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Man Has Interesting Theory How Players And Guards Are Chosen In Squid Game

Man Has Interesting Theory How Players And Guards Are Chosen In Squid Game

The show's enigmatic guards are one of the series biggest unanswered mysteries.

Tom Sanders

Tom Sanders

A wild fan theory is doing the rounds on the internet, suggesting how the players and guards are picked in Netflix's Squid Game. Take a look below:

Few shows have taken the internet by storm quite like Squid Game, which has soared from obscurity to become Netflix's most-streamed ever show almost overnight.

The South Korean horror-drama - which series creator Hwang Dong-hyuk claims took him ten years to get accepted by a production company - involves a group of debt-ridden players who are selected by a shadowy organisation to play deadly versions of classic children's games on a deserted island, with the promise of a huge cash prize for the winner.

Since binging their way through the series, fans have been quick to share their theories online, going back and forth on a wide number of topics ranging from the meaning of the player's numbers to the foreshadowing of major characters deaths.

Netflix

But one of the show's most enduring mysteries has yet to be answered - who exactly are the masked guards who ruthlessly enforce the game's rules and how did they get there?

Well, TikTok user, @lach_twd0, thinks he has an answer, which stretches all the way back to the show's first episode.

At the very start of the series, the show's protagonist Seong Gi-Hun (played by Lee Jung-Jae) is approached by a shady businessman in a subway station who produces two square tiles; one red and one blue, and asks them to play a game of ddakji together, before formally inviting him to become a contestant in the squid game upon completion.

The video posits that this moment was the pivotal point for each of the players- pick the blue square and you get invited to become one of the players. Pick the red square and you become a guard instead.

It's a plausible theory, but as people have been quick to point out in the comments it has holes in it.

As one user points out: 'The card game theory isn't true. If you look at Ep 1 38:25 the guy on the left chose a red card'.

Netflix

Ok then... back to the drawing board.

Another of the most popular theories is that those who were in the first round of the game but chose not to come back are now working as guards.

After the majority of players voted against continuing the game and returned to the outside world, 187 out of the 201 remaining players came back to compete, with the frontman saying to keep an eye on those who didn't return.

This has led a lot of fans to believe that those who didn't return as players were invited back to work as staff to repay their debt, as well as this being a way to prevent whistleblowers from leaking what was going on within the mysterious island.

Another theory doing the rounds is that the guards are all former winners who spent all of the prize money and ended up back in debt (the game runners go out of their way to recruit people who are financially irresponsible after all), and ended up joining the game again as a way to make money.

Netflix

Regardless of the real answer, it's an interesting plot hook. It's clear there's a lot of mystery surrounding exactly who the guards are and how they ended up working at the game, and even if we don't get a proper answer it's interesting to think about.

Here's hoping that Netflix and Dong-hyuk answer our prayers and bless us with a second series so that we have even more theories to obsess over soon!

Featured Image Credit: Netflix

Topics: Netflix, Squid Game, TikTok