Upamanyu Biswas
As ‘Squid Game‘ ramps up the ante in its third season, a variety of storylines and characters come into sharp focus because of their enigmatic personalities and the challenges they have to brave with increasingly deadly games on their horizon. While some balk under pressure, others use it to champion their own cause, such as Seon-Nyeo (Player 044), the self-proclaimed Shaman from season 2 who uses a mixture of manipulation and “supernatural” abilities to make a name for herself amongst the participants. Her adaptable and cunning ways make her a formidable figure in her own right. However, she risks losing everything in season 3 when the hide-and-seek round gets underway, putting her in considerable danger as she navigates a labyrinthine maze with seemingly no way out. SPOILERS AHEAD.
The Shaman Meets Her End in the Maze at the Hands of an Unlikely Killer
In season 3, episode 2, titled ‘The Starry Night,‘ participants are separated into two teams of red and blue before being ordered to enter a maze for a deadly game of hide-and-seek. The blue team has to hide in the maze or find the exit door before members of the red team locate them and kill them. As part of the team lottery, Seon-Nyeo gets sorted into the blue team, leaving her open to attacks from any member of the red team. However, when the round begins, she largely manages to avert any serious issues through a clever use of manipulation. Unfortunately, this lucky streak does not last forever, as near the end of the game, Min-Su, a red-teamer, finds her in one of the rooms. He mistakes the Shaman for one of his rivals, Nam-Gyu, due to the influence of drugs. As such, Min-Su stabs Seon-Nyeo to death, bringing an abrupt end to her life.
The Shaman’s death is a consequence of a variety of intertwining storylines, ones involving her centrally and also those of other players. For instance, the main reason Min-Su kills Seon-Nyeo is largely due to his own conflict with Nam-Gyu. In season 2, the timid Min-Su witnesses Nam-Gyu killing Se-Mi, the girl who takes a liking to him and tries to defend him at every turn. As such, after seeing Nam-Gyu brutally kill the girl, he is filled with anger and resentment towards the former, in addition to an overriding feeling of guilt for not doing something to help Se-Mi when the murder took place. His inner resentment only grows larger when Nam-Gyu goads him about his “uselessness” and cowardice at a later point. To that end, he starts harboring dark feelings toward Nam-Gyu for taking away something and someone who was important to him.
During the hide-and-seek game, Nam-Gyu teams up with Myung-Gi to kill any straggling blue teamers they find in the maze. They believe that a partnership between them will be more effective in completing their objectives swiftly. However, when they corner their first blue member, things get a little ugly, and a chaotic scuffle breaks out, during which Nam-Gyu loses hold of his cross necklace, the one containing drugs inside. Once Nam-Gyu and Myung-Gi evacuate the vicinity, Min-Su finds the necklace and ingests one of the pills, leaving him in a state of inebriation. Thus, this same drug-addled state of mind and his rage towards Nam-Gyu become the primary driving force that leads him to accidentally kill Seon-Nyeo in the maze.
The Shaman Nearly Escapes the Maze Before Meeting Her Demise
One of the interesting aspects of Seon-Nyeo’s death is how it might have been easily prevented if things had gone according to plan. Before the actual murder takes place, we see Seon-Nyeo navigate the maze’s various intricacies while a gathering of followers flock around her. They follow her around the maze obediently, trusting her “supernatural” ability to know exactly where the exit is because she professes to speak with “dead souls.” However, this arrangement ultimately crumbles when the Shaman takes a wrong turn and leads her followers right into the path of a group of red-teamers. She flees the scene immediately, leaving her worshippers to the mercy of the aggressive reds. Moments later, she runs into Min-Su, whose red team allegiance compels her to hide in one of the rooms.
While scouring the room, Seon-Nyeo realizes that the room contains the hallowed exit door for the maze. Thanking the gods, she tries to unlock it, only to learn that she needs all three types of keys – square, circle, and triangle – to break through the door. As such, she embarks on a quest to recover the missing keys, as she only possesses one of the shapes. During her hunt, she runs into Jeong-Dae, who has the other two keys she is looking for. They team up together to unlock the exit door and escape the maze. However, Jeong-Dae betrays her at the last second, escaping through the door himself while leaving her locked out. As a result, she is later found by Min-Su, who, in his inability to distinguish reality from hallucinations, kills her, believing he is murdering Nam-Gyu. Thus, she pays the ultimate price for Jeong-Dae’s betrayal.
While dissecting the reasons and the happenstance behind her death, it becomes evident that Seon-Nyeo’s murder is a combination of her own actions and the product of other people’s decisions. Throughout the show, she promotes an image of herself as a shaman, even though her abilities are fake. This leads to her creating enemies in different quarters of the participants, who all have a self-serving agenda like her. As such, when matters come to a head, she becomes a victim of the same selfishness she depicts for large chunks of the story, never considering or trying to help others in need. Therefore, there is a sense of inevitability to her passing because of the factors conspiring against her and her own desire to work against others to achieve her personal goals.
