| “ | Well, it's a formula. It's pretty complicated, actually, but in essence, it breaks down to monthly payments multiplied by lifespan, minus the probability of illness, and if its sum is positive, we consider coverage. | ” |
— William explains his business formula to John[src]
| ||
William Easton, also known as Will and Mr. E., is a fictional character from the Saw franchise as well as the main protagonist of Saw VI. He is portrayed by Peter Outerbridge.
Biography[]
Early Life[]
William Easton was the brother of Pamela Jenkins, a well-known investigative sensational journalist, who was in fact his only family. William himself was a health insurance executive and the senior vice president of the department for membership and claims of the Umbrella Health insurance company. His department was responsible for reviewing every clients' request for the coverage of treatment costs. To decide who gets the requested coverage, William developed a complex formula. Because of this formula, several seriously ill people were denied their coverage despite paying their monthly premium to the company. In many of these cases, William explained his decisions to the angered clients with spurious reasons. (Saw VI)
Charitable Donations[]
John talks to William Easton
Despite these dubious business practices, William occasionally gave a good account of himself by supporting free clinics and donating money for beneficent work. One of these clinics was the Homeward Bound Clinic, a recovery clinic for drug addicts ran by Jill Tuck. While attending a party sponsored by him, he made acquaintance with John Kramer, Jill's husband, who thanked him for financially supporting the clinic. During their conversation, William and John talked about their work. Thereby, William explained the basic concept of his insurance formula to him. While he was visibly proud of it, John questioned the formula, stating that William decided about life and death of his clients. William tried to defend himself. John elaborated on his criticism and told William that he forgot to take the survival instinct of his clients into consideration, which was the most important human element of all, according to him. However, despite their disagreements, John eventually became a client of Umbrella Health himself. (Saw VI)
Final Decision[]
John argues with William
Some time later, the renowned oncologist Dr. Lawrence Gordon diagnosed him with a brain tumor. Even though he told John that the tumor was inoperable, John looked for a possibility to save his life and thereby found out about an experimental therapy developed by a doctor in Norway. However, when he asked Umbrella Health for bearing the treatment costs, his coverage requests were repeatedly denied. Due to this, he went to William's office, hoping that the latter might have an understanding if he explained the situation to him in person. While William was initially open for the discussion, he didn't change his decision and quickly destroyed John's hope by stating that the coverage was unfeasable for Umbrella Health due to John's age and the bad development of his cancer. Furthermore, he told him that he would be dropped from coverage completely if he wanted to seek out the experimental treatment nonetheless. Angered by this, John asked him if he thought that the living would have the ultimate judgement over him as the dead would have no claim over his soul, and indirectly threatened him by stating that he may be mistaken in that regard, before he threw the printout of his request in the garbage can and left William's office. (Saw VI)
The Abbott Process[]
William talks to Harold
Another one of his clients was Harold Abbott, a cardiac patient, whose request for coverage had been denied as well. Therefore, he made an appointment with William in his office. and asked him for the reason of the denial as he had been a client of the company for ten years. To his surprise, William told him that during the review of Harold's claim, one of his associates had found out about a previous condition which Harold didn't tell them about. This condition was in fact an oral surgery 30 years earlier, during which a cyst was removed from his jaw. William explained to him that any type of oral surgery would leave scar tissue, which could lead to gum disease, which in return could cause heart diseases. Angered by this, Harold yelled at him and reminded him that he had a family. William however interrupted him and merely told him that this situation was his own fault. Shocked by William's cold and arrogant attitude, he told him that he had just given him a death sentence before he left the office and told his family, who had been waiting outside, about William's decision. Upon hearing the bad news, Harold's wife and son, Tara and Brent, glared at William in shock and anger before leaving the building along with Harold.
William discusses his testimony with Debbie
As Harold was financially unable to bear the treatment costs himself, his cardiac disease worsened and eventually resulted in his death, leaving his wife as a widow. Following his death, Tara and Brent tried to sue Umbrella Health. Because of this, Umbrella's lawyer, Debbie, made an appointment with William in his office in order to prepare him for the upcoming process. Therefore, William called his sister, Pamela, to cancel their appointment for dinner as the appointment with Debbie was on the same day as Pamela's birthday. Afterwards, William and Debbie discussed his testimony in the process. Despite William's confidence that everything would go the way they want it, Debbie convinced him of the necessity of this preparation and asked him about William's dispute with Harold. To her dismay, their conversation was frequently interrupted by William's secretary, Addy, his file clerk, Allen, and William himself when he watched a TV report by his sister about the late John Kramer, who had become known as the infamous Jigsaw Killer at this point. When Debbie finally asked him who had found the mistake in Harold Abbott's claim, which had resulted in the dismissal of his coverage request, William told her that it was one of his six insurance inspectors, who he sarcastically referred to as the "Dog Pit". Afterwards, the two of them ended their conversation and left the office. (Saw VI)
Abduction[]
William is abducted by Hoffman
A few hours later, William returned and was the last one in his office as all of his subordinates had already finished work for the day. While he was alone in his office, he watched another news report about John Kramer on the TV. Since the revelation of John's identity as the Jigsaw Killer more than six months earlier, William had become increasingly nervous and was afraid of becoming a target of him as well because of their disputes in the past. His nervousness had become worse, when John's deadly torture games went on even after his death. While he watched the report, he was eventually surprised by a sudden blackout. When he was about to leave his office to see if his janitor, Hank, was still in the building, he was shocked when he saw a dark silhouette behind a milk glass window. Alerted by this, he grabbed a gun from the drawer of his desk and quickly went into hiding. When the person entered, William left his hiding spot and told the invader to freeze. However, the man turned around and was subsequently shot by William. Moments later, William realized that the man was in fact a security guard. While he tried to help him, the guard attempted to warn him of Hoffman who was approaching from behind. Unfortunately, William didn't understand the warning and was subdued by Detective Mark Hoffman, John Kramer's successor, who had disguised himself with a sinister pig mask. Afterwards, he took William to the abandoned Rowan Zoological Institute, where he had prepared a brutal and vicious game for him. While he was still unconscious, Hoffman placed a key inside William's body before he placed him in his first trap. (Saw VI)
First Test[]
William in his trap
Upon waking up again, William immediately panicked when he found himself trapped in the large contraption, consisting of giant metal clamps aiming at his chest. Additionally, he wore a breathing mask on his face. Moments later, a TV turned on in front of him. William was shocked when he recognized the man appearing on the screen as John Kramer. John confronted him with his dubious business politics, which had ruined and ended the lives of numerous sick people, and introduced him to his game. William had four straps around each of his limbs, which would detonate if he wasn't able to complete four tests all around the zoo within 60 minutes. Furthermore, he told him that if he failed his task, he wouldn't see his family again. John then introduced him to his first test. At the same moment, a spotlight revealed Hank, Umbrella's janitor, who was in the same situation as William and began to panic as well. The video tape informed him about Hank's history of health restrictions and his lacking efforts to change this situation. Once the game began, the clamps around their chests would close in every time they took a breath and eventually crush their upper bodies. The only way for one of them to survive was the death of the other one.
William kneels on the floor
As the TV turned off and the game began, William told Hank to hold his breath and did the same on his own. However, due to Hank's years-long attitude of smoking, he had to take a first breath after a few seconds already, causing the clamps to further approach his body. Moments later, William took a breath as well. As he took another one shortly afterwards, Hank then took one - involuntarily wetting himself due to his panic and the increasing pain. Hank grew unstable, the intervals in which he could hold his breath gradually decreasing, sending the clamps into his upper body with each rapid breath. Unable to continue any longer, Hank eventually took his final breath, causing the clamps to crush his chest, killing him and staining his clothes with his blood to a disgusted William - who diverted his gaze in horror.
Seconds later, the clamps around William's chest moved back and he was freed from the chains trapping his arms. He quickly removed his breathing mask and a leather restraint around his body. However, when he stepped away from the trap, he immediately collapsed due to an immense pain in his side. While lying on the floor, he pulled up his shirt and was shocked when he saw a large bleeding scar on his right side. Still slightly dazed by the pain, William eventually managed to brace himself up. At this moment, a light turned on next to him, revealing a key hanging from the ceiling. With this key, he was able to remove the first explosive strap from his left hand. However, he didn't have much time to take breath as the timer was ticking down. Therefore, he quickly climbed up a ladder to a catwalk where a red arrow had been painted at the wall and showed him the right direction. (Saw VI)
Second Test[]
William is introduced to his second test
While making his way through the abandoned zoo, he ultimately noticed the words "The Party" written on his wrist, which was severely maltreated due to the tight strap. Thereby, he remembered the party at the Homeward Bound Clinic, during which he had met John for the first time and explained his business formula to him. As he went on, he eventually entered a long hallway with numerous empty aquaria and terraria. Thereby, he passed a large, dark aquarium. Before the glass pane, he noticed a panel with two handles, each one attached to a chain. When he passed them, he saw the words "TAKE THEM" on two monitors. William initially refused to do so and tried to walk away, stopping when he heard the electronic strap around his right arm beep, which would explode if he ignored Jigsaw's rules. Therefore, he stood in front of the aquarium and reluctantly took the handles. Upon doing so, the chains were tightened and a spotlight was turned on a mechanical ventriloquist puppet, which was standing on a small platform behind the panel with a noose of barbed wire around its neck. Suddenly, the platform folded away, causing the puppet to swing forward and hit the glass panel, giving a suggestion of what would happen next. Two spotlights turned on, showing Allen, William's file clerk, and Addy, his secretary, who stood on similar platforms with their hands strapped behind their backs and similar barbwire nooses around their necks. The puppet introduced William to his colleagues and confronted him with his business policies. According to those, Addy was less worthy to live as she had a family history of diabetes, while Allen was perfectly healthy but had no living relatives who would miss him. Finally, the puppet told him that he had to let one of them go in order to save the other one. Seconds later, the puppet was pulled up and out of sight by its noose.
William witnesses Allen's death
William yelled at the puppet and assured his colleagues, who began to panic, that he wouldn't let any of them die. However, moments later the chains were pulled on further. Allen frantically begged his boss to help him. William tried to defend himself, claiming that this wasn't the way he decided about the fate of his clients. The game however went on and the chains were pulled on again. While the two of them begged William for help, the two monitors on the panel showed him photos of Addy with her family and pictures of Allen, who walked around all alone. As the chains were pulled tight, Allen and Addy were forced to walk towards the edge of their respective platform. William burst out crying and apologized before he finally let go of the handle holding Allen, which immediately sprang back. Allens shackles were then opened. Realizing that William had sentenced him to death, Allen angrily yelled at him. Seconds later, his platform folded away, causing him to swing forward and hit the glass panel. As he was hung to death, his blood splashed against the pane, moments before he was pulled up and out of sight just like the puppet did before.
A few moments later, Addy was released from her shackles as well. She immediately took the gag from her mouth and in tears thanked William for her salvation. William then told her to be careful and to try to find a way out as he had to go on. He then left her behind and continued his way. A few steps later, he found the next key hanging from the ceiling and thereby unlocked and removed the explosive strap from his right arm. Then, he went on to continue his game. (Saw VI)
Third Test[]
William listens to his tape
As he further progressed through the building, William reached an area connected to the zoo's boiler room. Thereby, he noticed the words "Final Decision" written on his right arm, which reminded him of the day where he denied John Kramer the coverage of the treatment costs for the experimental therapy in Norway. Eventually, he entered the actual boiler room and found himself on a catwalk. Seconds later, the door slammed shut behind him. Unable to open it again, William took a look around and quickly found a tape recorder hanging from the ceiling. Upon playing it, he was introduced to the third test of his game. Seconds later, he noticed Debbie, his lawyer, who was chained to the wall on the lower level of the room and began to panic. The tape informed William that she had 90 seconds to free herself from a trap strapped to her chest, as otherwise, it would be activated and pierce her brain with a pointy metal rod. Furthermore, he was told that it was ultimately him who held the key to Debbie's survival and had to help her to get through the maze before her.
William guides Debbie through the maze
When the tape ended, Debbie was released from her chains and the timer on the trap began to count down. As soon as she was free, she removed the gag from her mouth and started to panic. She frantically yelled at William to get her out while desperately trying to open the door next to her. However, she finally stopped when William told her to move through the maze before her and eventually tried to find a way forward. As she did, she quickly came to a small passage that was blocked by pipes blowing out hot steam with great pressure. William yelled at her to go on, but when she tried to crawl through the steam, she quickly backed off due to the immense amount of heat. However, William noticed a lever with a sign attached to it which told him to "relieve her." When she pulled the lever, his arm was burned by hot steam coming from a pipe, while the steam in Debbie's way was turned off. As she tried to crawl forward, William backed off, causing the steam to turn back on again. Debbie yelled at him and told him to pull the lever again. When William did it, she tried once more to get through the passage. However, as the pain increased, William let go off the lever again, causing Debbie's legs to be severely burned by the steam. Nonetheless, she managed to get through the passage.
Encouraged by William, Debbie continued her way and climbed through the maze until she reached another small tunnel blocked by steam. She panicked even further, seeing no way out of this trap. William however saw that there was a ladder behind the tunnel and told Debbie to go on. He then grabbed a second lever and turned off the steam in the maze below him, while he himself was burned again. Debbie crawled through the next passage, but as before, she was to slow and didn't get through it before William had to let go off the lever due to the pain. Therefore, the steam burned Debbie's face and her neck.
William is attacked by Debbie
As she finally made it through the passage, she reached the ladder and climbed it up to a room surrounded by a cage. William told her to hurry up and look for a key. Seconds later, a lamp turned on next to her, revealing photos of the scar on William's body as well as an x-ray. Realizing that the key was hidden inside William's body, he tried to calm her down and attempted to get it out. Debbie however grabbed an electric circular saw and opened the door. Moments later, she attacked William and barely missed him with the saw. As she further approached him and tried to kill him to get the key, the two of them engaged in a fight. While William initially managed to fight her off, Debbie eventually made one final attempt to kill him and raised the saw. At this moment however, the timer of her trap went off and the metal rod pierced her brain. While William watched in horror, Debbie staggered, fell over a handrail and ultimately hit the floor below her.
Eventually, William managed to calm down and went on. Upon opening the exit door out of the room, he found the next key hanging from the ceiling. Angered by Debbie's death, he grabbed it and used it to unlock one of the straps around his legs. Then, he opened the next door and continued his way. (Saw VI)
Fourth Test[]
William approaches the carousel
Upon going on, William eventually came across a door with a large, red spiral painted on it. As he approached it, he heard noises coming from the other side, which he recognized as the voice of Shelby, one of his subordinate associates. When he asked her about her situation, she told him that her colleagues, Aaron, Emily, Gena, Dave and Josh, were trapped with her as well and they were all strapped to some sort of a spinning carousel. However, she couldn't see anything as the room was pitch dark. After some hesitation, William finally opened the door and entered the room, causing the lights to turn on. Thereby, he was able to see his associates, who were all chained to a rotating playground carousel in the center of a large animal enclosure. As he approached them, they asked why they were there, he responded that this was some kind of game. Seconds later, a TV turned on in front of them and Jigsaw's ventriloquist puppet appeared on screen. The puppet introduced William to his test and explained him the rules of this game. A rigged shotgun was positioned in front of the carousel. The carousel would stop periodically, resulting in one of his associates sitting directly in front of the barrel of a shotgun. This victim would be killed after a few seconds if William didn't decide to save the person. In order to do so, he would have to simultaneously press two buttons in a small box before him. However, he could only save two of them while the other four would inevitably die. After William received his instructions, the TV turned off again.
William hesitates to press the buttons
Seconds later, the carousel came to a standstill for the first time with Aaron sitting in front of the shotgun. He desperately tried to convince William to follow his business policy according to which Aaron was worth living as he was a young and healthy man. Due to William's hesitation, he panicked even further and yelled at him. William however still couldn't bring himself to press the buttons in the box before him which could have saved Aaron's life, leading to him being the first one to be killed by the shotgun. Eventually, the carousel was set in motion again. After a few seconds it stopped once more with Emily sitting in front of the shotgun. While the others yelled at William to save them, Emily reminded him of her two children, stating that they couldn't grow up with out her. Thereby, she finally convinced William to press the buttons, causing a metal spike to pierce his hand. The shotgun slowly went in an upright position and shot above Emily's head before it returned to its original position. Albeit she was still afraid, she thanked William for saving her. At the same moment, the carousel moved on. In an attempt to convince William to save her, Shelby claimed that her parents were sick and needed her. Thereby, she got in an argument with Dave who called her a liar and claimed to know that Shelby's parents weren't even talking to her anymore for a long time already. While the others continued to argue with William, Gena suddenly claimed that she was pregnant. Josh immediately yelled at William not to believe her, resulting in an argument between them. Eventually, Gena sat in front of the shotgun when the carousel stopped again. As William hesitated again, she further panicked and begged him to press the buttons until she was finally killed by the shotgun. As the carousel moved on, Dave desperately tried to convince William to save him by telling him that his parents would pay as much as he wanted for him to save Dave. However, both Josh and Shelby yelled at William and claimed that Dave was a thief, stealing from the company for many years. When the carousel stopped and Dave sat in front of the shotgun, he began to cry and told William not to believe them. William however eventually decided to let him die, making Dave the third one to be killed by the shotgun. When the carousel continued to move, Josh badmouthed her, claiming that she was a liar and couldn't be trusted. Therefore, she told William that Josh only wanted to get William's job and would back stab him as soon as he got the opportunity to do so. At this moment, the carousel stopped once more with Shelby being the fifth one to sit in front of the shotgun. She desperately tried to convince William to save her, which he, after some hesitation, finally did. As he pressed the buttons, his hand was pierced again, while the shotgun was moved into an upright position again and shot above Shelby's head before it returned to its original position.
William witnesses Josh's death
Due to her salvation, Shelby burst into tears and thanked William for saving her, while the carousel moved on for one last time. Realizing that he had no more chance to survive and his death was inevitable, Josh was shocked and angrily yelled at William for not saving him and insulted both him and his business policies. When the carousel finally came to its last standstill, Josh demanded William to look at him while he dies, which William mournfully did. Seconds later, Josh was ultimately killed by the shotgun, leading to him being the fourth and last victim to die in the trap.
When the game was over, Emily and Shelby burst out crying and thanked William for saving the two of them. Afterwards, a lamp turned on next to William and showed him another red arrow on the wall, which showed him the right way. While following it, he took off his tie and used it to tape up his hand. A few moments later, he passed another door and ultimately found the key to his final strap hanging from the ceiling, which he immediately used to free himself. However, as the timer was still ticking down, his game wasn't over yet and he went on. (Saw VI)
Reunion[]
As the time quickly went on, William's nervousness and panic increased even further. In his panic, he followed the red arrows and eventually came across on with the word "Family" written next to it. Upon following it, he reached a long hallway and ran towards a door at the other end. When he finally passed it, with only one second left on the timer, the door slammed shut behind him. Thinking he had won, he yelled in triumph, when suddenly, two enclosures to his left and his right were opened. Thereby, he was shocked to see Brent and Tara Abbott in one of them. However, one moment later he noticed his sister, Pamela, who was trapped in the second enclosure. Upon seeing her, he immediately went to her cage and asked her if she was okay, which she affirmed. William angrily yelled that their abductor should let her go as he had followed his rules and finished his test. Meanwhile, Tara and Brent Abbott glared at him in hate and disgust. (Saw VI)
Death[]
William is dissolved by the acid
Moments later, a TV in their enclosure turned on, showing a video of John Kramer who told Tara about the sacrifices William had made to save his sister but also reminded her that he had been responsible for the death of her husband. Therefore, it was now up to her to decide whether William should live or die. Shocked by this, William approached her cell and thereby stepped on a pressure plate on the ground, which activated a panel with a lever with the words "Live" above and "Die" below it. Both, William and Pamela desperately begged Tara for mercy and tried to convince her to forgive William, but due to her anger, Tara still wanted to kill him, claiming that it wasn't because of what William had done to her but because she didn't want him to do it to anyone else. However in the end, she couldn't bring herself to pull the lever. Therefore, Brent grabbed the lever and, despite the protests of his mother, pulled it down. Moments later, a large metal constructions with needles attached to it swung down from the ceiling and pressed William against the grid of the enclosure. Seconds later, the hydrofluoric acid was pumped through several tubes connected to the nail bed and was thereby injected in William's body. While William was slowly and painfully dissolved by the acid from the inside, Pamela had to watch in horror and burst out crying, suffering an emotional breakdown as her brother died before her eyes. Upon his death, William's molten lower body half collapsed, spilling his entrails on the floor. (Saw VI)
Post-Mortem[]
The zoo was found and raided by the Metropolitan Police Department shortly afterwards. As the police secured and searched the entire building, they discovered the many corpses of Jigsaw's victims, including William. All of them were sent to the morgue for their obduction by Dr. Adam Heffner. The events surrounding the massacre were later reported to the public by the news channels. (Saw VI, 3D)
Personality[]
Prior to his martyrium, William was a quite ruthless man, valuing the financial gain of Umbrella more than the lives of his clients. When confronted with his deeds, he tended to defend himself in an arrogant way and talked down on his clients, making it sound like the denial of their requests was actually their own fault. He also showed a big amount of self-confidence as he wasn't worried in the slightest about the upcoming process against the family of Harold Abbott.
However, despite his self-confidence, he was shown to be afraid of John Kramer's revenge after learning that he was actually the Jigsaw Killer. Therefore, he became nervous rather quickly when John was mentioned, and was highly interested in the reports about him.
Despite his lack of morality in regard to his work, William showed genuine care for the people around him, including his associates, but especially his sister, Pamela. He was willing to make it through every single one of Jigsaw's brutal tests for her. And when he finally reunited with her, he immediately asked for her condition despite everything he had gone through himself. He is also shown to grieve when he couldn't save somebody, showing he truly had regrets when he failed to save them. William is also notably selfless, as he’s shown to try his best to save as many people as he can despite harming himself severely, causing irreversible damage.
Trivia[]
- It is currently unknown if William already owned his gun before he learned about John Kramer's identity as Jigsaw, or if he obtained it afterwards in order to protect himself as he feared John's revenge.
- Despite Jigsaw's philosophy that tests could not be personal, a reason William was tested was for denying him health coverage. Prior to this, he also tested Mitch for selling a faulty bike to his nephew, which had ultimately resulted in his death.
- He is one of the few characters who watches over others and who cares for his companions, unlike characters that are willing to end the life of another person without remorse in order to save themselves.
- William managed to successfully save the most companions in the franchise with the count of three, as every other on-screen survivors only managed to save one or none through out their trial.
- Saw X has a removed scene where John consulted William about Cecilia Pederson's Treatment.
Appearances and References[]
| Films | |||||||||
| Saw | Saw II | Saw III | Saw IV | Saw V | Saw VI | Saw 3D | Jigsaw | Spiral | Saw X |
| Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Appears | Pictured & Mentioned | 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 | Absent |