John Kramer in Saw: Who Jigsaw Is and Who Plays Him

John Kramer is the Jigsaw Killer, the man behind the traps that drive the whole saga, and Tobin Bell has played him in nine films. The credits use several names for him: Jigsaw in Saw (2004), Jigsaw / John from Saw II through Saw 3D, Jigsaw / John Kramer in Jigsaw (2017) and plain John Kramer in Saw X. In the story he is a man who tests people's will to live through deadly games, and he explains each test on a recording that tells the victim what to do and what it will cost.

The first film shows the method clearly. Photographer Adam and oncologist Dr. Lawrence Gordon wake in a filthy bathroom, each chained by the ankle to a pipe, with a dead man on the floor between them holding a revolver and a microcassette recorder. The tapes tell Adam to survive, and they tell Lawrence to kill Adam by 6:00 or his wife and daughter will die. Hacksaws found in the toilet cistern hint at the price of escape, and that price is the pattern for everything that follows.

If you are new to the series, the easiest route is the Saw movies in order guide, and the full list of players sits on the Saw characters page. One more point of context: Spiral: From the Book of Saw is a spin-off that follows a new killer working in Jigsaw's style, so it is a story about his legacy rather than a John Kramer film.

John Kramer's closest relationships are with the apprentices and the victims who become part of his work, and they matter because he rarely acts alone after the first film. Amanda Young, played by Shawnee Smith, is the first. She survives one of his games, returns as his helper in Saw II and carries out his work in Saw III. Her story ends badly, because she admits to Lynn that she has rigged her traps so nobody could win, and John then reveals that Lynn was Amanda's real test, since he would not let a killer carry on his work. The full story is on the Amanda Young Saw page.

Detective Mark Hoffman, played by Costas Mandylor, is the second apprentice. Saw V shows that Kramer pulled him into the games after learning that Hoffman had killed Seth, and Hoffman then becomes the keeper of the legacy across Saw IV, V, VI and 3D. In Saw X he appears in a short post credit cameo, watching over Henry in a bathroom with a trap attached to his stomach. See Mark Hoffman Saw.

Jill Tuck, played by Betsy Russell, is his widow. She is the one who follows his will in Saw VI by fitting a modified reverse bear trap on Hoffman, and she is killed by that same device in Saw 3D. Dr. Lawrence Gordon, played by Cary Elwes, is the survivor of Kramer's first bathroom game and later returns as an apprentice, as the Dr Gordon Saw profile explains. Eric Matthews, played by Donnie Wahlberg, is the detective drawn into the second game, and he is covered at Eric Matthews Saw. Logan Nelson, played by Matt Passmore, is the final link: the Jigsaw film reveals that Kramer spared him ten years earlier and made him his first apprentice.

The best John Kramer scenes are the ones where he is least active, and that is an opinion I will defend. In my opinion, the strongest is the end of Saw (2004), when the corpse on the bathroom floor stands up. Tobin Bell spent six days on that floor during the shoot, according to TheWrap, and the stillness is why the reveal lands. Adam and Lawrence share the room with him through every bathroom scene without knowing he is the man who put them there.

Second, the interview room in Saw II. Eric Matthews beats him, and Kramer keeps his composure, holding the room while the clock runs in the nerve gas house. It could be argued that the series never found a calmer villain than this. Third, the finale of Saw III, where Jigsaw's last test is still running after Amanda is dead and Jeff has reached him. The revelation that Lynn was Amanda's real test makes the film hold together as a puzzle.

Fourth, Saw VI, where Jill Tuck surprises Hoffman with a letter he once wrote to Amanda Young and fits the modified reverse bear trap on his head, carrying out a plan from John's will. Fifth, Saw X, where he is not the victor at first. He is a dying man who trusts the wrong people, then outplays them, and it makes the earlier films read differently on a rewatch. Anyone who prefers the traps to the character should look at the Saw traps page, and fans who like ranking can compare notes at Saw movies ranked.