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Squid Game is one of the most popular shows presently, and it has led to many viral pop culture moments. Created by Hwang Dong-hyuk, the South Korean dystopian survival series is about a dangerous and mysterious series of games, which is played among 456 players, each of whom is in dire financial stress. The games are deadly, as everyone has to kill each other to advance to the next round and win the huge prize money. However, the show also has some important characters who choose to give up on the prize money for various reasons, like guilt and humanity, and choose to embrace death instead. Here are 7 such Squid Game characters who chose death over money.
Player 218, 149, and other Squid Game characters who chose death over money
1. Player 001 (Oh Il‑nam)
One of the first characters in the first season of Squid Game who prefers to choose his own way of dying over the prize money is the old man Oh Il-nam, or Player 001. He is the elderly man in the first Squid Game, who everyone feels sorry for, especially Gi-hun. However, it is a shocking blow to the viewers when it is revealed in the end that it was Oh Il-nam who orchestrated the entire game. Throughout the show, he participates in the games as a vulnerable contender who has brain cancer and needs money. The elderly character crafts his own death in the game very cunningly. He creates his own fake death by requesting an early elimination in the last game so that Gi-hun could win instead. In the end, when it is revealed that Oh Il-nam was the man behind it all, it highlights how he perceives life as too predictable and too safe. Therefore, he created the Squid Game so that the missing thrill he was craving would return. The old man believed in orchestrating his own death, as he wanted drama and chaos, which also gave him a certain sense of control and power. He did not care about the prize money; he only wanted control and thrill in his last days on Earth.
2. Player 218 (Cho Sang-woo)
Another player from the first season of Squid Game who prefers their own death over the prize money is Cho Sang-woo, the friend of Gi-hun and someone who has lost a lot in life due to his moral failings. Throughout the show, he is eager to win the money so that he can give back the money to all those people from whom he has taken enormous debt. However, things change as the game progresses, and Player 218 realizes his deeply flawed decisions and sins. The fact that he could sacrifice Ali’s life, even when he believed in him, is what begins to eat him alive. As the end draws near, Sang-woo realizes the prize won’t undo his sins. Towards the last few games, Sang-woo becomes a better person when he realizes that he can’t live with himself, even if he wins all the money, as he has done terrible things in the past. He still confronts Gi-hun in the final tug-of-war and pulls him down into the abyss with him, which foregoes any chance at redemption. Sang-woo finally realizes that he needs to earn penance and decides to forgo the prize money and accept death. Sang-woo would therefore rather choose death than walk away with money that has been earned through the sacrifices of others. He is therefore one of the few characters in Squid Game who ends up preferring their own death over the prize money.
3. Player 212 (Han Mi-nyeo)
Mi-nyeo, or Player 212, is one of the most cunning and manipulative players in the first season of Squid Game. She is bold and clever and wants to build alliances through bullying and ruthless opportunity. She is not loyal to anyone; however, she has a soft spot for the gangster Jang Deok-su, whom she knows from before. Mi-nyeo feels that she will stay safe if she offers herself physically to Deok-su and stays in his team. However, Deok-su is even more cunning than her and has no qualms about betraying her for other, more powerful players. This creates a deep resentment within Mi-nyeo, and even though she was playing to win the money earlier, she decides to let that go towards the end of the show. Her desire for money turns into a desire for death, and during the game where players have to step on glass, she not only kills herself but also grabs and pulls Deok-su with her, and the two fall off the glass bridge to their deaths. Mi-nyeo is so full of revenge that she feels it is better to embrace death than win the prize money and wants Deok-su to atone for his sin of betrayal towards her in Squid Game.
4. Player 240 (Ji-yeong)
One of the most emotionally strong and quiet characters in the first season of Squid Game, who ends up proving that she values friendship and relationships more than the prize money. Ji-yeong, or Player 240, is someone who ends up in the Squid Game because she has had a tough past life. She was in prison for killing her father, who was abusive towards her and had killed her mother. After getting out of prison, she finds herself in the game, but her morals and principles are much higher than the rest of the people. She is a character who brings sensitivity to a show full of brutality. She forms a close friendship with Kang Sae-byeok, or Player 067. However, when they enter the marbles game as a pair and it is revealed that only one of the two will leave, Ji-yeong suggests that Sae-byeok tell her story. When Sae-byeok reveals that she has come from North Korea and wants to get her mother as well in the country, Ji-yeong decides that her companion has much more to live for and ends up sacrificing herself in the game. She is one of the few characters in Squid Game who truly gives up the prize money for the good of others. Ji-yeong knows that she has no future and nowhere to go; on the other hand, Sae-byeok has a lot more to live for. Therefore, she gives up her life and embraces death. She flips the script of the game, which is built on competition and brutality. Instead, Ji-yeong showcases the power of friendship and love.
5. Player 456 (Seong Gi-hun)
The protagonist of the show, Squid Game, Gi-hun, or Player 456, is one of the most important characters on the show. He enters the first season of the game because he has a lot of debt to clear. Even though he has made many mistakes in his life and has disappointed his family, he is a good person at heart, and in the Squid Game, he proves that he does not want other people to die in exchange for the prize money. Throughout the first season, he builds relationships with others, and his goodness makes him win the first Squid Game. However, he does not want prize money that has been won by the sacrifice of human lives and returns back in the 2nd and 3rd seasons to take down the organization that is behind the games. In the final season, however, he ends up in the final round with himself, the baby, and Myung-gi. Horrifically, Myung-gi is ready to kill his own baby and Gi-hun to win the prize, and he dies when he gets into a fight with Gi-hun. Gi-hun, however, realizes that the button to start the game has not been pushed and either he or the baby will survive. When the VIPs end up thinking that Gi-hun will save himself and kill the baby, he makes the most humane choice of sacrificing himself and letting the baby win. Gi-hun falls off the platform to his death, and Jun-hee’s baby becomes the automatic winner of Squid Game. The ending is pivotal and important and highlights the power of sacrifice and humanity in a world that is built on ruthlessness.
6. Player 222 (Kim Jun-hee)
Another character in Squid Game who shows true humanity is Player 222, or Kim Jun-hee. She is an important character in the 2nd and 3rd seasons of Squid Game. She enters the game because her ex-boyfriend, who also got her pregnant, makes her buy a cryptocurrency, which turns out to be a scam. However, she ends up meeting her ex-lover, Myung-gi, during the game. Throughout the show, she is heavily pregnant and is still able to win a variety of games. However, she finally gives birth to a baby girl and also ends up fracturing her ankle during a chaotic moment. Even though she needs the money, Jun-hee is a compassionate character and a loving mother. During the jump rope challenge, Jun-hee is unable to participate due to her injury, and she entrusts her newborn to Gi-hun, who successfully carries the baby across. When Jun-hee realizes that if Gi-hun tries to save her, it could jeopardize both their lives and the baby would end up alone, she makes the heartbreaking decision of choosing to fall to her own death so that her baby stays safe with Gi-hun. It is one of the most heartbreaking deaths in Squid Game and once again shows the power of good people, who are also playing the game, among the most evil and ruthless people. The mother chooses her child and gladly falls to her death, not caring about the prize money.
7. Player 149 (Jang Geum-ja)
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Player 149, or Jang Geum-ja is another character on Squid Game who ends up choosing death over the prize money because of various reasons. She entered the game along with her son, Yong-sik, or Player 007, and wanted to protect him. However, during one of the games, his own son is about to kill Jun-hee and her baby. In a moment of sacrifice, Geum-ja takes the life of her own son so that the baby and mother continue to live, even though she is now emotionally heartbroken. The games and the money mean nothing to her without her son, and she begs and pleads with the other players to end the Squid Game so that the newborn remains safe. However, no one listens to her, and she takes her own life by hanging herself in the dorms before the start of the next round. Geum-ja’s end is tragic in Squid Game, and it shows how brutal and heartless people can get over money. However, her motherly and humanitarian instinct is still alive, and therefore Geum-ja is unable to survive in this atmosphere.
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