SPOILER WARNING! This article contains spoilers from Season 2 |
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- Thanks to you, I bonded quickly with Nam-gyu here. Because we shared the same pain.
- —Thanos to Lee Myung-gi
Thangyu is the slash ship between Choi “Thanos” Su-bong and Nam-gyu from the Squid Game fandom.
Canon[]
Lobby[]
Thanos and Nam-gyu made their first appearances during Season 2 of Squid Game. They join the games recruited by The Salesman. During their first day there, the two meet. Both lost money due to the crypto investment Myung-gi had promoted, the two losing big amounts of money cause of this. That made them relate to each other and ended up befriending each other.

Nam-gyu stopping Thanos from fighting Myung-gi.
Thanos and Nam-gyu go confront Myung-gi together about the millions of won they lost. Nam-gyu is mistakenly called Nam-Su by Thanos. Angered by Myung-gi's response, Thanos starts a physical fight which is quickly separated by Nam-gyu. They leave together afterwards.
Thanos was a well-known rapper, and was soon recognized by a lot of people who wish to take a photo with him. Given the high demand, Nam-gyu proposed to take a group photo in order to let Thanos rest. When they were taking their player ID pictures, many fans including Nam-gyu who clings to him, try getting in the picture. The group picture initiative gets rejected by the guards and end up taking them apart. He promises to take pictures with them when they leave. They are seen walking together briefly on the stairs afterwards.

Thanos and Nam-gyu when taking the ID pictures.
Red Light, Green Light[]
Before Red Light, Green Light started, Thanos starts hitting on Player 196, Kang Mi-na. Nam-gyu seems annoyed when looking at the scene from a distance. They don't stay together during the first game. When Red Light Green Light is over and they're back into the dorm room, Thanos is seen slightly agitated. Nam-gyu asks him if he's alright, visibly concerned about him.
During the first voting, both of them choose circle, or to continue playing. And when it's over and circle won, they celebrate together by doing a chest bump.
The next day, both went back to intimidate Myung-gi again during lunch time. They started jumping on him together, still upset about the crypto incident. They kick him on the floor until Young Il stops them. Thanos is offended by his intervention and starts insulting him, which he gets responded with an attack on which Thanos asked for him to stop while Nam-Gyu witnessed.
Six-Legged Pentathlon[]
Before the second game started, Thanos eats some drug pills that he had snuck into the games in a cross necklace. Nam-gyu notices and asks him about it. When the Six-Legged Pentathlon began, players were required to form teams. Nam-gyu becomes part of Thanos' group, and his right man. Thanos invites Se-mi to join them, something Nam-gyu is displeased by it but they join anyway along with Min-su. Nam-gyu seems close to Thanos during the recruitment. After joining, Nam-gyu till seems upset by them being in their team.
While waiting for their turn, Nam-gyu asks Thanos to give him some drug pills, for he was nervous and shaking. Thanos initially denies his request but later fulfills it by giving him a pill after being convinced when he reminds him that he sent him drugs some previous time before the games started. Nam-gyu seems proud of eating it. They sat together on the waiting area.
When Hyun-ju's team won, they both celebrated together their victory while in their respective waiting area.
When it was their turn to go, Thanos did the last mini game while Nam-gyu did the second to last. Their group passed.
After the game was over, they sat together with the rest of their group on the dorms. Nam-gyu starts bothering Min-su and Se-mi, making Thanos intervene. He once again gets his name wrong calling him "Nam-su" and "Nam-gu", and encourages them to get along. He tells him go respect Se-mi more, he just laughs awkwardly in response.
During the second voting, they also voted the same as they previously did. Together they pressure Min-su into voting circle.
Thanos and Nam-gyu approached Myung-gi when he was on the restroom. Once more attempting to intimidate him. He tries ignoring them, but they continue. Myung-gi insults Thanos, and is not well-appreciated. Thanos briefly attacked him but left soon after. Nam-gyu appeared entertained by that. The next morning, Nam-gyu climbs down to Thanos' bottom bunk bed and asks for more pill drugs. They end up consuming them together. This was disapproved by Se-mi who discouraged Min-su from joining them.
Mingle[]

Thanos and Nam-gyu dancing together during Mingle.
While walking on the stairs to move to the next game, they are seen teasing each other briefly, possibly high. Still before they fully arrive at the game area near the entrance they are seen again.
So when the third game, Mingle started and they were rotating the first time, Thanos dances slightly, and Nam-gyu smiles at him. Ten players are allowed into the room, and their team joined a room.
On the second round of Mingle, both of them danced the traditional move for the game together. They we're the only ones doing so. The players allowed were 4. Thanos immediately discard the fifth member of their team, Gyeong-su, and him along with Nam-gyu, Se-mi and Min-su join a room. Nam-gyu is seen to try holding Thanos' arm and fail. Thanos and Nam-gyu were the firsts to run off to claim a room and enter it. Thanos seems upset about Gyeong-su being left behind despite being the one who did so.
In the third round of Mingle, Thanos and Nam-gyu immediately partner up and force Se-mi and Min-su to decide who would go with them by playing rock paper scissors. Se-mi intends to partner up with Min-su and find a third member instead of joining them and extends her hand to him, but he hands scissors, winning the match. And he teams up with Thanos and Nam-gyu.
Round four of Mingle requires a team of 6. It is implied they partnered up again, possibly with Min-su and other 3 people.
The last round of Mingle is of 2 players. Thanos is seen shaking his head fast and quickly chooses Nam-gyu over Min-su as his partner, showing his preference for him. Before entering a room, both of them work together and manage to prevent another team from taking it.
When Mingle is over, Thanos hugs Min-su and Nam-gyu follows him, but keeps his distance. Thanos tells him he meant to chose him, likely untrue. They both praise Min-su about surviving and betraying Se-Mi on the rock paper scissors match.
The 3 of them chill together on the dorm, Thanos is mumbling "Min-su, Nam-su, Thanos-su" when Nam-gyu interrupts him and points out to Thanos about a potential relationship between 222 and 333. Thanos expresses he's somewhat impressed he managed to get a girlfriend in the game.
During the third voting, they vote circle once more. However, Se-mi votes "X" to show her rebellion against them (as she feels betrayed by Min-su) and looks over at them 3. Thanos and Nam-gyu visibly disapproving of her and making gestures. When it's Thanos' turn to vote, he skips to the voting machine and kisses the circle button, afterwards he makes a circle sign with his arms and says "Let's go circle!". Right before Min-su goes voting, Thanks gestured circle to them with his arm, to which Nam-gyu gestured it back at him. Thanos and Nam-gyu had allegedly sworn as friends to play one more game and ask Min-su to vote "O". Min-su rebels as he feels bad for betraying Se-mi. Nam-gyu, noticibly upset smashes the circle button. In the end, Thanos' and Nam-gyu's group is reduced to them two, who both voted "O". The voting ends up on a draw. And players are told that they will re-vote the following day.
Bathroom Fight[]
Later on, Min-su is hiding on a bathroom stall, fearing Thanos and Nam-gyu could be angered by his action. Both of them team up to persuade him into voting "O". In a failed attempt of convincing him to switch sides, Thanos starts narrating him about how he got recruited right before he jumped to commit suicide on the Han bridge. He tells him about he wants to make his mom proud. However, Myung-gi intervenes, telling Thanos that threatening people into switching sides was not allowed. Nam-gyu and Thanos start talking back to him. Myung-gi and Thanos start to provoke their respective sides into conflict. Thanos mentioned player 222 to Myung-gi and starts talking about her, and speculated about their relationship together. Nam-gyu added to the conversation by throwing speculations about Young-hee until Myung-gi had enough and started a physical fight with him that immediately escalated to both sides fighting.
Thanos's Death[]
Thanos initially had the upper hand when fighting Myung-gi, hitting him, insulting him, provoking and threatening that everything important to him, like his girlfriend his money, would now belong to Thanos. The advantage Thanos had on the fight would soon be done when Myung-gi stabbed his lower chin a couple times with a fork from lunch earlier. As a result of the deep wounds, Thanos bled to death, losing his life and the fight.
While this was happening, Nam-gyu was fighting someone else, failing to notice Thanos on the floor bleeding. He gets kicked down by another player from the "X" team and lands right by his side. This is when he sees Thanos' dead body but doesn't react much given he was being attacked. He grabs Thanos' cross necklace and instantly removes the fork that had killed him to fight someone, stabbing his attacker with it multiple times, visibly enraged. Nam-gyu leaves the bathroom along with other survivors of the fight. Thanos however had not survived, so his body was taken on a gift coffin box.

Nam-gyu after Thanos' death.
"Player 230 eliminated" was heard.
Nam-gyu tells the "X" people about how an "O" person (Myung-gi) had killed his friend during a fight on the bathroom. Both sides argue that the other started it first. Tensions arose between the players.
The next day, Nam-gyu is seen affected by Thanos's death. He claims he hated him and was done with Thanos's poor treatment but he seemed sad rather than angry. He was holding Thanos's cross necklace and ate a drug pill.
Fanon[]
Thangyu is the second most written ship in the Squid Game tag on AO3.
The ship’s most popular form of fancontent is comical sometimes even satirical at best. With this form of content in mind some posts bring the cargo ship ThanosxFork alongside Thangyu.
Thangyu is quickly rising in popularity as one of the most popular ships in the Squid Game fandom since season 2 came out, given their good chemistry and their continuous time together. Their dynamic is appreciated and loved within the fandom, as many fans enjoy their fun moments together and some joke that Nam-gyu often acts like he has a crush on Thanos. It is also pointed out by fans how Nam-gyu often seems jealous when Thanos interacts with others, which is another reason among many why the pairing is enjoyed. Thangyu’s main rival ships are ShyPills and ForkBee. It's sometimes shipped alongside Seminsu.
There are currently 1,024 works for them on AO3.
Fandom[]
- FAN FICTION
- Thanos/Namgyu tag on AO3
- Thanos & Namgyu tag on AO3
- Thangyu stories on Wattpad
- Thagyu stories on Wattpad
- TIKTOK
- Thangyu tag on TikTok
- Thagyu tag on TikTok
- тангю tag on TikTok
- 230 x 124 tag on TikTok
- 124 x 230 tag on TikTok
- 354 tag on TikTok
- Thangyu hashtag on Twitter
- Thagyu hashtag on Twitter
- 230 x 124 hashtag on Twitter
- 124 x 230 hashtag on Twitter
- Thangyu hashtag on Instagram
- Thagyu hashtag on Instagram
- 230 x 124 hashtag on Instagram
- 124 x 230 hashtag on Instagram
- TUMBLR
- Thangyu tag on Tumblr
- Thagyu tag on Tumblr
- 230 x 124 tag on Tumblr
- 124 x 230 tag on Tumblr
- 354 tag on Tumblr
- Boyfents tag on Tumblr
Trivia[]
- Nam-gyu states that he has met Thanos before they met at the game, when he worked as a club promoter, he sent him drugs.
- Nam-gyu is often holding Thanos.
- Thanos and Nam-gyu are seen together in every game except "Red Light Green Light".
- Thanos and Nam-gyu always chose each other in every round of the "Mingle" game.
- When Nam-gyu showed his arm to Thanos as proof that he had already taken drugs, Thanos showed a worried face.
- Thanos and Nam-gyu both joined due to losing money to the crypto investment Myung-gi suggested on his channel.
- Nam-gyu sat on Thanos' bed after his death.
- In a Squid Game Netflix video on TikTok the staff replied to the comment "And they were roommates" with "oh my god they were rommates".
- Actor of Thanos, T.O.P, has complimented Nam-gyu's actor, Roh Jaewon's interpretation of the character on a recent interview.
- On the same intervew, right after, he said "My Nam-su" as a follow up comment.
- In a Squid Game Netflix video on TikTok the staff replied to the comment "My Namsu" (referring to T.O.P's previous interview comment) with "What a pair".
- In a Squid Game Netflix tweet on X the staff replied to a comment saying: "My Nam-su" IM ILL with "my head hit the wall i began to pass out".
- Under the same tweet the staff replied to a photo showing T.O.P's comment with "💜".
- T.O.P liked a reel on Instagram from a Roh Jaewon/Nam-gyu fan account, the video is about Roh Jaewon receiving love from his fans.
Gallery[]
- Main article: Thangyu/Gallery
Videos[]
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Squid Game Ships • Squid Game Characters | ||
SHIPS | het | 555 • 07069 • DaeJu • ForkBee • Eulseok • Hyunseok • HyunSik • NyeoSu • Semigyu • Seminsu • Thanmi |
slash | 457 • 324250 • Alihun • Aliwoo • DaeHun • Juncruiter • JunHun • SalesHun • Sangihun • ShyPills • Thanggi • Thangyu | |
femslash | Hyunmi • HyunNyeo • Jibyeok | |
poly | Gihun's Harem | |
friendship | Gi-hun's Team • SaeHun | |
cargo | Gi-hun x Umbrella • The Salesman x Gun | |
CHARACTERS | female | Cho Hyun-ju |
male | Seong Gi-hun • Thanos |