Summary
- The Squid Game staff are essential characters, from workers to the Front Man.
- Workers, Soldiers, and Managers make up the diverse hierarchy of the staff.
- The Host oversees the games, initially Oh Il-nam and later the Front Man.
Squid Game has made its mark with its survival-of-the-fittest narrative and dynamic cast of characters. The show’s dystopian premise revolves around 456 heavily indebted players putting their lives on the line for an astronomical amount of money. Although the players are compelling in and of themselves, it’s the Squid Game staff that have made the show iconic.
Distinctive based on their uniforms and masks, these workers are efficient and ruthless, with a clear hierarchy that everyone strictly adheres to. From the enigmatic Front Man to the iconic Circles, here are all the Squid Game staff, ranked based on where they are on the totem pole.
8
Workers
The lowest-ranking staff members of the Squid Game, the workers are known also as Circles due to the circle stamped on their masks. They are basically the grunts of the entire system, working manual labour-type jobs such as cleaning the game sites and ensuring all facilities are in working order.
They are also in charge of handing food to players and incinerating the corpses after every game. In the show, it’s shown that some of the workers are involved in an organ-trafficking operation, even colluding with a player in Season One to harvest organs in exchange for information on future games.
7
Soldiers
The military arm of the Squid Game staff, the Soldiers – also referred to as Triangles – are responsible for eliminating players who have lost the games. Armed with both revolvers and submachine guns, they are also tasked with keeping players in line and are the first line of defence against any insurrection.
The Triangles are told who to eliminate using an earpiece, which feeds them commands from the Managers. Like several workers in Season 1, some of the Triangles are harvesting the organs of failed players while they are still alive. But while the corrupt workers were executed, these corrupt staff members were allowed to operate, largely because they were not disrupting the fairness of the games.
6
Managers
Also referred to as Squares or Supervisors, the Managers are essentially the administrative and operational arm of the Squid Game. They are directly responsible for the organisation of the Soldiers, and give orders to them on what to do.
It is usually the Managers’ job to welcome the players into the game, as well as explain the Squid Game’s rules and the cash prize system. Unlike the Soldiers, they are only armed with a revolver. They are seen often in a control room sitting in front of computers, monitoring the cameras and watching the players, especially during games to see who needs to be eliminated.
5
The Recruiter
The first of the Squid Game staff encountered, the Recruiter works outside the games and is tasked to recruit all 456 players for the Squid Game. He plays the ddakji game with them, slapping them when they lose and giving 100,000 won each time they win, but entices them with a bigger cash prize by handing them the Squid Game invitation card to enter the game.
Related
Desperate people will phone the number on the back of the card, wherein the Recruiter will ask for their name and birthdate to officially add them to the list. In the second season, the Recruiter dies after losing in a game of Russian Roulette with Gi-Hun, showing his loyalty to the Squid Game’s ideology.
4
The Officer
A character that answers directly to the Front Man, the Officer was featured more prominently in Season Two and is the Front Man’s right-hand man. He was likely hired or promoted to Officer after Il-nam’s death and the Front Man’s new job as the Host, monitoring the Managers and the guards.
It’s also shown that the Officer is the ringleader for the organ trafficking ring, and does not take kindly to Kang No-eul (or Number 011) interfering with the operation.
3
The Front Man
Currently, the absolute authority on the Squid Game staff, the Front Man is Hwang In-ho, a former cop and a winner of the 2015 Squid Game. The Front Man is judge, jury and executioner of both players and his own men, not hesitating to kill his staff if he has deemed them to have disobeyed.
The Front Man is obsessed with preserving the equality aspect of the games, but since his job is also to keep the VIPs happy, this becomes contradictory to his principles. In Season 2, the Front Man joins the 2024 Squid Game as Player 001, tricking and manipulating Gi-Hun, and based on the ending, seems to have successfully quashed his rebellion.
2
The VIPs
Although the Squid Game was the brainchild of Oh Il-nam, it wouldn’t have been possible without the VIPs. The fabulously wealthy clients of Oh Il-nam and the target audience of the Squid Game, these billionaires fund the games and are essentially what keeps them running.
Despite the Front Man’s belief in the fairness of the games, the VIPs could disrupt that without consequence. Since the games are catered for their entertainment, the VIPs can influence how the games are run. They are also shown to be degenerates, unsurprisingly, not viewing the contestants or Squid Game staff members as human beings.
1
The Host
The Host is the man who runs the games, and the man who has served in that position since the first Squid Game in 1988 was Oh Il-nam. A wealthy businessman, Il-nam created the games not only to exploit the impoverished and desperate but also to create some entertainment because he was bored.
Essentially, the Host has total control over both the Squid Game staff and the VIPs. It’s unknown what else the Host does since Il-nam took part in the game himself in 2020 since he was dying from a brain tumour. Il-nam succumbed to the disease at the end of Season 1, and it’s assumed by Season 2 that the Front Man has also taken over the Host’s responsibilities.
