Jigsaw (Saw character)

The character of John Kramer is also featured in the non-canon comic book Saw: Rebirth, which is set prior to the events of the first film. It filled in some of his history, showing him as a toy designer at Standard Engineering Ltd. who was too lazy to do much with his life, ultimately ending his relationship with Jill. Saw: Rebirth also reveals John's discovery that he had terminal cancer and outlined how his subsequent suicide attempt impacted his train of thought. His relationships with Dr. Lawrence Gordon, Zep Hindle, Paul, Amanda Young, and Mark were explored, along with his transformation into Jigsaw. Rebirth's continuity was ultimately contradicted by the backstory presented in Saw IV.

Tobin Bell reprises his role as the voice of Jigsaw in the Saw video game. He is shown on television screens dressed in his signature robes setting up traps for people and preaching his lesson of life appreciation to them. He frequently advises and taunts Detective Tapp as he traverses through an abandoned insane asylum, usually by way of the Billy the Puppet. In the game's "Freedom" ending, Tapp escapes from the asylum, but cannot overcome his obsession with Jigsaw and later commits suicide; the game's sequel confirms that this ending is canon.

Tobin Bell reprised his role as the voice of the Jigsaw Killer in the Saw: The Video Game sequel Saw II: Flesh & Blood. Tobin Bell also sold his likeness for John Kramer, who actually appears in the game.

John tests Detective Tapp's estranged son Michael, who is wanting to get to the bottom of his father's death. Jigsaw personally taunts Michael throughout the game, always being out of reach. Via case files, it is also revealed that he built nearly half of the city (explaining his numerous hideouts in the series). He appears to seek the destruction of the drug cartel run by corrupt cops. In the ending, he faces either Michael (tempting him into becoming another apprentice) or Campbell Iman (offering him freedom but forced to lure him into a lethal trap when he tries to attack him).

In the series, John usually builds deadly traps for his subjects, which are often a symbolic representation of what he perceives as a flaw in the person's life (most of the traps are made of scavenged materials, rusty bolts, decaying iron, or anything else he thinks will help him create a new "game"). John calls these tests "games", and tells the person the "rules" of the game, usually by microcasette or video tape. The rules are tasks that the person must perform in order to pass the test and survive, though the tasks often involve extreme self-mutilation; however, not only have there been occasions where it is possible for the subject not to harm themself if they are bright enough (such as the "razor box trap" in Saw II), but not all of the traps require self-mutilation, as one trap actually required a man (Jeff Denlon) to burn his deceased son's possessions to retrieve the key to save the second victim (which was psychological torture and therefore forced him to burn the memory of his son to save the victim).

Many of the games involve measured time constraints provided to the victims, including but not limited to clocks or counting down timers. John elaborated in Saw II his appreciation of "time", outlining the importance of savoring every moment. He also stated his belief that telling someone the time in which they may die would awaken an alertness for every moment of existence.

Jake Huntley wrote of the complexity of Jigsaw's character in the Irish Journal of Gothic and Horror Studies. Huntley described the intention behind John's actions, and evaluated the extent to which they can be analyzed to fit into the philosophies associated with Deleuze, Darwin, and Nietzsche:

The subject of one of Jigsaw's games is therefore always presented with an opportunity, the aim of which is to reinvigorate the potential of the subject, jump-start the survival instinct and instill a celebration or "savoring" of life. In Deleuzian terms, it is the potential of life that is at stake... It is this that gives Jigsaw's games their Deleuzian tone, the urgent revitalisation of life occasioning new experiences to be learnt and assimilated: such as the perverse, singular and aberrant situation of waking to find a man-trap secured around your neck. There is then the instruction to live or die, to make your choice, to survive the encounter with affect, or the affection-image... There is no thrill, sadistic or otherwise, in setting these games; they are throws of the die by the subjects, aleatoric opportunities... As Jigsaw makes clear to Detective Matthews during their conversation in Saw II, where Jigsaw's motivation and philosophy are most comprehensively explored, "I've never murdered anyone in my life. The decisions are up to them." Whilst it probably wouldn't stand up in court, he is at least correct in his usual, carefully literal sense. The decisions, the choices, the selection of a potential, are in the hands of the subjects of his games and he only intervenes in order to keep the game within its rules so a decision can be reached. The subjects are faced with a shocking choice that forces them to acknowledge what Deleuze identifies as the virtual – that is, the unacknowledged aspects of our experience with reality. This, in effect, is the particular game that Jigsaw himself plays; one where the organism might be failing but the flow of desire succeeds and endures. Jigsaw might resort to discussing Darwin's "little trip to the Galapagos Islands" to provide a theoretical underpinning for his project and echo Nietzsche in talking of the will to survive, but this merely misdirects investigators and witnesses in the same way that the gruesome traps and freely flowing gore earn him his unsettling serial killer soubriquet. Jigsaw's games are designed to crack open the world of their respective players: the challenges are nearly always relevant to the subject's lifestyle in a symbolic or literal way, bringing them to painful self awareness, prompting a reappraisal of their squandered potential.[11]

John intends through these traps to force his victims to prove to him that they are "worthy" and "deserving" to continue living, and also for them to learn to abandon what he perceives to be their vices. He often expressed a desire for his victims to succeed, but stressed that their fate was always in their own hands. The video and audio tape instructions for his games often echo this idea: "Live or die. Make your choice."

Billy, a puppet, is an icon of the Jigsaw character. John often used it for the purpose of delivering messages to his victims via a television screen, but at times it has also been physically present with the victims during their tests. He provided the (disguised) voice for Billy when it delivered its messages. It is shown in Saw IV that the original puppet was created by John as an intended toy for his unborn son Gideon, who died while Cecil Adams was robbing the clinic; Cecil accidentally pushed the door into Jill, which resulted in Gideon's death. John is shown constructing a more sinister Billy puppet in Saw III for the purpose of its inclusion in his "games".

Another of John's trademarks is his use of microcassettes to deliver instructions to his victims, disguising his voice as on the Billy videotapes. A flashback in Saw IV reveals that he accomplished this by speaking into a reel-to-reel tape recorder, then slowing down the playback. Often, a victim would find a microcassette recorder left for him or her with a tape already loaded in, while at other times the tape would be found separately in an envelope marked with the victim's name or the tape on its own reading "Play Me". One tape was found in John's stomach during his autopsy at the beginning of Saw IV, coated in wax to protect it against his digestive acids. Both of his apprentices, Amanda Young and Mark Hoffman, eventually began making their own microcassettes, but not always altering their voices as he did. In Saw 3D, Hoffman recorded one set of instructions on a standard-sized cassette, and another on an 8-track tape for use in a car stereo.

Huntley remarked that John's voice recordings operated for a specific purpose as part of his M.O. Huntley stated that it allowed John to be present there not as "a participant or even a spectator but instead as a referee, observing the rules pertinent to that particular subject rather than salaciously enjoying the 'victim's agony'."[11]

The pig mask is a thematic prop worn by John and his accomplices throughout the Saw film series to conceal their identities while abducting their "test subjects". As the series continues, the purpose of the pig mask is explored in detail; it is explained to be a tribute to the "Year of the Pig", the year in which John started his work.

The origin of the pig mask was shown in Saw IV, revealing the first known pig masks to have been latex strap-on masks used at a "Year of the Pig" Chinese New Year festival. John had snatched them and donned one, while using the other one to hold his chloroform-soaked rag. The second mask was then used to knock out his first test subject, Cecil, by placing the mask over his head with the chloroform rag still inside.

When working on the original Saw film, writer Leigh Whannell and director James Wan wanted their antagonist to have some sort of mask. After some discussion, the idea of Jigsaw wearing a rotting pig's head was chosen to symbolize his pessimistic view of the world and the disease that he was "rotting" from.

Amanda Young wearing the pig mask

Nevertheless, the mask given to them from production (a rubber Halloween mask) was considered by them to be less than satisfactory. A number of things were added to make it look more gruesome, including long black hair and pus running from its eyes and nostrils. Whannell has still admitted to being disappointed with its final appearance compared to his intended one, but has admitted that the mask has since become one of the "staples" of the Saw franchise.

Along with Billy and perhaps John himself, the mask has since become one of the more iconic symbols of the franchise. It has appeared on both the posters for the first film[12] and the fourth.[13] The mask has also been featured on many forms of merchandise. Officially licensed pig mask accessories have been sold for Halloween. In addition, the mask has been featured on numerous Jigsaw action figures. NECA has released two Jigsaw figurines with the pig mask; the original was John wearing the mask in his black cloak, and a Saw III variant of John wearing it in his red cloak.[14][15] In addition, the Be@rBrick line has released a "bear" version of John wearing the pig mask.[16] Medicom has also released a figurine of John wearing his infamous pig mask in the "Real Action Hero" line.[17]

On the commentary track of Saw IV, several discussions occur about John's decision to use references to pigs. In the series, the producers explained that John was a spiritual person; however, it has never been revealed what religion he follows. In Saw IV, John's ex-wife Jill explains his organized and planned lifestyle, stating that she had conceived their miscarried son Gideon, with John planning for him to be born in the Year of the Pig. On the commentary track, the producers explain that in the Chinese zodiac, the Pig stands for fertility and rebirth. John is seen several times throughout the series with figurines of clay soldiers and buddhas, further symbolizing his reverence to various Asian cultures.

Cut-outs were made, in the shape of jigsaw puzzle pieces, from the flesh of John's deceased victims who failed to pass their test. John received the nickname "Jigsaw" from the police and the press stemming from his tendency to perform such a ritual; however, he never encouraged that name and in fact disapproved of it.

Huntley argued that the jigsaw pieces that John cut out of the flesh of his failed test subjects was not intended as a mere stylized signature, but rather that it had a much deeper philosophical reflection. He stated that:

Far from being a stamp of final approval, a post-(mortem)-script to the game, the jigsaw piece represents the admission of the subject's missing survival instinct, the corporeal body's non-relational or "snagged" desire. Those marked with jigsaw pieces are the ones that got away, left inert, reduced to the zero intensity of death. It would seem strange that Jigsaw – surely the last figure ever to be deemed sentimental – should choose to extract this symbolic jigsaw piece from these subjects, except that Jigsaw is linguistically consistent in explaining how he 'takes' or "cuts" the piece of skin. The jigsaw shape marking those who "fail" is the adding of a subtraction – in effect, the removal of their inability, their unfulfilled potential or their lack – the excision that leaves the whole of the body that is not the closed, inert corporeal body but is, instead, the "body-without-organs", that is, the nexus point where energy pools amid the flow and fold of forces and durations, existence beyond the living organism.[11]

A hand-drawn jigsaw puzzle piece was also present on the back of a photograph in Saw as part of a clue for one of his games.

Throughout the Saw series, John developed a tendency to recruit "apprentices" to carry on his perceived mission. Amanda Young, Detective Mark Hoffman, Dr. Lawrence Gordon, Logan Nelson, and two masked men named Pighead (Saw: The Video Game) and Pighead II (Saw II: Flesh & Blood) are the only known Jigsaw apprentices. Jill Tuck was an assistant in a certain game.

Huntley analyzed Jigsaw's intentions in taking in protégés as stemming from the terminally ill character's desire to overcome death itself, and argues that this is further evidence of his thought process being characterized by Deleuzian philosophy. Huntley argued:

Jigsaw decides that the answer is to achieve immortality through a legacy, having a successor to continue with his work. The impulse is Deleuzian. Jigsaw remains calm, neutral and impassive throughout the Saw films (not least because of his terminal condition) yet his only expressed wish, concern or desire, is that his legacy is maintained – the work of testing the fabric of humanity should go on. "Jigsaw" – as the intensive site of being, a locus of desire, the body-without-organs – can survive the death of the organism John Kramer... What seems to be consistent thematically through the Saw films is that "Jigsaw" is a part for various players, an identity composed of pieces...[11]

John was also assisted by Obi in the kidnapping of the victims of the nerve gas house, shortly before the events of Saw II, and Zep Hindle throughout the first film. Brad and Ryan worked for Lawrence and acted as his muscle, recruited after their trap. They helped Lawrence to abduct Hoffman and they chained him in the bathroom.

Kevin Greutert, the editor of Saw, Saw II, Saw III, Saw IV, and Saw V, and the director of Saw VI and Saw 3D, stated that Amanda, in particular, is "such a peculiar aspect of the Jigsaw character", citing that John had developed genuine "tender feelings" for her.[18]

The term "apprentice" was used in the official plot synopses for Saw III and Saw IV.[19][20]

His apprentices include:

Detective Mark Hoffman: A police officer and a detective, he was recruited by John after he found out that Hoffman killed a man in an inescapable trap to make it look like a Jigsaw murder, because the man killed Hoffman's sister and was released from prison on a technicality after serving only five years. John abducted him, scolded him for killing him (since he himself despises outright murder), and made him his first apprentice by blackmailing him, but he eventually grew with the character and became loyal to John. He is considered to be his main accomplice and even an equal partner of sorts, and was Amanda Young's rival; both fought for John's approval, which is why Hoffman blackmailed her into failing her test to lose John's approval or risk his anger. He became John's successor after Amanda and John's death, but he was tested as well by John, when Jill Tuck (John's wife) subdued him, placed a reverse bear trap on his head and then left, leaving him to die (fulfilling John's promise that Hoffman will not walk away untested). He survived it and he had his revenge while setting up new games, but he was eventually abducted by Dr. Lawrence Gordon, another of John's apprentices, and locked away in a bathroom to die. He was John's second apprentice.

Hoffman is considered to be his most powerful associate, utilizing his police contacts and power as a detective to stray away the police from John's location, while keeping his identity secret (until he was exposed to Internal Affairs by Jill). However, Hoffman never personally chose any of his victims in his own traps, save for Seth Baxter, and posthumously left notes on future victims. Like John, Hoffman is a skilled engineer and programmer, designing the pendulum trap and operating it by himself, and also designing and setting several traps for Amanda (as she is too slender to properly carry and place victims in some traps, and lacks mechanical aptitude like John or Hoffman). However, his sadistic streak worried John, who was eventually convinced that Hoffman, after his death, would continue his work not out of true beliefs but rather in a sadistic power play of his own, and as such, planned for him to be tested, but Jill set up the reverse bear trap on him to be inescapable.

Amanda Young: A drug addict, she was abducted and placed in a reverse bear trap by John. She managed to free herself from her trap. John recruited her after and she was put in the house trap in Saw II to make sure the victims played by the rules. However, she had become disillusioned with John's philosophy of giving the victims a chance; she created traps that couldn't be solved and deliberately made her victims die. John knew this and made a secret test for her to ensure that Dr. Lynn Denlon, a nurse from the hospital kidnapped to keep John alive, would be protected during the time and to free her after her task. However, she was unable to do so and she shot her. However, this was also a scheme by Hoffman; he blackmailed her into killing Lynn, otherwise he would tell John that she was responsible for Jill's miscarriage; she was the one who sent Cecil to steal the drugs. She was shot by Jeff, Lynn's husband, and bled to death. She was John's third apprentice.

Amanda, unlike Hoffman, has a much deeper bond with John and considers him to be a second father and a mentor to her. She was almost slavishly devoted to him, abandoning her former life to fully focus on him and keeping him alive (at some point it was very loosely implied that she was also sexually attracted to him). Also unlike Hoffman, who uses the traps as his own form of sadistic, perverse justice that is justified in his mind, Amanda truly believes in John's work. However, by Saw III, she was disillusioned with his M.O., and started to design traps to be inescapable, believing that her victims did not deserve the second chance in life. She also envied John's relationship with Hoffman, whom he considered to be a better-suited apprentice and successor, as Amanda was emotionally unstable and not mechanically adept to design traps as Hoffman. She is also deeply ashamed by the fact that she was the reason why John lost his child, as she sent Cecil to steal drugs, and tried to hide it from him. However, Hoffman, who was aware of it, blackmailed her into killing Lynn Denlon, John's latest victim, in order for Hoffman to prove to John that she was incapable of carrying John's legacy as Jigsaw.

Dr. Lawrence Gordon: His secret apprentice. He was nursed back to health by John after surviving his trap and given a prosthetic foot, and became his new, secret accomplice. After sawing off his own foot to escape, his fate was left unknown, although he was referred to in passing and seen in flashbacks throughout the following five movies. He did not appear in-person again until Saw 3D, using his prosthesis and a cane to walk. Following John's death, Jill delivered a videotape to Lawrence, in which John asked him to watch over Jill and take action if any harm came to her. After Hoffman killed Jill, Lawrence and two accomplices abducted him and chained him to the pipes in the bathroom. Lawrence then threw away the hacksaw he had used to free himself and left Hoffman to die.

Lawrence, who was initially very wary of Jigsaw and his methods before he was abducted, came to sympathize with John after his abduction and after John saved his life. He developed a rather different, colder personality, causing his wife to divorce him. He remained a doctor, but secretly assisted John in his games. His identity and his existence was kept secret to Hoffman and Amanda in order to protect him from possible retributions from them, but Jill was kept aware of him in order to deliver John's will to him after his death. While he was mostly a silent protector for Jill and kept an eye on Hoffman and Amanda, he also directly participated in setting up traps that required medical expertise, such as implanting a key behind Michael's eye (Saw II) and sewing Trevor's eyes and Art's mouth shut for the mausoleum trap (Saw IV). He also wrote the "I know who you are" note that Hoffman found on his desk after being promoted in Saw V, leading Hoffman to suspect Strahm.

Jill Tuck: The wife of John, Jill was not an official apprentice, but was tasked with carrying out a trap on Hoffman for John. After his death, John left Jill six envelopes, the first five of which contained a game for William Easton, while the sixth was for Hoffman, whom John intended for Jill to test. Another envelope in the box was addressed to Lawrence, who Jill personally delivered it to. Jill finally tests Hoffman and places the reverse bear trap on his head. Jill leaves him inside with no key, intending for it to kill him. However, Hoffman manages to escape and gets his revenge on Jill by placing her in the original reverse bear trap and having it go off, claiming Jill as its first victim.

Logan Nelson: John's first apprentice. Logan served in the Iraq War with the United States armed forces, where he was kidnapped and tortured by the enemy. Some time afterward, his wife Christine was murdered by Edgar Munsen, a criminal allowed to walk free by the corrupt Detective Brad Halloran. While working at a hospital, Logan was responsible for mislabeling John's x-rays, which resulted in his cancer not being diagnosed until it had become terminal. Logan was kidnapped alongside four others in a barn by John, but did not regain consciousness during the first game until he had no time to save himself. John, deciding that this would make Logan's game unwinnable, saved him from almost imminent death, and recruited him help in the construction of later tests and devices.

John is usually seen wearing a black theatrical robe with a large hood and red lining when running traps or abducting victims. On the commentary track for the first Saw film, it was explained that the producers originally wanted Jigsaw to have the red robe with black interior. Thinking that the red robe was too vibrant for the film, they reversed the robe to make it black with red interior.[21] Amanda wore a similar robe in Saw III in an attempt to symbolically emulate her mentor.[11] Although Hoffman, while wearing the pig mask, always wore the dark blue rain parka he'd worn since the murder of Seth Baxter, further illustrating the gap between him and John. Also, both Pighead and Pighead II wear similar robes to John, the only difference being that the Pighead robe is red.