Jonathan 'Jigsaw' Kramer
Jonathan Kramer, commonly referred to as The Jigsaw Killer or simply Jigsaw, is a fictional character in the Saw film series. Jigsaw made his debut appearance as the primary antagonist in the first film of the series Saw, and later Saw II and Saw III. He is portrayed by American actor Tobin Bell.
Jigsaw is introduced in the series as a dying cancer patient who is obsessed with teaching people the value of their own lives. As stated by the producers of the third film, and Director Darren Lynn Bousman, Jigsaw is not considered an actual serial killer, but a "scientist" who is determined to initiate the survival instinct in his "subjects", believing that humanity no longer used its instinct of survival.
In the series, Jigsaw usually builds deadly traps for his subjects, which are often a symbolic representation of what is seen as a flaw in the person's life. Jigsaw calls these tests "games", and tells the person the "rules" of the game either by audio or video tape. The rules are tasks that the person must perform in order to pass the test and survive; however, the tasks often involve extreme self-mutilation, although Jigsaw on occasion has used psychological torture for the subject's test.
Even though Jigsaw is not considered a conventional killer, in the first film, he can be seen slashing the throat of a detective in an attempt to escape arrest. The detective lives, but is killed by another character later in the film.
Appearances John Kramer before he became Jigsaw.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 murderer who kidnaps people he sees as wasting their lives and putting them through symbolic death traps, being a physical representation of the problems that Jigsaw saw in their lives. As his victims increase, the media dub him the "The Jigsaw Killer" - or simply, "Jigsaw" - because of the jigsaw puzzle-shaped piece of flesh that he cuts from an unsuccessful victim, a practice explained in Saw II as reflecting the victim "was missing a vital piece of the human puzzle; the survival instinct". Throughout the film his identity remains mostly unknown; the unstable ex-cop David Tapp suspects he is in fact 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. 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, who spent the entire movie posing as a corpse to watch the test he subjected Adam and Dr. Gordon to.
Much of the character's backstory was revealed in Saw II and the one-shot comic Saw: Rebirth. John Kramer was originally a toy designer working at Standard Engineering Ltd. who lived an uneventful life out of laziness and complacency. His attitude towards life results in his wife Jill leaving him, but John remains much the same until discovering from Dr. Gordon he has an inoperable frontal lobe tumor and cancer, a revelation that made him realize how valuable and temporary life is. During his stay at the hospital, John becomes distraught at seeing people wasting their lives, knowing his will end soon, and after discovering his successful coworker Paul (a victim in Saw) has cut his wrists he makes a suicide attempt by driving his car off of a cliff. The attempts fails, and John instead decides to dedicate what remains of his life to make people appreciate their own lives by making them face death.
In Saw II, Jigsaw leaves a hint in one of his traps that leads police to apprehend him. There, he puts police Detective Eric Matthews through a test by showing him his son trapped in a house filled with sarin, along with people whom Matthews had framed for crimes they did not commit. Jigsaw offers to let the younger Matthews survive if the Detective sits and talks to him, which ends with Eric brutally beating Jigsaw and forcing him to lead him to the house. Upon their arrival Jigsaw is rescued by Amanda Young, one of his victims who, having survived her trap and seeing her captor as a savior, has become his apprentice.
Jigsaw pouring wax over a tape.By Saw III, a dying Jigsaw is bedridden and extremely concerned over Amanda's practice of making traps that have no escape, a significant break from his M.O. While having Amanda conduct his final experiment, Jigsaw simultaneously puts her through a test to see if she is capable of continuing his work after he dies. She fails this test as she grows jealous of the attention that Jigsaw was giving to the victim Lynn Denlon, a doctor charged with keeping him alive until her husband Jeff Reinhart completed the test set out for him. Amanda ultimately shoots the doctor as Jeff enters the lair. Witnessing his wife getting shot down, Jeff kills Amanda. Jigsaw is promptly killed in turn by Jeff, who slices his throat with a power-saw, triggering a device attached to Lynn to kill Lynn and sealing them all in the make-shift hospital room.
Jigsaw's death has been confirmed as canon and the producers have no plans to resurrect him, although he is planned to appear in future installments in the Saw franchise. A scene from Saw IV released by Fearnet shows a tape being found in Jigsaw's stomach during his autopsy taunting the police that "the games have just begun". A toe-tag on his corpse revealed John to be 52 at the time of his death.
Hello, America. Do you wanna play a game?
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