Jigsaw Killer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Saw character | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Jigsaw | |
| Real Name: | John Kramer |
| Gender | Male |
| Race: | Caucasian |
| Relationships: | Amanda Young (apprentice) Jill (ex-girlfriend) |
| M.O.: | Cleverly constructed and ironic death traps |
| Weapon of Choice: | Varies depending on the individual, known to conceal wrist blades |
| Portrayed by: | Tobin Bell |
Jigsaw is a fictional character in the Saw film series, portrayed by Tobin Bell.
He is different from most fictional serial killers as he did not kill his victims directly, but instead relies on various lethal traps in which he places his victims, in which they themselves have to make life-altering choices (often involving self-mutilation) in order to survive.
Jigsaw believed that he has never killed anyone in his life and that the choices that his victims make are up to them. Darren Lynn Bousman, director of Saw II and Saw III, says, "He's not the typical serial killer. He's not some madman. 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."[1]
Contents |
[edit] Character history
[edit] Early life
Jigsaw's backstory was explored in the comic book Saw: Rebirth published by IDW Publishing[2] as well as flashbacks in Saw II.
John Kramer was originally employed as a toy maker, living a relatively dull, average existence content that there was always time to achieve goals tomorrow. He was often afraid to make commitments, to the point where his girlfriend broke up with him when he wasn't willing to further their relationship. Though he realized that there were more opportunities in life, he was simply too lazy and complacent to pursue them until a tragic discovery changed his life.
John rapidly grew ill, returning home every evening to vomit; he became weaker as his symptoms became more severe. John was diagnosed with an inoperable frontal lobe tumor and cancer, forcing him to face his own mortality. He began to realize how fleeting and valuable life truly was. Becoming more attentive to other peoples lives as his own diminished, John saw how they took their lives for granted and was disgusted.
At the hospital, he witnessed various people who, in his opinion, were abusing their lives. Among them were Amanda Young, a young woman who had overdosed on heroin, and Paul, John's coworker at the toy factory; Paul, who had a wife and kids, had attempted to commit suicide by cutting his wrists.
Utterly depressed at the futility of life, John attempted to commit suicide by driving his car over a cliff. John survived the crash however, clinging to the remnants of his life, however small. He discovered that only when he knew his death was impending did he really begin to value his life. As John observed other people wasting their lives, people undeserving and unappreciative of the life being denied to him, John began his mission to make people appreciate their lives and realize how precious life truly is, one person at a time.
[edit] Jigsaw
John spent the next months of his life observing and planning meticulously for his "subjects", painstakingly creating devices to test their desire to live, often through ironic means. For example, Paul, the man who had slashed his wrists, was sentenced to crawl through a maze of razor wire in order to survive.
Placing his subjects in lethal traps, each victim was left a single chilling message explaining the 'crime' they had committed to deserve their fate and how they could escape. Each was conveyed either by a distorted voice or by Jigsaw's puppet, Billy. They often involved quick thinking, ethically difficult decisions and often self-mutilation that Jigsaw would often be present to view, unknown to the victim. On one particular occasion, Jigsaw lied still, posed as a dead body, on the floor of a grimy bathroom that was the setting for one of his more complex tests, not moving for several hours thanks to an injection before-hand.
As his victims increased, authorities coined the nickname "The Jigsaw Killer" - or simply, "Jigsaw" - because of the jigsaw-shaped piece of flesh that he would cut from an unsuccessful victim. As John would later explain to Detective Eric Matthews however, the piece was not intended to be used as a signature but simply to represent the 'piece' that the victims were missing; the survival instinct. Though police intensity continued to increase as more and more bodies were found in incredible and brutal devices, Jigsaw continued to follow his mission undaunted.
[edit] Jigsaw's apprentice
- Main Article: Amanda Young
Jigsaw targeted a new victim, Amanda Young, the heroin addict he had met before at the hospital who he felt had thrown her life away when she had a whole life ahead of her. He first placed her in a lethal trap, which Amanda managed to pass and escape with her life. Though Amanda had been placed in the deadly trap, she felt as though Jigsaw had 'helped' her reconsider her life and how she had wasted it on drug abuse.
After she returned home following police interrogation, Jigsaw confronted Amanda, seeing potential within her. Amanda agreed to become his apprentice, planning to take on his mantle when he eventually succumbed to his illness.
Jigsaw set about training Amanda to possess the beliefs and skills to carry on his legacy, struggling to help her cope with her emotional responses to the brutal nature of their work. The pair grew closer with Amanda being of great importance to Jigsaw and Amanda reciprocated these feelings.
Jigsaw's health continued to rapidly decline, gradually reducing his mobility as his body degenerated and withered, confining him to a makeshift hospital bed. He was forced to ensure that Amanda was ready for the task before he died, but he knew that she was already experiencing problems and not following the rules of Jigsaw's 'games'. Amanda had become a full-out murderer, creating inescapable traps that offered no salvation to its victims. Jigsaw could not let Amanda continue on this path when he died, so he prepared an elaborate test with which he could once again test his apprentice to decide if she could truly carry on his work.
[edit] The final tests
As Jigsaw lay on his deathbed, Amanda, at his order, kidnapped Dr. Lynn Denlon, testing her with the ability to keep John alive until another victim, Jeff Reinhart, could escape his test. To ensure Lynn's help, Jigsaw had Amanda place an explosive collar on her neck that was linked to his heart rate; it would explode if John died. Jigsaw struggled to cling to life and see his final test complete but his condition deteriorated rapidly, causing Amanda great distress.
Amanda's anxiety grew into hostility towards Dr. Denlon, jealous of the attention that Jigsaw was giving to her, intended or otherwise. As the tests continued, Amanda started to become increasingly unstable, eventually refusing to release Lynn from her trap when ordered to do so by Jigsaw. Jigsaw revealed his knowledge of Amanda's murders but begged her not to kill Lynn, saying that she was important to Amanda's own survival. Amanda admitted that she thought no-one really changed from the near-death experiences in Jigsaw's traps, which she used as her motive for the inescapable traps. Jigsaw continued to plead with his remaining strength for Amanda to release Lynn because he did not want anything to happen to Amanda, but she refused, shooting Lynn in the back just as Jeff appeared, having escaped his trap. Jeff retaliated by shooting Amanda in the neck.
As Amanda lay dying, a saddened Jigsaw revealed that Jeff was Lynn's husband, and that everything that had occurred was an elaborate ploy to test Amanda's ability to release victims who passed their tests; Amanda had failed. Though she meant everything to Jigsaw, she proved herself inappropriate to continue his legacy.
As Lynn lay injured, Jigsaw spoke to Jeff and offered him one last test. If Jeff could forgive Jigsaw for putting him through his traps, and learn to let the death of his son go, then Jigsaw would summon medical help for Lynn and Jeff could have his family back together again. Jeff appeared to forgive Jigsaw, but picked up a circular saw blade, slitting Jigsaw's throat with it. With his last breaths, Jigsaw pressed the play button on a tape recorder he was holding in his hand. It relayed a personal message, telling Jeff that he had learned nothing and was still motivated by vengeance. Jigsaw went on to explain that he had hidden Jeff's daughter in a secret location that only he knew, and the secret would die with him. Jigsaw then flatlined, activating Lynn's trap to fatal effect and locking off the exits to Jigsaw's lair, dooming Jeff to lose everything by failing the test. Jigsaw died, having completed his final test.
In an interview with Bousman, the writer/director discussed a scene with Jigsaw showing remorse for his acts not present in the final film; " 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." [3]
[edit] Appearance
Jigsaw was known best by his talking puppet, which he used when he recorded his instructions for his "subjects." The backstory revealed in Saw: Rebirth explained that John Kramer worked in a factory that dealt with toys, and the puppet was one of his creations; a scene from Saw III also showed Jigsaw constructing the puppet.
Jigsaw was often seen wearing a black and red theatrical robe with a large hood. For defense, he had large blades, stored in his sleeves, which were able to pop out when needed. Amanda had also worn similar attire.
Another commonly used disguise by both Jigsaw and his apprentice was the pig mask, which appeared to be an actual pig's head coupled with long black hair.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
| The Saw Series |
|---|
| Films |
|
Saw (short, 2003) • Saw (2004) • Saw II (2005) • Saw III (2006) • Saw IV (2007) |
| Characters |
| Jigsaw • Amanda • Adam • Detective Matthews • Lynn • Jeff |
| Film Soundtracks |
| Saw • Saw II • Saw III |
| Other |
| Traps • "Billy" the puppet • Saw: Rebirth • "Hello Zepp" |
| Iconic Horror Characters in Cinema | |
|---|---|
| Classic: | Creature from the Black Lagoon | Count Dracula | The Fly | Frankenstein's monster | The Invisible Man | The Mummy | Count Orlok | The Phantom | The Wolf Man |
| Modern: | The Alien | Norman Bates | Chucky | Ghostface | Jigsaw |The Fisherman| Freddy Krueger | Leatherface | Hannibal Lecter | The Living Dead | Regan MacNeil | Michael Myers | Pinhead | Kayako Saeki | Damien Thorn | Jason Voorhees | Samara Morgan/Sadako Yamamura |
