This article's content is marked as Mature The page Han Mi-nyeo contains mature content that may include coarse language, sexual references, and/or graphic violent images which may be disturbing to some. Mature pages are recommended for those who are 18 years of age and older.
If you are 18 years or older or are comfortable with graphic material, you are free to view this page. Otherwise, you should close this page and view another page.
I'm good at everything, except the things I can't do.
„
~ Han Mi-nyeo's catchphrase.
“
Jang Deok-su, you asshole. I said I'd kill you if you betrayed me.
„
~ Mi-nyeo to Deok-su.
“
You're such an idiot. Did you believe I'd really die so you could go on?
„
~ Mi-nyeo to Deok-su.
Han Mi-nyeo (Korean: 한미녀), also referred to as Player 212, is a main character in the first season of the South Korean Netflix drama show Squid Game. Mi-nyeo is a manipulative woman who joined the Squid Game to win the prize money to solve her financial issues. Initially allied with Jang Deok-su and his gang, she is betrayed and swears revenge on the gangster. This also causes her to join Seong Gi-hun and Cho Sang-woo's team.
Mi-nyeo: Move aside. Deok-su: Really? You're going to go first? Mi-nyeo: Yes. I'm Han Mi-nyeo. I'm not going to die, standing around with a little bitch like you.
„
~ Han Mi-nyeo tricking Jang Deok-su to kill him during the fifth game.
Mi-nyeo is a very loud, talkative and over the top person. She usually brags about herself and says "I'm good at everything, except the things I can't do". She attempts to appear tough and even nasty in the outside, but she is in fact a very vulnerable person, who is hurt and doesn't want to reveal her true emotions. Because of this, Mi-nyeo puts an act to hide that she is more lonely and scared than anyone else. And she does it by trying to call attention to herself, but her fear regarding others results in her not being able to really fit anywhere.[1][2]
Mi-nyeo often acts as a rude and unpleasant person. Besides bragging about herself, she will also talk badly about others to make herself look better. This is seen when she says that Kang Sae-byeok is just a scrawny girl, when she tries to convince Jang Deok-su to accept her in his group while he is trying to recruit Sae-byeok. She says the same about both Sae-byeok and Ji-yeong when she joins Seong Gi-hun and Cho Sang-woo's team before the third game and tries to convince the team that she is better than the other women. She also will not accept others talking badly or mocking her. When Ali Abdul points out that she was scared and mocks her for panicking during the Tug-of-War, Mi-nyeo tries to get him out of the team by stating to the others that Ali is an "illegal alien" and should be replaced. Ironically, her rudeness and the over the top act she maintains to impress others causes everyone to reject and underestimate her, even the more sympathetic and friendly players in the games like Gi-hun and Ali.
During the games, Mi-nyeo shows to be very resourceful. She quickly accepts to help Sae-byeok to get inside the vent in the bathroom as soon as she realizes that the girl can find out something about the next game, so she efficiently distracts and deceives the masked soldier waiting for them. Despite having smuggled her lighter to the games because of her smoking addiction, she later uses it not only to cut out her dalgona candy and survive the second game, but also to gain Deok-su as her ally. As Deok-su initially rejects her in his gang, she helps him by lending her lighter to him during the Dalgona (Sugar Honeycombs) game. This results in Deok-su surviving the challenge and accepting her in his group. When each player only receives a hard-boiled egg and a glass bottled soda for lunch, Mi-nyeo is the one who suggests Deok-su that the gang could simply get in the line again to get more food. In the fifth game, she manages to convince Deok-su that she will jump to the next glass tile first, so that she won't die with everyone else because the time will run out if the gangster continues to block their way. This ends up being a trick to kill Deok-su, with Mi-nyeo grabbing him after jumping to his glass tile and then jumping off the bridge with him.
Mi-nyeo's main strategy to survive the games is trying to stick with the team that will favor her the most and also attempting to get on the good side of whoever is in charge of the group. Because of this, she will value allies who show physical strength, intelligence and/or leadership skills. She approaches Deok-su and asks him to accept her in his gang because his group appears to be strong. After she is accepted in the gang, she seduces and then hooks up with him to solidify her position in the group. However, this fails as Deok-su kicks her out of the gang to have a team of only strong men before the Tug-of-War game. Joining Gi-hun and Sang-woo's team, she recognizes Sang-woo as the leader after his intelligence and leadership skills saved the team during the third game. She praises him for his last-second tactic and calls him a "cool guy", although Sang-woo explains that there is no official leader within the team. When players are instructed to form teams of two for the fourth game, Gi-hun is the first one she begs to accept her since he also has shown leadership skills which make him technically the other unofficial leader of the group besides Sang-woo. When Gi-hun rejects her, she turns to Sang-woo and asks him the same, but fails.
As much as she tries to appear tough, Mi-nyeo will show her more desperate side in dangerous situations, and will make claims to manipulate others and favor herself. After witnessing half the players dying in the first game, she tells the masked men that she has a baby, so they let her go home. When players should find partners for the fourth game, she makes several claims to point out her intelligence and skills, including saying she committed fraud five times in the past, to convince her teammates to choose her. Because of this, it is uncertain if her claims are in fact the truth or just stories she comes up to favor herself. However, because the manipulation and begging for the others' sympathy is so exaggerated, it usually does not work.
Anytime she thinks that there is no way out an imminent danger, Mi-nyeo will panic and fear for her life. This is shown when she starts to scream as her team is being dragged to fall to death during the Tug-of-War. She is also very pessimistic, believing that Sang-woo's plan won't work, although she does what he instructs his teammates to do and it ends up saving the team. When she is the only player left without a partner before the Marbles game, Mi-nyeo panics and screams as the masked soldiers drag her out of the place, because she thinks that she will be executed. In contrast to this, she is quick to become confident and also to scorn others when the situation ends up working in her favor. As the players discover that Mi-nyeo was not killed by the soldiers, she confidently explains how they were so nice in letting her go back to the dormitory because she was excluded from the game. She laughs because the other players rejected her and had to risk their lives in the fourth game while she was safely sleeping in the dormitory, and mocks especially Deok-su, who was so eager to get rid of her.
Ultimately, despite having so much fear, Mi-nyeo shows to be incredibly brave and determined. She votes against the termination of the games after seeing the large amount of money accumulated in the piggy bank, wanting to continue to play for considering her life outside "hell". She is willing to risk her life to win the games, although she is very scared of dying. When the majority votes to end the games, Mi-nyeo begs the staff to let her continue to play with the others that are willing to stay. This makes her a contrast to Deok-su, who also pretends to be tough to hide his fear, but is a coward that constantly runs away from his problems whenever he can, especially if it is going to endanger his life.
Mi-nyeo will also keep her promises of revenge, even at the expense of her own life. Because Deok-su betrayed her after she stated that she would kill him if he did so, Mi-nyeo holds a strong grudge for the gangster as he used and abused her, before discarding her. Mi-nyeo makes her goal to take him down, which she eventually succeeds, putting this goal even above her own survival in the fifth game. Mi-nyeo shows her contempt and makes sure to humiliate him for his cowardice, before dragging the gangster to his death with her. This results in her taking out the obstacle that was endangering the other players' lives as no one could continue the game because of Deok-su blocking their way. Thus, Mi-nyeo suicidal act is not only amazingly brave, but also ends up benefiting the remaining surviving players.
Skipped this game for being left without a partner
Game 5: Glass Stepping Stones (Time Limit: 16 minutes)
Yes
-
-
No (eliminated with around 4 minutes left)
Picked number 11; committed suicide to kill Deok-su
Game 6: Squid Game
No
-
-
-
-
Trivia
Kim Joo-ryoung (Mi-nyeo's actress) said that she felt a lot of pity and sympathy for her character and she was emotional while portraying her. She explained that as much as Mi-nyeo seems hateful, fickle, loud, and nasty, it is just a façade to hide her true emotions. In the inside, she more lonely, hurt, and scared than the others.[1][2]
Heroes
Heroes
