Aiden Pearce

Aiden Pearce (also known as The Vigilante and The Fox) is a fictional character and the overarching protagonist of the Watch Dogs video game series developed by Ubisoft. He first appeared as the main protagonist of the original Watch Dogs (2014), in which he was portrayed by Noam Jenkins via performance capture. He also made a minor, non-speaking appearance in Watch Dogs 2 (2016), and returned as a playable character in Watch Dogs: Legion (2020), with Jenkins reprising his role. In Legion, Aiden serves as one of the two protagonists of the Bloodline expansion, alongside Wrench from Watch Dogs 2. The character has also appeared in media outside the games, such as the novels Watch Dogs //n/Dark Clouds (2014) by John Shirley, and Watch Dogs: Stars and Stripes (2022) by Sean Grigsby and Stewart Hotston.

In the franchise, Aiden is portrayed as a highly skilled grey hat hacker and vigilante based in Chicago, who utilizes the fictional ctOS system to manipulate the city's infrastructure and security features. After an attempt on his life results in the death of his young niece, Aiden embarks on a quest for revenge against those responsible, while slowly attempting to move on from his trauma. In Legion, which takes place nearly two decades after the events of Watch Dogs, Aiden relocates to London, where he tries to reconnect with his estranged nephew and becomes involved with the local hacking syndicate DedSec, which seeks to liberate the city from the control of an oppressive private military company.

Aiden was first revealed by Ubisoft at the E3 2012 conference in a demo trailer. According to director Jonathan Morin, Breaking Bad's main protagonist Walter White was a direct source of inspiration for Aiden, as they were both intentionally designed to be flawed antiheroes. Aiden's character has received a generally mixed reception, with many reviewers criticizing his perceived unlikability and lack of growth, although his appearance in the Bloodline expansion for Legion was met with more positive responses.

Watch Dogs
Aiden Pearce first appears as the protagonist of the original Watch Dogs game. His backstory establishes that he was born on 2 May 1974 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. At an unspecified point in time, he, along with his mother and younger sister Nicole Pearce, emigrated from Belfast to Chicago, where it is implied that his father was a criminal and an abusive parent. According to Aiden, he grew up in a rough neighborhood, where he was often engaged in violence and joined a gang, where he learned how to fight and use weapons. He later became proficient with computers and a skilled grey hat hacker, utilising Chigago's ctOS network to manipulate the city's infrastructure and security features. Operating as a fixer and thief, Aiden at some point met and befriended fellow hacker Damien Brenks, and the two formed a partnership.

In 2012, Aiden and Damien conduct a heist on the Merlaut Hotel, owned by Irish mob boss Dermont Quinn, in which they hack in and siphon money from people's bank accounts. However, Aiden abruptly ends the heist when he inadvertently triggers a silent alarm set by another hacker, giving himself and Damien away. On 26 October 2012, while Aiden is driving with his nephew Jackson and niece Lena to Pawnee, Illinois, Maurice Vega, a hitman hired by Quinn, shot their car's tires, causing them to crash. While Aiden and Jackson survive, Lena dies in the crash, leading Aiden to vow revenge on those responsible.

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, Aiden visits Nicole and Jackson for the latter's birthday, but learns someone is harassing them. With the help of Clara Lille, a member of the hacking syndicate DedSec that is trying to expose the corruption of Blume – the creators of ctOS – Aiden tracks down and identifies the harasser as Damien. His former partner explains that he wanted to get Aiden's attention so that he will help him find the other hacker from the Merlaut job, but Aiden refuses. However, he is soon forced to comply after Damien kidnaps Nicole

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. 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. Bedbug obtains a data sample revealing that Iraq has information on almost every citizen of Chicago, protecting his gang from the authorities via blackmail.

As the data recovered by Bedbug is encrypted beyond Aiden and Clara's abilities, they decide to track down legendary hacker and former Blume 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. Aiden finds Kenney but the latter refuses to leave until Aiden erases his identity from ctOS to allow him to return to Chicago. Aiden does so after infiltrating the Blume headquarters, but in the process he discovers that Damien gave up Kenney's location in exchange for full access to ctOS. This forces Aiden to protect Kenney from Blume's private security forces, before the two return to Chicago. There, Aiden assaults Iraq's compound to finish downloading its server data, and kills Iraq when the latter confronts him.

Aiden, Kenney, and Clara are unable to decrypt Iraq's 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. Meanwhile, Damien demands to know Adien's progress, so the latter sets up a meeting where he lies that he has the data Damien wanted and demands Nicole's release. However, Damien calls Aiden's bluff and, in retaliation, exposes his identity to the authorities. After dealing with Defealt and retrieving the stolen data, Aiden tracks down Nicole with Kenney's help and rescues her, allowing her and Jackson to leave Chicago.

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, a former Blume engineer who was used by the company and Quinn in a plot to blackmail the mayor. 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 the video of Washington's murder public, enraging Damien, who hoped to use the blackmail material for his own gain. 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. Later, Jordi calls Aiden to tell him where Vega is kept; Aiden heads there and decides his fate.

Aiden makes a minor, voice-only appearance in the Bad Blood expansion, set after the events of the base game. In a side-mission, Kenney discovers that Blume has placed a $100,000 bounty on Aiden. Upon investigating, he learns that a whistleblower revealed to Blume that Aiden was using the Bunker as his hideout. Shortly afterwards, Blume hires bounty hunters to track down and kill Aiden. Kenney eliminates them and calls Aiden to warn him about the bounty on his head, preventing Blume from tracking him down.

Watch Dogs 2
Aiden makes a non-speaking cameo appearance in Watch Dogs 2. In a side mission, the protagonist Marcus Holloway discovers that Aiden, who has since relocated to San Francisco, was investigating a human trafficking ring run by the Auntie Shu Boys and the Bratva, only to be captured by the latter. After locating the bunker where Aiden is being held, Marcus distracts the guard who seized Aiden's equipment, allowing him to retrieve it and escape from his cell.

Watch Dogs: Legion
Aiden returns as a playable character in Watch Dogs: Legion for owners of the game's season pass. He is additionally one of the two protagonists of the game's Bloodline expansion, alongside Wrench, a character introduced in Watch Dogs 2.

Set before the events of the base game, the expansion follows Aiden as he travels to London to reunite with Jackson, whom he has not seen in sixteen years, and complete a fixer contract given to him by Jordi. 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, 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, though the latter 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, ordering him to retrieve the BrocaBridge while threatening to harm Jackson.

With Jackson's help, Aiden finds 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.

Later, Wrench is contacted by Broca Tech's CEO 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 Lena's death. Deciding to leave his vigilante persona behind, Aiden awakens from the coma and makes amends with Jackson. Aiden and Jackson then remotely help Wrench deal with Rempart, who is attempting to flee London. Following Rempart's defeat by Wrench, the former is arrested while Aiden and Wrench decide to continue working together for the time being. Sometime later, the two are called by Connie, who invites them to join DedSec as operatives, leading into the events of Legion.

Other media
Outside of the games, Aiden appears the protagonist of the novel Watch Dogs //n/Dark Clouds, written by John Shirley and released in conjunction with the first Watch Dogs game, to which it serves as a sequel. He also appears in the 2022 novel Watch Dogs: Stars and Stripes, written by Sean Grigsby and Stewart Hotston, which serves as a prequel to the Bloodline expansion for Watch Dogs: Legion.

Reception
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. Andy Hartup of GamesRadar also criticized Aiden's character, calling him "a bit of a dullard".

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. Similarly, Dan Stapleton at IGN disliked the Aiden's lack of personality, and found the supporting cast more interesting. Christopher Livingston of PC Gamer also preferred another character to Aiden.

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.". James Berich of Press Start Australia stated that he found Aiden's character more likeable in Bloodline. 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.".