Near Pure Evil Wiki

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Do you... still trust people? Even after what you've been through?
~ Oh Il-nam to Seong Gi-hun.
Do you know what someone with no money has in common with someone with too much money? Living is no fun for them. If you have too much money, no matter what you buy, eat, and drink, everything gets boring in the end. At some point, all my clients began to tell me the same thing. That they had no joy in life anymore. So, we all got together and did some pondering. What can we do to have some fun?
~ Il-nam to Gi-hun, explaining his motives for creating the Squid Game.
You asked me why I let you live. Because it was fun playing with you. Thanks to you, I got to remember things from the past I had long forgotten. It'd been so long since I had that much fun.
~ Il-nam to Gi-hun, as well as his last words.

Oh Il-nam, also referred to as the Host or Player 001, is the overarching antagonist of Netflix's South Korean survival thriller series Squid Game. At first, he seemed to be an ordinary old man who got to participate in the Squid Game as a destitute player. Because of his terminally-diagnosed brain tumor, it seemed that he did not fully grasp the situation and was just enjoying the games as a way to have fun before his death.

It was later revealed, however, that he is the creator and host of the Squid Games, a true mastermind who has been hosting the games for decades; up to the point where he was assisted by his right-hand man called "The Front Man". It soon became clear that Oh Il-nam wished to participate in the 33rd Squid Game as he knew it would be the last one before he died.

He was portrayed by Oh Young-su. In the English dub, he was voiced by Hideo Kimura

His Evil Ranking[]

What Makes Him Close to Being Pure Evil?[]

  • He put people into more poverty despite claiming that his loan shark job "helps" people.
  • Due to being filthy rich, he started the Squid Game out of sheer boredom along with the VIPs.
    • The games he created not only forced players to kill each other, but were also designed to force players to turn against allies and friends, as seen especially in the Marbles game.
      • As result of this, he is the one responsible for any bonds destroyed during the competition, including the ones forming within the games (e.g. Ali and Sang-woo) and even long-lasting friendships (e.g. Gi-hun and Sang-woo).
      • It should also be noted that he makes no actual effort to help people, despite his aforementioned justification in loan-sharking.
    • For over 30 years, the game resulted in the deaths of thousands of people while the winners are left with emotional scars, as was the case with Gi-hun after he won.
      • During this period, he manipulated and preyed on vulnerable individuals that feel they have no choice but to play his games. The Squid Game staff, following his commands, stalked and selected people who were at the rock bottom of the society and were so desperate that they would accept any deal to survive to play the games.
  • He mentored Hwang In-ho (who was a previous winner) after realizing he is terminally ill, as well as assigned him the role of the Front Man, so that the Squid Games will continue even after he dies.
    • There's no indication that he even cares about him, though.
  • He joined the final game of his life for no other reason except for the thrill of it.
  • He refused to show remorse for his crimes as, even on his deathbed, he tried to convince Gi-hun that there wasn't any kindness left in the world.
    • Even though people like Jang Deok-su prove his point as Deok-su was always hostile and selfish, this does not change that he too, is extremely selfish and petty for only caring about his own desires of being happy.
  • While he claimed that he didn't force anyone to play because people still chose to come back after the vote after Gi-hun accused him of killing people for fun, so they are responsible for their own lives, the Squid Game staff selected only desperate people with major financial problems to the point that they felt that they had no choice but to return to the games. So, Il-nam letting the players vote is just a manipulation to give them the illusion of a choice.
    • Il-nam is aware of this and voted to terminate the games expecting people to return, which is shown when Il-nam meets Gi-hun after the vote and he told Gi-hun that the life outside is worse than the games because he knows that the players have very miserable lives and will rejoin out of desperation.
    • This is also not true for the players who died in the first game (Red Light, Green Light), as they joined without knowing they were signing up for a death game and didn't even survive to vote afterwards.
  • He caused the games to keep happening after his death thanks to the Front Man and the VIPs.
  • While he has some comedic moments, all of them happen under his innocent facade and these are completely gone by the time he reveals to Gi-hun that he was the host of the Squid Games.
  • While he seems to have some heavy preventions, they ultimately do not disqualify him, as his sympathetic moments are quite rare and mostly happen during the time when he pretended to be an innocent old man and before he was revealed to be the true mastermind of the games.
    • While his kindness toward other contestants and sense of honor during this time may have been genuine, they are ultimately shallow since he was responsible for putting their lives in danger to begin with just for the thrill of it.

What Prevents Him from Being Pure Evil?[]

  • He cares about certain people in his life:
    • He shows genuine respect and care for Gi-hun, whom he viewed as a legitimate friend to the point of letting him live in the marbles game out of gratitude, which remains true even after dropping his facade, since on his deathbed he admitted that he enjoyed spending time with Gi-hun and saw him as an equal, even summoning him to encourage him to use his prize money and not waste his life away in survivor's guilt in his final moments.
    • At some point in his life he had a wife and son, and while we never learn much about them, it's clear Il-nam cares for them as he reminisces fondly about them prior to his death.
  • He has a "Pet the Dog" moment where after the first challenge and the mass vote for whether the games should continue, he broke the tie by voting to let everyone go home. While the majority of the players came back due to the staff deliberately picking off the most desperate people, this nevertheless saved fourteen players who refused to rejoin the games.
  • While he doesn't show remorse for his crimes, he has a sympathetic death, as he reminisces his childhood as emotional music plays and sincerely admits to Gi-hun that he enjoyed playing with him.

Trivia[]

  • He was believed to be based off Kazutaka Hyōdō from Kaiji, which is fittingly since both are Near Pure Evil.
  • Oh Il-nam was once considered Inconsistently Heinous, but was moved to NPE when it was decided his preventions are much more minor than presumed.
  • He and the Recruiter are the only two villains in Squid Game to be Near Pure Evil.

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