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Throughout this ordeal, if we've learned anything, it's that human life is sacred. And we've learned that, every day, life should be cherished. Justice is the backbone to every peaceful society. And I believe that true justice has been served.
— Hoffman's promotional speech[src]


Detective Lieutenant Mark Hoffman is a fictional character from the Saw franchise. He serves as a minor character of Saw III, the secondary antagonist of Saw IV, the main antagonist of Saw V, VI and 3D, and the tritagonist of Saw X. Overall, Hoffman is the secondary antagonist of the franchise.

He was portrayed by Costas Mandylor.

Biography

Early Life

Mark Hoffman was a young man and the loving brother of Angelina Acomb, who was his only family and therefore the person he cared about most. In his youth, he obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree from Renfield University. When he joined the Metropolitan Police Department, he did everything in his power to serve justice and over the years acquired a good and respected reputation. He acted loyal towards his colleagues and was even willing to break the law if he felt that it was necessary to protect his department. (Saw IV, V)

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Hoffman tries to calm Rex down

On one of these occasions, he was called to an elementary school after a case of suspected child abuse had been reported to them. When he arrived at the school along with his colleague, Officer Daniel Rigg, he decided that the latter should talk to Jane, the girl affected by the abuse, while he himself went to the principal's office where he talked to Morgan, Jane's mother, and Rex, her father who was the key suspect in the case. After their discussion, Hoffman left the office with Morgan, when Rigg told him not to trust Rex, as it was obvious to him that Jane didn't want to talk to them out of fear of her violent father. However, as Hoffman had no evidence against him, there was nothing he could do. Therefore, he told Jane to go back to her class. Rex, who felt safe now, clapped Rigg on the shoulder and sarcastically commented that "sometimes these kids just get out of control." This, however, provoked Rigg even further to the point that he attacked Rex and struck him in the face, breaking his nose and cheekbone in the process. Hoffman then had to pull him back and angrily told him to leave immediately.

Following the incident, Rex tried to sue Rigg for the assault with the assistance of his lawyer, Art Blank. Additionally, the Internal Affairs Division started to investigate the case. Due to the severe accusations, Art Blank went to the police station, where he talked to Rigg and Hoffman and tried to convince the latter to suspend Rigg from office. Hoffman, however, made an incorrect statutory declaration in order to protect his colleague. This eventually caused the charge to be dismissed, and Rigg's career wasn't further damaged or endangered by this incident. (Saw IV)

Angelina's Death

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Hoffman grieves over his sister's corpse

Hoffman continued to build his reputation as a respected detective of the homicide department and was on active service for 15 years already when his whole life changed drastically. One night, his sister, Angelina, was brutally murdered by her ex-boyfriend, Seth Baxter, during a domestic dispute. When one of her colleagues found her and informed the police, Hoffman learned of her death shortly afterward and went to her apartment. When he arrived, he yelled at his colleagues who initially wanted to prevent him from entering the apartment. Upon seeing the dead body of his sister, he suffered a breakdown and started to cry. (Saw V)

Mental Breakdown

Seth Baxter, who had tried to flee, was found and apprehended two days later. For the murder of Angelina, he was sentenced to life in prison. Following his arrest, Hoffman organized Angelina's funeral. However, he wasn't able to get over the loss and developed a serious drinking problem. Additionally, his severe depression caused him to become mentally unstable to the point where he started to lose his empathy and began to show traits of a sociopath. (Saw V)

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Hoffman kills the attacker

On one occasion, he went to the abandoned Crossroads Manufactory, which was a known shelter for addicts and homeless people, due to an emergency call. At approximately the same time, another young patrol cop, Matt Gibson, arrived at the manufactory as well. While Gibson entered the run-down building with his gun at the ready, he was suddenly attacked and knocked down with a bottle from behind by a man. Gibson tried to fight the man off but had to surrender when the man grabbed his weapon and held him at gunpoint. However, before the man could shoot him, Mark Hoffman suddenly appeared behind him and told him to drop the weapon. Even though the unknown attacker obeyed immediately, Hoffman shot him in the back three times, killing him in the process. After that, he gave Gibson, who was shocked by the events, a leg-up and advised him that next time, he should shoot first. Before departing, he told Gibson that he owed him.

Despite the fact that Hoffman had saved his life, Gibson reported Hoffman to the Department for Internal Affairs. However, instead of being punished for the murder, Hoffman was promoted while Gibson was sidelined. Sometime later, he joined the IA Department himself and managed to convict three of Hoffman's friends. Angered by this, Hoffman swore revenge on him. (Saw 3D)

The Jigsaw Case

Five years after his sister's death, Hoffman eventually got involved in the case of a serial killer who was nicknamed Jigsaw, as he used to cut a jigsaw piece from the skin of his dead victims. Jigsaw used to put them into deadly traps and forced them to mutilate themselves in order to survive. Hoffman investigated the case as part of a serial killer task force. (Saw V)

The Pendulum Murder

Shortly afterward, Hoffman's life took another unexpected turn when Seth Baxter was acquitted on a technicality and had to be released from prison despite his life sentence. This filled Hoffman with frustration and anger and eventually, he decided to take revenge on the murderer of his sister. In order not to become a suspect on his own, Hoffman planned to make the murder look like another crime of Jigsaw. Therefore, he designed a deadly trap, but unlike Jigsaw, he didn't intend to give Seth any chance to survive. Additionally, he recorded a video of a mechanical ventriloquist puppet, which Jigsaw himself used to communicate with his victims, and distorted his voice beyond recognition.

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Hoffman averts his eyes from Seth

The month after Seth's release from prison, Hoffman finally set up his trap in a big abandoned hall. After that, he abducted Seth and strapped his unconscious body to a metal table placed underneath a giant blade in the shape of a pendulum. Then, he went to the next room and watched Seth through a peephole in the door window. Shortly afterward, Seth woke up and immediately started to panic. Moments later, a TV turned on in front of him, showing the puppet which gave him his instructions. In order to free himself from his trap, he had to insert his hands in two vise-like contraptions next to him. Then, he had to push the buttons on the other side of the vises, which would cause them to crush his hands. If he refused to do so, the pendulum above him would cut him in half after 60 seconds. When the TV turned off, the pendulum started to swing back and forth. While initially hesitating, Seth ultimately decided to push the buttons as the blade further approached him throughout the game. However, moments after crushing his hands, the blade was lowered once more and started to cut his stomach, tossing his entrails all over the room. Eventually, Seth saw Hoffman's shadow behind the door window. Close to death, he muttered that he did what he had been supposed to do, only seconds before the pendulum was lowered one last time and sliced him in half. After witnessing his death, Hoffman averted his eyes, horrified by what he had done. Moments later, he finally left his hiding spot and cut a jigsaw piece from Seth's skin and took it with him as he left the building. (Saw V)

Becoming Jigsaw's Apprentice

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Hoffman and Fisk at Seth's crime scene

Not much later, Hoffman sat in his office at the police station when one of his colleagues, Fisk, told him that another possible victim of Jigsaw had been found and asked him if he wanted to take a look at it. Hoffman agreed and accompanied Fisk to the crime scene. Fisk told him that the victim was a convicted murderer who had been released from prison last month. Upon seeing the victim, Hoffman identified him as Seth Baxter, the ex-boyfriend of his sister. Fisk, who knew the story about the murder of Angelina, was surprised by this but stated that Seth had become what he deserved.

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John and Hoffman in the elevator

Due to Hoffman being potentially biased, the further investigation on Seth's death, which soon became known to the public as the "Pendulum Murder", was taken over by Detective Allison Kerry. However, Hoffman still asked Fisk to keep him informed, to which the latter agreed. Moments later, Hoffman returned to his office and was surprised when he found an envelope with his name lying on his desk. The envelope only contained a letter with one single sentence written on it: "I know who you are." Worried by this, he went home. Due to the letter, he was excessively nervous and almost even shot the dog of one of his neighbors. Eventually, he entered the elevator, where only one other man was waiting. On their way up, he looked at the elevator buttons and noticed that only his own floor was selected. At this moment, he realized that the other man seemed to hold something in his hand and asked him what floor he was going to while slowly reaching for his gun. However, before he could react, the man suddenly attacked him and injected him with an anesthetic, causing him to pass out.

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John, giving Detective Hoffman his ultimatum

When he woke up again in a workshop, he found himself strapped to a chair with a shotgun aiming at his head and saw his abductor, John Kramer, standing before him. John showed him a newspaper article about the Pendulum Murder, labeling it as a distasteful act of imitation and thereby revealing himself to be the actual Jigsaw Killer. Hoffman tried to free himself but stopped when John placed a mirror in front of him, showing him that his arm restraints were connected to the shotgun's trigger by a wire. They engaged in a discussion, during which John confronted him with Angelina's death, his drinking problem and his revenge on Seth. Hoffman claimed that Seth hadn't deserved a chance to survive, which angered John as he saw killing as something vicious and distasteful, claiming that he himself gave all of his victims a chance. When he put his finger on the trigger, Hoffman prepared to die. However, when John pulled the trigger, he realized that the shotgun wasn't loaded. Moments later, John ultimately freed him from his restraints and offered him a choice: Hoffman could either become his apprentice and help him set up his future games or John would publish the evidence against him and send it to the police. Hoffman said that he could also kill him as no one would believe John more than him, however, he remained calm and asked him if he really wanted to ruin his own life for the legal system that had released Seth Baxter from prison. After a short argument, Hoffman finally agreed to John's offer.

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Paul is abducted by John and Hoffman

The first victim to be tested by them was Paul Leahy, a man who had unsuccessfully attempted to commit suicide by slitting his wrists one month prior to his game and who was, in fact, a patient at the Homeward Bound Clinic, a recovery clinic for drug addicts run by John's ex-wife, Jill Tuck. When John and Hoffman followed him, they found him in his car, about to attempt suicide once more. However, he was interrupted when they attacked him with their faces covered with sinister pig masks. Paul tried to fight them off but was ultimately sedated by John. After that, they took Paul to the basement where he had to play his game, while his abductors were hiding next door and witnessed his game through a peephole. During the game, Hoffman stated to be surprised to feel remorse, to which John responded that he had to abandon all emotions during their work. While the game was going on, Hoffman warned John about Detective David Tapp, another cop who was after him. John gave Hoffman a penlight he had taken from his oncologist, Dr. Lawrence Gordon, and told him to lead his colleagues on the doctor's trail. When Paul died from blood loss in his trap, they left their hideout and cut a jigsaw piece from his skin. (Saw V)

Mark Wilson's Test

A few weeks later, John and Hoffman prepared another game to test their next subject, Mark Wilson. However, Mark didn't survive his game as well. After his death, his abductors cut a jigsaw piece from his body as well. Additionally, Hoffman placed Dr. Gordon's penlight at the crime scene. The crime scene, as well as the penlight, were found by Hoffman's colleagues shortly afterwards. (Saw, Saw V)

Recruitment of Amanda Young

After the death of Mark Wilson, John arranged another game. He abducted two patients of the Homeward Bound Clinic. One of them was Amanda Young, who had persuaded her boyfriend, Cecil Adams, to a robbery which had caused the miscarriage of John and Jill's unborn child, Gideon. The other one was a man named Donnie Greco. John put one of his newest devices, the reverse beartrap, on Amanda and placed the key for it in Donnie's stomach. When Amanda woke up, she received her instructions from Jigsaw's puppet talking to her via a videotape. In order to free herself from the trap, she killed Donnie, who was still alive but paralyzed by an opiate overdose, and took the key from inside his body, making her the first survivor of one of Jigsaw's games. Following her game, Amanda went to the police station for her testimony. On the same day, John invaded her apartment. After she came home from her interrogation at the police station, John confronted her, telling her not to be afraid of him and that her life had just begun. Believing that John had actually helped her by putting her in her game, Amanda agreed to become his second apprentice. During a baptism ceremony, John successfully converted her to his beliefs. (Saw, III)

Henry Kessler's Test

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Henry Kessler is captured by Hoffman and placed in the Disembowelment Trap for conning John into a fake cancer treatment

After John finished testing and interrogating Diego Cortez after finding out the Pederson Project was a scam, he called Hoffman and asked him to locate Gabriela, Valentina, Mateo, Cecilia Pederson, and Parker Sears. However, he was unable to locate Parker and told John he needed to find another way to smoke him out. When John returned from Mexico, he enlisted Hoffman in locating and abducting Henry Kessler, a Pederson Project con artist who masqueraded as a cured cancer patient. He bound and gagged him in the Bathroom, where John asked Henry about the absence of his scar. While Mark secured his trap, he taunted him by saying it was "epic bad luck" that "out of all the men to cheat, [he] picked John Kramer." He started the trap as Henry began to scream in fear. (Saw X)

The Nerve Gas House

Along with Amanda, John and Hoffman continued their games for over a year. At this point, John targeted Eric Matthews, a corrupt detective who had innocently framed and arrested numerous people throughout his career, including Amanda. Therefore they set up a big game which was going to be directly connected to Eric's test. This game focused on seven people. The first one was Daniel Matthews, Eric's son who had become estranged from him after he had cheated on Daniel's mother with his former partner, Detective Kerry. The other persons tested throughout the game were Jonas Singer, his manager Gus Colyard, the prostitute Addison Corday, the drug dealer Xavier Chavez, Laura Hunter, and Obi Tate. All of them had been arrested by Eric as well for crimes they weren't responsible for. Additionally, Amanda participated in the game as well and played as another victim primarily to be able to observe the other prisoners' progress. In order to gain as many information about the test subjects as possible, Detective Hoffman provided John with their old investigation files.

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John and Hoffman prepare the game

To accelerate their proceedings, John hired Obi Tate to help him with the abduction of Daniel Matthews and the other five people while he prepared the traps for each one of them and placed numerous items and weapons all around an abandoned, run-down residential house. When all of them were abducted and brought to the Nerve Gas House, Hoffman abducted Obi as well and took him to the same location, making him the last test subject of the game. All of them were unconscious and lay on the floor of a room with a large safe, which stood on a hidden trapdoor leading to an underground tunnel network. John placed a tape recorder containing the instructions for the game behind a wall and helped Hoffman to set up and adjust a booby trap connected to the lock of the room's only door. Having finished all of their preparations, John and Hoffman left the room, locked the door and started to pass a deadly nerve agent into the room. (Saw II, V)

Eric Matthews' Test

When the game played out and finally came to an end, Amanda and Daniel were the only two survivors of the massacre. Amanda then subdued Daniel and took him to John's hideout at the Wilson Steel Plant, where the latter already waited for them and locked the unconscious Daniel up in a safe with a sufficient supply of oxygen. During the game, John had set a chain of events in motion, which ultimately forced Eric to get involved in the Jigsaw Case. By deducing a message left by John at his latest crime scene, Eric and his colleagues were able to find his hideout, where he had already expected them and provided them with video recordings of the game in the Nerve Gas House, leading them to the conclusion that it was a live broadcast. Therefore, he forced Eric to sit down and talk to him for the duration of two hours if he wanted to save his son. Eric initially agreed but ultimately attacked John and brutally beat him up until the latter finally agreed to take him to the Nerve Gas House. However he wanted to go there with Eric alone. Eric accepted the offer and they went to the Nerve Gas House. While searching the building, Eric entered the underground tunnels and eventually reached a dilapidated bathroom, where he found the corpse Xavier as well as the decomposed bodies of Adam Stanheight and Zep Hindle, two victims of an earlier game. However, when he entered the room, he was suddenly attacked by Amanda, who had been waiting for him. After subduing him, she chained him by the ankle to the same pipe as Adam's corpse and left an audiotape behind. When Eric woke up again, the tape revealed to him that Amanda was going to be John's successor once he died and that Eric was her first test subject. Seconds later Amanda appeared. Eric angrily shouted at her and threw the tape after her but she closed the door with the words "Game Over", leaving Eric alone in the room. Eric, however, was able to free himself from his shackle by smashing and breaking his foot with the lid of a toilet tank. Severely injured, he pursued Amanda through the tunnels, where they engaged in a brutal fight. Eric initially gained the upper hand but was eventually defeated by Amanda, who left him for dead in the tunnels. (Saw II, III)

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Hoffman drags Eric to his cell

Unknown to her, Eric wasn't dead but merely unconscious. When Hoffman went through the tunnels shortly afterwards and found his colleague, he dragged his body to a cell located at a different point somewhere in the tunnels. There, he locked him up and shortly afterwards braced his broken foot and gave him an orange prison overall. After that, he left Eric in the cell for the next six months, while regularly supplying him with food and water in order to keep him alive. Following Eric's imprisonment, Hoffman returned to the Nerve Gas House and disposed of the traps and corpses of the remaining prisoners. Additionally, he renovated the entire building and even refurnished it, giving it the appearance of an average residential house. (Saw IV, V)

Jill Tuck's Interrogation

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Hoffman interrogates Jill

As Detective Kerry had urged Eric to accept John's game at Wilson Steel, she began to feel guilty and became mentally unstable, making it impossible for her to keep her leading position on the case. Therefore, Hoffman took over her work and continued the investigation as head of the task force. Following the reveal of Jigsaw's true identity and the identity of Amanda Young, the police began to interrogate his ex-wife, Jill Tuck, and searched her house for evidence. Upon doing so, they found a small wooden ventriloquist puppet, similar to the mechanical one used by Jigsaw, as well as a red tricycle used by the puppet. During Jill's interrogation at the police station, Hoffman asked her about these finds. To cover the fact that they knew about each other and their connection to John, Jill refused to give him any useful information and instead called her lawyer, Art Blank. (Saw IV)

Amanda's Killing Spree

Six months after the disappearance of Eric, Amanda set up another game in a classroom at the same elementary school where Hoffman and Officer Rigg had encountered the abusive teacher Rex years ago. The victim of this game was Troy, a drug addict and repeated prison convict, who was trapped by Amanda in the classroom along with a nail bomb. However, as Amanda's mental state had worsened during her time with John and due to the fact that she started to doubt his methods, Amanda decided not to give Troy any chance to survive and welded the door to the room shut, thinking that Troy wouldn't change anyway even if he survived his test.

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Hoffman at Troy's crime scene

Shortly afterwards, a SWAT team led by Lieutenant Daniel Rigg arrived at the school shortly afterwards after a female caller had informed the police about the explosion. When they entered the building, they discovered the door, which had been welded shut. Ultimately, they managed to break through a door by using a blowpipe. Upon entering and securing the room, they found the torn up remains of Troy. Following this gruesome find, Mark Hoffman was one of the first to arrive at the crime scene and immediately began his investigation. Shortly afterward, Detective Kerry arrived there as well after Rigg had called her and was immediately worried that the victim might have been Eric. Hoffman, however, told her that it wasn't him. He also told her that the victim was held in place by eleven chains piercing his body and was eventually killed by a nail bomb. However, she got suspicious when she learned that the SWAT team had to cut open the door as it had been welded shut, giving Troy no chance to escape even if he would've passed his test. This led her to the conclusion that someone else was responsible for the game. Seconds later, a member of the forensic team told her that the videotape containing the instructions for Troy's trap was still intact despite the explosion. (Saw III)

Later that night, Allison Kerry was abducted by Amanda Young in her own apartment. Together, Hoffman and Amanda placed the detective in another trap in an unknown location. While doing so, Hoffman placed a bullet shell between the device and Kerry's body, before he left again. Unfortunately for Kerry, the trap had been manipulated by Amanda as well. Upon waking up, she received her instructions from a video showing Jigsaw's puppet and was actually able to obtain the key from a vat filled with acid. However, the key had no function and couldn't deactivate the trap, which ultimately resulted in her death. (Saw III, IV)

FBI Assistance

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Hoffman, moments before the discovery of Kerry

Four days later, Hoffman accompanied a SWAT team led by Lieutenant Rigg and Officer Lamanna to the location of Kerry's death. They entered the area and found a chain-link door. When they discovered a device connected to the door, Hoffman ordered them to send in a tactical robot before entering. Rigg ordered Officer Pete Baker to cut a hole in the door and send the robot in. The robot slowly made its way through the lower floor and reached a corpse hanging from the ceiling. When the camera of the robot eventually captured the person's face, Rigg realized it was Kerry. Horrified by the discovery, Rigg broke through the door and ran to her, thinking he could still save her. However, when he finally reached her, he realized that she had been killed by one of Jigsaw's traps. Seconds later, the remaining SWAT officers entered the lower floor of the basement and called for the forensics, who arrived shortly afterwards.

After securing the crime scene, a depressed Rigg sat down and observed the work of the forensic team. He asked his partner, Officer Lamanna, to cut down Kerry's mutilated corpse. Lamanna replied that he couldn't do this, but Rigg repeated his plea, as he wanted to bestow at least some respect to her. He then left Lamanna alone when Hoffman approached him. Initially angry at him, Hoffman reminded Rigg that he should know not to go through an unsecured door, but calmed down when Rigg told him that he thought he could have saved Kerry. Depressed by the discovery of their partner, they talked about their work and how they could still go on. Hoffman then noticed a message written on the wall which said "Cherish your life." Rigg asked him how they could if this was their life, to which Hoffman merely responded that they chose it and told Rigg to go home.

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Hoffman meets the agents

He was then informed by one of his colleagues, that two FBI agents wanted to talk to him. Moments later, he made acquaintance with Special Agent Peter Strahm and Special Agent Lindsey Perez. Shortly before her death, Kerry, who was their contact person in the police department, had supposedly sent them a key and a message which merely said: "Open the door and you will find me." When they asked him about these things, Hoffman pretended to have no useful information for them. After that, he led the agents to the corpse of Detective Kerry. Upon doing so, Detective Fisk, who had arrived at the crime scene as well, informed him about the bullet shell which one of the police photographers had found at the corpse. Therefore, Hoffman ordered him to send it to the lab so it could be examined for fingerprints. When Agent Perez found the open lock of the trap she quickly came to the conclusion that this wasn't a Jigsaw trap. However when Hoffman said it was probably a trap by Amanda Young, Agent Strahm negated this as Kerry weighed approximately 130 pounds while Amanda Young weighed only 107 pounds according to her arrest report and therefore couldn't have placed Kerry in the trap on her own, leading to the conclusion that a third yet unknown person assisted her and John Kramer.

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Hoffman tells Rigg to go home

Following the discovery of Kerry, Rigg returned to the police station and watched some of the old interrogation recordings of Jill Tuck, as he was sure that she knew something about him and therefore maybe also about the whereabouts of Eric. Shortly afterwards, Hoffman and the agents entered the room. Rigg tried to convince Hoffman to let him continue his work, but Hoffman ordered him to go home once more and take some time off, stating that it was unlikely to find Eric alive after he had been missing for six months. Albeit Rigg initially refused to do so, he ultimately gave in and left the office. When the agents asked him what his problem was, Hoffman replied that everyone connected to Rigg seemed to die, which was the reason for his obsession with finding Eric. (Saw IV)

Final Preparations

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Hoffman takes Timothy to his trap.

After sending Rigg home, Hoffman went to the abandoned Gideon Meatpacking Plant, which was the first building designed by John during his career as a civil engineer and now served as his and Amanda's hideout. At this point, John was bedridden and close to death due to his cancer and therefore had spent the last weeks to plan his final games. One of these games focused on Jeff Denlon, a man who had lost his 8-year-old son, Dylan, during a car accident three years earlier. Since then, Jeff was obsessed with his desire of taking revenge and therefore neglected his family. Therefore, John had planned a series of tests for him in order to help him to overcome his obsession. During one of these tests, he should encounter Timothy Young, the drunk driver and killer of his son, so he could decide whether to forgive him or let him die. Therefore, Hoffman set up a vicious trap, which was simply called "The Rack" by John, at the Gideon Plant. This trap would slowly twist Timothy's limbs and finally his head unless Jeff would save him. After setting up the trap, Hoffman abducted Timothy, placed his unconscious body in a wheelbarrow and took him to the room where his trap was located. (Saw III, VI)

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Amanda mocks Hoffman

Moments later, Amanda entered the room along with John, who sat in a wheelchair. When John saw that Hoffman switched the trap's gear ratio, he told him that he'd have to change the gear grease to match the increased friction and berated him for making these changes without asking him first, stating that he would do so next time. When Hoffman asked him how many next times there were going to be, John merely answered that their work would go on as long as necessary. Hoffman then recklessly dumped Timothy out of the wheelbarrow and was therefore berated by John for his brutal behavior, who reminded him that Timothy was still a human being after all. When he asked Hoffman if he liked this kind of brutality, Hoffman responded that John wanted to see Timothy suffer just as much as he did. This resulted in a short argument between Hoffman and Amanda who asked him when he was going to get tested on his own. Hoffman responded that this was unnecessary as he claimed he had always appreciated his life unlike her and showed her the scars she had inflicted on herself. Amanda mocked him, telling him he should get used to her as he wouldn't get rid of her anymore to which he responded that she shouldn't be so sure about it. When John interrupted them by saying it was time to go on, Amanda took him to his room and left Hoffman alone. As he was finally done with his work on the trap, he took Timothy's sweater off of him, placed him in the trap and hung a tape recorder, which contained the instructions for Jeff, around his neck. Then, he set up a long glass box which contained a shotgun, which aimed at whoever stood in front of it and connected the key to Timothy's trap to a mechanism which would pull the shotgun's trigger once the key was removed. (Saw III, VI)

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Hoffman with Corbett's cuddly toy

After finishing his preparations at the Gideon Plant, Hoffman left the building to go after Jeff Denlon. Disguised with a pig mask, he invaded the house where Jeff lived with his daughter, Corbett Denlon. Unbeknownst to them, he went into hiding in Dylan's bedroom. When he saw the right opportunity, Hoffman subdued Jeff and his daughter and abducted them. Furthermore, he also took all of the toys, photos and other memorabilia of Dylan with him. On his way back to the Gideon Plant, he returned to the police station one last time, where he interrupted Strahm and Perez during a discussion and asked them about their progress. On this occasion, Fisk came to him and informed him about the disappearance of a doctor from the Angel of Mercy Hospital. This doctor was actually Lynn Denlon, Jeff's estranged wife, who had been abducted by Amanda in order to participate in a game on her own. Upon hearing this, Hoffman told Fisk that he would take care of it. When Perez saw a cuddly toy in his arm which he had taken from Corbett's room, she asked him if it was for a girl or a boy. Hoffman said it was for a girl, leading Perez to the assumption he was married. However, he denied this and left the station to finally bring Jeff and Corbett to John's hideout. (Saw III, IV)

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Hoffman at the Gideon Plant

Upon his return, he went to a big hall in the building which served as John and Amanda's workshop as well as their sleeping quarters. Knowing that he didn't have much time until Amanda returned, he quickly wrote a letter for her and placed it in the drawer of her desk. This letter was actually a blackmailing message. By unknown means, Hoffman had found out that Amanda was responsible for the death of John and Jill's unborn child, Gideon. The letter told her to kill Dr. Lynn Denlon. Unlike Amanda, Hoffman knew that Lynn and Jeff Denlon were husband and wife and therefore anticipated that Jeff would kill Amanda if she killed Lynn. After writing the letter, Hoffman took one of the pig masks with him went to John's makeshift bedroom next door. John ordered him to prepare another series of tests and therefore handed him a file which contained the photos of five new test subjects: Ashley Kazon, Charles Salomon, Luba Gibbs, Mallick Scott, and Brit Stevenson. Furthermore, he told them that all of them were somehow connected to each other. When they heard Amanda coming in and Lynn Denlon screaming for help, Hoffman told him that Amanda would fail him. After their final conversation, Hoffman left the room through a hidden door, only seconds before Amanda and Lynn entered the room. (Saw IV, V, VI)

Afterwards, he locked Corbett up in a room at the plant along with her cuddly toy and trapped Jeff inside a large wooden crate located in a storage area near the building's delivery entrance. Then, he left the plant once again and went to the tunnels underneath the Nerve Gas House, where Eric Matthew's was still locked up in his cell. Hoffman sedated him and took his unconscious body back to the Gideon Plant. Upon their arrival, Hoffman placed him in a trap. Eric had to stand on a large, melting ice block placed at one end of a big seesaw-like scale and had a chain noose around his neck which was suspended from the ceiling. Afterwards, Hoffman hit himself in the face in order to make himself look like just another victim and then tied himself to a chair next to Eric at the other end of the large scale, therefore taking on his role in yet another game which took place at the same time as Jeff and Lynn's tests. (Saw III, IV)

Daniel Rigg's Trial

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Eric and Hoffman in the trap

When Eric woke up, several radiant heaters placed around him turned on and began to melt the ice. As he recognized Hoffman, the latter pretended to be surprised to see him. At the same time, Daniel Rigg was attacked and subdued in his apartment. When he woke up, he realized that he had to play one of Jigsaw's games in order to overcome his obsession with saving everyone around him. At certain points in his game, he was provided with live footage coming from the room that Eric and Hoffman were trapped in.

Shortly after the beginning of the game, Art Blank entered the room and pulled a lever next to the door which activated a mechanism above Eric Matthew's head. Mark Hoffman angrily yelled at him and demanded him to let them go. However, Art ignored them and instead sat down in front of the surveillance monitors in order to observe Jigsaw's games. At some point after the beginning of Rigg's series of tests, Eric told Art to fuck himself and attempted to commit suicide. Therefore he tried to hang himself with the chain noose around his neck by jumping off the ice block. However Art saved him and placed him back on the block. When he revealed to him that Hoffman would be electrocuted if Eric left the block, Hoffman begged Eric to listen to him. Eric insulted the man but stayed on the block when he went back to the monitors.

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Hoffman, acting as another victim

However, as the game progressed, Eric begged Art to shoot him as he didn't want to play the game any longer. Therefore Hoffman angrily yelled at him and told him to be quiet. Later on, Eric pretended to be unconscious. When Hoffman told Art to take a look at him, Art became worried and tried to wake Eric up. Eric then attacked him and therefore fell off the ice block again. While struggling with him, Art forced him back on the block and told him that he wasn't the one that Eric should worry about. Furthermore, he told them that all of them were going to be free if Rigg passed his test, revealing that he was merely another victim on his own. Following the instructions Jigsaw provided for him sometime earlier, Art gave Eric a gun and a bullet and told him that he had the choice if he wanted to live or to die.

At some point, however, Art started to become nervous when he saw the mechanism above Eric's head. This mechanism was connected to two large ice blocks attached to mechanical arms suspended from the ceiling. When he saw the chain which connected the mechanism with the door of the room, Art realized that the ice blocks would swing down and therefore crush Eric's head if the door was opened before a 90-minute timer went off. Therefore they had to prevent Rigg, who was on his way to the plant already, from entering the room before the clock expired.

As the timer was ticking down, Art, Hoffman, and Eric started to panic. Eric yelled at Art and demanded him to tell them who was coming. However, Art ignored them and just kept his eye on the surveillance monitors. When he took off his jacket he revealed one of Jigsaw's deadly contraptions, which was attached to his back and would crush his spine if he didn't follow Jigsaw's rules. Furthermore, he took out a button and told the detectives that it would free them once the time went off.

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Eric tries to stop Rigg from entering

Only minutes later, Rigg finally arrived at the Gideon Meatpacking Plant and reached the room where his friends were trapped. Eric yelled at him not to open the door. However, Rigg ignored him and burst into the room. Out of desperation, Eric shot him in his chest but couldn't prevent him from entering. When Rigg bursted through the door with only one second left, Eric's trap was activated. Therefore the large ice blocks swung down and crushed his skull, causing his lifeless and mutilated body to fall off the ice. Following his friend and partner's death, Rigg angrily yelled at Art whom he believed to be Jigsaw's accomplice. Art tried to tell him that he was tested by Jigsaw and grabbed in his bag, causing Rigg, who thought that Art was grabbing a weapon, to shoot him in the head. However it turned out that it was no weapon but an audio tape. Upon listening to the recording, Rigg finally realized that his test wasn't to save Eric but to let him save himself.

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Hoffman leaves Rigg behind

When the tape ended, Hoffman eventually freed himself from his restraints and approached Rigg from behind. As Rigg noticed him, he finally realized that Hoffman was the secret accomplice and apprentice of Jigsaw. However, due to his gunshot wound, Rigg collapsed to the floor. As the game had come to an end, Hoffman used the button given to Art Blank to turn off the surveillance monitors and prepared to leave. He turned around one last time and ended Rigg's game with the words "Game Over" before he disappeared and left Rigg for dead. (Saw IV)

Peter Strahm's Test

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Hoffman attacks Peter Strahm

After leaving Rigg behind, Hoffman returned to John's bedroom where he found Agent Strahm as well as the corpses of John, Amanda, Jeff and Lynn Denlon. Before Strahm could notice him, he closed and locked the door and turned off the lights inside the room. Then he went to the room located behind the hidden door. Shortly afterwards, Strahm found the door as well. A tape left for him told him to stay in the room until the reinforcements arrived. Strahm however ignored the warning and entered the hallway behind the door. Ultimately, he reached the room where Hoffman was waiting for him. Upon entering, he was attacked by a disguised Hoffman who injected him with an anesthetic. Moments later, Strahm passed out. Afterward, Hoffman put him in another trap in the same room, which was designed to kill him by drowning him without giving him any chance to survive. Hoffman then took everything that Strahm had in his pockets and placed it on a barrel before him. However, upon doing so, he forgot to remove a single pen from his pockets. Not noticing his mistake, Hoffman left the room, expecting Strahm to die shortly afterwards. (Saw V)

Becoming a Hero

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Hoffman saves Corbett

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Hoffman and Fisk learn of Strahm's survival

After putting Strahm in his trap, Hoffman got rid of his disguise and went to the cell where Corbett Denlon was still locked up. Pretending to be her savior, he took the little girl with him. When they finally reached the exit and left the building, they were already expected by the police who had been called to the plant by Strahm. While the paramedics took care of Corbett, Hoffman was greeted by Detective Fisk who asked him about the whereabouts of Daniel Rigg. Hoffman told him that Rigg had died while trying to help and also claimed that there were no other survivors. Therefore, he was unpleasantly surprised when another team of paramedics suddenly came out of the building with Strahm, who lay on a gurney, severely injured but nonetheless alive after he had performed a tracheotomy on himself by using his pen in order to survive his trap. Following the events at the meatpacking plant and the death of Jigsaw at the hands of Jeff Denlon, Hoffman was labeled as a hero by the press for his rescue of Corbett. (Saw V)

Message from the Grave

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Hoffman at the morgue

After the Gideon Plant had been secured, all the dead victims, as well as the corpses of John and Amanda, were taken to the morgue, where Dr. Adam Heffner performed the autopsy on every single one of them. Upon the abduction of John Kramer, he found a wax-coated audiotape in his stomach and therefore ordered his colleague to call for the homicide division. Shortly afterward, Hoffman arrived at the morgue and ordered the pathologists to cut the tape from the wax. After doing so, they gave the tape to Hoffman. The recording contained a message for him, which warned him that the games had just begun and that he wouldn't get away untested. (Saw IV)

The Fatal Five's Trial

Despite this unnerving threat, Hoffman continued his work and set up the next big game as John had told him to do during their last conversation. Therefore, he arranged a series of tests in an underground catacomb area at 1293 Sanburst Drive and also set up a surveillance room next to the chambers in which the tests took place. (Saw V)

Promotion

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Hoffman gets promoted

Shortly afterward, the Chief of Police gave a speech to the police and the press during a memorial ceremony for Hoffman as well as his deceased colleagues and thereby proudly announced that the Jigsaw killings had come to an end. Additionally, he promoted Hoffman to the rank of a Detective Lieutenant and thereby handed him an honor plaque for his efforts in the case. Hoffman gave thanks to him for this honor and also gave a speech to the press as well, claiming that he and his colleagues had done their best to serve true justice. (Saw V)

Lindsey Perez' Death

After the memorial, Hoffman returned to his office where he found an envelope with his name lying on his desk. The letter inside contained one sentence: "I know who you are." Hoffman immediately felt uncomfortable as he remembered how John Kramer had sent him exactly the same message after the murder of Seth Baxter. Believing that it was Strahm who had written this second letter, Hoffman went to the evidence room and stole the agent's mobile phone which had been seized by his colleagues at the Gideon Plant. Upon doing so, a young officer came to him and informed him that the hospital had called for him as Lindsey Perez had died after she had been heavily injured during her attempts to stop Rigg's game.

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Hoffman condoles on Perez' death

When he learned about her death, he went to the Saint Eustace Hospital and entered her room where he found a depressed Strahm, who had been taken to the same hospital and sat at her bed. Hoffman condoled with him on the death of Perez. Strahm however reacted angrily and told him that her last words had been "Detective Hoffman", which further fueled his suspicion towards him. Therefore he confronted him with the events at the Gideon Plant, stating that he didn't believe Hoffman's story according to which he had escaped when his arm straps broke. Irritated by Strahm's accusations, Hoffman angrily left the hospital. (Saw V)

False Trail

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Hoffman rearranges the miniature model

After his hospital visit, Hoffman met the final arrangements for the next game and abducted the five victims, Ashley, Charles, Luba, Brit, and Mallick, and took them to the catacombs to place them in their traps. To visualize the game, he had built a miniature model of the chambers containing the traps with little figures depicting the victims. When he returned to his surveillance room and took a look at the monitors, he realized that the position of the five unconscious victims didn't match the position of the mini-figures. To correct this small mistake, Hoffman rearranged Ashley's figure only mere seconds before the victims woke up and the game began.

Hoffman then left the catacombs again and went to his car and drove to the parking lot of the local FBI headquarters, from where he tried to call Agent Strahm in his office. As he wasn't there, Hoffman was only able to talk to Special Agent Cowan, who offered to connect him to Strahm's supervisor, Special Agent Dan Erickson, to which Hoffman agreed. Erickson, however, wasn't available either. Therefore, Hoffman left a message on his mailbox and noted Erickson's name in his logbook. Erickson called him back shortly afterward. During their conversation, Hoffman told Erickson about Strahm's theory about a second accomplice of Jigsaw besides Amanda Young and asked him if Strahm had told him about it, which Erickson denied. When he asked who Strahm suspected in his theory, Hoffman said that Strahm suspected an insider with access to information about the investigation, but kept back the fact that he himself was the suspect. Erickson then ended the call and offered Hoffman to further discuss the situation the next day, which Hoffman accepted.

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Hoffman observes Dan Erickson

In order to fuel Erickson's suspicion of Strahm, Hoffman called Jill Tuck and sent her to Erickson's office. She arrived there shortly afterward. During her conversation with Erickson, she claimed that Strahm had started to follow and observe her after the death of John and therefore asked Erickson for help. Only minutes later, Erickson finally finished work and went to his car. Unknown to him, he was observed by Hoffman who still sat in his own car on the other side of the parking lot. He used Strahm's mobile from the evidence room to call Erickson, but immediately hung up when Erickson answered it. Confused by this, Erickson immediately tried to call him back. Hoffman then rejected the call and turned off the phone. Therefore, Erickson became even more suspicious and ordered Agent Cowan to put a trace on Strahm's phone.

Afterwards, Hoffman returned to the surveillance room in the catacombs. There he turned on Strahm's phone and put it on a table, thereby enabling Cowan to locate it. Additionally, he also placed a cup of hot steaming coffee on the desk. Anticipating that Erickson would arrive at the catacombs shortly afterwards, the coffee should give him the impression that Strahm had been there not long before his arrival. Finally, he placed an FBI file on the desk which contained photos of Erickson. Hoffman then took a last look at the monitors and saw that Brit and Mallick, the only survivors at this point of the game, had reached the chamber of their final test. After that, he left the catacombs again.

Hoffman went to the police station and left it again only minutes later. When he drove off, he was pursued by Peter Strahm who had been waiting for him. Shortly afterward, Hoffman arrived at the renovated Nerve Gas House. He left his car and entered the building through the backdoor. Unbeknownst to Strahm, Hoffman had already noticed him and had actually planned to lure him to the house. Strahm entered the building only seconds later. Upon searching it, he eventually found the trapdoor which led him down to the underground tunnel network. As he went further, he discovered a blood trail leading to the door of the dilapidated bathroom in which Eric had been imprisoned about six months earlier. However, as he was trying to find Hoffman, he decided not to enter it and went on.

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Hoffman in the glass coffin

Moments later, he found a room with a large glass coffin in its center. The coffin was filled with broken glass shards as well as a tape recorder. Strahm grabbed it and played the message left for him by Hoffman, but stopped when he heard Hoffman's steps behind him. He quickly went into hiding behind the door and waited for the detective. When Hoffman arrived and entered the room, he found the tape lying on the floor. Strahm calmly approached him from behind while holding him at gunpoint. However, Hoffman saw a reflection of Strahm in the coffin glass and therefore thwarted his surprise attack. The two men engaged in a fight and eventually Strahm managed to lock Hoffman inside the coffin. Seconds later the door to the room was closed as well. Furiously, Strahm demanded Hoffman to tell him how to open it but Hoffman just calmly pointed at the tape. When the agent listened to the second half of the tape, the coffin was slowly lowered down into a hollow space in the floor while the walls of the room started to move towards each other. Strahm desperately tried to find a way out and angrily yelled at Hoffman. However, he was eventually crushed to death by the walls while Hoffman averted his gaze in disgust. (Saw V)

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Hoffman reenters the coffin room

Moments later, Hoffman was transported to another room nearby where he was able to open and leave the coffin. He returned to the hallway and used a switch which caused the walls that killed Strahm to return to their original position. Upon reentering the room, he saw Strahm's mutilated corpse which was still clinging to a grate at the ceiling with one hand. When he approached it, it fell down to the floor. However, Hoffman realized that the now severed hand, which still clung to the grate, was almost unharmed. Therefore he removed it by using pliers and took it with him in order to use it to place Strahm's fingerprints on his future crime scenes. (Saw VI)

After Strahm's death, Hoffman left the tunnels and the Nerve Gas House. Shortly afterwards, he was informed by Agent Erickson about his find in the catacombs. Therefore, Hoffman had ultimately reached his goal to throw everyone's suspicion on Strahm while protecting his own identity as the true secret apprentice and successor of Jigsaw. Within the next days, he found out about the reason why the five people had been chosen. All of them were somehow connected to a case of arson which had cost the lives of eight people. (Saw VI)

Simone and Eddie's Test

Feeling safe now, Hoffman continued the games undaunted. His next two victims were Simone and Eddie, two ruthless money lenders who had ruined the economic existence of numerous people by granting them high credits even though they knew that these people couldn't pay them back. Therefore, he set up a game for them in a factory and abducted them. Each one of them had a vicious device put on their heads which would pierce their skulls with drills after a timer of 60 seconds went off. The only way to survive was to cut off their own flesh and put it on a scale in the middle of the room. Only the person who sacrificed the most flesh would survive. Eventually, Simone was able to win the game by cutting off her left arm. After that, she tried to flee in an attempt to get help. When he was alone, Hoffman entered the room, used Strahm's severed hand to place the latter's fingerprints on the scale and Eddie's eyelids and cut a jigsaw piece from his victim's skin. Finally, he removed Simone and Eddie's instruction tape from the TV in the middle of the room. When he was done, he left the location and went to a surveillance room at the Rowan Zoological Institute, which was soon going to become the location of another series of tests. There, he listened to a voice recording of Simone and Eddie's game but was interrupted when he was called back to the crime scene, which had been found by the police.

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Erickson shows the fingerprints to Hoffman

Upon his arrival, a female officer informed him that the FBI was now in charge of the investigation and had asked for Hoffman to come to the crime scene as soon as possible. When he entered the room, he was surprised to see Agent Erickson. The agent told him about the fingerprints and showed them to him with a black light. Furthermore, he informed him that the fingerprints had already been identified as those of Peter Strahm, while voicing his surprise and dismay of this new situation. However, he also stated that they had prepared a surprise for Strahm on their own and led Hoffman to the next room. Hoffman was shocked when he saw Lindsey Perez standing before him. Erickson revealed that they had staged her death in order to guarantee her safety until they knew more about Jigsaw's unknown apprentice. During their conversation, Perez informed Hoffman that she and Strahm had worked on the arson case connected the five victims of the traps found by Erickson in the catacombs. However, the charges were dropped when the only witness unexpectedly disappeared. This led them to the conclusion that Strahm had chosen them in order to take revenge. As they now believed to know that Strahm was the secret accomplice of Jigsaw, they asked Hoffman to work together. Hoffman initially hesitated as the agents hadn't informed him about Perez' faked death earlier, but ultimately accepted the offer when Erickson promised him to inform him about all future information and FBI activities regarding the Jigsaw Case.

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Hoffman talks to Simone

Following his visit of the crime scene, Hoffman went to the hospital for the first interrogation of Simone. When he left the elevator that took him to her floor, he was already expected by Pamela Jenkins, an investigative journalist who was well-known for her sensational reports about the Jigsaw investigation. During their discussion, Hoffman confronted her with her lurid twisting of facts for the sake of a better story, calling her irresponsible for it. Pamela, who said to report only facts to the public, claimed to know more about John Kramer than he might have thought and revealed to him that she had been at the probate court where she had learned about a black box left to Jill Tuck after the death of John. Seemingly annoyed by her obtrusive attitude, Hoffman acted unimpressed by her knowledge and asked her what she wanted. Pamela asked him to arrange an interview with Jill Tuck and in return promised to dial down her sensationalism. To fob her off, Hoffman told her that he'd see what he could do before he entered Simone's room and closed the door before Pamela. Simone, whose wounds had been treated by the doctors, told Hoffman about her game and her and Eddie's actions which had got them targeted in the first place. However, when Hoffman asked her if she was able to learn anything from her game, Simone became angry and told him to look at her arm stump, furiously asking him how anyone could learn from a gruesome experience like hers. As the doctors tried to calm her down, Hoffman left the room again. (Saw VI)

Reopening the Seth Baxter Case

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The agents and Hoffman discuss the situation

After visiting the hospital, Hoffman was called to the morgue, where Dr. Adam Heffner had found something interesting during the abduction of Eddie. When he arrived, Perez and Erickson were already waiting for him as well. Heffner showed him some photos of the jigsaw pieces cut from the skins of previous victims and told him that they had been cut off with a plain scalpel, while the killer of Eddie had used a knife with a tined blade. Upon comparing this case with other previous cases, the agents had found out that the tined blade had only been used once before, to cut the jigsaw piece from the body of Seth Baxter, the murderer of Hoffman's sister. As a different knife had been used, Perez and Erickson had ordered to further analyze the videotape found at Seth's crime scene, thinking that it might have been recorded by someone else as well. (Saw VI)

William Easton's Trial

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Hoffman and Jill at the clinic

As his identity was endangered by this, Hoffman became excessively nervous. However, he had to take care of another problem first. Alerted by Pamela Jenkins' knowledge of the box, Hoffman went to Jill's clinic and waited for her. When she arrived shortly afterwards, she took him to her office, stating she was surprised to see him so soon. Hoffman told her that he wanted to accelerate the next big game and start it the same day as he was worried that Pamela would find out more about the black box. Therefore, Hoffman demanded Jill to give him the envelopes from the box, which contained the photos of the test subjects of the game. Jill initially hesitated as this wasn't John's will, but quickly gave in and handed him five envelopes. When Hoffman told her that he would work alone from now on, she said that she only had to fulfill John's final request. He took a look at the photos in the first envelope, which showed William Easton, manager of the Umbrella Health insurance company and brother of Pamela Jenkins. When Hoffman asked Jill who he was, she merely responded that he was on John's list. After receiving the envelopes, John left the office, telling Jill that he wouldn't see her again once he was done.

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Hoffman abducts William Easton

To prepare everything, Hoffman abducted all the victims of the game, most of whom were subordinates of William. At night, he invaded the headquarters of Umbrella Health to abduct William, who was alone in his office. Disguised with one of the pig masks, Hoffman cut off the power, causing a blackout. Confused by this, William left his office and was frightened when he saw the silhouette of a man who seemed to hold a gun and walked past the office rooms. Therefore, he quickly grabbed a gun from his drawer and went into hiding behind the desks in the outer office. When the man had walked past him, William embraced the opportunity and aimed his gun at the men, telling him to stay still. The man, however, 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 the invader. After subduing him, Hoffman left the guard behind and took William with him.

Besides William and his colleagues, Hoffman also abducted Tara and Brent Abbott, widow and son of Harold Abbott, a cardiac patient who had succumbed to his disease when William denied the coverage of his treatment cost. The last victim was William's sister, Pamela Jenkins. Remembering her request for an interview with Jill, Hoffman embraced the opportunity to ambush her and sent her a letter with Jill's address at 545 4th Street. Shortly afterward, she arrived at the apartment of Jill, who wasn't happy to see her. Pamela showed her the blackmailing letter which Hoffman had anonymously written to Amanda, and asked Jill if she understood the meaning of this message. Jill denied this and told her to go. Unsatisfied with her visit, Pamela slid the letter under the door, telling her to call back if she changed her opinion. Afterward, she left and entered the elevator. However, by unknown means, Hoffman had blocked the control panel and thereby deactivated the elevator. When she went back through the hallway, Hoffman attacked her from behind while covering his face with one of his masks and injected her with an anesthetic.

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Hoffman observes the Abbott family.

Afterward, Hoffman returned to the Rowan Zoological Institute and placed all of his victims in their respective traps. Then, he attached four straps to William's limbs which would detonate if he didn't manage to accomplish the four tests prepared for him within 60 minutes. After that, he placed William in his first trap along with his janitor, Hank, who was his opponent in this first game. Hoffman then returned to his surveillance room. From there, he observed William's progress, as well as Tara and Brent Abbott and Pamela Jenkins, who were trapped in two separated animal enclosures in front of the surveillance room and were watched by Hoffman through a one-way-window. However, after some time, after William had already passed his second test, he received a call from Erickson, who informed him that the tape from Seth Baxter's crime scene had been found. Furthermore, he told him that there was something else they had to discuss as soon as possible. Therefore, Hoffman agreed to meet up with him and Perez and left the zoo. (Saw VI)

Identity Revealed

Shortly after receiving the call, Hoffman arrived at the FBI headquarters, where he was greeted by Erickson and Perez, who informed him about an anomaly found in Strahm's fingerprints. Perez told him that they had found traces of Freon, more explicitly Dichlorodifluoromethane R-12, a chemical substance which wasn't produced anymore since 1994. In order to find out if the crime scene of the latest game was polluted or if Strahm's fingerprints were already contaminated with the substance before, Perez and Erickson planned to find out what was formerly produced in the building where Simone and Eddie's game had taken place. Erickson was then interrupted by a phone call from the FBI's technical lab. Hoffman asked Perez if there were any news about the Seth Baxter tape, which she confirmed. Despite the fact that the tape was in a bad state, they were able to authenticate that the voice on the tape wasn't John Kramer's voice. Therefore, they had sent the tape to the technical lab to rectify it so they could hear the original voice. When she told Hoffman about it, she realized that his stopwatch was running and asked if he was timing something, to which he responded that he did before receiving the call from Erickson. Moments later, Erickson told them that the original voice on the Seth Baxter tape was soon going to be decrypted and told Hoffman and Perez to accompany them to the external lab.

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Hoffman kills Perez

The group reached the lab soon afterward. When they came in, FBI technician Sachi was still working on the tape. As they had to wait some more time, Hoffman took a cup of coffee from the machine in the room. Noticing Hoffman's increasing nervousness, Perez tried to put him under pressure and began to discuss Strahm's motivation for helping Jigsaw and stated that she had never suspected him to be mentally unstable during the five years she had worked with him. Erickson then talked about the possibility that Strahm had killed Seth Baxter to throw suspicion on Hoffman. However there was still some detail that didn't fit the picture and therefore he finally revealed to Hoffman, that Strahm, judging by the analysis of his fingerprints, must have already been dead by the time he left his prints at the crime scene of Simone and Eddie's game. Seconds later, Sachi restored the tape, finally revealing the voice to be that of Mark Hoffman. However, before the agents could react, Hoffman quickly pulled out a knife from his pocket, slashed Erickson's jugular vein and threw the hot coffee in Perez' face. Then, he cut off the power and grabbed Sachi, who was shot in the back three times by Agent Perez as Hoffman used her as a human shield. Upon doing so, Hoffman was able to approach Perez and stabbed her multiple times in the abdomen with his knife. He then asked her who else knew about him, to which she responded with her dying breath that everyone knew about him. Calling it a lie, Hoffman stabbed her one final time, killing her in the process.

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Hoffman sets the lab on fire

Following the massacre, Hoffman threw away his knife and ran out of the lab. Seconds later, he returned with the severed hand of Strahm, which he had kept in a cooling box in his car trunk, and a gas canister. He placed Strahm's fingerprints all around the room and also on Perez' gun as well as the screwdriver which he had used to cut off the power. Afterwards, he poured the gasoline all over the floor, the corpses and the technical instruments. When he approached Erickson, he briefly hesitated and smiled when he saw that the latter was still alive, before he poured the fuel over him as well. Then, Hoffman set the lab on fire before finally fleeing the scene. (Saw VI)

Test

Shortly afterward, Hoffman hurried back to the Rowan Zoological Institute in his car and entered the building. Only mere seconds before the end of William's game, he reached the surveillance room and was shocked when he saw his blackmailing letter for Amanda lying in front of the monitors. Moments after he sat down on his chair and read the letter, Jill Tuck suddenly entered the room and incapacitated him with an electric shock. While he was unconscious, she strapped him onto the chair and put a more modern looking version of the Reverse Beartrap, previously used for Amanda's first test, on his head.

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Hoffman in the Reverse Beartrap

When he woke up shortly afterward, he was immediately frightened by the situation. Jill then approached him and showed him a photo of himself, revealing that the black box left to her by John had contained a sixth envelope, as John's final request for Jill was to test Hoffman, just like he had announced to him on the tape previously found in his stomach during the autopsy. Before she finally activated the trap, they watched the final part of William's game through the one-way-mirrors and were disgusted when William was injected and dissolved by hydrofluoric acid, after Brent Abbott had chosen to avenge his father by activating a trap positioned above William. When William died, the time for Hoffman's test had come as well. However, as Jill was angered by the letter, she refused to give Hoffman any chance to survive and therefore had no key for him to escape the trap.

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Hoffman escapes the Reverse Beartrap

When the timer of the trap started to count down Jill eventually left the room with the words "Game Over". Hoffman immediately panicked and furiously smashed his left hand with the frontal part of the trap in order to free himself from his restraints. He then tried to open the trap with a screwdriver. When this attempt remained unsuccessful and only a few seconds were left, Hoffman pushed the trap's frontal part between two metal bars on the door window to prevent it from bursting open completely. Eventually he managed to pull his head out of the trap but was heavily injured in the process as the trap had torn his right cheek apart. (Saw VI)

Going into Hiding

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Hoffman treats his wounds

Despite the immense amount of pain, Hoffman forced himself to calm down and left the room, taking the bear trap with him. While slowly going through the hallways, he came across a shelf with janitorial supplies, not knowing that Jill, who had witnessed his escape, hid behind a cloak hanger with a few overalls granting her cover. While she watched him from her hiding spot, Hoffman used a bunch of paper towels as an improvised bandage for his broken hand and took another one to stop the bleed from his cheek. Afterwards, he picked up the Reverse Beartrap again and finally left the zoo once and for all to go to his new hideout located in an abandoned hangar.

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Hoffman stitches up his cheek

When he arrived there, the police had already found the crime scene at the zoo. Upon entering the hangar, Hoffman immediately grabbed a crate with medical supplies. While he stitched up his wound in front of a mirror, he listened to a news report on the TV, according to which up to seven people might have survived the massacre at the Rowan Zoological Institute. Despite being in horrible pain, Hoffman was able to successfully treat his wounds. Assuming that soon afterwards everyone would know his identity, Hoffman anticipated that he would have to go into hiding for a longer time. Therefore, he burnt all of his identification documents and smashed his mobile with a hammer, making it impossible for anyone to locate his position. After that, he began to plan his revenge on Jill. (Saw 3D)

Bobby Dagen's Trial

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Hoffman prepares himself for Bobby's game

As he expected her to be taken into protective custody, Hoffman planned to put the police forces under pressure in order to get to her. In a safe in his hangar, he had the files for a game that John had ordered him to set up at some point prior to his death. This game focused on Bobby Dagen, a man who had earned much fame and wealth by publishing his story of surviving one of Jigsaw's traps, which in fact never happened. Soon afterward, Hoffman found out that Jill had told Officer Matt Gibson about him. Therefore, Hoffman went to the abandoned Clear Dawn Psychiatric Hospital where he set up the games for Bobby, his wife, Joyce Dagen, and his crew. Clear Dawn was the same mental facility where the man whom Hoffman had killed years earlier at the Crossroad Manufactory had been imprisoned until the hospital was shut down and Hoffman expected Gibson to still remember this incident. Besides the games, he set up another trap to prevent the police from stopping the game if they found out about the location. (Saw 3D)

Revenge Plan

Throughout the next weeks, Hoffman's wounds healed, for the most part, enabling him to finally put the last phase of his plan into operation. After finishing the preparations for Bobby's game, he went to Pete's Auto Body, a junkyard at 58th Street. In a secret room behind a hidden wall, he set up several surveillance monitors and hacked into the police station's camera system, therefore enabling him to watch everything that happened inside the building. Additionally, he set up another deadly trap consisting of a sentry gun which would kill any invaders who entered the room.

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Hoffman records the video

After that, he placed the statue of an angel, which looked exactly like a statue from the Crossroad Manufactory, behind him and recorded a video message for Gibson. In the video, he told him to give Jill to him and in return promised to end the next game. If Gibson refused to take the offer, Hoffman threatened him that everyone would die. Afterward, he arranged a new game in the garage just before the secret room and used it to trap Evan, Kara, Dan and Jake, a group of racist skinheads. While their game played out, Hoffman went to a church, which served as the venue of a self-help group for survivors of Jigsaw's games. After one of the group's meetings, Hoffman waited near the parking spot and abducted Bobby's wife and crew and eventually Bobby himself, all while covering his face with one of the pig masks. After taking them to the Clear Dawn Facility, he sent the video previously recorded at Pete's Auto Body to a safe house for key witnesses, as he expected Gibson to take Jill to this location. In doing so, he wanted to force him to take Jill to the detention cells in the basement of the police station. Then, he returned to the junkyard where Evan's game had come to an end, resulting in him and his friends all having been killed by the trap.

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Hoffman detonates the bomb

As the game had played out, Hoffman placed the Reverse Beartrap, which Jill had used in her attempt to kill him, in the toilet room of the garage, right before the door to his secret surveillance room. Additionally, he wrote a message for Gibson on a mirror, telling him to "see for himself." Finally, he set up a bomb in one of the many car wrecks before he went into hiding in his room, shortly before the police arrived at the crime scene. Hoffman then recorded a second video, again with the angel in the background, in which he told Gibson to "look beyond the crossroads to the clear dawn", thereby hinting at the incident at the manufactory as well as the location of Bobby's game. Then, he sent the video over several proxy servers to Gibson. Meanwhile, the police secured the crime scene. While they did this, Hoffman detonated the bomb and therefore lured all the cops to the outside of the garage. Embracing the opportunity, he left the secret room and took the mutilated corpse of Dan from his body bag. He dragged the dead body into the room, put a black cloak on him, and placed him on a chair in front of the surveillance monitors. Afterward, he left the room again and hid in the body bag. Shortly afterwards, he and the three remaining corpses of Dan's friends were taken to the morgue for their abduction. (Saw 3D)

Killing Spree

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Hoffman kills the coroner

As Dr. Adam Heffner opened the body bag, Hoffman caught him by surprise and stabbed him in the throat with a knife. After killing him, Hoffman left the bag and noticed that another coroner was about to enter the room. When he opened the door, Hoffman attacked and murdered him, before he left the morgue and went to the detention cells located in the basement. On his way, he came across an officer who wanted to enter the evidence room and killed him. After that, he locked the exit door and went on. Shortly afterwards, he reached a big office room where Officer Palmer tried to call Gibson, not knowing that he had been killed by the sentry gun at the junkyard. When Hoffman approached and grabbed her from behind, she panicked and they engaged in a brief struggle until Hoffman broke her neck. When she was dead, he went to the heavy metal door leading to the cells and looked through the eyehole. Behind the door was another guard who observed Jill through a one-way-mirror. Therefore, Hoffman dragged Palmer's corpse to the door, placed her body in front of the eye hole, and knocked on the door to attract the guard. When he saw Palmer through the eye hole, thinking she was still alive, he opened the door. Hoffman embraced his chance and threw the corpse away. When the guard unlocked the door, Hoffman dragged him back into the room and stabbed his throat. Afterward, he took the dead officer's gun. Now only Officer Rogers stood between him and Jill. As he couldn't see Hoffman through the mirror, the latter aimed at him unnoticed and fatally shot him in the eye.

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Hoffman activates Jill's trap

When she saw him, Jill immediately panicked and backed away from him. Hoffman then took the key to her cell's door from Rogers' corpse, entered the room and calmly approached Jill. He violently grabbed her hair and forced her to look at his scar, asking her how he looked. Unnoticed by him, Jill had grabbed a nail file and stabbed it in his neck, enabling her to run away. Hoffman was briefly paralyzed, but pulled the file out shortly afterwards and took up his pursuit of Jill. As Hoffman had locked the exit doors, she was forced to go into hiding in the evidence room. Moments later, Hoffman entered the room and turned on the light. After searching the room, he initially thought that she was hiding elsewhere. However, as he was about to leave the room again, he heard a noise. Upon following it, he eventually found Jill who crouched behind a filing cabinet. As she wanted to flee again, he violently kicked her in the stomach and dragged her away. He placed a chair, the same to which she had strapped him at the zoo, in the middle of the room, when he saw that Jill was trying to stand up, he brutally smashed her head on a table and then strapped her arms to the chair. Then, he took the original bear trap formerly used on Amanda Young from one of the shelves and put it on Jill's head. When she woke up, Hoffman started the timer, causing Jill to panic immediately. However as she had no chance to escape, the timer eventually went off, which caused the trap to burst open and rip her jaws apart in front of Hoffman, who left the room and closed the door with the words "Game Over." (Saw 3D)

Presumed Death

Following his attack on the police station and his successful revenge on Jill, Hoffman quickly returned to his hideout in the hangar. When he arrived, the news channels already reported the attack on the police station and Jill's death. Furthermore, they instructed the public that the city was shut down and appealed to them to contact the police if they had any information leading to Mark Hoffman. Therefore, he knew that he had to prepare his flight quickly. He packed a duffel with a gun and a bunch of money. After that, he turned on some gas tanks kept in the hangar, poured a trail of gasoline on the floor leading from the tanks, and set the gasoline on fire, destroying all the evidence and the building in an explosion.

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Hoffman is trapped in the bathroom

As Hoffman leaves behind the burning hangar, he was suddenly attacked by two unknown pig-masked figures. As they grabbed him and held him up, a third masked man approached and injected him with an anesthetic, causing him to collapse. When he lay on the ground, the man revealed himself to be Dr. Lawrence Gordon, John's oncologist who had secretly become John's third apprentice after surviving one of his games on his own. Shocked by this reveal, Hoffman realized that it was Gordon who had written the second stalker letter, which he had assumed to be from Peter Strahm. Moments later, he passed out from the anesthetic.

While he was unconscious, the men took him to the dilapidated bathroom underneath the Nerve Gas House, where Gordon had overcome his test long ago, and chained him by the ankle to the pipe right next to the decomposed corpses of Adam Stanheight and Zep Hindle. When he woke up he immediately realized the situation he was in and tried to grab a hacksaw lying on the floor to free himself from his shackle. Unfortunately for him, Gordon, who was also walking toward it, pulled it away from him with his cane. Gordon then picked up the saw and threw it out of the room, preventing Hoffman from escaping the way he did. Ignoring Hoffman's angry and desperate yells, Gordon turned off the light and closed the door, leaving Hoffman to die with the words "Game Over." (Saw 3D).

Personality

In his early life, Mark Hoffman was a honorable and responsible police officer, eager to bring justice to both criminals and their victims. Therefore, he was also willing to break the law for the sake of protecting others if he felt that they were treated unfairly otherwise. He was also a loving brother, sharing a deep and emotional relationship with his sister, Angelina, who was his only family. Therefore, her death had a big impact on Hoffman's life and personality.

After Angelina was killed by Seth Baxter, Hoffman suffered a mental breakdown, resulting in severe depression as well as a drinking problem. As his mental state worsened over time, he began to show relatively obvious signs of sociopathy to the point that he even used lethal violence against suspects and criminals. Hoffman's personality became monotonous and apathetic to the suffering of others. He appeared to harden himself to the outside world, burying himself in his work and simply going through the motions rather than passionately fighting for others who had been wronged like he once had. Hoffman rarely talked to people about matters that were not related to work. Despite this, Hoffman still acted as a hard-working officer and lost nothing of his colleagues' respect for him.

Hoffman was also a very vengeful person, willing to go to great lengths in order to get his revenge, going as far as to build an elaborate mechanical trap for Seth Baxter and making it inescapable, framing Jigsaw for this. He went as far as to make his voice sound like the one of Jigsaw. In the case of Jill Tuck, he even killed numerous of his former colleagues without any hesitation. When taking revenge on someone, Hoffman used to do so by using brutal, symbolic, vicious and painful methods to kill the person or persons. 

His personality took another drastic turn when he was recruited by John Kramer to help him with his work. While Hoffman seemingly had no problem with killing criminals, he initially felt remorse for putting innocent people in John's gruesome traps. However, he eventually got used to this kind of work and at some point even began to take pleasure in torturing and killing others. After John's death, when he did not need to continue for fear of being exposed for what he did to Seth Baxter, Hoffman decided to continue it simply because he enjoyed it.

Hoffman did not get along well with Amanda Young, who competed with Hoffman for John's affection. Hoffman saw Amanda as an ungrateful junkie who wasted her life, while Amanda saw Hoffman as only good for manual labor. Because Hoffman never fully adopted John's methods and philosophy, preferring only to torture others for personal amusement, he never wore the black and red robes that John and Amanda wore. Whenever Hoffman abducted victims for a trap, he would wear the blue parka he wore the night he killed Seth Baxter, to further drive a wedge between himself, John and Amanda. Hoffman also appears to struggle with being faced with the consequences of his actions, as shown when he turned away while watching the deaths of Peter Strahm or Jill Tuck and even Seth Baxter. 

It should be noted that Hoffman was highly intelligent and was, therefore, able to plan and execute extremely complex operations. Hoffman was capable of designing his own mechanical traps and talking in riddles to police and test subjects. Despite this, Hoffman was capable of being confused and surprised. As shown when Lawrence Gordon was revealed to have been an accomplice to John ever since surviving his test and had been ordered to punish Hoffman if he took things too far. This shows that he did not think about the possibility of John having a plan to deal with him in the same way he did Amanda if he strayed from John's philosophy.  

Besides this, he was also able to escape dangerous and potentially deadly situations by unconventional means. This ability made Hoffman especially dangerous and unpredictable.

Trivia

  • According to producers Oren Koules and Mark Burg, Mark Hoffman was named after late Saw producer Gregg Hoffman, who died shortly after the announcement of Saw III.
  • Some fans theorize that Hoffman is the pigmasked man who kidnapped Gordon in Saw. If that's the case, then Gordon put him away not only for killing Jill, but also to inflict revenge on him for kidnapping him, resulting in his and Adam's test. However, it's still questionable if it was John or one of his apprentices who did that nonetheless.
  • Some fans assume that Hoffman is Pighead II from the video game Saw II: Flesh & Blood as in one scene near the end of the game, Sarah Blalok revealed to Michael Tapp that Pighead II was a friend of his father, David Tapp. Hoffman and David worked in the same precinct. However, it is questionable whether he'd have directly killed someone while John was still alive and in the same building.
  • Originally, Mark Hoffman was supposed to be killed in the Saw VI finale by Peter Strahm.
  • Throughout the series, Hoffman killed the most people of all characters, including both direct kills and indirect kills by putting them into traps. Hoffman directly killed 21 people, most of whom were in the third act of Saw 3D. This does not include indirect kills. Therefore, when you include the people who died in his traps, Hoffman is responsible for the deaths of at least 53 people.
  • Hoffman's gun in Saw V is a Glock 17. At the end of Saw 3D, he puts a Smith & Wesson 5946 in his bag.
  • In the original script of Saw V, it was actually Jill Tuck who had written the second stalker note and sent it to his office.
  • Hoffman's car license plate is SOE-710
  • Hoffman's car is a 2006 Ford Crown Victoria.
  • Hoffman's parka in Saw 3D is an Eider Lanfon Parka Defender Black.
  • Hoffman has a Bachelor of Arts degree from the fictional Renfield University; presumably a nod to his fellow horror sidekick R.M. Renfield.
  • According to the audio commentary of Saw 3D, Brad and Ryan from the beginning of the film were supposed to be the two pig-masked men who assisted Dr. Gordon in the abduction of Hoffman.
  • Oddly enough, Mark Hoffman shares the same name with the real life criminal Mark William Hofmann, a notorious American counterfeiter and convicted murder who was widely regarded as one of the most accomplished forgers in history. The only difference the two share is their last names are spelt differently.
  • According to the audio commentary of Saw 3D, Hoffman eventually died in the bathroom. The fact that he wasn't mentioned or suspected during the events of Jigsaw ten years later suggests that this is true and the police learned about his fate at some point.
    • However, Darren Lynn Bousman has stated that discussions took place during the development of Spiral to possibly bring back Costas Mandylor as Hoffman in a future film, so his death could possibly be retconned.
    • According to Saw X producers Mark Burg and Oren Koules, as well as writer Josh Stolberg, and director Kevin Greutert, Hoffman's cameo appearance in the mid-credits scene of Saw X was intended to set up a premises for an 11th instalment that would again feature Hoffman. Though Saw X takes place before the events of Saw 3D, as it is a prequel to Saw II, it is unknown if the 11th instalment would be set after the events of Jigsaw or Spiral, but would be the first film to feature Hoffman in a main role since Saw 3D.

Appearances and References

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