlove]

Also it has to be said: the theories about players being VIPS make no sense. Theres no hints or foreshadowing to any of it, unlike the front man and the guy driving the boat. Not to mention 125 and 388 are sensitized to violence unlike the VIPS and higher ups who enjoy watching the games and they’re clearly not “faking it” or anything like that.

[booberism]

The Front Man/InHo being the son of the creator/old man theory has been foreshadowed since season 1

During S1E6, when they were playing marbles, the old man (Il-nam) is constantly getting distracted by the decorated town because it supposedly looks like his old home. Gihun assumed that this is because he has "dementia" or something and brushes it off. In fact, during the marbles game, gihun tricks the old man because he knows he's not in the right state of mind, making him think he guessed something he didn't. Near the end of the episode, the old man exposes Gihun for lying to the old man, showing that he knew the whole time. He wasn't having a Dementia episode at all. Or if he was, it was likely rooted in truth.

Il-nam was talking about his son consistently while looking at the neighborhood. If the Front Man grew up there, it would make sense that he might sneak in some nostalgia in the set for himself, especially because the whole theme of Squid Game is nostalgia of being a kid. Every time the old man talked about his son, it wasn't just an old man living in the past, but it was relevant to the storyline.

I've seen others talk about the old man's son not liking milk, but there are several other examples of it lining up to point toward InHo being his son

[maikosmind]

Squid Game Analysis:

Warning: All of the analysis that you will read is not professional by any means. These are just personal ideas coming from a fan of the series.

I am sure a lot of you have watched or at least heard of this series but just in case you have no idea what it’s about i’ll tell you. 

Squid Game is a K-drama series written and directed by  Hwang Dong-hyuk. It is survival, thriller/horror series that revolves around a secret contest where 456 players, all of whom are in deep financial hardship, risk their lives to play a series of deadly children's games for the chance to win a ₩45.6 billion (US$39.86 million -Okay wtf that's a lot) prize.

The series follows our main character Seong Gi-hun who is struggling financially and therefore joins the game in hopes of winning and paying off his debt. (Fun fact his surname has two meanings one is “ succeed” the other one is “last name”. I found that absolutely hilarious and interesting)

The squid games series currently has 2 seasons with the third season being expected sometime in 2025 (I personally need it quick bcs i can’t handle cliffhangers)

Allrighty then let’s start with my yapping shall we :D

WARNING: IT WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS WATCH THE SERIES FIRST IF YOU DON’T WANT SPOILERS

Season 1 vs Season 2

Now I wanna talk specifically about this because I had a talk with my friends and family about this the other day and I am incredibly passionate about my opinion.

A lot of people have been arguing about which season is the better one and in general I saw people liking s1 better. 

Now i wanna talk about this because i personally think these 2 seasons can’t be compared that easily. It’s because they tell different stories. S1 is a story about survival whereas S2 is about resistance, some type of revolution. 

In S1 you see these characters giving it their all, not knowing who they can trust or if they should even trust each other. We do see them trust each other of course. But it’s way riskier than it was in S2 because there is no community whatsoever. 

In S1 the situation is like when you play a war game in solo mode. You have friends on the call and you did promise that you wouldn’t kill each other but time is ticking and there can only be one winner. There is always a chance your friend could betray you(Very shit explanation ik but have no way of explaining this). It's survival of the fittest situation. And the games went as it was intended. 

S2 was different though. Because they added a new rule. A rule that changed the dynamics between players. After each round of the game everyone would vote whether or not to keep playing the games. If they chose not to then all the money gathered would be distributed evenly and everyone would leave. And after you voted you get a patch on your jacket that indicates whether you voted to go or to stay. This created some type of segregation, two different communities. That’s what I meant by saying that trusting someone was easier in S2. The players were evenly parted into groups where they had common ground with each other. 

As you can see the floors clearly indicate a separation as well.

As the director said:

“They introduce benefits that weren’t provided in season 1, forcing players to split into whether to continue or stop. This intensifies the conflict and confrontation. Currently, we’re seeing an increase in division, conflict, and hatred, not only in Korean society but globally, based on religion, ideology, background, gender, and race. In season 2, I wanted to symbolically represent this by dividing the group into O and X and highlighting how they divide, hate, and confront each other. That’s what I tried to portray this season…”

The series always has a clear focus on this topic, whether with the differences of the players and the vips or the general difference between players as well. (This is actually what the series is all about. As the director states“I wanted to write a story that was an allegory or fable about modern capitalist society, something that depicts an extreme competition, somewhat like the extreme competition of life.” )

One of the things that proves this is how during the games the female players tend to be discarded more often with the thought of them being weak. This idea of male dominance is a huge problem in our world and a very noticeable one  in Korea as well where the series takes place.

Back to the main point, in S2 a group of players fought against the system to try and stop everything for good with Gi-hun leading them on. It is a revolution. They know their fates and are fighting against it. It isn’t clear if they will be successful or not but despite everything they still try. Bcs that’s what people do. We always fight against the inevitable just to be able to say we tried. That’s the philosophy of life. You live knowing there is an end. But still you will fight against it. You will fight against death at every corner of your life and hang on until you can’t. That’s the end of the road. Living is a revolution against death and spitting on it’s face. 

That’s why S2 is so important. Besides my personal thoughts of S2 being a bridge season between S1 and S3 it tells us a very human story. It tells us our world. 

Survival

Revolution 

Victory/Tragedy

Survival is starting life. Survival represents S1. 

Revolution is living. Revolution represents S2

Victory or Tragedy is death. And that’s what’s gonna be S3

SEASON 3

Now the reason why I said victory or tragedy is because obviously we still don’t know how the series will end, and I don't really have any thoughts about it since I don't know if Hwang Dong-hyuk is an optimist or not. I have not seen any of his other works but I did do a bit of research and I saw that one of his other films named Silenced has quite a bittersweet ending (It actually looks very interesting. I will watch it sometimes and i think you should too) so maybe he’ll do something similar. 

Another thing i noticed was the fact that he is from Ssangmun-dong as well just like Gi-hun and graduated from SNU (Seoul National University) like Sang-woo. So it’s one of his works that he has an emotional connection with. He also wrote this in a time of his life where he was struggling financially. 

So maybe, possibly Gi-hun is almost a self-insert for him. One of the articles I read stated:

 “He spent his free time at a Manhwabang (South Korean manga cafe) reading Japanese survival manga like Battle Royale, Liar Game and Gambling Apocalypse: Kaiji and Japanese survival manga such as Battle Royale, Liar Game and Gambling Apocalypse.  Hwang compared the situation of the characters in these works to his own current situation and came up with the idea of participating in such a survival game to earn money to get out of debt, which led him to write a movie script on the concept during 2009.”

So basically I actually have no idea how this will end. But whatever it will be, I believe it’s gonna be fantastic. 

[itsmahree]

this is why im convinced gihun is ilnam's son or at least has some connection to him: gihun's mom's name is oh mal soon. when written in korean, it is 오말순 which could make out the shapes ⚫⬛▲ that represents squid game

[len133]

Theory: Il Nam suffered from Dissociative Identity Disorder, and In Ho probably from Depersonalization

Il Nam felt like just a sweet old man sometimes, what if he never was supposed to be in danger, but he truily had dimentia and forgot that he even made all of this? So this results in Il Nam thinking he truily was just an old man that found himself in those games because he truily had nothing to lose anymore, so Il Nam did not know when to leave, he did not know his own games, thing that In Ho instead did.

But it could be just him having fun in a sick way, right? Well I thought about how Gi Hun asking his name made Il Nam have a crisis, as if he never wondered it before. Before the marble game we see him sitting thoughtful, Gi Hun asking his name awakened something in him, and then.. in the marble game he was panicking, I think it was his split personality being in denial for why he was there and for who he truily was, he was trying to hold on his memories to not lose this himself.

In Ho tried to do this too, but for him it's himself playing a character, a character that he actually liked playing, he wanted to be that character sometimes, a clue is how really euphoric he was about seeing someone win six legs, but also about how he genuinly wanted to win it himself, I'd say In Ho could have more of a depersonalization disorder, he's just looking at 001 from the outside, as if he's looking at a character he's writing. Il Nam instead fully belived to be 001, Il Nam was trapped inside this "character".

It's interesting about how this theory would make "Player 001" its own personality that they both were bringing to life

[marsyan]

HEAR ME OUT about Squid Game scene, 7th episode at the end (spoilers). Next game theory!

In the picture, you can see that it is not a regular traffic light. It's a railroad signal! As soon as I brought up it to my friend Daria, she immediately remembered a trolley problem, which is worldwide known!

My friend heard these dolls were used to be popular characters for kids to teach them moral lessons. They could be there not for screening players but to send to these lessons in Korea and to mislead the audience! Like doors that used to be different colours, but in the end, it was just for visuals

We don't really believe in those theories about London Bridge, and this assumption that players would need to decide whom they need to sacrifice sounds more in squid game style!