| Saw character | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Jigsaw | |
| Birth name: | John Kramer |
| Nickname(s): | The Jigsaw Killer, Jigsaw |
| Gender: | Male |
| Age: | 52 (at death) |
| Relationships: | Amanda Young (apprentice) Mark Hoffman (accomplice/successor) Jill Tuck (ex-wife/accomplice) Lawrence Gordon (doctor) Art Blank (lawyer / business partner) William Easton (insurer) Gideon (unborn son) |
| : | Constructing symbolic death traps Psychological tortureIndirect physical torture |
| Status: | Deceased |
| First appearance: | Saw |
| Created by: | & |
| Portrayed by: | Tobin Bell |
History
The Jigsaw Killer was an alias used by three individuals, namely John Kramer, Amanda Young and Mark Hoffman. John Kramer was the original serial killer, although he never saw himself as a killer, more as a mentor.[1]
John Kramer was a succesful civil enigneer, who ventured much in property development. He was married to a woman, Jill Tuck who own a rehabitation clinic. John was a devoted husband and when Jill became pregnant, he started to build toys and a crib for the unborn child. He also restored an old clock as a gift to her. One day in the rehabitation clinic, one of Jill's patients, Cecil pulled a knife on Jill, claiming to have been waiting three hours for his treatment but John interfered and threw the man out. But their happy family fell apart when Cecil and his girlfriend Amanda Young [2] decided that if Jill wasn't going to 'help' (get drug money), he tried to rob the clinic at closing time. John was waiting in the car, while Jill was closing. Amanda tried to distract John but he asked her to leave him alone, not knowing what Cecil was doing. Cecil forced her to give him the money and became anxious when she didn't hurry. Afraid of getting caught, he tried to get away as soon as possible but accidently pushed the door into Jill's stomach, trapping her between the wall and the door, leading to miscarriage. Panicking, he fled the scene, leaving Jill behind. As John saw Cecil running by, he deduced something was wrong and went checking on Jill as fast as he could. But all was in vain as Jill had lost the baby. This tragic event, changed John perspective on life: only people can change themselves, you can try to help them but if they don't want help, all will be in vain. He tried to explain this new wisdom to Jill but she denied this and kept helping the very people who caused her miscarriage, the addicted. This caused John to become more detached from her as he blamed the addicts for their misfortune. His fury and bitterness got to a boiling point leading him to destroy everything he had ever built. Seeing his rage, this was the last straw for Jill and she decided to divorce him. [3][4]
But John's misfortune didn't stop with the loss of his unborn son, Gideon or his ended relation. During a routine medical check-up, his doctor, Lawrence Gordon, had bad news. John was diagnosed by Gordon with Colon cancer and an inoperatable brain tumor. It would be a matter of time, before it would become terminal. But John didn't gave up hope, he discovered that an doctor from the Middle East was working on an experimental drug therapy. The therapy already had have promising results with other patients and might be the only that could save his life. The only thing that was in the way, was the price. He couldn't afford the treatment. But for years he a loyal client of the Umbrella Health Corporation, he surely would get health insurance, but he was wrong. Due to the Umbrella Health policy, he was rejected by the Umbrealla Health Executive, William Easton. His condition was too severe, according to the company. Quickly he learned he wasn't the only one, as two-third of the clients were rejected. One of them was Harold Abbott, a man surviving from a serious heart disease. According to Harold, William Easton sentenced him to death, with his refusal. John was shocked to learn that one man could decide if another should life and die.Saw VI
Heartbroken by the fact that he was going to die from cancer, which at this stage became terminal, he took a drastic decision and drove his car from a cliff, in a suicide attempt. This however failed and he survived the crash, pulling a large iron bar from his stomach. He found strange irony in the fact that even his body was losing the battle with cancer, he was unable to commit suicide. He also discovered that he only started realizing the value of life since he knew his death was imminent. A value he would share with others who threw away their lifes or the lifes of others.
Jigsaw has put a current (up to Saw IV) number of 32 people through traps, not including David, from the original Saw movie (10 mins). He feels that he has helped them. He has an apprentice named Amanda Young. She was the one put through the Reverse Beartrap in the first Saw.
The Saw Puppet (known as Billy), commonly mistaken for the real Jigsaw. This is just the puppet Jigsaw uses to deliver messages to his victims. Jigsaw is shown above.
John eventually dies in Saw III. Jeff Denlon cuts John across the throat with a saw. In Saw IV, during Jigsaw's autopsy, a tape is found in his stomach. The tape reveals that even though he is dead, his games will continue. This is because he has another apprentice, Detective Mark Hoffman.
Saw
The Jigsaw Killer character was introduced in the 2004 film Saw through the character Dr. Gordon's recounting of his first killings. Jigsaw is described as a mysterious person who kidnaps people he sees as wasting their lives and attempts to "save" them by administering various inhumane tests. As opposed to other killers, Jigsaw does not actually intend to kill his subjects. The purpose of his traps is to see if the subject has the will to survive, and thus inflict enough psychological trauma for the subject to appreciate their life and save themselves from their own demons. As his victims increase, the media dubs him The Jigsaw Killer, or simply, Jigsaw; because of the jigsaw puzzle shaped piece of flesh that he cuts from an unsuccessful subject, a practice explained in Saw II as reflecting the subject "was missing a vital piece of the human puzzle; the survival instinct". Throughout the first film, his identity remains mostly unknown; the unstable ex-cop David Tapp suspects that he may be Dr. Gordon, one of the film's two protagonists, and near the end of the film Gordon and fellow protagonist Adam Faulkner are led to believe it is the hospital orderly Zep Hindle. Only at the end of the film is it revealed that the Jigsaw Killer was in fact a terminal cancer patient of Gordon's, John Kramer, who spent the entire movie posing as a corpse to watch the test he created for Adam and Dr. Gordon.
Saw II
Jigsaw is found in his lair when the police arrive led by Sergeant Rigg. Computer monitors show in Jigsaw's lair that eight people are trapped in an abandoned house (Nerve Gas House). The victims in the house have been given two hours to live and have been tasked with getting various antidotes located around the house. Among the survivors were Daniel Matthews; son of corrupt police officer Eric Matthews. John told Eric that if simply talked to him for enough time then could have his son back. After Eric sees a violent survivor chase after Daniel, Eric loses control and assaults John, forcing him to take him to the house at gunpoint. Eric gets there and enters it, where he is attacked by a pig masked figure. Meanwhile, a SWAT Team go to another house where they discover Daniel Matthews held in a safe and breathing through an oxygen mask. Upon awakening, Eric finds himself chained to his ankle to the pipes of a room; an audiotape laying beside him, recorded by Jigsaw's apprentice Amanda Young. She then appears in the doorway and seals the door, leaving him to die for failing his test.
Saw III
Jigsaw then went to kidnap Jeff Denlon (a man who refuses to continue his life since he wants revenge on his son's killer) and those involved in the incident including Danica Scott the only witness present who didn't help, Judge Halden who sentenced his son's murderer lightly and Timothy Young who killed Jeff's son. Meanwhile Jigsaw had planned to test Amanda Young as he discovered her direct murders and inescapable traps, having her keep another victim alive Lynn Denlon (Jeff's wife) and have her keep John alive long enough to see Jeff's game end as he is nearly sucumbing to his cancer. Jeff completed his tests but Amanda (blackmailed by Hoffman) shot Lynn in the back as Jeff came through. In anger, Jeff shot Amanda in the neck and left her to die. John then went to explain that he was indeed testing her but wanted her to succeed, as he was deeply saddened over her death. John then gave Jeff the choice to kill John with the tools over on a tray or forgive and spare his life. Jeff proceeded to kill him with a saw by slashing his throat, but activated a tape recorder which revealed that Jeff has lost his chance to rescue his daughter as John had locked her away with limited air supply and his the only person who knows where she is. Lynn also died from her trap as it would be triggered if John died or she went out of range from John. The doors of the game location then seeled as the timer expired, leaving Jeff to die with the corpses of Jigsaw, Amanda Young and Lynn Denlon.
Saw IV
In this movie, John is now dead alongside his apprentice Amanda Young but his games will continue as another apprentice of his, Mark Hoffman, is still alive and becomes Jigsaw's successor and is to continue the games. In the movie's beginning, it shows John's autopsy with a wax-coated microcassette found in his stomach which is given to Mark Hoffman, informing him that the games will continue and he too will be tested. A flashback is then shown with John being a civil engineer before he took the mantle of the Jigsaw Killer and John had a wife named Jill Tuck but divorced here after a thief and drug addict, Cecil Adams, robbed her clinic and killed their unborn son. After he learned of his cancer and a failed suicide attempt, John worked to test people who didn't appreciate their lives. His first target was Cecil Adams for being a drug addict and thief who is responsible for his son's death. John restrained to him a chair where blades restrained him and gave him a tool with kitchen knives where he had two choices: push his face hard enough in the knives for the chair to break or sit there to be bleed to death from the blades. Cecil escaped the trap but then lunged at John in an attempt to attack him, John moved and allowed him to die from blood loss when he accidentally jumped into a box of razor wire.
Saw V
John left his ex-wife, Jill Tuck, a videotape and box. The tape informs her that the items in the box are important, she opens the box to discover a key around her neck and looks inside, then leaves without disclosing its contents. It is revealed that before the movies events, Hoffman rigged a Jigsaw trap to kill Seth Baxter for murdering his sister and pinned the murder on the Jigsaw Killer. Though John used this information to blackmail Hoffman into working with him and becoming his first apprentice. The two worked together to set up most of Jigsaw's tests and traps including the Razor Wire Maze and the Nerve Gas House. Also Hoffman planted the penlight that led people to believe Dr. Lawrence Gordon is Jigsaw and provided John with the files of the victims planned to be used in the Nerve Gas House.
Saw VI
John appears on the television screens for some of William Easton's tests including the Oxygen Crusher Room and Tara's Test but sometimes used Billy the Puppet or even microcassettes. After John's death, Mark Hoffman carried this out for him eventually but John planned on testing his insurer, William Easton, along with his associates.
Saw VII
Lawrence Gordon is shown crawling out of the bathroom and looking for help. Later on, Mark Hoffman and Jill Tuck start to fight over John's legacy but eventually both lose in the end.
Traps/Tests
Jigsaw usually builds various eloborate death traps which often hold a symbolic representation of what Jigsaw believes as a flaw in the person's life. Jigsaw believes each of his victim deserves a chance of survival, so he calls these "games" and tells the victim the "rules" usually by microcassette or videotape. These games often involved quick thinking, ethically difficult decisions, self mutilation or in some cases putting the victim through psychological trauma that Jigsaw would be present to view. Jigsaw intends through these traps to force his victims to prove to him that they are "worthy" and "deserving" to continue with their lives, and also for them to learn to abandon what he believes to be their vices. Jigsaw himself often expressed a desire for his victims to pass, but stressed that their fate was always in their own hands.
Standard traps are devices or scenarios to a victim or victims, usually with the effect with causing serious physical harm or death if not removed by completing a given task before the time limit expires. Competition traps involves two or more victims who can survive these traps but only at the expense of their opponent's failure. Tests is where the victim are given rules, the outcome depends if the victim follows the rules and wins, or break the rules and loses. Losing often results in some sort of loss such as the death of a loved one. Trials are a series of tests that the victim must face while suffering psychological torture from the beginning up to the final test. The final test culminates in a final decision which will prove what the victim has learned from their trials. Security devices are designed to halt the progress of the victims and prevent them from proceeding, or to be used to protect Jigsaw and his apprentices from the police or other attackers.