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| “ | Do you... still trust people? Even after what you've been through? | „ |
| ~ Oh Il-nam to Seong Gi-hun. |
| “ | Do you know what someone with no money has in common with someone with too much money? Living is no fun for them. If you have too much money, no matter what you buy, eat, and drink, everything gets boring in the end. At some point, all my clients began to tell me the same thing. That they had no joy in life anymore. So, we all got together and did some pondering. What can we do to have some fun? | „ |
| ~ Il-nam to Gi-hun, explaining his motives for creating the Squid Game. |
| “ | You asked me why I let you live. Because it was fun playing with you. Thanks to you, I got to remember things from the past I had long forgotten. It'd been so long since I had that much fun. | „ |
| ~ Il-nam to Gi-hun, as well as his last words. |
Oh Il-nam (Korean: 오일남), also referred to as the Host or Player 001, is the main antagonist in Season 1 of the South Korean Netflix drama Squid Game. At first, he seemed to be an ordinary old man who got to participate in the Squid Game as a destitute player. Because of his brain tumor, it seemed that he did not fully grasp the situation and was just enjoying the games as a way to have fun before his death.
However, it was later revealed that he is the creator and host of the Squid Games, a true mastermind who has been hosting the games for decades, later being helped by his right-hand man, the Front Man. It's revealed that he wished to participate in the 33rd Squid Game as he knew it would be the last one before he died.
He was portrayed by Oh Young-su. In the English dub, he was voiced by Hideo Kimura.
Personality[]
| “ | Il-nam: And our guests, greet them for me, alright? Front Man: Of course, sir, but why not do it yourself? Il-nam: Because I know that I'm not going to have as much fun watching as playing. |
„ |
| ~ Il-nam to the Front Man about joining the Squid Game during a flashback. |
Although he is the cold-blooded host of many Squid Games, he is always looking for new fun. For this reason, when the last death game that happens while Il-nam is at the end of his life, the 33rd Squid Game, takes place he even decides to participate in it himself instead of watching from the audience as a spectator.
On his deathbed, Il-nam explains to Seong Gi-hun that being as wealthy as he is made him lose all the enjoyment in his life, becoming desensitized to everything since he never had to struggle or work for anything. However, he seems to have a genuine fondness for Gi-hun, sharing his rameyon when Gi-hun doesn't have food, helping him during the games as much as he can. In the Marbles game, Il-nam even allows Gi-hun to defeat him rather than continuing on to the end without any ulterior motive in spite of Gi-hun attempting to trick him and take all his marbles.
Il-nam with Seong Gi-hun, a participant in the 33rd Squid Game he befriended and genuinely enjoyed playing with.
During their friendship, he is also honest for the most part about himself, although pretending to have dementia most of the time. He tells Gi-hun the truth about his past and even his name, despite hiding his true role in the games from him. This suggests that Il-nam truly did see Gi-hun as his friend. On his deathbed, Il-nam even admits that he let Gi-hun live because it was so fun playing with him. Gi-hun is possibly the first real one that he'd had in a very long time since the last time that Il-nam is known to have so much fun with his friends was when he was a kid and would play the games that he loved so much with them.
There are subtle indications he may have cared for the rest of his team as well, such as keeping watch after the riot to protect them in case anyone tried to attack again and only getting serious and determined to win on the tug-of-war, where all of them would die as well should he die. He is also implied to hold genuine love for his family, especially his son, based on how he speaks about them.
During the competition, Il-nam attempts to keep the games fair as well. He allows the players to go home by casting the deciding vote to let them leave rather than force them to stay and keep playing the games, showing an honorable side. He also lets a player sit out if they can't find a partner for marbles, has the guards step in if players get violent during marbles or voting and has the Front Man execute anyone caught breaking the established rules.
He also sees humans as despicable and selfish creatures at its core as shown when he points all the treachery and selfishness exhibited by the players during the duration of the Squid Games to survive and win the grand prize. He goes as far as to challenge Gi-hun in a gamble on his death bed to see whether or not bystanders would save a homeless man who was sleeping in the freezing snow to prove his point.
Biography[]
Background[]
Oh Il-nam is an incredibly wealthy financial tycoon who is bored with wealth as he has everything in the world to the point that life gives him no more joy. To cure his boredom, he and other wealthy individuals who mostly are his clients in his financial corporation, created the Squid Game based off of games he played in his childhood when he was young and watched his own children play.
Ever since the game began in 1988, it has sprouted out in many version in many different countries where the rich elites can pour money to watch the death games full of desperate people trying to compete to the death to rid themselves of financial ruin for their sick entertainment and gambling. Il-nam rationalized this by believing that he was offering some fun in poor people's lives, believing that they suffered as much as wealthy people in terms of lacking purpose.
Eventually, Il-nam suffers from a brain tumor and decides to participate in the latest Squid Game, the 33rd Squid Game in 2020, for his own entertainment, wanting to feel the same excitement and fun he felt while playing games as a kid before he dies, which wasn't something he felt as a spectator of the game. Before participating in the 33rd Squid Game, Il-nam explained to the Front Man that he wasn't going to have as much fun watching as he was playing the game himself.
Squid Game[]
Il-nam playing Red Light, Green Light.
When he first met Seong Gi-hun as participation number 1 among four hundred and fifty-six participants, he mentioned that he had a tumor in his brain, so it can be seen that he is living a limited life due to a brain tumor. In the first game, Red Light, Green Light, when two hundred people were slaughtered and everyone in the crowd was in a panic and couldn't even say a word, he unintentionally led the crowd by showing himself brightly leading the game according to the rules of the game. Follow him and start moving to survive.
He was in charge of the last one vote because the game replay voting was conducted in reverse order of number, and the previous two hundred votes were split evenly, so he exercised a very important vote. He ultimately chooses to end the game and after that, he and everyone go back to their daily lives. He coincidentally meets Gi-hun in the outside world, and the two share a drink and ramen together. Il-nam confess to Gi-hun that he realized the masked men were right and "the reality is even more hell" than the games. He changes his position and decides to participate in the game again and rejoins the game. After rejoining the game, he reunites with Gi-hun and forms a team alongside Ali Abdul and Cho Sang-woo. At the start of the second game, Sang-woo suggests the all split up, so Il-nam chooses the star as his shape, one of the difficult shapes in the dalgona lottery game, and managed to remove the shape with a troubled expression. After two minutes, so he realized Gi-hun was licking at the back of the shape to easily remove it and pass the round. Il-nam then meets with Gi-hun afterwards and thanks him for the strategy.
Il-nam with the other members of his team, then consisting of Gi-hun, Sang-woo and Ali.
During lights out, a riot breaks out between the players, Il-nam hides from the chaos until he reapers on the top of a bunk pleading with the guards to end the fighting. His cries are heard, and Masked Soldiers appear to stop the conflict. Following the riot, Il-nam keeps watch over his team (now also consisting of Kang Sae-byeok, who had joined the team during the riot) just in case another riot started. Just before the third game, the group must expand their team to 10 players. Sang-woo suggests only bringing men to join the team, correctly guessing that the game would be based on strength. When the third game is revealed to be Tug-of-War, Gi-hun's team feel hopeless at their odds due to having three women (Sae-byeok, Ji-yeong and Han Mi-nyeo) and an elderly man (Il-nam), and are versing Team 5 (a team consisting of all men). Il-nam attempts to inspire his team, however he is met with fatalism, that is until Gi-hun advises the team to hear Il-nam out. Il-nam explains a strategy in Tug-of-war that should allow them to win even against physically stronger teams. Gi-hun's team follows the strategy and gains an initial advantage against team 5, until their opponents manage to recover and overpower the strategy. But thanks to Sang-woo's quick thinking, they manage to out maneuver team 5 and win the third game.
Once back in the dormitory, Gi-hun, concerned over another possible riot, orders his team to construct a barricade and keep a night watch. During his shift, Il-nam partners with Gi-hun and Gi-hun confides within the old man. Revealing that he was involved in a work related protest that turned violent. Although a riot never broke out, Il-nam fell ill the next day. Feeling bad for the old man, Gi-hun gifted Il-nam his Player 456 jacket to cover himself. Just before the forth game, the players are instructed to split up into pairs. Due to his condition of being an ailing elderly man, most of Il-nam's teammates abandon him. That is until Gi-hun pities the old man and partners with him.
Il-nam playing Marbles with Gi-hun.
The next game is revealed to be with Marbles, which both Gi-hun and Il-nam cheer gleefully until Gi-hun hears they must compete with each other. Gi-hun tries to start their game, however, Il-nam wonders around the arena, reminiscing about his life and how the arena looks similar to his old neighborhood. Gi-hun repeatedly pleas with the old man to start, but Il-nam's mind seemingly is affected by dementia and the old man ignores Gi-hun's pleas as childish requests. Eventually, as time begins running low, Gi-hun grabs Il-nam and begs the old man to start their game. Scared, Il-nam begrudgingly agrees to play with him. As the two play a guessing game, Il-nam repeatedly wins and collects Gi-hun's marbles. Just before he wins, Il-nam begins to lose his memory from his dementia and questions Gi-hun about his guess. Seeing an opportunity, Gi-hun takes advantage of the old man's condition and makes a comeback, winning almost all the marbles, except one. Gi-hun attempts to play the final round and win, however, Il-nam wonders off, eventually finding a house that resembled his old one. With time running out, Gi-hun desperately tries to play one more round and save his life, suddenly, Il-nam reveals he knew about Gi-hun tricking him by using his weak mental state against him. Gi-hun apologizes and Il-nam gifts Gi-hun his last marble to allow him win because he was his trusted friend, so Gi-hun can progress in the next round. Upon leaving, Il-nam states he remembers his name, and shares with Gi-hun that his name is "Oh Il-nam".
After Gi-hun wins the game and billions of won, he is miserable as he lost his mother who died from her diabetes as he was too late to win the money to pay for his mother's surgery. The winning money has become worthless to him as he lost everyone he cares for and he never touched it after a year of winning the games. While drowning his sorrow in a river with alcohol, he receives an invitation from a seemingly dead Il-nam to come a building complex.
Il-nam meets Gi-hun and explains his reasoning for creating the Squid Game.
On his death bed, Il-nam reveals everything from the nature of the game to his role in creating it much to Gi-hun's rage as Il-nam treats people life like playthings for him and his rich elite. Il-nam then challenges Gi-hun in a final gamble that if a homeless man outside does not receive any help from the bystanders, it will prove his point as human are inherently selfish creatures and he will take all Gi-hun's winning money. However, if the homeless man gets help, Gi-hun will be allowed to kill him in any ways he likes for revenge. Il-nam reveals how he is loan shark and that he participated the games to feel the joy of his childhood again. When Gi-hun asks Il-nam why he let him live, Il-nam confesses he genuinely enjoyed the time they spent together and grew fond of Gi-hun, saying, "Because it was fun playing with you."
Eventually, the homeless man receives help and Gi-hun wins the bet. However, after Gi-hun expresses his smugness at proving Il-nam wrong about human nature, he realizes the old man has finally passed away from his brain tumor, though probably not before he witnessed his loss. Later, after Gi-hun leaves, the Front Man goes to his apartment to pay his respects.
Powers and Abilities[]
- Intelligence: As the creator of the Squid Game and the organizer of all its editions and rules, Il-nam is very intelligent and has the knowledge of a variety of children's games. His strategy helps his team to win the Tug-of-War game, despite the group being physically weaker than their adversary team.
- Manipulation: Il-nam joined the 33rd Squid Game as a normal player and pretended to be an old man with dementia, deceiving all the other players. Not even his teammates suspected of him.
- Authority: Il-nam is the highest authority in the games, having control over the entire Squid Game Staff, including the Masked Men and the Front Man.
- Wealth and Resources: Working as a loan shark and his connection to the VIPs, made Il-nam extremely rich. He later used his money to create the Squid Games and pay people to work as the staff. With this, Il-nam has at his disposal an army of masked men that follow his orders. He also had all the preparations for the competition made in a facility on an island in a secret location.
- Athleticism: Despite his old age, Il-nam is in good physical condition. He has control of his body, being able to even run short distances, as seen during the Red Light, Green Light game.
Victims[]
| Victims killed by Oh Il-nam |
|---|
Directly[]
Indirectly[]
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Quotes[]
| “ | Il-nam: I heard you haven't touched your prize money and have gone back to living your old life. Is it because you feel guilty? Gi-hun: Guilt? I don't think that's for you to say. Il-nam: That money was the reward you got for luck and hard work. You have the right to use it. Look at me. Life is... short. |
„ |
| ~ Oh Il-nam to Seong Gi-hun. |
| “ | Il-nam: Do you what someone with no money has in common with someone with too much money? Living is no fun for them. If you have too much money, no matter what you buy, eat, and drink, everything gets boring in the end. At some point, all my clients began to tell me the same thing. That they had no joy in life anymore. So, we all got together and did some pondering. What can we do to have some fun? Gi-hun: "Fun"? You put us through it for fun? Il-nam: It seems like you've forgotten. I never forced anyone to play that game. You also ended up coming back according to your own accord. (...) It looks like you're out of luck now. Do you still have trust in people? |
„ |
| ~ Il-nam to Gi-hun, explaining his motives for creating the Squid Game. |
| “ | Gi-hun: Why did you join the game? Il-nam: When I was a child, I had so much fun no matter what I did with my friends that I lost track of time. I wanted to feel the same feeling one more time before I die. It's not something you can feel while watching as a spectator. I wanted that feeling. Gi-hun: So? Did it feel good? Il-nam: You asked me why I let you live. Because it was fun playing with you. Thanks to you, I got to remember things from the past I had long forgotten. It'd been so long since I had that much fun. Gi-hun: They're here. People came to help. (...) You saw it, didn't you? You lost. |
„ |
| ~ Il-nam and Gi-hun's final conversation. |
Trivia[]
- Oh Il-nam's name means "Number One Man", which explains why his player outfit says "001".
- According to the archives discovered by Hwang Jun-ho, the Squid Game takes place annually; The first game took place in 1988 and the most recent one took place in 2020. This makes Il-nam responsible for thousands of deaths, spanning thirty-three years.
- If 456 players were in the Squid Games annually, including the one during season one, and only one person wins each time, Oh Il-nam would be responsible for 15,000 player deaths at the most. However, given that the players are given a chance to leave via Consent Form Clause 3, it's most likely that the total number of victims is less than fifteen-thousand.
- At the time of his death, Il-nam seemed to be roughly in his 80s or 90s, which would have made him in his late 50s to early 60s when the first game began. His advanced age meant that he grew up through the Japanese occupation of Korea and the Korean War, which could have desensitized him towards death.
- Chronologically, Il-nam is the last player of the 33rd Squid Game to die, and one of only two returning players (alongside Seong Gi-hun) to survive the competition.
- There are theories that Gi-hun was the son of Il-nam due to both of them being lactose intolerant and Gi-hun being around the age his son supposedly was. However, this has still not been confirmed and remains unlikely. In an interview, Jung HoYeon (the actress who portrayed Kang Sae-byeok) said she found this theory to be hilarious, and that it "could make sense" but would be "even more stressful to watch".[1]
- Il-nam shares many characteristics with Hyodo from the Kaiji series, but is less despicable.
- Oh Young-su won the Golden Globe award for best supporting actor in television for his role as Oh Il-nam, becoming the first South Korean person to win a Golden Globe.
- Because Il-nam was able to call in the guards to stop the riot and was able to fake his death in the marbles games, it's possible that he was not in very much danger throughout most of the games.
- Il-nam might already knew the intervals of the first freeze tag game so he wouldn't be shot, however if he had moved regardless, it's possible that the guards would "accidentally" not spot him.
- If he had broken his cookie during the second game, it's possible that a guard would take him away to "execute" out of sight him much like he was during the marbles game.
- It's still possible that he could have died in the tug-of-war game, but given his age and failing health, he was prepared to risk that anyways.
- If Il-nam had "survived" to advance to the glass bridge game, it's unknown if he would be agile enough to jump between the panels, but he would more than likely already know the pattern exactly.
- Finally, in the last game where it could theoretically be him in a fight to the death against anyone else, it's highly unlikely he'd win any fight at all unless his opponent killed themselves out of pity and not wanting to murder an elderly man.
References[]
External Links[]
- Oh Il-nam on the Squid Game Wiki
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 Villains
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Masked Men Players Others | ||