| “ | Some never appreciate life until they have to work to save their own. They go from cradle to grave, expecting the world to give them everything. I show them the possibility of death and the sacrifices they have to make to stay alive. | ” |
— John explains his philosophy to David Tapp.[src]
| ||
John Kramer, also known as The Jigsaw Killer or simply Jigsaw, is a fictional character from the Saw franchise. He was the primary antagonist of Saw: The Video Game and Saw II: Flesh & Blood.
He was voiced by Tobin Bell.
Biography[]
Early Life[]
John Kramer was a successful civil engineer. His architectural firm was responsible for designing and building half the city skyline. However, John eventually got bored with this work and turned his attention to a new project. Alongside his business partners - a lawyer named Art Blank and an accountant named Solomon Bates - he founded Gideon, a foundation dedicated to property development for needy people. The company bought up abandoned real estate and renovated them into low-cost housing. John was voted Man of the Year for his philanthropic work. (Saw II: Flesh & Blood)
Gideon Kramer[]
At one point in his life, John married Dr. Jill Tuck, who ran a free recovery clinic for drug addicts. Their life took a happy turn when Jill got pregnant by him. John, who had already meticulously planned that their son should be born during the Chinese Year of the Pig, also gave him his name, Gideon, inspired by his company. Despite their happiness, John soon started to worry about Jill, who continued to work at the clinic even during her pregnancy. (Saw II: Flesh & Blood)
Family Tragedy[]
One night, Cecil Adams, one of Jill's patients, tried to rob her and accidentally slammed a doorknob into her stomach. Due to her injuries, Jill lost her unborn child. After Gideon's death, John suffered from severe depression, which eventually caused him to withdraw from his wife and the company. (Saw II: Flesh & Blood)
Terminal Diagnosis[]
Shortly afterward, John's physical condition worsened. When he went to a hospital, the oncologist Dr. Lawrence Gordon diagnosed him with a frontal lobe tumor. When telling him about his diagnosis, Gordon clarified that he was not expecting his patient to survive. Thereby, John realized that he had only learned to cherish his life when his death was imminent. Because of this, John chose to spend the remaining time of his life testing other people's will to live, hoping that this would convince them to value their lives and the lives of those around them. However, his newly discovered will to live could not reunite him and Jill. (Saw II: Flesh & Blood)
Cecil Adams' Test[]
At this time, John focused on other people's lives and chose Cecil Adams as his first test subject. He frequently followed the latter while concealing his face with a pig mask. After observing him for some time and discovering that Cecil had not changed his reckless behavior, John felt vindicated in his plan. Thus, he spent much time watching Cecil and emotionally prepared himself for the first part of his self-imposed mission. When the time came, John followed Cecil to a Chinese street festival celebrating the Year of the Pig and sedated him in the crowd without anyone noticing him. After that, John took him to a hideout and strapped him to a chair. Thereby, two blades attached to the ends of the armrests impaled Cecil's wrists.
When Cecil woke up, John revealed a vicious device to his prisoner - a mechanical contraption consisting of eight sharp knives. He bolted it to the chair so the eight horizontally arranged blades were positioned right before his face. While doing so, John confronted his captive with his crimes and further explained that Cecil had to press his face into the knives to free himself from his arm and leg restraints. Otherwise, he would bleed to death. Cecil insulted him and desperately screamed for help. However, when John showed no mercy, he pressed his face into the blades while screaming in agony. In the end, the chair suddenly collapsed and allowed him to escape. He immediately approached John and tried to strike him dead with a broken chair piece. However, John evaded his attack effortlessly, which caused Cecil to fall into a cage filled with razor wire, where he ultimately bled to death. After his death, John cut a jigsaw piece from his shoulder to symbolize Cecil's lacking survival instinct and then disposed of his corpse. (Saw II: Flesh & Blood)
[]
While looking for new test subjects, John turned his attention to Mitsuka Ito, a member of the local Yakuza, and Ronnie Navarro, a drug dealer and member of the Blood Eye Gang. John abducted the men and took them to a room where he had prepared his next trap, which consisted of a pulley system and several large barrels filled with sulfuric acid. Those were propped up above the victims, whose hands were strapped to ropes attached to the pulley system. If pulled simultaneously, the pulley would give them enough slack to reach the exit door. However, they failed to accomplish their task and were killed when their bodies were spilled with acid. After their death, John cut two jigsaw pieces from their skins before leaving them behind. (Saw II: Flesh & Blood)
Paul Leahy's Test[]
John continued his deadly games and was nicknamed Jigsaw by the press and the Metropolitan Police Department due to the puzzle pieces he cut from his victims' bodies. His next test subject was Paul Leahy, a drug addict who had unsuccessfully tried to kill himself by cutting his wrists. Therefore, John abducted Paul and took him to a cellar. The back part of the basement area was fenced-in and turned into a cage filled with razor wire. John undressed his hostage, trapped him in the back of the room, and left him an audiotape with his instructions. Afterward, he hid next door and observed the game through a peephole. According to the tape, Paul was supposed to crawl through the razor wire to reach the exit door and save his life. However, the wounds he received while doing so were so severe that he ultimately died of blood loss. Following his death, John left his hiding spot and cut a jigsaw piece from his skin before leaving the basement. (Saw II: Flesh & Blood)
Mark Wilson's Test[]
Shortly afterward, John set up another game to test a man named Mark Wilson, who wrongfully claimed to be seriously sick. After abducting him, John undressed him, slathered his body with self-made napalm, and trapped him inside a dark room with the only light source being a single candle. Furthermore, he injected him with a slow-acting poison and placed the only antidote inside a safe. To open it, Mark had to find the correct combination among hundreds of numbers written all over the walls. Due to the darkness, he had to take the candle and walk to the walls to see the numbers. When walking around the room with the candle, Mark accidentally ignited the napalm, causing him to suffer a heart attack due to the thermal shock. After Mark's death, John left a penlight at the crime scene, which he had previously stolen from Dr. Gordon. (Saw II: Flesh & Blood)
Amanda Young's Test[]
Later on, John prepared another game. This game focused on Amanda Young, another patient at Jill's clinic. After abducting her, he took her to an abandoned warehouse. He strapped Amanda to a chair and put a mechanical contraption on her head. This device was hooked into Amanda's upper and lower jaws. He also abducted another of Jill's patients, Donald Greco, and injected him with an opiate overdose, rendering him unable to move or feel anything. When John prepared Amanda's game, he made Donnie swallow a key. After finishing all of his preparations, the killer left the building.
Shortly afterward, Amanda woke up. Although initially confused, she quickly panicked upon realizing she was trapped. Amanda desperately tried to free herself from the chair but stopped when a TV turned on next to her. A mechanical ventriloquist puppet named Billy appeared on-screen and introduced her to a perfidious game. The doll described the device on her head as a "reverse bear trap." The trap would rip Amanda's mouth open if she did not free herself within 60 seconds. To do so, she had to cut the key to the device from the stomach of her supposedly dead cellmate.
When the TV turned off, Amanda panicked again. After initially struggling, she ultimately freed her arms from her restraints and spotted Donald Greco's seemingly lifeless body. After a brief hesitation, Amanda realized her cellmate was not dead but only paralyzed. Nonetheless, she took a knife lying next to him and repeatedly stabbed the helpless man.
After killing him, Amanda searched through his stomach for the key. When she eventually found it, she unlocked the trap and freed herself only moments before its activation. In a panic, Amanda fled and ultimately found a way out of the building. Following her survival, John disposed of Donald's mutilated corpse. (Saw: The Video Game, Saw II: Flesh & Blood)
Evading Apprehension[]
For his next game, John targeted Jeff Ridenhour, who had tried to commit suicide due to his inability to cope with his everyday life. After abducting him, he took him to his lair in an abandoned industrial building at 213 Stygian Street and strapped him to a mechanical chair before leaving his hideout again.
Shortly afterward, Detective David Tapp and Detective Steven Sing, two homicide detectives who worked for the Metropolitan Police Department, managed to find and break into the building. When they searched the hideout, they suddenly caught a sound and discovered Jeff. However, when they heard a nearby elevator, they went into hiding. Moments later, John arrived, disguised with a black cloak and hood. Tapp and Sing observed him as the latter approached Jeff and told him he wanted to use him to test a bigger project. At this moment, the detectives left their hiding spot and aimed their weapons at John. John reacted quickly and activated the mechanical chair by stepping on a button on the floor. Subsequently, two drills started to approach Jeff's head from both sides. While Sing desperately tried deactivating the contraption, Tapp held John at gunpoint. Even though John told them that the key to the trap was in a box next to Jeff, Sing could not find the right one in time as dozens of keys were attached to the key ring.
Nonetheless, Sing saved Jeff by shooting the drills in the last nick of time. However, the shots distracted Tapp, allowing John to slash his throat with a hidden blade and run away. Sing pursued the killer and shot him in a hallway, causing him to collapse. Thinking he was dead, Sing approached his body and accidentally stepped on a tripwire. This carelessness proved fatal as the wire triggered another trap, which caused Sing to be killed by four shotguns attached to a ceiling beam. Afterward, John, who wore bulletproof body armor under his cloak, left the factory unharmed and anonymously called an ambulance for Tapp. (Saw: The Video Game, Saw II: Flesh & Blood)
Zep Hindle's Test[]
Sometime later, John targeted Zep Hindle, an orderly working at the same hospital as Dr. Gordon. He injected him with a slow-acting poison and forced him to abduct Gordon's wife and daughter, Alison and Diana Gordon, whom Zep had to kill if Gordon failed his test. Meanwhile, Gordon was forced to play another game and had to kill a young man named Adam. If he followed John's instructions, Zep would eventually be given the antidote. Gordon could not accomplish his task in time, but his family was saved by David Tapp, who had observed their house from his apartment.
When the attacker fled, Tapp pursued him to an abandoned industrial building. He followed him into the building and outran Zep in an underground tunnel network. The men engaged in another fight, during which the former detective quickly gained the upper hand by brutally battering Zep. However, during their scuffle, Tapp was shot in the chest, collapsed, and eventually passed out, allowing Zep to escape. (Saw: The Video Game, Saw II: Flesh & Blood)
David Tapp's Trial[]
While wandering through the hallways, John found Tapp unconscious but still alive. He took him to the abandoned Whitehurst Insane Asylum, where he prepared a game for him. While doing so, he was aided by a mysterious pig-masked accomplice. By forcing him to play one of his games, John wanted to cure Tapp of his obsession with catching him. While the detective was unconscious, John treated his gunshot wound and took the opportunity to hide a key inside his body. Besides Tapp, many other people were trapped at Whitehurst and needed the key to escape. After the surgery, another one of John's victims strapped Tapp to a wheelchair and took him to a bathroom in the asylum. Upon their arrival, he put a mechanical contraption on his head, which worked like the trap used to test Amanda Young. (Saw: The Video Game)
David Tapp's First Test[]
When Tapp eventually woke up, he panicked and attempted to free himself from the chair. However, he stopped when a TV turned on in front of him. Jigsaw's mechanical ventriloquist puppet appeared on-screen and greeted him. The doll confronted Tapp with his obsession with apprehending Jigsaw and his subsequent sacrifices, such as Sing's death or the bullet wound caused by Zep Hindle. It also reminded him of the device on his head and demonstrated its deadly function on a mannequin sitting on another chair.
After the tape ended and the TV turned off again, Tapp got free from his chair and tried to remove the device. Although he did not have a key, Tapp had spent much time examining the trap from the crime scene of Amanda Young's game and could open it either way. Tapp quickly removed the contraption and threw it away, causing it to burst open only moments after hitting the floor. He angrily yelled at Jigsaw that he would not play his game but quickly realized he had no choice and tried to calm down. Meanwhile, he was observed by John over the surveillance cameras. (Saw: The Video Game)
David Tapp's Second Test[]
Following the beginning of Tapp's game, John went to the asylum's surgical theater. Throughout his ordeal, Tapp would have to save numerous other prisoners trapped at Whitehurst. Among them was Amanda Young, whom John had kidnapped again. Following her abduction, he strapped her to a medical chair.
Upon waking up, Amanda panicked as John, who concealed himself with a cloak and a hood, worked on the chair for some final preparations. Amanda desperately told him that she had passed her test already. However, he responded that she did not learn her lesson as she still did not overcome her drug addiction and self-harming tendencies, which were the reason for her test in the first place. To Amanda's surprise, he informed her that Detective Tapp was on his way to save her. She tried once more to convince John to free her, promising that she did not tell the police anything about him and that she would overcome her drug addiction and her acts of self-harm. However, John calmly denied her plea for freedom and ultimately left her behind. (Saw: The Video Game)
David Tapp's Third Test[]
While Tapp faced his next game and successfully saved Amanda's life, John went to the furnace room where one of Tapp's former colleagues, crime scene investigator Jennings Foster, was trapped. The latter was strapped to a metal table underneath a giant pendulum-shaped blade. Years earlier, Jennings had hit a homeless man with his car while intoxicated and fled the scene without helping him. Although he tried to convince him otherwise, Tapp insisted on investigating the case. Afraid that Tapp might discover the truth, Jennings manipulated the evidence and framed an innocent man, who was subsequently sent to prison.
Upon waking up, he immediately screamed for help but was interrupted by John. To his surprise, the latter knew the truth about the car accident. When John confronted him about his crimes, Jennings showed no remorse and, despite his fear, angrily insulted his abductor. Jennings stated that no one would have missed the homeless man as the latter had no family. He also attempted to justify that he wrongfully incriminated an innocent man, saying it was necessary to protect himself. His prevarications, however, did not convince John to release him. Instead, he left him behind as Tapp was about to arrive for the next part of his game. (Saw: The Video Game)
David Tapp's Fourth Test[]
Soon afterward, John entered Whitehurst's chapel, where his next victim was trapped. Following Detective Sing's death, his wife, Melissa Sing, suffered from severe depression. Unable to cope with her grief, she neglected herself and her son, Franklin, and blamed Tapp for her crisis as she deemed him responsible for Sing's demise. Due to the child neglect and Melissa's hatred for Tapp, John had chosen her to participate in Tapp's game and put her in another gruesome trap. Melissa was forced to stand between two metal plates equipped with numerous rotating saw blades with her hands strapped behind her back.
When she woke up, she was greeted by John and immediately insulted him, accusing him of having killed her husband. John defended himself, stating that the trap that killed Sing could have been easily disabled by police procedure if Tapp had not ignored it. These words further fueled Melissa's hatred for her late husband's partner. She demanded to see her son when John reminded her of how she had neglected him after Sing's death. Once again, Melissa blamed Tapp for her misery, expressing her hate and desire for him to suffer. She tried to convince John that Tapp was, indeed, the one responsible for her and Franklin's situation. John, however, merely told her that Tapp was the only one who could save her. Afterward, he left the chapel, allowing Tapp's game to continue. (Saw: The Video Game)
Melissa Sing's Test[]
Eventually, Tapp saved her from John's trap. Melissa followed him to the Pine Ward, but after only a few minutes, she left him again. Before abandoning him, she stated that she could not forgive Tapp for her husband's death and that he deserved this game. Shortly afterward, John sent Pighead after her to force her to play another game. After subduing her, Pighead sewed her mouth shut and gave her an audiotape recorded by John, which informed her that he had also abducted her son. To save him, Melissa had to follow John's instructions and keep Tapp on track until 6:00. Eager to see Franklin again, Melissa accepted her task and put several obstacles in Tapp's path. (Saw: The Video Game)
David Tapp's Fifth Test[]
Meanwhile, John went to Oswald McGillicutty, a journalist and the fourth pivotal participant in Tapp's game. Throughout the Jigsaw investigation, Oswald had been eager to receive internal information from Tapp to publish his story. However, as Tapp refused to call him back, Oswald developed a grudge against him. He frequently used his articles to degrade the detective and his entire unit and accused them of working sloppily. When Detective Sing was killed during the raid on Jigsaw's hideout, these newspaper articles accused Tapp of being responsible for his partner's death and destroyed his reputation entirely. Therefore, John targeted Oswald and took him to the asylum, where he strapped him to another trap that could break his back and limbs by bending them backward.
While John finished his work on the deadly contraption, Oswald woke up. Upon seeing his abductor, he angrily yelled at and threatened him. However, he stopped and started to panic when he realized that the man was, in fact, the Jigsaw Killer. Oswald tried to persuade John to let him go, claiming that his articles had helped the latter spread his message. However, John told him he could not free him and confronted him with his vendetta against Tapp. When he asked him for the reasons for his smear campaign, Oswald admitted wanting revenge on the former detective for not giving him information about the Jigsaw case. After finishing his preparations, John eventually left the room and allowed Tapp to enter. (Saw: The Video Game)
David Tapp's Sixth Test[]
John's next victim, Obi Tate, was trapped in the crematorium. However, unlike the other victims at Whitehurst, Obi was there of his own free will. The young man had put up a newspaper ad to contact the killer as he desired to be tested. This attempt was successful when John told Obi to come to Whitehurst.
When Obi woke up inside a furnace and was greeted by John, the prisoner was happy and expressed his admiration for the killer's work, reaffirming his wish to participate in one of Jigsaw's games. However, John asked him what the point of his game was if he wasted his life looking for a way to be tested. Obi asked John about the rules of his game and how he was supposed to free himself. To his dismay, John told him that he could not save himself. Instead, Obi had to rely on Tapp's help to escape the crematorium. Obi begged John for another test, stating he wanted to feel the pain of going through it without anyone's help. John responded that he first had to be saved by someone else to learn the true meaning of his games. Ignoring Obi's attempts to convince him otherwise, John left him behind for his game to play out. (Saw: The Video Game)
David Tapp's Seventh Test[]
After leaving the crematorium, John set out for Whitehurst's theater, where the last primary victim of Tapp's game was trapped. This victim was Jeff Ridenhour, the man Tapp and Sing had saved on the night of Sing's death. As this interruption had prevented John from testing Jeff, he saw Tapp's game as an opportunity to make up Jeff's test and felt vindicated in doing so when Jeff unsuccessfully tried to kill himself once more. Jeff was strapped to a metal platform in a standing position. Behind him was a machine with several long, thin, pointy metal spikes that could impale his body.
Upon waking up, Jeff immediately panicked when he saw John. When he asked his captor if he had not suffered enough already, John confronted him with the fact that Jeff had attempted suicide twice before, promising that Jeff would know the value of life the closer he came to losing it. Jeff told John that Tapp had kept harassing him after escaping from his hideout to get information about the killer. This frequent harassment was also the reason for his second attempted suicide, as Jeff saw no other way to escape his situation, but John told him that he would soon learn that there was no escape. He asked Jeff if he genuinely wanted to die, which the latter negated. Therefore, John confronted him with his second attempted suicide after escaping his first trap. To defend himself, Jeff blamed Tapp for having caused him to make this decision. After that, John disappeared. (Saw: The Video Game)
Pighead's Death[]
Throughout the game, John realized that his accomplice, Pighead, tried to sabotage Tapp's game to surpass his mentor. He warned Tapp of his former ally and told him he held the only key to escape Whitehurst. Moments later, Tapp reached a yard, where he saw another prisoner trapped in a small fenced area. Pighead, while waiting for Tapp, pushed a button and energized the floor, killing the man behind the barrier. Afterward, he and Tapp engaged in a fight. However, as Pighead was a ruthless and capable opponent, Tapp was forced to keep him at a distance. Unable to defeat him by other means, Tapp eventually lured Pighead into the fenced area and closed the door behind him. Afterward, he pressed the button and fatally electrocuted his enemy. Following Pighead's death, Tapp searched his body and found the key. (Saw: The Video Game)
David Tapp's Final Test[]
In the atrium, John gave Tapp his final ultimatum. The detective could either let go of his obsession with Jigsaw in exchange for the freedom of all remaining victims still trapped at Whitehurst or decide to uncover the truth about Jigsaw and condemn all the other prisoners. Eventually, Tapp chose freedom and saved the rest of the people trapped in the asylum.
Throughout the following days, the press frequently reported the events at Whitehurst, declaring Tapp a hero. Although the newspapers redeemed his reputation, Tapp continued to suffer from severe depression. Unable to let go of his guilt for Sing's death, he asked himself whether he made the right choice at Whitehurst by allowing Jigsaw to escape. Ultimately, Tapp could not overcome his obsession with Jigsaw and committed suicide in his apartment by shooting himself in the head. (Saw: The Video Game, Saw II: Flesh & Blood)
Michael Tapp's Trial[]
Following Tapp's demise, John turned his attention to the detective's estranged son, Michael Tapp, who worked as an intern for a newspaper. Although it was mainly Oswald McGillicutty's smear campaign that damaged Tapp's reputation, Michael published the truth about Sing's death. In doing so, he wanted to push his career and get revenge on his father for abandoning him and his mother, Kara, when Michael was still a child. For his betrayal, John targeted Michael as the primary test subject for his next game. By facing a series of tests, Michael should atone for his betrayal and uncover the truth that connected the other participants in this deadly ordeal. These participants, among others, included Chief Henry Jacobs, Detective Joseph Poltzer, Dr. Carla Song, Sarah Blalok, and John's former business partner, Solomon Bates. While continuing his hunt for John after his discharge from the police, Tapp discovered that all these people were members of a drug cartel. After making all preparations for the game, John sent his new accomplice, Pighead II, to abduct their victims. (Saw II: Flesh & Blood)
Michael Tapp's First Test[]
Pighead took the hostages to the abandoned Holmes Hotel, where he trapped Michael and Solomon Bates in two cages. These cages were connected to two separate tracks covered in broken glass. When the men woke up, they were greeted by John's mechanical puppet that appeared on a TV screen and introduced them to their test. Once the game began, both participants had to push their cages forward. Whoever reached the end of their track first was promised to be freed. However, the puppet alluded to the tale of the tortoise and the hare, indicating that the way to win the game was to let the other person reach the end first.
When the TV turned off, the prisoners started pushing their cages, and eventually, Solomon reached the end of his track first and was released. After the latter left the room, Michael made it to the end of his path and was freed, too. The TV turned on again, and the puppet offered Michael another chance at survival by facing the next part of his game. Meanwhile, Solomon, who had not understood the clue related to the fairy tale, was subdued and put in another trap. (Saw II: Flesh & Blood)
Michael Tapp's Second Test[]
John informs Michael about Jacobs.
Having no choice, Michael continued his way and was informed that he would face numerous other prisoners. All of them were dangerous and highly violent offenders whom his father once arrested. While making his way through the hotel, Michael eventually reached the lobby. Upon entering, he saw John behind a fence. John informed him that Henry Jacobs was trapped in the ballroom. He was strapped to a chair with a loaded revolver in his mouth. To save him, Michael had to find a way behind the fence. While not directly revealing Jacobs' involvement in the drug cartel, John hinted at a secret that had shattered Tapp's trust in the Chief of Police. After that, he disappeared and left Michael to continue his path. (Saw II: Flesh & Blood)
Michael Tapp's Third Test[]
John went down to the pool area on the hotel's lower floor. After abducting Sarah Blalok, Pighead took her there and locked her up inside a glass tank. She was the second primary victim Michael had to save throughout his game. However, the path to her was blocked by electrified water. Sometime later, Michael arrived in the area and was warned that he had to pump down the water and cut the power first to save the woman.
John tells Michael about Gideon.
Upon his arrival, he was forced to put on a mechanical vest armed with nine shotgun shells arranged in two vertical rows. While looking around the pool area to find a way to Sarah, he tried to enter an adjacent room when suddenly, the vest made a beeping sound and caused him to back off. Seconds later, John appeared and calmly warned him not to get closer as a sensor on the wall would activate Michael's vest and kill him if he went any further. During their brief conversation, John told Michael that he once had a son who died before he began his work. Meanwhile, Pighead passed the room and shoved the water pump into an elevator moments before his mentor followed him. (Saw II: Flesh & Blood)
The Truth[]
Once their work was done, John and Pighead went to an abandoned chemical plant across from the hotel, where the next part of Michael's game awaited him. While Michael made his way through the building complex, he saved two other people, Joseph Poltzer and Carla Song, from John's traps. During these encounters, Michael learned about the drug cartel discovered by his father and felt remorse for betraying him.
As Michael went on, he suddenly came across John, who waited behind a window. The latter confronted him with his past actions and played an audiotape. It contained a recording of a previous conversation between Michael and another man. While Michael's father had still investigated the Jigsaw case, he initially lied to his colleagues about the death of his partner, Sing. The man on the tape told Michael to sell the true story about the raid on Jigsaw's hideout to the editor of The Herald in exchange for a job. Michael eventually found the evidence he was looking for and sold it to the newspaper, destroying his father's reputation and causing his discharge from the police force. Angered by being confronted with his sins, Michael tried to attack John but was held back when a roller door slammed shut between them. (Saw II: Flesh & Blood)
Campbell Iman's First Test[]
As Michael was about to face the last stage of his game, John went to an abandoned railway building nearby, where he and Pighead had prepared another game. This game focused on a drug addict and terminal cancer patient named Campbell Iman. After learning about his impending death, Campbell began looking for his son, whom he had abandoned when he was still a child and who had also become addicted. Following his abduction, John or his accomplice performed surgery on the man and placed a key behind Campbell's right eye. After that, they locked a so-called death mask around his neck. The two halves of this mask were spiked with nails on the inside. They were horizontally positioned before and behind Campbell's head, similar to a Venus flytrap. Once the game began, Campbell had to cut out the key and unlock the contraption within 60 seconds. If he failed, the mask would close on his head and kill him. Campbell endured the pain and freed himself from the vicious device.
Upon the beginning of his game, John's puppet appeared on a TV screen. It confronted Campbell with both his and his son's drug addiction and their strained relationship, stating that Campbell did not even know if his son was still alive. However, it also offered to show him the truth about his son, but only if he was willing to play his game. After escaping the death mask, Campbell moved on to find a way out of the building. (Saw II: Flesh & Blood)
Michael Tapp's and Campbell Iman's Final Test[]
Shortly afterward, Campbell and Michael ended up in a giant hall, although both were on different floors. Only a single wooden beam on each level led to the other side of the room. John's puppet introduced them to their final test and told them about each other, as the men had never met before. Once the game began, the walls and ceiling would move toward each other. To survive, Campbell and Michael had to walk across the beam to reach a glass elevator on the other side of the chasm. However, the elevator was only big enough for one of them, so the other participant inevitably had to die.
- Path of Blood: After the introduction to the game, the walls and ceiling began moving. Due to Campbell's desire to see his son, he walked over the beam and reached the elevator in time. As it went up, he saw Michael, who desperately tried to enter the cabin but was crushed to death by the ceiling in front of Campbell's eyes. The door finally opened when the elevator arrived on the upper floor. When he left the cabin, another door opened next to him. John appeared and informed Campbell that his son was alive and unharmed. He offered his prisoner a chance to leave the building to see him. However, Campbell was furious and charged at John, yelling that he could not let his son live in a world with people like him. John evaded his attack, and Campbell was impaled by a scythe swinging from the ceiling. As he died, John ended his game and remarked on his failure with the words, "Game Over."
- Path of Flesh: After the introduction to the game, the walls and ceiling began moving. Michael walked over the beam and reached the elevator in time. The door finally opened when the elevator arrived on the upper floor. Michael stumbled into a storage hall and was greeted by John's puppet, which approached him on a tricycle and maniacally laughed at him. At the same time, three TVs turned on around him. John informed him that he had passed his test and offered him one final choice. There were two doors before the young man. One led Michael to freedom and gave him a chance to use the evidence found by his father to print the story of Jigsaw and the drug cartel, but he was told people would forget sooner or later. The other door revealed a Pighead costume and offered Michael the chance to learn Jigsaw's methods to help others. (Saw II: Flesh & Blood)
Personality[]
John Kramer was a diligent and hard-working man who was just as devoted to his wife and his unborn son as he was to his work, which was dedicated to helping those disadvantaged by society. He had strong moral convictions and a strong sense of justice. Even before his transformation to Jigsaw, John believed that only the knowledge of impending death could show if someone were willing to fight for survival. Furthermore, he had a genius-level intellect and an excellent understanding of facts in diverse fields of science. Yet, he was also spiritual and interested in esoteric subjects such as Chinese astrology.
However, his life dramatically changed when his son died and he was diagnosed with incurable cancer. John suffered from severe depression and turned away from his wife and work. Upon receiving his diagnosis, John became the Jigsaw Killer and tested other people's will to live by putting them in gruesome, potentially deadly situations. Despite these games' immense brutality, John took no pleasure in his victims' suffering and death but instead saw it as a necessary evil for them to learn to appreciate their lives. Nonetheless, he occasionally tended to confront his victims with their sins in a mocking way. He always tried to keep an emotional distance between himself and his test subjects during his games, so his personal feelings would not affect his work.
Trivia[]
- Tobin Bell is the only actor from the films who voiced his character in the video game adaptions and provided his likeness.
- The main antagonist of the video game Heavy Rain, the Origami Killer, has a similar modus operandi. He forces his victims to participate in gruesome trials, during which they have to risk their own lives and, in one instance, mutilate themselves to save the lives of their loved ones. Furthermore, the characters Gordi and Charles Kramer share their last name with John.
Appearances and References[]
| Films | |||||||||
| Saw | Saw II | Saw III | Saw IV | Saw V | Saw VI | Saw 3D | Jigsaw | Spiral | Saw X |
| Appears | Appears | Appears | Flashback, Pictured, & Corpse | Flashback, Pictured, & Corpse | Flashback, Recording, & Mentioned | Flashback & Mentioned | Flashback & Mentioned | Pictured & Mentioned | Appears |
| Other Media | |||||
| "Saw" (2003 Short) |
Saw: Rebirth (2005 Comic) |
Full Disclosure Report | The Scott Tibbs Documentary | Saw: The Video Game | Saw II: Flesh & Blood |
| Absent | Appears | Recording & Mentioned | Mentioned | Appears | Appears |