When facing devastating financial hardship, how far is a person willing to go to earn money? In 2009, Hwang Dong-hyuk asked this very question. While reflecting on his own monetary issues and seeing the blatant economic divide between the rich and the poor in South Korea, Hwang set to work on constructing an answer. His curiosity and creativity resulted in a dark survival drama, Squid Game. Though it would take nearly 10 years for a production company to pick up his story, Hwang knew he had unique perspective to a common question.

After its release on Netflix in September 2021, Squid Game quickly scaled the charts. The premise of financially struggling adults voluntarily entering into a competition of children's games that turn deadly was a novel idea. Fans were equally horrified and amazed with the storyline. As of today, Squid Game remains Netflix's most watched series, and a second season is rumored to release in 2024.

While some contestants deserved a brutal death, others were trying to play the deadly juvenile games with some sense of honor. Check out the most gruesome character deaths in Netflix's original series, Squid Game.

10 Player 017 Falls to His Death

Player 17 Squid Game (1)
Siren Pictures Inc. 
Netflix

During the fifth game, players have 16 minutes to cross a two-panel glass bridge. Some panels are regular glass that will cause the first contestant who steps on them to fall to their death, and other panels are tempered glass that can hold a player's weight. With 16 players lined up to cross the bridge, those towards the back of the line are grateful that the ones in front will reveal the pattern to safely cross.

Do Jung-soo, Player 017, is an ex-glass manufacturer who can tell the difference between the glass just by appearance. When the Front Man realizes Jung-soo's strategy, the lights are cut off, but the timer continues to countdown. With three players behind Jung-soo, he gets pushed through the last regular glass panel by Cho Sang-woo. His death is not gruesome in the fact that is it overly gory, but it is painful and disheartening that he was so close to the finish line.

9 Player 119 Shoots Himself

Player 119 Squid Game (1)
Siren Pictures Inc. 
Netflix

The second trial in Squid Game has to do with childhood sweets. Each player was told to choose one of four shapes (circle, triangle, star, and umbrella) to which they later received a dalgona (honeycomb candy) with their chosen shape. The contestants must carve out the shape without breaking it before time runs out.

Those like No Sang-hun, Player 119, were upset with themselves for choosing the hardest shape, the umbrella, before knowing the premise of the game. While cautiously carving out his shape, he breaks the umbrella's handle. A guard comes over to Sang-hun to execute him for losing the challenge, but Sang-hun stabs him with a needle. In a desperate attempt to live, he takes a guard's gun and puts it to the latter's head. When the guard unmasks himself, Sang-hun is so distraught that the man is young that he kills himself without hesitation.

8 Player 198 Stabbed to Death

Player 198 Squid Game (1)
Siren Pictures Inc. 
Netflix

After learning that the guards would not stop players from killing one another in the dormitory, Player 198 likely felt a target on her back. She had told five hungry contestants that Jang Deok-su and his gang went back for seconds during dinner, leaving them with nothing to eat. Player 198 did not mean anything malicious by her statement, but Deok-su felt otherwise.

Once the lights were turned out for the night, Deok-su and his posse slipped out of their beds to begin a bloody riot. Deok-su snuck over for Player 198's bedside, and he repeatedly stabbed her with a broken bottle. Her screams alerted others of what was happening, and the bloodshed began. Her death was painful and unjust, but it further highlighted the evil nature of Deok-su.

Related: Squid Game Masks, Explained: Symbolic Meaning and Different Kinds

7 Player 369 Shot in the Head

Player 369 Squid Game (1)
Siren Pictures Inc. 
Netflix

The first player to die during the Sugar Honeycomb game was Park Ju-un (Player 369). While trying to be as careful as possible with his umbrella-stamped candy, he accidently broke off the handle of the shape. A hovering guard showed no mercy when shooting Ju-un though the contestant pleaded for a second chance. Ju-un's body slid down the slide in the middle of the room, leaving behind a bright bloody trail.

As other players looked at his limp body, several broke their own honeycomb pieces. Many players were killed in the same fashion, with a headshot, but Ju-un's body remained on the play set for all to see while they whittled away at their own candy.

6 Player 069 Hangs Himself

Players 69 and 70 Squid Game (1)
Siren Pictures Inc. 
Netflix

Player 069 and Player 070 are the only married couple shown in the series. They manage to survive the first three games, but that changes during the fourth game, Marbles. When contestants are told to choose partners, it is only natural for the couple to pair up. After learning that the loser between the two would be executed, they realize they made a grave mistake.

Without knowing if the couple even chose to play a game, Player 070 is eliminated off-screen. Back in the dormitory, Player 069 desperately tries to get everyone to evoke the third clause of the game and vote on ending the competition. When no one willing to cast a vote, Player 069 feels like all hope is lost. The next morning, his body is hanging from one of the bunk beds.

5 Player 218 Stabs Himself in the Neck

Sang-woo Squid Game (1)
Siren Pictures Inc. 
Netflix

Though the creators of the game along with the guards are the true villains of Squid Game, Cho Sang-woo, Player 218, proved to be a "closeted villain." He appears as a friend, having heart-to-hearts and reminiscing about the good old days with Seong Gi-hun, but he is actually a selfish killer. He betrayed his friend and partner in Marbles, and he killed a contestant in her bed the night before the final game.

When Sang-woo and Gi-hun go head-to-head in the final game, Gi-hun refuses to step into the winner's box and watch Sang-woo get executed. Sang-woo, knowing he had done wrong by the people he cared about, chooses to stab himself in the neck, resulting in his friend's victory.

4 Player 271 Killed for Wanting His Food

Player 271 Squid Game (1)
Siren Pictures Inc. 
Netflix

When approaching a table to receive his meal, Player 271 and a few other contestants realized that there was no food left for them despite everyone having a ration. Player 198 pointed out — and was later killed for it — that Player 101, Deok-su, and his posse had taken second helpings. The two men engaged in a physical fight, and Deok-su ended up beating Player 271 to death in front of the other contestants and guards.

The fact that an ordinary man was murdered over a ration of food speaks volumes to what takes place in our everyday world. People, much like the guards, turn a blind eye to the events and choose not to get involved. Player 271 may not have been a main character, but his brutal death revealed to everyone what some people value over one's life.

Related: Squid Game Season 2 Will Involve New, More Dramatic Games

3 Player 111 Murdered for Breaking the Rules

Player 111 Squid Game (1)
Siren Pictures Inc. 
Netflix

Byeong-gi, also known as "The Doctor" and Player 111, had been receiving extra rations and information about upcoming games in exchange for harvesting organs of dead players for a few corrupt guards to sell. When the Front Man found out about this, he had the guards and Byeong-gi gunned down and hung up for all contestants to see while they made their way to the fourth game.

Given his background in the medical field, Byeong-gi was put in a tough position: either help the guards and risk losing his life or play the games like everyone else and lose out on certain advantages. While contestants looked upon the hanging corpses, the Front Man apologized for the individuals taking away the most important aspect of the competition, equality among players.

2 255 Players During Red Light, Green Light

Squid Game Red Light, Green Light Doll (1)
Siren Pictures Inc. 
Netflix

After the basic rules of the very first game, Red Light, Green Light, are explained, the players begin their strides towards the finish line. Player 324 is the first to get shot, but the other contestants are not exactly sure what happened because he simply fell to the floor. After Player 250 is openly shot and blood splatters across a woman's face, everyone makes a run for the doors in the back.

A bloodbath occurs as most players are targeted and killed for moving before "green light" was announced. Upon realizing that the only way to survive is to play the deadly game, the living contestants continue to move towards the finish line when permitted. During the five-minute game, more than half of the players are eliminated, and the others realize what is in store with this competition.

1 Player 067 Stabbed to Death

Kang Sae-byeok in Squid Game
Netflix

Kang Sae-byeok (Player 067), played by Jung Ho-yeon, started out with a distrust for everyone. She and Deok-su got into a fight in the dormitory due to their history with one another, but she was always seen as a redeemable character. After she, Sang-woo, and Gi-hun completed the Stepping Stone game, the glass bridge exploded. Large shards of glass went flying, and Sae-byeok was badly wounded. She tried to hide her injury, but Sang-woo took advantage of her weakened state the night before the final game.

In the dormitory, while Gi-hun was asleep, Sang-woo walked over to Sae-byeok and stabbed her in the neck. Due to her likability and pure intentions for winning the game, fans believe she deserved better than to die by a sneaky attack.