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"Mature Content Warning!" |
| “ | Didn't you notice? Those masked bastards came in and removed the beds of the people who died. Make one mistake and your bed will be next. | „ |
| ~ Jang Deok-su threatening Kang Sae-byeok. |
| “ | This is Hell. What are the rules in Hell? | „ |
| ~ Deok-su during the Glass Stepping Stones game. |
Jang Deok-su (Korean: 장덕수), also referred to as Player 101, is a major antagonist in the first season of Netflix's K-drama Squid Game.
He is a gangster boss in South Korea who decides to participate in the 33rd Squid Game in order to pay off the debts he owes to the mafia and to a Filipino casino. He also serves as the archenemy of Kang Sae-byeok and Han Mi-nyeo, being Sae-byeok's former mentor and Mi-nyeo's ex-lover.
He was portrayed by Heo Sung-tae. In the English dub, he was voiced by Paul Nakauchi. In the Japanese dub, he was voiced by Masaki Aizawa.
What Makes Him Pure Evil?[]
In General[]
- As a gangster boss in South Korea, he committed many criminal activities before the events of the series.
- While he did owe money to the South Korean mafia after stealing both from his subordinates and later from the "big boss", which led to him being recruited for the 33rd Squid Game, this does not make him tragic or sympathetic since he was already an evil gangster and a dangerous individual, whether he was in debt or not. It's also shown that he gambled and lost money to Casino operators in the Philippines, whom he never paid back, making his debt self-inflicted.
- Although he treats his gang inside of the Squid Games well, it's only out of pragmatism to have allies and have a better chance at survival, not out of genuine care for them. The same can be said about his offer to Sae-byeok to let her in on his team. Once she refused, he was preparing to attack her before Mi-nyeo intervened.
- He is shown to be a cheater that does anything to get what he wants and has no sense of honor or fair play. This is shown when he tries to rally his men to storm the location of the games with weapons to steal the prize money, when he kills other players to increase his odds, and when he allies with Byeong-gi just to know information about the next games. This combined with his disloyalty, lies, and backstabbing habits, which makes him the most dishonorable character in the series.
- He is also a hypocrite:
- He has a backstabbing habit, yet quickly becomes resentful when he is betrayed, as seen in the way he mistreated Sae-byeok because of her betrayal.
- Scolding Player 271 for being greedy about food after the latter break the soda bottle, when he and his gang previously took the ration twice.
- He laughed at Player 278 (who wasn't loyal to him) after beating him in Marbles, despite having no loyalty towards his minions himself.
- He demanded for Player 151 to make 244 move when the latter stopped to pray, only to stop moving later on and demand the others to move ahead of him to ensure his own safety, not caring that the other contestants would die if they failed to reach the other side in time
- He's shown to be the only member of his gang to lack any form of moral standards or empathy:
- After killing the opposing team in the Tug-of-War game, he's the only one who is seen smirking, as opposed to his allies, all of whom are visibly shocked and distraught.
- Although this was done out of his survival, after winning the Marbles game, he's shown to be the only participant who shows no remorse over his opponent's death, even being outright ecstatic about it, in contrast to other participants, like Gi-hun, Sang-woo and Sae-byeok, who were genuinely saddened by the deaths of their opponents.
- He's the only one to smirk after finding out that Player 069 committed suicide due to not being able to continue living after losing his wife in the fourth game, while everyone else was shocked to see 069 dead.
- Unlike the other contestants in the Squid Games, who were ordinary people that had sympathetic reasons for joining (unemployed or with economic difficulties and needed the money to pay off their debts or to help their families and/or someone), he lacked any sympathy; being a violent and treacherous gangster who stole money even from his superiors and lost all of it gambling means he brought his own misery onto himself, and despite his massive debt to other gangsters, he is still a much more dangerous individual who will be more than happy to throw even his closest associates under the bus to save his own skin. Also, most of his actions aren't even motivated by his "tragedy", and are done out of sheer sadism.
- Unlike Oh Il-nam, the mastermind behind the games, and the Front Man, the leader of the Masked Men and the overseer of the games, who both have redeeming qualities, such as how Il-nam shows genuine kindness and respect for Gi-hun and cares for his family, and the Front Man has numerous honorable moments and a genuinely tragic backstory, Deok-su fully subverts all his potential redeeming qualities by his latest episode.
- While it doesn't justify that he is just as horrible, just like Im Jeong-dae and Nam-gyu, Deok-su is the prime example of Oh Il-nam's claims about humanity being trash.
- Unlike players like Sang-woo and Myung-gi who only turned worse due to having to survive a death game and being aware of their loss of morality and regretted what they became, Deok-su saw the games as a chance to be as ruthless and cruel as possible from the very beginning so as to win the games, even before the games were revealed to be deadly.
- Plus, many players are shown to be nice people when outside of the games, while Deok-su outside of the games is hardly better than when he's inside of the games.
- Despite the series' high standards, Deok-su still stands out for having a high body count at 42 (the highest among the players) with his considerably low amount of resources compared to the VIPs, Il-nam, The Recruiter, the Front Man and the Masked Officer, and being far more violent, cruel, and sadistic than the Front Man, the Masked Officer or even Il-nam (all of whom are behind the game).
- Even after Season 2, where more villainous players are introduced (like Thanos, Nam-gyu and Im Jeong-dae) or Season 3 (which had the fallen hero Lee Myung-gi), Deok-su still stands out as the evilest player seen in the series, especially since none of these villains went as far as he did and, in Thanos and Myung-gi's cases, had redeeming qualities. Nam-gyu comes the closest to being as heinous as him, but unlike Deok-su, who started a riot by himself, Nam-gyu started a riot alongside the rest of the Team O members, preventing him from standing out as much.
- While Thanos also started a riot, it wasn't intentional, since he died even before knowing that players were allowed to kill each other between games. Meanwhile, Deok-su not only started a riot intentionally but also intended to do it twice.
- Deok-su is also responsible for the heinous standards of Squid Game being so high among the players, with most other villainous players failing the standards to him, since none of them can surpass his high kill count with similar resources. And those who managed to kill more than him are part of the Squid Game staff, thus having more resources. He is the sole reason why Nam-gyu and Player 096 are not Pure Evil.
- Although he has several comedic moments, such as his argument with and win against Player 278 during the Marbles game (which provides some levity to a famously emotional episode), calling Gi-hun by his town name Ssangmun-dong, trying to guess Mi-nyeo’s age, and being told he has a small penis and whimpering before Mi-nyeo pulls him to his death, none of these moments detract from his villainy, and he is taken entirely seriously by both the narrative and the characters in-universe. In fact, many of these comedic instances only serve to highlight his cowardice, meaning he’s not even Laughably Evil.
- Overall, despite having to compete in a game where death is the punishment for losers, it doesn't justify any of his actions, inside or outside the games, given his violent tendencies and personality, willingness to cheat and lack of redeeming qualities, regardless of whether he did them out of his own free will or per someone's suggestions.
- While the deaths of almost everyone in Squid Game are often sympathetic regardless of how brutal they are, Deok-su is one of the few characters whose death is portrayed as well-deserved and for satisfaction.
Squid Game[]
- In his first scene, he repeatedly beat up Kang Sae-byeok for her debts, and possibly would have killed her if Seong Gi-hun hadn't intervened. He also ostracizes her for her North Korean heritage. After Gi-hun intervened, he tried to attack him as well before the guards came.
- Although he did vote to stop the 33rd Squid Game after the first game, it wasn't so more people wouldn't die but due to his cowardice. Leaving the games also gave him the chance to regroup with his gang and plan how to enter and steal the money that was in there (until he found out that he's been double-crossed).
- He ordered his men to bring guns with them when storming the Squid Game facility, intending to massacre the staff to steal the money. Although the staff would deserve it, he would've still done it purely out of greed. However, his own men betrayed him, thus thwarting his plans.
- He stabbed one of his henchmen to death after he betrayed him by leading him into an ambush.
- Although that henchman deserved it not only for betraying him to the mob but also for foolishly revealing himself to have done so with Deok-su sitting right next to him, being in debt to the Filipino casino was still Deok-su's own fault.
- He stole food from the other contestants at lunchtime when Han Mi-nyeo suggested him to do so and then beat Player 271 to death for confronting him over this and breaking his soda bottle.
- While he was suggested by Mi-nyeo into doing this, it doesn't justify this action in any way, since she only suggested (not forced or manipulated) him into doing it, he still had a choice to do it or not. It doesn't help that he shows no hesitation before doing this.
- Although his murder of Player 271 appeared to be accidental, judging by his shock after Gi-hun announced his death, once he saw he'd receive no punishment for it, he showed no remorse and instead sadistically smirked, realizing that murder in between the games is allowed and he won't be punished for committing them. Furthermore, him being shocked by 271's death is more out of fear of him getting punished rather than out of any concerns for 271.
- Threatened to murder Byeong-gi before the fight at night simply for asking to join his team.
- Cheated by conspiring with Byeong-gi to give him information on the upcoming games (which is the only reason why he allowed him into his group), going against the fair ideology the games are meant to have.
- Him treating Byeong-gi well was only out of pragmatism, not out of genuine care for the latter, and his reaction to his death was mere disappointment at losing his advantage.
- Upon learning that killing contestants in between the games is allowed, he murdered another contestant (Player 198) during the night for snitching on him earlier, brutally stabbing her in the neck with a broken glass bottle. This was what instigated the "special game" being a fight that led to other contestants killing each other, thus making him indirectly responsible for inciting the 25 other killings that would occur during the fight.
- Through his dialogue with his minions, it's clear Deok-su and his team were willing to keep doing this until all the other players were dead, being openly willing to murder all of them (and possibly turn on each other afterwards) without even participating in more games.
- During the night riot, he targeted Sae-byeok and nearly killed her, and when Player 331 jumped down from a bunk and tackled Deok-su, causing him to fail at this, he brutally stabbed 331 to death. Still attempting to kill the girl, Deok-su then continued to go after Sae-byeok, who went to seek refuge in Gi-hun and Sang-woo's team.
- While he seemed to like Han Mi-nyeo, he eventually subverted this when he didn't allow her to be on his team for the third game, knowing this could result in her death. He even went so far as hitting her when she tried to kiss him, slut-shaming her by calling her a "bitch".
- This is made worse by the fact that Mi-nyeo helped him during the second game, and if it hadn't been for her, he probably would have died, which shows how much of an ungrateful egotist he is.
- He probably only liked her initially due to her usefulness (as she helped him during the second game) and out of sexual desire, as opposed to a genuine friendship or romance.
- After winning the third game, he told Gi-hun and Sang-woo's team he was looking forward to killing them himself.
- He was initially planning to start another night time riot before the fourth game and, seeing as he approached Gi-hun and his team, he was seemingly intending to attack them. Deok-su only relented out of fear after Gi-hun pointed out the possibility of his minions betraying him.
- Misogynistically insulted Mi-nyeo and showed sadistic enjoyment while believing the guards killed her while also lying to Player 278 (one of the men from his team) about cheating with Byeong-gi.
- During the fourth game, he threatened to kill Player 278 simply for giggling (only to restrain himself since him physically attacking Player 278 with the Masked Guard present will only result in getting himself killed).
- When the players were choosing their numbered vests for the fifth game, he violently pushed Player 322 aside for picking the same number as him.
- Threatened to push Player 096 in the fifth game for being too scared to move at first.
- When Player 244 stopped to pray in the middle of the glass bridge, he threatened to push Player 151 (who was right behind Player 244 and in front of Deok-su) if no one did anything to make 244 move.
- Him encouraging and not pushing Player 407 was purely pragmatic so he would do well and not fall to his death so Deok-su would have a chance to make it to the end. Once Player 407 fell to his death, Deok-su coldly insulted him.
- He demanded the other contestants to step in front of him during the fifth game so he wouldn't have to step on the wrong glass himself and die in the process. He even stated that he wouldn't move until someone else did, and also that he didn't care if the time ran out and they all died, this endangered the lives of the 7 players that were behind him.
- This led to Player 322, Han Mi-nyeo and himself dying whilst only revealing one pair of glass panels in front of him, instead of at least three panels had he not forced people to step in front of him. Player 322 was killed by Deok-su himself throwing him to his death after Mi-nyeo pushed him forward, and Mi-nyeo committed suicide to kill Deok-su, revealing the panel in front of them in the process.
- He indirectly caused Player 017's death as well, as he died with only one panel left, and would have likely made it to the end if Deok-su had advanced normally, with Sang-woo not having to push 017 to save himself, Gi-hun and Sae-byeok.
- In his final moments, he cowardly begged for mercy from Mi-nyeo, only for her to reject it and kill him anyway.
Trivia[]
- He and The Recruiter are the only Squid Game villains to be Pure Evil thus far.
- Deok-su is so far the only character in the series to be both Pure Evil and Hate Sink, since The Recruiter can't be Hate Sink due to being too enjoyable of a character, while any other Hate Sinks fail the heinous standard and/or having redeeming qualities.
- However, Nam-gyu, who is also a Hate Sink, comes very close to being Pure Evil so he has a high potential at qualifying, even though it is highly unlikely.
- Deok-su is so far the only character in the series to be both Pure Evil and Hate Sink, since The Recruiter can't be Hate Sink due to being too enjoyable of a character, while any other Hate Sinks fail the heinous standard and/or having redeeming qualities.
- To help drive the point of Deok-su being Pure Evil home, the existence of people like Deok-su is likely the precise reason why Il-nam has such a negative view of humanity, especially with how he embraces the nature of the Squid Game with no hesitation and openly uses every opportunity he gets to become worse.
- Even more driving the point, Jang Deok-su's player number is 101 while Oh Il-nam's player number is 001.
- Ironically, the word "Deok-su" in Korean means "morality", while Deok-su himself is anything but moral.
- Despite being Pure Evil, Deok-su voted for the game to end, while both of his archenemies, Mi-nyeo and Sae-byeok, voted for the game to continue. Although, that doesn't change how ruthless he is and that him voting X is only out of self-serving than out of moral standard.
External Links[]
- Jang Deok-su on the Villains Wiki
- Jang Deok-su on the Hate Sink Wiki
- Jang Deok-su on the Squid Game Wiki
