Jigsaw ranks No. 30 in Empire magazine's "100 Greatest Movie Characters" list.[2]
Background
In the series' narrative, Kramer is a former civil engineer dying from an inoperable frontal lobetumor that had developed from colon cancer. After a failed suicide attempt, Kramer found a new appreciation for his life, and went to dedicate the rest of his life to inspiring the same appreciation in others by testing their will to live.
Tests
His methods include forcing his subjects through deadly scenarios, which he referred to as "games" or "tests", in which they were forced to inflict pain upon themselves or others in order to escape. These tests were typically symbolic of what Jigsaw perceived as a flaw in each person's moral character or life. The Jigsaw name was given to him by the media for his practice of cutting a puzzle piece shape of flesh from those who fail.
His videos are recorded with a cheap homemade camera with Billy the Puppet instructing the subjects what to do to live.