Oh Il-nam
| Oh Il-nam | |
|---|---|
| Squid Game character | |
 | |
| First appearance | "Red Light, Green Light" |
| Last appearance | "One Lucky Day" |
| Created by | Hwang Dong-hyuk |
| Portrayed by | O Yeong-su |
| Voiced by | Hideo Kimura (English)[1] |
| Information | |
| Alias | The Host Player 001 |
| Race | White |
| Gender | Male |
| Occupation | Financial Tycoon Loan shark |
| Nationality | South Korean |
Search Oh Il-nam on Amazon.
Oh Il-nam, also known as Player 001, portrayed by O Yeong-su,[2] is the overarching antagonist of Squid Game, and the primary antagonist of the first season.
Il-nam is initially presented as an elderly man with a brain tumor and dementia, who prefers playing the game than to await death in the outside world. During the game, Il-nam forms a close alliance with Gi-hun, and survives the first three games before being seemingly killed off-screen during the Marbles game, voluntarily giving his final marble to Gi-hun for safety.
However, a year after Gi-hun wins the game, it is revealed that Il-nam survived and that he was secretly the creator/host of the games, angering Gi-hun. Il-nam explains his reasoning for creating the games to Gi-hun, namely that he had lost the ability to enjoy life due to his immense wealth and lost faith in humanity, and that he decided to join this game out of boredom, knowing it would be the final one he would oversee. However, he states that he genuinely enjoyed playing the game with Gi-hun. Il-nam then dies of his cancer, but not before making a final bet with Gi-hun.[3]
O Yeong-su won the Golden Globe award for Best Supporting Actor in a TV Series in 2022 for his portrayal of Oh Il-nam.[4]
Personality
Throughout his life, Oh Il-nam was always looking for new ways to have fun. Il-nam seems to have affection for his family, especially his son, based on how he speaks about them. He rationalised the Squid Games by stating that they offered some fun and believed that poor people who played the games suffered as much as wealthy people in terms of lacking purpose.
Il-nam participated in the last death game he created while nearing the end of his life, the 33rd Squid Game, and genuinely enjoyed playing it. During the game, he befriended Seong Gi-hun and became his gganbu. Gi-hun was probably the first genuine friend Il-nam had in a long time, and because of this, Il-nam enjoyed playing with him. Before his death, Il-nam explained to Gi-hun that playing with him made him remember things from the past he had long forgotten and spent his final moments talking him out of his survivor’s guilt and encouraging him to use his money rather than waste his life away. He also casted the decisive vote in the 33rd Squid Game, allowing the participants to go home.
History
2020
By 2020, Il-nam was diagnosed with a brain tumor and had not long left to live. Wanting to relive his childhood memories before his death, Il-nam believed he would have more fun playing the 33rd Squid Game rather than watching it; therefore, he decided to participate in the game as Player 001.
When Seong Gi-hun first wakes up in his bunk bed at the training facility, one of the first details he picks up on is that every player has been assigned a number based on when they were recruited. As the last of the 456 players to sign his contract, Gi-hun is Player 456. In what seems like a happy coincidence at the time, the first person Gi-hun speaks to is Il-nam.
Taking pity on the older man for being at such a physical and mental disadvantage in the game, Gi-hun befriends Il-nam ahead of the first round. When it becomes clear that the games they're participating in are potentially fatal, most of the players panic and rush to find a way to escape, unlike Il-nam who remains unfazed and manages to inch across the line with a smile on his face in the "Red Light, Green Light" game before Gi-hun makes it across.
After the first game, the players decided to vote to end the games, among 201 players, the vote was tied 100-100, leaving the final decision in the hands of Il-nam, the old man thought about his decision... and voted for "X", finishing the vote 100-101 and ending the games. After the games are temporarily cancelled, Gi-hun has a surprise encounter with Il-nam at a convenience store a few blocks from his house. When Gi-hun asks Il-nam what he's doing in the area, Il-nam explains he was visiting a friend and sits down with Gi-hun to talk over a packet of ramen noodles. The two get along and Il-nam uses their time together to discuss his desire to re-enter the games, remarking that he won't live much longer anyway, and he thinks that the outside world is a worse hell than the games. He states he prefers to play the games, claiming he might even have a chance to win, then just sit around waiting to slowly die from his brain tumor. Influenced by Il-nam's words and his mother's medical bills, Gi-hun also decides to return.
As the games continue, Gi-hun and Il-nam form an alliance with Ali Abdul, a factory worker from Pakistan, and Gi-hun's former classmate Cho Sang-woo. Despite his physical and mental disadvantages, Il-nam is able to breeze through the Sugar Honeycombs in round two and provided a tactical plan for the rest of his team in the tug-of-war challenge in round three which, along with a last-minute strategy by Sang-woo, helps them win. He also helped end the Special Game by pleading with the staff to "stop this madness" moments before the Pink Guards enter the room to stop it. At one point during the games, Il-nam had wet himself during the night, which Gi-hun covered up by tying his jacket round him.
The next day, Gi-hun and the other surviving players proceed to the next game and begin picking teams. Gi-hun notices that Il-nam had wet himself the previous night and covers it up by tying his tracksuit round him. He later notices Il-nam sitting alone and decides to become his partner for the next game. They are then introduced to the fourth game, Marbles. To win the game, the players have to try to steal all of their opponent's marbles without violence while playing a sub-game with them. The person who ends up with no marbles is killed off and eliminated. They have a time limit of 30 minutes. If no one wins by then, both players will be eliminated. Their opponent in the game is who they chose to be their partner. This comes as a shock to everyone as they had partnered up with someone they trust, not knowing what the game really was.
Gi-hun tries to play the game with Il-nam, but the old man seemingly has suffered a severe lapse in his lucidity. He wanders around the game arena, saying this is his home neighborhood and tries to find his house. Because of the old man's confusion, it takes a lot of insistence for Gi-hun to convince him to play. When Il-nam finally accepts to play marbles, Gi-hun finds himself losing until he has one marble left, but realizing Il-nam cannot remember his bet, lies to him and begins winning back their marbles. Eventually, Il-nam finds himself out of marbles and asks 456 if he could borrow one marble. Gi-hun apologizes and is about to hand over his marbles to a guard, when Il-nam reveals he has one marble left. Gi-hun then frantically counts his marbles and sure enough, he is one short and has not won yet. However, instead of continuing the game, Il-nam gets back up again and continues "searching for his house". Gi-hun follows Il-nam around, begging him to keep playing. The old man suggests betting everything on one game, to which Gi-hun is outraged. However, Il-nam then reveals that he was aware of Gi-hun's deception the whole time and has been letting him win. Disgusted at his own actions, Gi-hun begins to cry, but Il-nam hands him his last marble, letting him win anyway, saying that they're "gganbu" who share everything with each other. Gi-hun sobs uncontrollably while the old man hugs and reassures him, telling him that he made his time in the games more enjoyable. Before Gi-hun is escorted out, Il-nam tells him he finally remembers his full name: Oh Il-nam. After Gi-hun left Il-nam with a soldier, a gunshot is heard, and the announcer says that Il-nam was eliminated. Gi-hun continues to slowly walk away, crying.
2021
One year after the 33rd Squid Game, Il-nam invited the winner, Gi-hun, to his deathbed. He reveals to Gi-hun that his brain tumor has gotten even more aggressive than before, as seen with his respirator and bald head. Il-nam revealed his role as the creator and host of the Squid Games and explained his motivations to an angry Gi-hun. It is revealed that he was an extremely rich man who made his fortune by lending out money as a career. He created the Games as a source of amusement for other very wealthy people, who would bet on the outcomes and survivors of the games. Il-nam believed the Squid Games ultimately provided a service for the contestants as well, because even though the majority of them were killed, it also provided a distraction from their monotonous lives and an opportunity to win money and escape from their dire financial situations. He also viewed the games as a test of whether people have any innate goodness remaining, and after years of watching contestants betray each other to survive, he had adopted a pessimistic view of the nature of humanity.
References
- ↑ Waqar, Tuba (2021-10-09). "Squid Game voice cast: All about the English dubbing artists behind the Netflix hit [Spoiler warning]". www.sportskeeda.com. Retrieved 2022-08-03.
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
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<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedscreenrant.com2 - ↑ Seo, Yoonjung; Owoseje, Toyin (January 10, 2022). "'Squid Game' star O Yeong-su wins Golden Globe". CNN. Retrieved 2022-02-15.
