#kimium

Riddle - Riddle is the Rule Boy, By the Book, Stick to the Pattern. The one who adamantly protests every time to the other Saw masterminds "It's not a trap, it's a TEST".

Because of this, Riddle's tests are not overly imaginative, but they get the job done. I think, due to the nature of his signature spell, Riddle would lean toward decapitation being the end result in his traps. It's easy, effective, and doesn't prolong suffering. I like to think he's not one to wish others to suffer. Indeed, if he was a Jigsaw Apprentice, he'd be the one to parrot John Kramer the most about learning to love and cherish the life you have and atoning for past mistakes.

The rules for Riddle's test would be simple. "Find the key to unlock your chains in a certain amount of time, or a saw will cut your head off". Of course, the tricky part is getting the key. No one escapes a Saw trap without some kind of mark, be it visible or invisible. The placement of the key I will leave up to the imagination, as it will have to be specific to the individual in the trap or it will mean nothing. (Keep in mind, canon placements have been: at the other end of the room needing a mad dash that puts co-victims in danger to get to it, in the stomach of a heavily sedated companion in the trap, surgically implanted inside the victim's own eye...etc.). If the victim survives, they are off the hook. Riddle wouldn't dare mess up that part of the game. If they die, he follows John's example and dutifully cuts a puzzle piece out of their flesh, the symbol of that person's "missing piece" that prevented them from winning the game(this is also how Jigsaw got his name).

Leona - Leona can do the job, he understands the assignment. He thinks John's a bit nuts, though. He's another one where there's not a whole lot of imagination involved; he designs the trap to get the job done, makes sure it meets the requirements (because he will not be given a bad grade on Jigsaw Traps, something apparently possible to achieve and normal to worry about?...), but it won't be overly complex, and he makes Ruggie and Jack do the muscle-work for him. Don't worry, he pays them well.

Leona's traps will probably involve some test of strength (keeping in mind the different physical capabilities of individuals, of course). I'm thinking something like a low tunnel filled with various-sized shards of broken glass the person has to crawl through to get to the exit, or climbing through a vent connected to an oven that is on max. heat to get out. Something like that, of course tweaked for the individual.

He makes Ruggie cut the puzzle piece. Ruggie doesn't mess around when it comes to his finances. He cuts every piece perfectly.

Azul - Let's be real, Azul doesn't mind suffering...as long as it's not his own. His traps are always complex, and he sees each new victim as a chance to one-up himself. And it's no problem getting his victims; Jade and Floyd help with that.

I think most of Azul's traps will involve the victim inflicting pain on themselves on purpose. Not just doing things that result in pain (such as crawl over glass) but actively cause themselves harm; probably ripping their own molars out or cutting off a limb, or something, and dropping it in a bin/chute to trigger the exit to open.

Jade and Floyd help with set-up...but Floyd is Not allowed to cut the puzzle pieces afterward. For obvious reasons.

Kalim - In order for Kalim to be an apprentice, he would need to have something awful and drastic happen to someone close to him that pushes him over the edge. When it comes to it, he sees the traps as a job, a duty. It's not something he enjoys and he always observes with a tired distaste but, because of whatever trauma pushed him into this life, he believes it's necessary.

He can't stand the sight of blood and brutality. Nor does he want to know they're dying a slow death. His victim is hooked up to a syringe pump, hands restrained, and they need to figure out the code to turn off the pump before time runs out (probably voice password or something; definitely based on important memories related to the reason they are in the trap, which is hinted at in the tape) or the syringe will rapidly infuse a lethal dose of potassium into their veins and they will go into cardiac arrest.

Jamil has to cut the puzzle piece because Kalim cannot stomach it.

Vil - Vil, like Kalim, needs to be of the mind that what he's doing is necessary, even if he doesn't like it. He has to believe that people need him to teach them in this way, or he won't be able to stomach it.

He also doesn't want a bloodbath; that's not his style. Vil would rather use poison. Poison for his victims, already injected/ingested, with an antidote they have to get...probably behind a locked door needing a combination password. But, in order to get the code, they will have to face what they've done and figure out what the code is, very similar to Kalim's style. However, unlike Kalim's, if the victim gives the wrong code the door will seal shut forever and the victim will be doomed. They need to get it right and they need to be certain.

Vil may request Rook's assistance with making sure people are brought in and the trap set up properly, but he cuts the puzzle piece himself. He believes it's his role, and he refuses to put that onto anyone else. It disgusts him, but he treats it like his cross to bear for the acts he is committing, because a part of him still feels uneasy about all of this and he hates looking at himself in the mirror some days.

Idia - Idia is so removed from the front lines of the traps, he's actually quite desensitized to the violence. He treats it a bit like his video games and he does try out a variety of different traps, each one extremely individualized. He's got all the info on his victims; every single trace of them online, their social security number, their bank statements, anything and everything that can be accessed via computer is his. He knows them inside and out. Every trap is an attempt to be more unique and "entertaining" than the last. It's questionable if he's even in it for the "righteousness" that John preaches, or if he got bored and decided this was an interesting way to pass the time.

All his traps are set up to run completely independently, and all are under video surveillance. I think Idia would get to the point that there's not enough moving parts for him if there's only one victim in the trap, so he starts doing bigger traps, with groups of people, where it's a challenge to try and predict how they all will react, how they would push each other's boundaries and if they would try to see the hints laid out for them or if they would misinterpret it (for anyone who's seen Jigsaw, think about the gun scene with the keys at the end. That kind of a hint. Idia would like to see who gets it). So, yeah, Idia probably builds a maze-trap with multiple little traps within it that the victims have to go through to get out.

While he hasn't yet created something that can cut the puzzle piece and deliver it to him, he has developed a little punch that he can bring to punch out the piece of the victim's flesh should they fail. It's the only time he's on-site after the trap has been set. (Ortho refused to do that part because the dead bodies made him sad.)

Malleus - Malleus believes he is helping people, and he's curious to see how far a person would go to save their own life. He thinks it's his job to bring out the worst and the best in the person in his trap to help them be better than they are now. He's not beyond pushing buttons and upping antes; he sees it as doing what he can to help someone value their life and overcome their own shortcomings.

A trap from Malleus is probably going to involve some form of self-mutilation, giving enough flesh or giving enough blood, but also some emotional pressure. He will bring their families into the traps; likely remotely so as not to harm the innocent, but to use as leverage to make someone push themselves more. He wants them to succeed. But he will not go easy on them. In order to succeed, they need to pull on their own inner strength.

He cuts the puzzle piece himself, but he's always sad when he has to. He feels less that the person has failed and more that he has failed to help them bring out their better self.

This one would have to be Deuce Spade. I can't help it, he just has such dumb of ass, pure of heart energy and I very much adore that. Plus, his whole "moody bad-boy" image is...well, it's in direct contrast with his Actual Personality. Yeah, he gets in fights, and he references having been a troublemaker, but something tells me he was more on the side of being misunderstood in his intentions. Especially every time he mentions wanting to send money home to help his mother. Also I love that his first spell he learns is How To Summon a Cauldron. Because I get great joy from tropes where a character has One (1) Seemingly Useless or Very Specific Spell That Is Not Combat-Oriented In The Slightest that they make work for a variety of scenarios, including combat. He gives me Rin Okumura vibes, and, as you probably could guess, I can't help but want to adopt him. Bam. Done. He's my Son.

Savanaclaw:

For Savanaclaw, this may come as a shock to you...I like Ruggie the best. He has this Trickster attitude that I adore; sassy and sarcastic and absolutely sneaky and devious. But he also has more than that. He has an entire family back home who aren't very well-off financially, so it's no wonder he's constantly taking every opportunity to make money. At the winter break it even shows that he is trying to bring back as much food from the cafeteria as he can so he can feed his family at home and they can have a fun celebration too without having to worry about their next meal. I also really identify with the way he looks after Leona. It shows that Ruggie has lots of little siblings that he looks after. I have younger siblings and I definitely had to watch out for them when they were growing up. And then, even when Leona overblotted and hurt him, Ruggie stayed by him and stayed loyal, stayed friends, and gave Leona another shot. He totally could've said "fuck this noise, I'm out", which is something I think people often expect from anti-hero characters similar to Ruggie, but he didn't. He faced death for Leona and I think that says more about how much he cares about his friends than any of his snarky remarks or nagging toward Leona ever did. Also, I like to imagine that for the next month and a half Leona is totally at Ruggie's beck and call, because all he has to do when Leona grumbles is go "Oh, are you, the great Leona, tired? Are you...in pain? Hmmm? Do you know what it's like to almost die because your best friend decided to use his signature spell on you and tried to turn you to dust?" I just want that to be how he gets Leona to go to classes for like a month after the incident lol.

Octavinelle:

FLOYD. NO CONTEST. NO HESITATION. FLOYD LEECH. I'm sorry, Azul, Jade...I just can't deny it. Floyd has my heart. He somehow wormed his way into my heart and set up camp and I can't deny he is my favourite. He's just such a wild card, a loose cannon. I love it. My boy. He's also the one I ship with Yuu. :D I just love his attitude, how he sticks to his own way, he doesn't let anyone else make him change how he is. Frustrating as heck to deal with, I am sure, but to watch? Oh, it is sooo entertaining. I love it. I also love how there's only a handful of people who can get through to him, and that is Azul, Jade, and now, sort of, Yuu. Floyd just loves his Shrimpy and wants to squeeze them. Hehehe. Also, his merman form is Very Handsome. Idk, it's something about the way he smiles too, it's just entirely endearing to me.

Scarabia:

This was a tough one. It's not that I really have a favourite in Scarabia. I really like both Jamil and Kalim for different reasons. If I had to choose one I think I would get along with more...honestly it would probably be Jamil. I've said this before, but I've also had a lot of issues with expectations and rules and being put into a role I didn't ask for and having to make exceptions for others and anticipate their needs rather than letting them tell me what they needed. In that way, I see a lot of myself in Jamil. I immediately knew what his frustration was when I started playing book four, and that's why it took me so long. I actually had to take a lot of breaks because, while I wanted the story and have lots of fun playing Twisted Wonderland, book four was very triggering for my anxiety. I may be at a point in my life where I can recognize what was wrong in the past and what I need to work on, but I am by no means over it and unaffected by the memory. So, I think being around Kalim, while it would be enjoyable and I would absolutely adore him, would probably be a bit more taxing on me mentally and emotionally than it would for me to be around Jamil. And that is why I will mark Jamil as my favourite, though I really do like both of them very much.

Pomefiore:

It's Epel Felmier. I am drawn to the way his personality doesn't match his outward appearance. I really like that about him, it's like a surprise sucker punch that he can really weaponize once he figures it out a bit more. I also like the character growth he goes through and how he realizes that there's more to strength than just being able to fight, that there's different ways to be strong and win in life. I love that. And I really identify with the feeling of 'my body doesn't match who I want to be'. As a child, and even sometimes still, I really had a struggle with understanding what I actually looked like. I had an idea in my mind of how I looked and I remember how blatantly thrown off I was when I would look in the mirror. I felt I had to act certain ways because of my body type, that I was expected to be more masculine and tough because I was bigger than my sister and some of my friends. As I got older, it became the opposite. I didn't want to be seen as masculine at all, I hated it, so I tried overly hard with make up, wore very feminine clothes, squeezed my butt into skinny jeans that made indents in my stomach and cut into my hips, and consistently worried about my face and hair throughout the day. Then, I hit a burnout and stopped caring. Still recovering, but I'm learning to love and embrace the body I have and to work with what I have instead of longing for what I don't, and that I can be big and still be feminine, just in a different way. And I think that is something that makes me very similar to Epel.

Also I wanna hear Epel talking all dainty to some poor soul who doesn't know him and then he stubs his toe and screams "FUCK". I just think that would be funny :D

Ignihyde:

Idia Shroud. Again, no contest. I love Ortho to pieces, but Idia is MY BOY. I love him so much. My introverted boy. The one I laid eyes on for 0.5 seconds and went "adopted". He's so pretty, with his flaming blue hair and his beautiful golden eyes. I love his entire aesthetic, and I love his personality. Introverted. Sarcastic. Smart. He's so cool :D I really like how he talks in video game terms, and I think his obsession with video games is so relatable. I may not game near as much as he does, but as a kiddo I used to read almost more often than I breathed. And I was very introverted and loved fictional worlds more than I enjoyed being in reality. So, I get it. He's just so fantastic, we have the same humour, and again I love his devotion to his little brother. He adores Ortho, it's very clear. He tries his best for him. And there's more backstory to come, which I am SO FREAKING EXCITED FOR!!!!! I want to know, even if I already have my guesses, what happened, what he's been through, what happens next. I love Idia so much.

Diasomnia:

Lilia. He's so funny and mischeivous. I love how he teases. I also love that he's canonically called 'Father' by Silver and Sebek. Top Tier. I love how chill he is, like Sebek will be losing his mind over Malleus and Lilia is like "eh, he's fine" and usually he's right. I also love the way he dresses. Very cool aesthetic; definitely the look I really admired in high school. His voice lines are so funny, because the conversation is just rolling along and every once in a while Lilia will drop some piece of knowledge that Reminds Everyone that he is canonically hundreds of years old. Top Tier.

Bonus - Faculty:

I give you, a bonus!!! Crewel! Which you already knew, but I couldn't make a post about my faves and not include him! He is so handsome, his entire aesthetic, the way he talks, those voice lines...🥵🥵...yes. Just. Yes. I thirst over him so much, you know I do. hehehe. :D Seeing him running the infirmary in book 6 part one made me literally scream like YEEESSSSS, WE LOVE A MAN WHO TAKES CARE OF THE INJURED. GD. also because it means if I worked in Night Raven College he would have worked closely with me at that part and that made me so so so happy you have no idea.