This article makes mention of suicide.
Warning: MAJOR SPOILERS ahead for Squid Game season 3!Squid Gameseason 3 features a multitude of character deaths in its latest games,including some tragic losses as the final episodes unfold. The newest batch of episodes in the popular Netflix thriller opens right after theend ofSquid Gameseason 2, with Gi-hun’s rebellion against the Front Man having failed. Because of his inability to defeat him, the games are set to continue, providing even more dangers for its participants.
Within the final games and the events surrounding them,Squid Gameseason 3sees plenty of characters die. Some of these deaths have been highly anticipated since season 2, whileothercharacters inSquid Gamewho die are beloved participants.This makes some deaths more tragic than others, with the deceased characters having their stories end in ways that range from satisfying to upsetting.
13The Masked Officer
No-eul Kills Him To Save Gyeong-seok
A less tragic death inSquid Gameseason 3 was the unnamed Masked Officer. He oversaw the Guards in the game, serving as the right-hand operator for the Front Man.He also came into conflict with No-eulon numerous occasions, particularly because she keeps meddling in the secret organ-harvesting operations happening on the island. After making threats to him to get Gyeong-seok off the island, she returns to ensure all his files as a player are deleted.
As the Masked Officer is taking her to the physical file location, a fight breaks out. While it seems like No-eul might die,she ends up shooting him with a machine gun from the elevator. It’s a satisfying way for the Masked Officer to go out, taking him by surprise and allowing No-eul to completely erase Gyeong-seok’s involvement in the games from the Front Man’s files.
12Im Jeong-dae
Player 100 Dies During Sky Squid Game
Im Jeong-dae has been a constant supporter of continuing the games, due to having racked up 10 billion won in debt. He swiftly becomes a core antagonistduringSquid Gameseason 3, gathering a group of players to conspire against Gi-hun and Jun-hee’s baby in Sky Squid Game. However, in season 3, episode 5,he ends up getting pushed off the second platformduring a scuffle between all the surviving players.
Given how far Jeong-dae was willing to go to win, even killing a baby to ensure he would get an extra 700 million won, he was never going to be a trustworthy ally for Gi-hun and his friends.His death meant one less threat for Gi-hun and Myung-gi to contend within the final game. However, he was also the last major character before the final part of the last game to die, paving the way for the events that unfolded in the series finale.
11Nam-gyu
He Was Killed By Min-su During Jump Rope
Nam-gyu was a constant threat during the games, ever since he was introduced inSquid Gameseason 2. Following Thanos' death, however, he ended up addicted to the pills in his cross necklace, while also trying to take Min-su under his wing. However, the meek player ended up turning against him, stealing his cross and throwing it on the bridge for Jump Rope to get Nam-gyu to go after it.
Min-su betraying him offers a sliver of satisfaction to his demise, given how much he underestimated his fellow player.
Attempting to get his cross,Nam-gyu ended up getting tripped by the rope, falling to his death. Given the danger he caused to many, his death wasn’t particularly tragic. However, Min-su betraying him offers a sliver of satisfaction to his demise, given how much he underestimated his fellow player.
10Captain Park
Jun-ho Discovers His True Intentions
As revealed at the end of season 2, Captain Park was part of theFront Man’s planto keep the games a secret, specifically from his brother, Jun-ho. However, in season 3, Woo-seok discovers the truth, warning Jun-ho that his life is in danger. After Park turns on the team, killing nearly everyone involved in the search,Jun-ho is forced to kill him.
Captain Park’s death keeps the detective out of danger, butit has a sliver of tragedy to it because of their friendship. Jun-ho genuinely believed the fisherman was trying to help him discover the island where the games were being played. That betrayal made his death bittersweet, since Jun-ho lost both a friend and an enemy at the same time.
9Seon-nyeo
Player 044’s “Divine Powers” Couldn’t Save Her
Seon-nyeo, who claimed to be “The Shaman of the Sea,” met her end during the first game in season 3. During Hide and Seek, she discovered an exit, eventually teaming up with Jeong-dae to get out. However, he leaves her behind,only for her to get stabbed to death by Min-su, who is hallucinating because of the drugs in Thanos' necklace.
While she always presented herself as better than other players,Seon-nyeo was secretly afraid of death. She spent most of her time trying to outrun it, even if it put others in harm’s way. Her death wasn’t too surprising given her character arc, but it was still somewhat sad to see her go out in such a gruesome way.
8Park Min-su
Player 125 Was Forever Changed By The Games
AfterThanos' death inSquid Gameseason 2,Min-su tried to pull himself away from Nam-gyu, who kept insisting they work together in the games. However, after stealing the drugs from the cross necklace, he became more daring, though racked with guilt over not saving Se-mi. He ends up getting pushed off the first platform in Sky Squid Game after a series of hallucinations featuring Thanos and Nam-gyu.
Although he was responsible for multiple deaths,Min-su’s corrupted innocence was a core element of his character. He wasn’t as tough as those around him, clearly not built for the games. His death being tied into his guilt over others' deaths was a perfect sendoff, even if it was a heartbreaking demise.
7Kang Dae-ho
Player 388’s Inaction Sealed His Doom
From the momentGi-hun set his sights on Dae-ho for leaving everyone to dieat the end of season 2, it became apparent he was going to die. Despite initially being unable to kill him, Gi-hun was eventually forced to fight him after he managed to get a blade during Hide and Seek. Their cat-and-mouse chase lasted most of the episode, with their final fight happening just before the game ended.
Killing him off led to important developments for Gi-hun, but it was also difficult to see him meet such a fate.
Instead of using a blade, though,Gi-hun strangled Dae-ho to death, using his anger fromJung-bae’s deathto kill his former ally. Dae-ho’s well-meaning nature made his death hard to watch, especially given how close he and the main character had been. Killing him off led to important developments for Gi-hun, but it was also difficult to see him meet such a fate.
6Lee Myung-gi
Player 333’s Fate Confirmed How The Games Would End
During Sky Squid Game,Myung-gi and Gi-hun were the final contestants left alive, alongside Jun-hee’s baby. While on the final platform, the pair fought after Gi-hun realized his opponent might have thrown the baby off the platform in order to make it out alive. This is made even more tragic because the child was his own, but it didn’t stop the protagonist from fighting back against him.
In the end,Myung-gi fell to his deathbefore being able to press the button to start to final round. Despite all the good he tried to do, promising to protect Jun-hee, his actions never fully reflected what he said he wanted to do. Whether he was actually trying to protect the baby from Gi-hun and sacrifice himself remains unclear, but that layer of uncertainty is also what makes his death all the more tragic.
5Park Young-sik
Player 008 Was Killed By Someone He Thought He Could Trust
Young-sik’s death was telegraphed early into Hide and Seek, when it became clear he didn’t have the stomach to kill anybody. This led to a desperate, last-minute attempt to kill Jun-hee, despite her just having given birth to a child. In the end, his own mother, Geum-ja, stabs him in the back to prevent him from killing the young woman. He’s later shot by Guards as the game ends.
The most tragic element to Young-sik’s death is thatGeum-ja was in the games to help pay off his debt. With her son dead, it gave her no tangible purpose to continue participating. The games also transformed him into someone he wasn’t at the last minute, his desperation to survive making him almost murder Jun-hee in the process.
4Jang Geum-ja
Player 149 Couldn’t Live Without Her Son
Geum-ja died not long after Young-sik, but not before imparting crucial advice to Gi-hun. The night after the Hide and Seek game, she tells him how much fair she still has in him, while also asking him to protect Jun-hee and her child. The finality of her scene is confirmed when, the next morning, Guards came in with a box,revealing she had hanged herself overnight.
Her death is another fierce blow, especially because of how quickly it happens after the string of deaths in the Hide and Seek game.She’d only gone to the games to save her son, but instead, had been forced to kill him. Even though her ending is sad, it still inspired Gi-hun enough to take up the mission she’d tasked him with of protecting Jun-hee’s baby.
