The Origins Of Squid Game's Newest Creepy Doll Explained

A hallmark of any successful show is an instantly identifiable character, and "Squid Game" had no shortage of those. The pink jumpsuits and ominous masks worn by the games' guards make for excellent Halloween costumes, but the show is also defined by Young-hee, the giant girl doll featured during the Red Light, Green Light games in both Seasons 1 and 2. Something a lot of people may not know about "Squid Game" is that the giant doll is real instead of being a CGI creation, and it's now been hinted in the post-credits scene of "Squid Game" Season 2 that she's about to get a friend. 

The brief sequence shows some players entering an arena with Young-hee as well as a giant boy doll, named Cheol-su. His inclusion in the show has been a long time coming, as the show's creator, Hwang Dong-hyuk, teased the doll back in 2022. 

Hwang Dong-Hyuk writer, director, producer, and creator of @squidgame has a message for the fans: pic.twitter.com/DxF0AS5tMM

— Netflix (@netflix) June 12, 2022

Cheol-su is Young-hee's boyfriend, but is that pertinent to his role in the games, or is he just another killer doll there to cause mayhem? Young-hee became utterly terrifying in Red Light, Green Light, tracking every player's movements to determine who should be eliminated (read: shot to death). Maybe Cheol-su has been saved for the third and final season for something even more horrific, but let's dive into the greater cultural significance of the two dolls. 

Young-hee and Cheol-su aren't just a random girl and boy. Their names are actually derived from traditional South Korean childhood stories, with the pair frequently being found in school textbooks to teach kids how to read or impart basic moral lessons. It's similar to how a lot of kids' stories in the United States will use the names Jack and Jill or Dick and Jane whenever a story is dependent on one boy and one girl.

With that in mind, the names of Young-hee and Cheol-su harken back to the players' childhoods, which is the entire framing device surrounding the games. Every competition, whether it's Red Light, Green Light, tug-of-war, or a pentathlon, is rooted in the things the players would have done when they were kids, creating an instant juxtaposition between the innocent nature of the games and the deadly outcome for most of the participants. 

Given that Young-hee and Cheol-su are often compared to Jack and Jill, a popular fan theory online is that the first game in "Squid Game" Season 3 will be some version of the "Jack and Jill" nursery rhyme, where players have to get a pail of water up a hill. Elements of Red Light, Green Light might be thrown in as well, with players only able to move when one of the dolls says, "Green light." But to be fair, we're not sure if this theory holds any water.

While there is a "Jack and Jill" board game, it's ultimately a concept that people who grew up in South Korea probably wouldn't know about. The central conceit of "Squid Game" is that everyone plays traditional Korean childhood games they all probably played before. This makes the games "fair" because no one has an inherent advantage over someone else. With that in mind, drawing from a Western nursery rhyme doesn't make a lot of sense. 

Besides, Hwang Dong-hyuk already told Entertainment Weekly, "[Cheol-su is] also a hint at the most exciting game in Season 3 as well." If he's hyping it up that much, it must be pretty special. The only other hint we get in the post-credits scene is a train crossing sign switching from red to green. Previously, the doll would just say "red light" or "green light," so the signal suggests something else will trigger the game's events. 

Whatever the game winds up being, it's possible it will tie into the trolley problem, a thought experiment about whether someone would allow a train to kill five people stuck on the tracks or pull a lever to divert the train to only kill one person. It's possible they'll play an even more messed-up version of Red Light, Green Light that incorporates elements of the trolley problem, with Cheol-su also keeping tabs on the players. This is all just speculation for the time being, and until we get Season 3, Cheol-su will remain one of the most intriguing unanswered questions of "Squid Game" Season 2.