Ira Hogeboom

"You said the house would be empty! YOU said the HOUSE would BE EMPTY! How can I find peace?!"

- Hogeboom to Fontaine

William Ira Hogeboom was a character in L.A. Noire. Ira was a mentally unstable veteran working for a pest control company in Los Angeles after the war with Outworld.

Biography
Hogeboom was born on 27 December, 1932 in Perry, Oklahoma. He was born to a Dutch father and an American mother. He and his father migrated to California when his mother and younger brother were killed by town gangsters. They moved to Los Angeles where his father worked as a stunt double for very low budget movies. Ira trained and worked as a gas fitter but was drafted into military service due to the U.S.' provocation of Outworld which started the Outworld War, serving as member of the Sixth Marines under Lieutenant Cole Phelps and Sergeant Jack Kelso. Ira was appropriately placed on flamethrower detail.

While raiding alien hideouts, Ira's company encountered a cave and was ordered by Phelps to torch it. Ira ran ahead and set the caves ablaze, however, they realised too late that the cave was actually a makeshift hospital for Outworld civilians. Upon seeing the agonised men, women and children, Ira became distraught and horrified by his actions. After the civilians were euthanized, Ira was carried out of the cave, but spent the rest of the war inactive due to battle fatigue. His father died on November 1973, so he came home to live on his father's property.

Events of L.A. Noire
After the war, Hogeboom returned home suffering from extreme post traumatic stress disorder, haunted by memories of the atrocities. At the recommendation of friend and fellow Marine, Courtney Shelton, Hogeboom sought treatment from renowned psychiatrist Harlan Fontaine. Fontaine used psychotherapy and morphine on him, although Ira was still unable to come to terms with his trauma. Nonetheless, Ira was physically fit for work and secured a job as a bug sprayer for the Westlake Pest Control Agency and resided in a house on Rancho Rincon.

Ira's fragile mind combined with morphine and hypnotherapy made him susceptible to Fontaine's manipulations, who suggested to burn down certain houses as means of treatment, telling him that it would help confront his past. Ira did so by sabotaging the houses' water heaters. In actuality, Fontaine was exploiting Ira's broken mind and arsonist experiences for the benefits of the Suburban Redevelopment Fund.

However, despite Fontaine's and Monroe's plannings, two of the houses were occupied, and Ira could hear the screams of the Rorelli family. Guilt-ridden over their deaths, Ira was driven further into insanity and angered that Fontaine had used him, hence broke free of his control.

To absolve himself of guilt, Ira began to rationalize that death was a transformation into something better, a higher form of existence, allowing him to kill without remorse. Ira went to confront Fontaine and arrived in time to save Elsa Lichtmann from being murdered by Fontaine by strangling and breaking Fontaine's neck in retribution for his evil deeds. Ira then abducted the unconscious Elsa, intending to take her to "safety".

Using his Marine uniform and armed with his flamethrower, Ira took Elsa to the River Tunnels, fending off Monroe's henchmen. Jack Kelso and Cole Phelps arrived to rescue Elsa, however Kelso's attempts to reason with Ira failed. Lamenting and acknowledging the tragic set of events, Ira allowed Phelps to take away Elsa. Ira saluted Jack as he performed a mercy kill, finally freeing him from insanity before drowning in the sewers.

Mission Appearances

 * "The Driver's Seat" (mentioned)
 * "The Red Lipstick Murder" (mentioned)
 * "The Gas Man"
 * "A Walk In Elysian Fields" (cameo)
 * "A Polite Invitation"
 * "A Different Kind Of War" (killed)

Personality and traits
Throughout his time in Outworld, Ira was a keen and upstanding Marine, though his actions in the atrocity reduced Ira to a broken shell of his former self. Fontaine diagnosed Ira as a paranoid schizophrenic with anti-social psychopathic tendencies. Ira's memories of the war haunted his sleeping and waking up moments, unable to tell if he was still fighting in the war or not. As a result, he was unable to readjust to civilian life and was a constant danger to himself and others.

Despite his overwhelming insanity, Ira also wanted to alleviate his pain and atone for his mistakes. It is likely that Ira developed his obsession with origami cranes due to the legend that making 1,000 grants a free wish, thus giving him a chance at redemption. He also hoped to secure a samurai sword, and bring it back with him after the war. However, after being used by Fontaine, Ira could not let go of his Marine mentality. Haunted by death and sadness, Ira sought comfort in the idea that there is a better existence beyond death hence proclaimed to "fight for God", allowing him to fight and kill without guilt. Ira becomes a reluctant villain driven by his insanity pumped into him by Harlan.

Trivia

 * Hogeboom smokes Marlboro cigarettes. He also owns a personal lighter.

Gallery
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