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Aiden Pearce
Watch Dogs character
Aiden Pearce from Watch Dogs
First gameWatch Dogs (2014)
Voiced byNoam Jenkins
In-universe information
OriginNorthern Ireland, United Kingdom
Chicago, Illinois, United States
NationalityIrish–American

Aiden Pearce (also known by his nickname The Fox) a fictional character from the Watch Dogs franchise and is the protagonist and main playable character of Watch Dogs. He then made subsequent appearances a minor character in Watch Dogs 2, a playable character in Watch Dogs: Legion, and the dual protagonist in its Bloodline expansion. Aiden is portrayed as a highly skilled grey hat hacker who utilises the fictional ctOS system to manipulate the city's infrastructure and security features. He is a vigilante who, after an attempt on his life resulted in the death of his niece, seeks a quest for revenge against those responsible.[1]

Aiden was first revealed by Ubisoft at the E3 2012 conference in a demo trailer.[2][3] His character was intentionally designed to be portrayed as a flawed antihero. According to director Jonathan Morin, Breaking Bad's main protagonist Walter White was a direct source of inspiration for Aiden's character.[4] In all his appearances, he is portrayed by Noam Jenkins.[5]

Appearances[edit]

Watch Dogs[edit]

Main article: Watch Dogs (video game)

Aiden Pearce was born on 2 May 1974 in Belfast, Northern Ireland.[6] At an unspecified time, he, along with his mother and his sister Nicole Pearce, emigrated from Belfast to Chicago, where it was implied that his father was a criminal and an abusive parent.[7][8] According to Aiden, he grew up in a rough neighbourhood in which he was often engaged in violence and was a member of a gang, where he learned how to fight and use weapons.[7] He became proficient with computers and became a skilled grey hat hacker, utilising Chigago's ctOS network to manipulate the city's infrastructure and security features, in which he used to work as a fixer and thief.[1] At some point, he teamed up with fellow hacker Damien Brenks, and the two formed a partnership.[9]

In 2012, Aiden and Damien conduct a heist on the Merlaut Hotel, owned by Irish mob boss Dermont Quinn, in which they hacked in and siphoned money from people's bank accounts.[10] On 26 October 2012, while Aiden was driving with his nephew Jackson Pearce and niece Lena Pearce to Pawnee, Illinois, Maurice Vega, a hitman hired by Dermont Quinn, shot Aiden's car's tires, causing them to crash and Lena died as a result.[1][10] After which, Aiden seeks a quest for revenge against those responsible.[1]

A year later, Aiden tracks down Vega at a baseball stadium - but is unsuccessful in learning the identity of his contractor. Leaving Vega in the hands of his partner, hired fixer Jordi Chin.[11] Aiden visits his sister Nicole and nephew Jackson for the latter's birthday but learns someone is harassing them.[8] With the help of Clara Lille, a member of the hacking syndicate DedSec that is trying to expose Blume's corruption, Aiden tracks down the harasser, revealed to be Damien, who wanted to get Aiden's attention so that he will help him find the other hacker from the Merlaut job.[9] Aiden refuses but, after dealing with a witness from the stadium with assistance with Jordi, he learns that Damien kidnapped Nicole to force him to comply.[12][13] After setting up a new hideout in the Bunker – an undetectable former Blume base with access to ctOS – Aiden tracks down the hacker with Clara's help: gang leader and Army veteran Delford 'Iraq' Wade.[14][15] To reach Iraq's servers, Aiden infiltrates a human auction he is attending to copy his access key, and blackmails his cousin Tyrone "Bedbug" Hayes into acting as his inside man.[16][17] Bedbug manages to obtain a data sample revealing that Iraq has information on almost every citizen of Chicago, protecting his gang from the authorities via blackmail.[18] Aiden goes back to the Bunker and finding out that he got a snippet of data, this data was encrypted.[19]

When Aiden and Clara come across the said encrypted data beyond their abilities, they had no other choice but track down legendary hacker and former Blume engineer and whistleblower Raymond "T-Bone" Kenney, who caused the Northeast blackout of 2003 while trying to expose the dangers of ctOS, which he had helped to create.[19] Aiden finds Kenney in Pawnee but Kenney refuses to leave Pawnee unless Aiden erases Kenney's identity from ctOS.[20] Aiden then infiltrates the Blume headquarters to erase Kenney's identity from ctOS and allow him to return to Chicago. However, Damien gives up Kenney's location to Charlotte Gardner in exchange for full access to ctOS, forcing Aiden to rescue him before he is killed by Blume's private security forces.[21] Afterward, he assaults Iraq's compound to finish downloading its server data and kills Iraq when he confronts him.[22]

After Aiden gets the said data from Iraq's compound, Damien is notified by the rather large amount of violence from Iraq's compound and questions Aiden's progress. Aiden, Kenney, and Clara are unable to decrypt the data because another hacker, JB "Defalt" Markowicz, infiltrates their system, steals it, and deletes it from their servers. Defalt also reveals that Clara was hired to track down Aiden after the Merlaut job, therefore being indirectly responsible for Lena's death, which causes Aiden to angrily dismiss her.[23] Aiden then tries to bluff Damien that he has the said data and wants to do a meet up. Damien calls Aiden's bluff and shows up without Nicole thus causing Damien to be annoyed with Aiden's lack of progress, Damien then reveals his identity to the authorities by the usage of fixers.[24] After Aiden disposes the said fixers, he goes after Defalt to retrieve the data.[25] After retrieving the data from Defalt, Kenney helps Aiden track down Nicole, allowing him to rescue her and take her and Jackson out of Chicago for their safety.[26]

As Kenney finishes decrypting the data, he informs Aiden that Dermont Quinn was the one who ordered the hit on him. Aiden confronts Quinn, who reveals he ordered the hit because he believed Aiden was searching for secret video footage of Mayor Donovan Rushmore killing Rose Washington, an actual engineer of Blume who helped develop ctOS with Raymond Kenney and Tobias Frewer, Quinn and Blume conspired to use ctOS to gaslight Rushmore into dating Washington after Rushmore's re-election.[27] After killing Quinn by hacking his pacemaker, Aiden is informed by Damien that Quinn sent hitmen after Clara for being a liability. Unable to save Clara, Aiden makes all the blackmail material public, enraging Damien, who hoped to use it for his own gain.[28][29] As Damien wreaks havoc in Chicago using ctOS. Aiden shuts down the system using a virus created by Kenney and causes a massive black out that shuts down Chicago and other cities via satellite, before tracking Damien to a lighthouse. Jordi arrives, having been hired to kill both men, but Aiden injures him and kills Damien.[29] Later, Jordi calls Aiden to tell him where Vega is kept; Aiden heads there and decides his fate.[30]

Aiden also serves as a minor character in the game's Bad Blood expansion. In a side-mission, Kenny discovers that Blume has placed a $100,000 bounty on Aiden. Upon investigating, he learns that a whistle-blower revealed to Blume that Aiden was using the bunker as his hideout. Shortly afterwards, Blume hires bounty hunters to track down and kill Aiden. Kenny tracks down the bounty hunters and eliminates them, then warns Aiden, preventing Blume from tracking him down.

Watch Dogs 2[edit]

Aiden returns is a minor character in Watch Dogs 2.[31] In the side mission 'Shadows' Marcus Holloway is informed of a human trafficking ring being run by the Auntie Shu Boys. He investigates a meeting site of the gang only to find that they had been killed beforehand, where it is found that Aiden is behind the attack and that the Bratva plan to capture him. Marcus manages to track him down to a bunker, where he is being held by the Bratva. With Marcus's help, Aiden is able to escape.

Watch Dogs: Legion[edit]

Main article: Watch Dogs: Legion

Aiden returns as a playable character in Watch Dogs: Legion for owners of the game's season pass.[32] He is the dual antagonist of the game's Bloodline expansion, alongside Wrench, a supporting character from Watch Dogs 2.[33]

Some time after the Zero Day bombings, but prior to DedSec's resurgence in London, former vigilante Aiden Pearce accepts a contract from his fixer partner, Jordi Chin, in London, believing it will allow him to reunite with his estranged nephew Jackson, who is attending college there. Aiden's assignment is to infiltrate Broca Tech and acquire photographic evidence of a new robot design project headed by Thomas Rempart, as well as retrieve a device called the "BrocaBridge". However, his attempt is foiled by Wrench, a former member of DedSec San Francisco, who also seeks the BrocaBridge. A struggle ensues between the two, which results in Wrench escaping with the BrocaBridge and Aiden being captured by Rempart's men. Aiden soon escapes and makes contact with Jackson. Despite not wanting to get involved, Jackson guides Aiden toward a DedSec contact, Connie Robinson, who helps him get set up in exchange for helping out with several tasks. Rempart also contacts Aiden, demanding him to retrieve the BrocaBridge while threatening to harm Jackson.

With Jackson's help, Aiden tracks down Wrench at his hideout and confronts him. Wrench reveals that he was hired by Rempart to design the robots for his project, but was ultimately betrayed, so he took revenge by stealing the BrocaBridge, which Rempart needs for the next phase of his project. Meanwhile, Rempart finds and captures Jackson to ransom him for the BrocaBridge. After obtaining the device from Wrench, Aiden delivers it to Rempart, unaware that it is an explosive fake created by Wrench. The explosion disfigures Rempart's face and allows Aiden and Jackson to escape, though Aiden is shot in the process and falls into a coma. Wrench allows Aiden and Jackson to stay at his hideout and obtains medical supplies to help Aiden recover. During this time, he also becomes acquainted with Jordi and agrees to carry out several fixer contracts for him in Aiden's place.

Later, Wrench is contacted by Skye Larsen, who offers to help with Aiden's recovery in exchange for retaking control of her facilities from Rempart. Upon doing so, Larsen proposes an experimental trial on Jackson using the BrocaBridge to link his mind with Aiden's. Jackson enters Aiden's mind and, after revisiting several memories from his past, helps him overcome his guilt for his role in the death of Jackson's sister Lena seventeen years ago. Deciding to leave his vigilante persona behind, Aiden awakens from the coma and makes amends with Jackson. With Aiden saved, he works with Wrench and Jackson to defeat Rempart, who is attempting to escape London on his personal barge. Wrench boards the barge and destroys Rempart's robot army before subduing Rempart and leaving him to be arrested by Albion authorities. In the aftermath, Aiden and Wrench decide to continue working together for the time being. Connie later calls them to invite them to join DedSec after finding a contact who survived the London attacks, leading into the events of the main campaign of the game, in which Aiden is a playable character.

Reception[edit]

Aiden Pearce cosplay at Otakuthon 2014

In Watch Dogs, Aiden's character was the subject to criticism from critics. Dan Whitehead of Eurogamer criticized Aiden's character by stating "He steals, assaults, extorts and murders in order to exact justice for identical indignities inflicted on himself. The hypocrisy goes unchallenged.", in addition to claiming that he lacked any meaningful character development, and that he had an "insufferable" nature.[34] Andy Hartup of GamesRadar also criticized Aiden's character, calling him "a bit of a dullard".[35]

Kevin VanOrd of GameSpot said that the story only flourished when it left behind the "revenge-story cliches", and he felt more attached to supporting characters than to Aiden.[36] Similarly, Dan Stapleton at IGN disliked the Aiden's lack of personality, and found the supporting cast more interesting.[37] Christopher Livingston of PC Gamer also preferred another character to Aiden.[38]

However, Aiden's character received generally positive reception from critics in the Bloodline expansion. Mike Williams of PCMag said that "Ubisoft has finally made Aiden Pearce an interesting character.".[39] James Berich of Press Start Australia stated that he found Aiden's character more likeable in Bloodline.[40] On the other hand, Gene Park of the The Washington Post thought that the expansion did not do much to improve Aiden's character from the first game and stated that "the critics who read Aiden as an unlikeable homicidal maniac were correct.".[41]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d Hollingsworth, Kieran (9 July 2021). "Everything You Need to Know About Watch Dogs' Aiden Pearce". GameRant. Retrieved 26 May 2024.
  2. ^ Goldgarb, Andrew (5 June 2012). "E3 2012: Ubisoft Reveals Watch Dogs". IGN. Retrieved 9 June 2024.
  3. ^ Langshaw, Mark (5 June 2012). "E3 2012: 'Watch Dogs' announced by Ubisoft - watch video". DigitalSpy. Retrieved 8 June 2024.
  4. ^ Rougeau, Michael (11 June 2012). "E3 2012: "WATCH DOGS" COULD BE THE "BREAKING BAD" OF VIDEO GAMES". IFC. Archived from the original on 6 November 2015. Retrieved 8 June 2024.
  5. ^ Tim, Ford (4 March 2024). "Lights. Camera. Controller: inside the world of video game voice acting". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 10 June 2024.
  6. ^ Ryan, Jon (1 June 2014). "Aiden Pearce". IGN. Retrieved 26 May 2024.
  7. ^ a b Ubisoft. Watch Dogs. Scene: Audio Logs - Aiden Pearce 1.
  8. ^ a b Ubisoft. Watch Dogs. Scene: Big Brother.
  9. ^ a b Ubisoft. Watch Dogs. Scene: Thanks for the Tip.
  10. ^ a b Ubisoft. Watch Dogs. Scene: Prologue.
  11. ^ Ubisoft. Watch Dogs. Scene: Bottom of the Eighth.
  12. ^ Ubisoft. Watch Dogs. Scene: Dressed in Peels.
  13. ^ Ubisoft. Watch Dogs. Scene: Hold On, Kiddo.
  14. ^ Ubisoft. Watch Dogs. Scene: The Bunker.
  15. ^ Ubisoft. Watch Dogs. Scene: Grandma's Bulldog.
  16. ^ Ubisoft. Watch Dogs. Scene: Not A Job For Tyrone.
  17. ^ Ubisoft. Watch Dogs. Scene: A Risky Bid.
  18. ^ Ubisoft. Watch Dogs. Scene: Planting a Bug.
  19. ^ a b Ubisoft. Watch Dogs. Scene: Way Off the Grid.
  20. ^ Ubisoft. Watch Dogs. Scene: A Pit of Paranoia.
  21. ^ Ubisoft. Watch Dogs. Scene: The Future is in Blume.
  22. ^ Ubisoft. Watch Dogs. Scene: By Any Means Necessary.
  23. ^ Ubisoft. Watch Dogs. Scene: Someone's Knocking.
  24. ^ Ubisoft. Watch Dogs. Scene: In Plain Sight.
  25. ^ Ubisoft. Watch Dogs. Scene: The Defalt Condition.
  26. ^ Ubisoft. Watch Dogs. Scene: Little Sister.
  27. ^ Ubisoft. Watch Dogs. Scene: No Turning Back Part 1.
  28. ^ Ubisoft. Watch Dogs. Scene: No Turning Back Part 2.
  29. ^ a b Ubisoft. Watch Dogs. Scene: Sometimes You Still Lose.
  30. ^ Ubisoft. Watch Dogs. Scene: Epilogue.
  31. ^ "Watch Dogs 2: Where is Aiden Pearce?". GameRant. 17 November 2016. Retrieved 8 June 2024.
  32. ^ Foster, George (11 July 2021). "Watch Dogs: Legion Bloodline: How To Recruit Aiden Pearce And Wrench". TheGamer. Retrieved 9 June 2024.
  33. ^ McNulty, Thomas (30 June 2021). "Watch Dogs Legion's Bloodline Expansion Digs Deep Into Former Protagonists". ScreenRant. Retrieved 9 June 2024.
  34. ^ Whitehead, Dan (27 May 2014). "Watch Dogs review". Eurogamer. Retrieved 9 June 2024.
  35. ^ Hartup, Andy (27 May 2024). "Watch Dogs review". GamesRadar. Retrieved 9 June 2024.
  36. ^ VanOrd, Kevin (1 June 2014). "Watch Dogs Review". GameSpot. Retrieved 9 June 2024.
  37. ^ Stapleton, Dan (27 May 2014). "Watch Dogs Review". IGN. Retrieved 9 June 2024.
  38. ^ Livingston, Christopher (27 May 2024). "Watch Dogs Review". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on 24 August 2015. Retrieved 9 June 2024.
  39. ^ Williams, Mike (15 July 2021). "Watch Dogs: Legion - Bloodline (for PC)". PCMag. Retrieved 9 June 2024.
  40. ^ Berich, James (6 July 2021). "Watch Dogs Legion: Bloodline Review – A Rampart Family Affair".
  41. ^ Park, Gene (13 July 2021). "The new 'Watch Dogs' story agrees with you: Aiden Pearce was a maniac". The Washington Post. Retrieved 10 June 2024.
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