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Saw character
Jigsaw
Birth Name:	Jonathan Kramer
Nickname(s):	The Jigsaw Killer (Jigsaw)
Gender:	Male
Relationships:	Jill (ex-wife) Amanda Young (apprentice) Detective Hoffman (apprentice) Lawrence Gordon (doctor) Art Blank (lawyer)
M.O.:	Constructing symbolic death traps Psychological torture Indirect physical torture
Cause of Death:	Neck slashed by Jeff Reinhart with a power saw
First Appearance:	Saw
Created by:	James Wan & Leigh Whannell
Portrayed by:	Tobin Bell

The Jigsaw Killer 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, Saw III and Saw IV. He is portrayed by American actor Tobin Bell.

Jigsaw is introduced in the series as Jonathan Kramer,^[1] a dying cancer patient who is obsessed with teaching people the value of their own lives. The producers of Saw III and director Darren Lynn Bousman see Jigsaw,^[2] not as a serial killer, but a "scientist" who is determined to initiate the survival instinct in his "subjects", believing that humanity no longer uses its instinct of survival.^[3]

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 usually 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.

Contents 1 Appearances 2 Characterization 3 Tobin Bell 4 Reaction 5 References 6 External links

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, revealing that he had become sick and had gone in for a check-up, where he learned from Dr. Lawrence Gordon that he was dying of cancer, with an inoperable brain tumor. From there, he stated that he began to see how many people took their lives for granted. He ended up driving himself off of a cliff, but survived the suicide attempt, and began his work as the Jigsaw Killer.

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 nerve gas, 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.

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 then killed 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 flashbacks during future installments in the Saw franchise.^[4] Saw IV 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.^[5]

Saw IV, however, rendered some of the content in Saw: Rebirth non-canon, instead showing a new backstory. From the story given in Saw IV, John was a successful civil engineer and devoted husband to his wife Jill, who ran a recovery clinic for drug users, to which he gave his belief: "Cherish Your Life". However, after a robbery and assault from one of the clinic's patients (a man named Cecil) resulted in the loss of John's unborn child, he became detached and angry, which ultimately resulted in the divorce of John and Jill. After then being told he had cancer, as first seen in Saw II, and trying to kill himself, John began his work as Jigsaw, hunting down Cecil as his first test subject.

The producers of the Saw films have sought to differentiate the Jigsaw Killer from other horror film killers. Darren Lynn Bousman, the director of Saw II, III and IV, has stated on the character's role "He's not Jason or Freddy. He's not even Hannibal Lecter. He's a person with extreme beliefs and he really thinks he's making a difference. He's a vigilante if anything. He thinks he's making a difference."^[6] Tobin Bell, the actor who plays Jigsaw, describes his character's role as being more of a scientist or engineer and "he thinks very specifically and very pragmatically."^[7]

Bousman mentioned that Saw III was intended to contain a scene in which Jigsaw showed remorse for his action after seeing the results.

“

For the first time, we actually see him break down and cry. Imagine your entire life's work. You're on your deathbed. You know there's nothing else you can do and here's how you'll be remembered: as a killer, as a murderer. Not as someone who helped people. Not as someone who changed lives. Someone who took away lives. The one thing he didn't want to be and, as he's on his deathbed, he's realizing this.[6]

”

While the character's discovery that he has cancer is acknowledged to be the "final straw" that drove him to his actions, Bell has stated in an interview that "His terminal cancer is one of the elements of his life but he's as angry over the fact the world is going to hell in handbasket because it's no longer the survival of the fittest it's the survival of the mediocre. That drives him as much as anything else. He doesn't just talk about his frustrations, he does something about them, and he puts himself on the line. His cancer was about one element in about 130 elements that caused him to create the world that he's created."^[8]

Jigsaw, and later Amanda, usually wears a black theatrical robe with a large hood and red lining, sometimes with the addition of a pig's head mask, when running traps or abducting victims. When not seeing victims in person, both characters use a talking puppet in video messages explaining the functions of the traps.

Jigsaw is depicted in the Saw films as being extremely intelligent in the areas relevant to his actions. In Saw: Rebirth he is depicted doing extensive study in multiple fields to gain knowledge for designing his tests, and recurring director Bousman himself has described Jigsaw as being "extremely educated" in an interview.^[9]

Actor Tobin Bell about his character John Kramer says, "My wife mentioned to me that she read an interview with Jeffrey Dahmer's mother about his childhood. And she said he was a perfectly normal child. He had friends like everyone else, he participated in the same kind of activities. In terms of your question about icons, if you begin to think of people like that, it's a deadly thing to do. You have to think of someone like Jigsaw from a very specific point of view. He doesn't view himself as some kind of diabolical psychotic. You know there's a little bit of evil in everyone. It just gets carried further. Most of us have some sort of moral fiber that restricts that. Some framework. And then others because of their lives and what happens to them, the thing develops in some other way. You know, I've played a lot of different kind of guys. Jigsaw's a fascinating person. And it's up to the filmmakers to do what ever they want to do with where he's coming from and to shape it and make it something meaningful and fits into the picture."^[10]

As early as October 2005, an interviewer for IGN was willing to describe the Jigsaw Killer as "the next Freddy" in terms of iconic status as a modern horror film character.^[11] A review of Saw II in the San Francisco Chronicle praised Tobin Bell and Jigsaw as being "more terrifying than the movie villains in Hollywood's last five horror films put together -- even though he's in a wheelchair and hooked up to multiple IVs."^[12]

Despite the mystery of the character's identity created by the filmmakers in Saw, Bell's depiction of Jigsaw was used in promotional posters for Saw III and Saw IV.^[13][14] Action figures of Jigsaw have also been produced by the National Entertainment Collectibles Association.^[15][16]

• Jigsaw at the Internet Movie Database
• Official Tobin Bell Website

v • d • e Saw series
Films	Saw (short) • Saw • Saw II • Saw III • Saw IV • Saw V
Characters	Jigsaw • Amanda • Gordon family • Adam • Allison • Eric • Reinhart family • Rigg • Hoffman
Film Soundtracks	Saw • Saw II • Saw III • Saw IV
Other	Traps • Billy the puppet • Pig mask • Saw: Rebirth • "Hello Zepp"