I think I understand Gi-huns death and why it happened now. And why a "Happy ending" would've never worked.

I keep seeing people say that his death was a waste, and that he did it all for nothing. This is far from true. If we go off the 2020 games, Gi-hun was capable of ending the games with him and the baby right there. But he didnt for a reason. that reason is because it wouldnt end the games 1 at all. What people need to understand is that Gi-huns mental state has been pretty bad since the 2020 games. If he participated again and made it to the last game, its gonna be even worse now that theres entirely new people he has met there, and seen die with his own eyes once again. His mental state is already pretty bad by this point, and is evident by the fact that he literally tried to kill himself after killing Dae-ho. Now you have a suicidal Gi-hun, at his lowest point possible. And he can either go home with him and the baby, knowing that his efforts in the end meant nothing, and he just watched all the people he met die once again. Or he can sacrafice himself, in a last effort to stop the games.

Gi-Hun met the Front man when he gave him a dagger to kill other players. He saw his room, he knew he was watching. So in a last effort to stop the game. He turned to the screen, aware the Front man is watching and says "We are not horses, we are humans" as a direct message to him. He shows him this by sacraficing himself and jumping off for a baby thats not even his, one he barely even knows the mother of. But yet, he jumped off to prove his message to the Front man, someone who barely values the human life of others. His efforts were not in vain either, as Gi-hun had Succeeded. The games in Korea are implied to have ended, and the Front man has seemingly learned from Gi-huns words and actions. This can be seen in the 6 month time skip, when he just dead almost disappointed look at the women playing ddakji, likely for his past actions.

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Now as for why a happy ending would've never worked, its mostly just a combination of what've said before about Gi-huns mental. If Gi-hun voted to end the games like he did in season 1. The state he would be in would already make a "happy ending" impossible for Gi-Hun. His mental would only get worse from there, knowing that he never even stopped the games. He has went through the squid games twice now. His mental was already bad after the first squid games. Now he went through it again with the goal of stopping the games, in which he failed and saw multiple people and multiple new people he met die again, and now has even more billions of dollars as a reminder of it. He was already pretty down prior to the 2024 games. He tried to get the Front man to kill him after seeing Jung-Bae, his best friend, die. And then again after he was put back into the games by trying to get the guards to shoot him. A final 3rd time after choking Dae-ho to death, after realizing his mistake.

I dont think its crazy to say that if Gi-Hun did survive these games, he would have either committed suicide anyway. A much more sad ending than the one we got