Summary

• Jigsaw's twisted tests brought few Saw survivors, forcing them to sacrifice for life.
• Some survivors outsmarted the traps while others faced immense trauma and guilt.
• Not all Jigsaw victims were redeemable, as some faced impossible challenges and brutal deaths.

While he claims to not be a serial killer, Jigsaw is one of the most effective murderers in horror, leaving few Saw survivors. John used the Jigsaw identity to help wayward and damaged people reform, learning to have a new appreciation for life by making a sacrifice of blood and flesh to survive. He claimed he was helping people appreciate life more, yet most people failed his twisted tests. Though there have been a few Saw survivors Jigsaw didn't initially kill.

Many of the people Jigsaw targets across the 10 Saw movies are far from sympathetic characters, and watching them get theirs can be a form of catharsis. As sadistic as John Kramer was, some of his followers who carried on his legacy were even worse, not caring about any lessons being learned and making the traps purposely impossible to escape. However, some Saw survivors did manage to out-think the traps and were willing to make the sacrifice being asked for them, while for others, survival was part of their punishment.

Amanda Young

Survived The Reverse Bear Trap In Saw

The first survivor of one of Jigsaw's traps in Saw came in the first movie, and she went on to become a key character in the wider franchise. Amanda Young (Shawnee Smith) was the first known Saw survivor as she managed to escape the infamous reverse bear trap. To free herself, she had to kill a man and retrieve the key to the device on her face from inside his stomach.

As traumatic as it was, Amanda then kicked her drug addiction and ended up ing John as his first confirmed apprentice, designed to help Jigsaw's work continue despite John's failing health. Sadly, she lost her way and began deg inescapable traps. John tested her again, and she failed, dying in the process. However, just as John himself has somehow risen from the dead, Amanda returned in Saw X.

Lawrence, Alison & Diana Gordon

Survived Various Traps In Saw, Including Lawrence Sawing His Own Foot Off

Not everyone who gets mixed up in Jigsaw's games is a particular target of his wrath. In some cases, they're just those close to the main test subject, such as the wife and daughter of Dr. Lawrence Gordon (Cary Elwes). Dr. Gordon, of course, famously survived his test in the first Saw movie by sawing off his own foot. Meanwhile, his wife Alison and daughter Diana survived their own captivity at the hands of Zep, a man forced into working for Jigsaw.

Despite its penchant for bringing characters back, Dr. Gordon disappeared from the Saw franchise until Saw 7 when he was revealed to another apprentice of John Kramer. Dr. Gordon helped design some Jigsaw traps with his medical knowledge and eventually trapped John's power-hungry apprentice Mark Hoffman in the same basement cellar Gordon was once captive in.

Jeff Ridenhour

Survived The Neck Drill Chair Trap In Saw

Not every survivor of Jigsaw's traps and games in the Saw movies went on to become a major character in the franchise, and not all of them survived due to their own grit, determination, or intelligence, either. Jeff Ridenhour is a very minor character in Saw lore and the Saw survivor audiences know the least about. Jeff Ridenhour only appeared in 2004's Saw, and he only survived due to outside intervention.

Detective Sing simply shoots the trap to stop it, saving Jeff's life - though in doing so, both detectives missed an opportunity to apprehend Jigsaw

In Jeff's case, he didn't necessarily deserve to survive his Jigsaw test but was saved by Detectives David Tapp (Danny Glover) and Steven Sing (Ken Leung). While the detectives are on Jigsaw's trail, they find Jeff strapped to a chair with two drills that are activated to puncture his neck. Detective Sing simply shoots the trap to stop it, saving Jeff's life - though in doing so, both detectives missed an opportunity to apprehend Jigsaw, since John Kramer was present at the scene.

Daniel Matthews

Survives Being In The Trap-Filled House In Saw 2

Daniel Matthews was a Saw survivor whom Jigsaw never intended to kill as his survival was part of another test. Daniel is tested much less due to his own petty crimes, and more because he was the son of Eric Matthews (Donnie Wahlberg), an explosively violent cop who was Saw 2's primary Jigsaw target. When Eric tracks Jigsaw to his hideout, he finds monitors of a group of people stuck inside Saw 2's house of traps with Daniel among the captives.

John requested that Eric not let his rage take over even as he watches a ticking clock countdown to his son's death. Eric eventually snapped and beat John, forcing him to give up the location of the house. However, it was revealed the camera footage is days old and Daniel is hidden safely away in a safe within Jigsaw's hideout which opened when the clock runs out. While Daniel is saved, his father fails his test and is lured into a trap.

Corbett Denlon & Judge Halden

Halden Survived The Pig Carcass Vat Trap & Denlon Survived Multiple Traps In Saw 3

Corbett Denlon and Judge Halden are two minor Saw survivors who were pulled into Jigsaw's games with Jeff Denlon in Saw 3. Halden was the judge who gave the drunk driver that killed Jeff's son a light sentence. Halden was placed in one of the most disgusting Jigsaw traps, chained to the bottom of a giant vat which is gradually filled with sludge made of rotting pig carcasses. To save Halden, Jeff had to burn cherished mementos connected to his son. However, Halden barely had time to appreciate his brush with death when he was swiftly killed in the next trap.

It was later revealed that Jeff's young daughter, Corbett, was also part of the game in Saw 3, and Jigsaw criticized Jeff for neglecting her following his son's death. Corbett was kidnapped to motivate Jeff, and though both her parents died while going through their respective tests, Corbett was "saved" by Jigsaw apprentice Mark Hoffman. However, the post-credit scene of Saw VI reveals that Amanda told Corbett not to trust the man who saved her, implying the little girl was the one who told the police of Hoffman's involvement.

Detective Mark Hoffman

Survived Multiple Traps In Multiple Saw Movies

Easily the most dangerous and sadistic of Jigsaw's apprentices, Detective Mark Hoffman (Costas Mandylor) was a police officer who initially appeared to be one of Jigsaw's victims. He was set up in a trap that appeared to electrocute him only to reveal it was faked, and he was in on John Kramer's schemes. It is revealed Hoffman killed a man and staged it as a Jigsaw killing, getting John's attention, recruiting him as an apprentice.

John's widow Jill attempted to punish him for his corrupt use of John's legacy and trapped him in a reverse bear trap, the same that Amanda had survived in the first Saw film.

Hoffman nearly became a victim of one of Jigsaw's most famous traps when John's widow Jill attempted to punish him for his corrupt use of John's legacy and trapped him in a reverse bear trap, the same that Amanda had survived in the first Saw film. Hoffman's quick thinking stopped the trap in time for him to escape. However, after killing Jill, Hoffman was finally punished by Dr. Gordon who locked Hoffman in the cellar from the first movie.

FBI Agent Peter Strahm

Survived Multiple Traps In Multiple Saw Movies

Hoffman wasn't the only character to survive several Jigsaw traps in the Saw franchise. FBI Agent Peter Strahm (Scott Patterson) investigated the Jigsaw case and ultimately became a Saw survivor, at least for a time. Strahm, who was introduced in Saw IV as a protagonist to investigate Jigsaw's apprentice, instantly suspected Hoffman was in on things yet almost became one of Hoffman's victims when he found himself with his head locked in a case filled with water.

Still, his dogged pursuit of the truth cost him dearly, as he inadvertently allowed Hoffman to escape a deadly trap which caused Strahm to be slowly crushed to death in Saw V.

Of all the survivors in the Saw movies, Agent Strahm was perhaps the one who deserved to live most if judging by John Kramer's desire to see those who have the strongest will to live walk away. Strahm proved to be a quick thinker, using a pen to give himself a tracheotomy — something that was arguably almost as traumatic for him as the trap itself. Still, his dogged pursuit of the truth cost him dearly, as he inadvertently allowed Hoffman to escape a deadly trap which caused Strahm to be slowly crushed to death in Saw V.

FBI Agent Lindsey Perez

Survived The Exploding Puppet Trap In Saw IV

Those working on the right side of the law in Saw movies often find themselves targets of Jigsaw or his apprentices, and Agent Strahm wasn't the only FBI agent introduced in Saw IV to find herself on the wrong end of one of the serial killers infamous traps. Strahm's partner Agent Perez (Athena Karkanis) was another Saw survivor, having lived through a nasty Jigsaw trap involving an exploding puppet sending shrapnel into her face thanks to the efforts of Strahm himself.

While the experience was no-doubt harrowing for Perez, it didn't dissuade her from continuing to work to bring down Jigsaw's legacy. The FBI agent faked her death and she returned to continue on Strahm's suspicions that Hoffman is Jigsaw's replacement. However, before she could bring him down, she was stabbed to death by Hoffman.

Art Blank & Morgan

Art Survived The Sewn Eyes/Mouth Winch Trap & Morgan Survived The Spike Trap In Saw 4

Art Blank (Justin Louis) was one of the featured Jigsaw test subjects in Saw 4 and was chosen due to his profession. Art was a lawyer and one with a habit of defending clients who were guilty and helping them escape justice. Art had been John's friend and business partner, but after a falling out, was forced to kill another man in order to survive a trap. This trap involved Art locked in a room with another Jigsaw victim, Trevor. Trevor's eyes had been sewn shut, as had Arts mouth, and the pair had to work together before a winch pulled them both to be crushed by industrial tools.

She killed her abusive husband to live and set herself free in more ways than one.

Art managed to survive, though took another life in the process. He was then forced to help Jigsaw set up another game, only to later be shot by cop Daniel Rigg. Morgan (Janet Land) was a related survivor in Saw IV, the wife of an abusive husband and father that Art had gotten off. Morgan awoke in a trap that involved spikes being pre-inserted into her body that she had to remove, though doing so would end the life of her husband. She killed her abusive husband to live and set herself free in more ways than one.

Brit Stevenson And Mallick

Survived Multiple Traps In Saw 5

Several Saw movies involve a group of survivors who have to survive multiple traps in order to live, as was the case in Saw V. Brit Stevenson (Julie Benz) was one of the main test subjects in Saw 5, a corrupt corporate executive who hired arsonist Mallick Scott (Greg Byrk) to burn down an apartment building so that she could buy the property it sat on, not realizing people were inside at the time.

The two were part of a series of traps along with other people tied to the arson with the rest of them dying along the way. Once Brit and Mallick reach the end, they realize everyone could have survived if they worked together. The remaining two are able to walk away in the end after cutting through their hands to fill a jar with blood which released them from their trap.