Cole Phelps (La Noire)

Cole Phelps is the main playable character of the rockstar murder mystery game LA NOIRE. You play as Cole the whole way though, except the last three missions where you play as Jack Kelso. A guy who's close to Cole, but wouldn't consider him a "friend".

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WORLD WAR 2:

In the days following his recruitment, he was given top honors for his bravery. However, during his time in the USMC, he has been known as the “Dark Shadow” or considered to be “bad luck” whenever someone is under his command during combat. Some of his men greatly respected Phelps, claiming tales of his almost supernatural stealth, killing Japanese soldiers without ever being seen.

In his time in the Corps, he was considered bad luck, many of his troops didn’t approve his actions during combat. He was part of scout team in the Okinawa campaign before being moved to the infantry division when the high ranking officer at that time needed to push through the enemy line into enemy territory. During the battle for Sugar Loaf Hill, when it was time to push through enemy lines, his battalion and C.O. were killed. As a result, Cole wanted to fall back despite the protest of his close friend, Hank Merrill. Shortly afterwards, he witnessed Hank get blown to pieces by an explosion after they took cover in a foxhole. Cole went into shock. The next morning he was found by other USMC servicemen, covered in soot, lying next to Merrill's remains. As the sole survivor, he was promoted to First Lieutenant and received the Silver Star, the third highest commendation he could achieve. Cole would be forever haunted by his experience and guilt-ridden for being honored for his "lack of courage."

Near the end of his service, he was dispatched (along with many other troops) to clear out settlements and caves for any signs of enemy forces during the battle of Sugar Loaf. Cole, being under strict orders, wanted to clear out every sign of the enemy in the caves and villages - though he fell behind other squads.

Cole's meticulous attention to detail and insistence on clearing out each and every cave eventually caught up with him, his squad fell far behind other units, and Cole rushed his men, leading them into an ambush. This is contrasted with Kelso's approach, where he ordered Cole's squad to carefully approach a cave complex and simply seal the entrance, trapping any and all Japanese, whether civilian or soldiers, within. Ira Hogeboom, armed with a flamethrower and following Cole's orders, surged forward past the ambush and set the cave ablaze, only afterwards does Cole and his unit realized the cave was filled with civilians, specifically women and children, who while badly burned, remained alive and in agonizing pain.

Cole's unit, scared and distraught about what had happened, looked to Phelps for an answer as the badly injured women and children writhed in agony around them. Panicking, Cole ordered his men to end the victims' suffering and execute the burned women and children. Protesting loudly, and finally pushed to the breaking point by Cole's orders, Courtney Sheldon shot Cole in the back, taking out his frustration and anger at Cole himself.

Phelps servives, but was brought home early due to his injury. It's unknown if Sheldon's actions were ever discovered by any of the other officers.

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LCPD OFFICER/DECTECTIVE:

As a police officer and later as detective, Phelps demonstrated himself as highly intelligent, methodical and adaptable to a range of situations. Cole is driven to keeping the streets of LA clean and safe from murder, drugs and corruption. He has strong sense of justice and dedication to protecting the people of LA, and lacks any political agenda.

Cole shows himself to be well educated and intelligent during the game, particularly through his knowledge of literature. He recognizes a poem left by a killer as Prometheus Unbound, stating his fondness for Percy Shelley. In addition to his knowledge of Percy Shelley, Phelps seems to admire Shakespeare, as he quotes lines from Shakespeare's play, Hamlet. Furthermore Phelps was able to learn and speak some Japanese during the Okinawa campaign.

One of Cole’s most defining personal traits are that he is very open-minded and accepting, this is evident by his lack of sexist or racist views. During WWII, Cole saw both sides as equals and viewed the Japanese invasion of Pearl Harbor as justified, openly stating that he "respects the Japanese." He earned the disapproval of some, however, by expressing his respectful, almost sympathetic, view towards the enemy.

Cole’s humility mostly derives from experience on Sugar Loaf. Having been praised and awarded for an act of cowardice, Cole held a personal disdain for his glorified image. As a result, he is modest and strongly respects his peers and colleagues, despite their flaws, though Roy Earle is probably the only exception.

It is possible that Cole, like many returning soldiers, found it difficult to relate to his wife after he got back from the war. The stress and trauma of his experiences had changed Cole, causing a strain on his marriage with Marie while making him emotionally distant, causing him to seek comfort in the romance with Elsa. Despite his adultery, he still cared for Marie and their daughters and regrets the hurt he has caused his family.

But the only reason this was discovered is because Roy Earl betrayed him, and revealed his secret to the media, as Earl was secretly working for the enemy (but who was "serprised", Roy was a douchebag) and Roy used Cole's secret as a way to get the media off the bad guys backs, as ruining Coles repetition was the only reason Roy wanted to be his partner in the first place, nothing to do with actually caring for Phelps.

Cole is taken into Arson (lowest of the low) but he discovers the secrets of the people Earle worked for and inlists the help of Jack Kelso from his old army squad.

And together they stop the enamy. But in the end, Cole sacrifices his own life..