John Kramer

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## Magnificent Baddie

### Alias

The Jigsaw Killer
Jigsaw
Uncle John (by his nephew)

### Allies

Amanda Young
Mark Hoffman
Jill Tuck  (ex-wife)
Lawrence Gordon
Logan Nelson

### Powers/Skills

Genius-level intelligence
Vast resources
Engineering

### Goals

Escape from the hands of the police and the FBI at all costs.
Teach his victims to treasure their lives and those of others  (should they survive their given tests).

### Crimes

Serial homicide
Kidnapping
Torture
Vigilantism
Snuff filming
Stalking
Blackmail
Mutilation
Incrimination

### Type of MB

Delusional Anti-Villain

**John Kramer**, better known as the **Jigsaw Killer** or simply **Jigsaw**, is the main antagonist of the horror film franchise *Saw*. He is the main antagonist of the first four films, the posthumous overarching antagonist of *Saw V*, *Saw VI*, and *Saw 3D*, and the main protagonist of *Saw X*. He is a former civil engineer who, after going through several traumatic events, became a deluded and obsessive serial killer with the intention of teaching his victims that life is precious. He is probably most famous for intimidating his victims by using Billy the Puppet, a special small red and white kabuki-like doll.

He was portrayed by Tobin Bell.

## What Makes Him Magnificent?

* Many consider Tobin Bell's performance to be the best part of the franchise.
* He spends the entire first movie subtly playing dead in the bathroom while Adam and Lawrence do their test. This is widely considered to be one of the best twists in movie history, and for good reason because there's like *no* foreshadowing.
	+ In the same movie, he also practically handed Tapp and Sing's asses over to them when they intruded his base without a warrant, slitting the former's throat while luring the latter into a shotgun boobytrap.
* In the second movie, he escapes police custody by luring a grief-stricken Detective Matthews to his hideout so Amanda can incapacitate him.
* Despite Jeff killing him defenselessly, it's revealed later that John planned this all along as he swallowed a tape covered with wax so the police can dig it out of his corpse, hearing that the games are far from over since Hoffman will be carrying the Jigsaw torch from that point going forward.
* He left a tape for Dr. Gordon, telling him to avenge Jill by killing Hoffman.
* Even a decade after his death, he has quite a legacy with several people continuing to worship him in-universe.
* Although he's easily heinous/hypocritical enough to be a baddie, compared to other villains in the series, John comes off as a lesser evil for several reasons:
	+ Unlike Amanda and Hoffman, his traps are actually *escapable* because he wants his test subjects to survive and appreciate life better. He's also genuinely polite and he never outright lies, although he often gives cryptic information.
	+ Many of his victims (e.g. Xavier, Ivan and Anna) are terrible people who easily have it coming.
	+ He's tragic due to losing his unborn son and being diagnosed with cancer. It's also revealed that his nephew died due to someone selling him a bike with faulty breaks in *Jigsaw*.
	+ In *Jigsaw*, he saves Logan's life because he didn't wake up fast enough to do his game.

## What Makes Him a Baddie?

* He poisons Zep, the one orderly who treated him well at his hospital, thus allowing him to unleash his sadistic tendencies while holding Adam, Dr. Gordon and his family hostage.
* He leaves Adam to die even though he technically passed his test.
* In the first three movies, his tests involve innocent women and children.
* He recruits four former test subjects (Logan, Hoffman, Amanda and Lawrence) as his personal apprentices, thus allowing them to kill more people, sometimes with inescapable traps.

## Trivia

* He is the icon of the *Mature* template.

## External Links

* John Kramer at the Villains wiki
* John Kramer at the *Saw* wiki
* John Kramer at the Inconsistently Heinous wiki