The Rich Old Man in Squid Game Represents God
⚠️ Warning: This article contains spoilers ⚠️
Squid Game (season 1) is a brilliant work of art infused with thoughtful commentaries on social/political issues as well as commentaries on Christianity.
In the story, there’s an old man who is insanely rich and has everything he could ever want. But he gets bored, so he designs a game where 100 impoverished people compete to the death in order to have a shot at winning a life-changing sum of money. There will only be one winner, and all the losers are guaranteed to suffer a gruesome death.
The writers of Squid Game are clearly anti-Christian, and seem to be suggesting that the rich old man symbolizes God. Here’s how.
1. He’s Insanely Rich, yet Joins the Games
The old man is insanely rich and has everything he could ever want (just like God). Yet he joins the violent games, pretending to be one of the impoverished players. Doing so exposed him to the possibility of dying. This is just like how Jesus left the riches of heaven to join humanity on earth, also exposing Himself to death.
2. He Dies for Others, then Comes Back to Life
The old man purposely lost the game of marbles and accepted the penalty of death so that his partner could win. That echos what Jesus did for believers in accepting death so that humanity could live. Yet the old man turned out to be alive at the end of the season. That’s just like how Jesus came back to life after dying.
3. He’s on the 7th Floor on Christmas Eve
The main character who wins the games meets the old man at 11pm on Christmas Eve. The writers of the show could have chosen this to be any day, but they chose the Christian holiday celebrating Jesus's birth.
And the old man is high up on the 7th floor, unattainable, and looking down at the rest of the world. (This reveals how the writers of the show view God.)
It’s also significant that the writers made it the seventh floor, because the number “7” is often thought of to represent God.
4. He Thinks Humanity is Sinful
While up on the seventh floor, the old man makes a bet that no one will help the homeless man down below on the freezing streets. This seems to symbolize the way that God thinks humanity has a “sinful nature.” People actually do show up to help the homeless man, but it’s right as the old man dies—he doesn’t get to see it. The writers of the show seem to be suggesting that God is wrong about humanity, and that human beings ARE good—God just doesn’t see it.
5. Other Parallels
The old man doesn’t share his name when everyone else on his team was sharing their names. Oftentimes after performing a miracle Jesus would tell the crowd to keep it a secret.
Because the old man knows everything about the games, he’s actually the most valuable asset—yet the rest of the players constantly dismiss him for being old, senile, and weak. This is similar to the way the Jesus was dismissed by many even though he was all-knowing.
