Ali Abdul (Korean: 알리 압둘), also referred to as Player 199, is a main character in the first season of the South Korean Netflix drama TV series Squid Game. Ali is a migrant worker from Pakistan that came to South Korea with his wife and child and later joined the Squid Game to win the prize money for his family. During the games, Ali joins Seong Gi-hun and Cho Sang-woo’s team.
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He was portrayed by Anupam Tripathi, and voiced by Rama Vallury in the English dub.
199 Squid Game Personality
“ Ali: Have this. I saved it from dinner earlier. To give it to you, sir.
~ Ali Abdul giving the corn he received for dinner to Cho Sang-woo in gratitude for saving his life during the third game.
Sang-woo: Why would you do that?
Ali: You saved my life today, sir. I wanted to thank you.
Sang-woo: There’s no need to thank me. I did it to save myself.
Ali: You gave me the bus fare too. I should return the favor. „
Ali is an incredibly kind-hearted, naive, and selfless individual and the sweetest player in the games. He is a simple, sincere and caring person, determined to protect his family and friends.
Ali does not hesitate to help others and never demonstrates having self-serving reasons. He is also very optimistic and trusting, innocently believing in the goodness in others and expecting them to be good for him.
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He came to South Korea looking for a better life but ended up with no money, so he later entered the 33rd Squid Game. However, unlike many contestants in the games, Ali doesn’t join because of a debt that resulted from his own actions, instead, he has no money because his boss does not pay him for six months. Being optimistic, Ali continued to work for him, expecting to eventually be paid.
Despite being strictly against the Squid Game, as seen when he firmly votes in favor of the termination of the competition after the first game, Ali is willing to risk his own life to gain the money he needs to sustain his wife and one-year-old child, which prompts him to rejoin the games.
He behaves in a polite, friendly, and humble way, being always extremely honest. Wishing to be respectful, Ali refers to others like Seong Gi-hun and Cho Sang-woo as “sir/boss” (“sajangnim”). When he is dropped in Seoul after the games are terminated, Ali hesitates to accept the money Sang-woo offers him to take a bus, saying he won’t be able to pay him back.
Upon accepting the money, however, Ali becomes grateful to Sang-woo and repeatedly thanks him, often recalling Sang-woo’s kind gesture afterward. Ali is considerate to the point that, despite becoming close friends with Sang-woo, he hesitates to accept when Sang-woo asks him to be his game partner in the fourth game because he sees that Gi-hun was about to ask the same of Sang-woo.
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As Gi-hun and Sang-woo are childhood best friends, Ali only accepts Sang-woo’s offer when Gi-hun assures them that it is okay because he will look for another game partner. Ali is never seen lying at any point during the games, being open even about his insecurities and disadvantages. Because he is from a foreign country, Ali has little knowledge about Korean children’s games. Despite this, he openly admits this to his teammates, although he becomes clearly upset whenever he realizes he doesn’t know a game.
During the games, Ali shows to be truly altruistic, being sympathetic and caring even towards strangers. This is seen when he risks himself to save Gi-hun during the first game, even before the two of them knowing each other. This causes Gi-hun to be grateful to him, while Ali is happy that Gi-hun survived.
After joining the team that Gi-hun and Sang-woo form to survive the games, Ali shows concern for his teammates when they are in danger and relief when they survive the games. He also actively defends his team. When Jang Deok-su and his gang start a night riot, Ali saves Gi-hun again by fighting off the attackers who try to kill his friend and helps to protect the team from Deok-su’s group. Afterward, Ali says he was concerned for Oh Il-nam, who was missing and reappeared near the end of the riot.
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Throughout the competition, Ali develops a close friendship with Sang-woo. Ali becomes very grateful when Sang-woo helps him in Seoul and even more as Sang-woo aids him during the games. Sang-woo is the one who often reassures Ali about his insecurities, explaining to him the rules of the Korean games, causing Ali to admire and respect him. In turn, Sang-woo starts to genuinely care about Ali, recognizing his physical strength and enjoying his sincerity.
After Sang-woo saved their team in the Tug-of-War game, Ali is once again grateful and wishes to retribute Sang-woo’s goodness to him. This makes Ali save the corn the staff gave him for dinner to give it to Sang-woo, showing his care for him. When Sang-woo says that Ali can call him “older brother” (“hyung”) instead of “sir/boss” (“sajangnim”), Ali becomes very happy. Ali quickly becomes attached to this word, feeling that even within the terrible reality of the games, he has someone who can be with him until the end.
Because of his care for Sang-woo, Ali becomes happy and confident when Sang-woo chooses him as his partner before the Marbles game. However, he then is heartbroken when he finds out that they will have to play against each other. Ali is hesitant and pained to play with Sang-woo, even asking a masked soldier to change his partner because he realizes that Sang-woo is losing and he doesn’t want to cause his friend’s death.
Despite this, Ali determination to help his family outside the games makes him unwilling to die for Sang-woo when his friend begs for his life. As result of his desire to help both his own family and Sang-woo, Ali faces a dilemma. So, when his friend says that there is a way for them both to survive the games, Ali shows to be trusting and innocent enough to believe in Sang-woo.
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This ends up being a lie as Sang-woo decides to trick Ali to survive the game. Because of his naivety, Ali believes in Sang-woo until the very end. After Sang-woo left him, Ali looks for him, repeatedly calling out to him in his last moments. Upon realizing he was tricked by his closest friend in the competition, however, Ali shows no anger towards Sang-woo. Ali is just confused and devastated as soldier shoots him, eliminating him from the Squid Game. Ultimately, Ali was just too innocent and pure to survive the cruelty of the games.
