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This Inconsistently Heinous was Headlined on October 2024. | ||
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"Mature Content Warning!" |
| “ | I want to play a game. | „ |
| ~ One of Jigsaw's most famous catchphrases. |
| “ | Game over! | „ |
| ~ One of Jigsaw's most famous catchphrases. |
| “ | Those who don't appreciate life, do not deserve life. | „ |
| ~ John explaining his philosophical motive. |
John Kramer, also known as the Jigsaw Killer or simply Jigsaw, is the main antagonist of Lionsgate's Saw franchise.
He was a former civil engineer who, after going through several traumatic events, became a deludedly obsessive serial killer with the intention of teaching his victims that life is the most valuable treasure to keep.
Jigsaw is probably most famous for intimidating his victims by using Billy the Puppet, a mechanical ventriloquist puppet, and is often aided on his schemes by his many apprentices, including Amanda Young, Mark Hoffman, Lawrence Gordon and Logan Nelson, who all carry on his legacy after his death to varying results.
He was portrayed by Tobin Bell, who also played Savitar in The Flash.
His Evil Ranking[]
What Makes Him Heinous?[]
- He put other people in his sick and twisted traps, most of his test subjects aren't able to survive his tests and suffered gruesome deaths, some handful of survivors have to mutilate themselves or harm others in order to escape from his traps.
- He sometimes got people involved who are completely innocent, including children such as Dr. Lawrence Gordon and Jeff Denlon's young daughters.
- Even if he called out Amanda for inescapable traps, this makes him come off as hypocritical as some of his traps are basically inescapable also or have a one out the million chance to survive, e.g. the Flammable Jelly trap in SAW I which is also not explained well enough.
- In Saw II, he imprisoned Daniel Matthews along with other people who were framed by his father Detective Eric Matthews, such as Xavier Chavez, a brutal drug dealer. Considering the fact that Eric is Daniel's father makes Daniel feel very vulnerable against other people and could even get him killed if other people found out about him being Eric's son.
- In Saw III, he put Timothy Young, who killed Dylan Denlon (Jeff Denlon's son) in a car accident in arguably the most brutal Saw trap of all time: "the Rack", causing him to scream in agony and eventually die in a slow and extremely painful death. He even claimed that "the Rack" was his personal favorite trap.
- At this point some of the victims in this trial has basically no chance of surviving themselves and are dependent on help.
- He also forced Jeff to make a painful decision of burning his son's memorabilia in order to save a judge who gave Dylan's killer a mild sentence.
- In Saw IV, he forced Detective Daniel Rigg into a trial in which he had to save several criminals to see if he would let them die as they deserved, and this ultimately led Rigg to kill their lawyer Art Blank and cause Matthews' gruesome demise. In the end, he admonished Rigg for his obsession of trying to save everyone even though he was someone who always did the right thing (in most cases despite police brutality).
- He hired a few apprentices to continue his legacy such as Amanda Young and Mark Hoffman. Amanda puts people in inescapable traps to end their suffering whether they were really suffering or not, while Hoffman sadistically enjoys get people horribly mutilated by his traps (Hoffman also put a criminal named Seth Baxter in an inescapable trap to avenge his sister's death once).
What Makes Him Inconsistent?[]
- He suffers from a tragic past that has shaped his worldview:
- His pregnant wife was attacked by Cecil Adams during a robbery, which resulted in the loss of her and John's unborn child. This miscarriage jaded John and became a primary motivation for his eventually transformation into Jigsaw.
- He was genuinely heartbroken when his nephew died because Mitch sold him a bike with faulty brakes.
- He was diagnosed with brain cancer, which could have been easily detected had it not been for an unfortunate mistake at the hospital. By the time he was properly diagnosed, John only had months left to live, the shock of it led him to attempt suicide.
- He put people on his traps not out of sadism or vengeance, but rather genuinely wanting his victims to appreciate life. Furthermore, he suffers extremely delusional cases, believing that his methods, in making his victims go through horrible trials that place them in high risks of being brutally killed, is for the greater good. He believes that those who survive his tests are 'completely rehabilitated' and changed immediately.
- An example of him being delusional is when he was interrogated, he stated that he didn't kill any of his victims (if he even considers them to be victims) and thinks that they brought their deaths upon themselves by not being grateful with their lives. In some cases, it is proven to be true.
- Another reason on why he places them into the games is because many of them are at least selfish to downright terrible people.
- He is honorable as he called Amanda out for putting people in inescapable traps and scolded Hoffman for using the name of Jigsaw to kill someone out of vengeance. Jigsaw allows his victims to find ways to escape the traps he sets up for them in a fair amount of time.
- His sense of honor is also shown, he wants those who survive his tests to live. When Gabriela was severely injured after completing her test, he wished for her to be taken to the hospital despite the fact that she could reveal his identity. He was also shown to be distraught when Cecilia killed her instead.
- Also when Diego survived his test, he came over and gave him a first aid kit that he already had on hand, so he can heal his wounded wrists, and even consoles him by patting him on the arm and telling him that he's going to be okay.
- Despite all their hardships, he clearly loves his wife, Jill Tuck, as he provides her with many relics of his and her past after his death. Even instructing her to go to Gordon to deliver a tape for him, which the contents of said tape has him posthumously instructing Dr. Gordon to act immediately if anything were to happen to Jill.
- He does have strong standards, especially when it comes to rape as he is disgusted and appalled by Ivan Landsness's rape and torture of women, making him suffer an equally if not more horrific and torturous fate that he put his victims through.
- He wanted to help Jeff overcome the death of his son, though his methods left something to be desired.
- He was against Carlos being part of the games of them being "bloodboarded" due to Carlos being a completely innocent child. He insisted to Carlos of not taking any of the "bloodboarding" and suffered continuous bursts of it, even when Carlos tried to take on some of the "bloodboarding" to give John a chance as well.
- The action that Carlos is willing to protect John with the "blood boarded" earned the latter’s respect, and he's willing to go as far as to giving Cecilia's stolen money to him for being a brave warrior.
- Though he saw through his tests his life's work, John was willing to abandon his mantle as Jigsaw when he believed that he had been cured of his cancer. He even threw away a page filled with traps because of this. He only reverted to his previous mindset due to the fact he realized he had been scammed.
- In Jigsaw, it’s revealed that John spared Logan Nelson (despite causing his cancer to worsen) and kept him alive, not wanting him to die over an honest mistake.
Trivia[]
- He is, alongside his apprentices Amanda Young, Logan Nelson and his copycat William Schenk, one of the four Saw characters to be Inconsistently Heinous.
External Links[]
- John Kramer on the Villains Wiki
- John Kramer on the Saw Wiki
- John Kramer on the Horror Wiki
- John Kramer on the Magnificent Baddie Wiki
- John Kramer on the Wikipedia
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 Inconsistently Heinous
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 Inconsistently Heinous
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Animated Features Live-Action Features See Also | ||
 Inconsistently Heinous
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Killers Backstory Characters |
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