By now, it seems like everyone on the Internet is hooked on the Squid Game, the biggest show in Netflix history, which follows a deadly game consisting of rounds based on traditional children's games (open in new tab) from Korea and around the world. If you drop out, you die. If you survive to the end, you win 45.6 billion Korean won ($38 million). The players (open in new tab) are all people with debts that could ruin their lives, chosen by a secret group that runs the game for the enjoyment of wealthy VIPs.

By the season finale (opens in new tab), thanks to the detective storyline, we know how the game is run, but not who created it. The big surprise of the show is that we've been watching the host, the creator, all along: Oh Il-nam (player 001) is an old man who has befriended the eventual winner, Song Ki-hoon (player 456). After years of watching the game, Oh Il-nam (Player 001) was dying of a brain tumor.

The fact that the gentle old man was actually a monster who killed 455 people came as a surprise to most viewers. However, creator Hwang Dong-hyuk included multiple clues and Easter eggs throughout all nine episodes that revealed Oh's true identity. Here are all the clues to 001's true identity.

After half the players were shot down, 001 was the first to move on while everyone else was still in shock. Dementia seems to have affected him, but it is likely that the creator knew what was going to happen and was unfazed.

Looking at the players through the animatronic Death Doll scanner, there is another clue: when scanning over 001, he is not highlighted as brightly as the other players. It is assumed that when he moves, the robot does not shoot him. This small detail (along with several others) suggests that he had a contingency plan to survive each round.

At the end of the riot scene, 001 climbs onto the bed and yells for the guards to stop fighting. He says that if the fight continues, there will be no more players, and yells, "Stop this madness. Stop this madness." Immediately after his plea, the front man turns on the lights and sends in the guards. At first it seems odd that the leader of the security force would stop a riot because the old man is scared, but it makes a lot of sense once you realize that 001 is the frontman's boss.

001's tug-of-war strategy is thorough and near perfect, and when the game begins, his team has the upper hand. The old man does not explain where he got that strategy from, but he probably either learned it from watching the game over the years or came up with it. Also, a closer look at the handcuffs holding the players to the ropes showed that the 001 handcuffs were not actually locked, giving them a chance to escape if they lost.

Before each round, we see 001 say that he remembers all the games from his youth or childhood. In the marbles game, he says he remembers a neighborhood-themed playground. He follows Gihoon around until he finds a house that looks like his own. He appears to be suffering from a bout of dementia (perhaps faking it), but he probably designed the set to resemble his own neighborhood.

When detective Joon-ho (open in new tab) finds the game records, he first looks through the year's roster of players in an attempt to find his lost brother. But the file opens with player 002; there is no record of 001. This is because he was not scouted, he was just a VIP who came in.

Squid Game does not shy away from the deaths of its characters. For the fallen players, the bodies are shown at or shortly after the moment they are killed; in 001, the camera shows Gihoon walking away and flinching at the sound of gunfire; in 001, the camera begins as Gihoon walks away and flinches at the sound of gunfire; in 001, the camera begins as he walks away and flinches at the sound of gunfire; in 001, the camera begins as he walks away and flinches at the sound of gunfire.

001 tells Gihoon before "death" that his real name is Oh Il Nam, and confirms in the finale that it is his real name. This person's name translates in English as "the first man": "il" means "one" and "nam" means "man. He is the number one (creator) of the game, the number one (front man boss) among the guards, and literally the number one player.

The host, a Korean man in a golden mask, is briefly shown before the other VIPs arrive. As the front man announces that the game is about to begin, he removes his gold mask and we see his aged hands. The scene switches before we see his face, but after the king appears we see the scene again where the king is the VIP. If we watch episode 7 again, the hand holding the mask is the same as the old man's.

In addition to Oh Il-nam's clues, creator Hwang actually hints at the cause of each character's death early in the season, mainly in episode 2, when he returns to his life. Gangster Dox (101) jumps off a bridge and falls through a glass bridge to his death. Ali (199) steals money from the boss, gets robbed of his marbles, and is shot. Saebyeok (067) (open in new tab) holds a knife to his broker's throat and Sang-woo (218) cuts his own throat and dies. Sang-woo tries to kill himself in his apartment and later kills himself in the final round.

Now that you've had your mind blown enough, "Squid Game" may be worth another rewatch.