Welcome to the Heavy Spoilers show I'm your host Paul aka the guy who feels like he's
been talking about Squid Game longer than Il-Nam and this video we're breaking down
the series most mysterious character.
Throughout the season we as an audience go on a bit of an emotional rollercoaster in
which we laugh with him, cry over his death and then get the reveal that he's been actually
running the entire thing.
It's difficult to not get caught up in the ride that the show takes us on and throughout
this video we'll be talking about the characters origins, history and also giving some of the
fan theories surrounding him. This include a big new clue that's been unearthed which
makes it seem like he is indeed related to Gi-Hun.
Before we get into it if you could do me a big favour and smash that like button and
also don't forget to subscribe for videos like this every week because yes, I'm gonna
ride Squid Game into the ground. 17 million views baby, I'm richer than Il-Nam.
Anyway with that out the way, thanks for clicking this, now let's getting into Il-Nam.
Ok so Episode 9 is where the truth about Il-Nam starts to unravel. After not spending any
of his winnings, Gi-Hun is given the address to a building where he comes across the character
on his death bed. Il-Nam reveals the truth about himself and this also confirms that
he also had a brain tumour.
As many of you now know Il-Nam translates roughly to Number One Man and this does somewhat
tie into the characters number which we'll talk about later on.
Now throughout the series we learn a lot about Il-nam's past. When he was growing up the
character barely had any money but what he did have was a love for games. This included
Red Light, Green Light, the Honeycomb Challenge, Marbles, Hopscotch and of course Squid Game.
Il-nam was absolutely fascinated with them and to top it off he was a great player of
them all which tied into his love of gambling and well...gaming.
Il-Nam came from very humble beginnings and at one point in the series we come across
a recreation of his house during the marbles game. The character said that he used to hide
and watch his children play games which he would love to get involved in himself. This
very much hints towards his future in which he would end up becoming a VIP that oversaw
the Squid Games, but still, deep down there was a need to get involved.
Now Il-Nam wasn't exactly the best husband and though his wife used to make him meals
that we see being eaten in the series, he definitely put his own enjoyment above his
family. Il-Nam used to also beat his son for doing things like asking for chocolate milk
and we'll talk about how this could hint towards him being related to Gi-Hun later on.
Either way, we can tell by just how few people there are around his death bed that he and
his family became very estranged. Whenever he talks about them in the series it's always
as if they're not waiting for him on the outside and because of this we can conclude that they
haven't seen each other in a while because of his choices. This is of course reflected
in Gi-Hun who remained behind at the end of the series instead of going to see his daughter.
Now where Il-Nam made his fortune was lending money, charging interest and then basically
holding people to ransom for the rest of their life. We see Gi-Hun on the opposite side of
this where he is constantly chased by Loan Sharks and it is possible that they are working
for Il-Nam and basically starving the people of the city so that they're desperate enough
to actually enter the Games.
Quickly Il-Nam amassed a vast fortune of wealth and this very much improved his life. However
he found himself extremely bored and unable to really find enjoyment in life. Getting
the money that he wanted had meant that nothing was no longer a challenge and this completely
took the enjoyment out of his life.
Looking back on his childhood and remembering the fun he had playing games, Il-Nam spoke
to other people in a similar situation around the world who all felt similar.
They realised that in getting what they wanted they no longer wanted anything and thus life
had become hollow.
Thus they pooled their resources and started tournaments around the world that would recruit
players into a game of life and death. Thus the squid game was born and it lasted for
decades and decades. Everyone in the operation other than the players wore masks and thus
there was an anonymity to the proceedings that meant it flew under the radar.
Now the masks in the show all hold some significance. Not only do they denote rank, but they also
carry the idea of spirit animals and so on. The mostly lowly people down the pole all
have smooth masks with barely any curves whereas the further up the hierarchy you get the more
edges there are. This ranks from the soldiers all the way up to the front man to the VIP
and then of course Il-Nam.
Il-Nam wears an Owl Mask and typically this is thought to embody wisdom and cunning. These
are skills that Il-Nam clearly possesses and the masks have all been chosen for a reason.
A Siberian Tiger is actually the national animal of South Korea and there is potential
that the person we see wearing this is a political figure. The Bull typically denotes stocks
and finances and the Deer are thought to be divine animals that walk in between the spirit
and natural world.
Il-Nam believes himself to be above all but it's only upon entering the games and seeing
Gi-Hun's kindness first hand that he takes off the mask back stage and decides to step
away from everything.
Now money lending clearly made Il-Nam see the ugly side of life and stepping on people
made him completely disregard the value of humans. He sees them more as play things and
just in the same way that people bet on horses, not seeing the life there, he didn't really
see the life in humanity. Everyone in the games was given a number much like the horses
and left to fight it out whilst the VIPs looked on.
However I do believe the games changed Il-Nam and even though in his final breaths it seems
like he's still someone who disregards humanity, I think this final game is to teach Gi-Hun
a lesson.
Now if he wins and someone doesn't come to save the homeless person it might inspire
Gi-Hun to use the fortune to help others but if he loses then Gi-Hun will see there's good
in the world and do it anyway.
It's very much me guessing at that but Il-Nam always seems one step ahead of everyone else
and I believe he knew Gi-Hun well enough to know the path he would take after this game.
It's exactly why he called him to his death bed as he showed him kindness in games.
He thanks Gi-Hun on his death bed and says that thanks to him he got to remember the
joy he had in the past and it truly is an emotional scene.
Now going beyond this we've talked in the past about how Il-Nam and Gi-Hun could be
related.
Incase you've missed that though there are a number of clues including the chocolate
milk conversation that the two share.
When looking for his house during Marbles, Gi-Hun also says that an alleyway in the mockup
looks extremely similar to where he used to live.
Now to top this off there's been a new clue unearthed that shows that they might indeed
be related. As we learn throughout the show, Il-nams full name is Oh Il-Nam. Surnames are
reversed in Korean culture and therefore the Oh is actually his last name.
When Gi-Hun steals his mother's credit card at the start of the show we can actually catch
her name for a split second and it starts with Oh hinting at their relationship.
In the series Il-Nam also asks if it's the 24th as that means his sons birthday is coming
up.
Now where it gets interesting is that after stealing his mother's credit card he enters
his birthday as the pin and this is 0426.
Now we know that the games take place in April and that counts for the 04. If the 26 means
the 26th then that means that Gi-Huns birthday is the 26th of April which does put it pretty
close to the 24th.
Now these could all simply be coincidences but I am someone that does kinda hope that
they are related as it just adds another layer to the show. Gi-Hun of course ends up turning
his back on his family in order to go back to the games and this is somewhat similar
to Il-Nam who did the same thing.
Il-Nam is very much a cautionary tale in the series and watching his son potentially following
in his father's footsteps just adds a whole other layer to the show that I'd love to see
explored later down the line.
Either way that's my thoughts on it and obviously I would love to hear yours below.
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If you want something else to watch then make sure you check out our breakdown of all the
easter eggs, hidden details and things you missed in Squid Game. It's one of our best
videos ever and it's definitely worth checking out right after this.
With that out the way thank you for sitting through the video, I’ve been Paul and I’ll
see you next time. Take care, Peace