Summary

• The story of how John Kramer became Jigsaw is a tragic one, driven by heartbreak and personal loss.
• John's motivation as Jigsaw stems from his belief that people waste their lives while he is unfairly losing his own.
• The latest Saw movie, Saw X, further explores John's transformation into Jigsaw and reinforces his dedication to his twisted teaching methods.

The Saw franchise revolves around one of the most intriguing fictional serial killers seen on screen, and the story of how John Kramer became Jigsaw is almost as intriguing as the traps he creates. Though he puts his victims through brutal death traps, John Kramer (Tobin Bell) always insists that he never actually killed anyone but rather gave them a choice. In Jigsaw's eyes, his traps are a righteous and noble pursuit, helping ungrateful people fight for their lives and once again appreciate what they have. That twisted philosophy grew out of John's many heartbreaks and tragedies, and the story of how he became Jigsaw is understandably a fascinating one.

The original Saw twist ending reveals that the real Jigsaw killer is John Kramer, a terminally ill cancer patient. While John has limited screen time in that first movie, it's implied that his motivation is the knowledge that he is unfairly losing his life while other people lie, deceive, and otherwise waste their own. Seemingly born out of resentment towards these people, he becomes Jigsaw. However, as the franchise continues, it is revealed John's cancer is just one small aspect of why he became a serial killer, and the story of how he became Jigsaw has many deeper layers.

Saw: John Kramer's Tragic Jigsaw Origin Story Explained

How And Why John Kramer Became A Serial Killer

As revealed earlier in the Saw timeline in Saw IV, John Kramer was once a respected civil engineer and property developer, with a wife named Jill Tuck who ran a clinic for drug addicts. The clinic's motto was "Cherish Your Life," a hopeful message that John would later twist into his own idea following a tragedy. One night, patient Cecil Adams broke into the clinic to steal drugs, ending up injuring Jill which led to the miscarriage of her and John's unborn son Gideon.

While Jill was devastated by the incident as well, reasoning that she only meant to help people, a twisted idea was already percolating in John's mind as he insisted, "You can't help them. They have to help themselves." This chilling quote is perhaps the first time John Kramer spoke as Jigsaw and the earliest signs of what was to come.

The tragic loss of his son led to the end of his marriage to Jill which was subsequently followed by his cancer diagnosis. The endless tragedy in his life led John to lose the will to live, and he attempted suicide by crashing his car, as seen in Saw II. However, he survived the attempt, crawling out of the wreck in pain. That pain allowed him to appreciate that he was still alive, and he then sought to offer the same lesson to others he perceived as needing an education as the now-infamous Jigsaw Killer.

Saw X Added More To Jigsaw's Origin

How The Latest Saw Movie Expands John Kramer's Origin Story

John Kramer’s transformation into Jigsaw is further explained in, the latest Saw movie, Saw X. The movie takes place earlier in the Saw timeline, between 2004's Saw and Saw II, when Jigsaw is already an established serial killer though not quite yet at his peak. However, it also depicts John as being frail and close to death as his cancer gets more aggressive. There is the sense that he doesn’t have the strength to continue on with his twisted games. However, that changes when he is introduced to a new experimental cancer treatment that is offered at a secret clinic.

John goes to Mexico City to have the treatment and is told it was a success, giving him a new lease on life. It also makes him rethink his role as Jigsaw, to the point that when he is healing from the surgery, he discards plans for a new trap. However, he then discovers the treatment was a scam, and he decides to make those who tricked him his new test subjects.

Instead of ending John's transformation in Jigsaw, the events of Saw X galvanize his convictions and represent the moment John Kramer truly starts to embody his judgmental homicidal alter-ego. While John insists it is not retribution he is after, his experience in Saw X makes him all the more dedicated to his path as Jigsaw. He realized that there were still people in the world who needed his brutal brand of teaching, and he would spend his dying days (and the rest of the movies in the Saw franchise) continuing that work.