Mark Hoffman has appeared in Supernatural Horror RPG Series 1, Season 1.
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Mark Hoffman is one of the main characters from the Saw film series and a lead villain, and is under the control of SHRPG writer/creator Jack “TBNY” Bauer.
- Special Note: The events of the seven Saw films, as well as the Saw video games and sections of the Saw: Rebirth comic, are canon in this RPG. Some creative liberties have also been taken for storytelling purposes and to fill in some gaps with the Saw films. It is very strongly advised that you see all seven Saw films before reading this wiki if you haven't, since this wiki contains major spoilers for all of the films. Proceed at your own risk.
- WARNING: This wiki page does display graphic content that is VERY crucial towards the character.
Character History[]
"From now on, I control all aspects of the game." - Mark Hoffman
Life And Career[]
Hoffman's LAPD profile shot.
Mark Hoffman was born on July 14th, 1962 to Greek-Australian immigrants. Not much is known about his early life, but it appears that he had a fairly normal upbringing and had a happy relationship with his younger sister, Angelina, who would be his only family into adulthood. He did well in school and after graduating from high school, attended courses on forensics work in college and following his college graduation, started working for the LAPD as a detective with their forensics unit.
Hoffman gunning down a homeless suspect about to attack Officer Matt Gibson. Gibson filed a charge for police brutality against Hoffman, which ultimately resulted in nothing.
Hoffman developed an obsession with serial killers and their crimes, and felt the desire to become a killer himself and to cover up his tracks using his detective skills. He was notable among his fellow officers for his exceptional brutality that included the gunning down of a homeless suspect that was about to attack Officer Matt Gibson, which Gibson reported him for but ultimately no brutality charges were ever filed against Hoffman.
Hoffman never fully pursued his sick fantasy. Not until sometime in 2000, when his life would forever be changed, and he would find himself evolving in a way that he never imagined or even dreamed of.
Inspiration For Destruction[]
A photo of Hoffman's sister, Angelina, taken before the shocking events that transpired.
Seth Baxter, a man with a violent criminal record whom Hoffman had attempted to frame and was also in an abusive relationship with his sister, retaliated against Hoffman for revenge and killed Angelina. Hoffman was horrified at the demise of his sister, whom he always had a very close relationship with. Baxter was sentenced to twenty-five years for the murder of Angelina, but he was released five years later as the Spring of 2005 neared, due to a legal technicality.
Hoffman was enraged and felt that the justice system had betrayed him, despite the fact that Hoffman himself was also a corrupt figure who managed to evade capture and persecution. Hoffman wouldn't stand to let Baxter walk away unpunished, and decided to take matters into his own hands. It was when a grisly homicide made the news that appeared to employ torture and sadism as the killer's MO, and the killer was nicknamed "Jigsaw" for the jigsaw-shaped pieces of flesh carved out of the skin of the two victims. It appeared that Jigsaw killed people with ironic death traps that mirrored their personal flaws in their lives.
Hoffman was intrigued, and the killing not only inspired him to take action against his sister's killer, but it also got him re-acquainted with his fascination with serial killers and his own fantasies of being a killer himself.
"Some call this karma... I call it justice."[]
Hoffman spent some time studying engineering and physics to construct a lethal death trap for Baxter, consisting of a swinging pendulum that would lower and ultimately sever the person through their mid-section, even if they did what they were told to do to escape; in Baxter's case, it was to crush his hands with the two nearby hand-crushing devices to crush his hands to disable the trap. Hoffman chose a rundown and vacant warehouse to stage Baxter's trap and construct it, and after he finished, he made his own replica of the bizarre clown-like puppet that Jigsaw employed in his torture-murders and used a voice changer to deliver a message to Baxter for his trap, recording an instructional video tape using his puppet replica.
Seth Baxter awaking to find himself in Hoffman's ultimately inescapable Death Pendulum trap.
With the trap set and finished, Hoffman hunted down Baxter at his apartment and abducted him, then brought him back to the warehouse where Baxter was strapped down onto the table below the pendulum. Hoffman went to a nearby room and through an eyehole, watched Baxter awake and learn of his predicament and what he had to do to survive, which was to crush his hands with the nearby hand-crushing mechanisms to disable the pendulum.
Baxter did so and suffered immense agony from crushing his hands, but his effort was for nothing, as the pendulum swung down and cleaved him apart from his mid-section, killing him. The last thing Baxter would see before he expired was the glaring eye of Hoffman through the eyehole, watching and savoring his suffering.
Hoffman present at the scene of Seth Baxter's brutal demise.
Hoffman was satisfied with Baxter's demise, and went over to his corpse, cutting out a jigsaw-shaped piece of flesh to make it look even more like a Jigsaw murder. The murder immediately caught the attention of the LAPD, who suspected it as another Jigsaw murder. Hoffman was never suspected, but two weeks later, he would get the shock and life-changing surprise of his lifetime.
"What do you want from me?"[]
Hoffman was heading home to his apartment, when he went inside an elevator and was one of only two people inside it, along with another man. Hoffman was suspicious of the man's somewhat shadowy demeanor, when he was jumped and sedated by the man. Hoffman awoke sometime later, finding himself strapped to a chair and being confronted by the same man he saw in the elevator. The man was John Kramer, better known to the public by his nickname of Jigsaw, and he angrily confronted Hoffman about copying his MO and using it for murder, something Kramer despised and never intended his work to be used for.
Hoffman captured and intimidated by the real Jigsaw Killer, John Kramer.
Hoffman defended himself by claiming that Seth Baxter murdered his sister and didn't deserve a chance, but Kramer insisted that everybody deserved a chance at life and to become better people. Kramer insisted that there were better ways to help people, and that killing was wrong under any circumstances. Hoffman, wary of his life, asked Kramer what he wanted. Kramer simply replied that he wanted to see if Hoffman had what it took to survive. Kramer threatened Hoffman by exposing his behind-the-scenes criminal activity to the LAPD if he didn't help him with his next games.
Hoffman realized he was being blackmailed, but Kramer viewed it as redemption. Hoffman was released from his bonds, and found himself growing a little more comfortable around Kramer, drawn by his philosophy and MO. As he got to know him better, he learned that Kramer came from quite a tragic background, having lost his unborn son and being diagnosed with an untreatable strain of cancer sometime after that. Kramer believed that most people didn't cherish their lives and that it was his life's mission to help people to do so. Hoffman agreed to assist Kramer with his work, intrigued by it.
Learning The Ropes[]
Hoffman helps John abduct Paul Stallberg for his gruesome Razor Wire Cage trap in a seedy part of Downtown Los Angeles, both in their pig mask disguises.
Hoffman's first task at assisting John Kramer came when Kramer went for Paul Stallberg, one of his co-workers at Standard Engineering Limited, the engineering company he worked for as a toymaker and civil engineer. Kramer wanted Stallberg tested for his drinking problem and an addiction to self-mutilation, inspite of the fact that Stallberg lived a good life with his family. Kramer's trap for him was a cage full of long lines and entanglements of razor wire, meant to reflect his self-mutilation. Hoffman helped Kramer set up the deadly trap, and all they needed now was it's subject.
Hoffman and John watching the test of Paul Stallberg.
Kramer and Hoffman, disguised in grotesque pig masks, tracked Stallberg down to a seedy section of Downtown Los Angeles. Stallberg was found drinking before breaking his glass bottle and attempting to cut his wrists with it. Kramer and Hoffman both caught Stallberg's attention, who tried to fight back, but the two managed to render him unconscious and bring him into an abandoned building's basement, where his trap awaited him. He was placed inside it, and Hoffman watched the ordeal with Kramer through a room connected to the basement, seeing that Stallberg was ultimately unsuccessful in his escape attempt; he bled to death.
After witnessing Stallberg's demise, Hoffman was asked by his new mentor to plant a penlight he swiped from Dr. Lawrence Gordon during his stay at the Angel Of Mercy Hospital at their next testing site. Hoffman agreed, and helped Kramer with the next test, abducting software analyst and part-time con artist Mark Rodriguez for his trap, which had him locked in a dank room with a safe containing an antidote to cure the poison he'd been injected with.
To find the combination, the naked Rodriguez would have to locate one of countless possible combinations written all over the walls and endure immense pain from the broken glass shards strewn all along the floor. He would also have to act quickly, for he was smeared and covered in a flammable gel substance and his only light source was a candle. Rodriguez failed his test, burning to death after the candle's flame struck the flammable gel on his body. After Rodriguez's demise, Hoffman planted the penlight and Dr. Gordon, who Kramer wanted to eventually test for his unfaithfulness to his wife, was suspected by Detective David Tapp as the Jigsaw Killer.
Amanda Young[]
Hoffman's next task for Kramer was to help him kidnap Amanda Young, a drug addict who'd overdosed on heroin and still had severe drug abuse problems, despite being in and out of rehabilitation clinics. Kramer and Hoffman traced Amanda to a alleyway in the slums of Downtown Los Angeles, making a drug deal with her heroin supplier, Donnie Greco. Kramer and Hoffman, in their pig masks disguises as always, jumped Amanda and Greco, rendering them both unconscious before bringing them over to the storeroom of an abandoned apartment complex.
Hoffman bound Amanda's wrists to an armchair in the center of the room and set Greco in place, overdosing him with opium to make him appear dead to Amanda when she eventually awoke and learned of her predicament. Amanda's trap would involve a crude head contraption called the Jaw Splitter rigged to her mouth and set to rip it apart if she didn't cut through Greco's stomach to find the key to unlock the trap and escape.
When the trap was set, Hoffman watched with Kramer as Amanda awoke and learned of her predicament. Hoffman wanted to see Amanda fail, curious to see what kind of damage the Jaw Splitter would do to her head, after being fascinated by the ways in which he witnessed the deaths of Seth Baxter, Paul Stallberg and Mark Rodriguez.
To his disappointment, Amanda survived her ordeal and unlocked the Jaw Splitter in time. Hoffman would be even more disappointed when Kramer considered having Amanda be an accomplice, and he ultimately recruited her, much to the dismay and annoyance of Hoffman.
Obedience[]
Right off the bat, Amanda and Hoffman didn't get along with each other. Amanda distrusted Hoffman because he was with the police and she had a hatred of the police ever since she was framed by Detective Eric Matthews for heroin possession that ultimately set the stage for her heroin problem after her release from prison. Hoffman disliked Amanda for her impulsiveness and emotional problems, as well as the fact she had a bad habit of letting her emotions get in the way of what Kramer asked of her to do.
In spite of this, Hoffman continued to help John and would also help Amanda. Hoffman's next task for John, which was almost immediately after Amanda's recruitment, was to abduct a dentist named Jeffrey Ridenhour, who'd been in trouble the previous week for molesting children at his clinic, but was released due to a lack of evidence. Hoffman knew Ridenhour was guilty and suggested that he be a test subject for John, who agreed. Hoffman abducted Ridenhour later that night and brought him over to John's warehouse hideout at 213 Stygian Street.
Ridenhour was shackled to a contraption John had built called the Drill Chair, and he was also gagged when he awoke and was consistently making noise, risking the possibility of attracting unwanted outside attention to John's work and blowing Hoffman's cover.
Hoffman left for home after procuring Ridenhour for John, and sometime not long after he left, John's warehouse hideout was raided illegally by Detective David Tapp and his partner, Detective Steven Sing. Tapp was wounded and Sing was killed by a Shotgun Rig trap that Hoffman helped to rig to keep out potential intruders. Amanda cared for John when he was being treated for his gunshot leg at Angel Of Mercy (where she also worked), and Ridenhour was killed by the Drill Chair trap before the LAPD arrived at the scene. Hoffman however managed to procure some key items from the hideout before the LAPD got there, and after John recovered (the LAPD didn't know he was Jigsaw yet), they moved to their new hideout, at an in-operational and defunct steel mill in one of Downtown L.A.'s industrial districts.
After settling at their new hideout, John and Hoffman meticulously planned out their game for Dr. Lawrence Gordon, along with help from Amanda. The game went into motion in late October 2005, after five long months of planning. The game for Dr. Gordon would involve a nosy amateur photographer named Adam Faulkner, whom Amanda was set to abduct, while Hoffman would procure Gordon and John would be busy setting up their game in a disgusting sewer bathroom.
Hoffman, in his pig mask disguise, abducted Gordon in the parking lot of a hotel where he was seeing a prostitute, and after bringing Gordon to the bathroom and shackling his unconscious body to a pipe near the door, he then went for Zep Hindle, under John's orders. Hoffman abducted Zep and injected him with a toxin, then gave him the tools he needed to hold Dr. Gordon's wife and daughter hostage in their apartment, as well as monitor the progress of Gordon's game with Adam inside the bathroom.
After Hoffman finished all of this, he headed for the steel mill hideout, and watched later with Amanda at the unfolding game in the bathroom on some monitors, which ultimately resulted in Dr. Gordon sawing off his foot and shooting Adam (but not killing him) to win his game when time ran out. Zep Hindle would be killed by Adam after having his head repeatedly bashed in by a toilet tank lid, and Gordon, missing his foot, crawled out of the bathroom to get help. John, disguised in the center of the bathroom as a corpse, rose from the floor and revealed himself to be the mastermind of the game to Adam, as Adam learned from Zep's tape.
John left Adam to die, and Hoffman went with Amanda to pick up John, who helped nurse the surviving Gordon back to health. Gordon reluctantly agreed to help the trio with some complicated medical procedures for some of their future test subjects that involved the placement of objects inside the body, and Hoffman frequently turned to Gordon to help with many procedures that were required for some test subjects.
After the bathroom game, Hoffman scoped out the sewer tunnels to ensure no traceable evidence had been left behind, when he discovered the wounded and unconscious body of Detective David Tapp. He dragged Tapp's body away and kept him locked up inside a cell in the Los Angeles sewers and informed John and Amanda of Tapp's survival. He helped them both plan out a game for Tapp, which John had already designed and planned to conduct after the bathroom game beforehand. Tapp's game was to be staged at the long abandoned and inoperational Whitehurst Asylum in Los Angeles. The next two or so weeks were spent building more traps for the test and placing them throughout the old asylum, and also kidnapping the subjects for Tapp's game. This wasn't all, for another individual game was also planned for Tapp's own son Michael, a crooked journalist unwittingly connected to drug cartel run by two crooked cops in Hoffman's department, Chief Henry Jacobs and Vice Detective Joseph Poltzer.
Tapp's game finally went into motion in mid-November 2005, with the detective subjected to a series of interconnected tests throughout the asylum and having to avoid other hazards and dangers along the way. After Tapp's game ended with the detective being treated for shock after he was recovered and committing suicide shortly afterwards, Michael Tapp's game went into motion, with Amanda and Hoffman helping to lay out the traps at the derelict warehouse where it would be conducted. Hoffman was also present to aid John during Michael Tapp's game, wearing his Pighead garb along the way. When Hoffman had Chief Jacobs cornered with John not present, he slashed Jacobs to death.
Following the events of Michael Tapp's test, Hoffman suggested the trio's next test subject: Eric Matthews, the one responsible for framing and arresting Amanda. Little did either John or Amanda know was that Eric was actually never guilty of corruption; Hoffman had slyly framed him by planting evidence at the scene of seven people and led Eric to the crime scenes, where he made the arrests. Hoffman did this to advance to the rank of Lieutenant Detective, which Eric was about to, despite the fact that Hoffman had been with the LAPD for longer than Eric.
Baiting[]
In the months between October 2005 and April 2006, Hoffman helped John and Amanda plan out their test for Eric Matthews, which would end up being quite complex and elaborate, involving a decrepit and abandoned old house John owned during his real estate career that they would rig with an array of deadly traps for six of Eric Matthews' seven "victims" (Amanda had no actual trap, and reluctantly agreed to be an inside player during the ordeal).
Hoffman provided John with the mugshots and file folders as well as the Sarin nerve gas to pump inside the house, and when the game was set to begin in April, Hoffman abducted Matthews' informant, Michael Marks, and placed him inside a ghastly Death Mask contraption that killed him after he failed to cut out his eye to get the key implanted behind it to escape from the device. Hoffman left a message for Eric at the crime scene and cut out a jigsaw piece from Michael's corpse, and there would be a major clue to lead Eric to Wilson Steel, the steel mill he hid out at with John and Amanda, the WS logo being engraved on the Death Mask's metal.
With this major clue left for Eric to find, Hoffman helped with the finishing touches to the house (which was nicknamed "the Traphouse" by the trio) and helped Amanda kidnap the subjects, along with Obadiah "Obi" Tate, who was one of them and was required to kidnap the females of the group as a part of his test. After the Traphouse games ended, with Amanda and Daniel as the only survivors, Daniel went unconscious and was held captive inside a safe in John's workshop at Wilson Steel.
The trio had another hideout to flee to, John's old Gideon Meat Packing Plant, where they would migrate after Eric's test was over the next day. Hoffman remained on the LAPD, all of whom were completely unaware that for well over a year, he had been assisting Jigsaw.
Uncovering The Truth[]
Hoffman dragging Eric Matthews' unconscious body into a small and dank cell deep in the tunnels of the Los Angeles sewer system.
Hoffman bringing Eric his prison garb and a leg brace for his destroyed foot.
After Eric's test went unsuccessful and resulted in Eric failing, the trio finally moved over to Gideon, where Amanda tended to John. Hoffman, suspicious that Amanda had done something with Eric, went to check in the sewers and in the industrial bathroom, where she claimed Eric was, only to find that he wasn't there, but had escaped. Hoffman followed a blood trail that led to Eric's battered and unconscious body, shackled to a nearby sewer pipe and left for dead by Amanda after what Hoffman presumed was a brutal fight.
Hoffman undid Eric's shackle and dragged his body into a very small and disgusting cell deep in the bowels of the Los Angeles sewer system. He later returned with Dr. Gordon to help treat Eric's foot, along with a pair of orange prison coveralls and a makeshift leg brace for his destroyed and useless right foot. Between the months of April 2006 to October 2006, Eric was kept in solitary confinement in miserable conditions, but Hoffman would check on him to ensure he was alive so he could be kept alive for a major test involving SWAT Lieutenant Daniel Robert Rigg, whom Hoffman had also suggested to John as a test subject. Unknown to John, who wanted Eric kept humanely, Hoffman made sure Eric suffered terribly during his six-month captivity and that he mental state of being severely deteriorated.
After Hoffman revealed to John that Amanda wasn't fully following the rules upon uncovering Eric's battered body, he and John secretly planned out a re-test behind Amanda's back, all the while orchestrating a series of elaborate interconnecting tests that would involve Rigg.
Hoffman interrogating John Kramer's ex-wife Jill Tuck sometime shortly after the events of Eric Matthews' test.
Planning Ahead[]
The games were finalized as October 2006 neared, Hoffman was asked by John to put his former lawyer, Art Blank, through a test to help prepare for Rigg's test that would run parallel to another series of tests involving Jeffrey Denlon, a grieving father who's son had been accidentally killed by a drunken driver. Hoffman abducted Blank and another person for his test, and staged the trap inside a mausoleum somewhere in Los Angeles. Art's trap involved a pulley system that would slowly tow chain-nooses secured around the necklines of Art and the person he had to grab the key from to escape. The catch to Art's test was that his mouth was sewn shut, while the other person in his trap had his eyes sewn shut.
Art would have to kill in order to get the key and escape, and he would learn from a tape left for him what he was required to do. This was not the first time that Hoffman was aware of Art Blank, having been present with Blank and Rigg a few years earlier when Rigg had been in trouble for punching Rex Koules, a father accused by his daughter of abusing her and her mother, a charge Rigg believed but Hoffman was unsure about due to lack of evidence.
Hoffman present at the scene of Rex Koules' assault at the hands of a disgusted Rigg from a few years prior to his involvement with John Kramer.
After Art passed his test, Hoffman rigged a contraption that John built called the Spine Cutter, the device set to cut Art's spine if he tried to remove it or was struck by blunt physical force. Art would be required to place traps in and around various areas of Los Angeles for the subjects of Rigg's game, who were also people he acquitted in court. Rigg's game would test his obsession with saving people and try to teach him that some people could only save themselves. Rigg's ultimate goal was not to try to save any of the people, and let time ride out to free Eric Matthews from his predicament, thus truly saving the life of his longtime partner and friend.
Hoffman also helped John and Amanda plan out Jeff's test, and both John and Hoffman had been careful not to let Amanda know that Lynn Denlon, the doctor who would be caring for John medically, was Jeff's wife, as it was crucial for Amanda's re-test to learn to value all human life. Hoffman, who had grown more annoyed and disgusted with Amanda and her frequent emotional episodes and feeling she was just a hindrance on John's legacy, thought of a plan to set her up for ultimate failure, and it would come a mere two weeks later, as Jeff and Rigg's interconnecting tests neared.
Set Up For Sabotage[]
Prior to October 2006, Amanda planned with John and Hoffman for her next two test subjects, Troy LaRose and Allison Kerry, the latter of whom Hoffman suggested for her. Amanda long harbored a deep hatred of those two, Troy for raping her and Kerry for letting Eric get away with his abuse of power. Amanda had Troy's trap ready, but she spent quite a while designing, constructing and testing Kerry's trap. Hoffman saw just the way to get Amanda out of the picture and for him and him only to be John's true successor, by rigging Amanda's traps to be unwinnable and kill the subjects, even if they did what they were instructed to do to survive - just like he did with Seth Baxter.
On October 17th, Hoffman procured Troy for Amanda as she set up his trap, and after he helped her place Troy in his game, Amanda set out to care for John, while Hoffman welded a metal door in place to the classroom Troy was in, sealing his ultimate fate. Troy later awoke and was killed in an ensuing explosion from a nailbomb Hoffman had built, and the LAPD was called to the scene to investigate the aftermath.
Hoffman examining one of the chains of Troy LaRose's trap - a trap of Amanda Young's that he made impossible to survive.
Hoffman admiring his gruesome handiwork at the scene of Troy LaRose's death.
Detective Kerry and Lieutenant Rigg were both present at the scene, with both worried that the victim may have been Eric, but Hoffman assured them it wasn't, going by Troy's fingerprints. At the scene, Kerry speculated that the trap wasn't the work of John Kramer, for he was not only too weak and ill by this point, but also because the trap was impossible to survive - meaning he had to have had someone helping him. Hoffman suspected Kerry may have been onto him, but he had his plan to eliminate her as well.
Later that night, Hoffman crept into Kerry's apartment and kidnapped her for Amanda's trap for her, the Angel Harness, which Hoffman helped Amanda set up in the sewers a few days earlier. Hoffman helped Amanda lift Kerry's unconscious body into the trap and secured her into it. Unknown to Amanda, Hoffman tampered with the trap's gears and mechanisms, making it impossible to escape from once the victim was secured in place into it. Hoffman left the scene to resume the investigation with the LAPD and cover his tracks with John and Amanda, while Amanda remained to await Kerry's game.
Sometime after his shift ended, Hoffman returned to the sewers, finding Kerry's grisly remains from having been executed in her trap. Hoffman, also wanting to eliminate Rigg, planted a bullet casing with Rigg's fingerprints into the Angel Harness, and left a clue for the LAPD to follow, by writing "Cherish Your Life" on a wall near Kerry's corpse in her blood. This wasn't the last of his plan to sabotage those he deemed enemies however, and wasn't the last of his plans to set up Amanda, for two days later, an examination of the chains recovered from Troy's murder scene showed Amanda's fingerprints, and she was a suspect in the Jigsaw killings that claimed Troy and Kerry's lives. Hoffman's plans so far had been working the way he wanted, but he knew that more adversity was ahead.
Last Minute Details[]
The details for the interconnecting tests of Jeff and Rigg were finalized in the days following the deaths of Troy and Kerry, as well as for Amanda, when Hoffman told John that she rigged her traps to be unwinnable and she was betraying his rules. John, hoping he could reform Amanda to follow the rules, decided to secretly re-test her with help from Hoffman. The day prior to the tests being staged, Hoffman abducted Jeff Denlon and his daughter Corbett from their home and kept them prisoner inside Gideon, and then went for Jeff's three enemies: Danica Scott, Barry Halden and Timothy Young (unrelated to Amanda).
Hoffman wheeling Timothy Young into The Rack room to load him into the trap, for Jeff Denlon's test.
Hoffman helping to set up The Rack trap, wanting to rig it to be impossible to survive.
Hoffman helped John and Amanda set these three in their traps, and caused a bit of friction with John and Amanda during the set-up of Timothy in The Rack trap due to deliberately using the wrong grease on The Rack's twisting gears and also for his careless handling of Timothy as he set him in the trap. He was asked by John if he liked how brutality felt against a human being, and Hoffman crudely responded by saying that John wanted to see Timothy suffer as much as he did.
Hoffman scolded by Amanda during the set-up of The Rack trap, for not being tested unlike her.
This particular incident saw even more animosity between Hoffman and Amanda, with Amanda being smarmy with him about the fact that unlike her, he was never really tested, and he claimed he never was so simply because he didn't take his own life for granted.
Hoffman helped to give all of the five prisoners strong sedatives so they wouldn't awake until Jeff's test began. Hoffman then helped John place various clues for both Jeff and Rigg to follow. Hoffman also warned John about Peter Strahm, a Special Agent with the FBI who had a tendency to be extremely persuasive and brash with his methods, and may have been onto something. A few last-minute details for Strahm were set, including a tape for him inside a secret door in the makeshift infirmary in Gideon's storeroom that served as the trio's main base of operations, a secret door Amanda had no clue about.
Hoffman also had his own trap ready for Strahm, a cube-shaped head device that would fill with water to drown him, in the event Strahm didn't heed John's warnings. Also a part of Strahm's test was for him not to let his emotions dictate his actions, for if he did and he followed the trail, he would cause the death of an innocent man, who was Jeff.
Lastly, Hoffman agreed to be an inside player for Rigg's game, pretending to be a hostage along with a physically and emotionally miserable Eric Matthews. Everything was set for October 21st, 2006.
"Go home."[]
Hoffman led Rigg and the LAPD SWAT to the location in the sewers where Kerry's remains were. Rigg was absolutely horrified and disgusted to see how his longtime partner had been killed, and it was at this time that further evidence of Rigg's persistence and obsession was more obvious to Hoffman, seeing that he barged through a door in the sewers and darted for Kerry's body, before the scene was clear for the LAPD to proceed. As the LAPD examined the scene, Hoffman advised to Rigg that he go home and let the LAPD do their job to apprehend John and Amanda, as well as recover Eric.
After Rigg left the scene, Agent Strahm arrived along with his partner, Special Agent Lindsay Perez. Strahm presented a key he had been given after receiving the last recorded message from Kerry, a key with the clue "Open the door and you will find me." Hoffman had secretly mailed the key to Kerry to give to Strahm before her death, the key a major clue for Strahm's game and the key to open the infirmary's door at Gideon.
At the scene of Kerry's death, Strahm deduced that John and Amanda must've had another accomplice, as Kerry weighed one-hundred thirty pounds and Amanda only weighed a mere one-hundred seven pounds, too light to lift Kerry into her trap. Hoffman, nervous that Strahm was onto him, suggested that Amanda instead rigged pulleys to get Kerry into her trap, but Strahm was insistent that Amanda must've had help from someone other than the ailing John. The bullet casing Hoffman planted was also uncovered, and was to be scanned for prints.
Hoffman observing Rigg's obsession that ultimately led to his test.
Later that night at the LAPD precinct Hoffman and Rigg worked at, Hoffman saw more of Rigg's obsessiveness over the case, seeing Rigg watch the interrogation videos of Jill Tuck, John Kramer's ex-wife. Hoffman advised Rigg to go home and stay with his wife Tracy, and it was now Rigg's vacation time. Rigg flatly refused to give up, not giving up until he found his one remaining partner and friend, Eric Matthews. After Rigg headed for home, Hoffman have Agents Strahm and Perez more information to work with, before his shift finished and his other, less lawful one began.
Hoffman before his shift with the LAPD finished on the night of October 21st, 2006. The teddy bear he's holding is for the captive Corbett Denlon, being held at Gideon Meat Packing.
The Set-up Is Complete[]
Hoffman giving his alibi to the LAPD before he begins his part in Rigg's game, to avoid being suspected as an accomplice later on.
By request of John, Hoffman gave Amanda an envelope inside a desk drawer in the monitor section of the Gideon storeroom, but he had discarded the letter John wrote to encourage Amanda to make the right decisions during her secret game and instead wrote his own, blackmailing her into killing Lynn Denlon or otherwise he would tell John that Amanda had been the one who caused Gideon Kramer's death on the night John's unborn son died; a fact that John had been completely unaware of the entire time he'd been with Amanda. After writing the blackmailing letter and giving his alibi to the LAPD, went for his disguise and left Gideon, going to get Eric Matthews from the sewers. He returned to Eric's cell, finding an extremely disheveled and battered Eric, and sedated him, before bringing him over to Gideon and placing him in his trap in a large storage room in another section of Gideon. After placing Eric in his trap, John visited Hoffman shortly before Amanda arrived and he discussed Amanda's likely failure as a successor. John said he'd see about that, but before Amanda could enter the infirmary, John handed Hoffman a folder with information and pictures for people he wanted Hoffman to test as a part of Strahm's game.
Hoffman exited the infirmary through the secret door that Amanda was completely unaware of, just mere seconds before Amanda entered the infirmary with Lynn. Hoffman made his way through the secret passage and to the storage room, where he disguised himself as a Jigsaw victim and bound himself to a chair on the scale with Eric's trap. His camouflage was in place.
Trickery[]
Hoffman posing as a test subject for Rigg's game.
Hoffman and the hanging Eric awaited the arrival of Art Blank inside the storage room, after he set Rigg's game into motion. Art returned in time, and Hoffman continued his facade as a victim, shouting at Art and acting like he was scared. During the entire ordeal, Hoffman witnessed as a very miserable Eric, clearly having lost his will and resilience to go on living, tried to hang himself a couple of times and even at one point cried that he didn't want to play anymore games. Had it not been for Hoffman's cover, he would've smiled at the misery Matthews was enduring.
As Rigg's game neared it's conclusion, Rigg found the path he was supposed to take inside Gideon and approached the storage room, with only mere seconds before his game was over and it would be time for Hoffman, Eric and Art to be released from their traps. Rigg, impatient to the end, barged through the door with only one second remaining for the game to finish. Rigg shot Art, who tried to persuade him not to enter along with Eric, who shot his friend to keep him out and keep him from triggering Eric's death trap, but it was too late; two large and rigged ice blocks moved in to crush Eric's head to bits and kill him.
Reveal[]
Hoffman revealing himself to the shocked and wounded Rigg as John Kramer's other accomplice, after Rigg failed his test.
Rigg, in shock from Eric's sudden death, shot the wounded Art and killed him, thinking he was about to attack him, but Art had instead produced a tape for Rigg, informing him of his failure to save Eric and Hoffman because of his obsession and unwillingness to let time run it's course. As Rigg heard the unfortunate message, Hoffman unbound himself and revealed himself to Rigg as John's other accomplice. Hoffman left the wounded Rigg to die, coldly telling him "Game Over."
Narrowing It Down[]
Hoffman locking Agent Strahm inside the infirmary, along with the corpses of Jigsaw, Jeff and Lynn, and the unconscious Amanda.
Hoffman left the storage room and headed for Gideon's main storeroom that served as the former Jigsaw Trio's base of operations. He peered inside the infirmary, seeing Agent Strahm along with the corpses of John, Amanda, Jeff and Lynn. Hoffman slammed the infirmary's door shut and locked Strahm inside and killed the lights. After doing so, he left the storeroom and proceeded to the alternate entrance inside the secret passageway connected to the infirmary, in his pig mask and robe garb, awaiting the arrival of the ever-so-defiant Strahm.
Sure enough, Strahm opted to go through the secret door and passageway, despite John's stern warning on the tape, and Hoffman jumped Strahm and rendered him unconscious, then placed him inside the Head Cube trap, which Hoffman designed and constructed to be impossible to survive.
Hoffman calling the LAPD to arrive at the Gideon Meat Plant near the meat locker with Danica Scott's frozen remains.
After leaving Strahm to awake and die in his trap, Hoffman called the LAPD to arrive at Gideon, informing them he was still alive, and that the meat plant was a giant death trap full of mass death. The LAPD was on the way, and as they made their way to Gideon, Hoffman went to the room where Corbett was being held, taking the frightened little girl into his care and exiting the meat plant with her, as the LAPD arrived at the scene to clear it.
Hoffman informed Lieutenant Fisk that nobody made it, but to Hoffman's surprise and disgust, Strahm and Amanda were revealed to still be alive; Amanda was clinging to life after nearly bleeding to death from being shot in the neck, while Strahm survived his trap by performing a makeshift tracheotomy by jamming a ballpoint pen tube inside his trachea, preventing him from drowning to death.
After being treated for his "trauma," Hoffman also learned that Rigg survived his ordeal, having passed out from shock and blood loss, and being kept in intensive care under extremely critical condition. Hoffman's plan to frame him as an accomplice had failed. Hoffman had Rigg on his mind to kill next, but his plans were far from over, as he had Strahm in his sights next.
Continuing a Legacy[]
Hoffman overlooking a conceptual diorama in his workshop that served as the blueprint for his elaborate game involving Agent Strahm.
After being honored as a hero for rescuing Corbett and for John Kramer's legacy finally coming to an end, Hoffman set out to continue John's work on his own. He would handle Amanda and Rigg later, for he had his next series of games to carry out and also had Strahm's game to be concerned about. Hoffman was all the more worried when he visited Strahm in his hospital room, told by the FBI Agent that Agent Perez died from her wounds and that her last words were about Hoffman, leading Strahm to suspect the Lieutenant Detective.
Hoffman continued with his games, which now included an elaborate plan to frame Strahm. He kidnapped five people involved in the burning of a building that caused the deaths of eight people living in it. Hoffman had rigged the traps in place inside a section of the sewers where their game was to be staged, and the game was set, he just had to wait for Strahm to follow the clues to find the scene. Hoffman was able to frame Strahm easily enough by planting his cell phone recovered from the LAPD's evidence storage and placing it onto the table of his workspace, for the signal to eventually be traced by FBI Special Agent Dan Erickson.
Hoffman after stealing Strahm's cell phone from the LAPD evidence storage and calling Agent Erickson on it for the signal to be traced.
"My legacy will become your's."[]
Hoffman, after being pushed into the Glass Coffin and about to see what would transpire.
The games were nearing their end, as Strahm neared Hoffman's location. Hoffman retreated into the sewers and awaited Strahm's arrival inside a room with a Glass Coffin with a tape player with a message for Strahm. The Glass Coffin itself was one of John Kramer's very first traps and hadn't been employed before. Strahm located the room and was listening to some of the tape, when Hoffman fought with him, wanting to ensure that the man who knew his secret wouldn't walk away and expose him. Strahm managed to shove Hoffman into the Glass Coffin, thinking he had him caught, only for Strahm to learn the opposite when he played the rest of the tape. On the tape, Strahm learned that by not following the rules and entering the Glass Coffin, the room would become his tomb and he would never be found, while the authorities would be convinced he was John Kramer's other accomplice.
Hoffman seeing Strahm's crushed and mangled remains after killing him in the Crushing Room trap. Hoffman later pried loose Strahm's severed hand gripping an above grate, using it to plant fingerprints at Jigsaw murder scenes.
Hoffman was lowered into the floor, and Strahm tried to shoot the glass off to get to Hoffman, but the glass was impervious to all damage. The Glass Coffin lowered into the floor as the walls of the room caved in to crush Strahm to death, and Hoffman escaped through a secret passageway in the floor. After re-opening the crushing walls inside the Compactor Room, Hoffman claimed Strahm's severed hand to use to plant Strahm's fingerprints at the crime scenes to take even more suspicion off of himself. His plan to frame Strahm worked, with the authorities convinced he had been John and Amanda's other accomplice, and also thinking the games in the sewers was of Strahm's planning. Most of the subjects had died from their injuries (Brit was the only survivor), but Hoffman's work had been successful and he was scot-free... or was he?
"The games have just begun."[]
Hoffman learning from a tape found in John's stomach during his dead mentor's autopsy that he won't walk away untested.
Hoffman first planted fingerprints from Strahm's severed hand he recovered from the Compactor Room at the scene of a game he set up somewhere inside the Los Angeles sewers for a gruesome game involving two bankers who used predatory business tactics. The object of the game was for only one of the bankers to survive by using the cutlery provided for them to slice off the most heavy amounts of flesh from their body to weigh the scale with them down, and whoever gave the most flesh before time ran out survived their trap, a head contraption with bolts rigged in place to penetrate through the temples and ultimately through the skull.
One banker ultimately survived the ordeal after severing her entire arm and using it to weigh down the scale, winning the game in time. Hoffman was called to the scene by FBI Special Agent Dan Erickson to help investigate, and it was there that he also had a surprise: the survival and return of Lindsey Perez, who hadn't died from the trap-rigged Billy puppet inside Bousman Elementary just days earlier. Hoffman agreed to help them both with the investigation into Strahm's "involvement" with the recent Jigsaw games, and later that night was in for quite the surprise; work while at his LAPD office, he received a call about a shocking find in John Kramer's body during the dead killer's autopsy at the Los Angeles County Morgue.
Hoffman arrived at the morgue, seeing that a micro-cassette tape had been recovered from John's stomach contents. Hoffman played the tape, and on it, learned from a message very subtly directed towards him that he wouldn't walk away untested and that the games had "just begun." Strahm naturally was suspected as the accomplice by the police, but Hoffman knew better. He was shocked, but he would see to it that whoever was threatening him wouldn't get away, and that all loose ends that threatened to expose him would be eliminated.
"From now on, I control all aspects of the game."[]
Hoffman abducting William Easton for his test.
A few weeks after John Kramer's autopsy, Hoffman, using the contents of a box left for John's ex-wife, Jill Tuck, had begun to set up an elaborate game consisting of interconnected tests involving William Easton, a health insurance provider with a history of denying coverage to people he felt weren't worth saving, John being one of them. Hoffman spent much time setting up the game and it's elaborate traps inside an abandoned and non-operational zoo and he also procured William and several test subjects for the game, which had a deep personal connection for John due to William denying him his health insurance years earlier.
Hoffman, while monitoring the game for William, was called by Erickson to come to the FBI building in Los Angeles due to a potential breakthrough in the case, for Seth Baxter's instructional tape had been uncovered and FBI audio decrypting technology revealed that the voice on the tape, though sounding identical to John Kramer's distorted voice, was in fact the voice of someone completely different, and that the voice could in fact be revealed with some audio decoding.
Hoffman nervously and reluctantly agreed to go with Erickson and Perez to the lab where the audio was being decrypted. Hoffman was growing increasingly worried and uneasy that it was only a matter of time before his dark secret was known, with not only the voice on the tape but also examination of the jigsaw pieces cut from the bodies of Seth Baxter and Eddie Moreau (the banker who died in the head trap with the screws) had been cut with a serrated knife as opposed to a surgical blade as had been done with the other victims.
"Right now, you're feeling helpless."[]
Hoffman preparing to burn down the FBI audio lab after his mass murder of agents Erickson, Perez and Sachi.
While at the audio lab, both Erickson and Perez theorized about inconsistencies with Strahm as the accomplice, from his motives and the fingerprints left at the scene of the loaners, when forensic examination showed the fingerprints to have a level of uric acid that revealed that Strahm was in fact dead when the fingerprints were planted. It was right around this moment that the voice on the Seth Baxter tape was fully decoded and revealed to be Hoffman's voice. Hoffman killed Erickson with a slashing knife attack to his throat and used the lab tech as a human shield against Perez's bullets, before he fatally stabbed Perez to death, but not before demanding who else knew of his involvement with the Jigsaw killings, to which Perez replied that everyone knew.
He finished her off and planted Strahm's fingerprints inside the lab before dousing it in gasoline and setting it ablaze, burning the evidence and the bodies. He headed back to the zoo and the control room, where he found something suspicious: the blackmail letter he wrote for Amanda that threatened to expose her being the cause of death of the unborn Gideon Kramer, John's son, to John if Amanda didn't kill Lynn Denlon during her secret re-test.
Game Over... For Now[]
Hoffman placed in the Jaw Splitter II by Jill, who is honoring John's final wishes that he finally be tested.
Hoffman managing to barely escape in time as the Jaw Splitter II activates, about to rip his face and mouth apart.
Hoffman's cheek ripped wide open after narrowly escaping the Jaw Splitter II.
Hoffman was attacked with an electric shock immediately after by Jill Tuck and strapped to a chair while Jill also placed an updated Jaw Splitter around his head, the trap being of Amanda's design and creation, and an update on the trap that nearly killed her.
Jill revealed to Hoffman that the box John left for her had a sixth envelope and in it was a picture of Hoffman; it was John's will for Jill to test Hoffman. Jill left Hoffman in the trap, and desperate to survive, Hoffman escaped by smashing his left hand with the trap's mouth region to free his left hand from it's strap and undo the other strap.
He barely got the Jaw Splitter 2.0 off in time after jamming it in the bars of the door leading to the control room, but his narrow escape didn't come without a price; the right side of Hoffman's face was ripped wide open from breaking free from the trap.
A Killer Unleashed[]
Hoffman's stitched face after narrowly surviving the aftermath of the Jaw Splitter II.
A wounded Hoffman returning to his hidden lair following his narrow escape from the Jaw Splitter II.
Hoffman stitching his mutilated cheek at his lair.
Hoffman was able to cover up his mangled face and gather supplies to fix his wounds as he fled from the zoo where William Easton's game had been conducted and fled to one of his hideouts, where he further tended to his wounds before enacting his plan. Hoffman, now a wanted fugitive with his secret known, spent the next several weeks planning traps to get the attention of law enforcement to lead Jill to him in an effort to narrow down her location, since she would be seeking shelter and protection from Hoffman.
His plan went into action in early December of 2006, with Hoffman staging an industrial sawblade trap set up in a public shop and a few days after that set up a car trap involving a Neo-Nazi gang at an abandoned junkyard garage. He also conducted a complex series of tests for Bobby Dagen, a fraud claiming to be a Jigsaw survivor who ran a self-help group for survivors. The sheer complexity and large scope of Dagen's game had Hoffman busy working on his tests in advance for the previous months using John's designs as well as having some help from Amanda setting them up, prior to Jeff Denlon's test.
The car trap for the Neo-Nazi gang went into effect shortly before Dagen's test on the same day. The aftermath of the car trap and the news of Dagen's game being ongoing got the attention of law enforcement and kept them occupied trying to trace the location of Dagen's game as well as locate where Hoffman was. Hoffman hacked into the LAPD's security camera system to monitor their progress in their search for him and he also set up clues to lure and mislead them all to death traps he had rigged in various locations to kill them and eliminate all adversity in his way of getting to Jill, who was being held and protected at the precinct after it was learned he knew her previous location at an LAPD safehouse. Jill was also suspected of attempting to murder Hoffman, after he left the Jaw Splitter II for the police to find, with her fingerprints over it, implicating her as a suspect, at the sight of garage/car trap involving the Neo-Nazi gang.
Hoffman finding Jill at her cell at the precinct during his mass murder rampage.
With this ace in his hole, he was able to sneak into the police station that was his former place of employment, hiding in a body bag transferred into the coroner's office that he hid himself in after distracting crime scene coroners at the scene of the car trap aftermath with an explosion he staged. Hoffman's truly psychotic and vicious nature was fully unleashed as he embarked on a grisly mass murder spree at the precinct, killing numerous personnel at the station before reaching Jill, who was in one of the cells.
Jill tried to attack Hoffman and attempted to escape from him, but her efforts were ultimately futile when he took her down. After violently beating her, he strapped her to a chair and killed her off with the original Jaw Splitter that he took from the evidence room and had been used after securing it to her face. He watched as the contraption, which Amanda had barely survived a year earlier, gruesomely killed Jill before his own eyes. Satisfied that he achieved his goal of killing Jill Tuck, he left the precinct and returned to his hideout to destroy all traces of his whereabouts.
Trapped[]
Hoffman went to flee his hideout to hide elsewhere, now that law enforcement was onto him. He didn't get very far when two pig-masked figures attacked him. One of the figures revealed himself to be none other than Dr. Gordon, who was enacting John Kramer's wishes that he act immediately on his behalf should anything happen to Jill. Hoffman fell unconscious and later awoke in the same industrial sewer bathroom where Gordon had his game with Adam Faulkner, Gordon having brought him here and having chained his foot to the pipe near Adam's rotted remains.
Hoffman, spotting the same hacksaw nearby that Gordon had used to saw his foot off to escape, reached for the hacksaw but Gordon grabbed it away in time, tossing it into the tunnel. Gordon exclaimed "Game Over" as he shut the bathroom door and left Hoffman to die in the dark.
Deal with Death[]
Hoffman fortunately had a small flashlight inside his jacket that Gordon missed, and using the flashlight to guide himself in the pitch black bathroom. After spotting Zep's pistol, he took his foot and painfully snap it to get out of the shackles. Now with a broken foot, he crawled to the gun and grabbed it, only to find out another figure was entering the bathroom. This figure, wearing the pigmask grab, had tranquilized Hoffman and he fell unconscious. When Hoffman awoke, he found himself chained back to the pipe with the shackle on the another ankle. The figure revealed themself to be Daniel Matthews. Hoffman then tired to reason with him, as well as lying. When Daniel caught onto the lying, he then threaten Hoffman with Gordon's Smith & Wesson Model 686, the same gun he had used in his bathroom game.
Now being threatened, Hoffman forces himself to take the hacksaw that was given to him by Daniel and in sheer psychotic lunacy, he saw his undamaged and not broken foot off. Daniel however changes his mind and leaves Hoffman to die, trapping him in the bathroom to fastly die from blood lost.
However, all was not lost with Hoffman when a mysterious man entered the bathroom, unnoticed by Hoffman. The man addressed himself as the Angel of Death, though calling himself The Dark Saint. He poses something to Hoffman, his soul. And in return, Hoffman would live and would become one of The Dark Saint's helpers. Needless to say, Hoffman agreed.
Role in Horror RPG Series 4, Season One[]
Regular Appearance[]
Hoffman stands five feet nine inches tall and weighs one-hundred eighty pounds. He has a strong stocky build. He has brown hair and blue eyes. He usually wears dress clothes, but he also seems to have an affinity for wearing black raincoats and hoodys. Like John and Amanda, he also occasionally wears a gruesome pig mask when abducting and procuring test subjects for games.
After surviving his ordeal in the updated Jaw Splitter from his test, Hoffman has a grotesque scar on his right cheek, which had been crudely sewn and stitched together. He also has some scarring on his left hand from when he smashed it with the Jaw Splitter 2.0 to escape from one of his shackles to survive the trap, as well as a small scar on the left side of his neck from where Jill Tuck stabbed him with a nail file shortly before he killed her, and though he had since regained his foot, he has extensive scarring on his left foot after sawing it to escape from the industrial sewer bathroom after Daniel Matthews had forced him into doing so.
Trademark Gear[]
As a cop, Hoffman carried his usual detective gear with him, including his 9mm Glock 17 pistol as duty sidearm and his badge. Since being discovered as a Jigsaw Killer accomplice, he begun using bladed weaponry, preferring to use to knives and other stabbing weapons, as well as pistols, most notably a Glock pistol. He also has occasionally employed more exotic weaponry he uses as attack and defensive traps, such as bombs and automatic weapons.
Gallery[]
