| “ | I don't know about this. She's been good to us. | ” |
— Cecil hesitates to rob Jill Tuck
| ||
Cecil Adams is a fictional character from the Saw franchise as well as a supporting antagonist in Saw IV. He was portrayed by Billy Otis.
Biography
Early Life
Cecil is confronted by John Kramer
Cecil Adams was a drug addict and the boyfriend of Amanda Young, who was also addicted to heroin. He financed himself and his addiction with hustling and petty thefts. At one point, he and Amanda both became patients at the Homeward Bound Clinic, a recovery clinic for drug addicts ran by Jill Tuck under the motto "Cherish your life." During one of his visits at the clinic, he engaged in a fight with Gus Colyard, another patient, who slapped him in the face after he had complained vociferously about the long wait for his methadone treatment. After having been separated from each other, Cecil pulled a knife from his pocket, but John Kramer, Jill Tuck's husband, told him to reconsider what he was about to do. When Cecil angrily asked him what his problem was, John responded that he was his problem and soon he'd be the problem of everyone else. Eventually, Cecil put the knife away. (Saw IV, VI)
The Robbery
Cecil threatens Jill
One night not long after this incident, Amanda suffered from extreme abstinence symptoms. Therefore, she convinced Cecil to rob the clinic and steal the methadone supplies. They drove to the clinic and hid in a corner while waiting for the last patients to leave. When Jill was the only person left, Cecil suddenly had scruples and tried to dissuade Amanda from robbing her. However, she urged him even further, and eventually persuaded him. As Jill was about to leave, Cecil knocked at the security door at the entrance, claiming that he had forgotten his jacket in the waiting room. After initially hesitating, Jill eventually went back and got him his jacket. However, upon doing so, Cecil pushed her back and threatened her with a knife, thereby forcing her to open the door to the clinic. After obeying his order, Cecil told her to stand back. He quickly stole the medications and then ran back. Thereby, he accidently slammed a doorknob into Jill's stomach, who was in her seventh month of pregnancy at this time. As she saw the blood on her skirt, she slumped down and started to cry. Cecil tried to calm her down and asked her what happened. However, when he realized what he had done, he quickly fled and left Amanda behind. Upon leaving the clinic, he was spotted by John Kramer, who sat in his car and had been waiting for Jill. (Saw IV, VI)
Abduction
Cecil steals the terracotta soldier
Despite this horrible incident, Cecil went back to his usual way of life. Unknown to him, he was observed by John. One day, Cecil went to a Chinese street festival in celebration of the year of the pig. During the festival, he walked to one of the many booths and spoke to a saleswoman. After briefly distracting her, he quickly stole one of the small terracotta figures from her booth before vanishing. Upon doing so, he was observed and pursued by John. Using a pig mask filled with chloroform, John pursued, sedated and ultimately abducted Cecil. Then, he took him to his workshop and strapped him to a chair with blades, that were adjusted to the armrests and pierced his wrists. (Saw IV)
Death
Cecil awakes in Jigsaw's lair
When Cecil woke up, he initially panicked. When he recognized John, he begged him to let him go and apologized for what happened to Gideon, begging him to let him explain his situation. John merely claimed to have forgiven Cecil and had just put him in the trap to help him change his life. After a brief discussion, John showed Cecil a vicious contraption consisting of various knives. When his frightened hostage asked him what it was, John responded that this was the tool which would save his life. Afterwards, he adjusted the device to Cecil's chair so that the eight horizontally arranged knives were positioned right in front of his face. While doing so, he reminded Cecil of his crimes and failures and told him that he'd have to press his face into the knives in order to free himself from his restraints as otherwise, he would bleed to death.
Cecil in his trap
Cecil angrily insulted him and yelled for help. However, eventually he pressed his face into the knives. As he did so, the immense pain caused him to scream and struggle until after a few moments, the chair unexpectedly collapsed and thereby released him. However, instead of being grateful, Cecil approached John and tried to kill him. John however evaded the attack easily, causing Cecil to fall into a cage filled with razor wire, where he ultimately died in front of John's eyes. After his death, John cut a jigsaw piece from Cecil's skin as a symbol of his lack of will to survive and also took the stolen soldier figure from his corpse, which he kept as a memento from then on. Finally, he disposed of Cecil's corpse. (Saw IV)
Post-Mortem
Cecil's body was found shortly afterwards by the Metropolitan Police Department. His corpse was sent to the morgue where Dr. Adam Heffner performed the autopsy on him. Due to his way of death and his unusual wounds, the murder of Cecil hit the hidelines of the newspapers. (Saw IV, VI)
Non-Canon Appearances
Saw II: Flesh & Blood
Cecil was mentioned by Detective David Tapp in various audio tapes and case files in the video game Saw II: Flesh & Blood. According to him, he and his colleagues initially speculated that Cecil's death might be a result of gang criminality, even though none of them knew a gang with this specific modus operandi. Some time after Cecil's death, the murders continued and eventually, Amanda Young was tested as well in one of Jigsaw's traps, thereby becoming the first known survivor of his games. According to Tapp's files, she Amanda had contacted a drug dealer, Sarah Blalok, who was in fact a police informant, and asked her about Cecil's whereabouts. Upon searching Cecil's apartment, the police found a journal written by him, in which he described what happened at Jill's clinic at the night of the robbery and also stated that he had been observed by a person with a pig mask.
Personality
Cecil Adams was an aggressive and selfish man, only interested in satisfying his addiction. Thereby, he didn't hesitate to steal from others without thinking about the consequences it might have for them. The only time when he hesitated to harm someone else was at the night when he robbed Jill's clinic as she, according to him, had always been good to him and Amanda. Therefore, it can be assumed that he was somewhat grateful for Jill's treatment of her patients, even though it was just to a small degree as it eventually didn't stop him for robbing her. While he was initially shocked and sorrowful when he saw what he had done, telling Jill he was sorry, he continued his usual way of life shortly afterwards.
Trivia
While his surname is "Adams" in Saw IV and Saw II: Flesh & Blood, the FBI document about potential Jigsaw victims seen in Saw V lists him as "Cecil Fletcher."
Apperances and References
| Films | |||||||||
| Saw | Saw II | Saw III | Saw IV | Saw V | Saw VI | Saw 3D | Jigsaw | Spiral | Saw X |
| Absent | Absent | Absent | Flashback & Pictured | Mentioned | Flashback & Mentioned | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |
| Other Media | |||||
| "Saw" (2003 Short) |
Saw: Rebirth (2005 Comic) |
Full Disclosure Report | The Scott Tibbs Documentary | Saw: The Video Game | Saw II: Flesh & Blood |
| Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Mentioned |