Aiden Pearce

**Aiden Pearce**, also known as **The Vigilante** and **The Fox**, is the main protagonist from the *Watch Dogs* series.

## **Charactah Account**

Aiden was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland on May 2, 1974 at the height of the Troubles. He is no stranger to violence and is more than willing to use it against his enemies. However, his actions have had an untoward effect on his family, and now he monitors them in secret in order to keep them safe.

Aiden is a protective person, wanting to keep the people he cares about close and safe. He is very protective of his family (as seen in the game, his sister and nephew), and will do anything to keep them safe. His compassion for his family is strong enough to become a vigilante and extradite revenge on those who have harmed them. Aiden is very calm under pressure, able to keep a clear mind and work through problems systematically and with composure. His approach is often light-hearted, especially in situations that can lead to his own death or that of others. He has also shown himself to be quite athletic, capable of performing parkour to escape the police and sprinting with speed and agility. His physical strength is also demonstrated when chasing down criminals and silencing them with his telescopic baton.

Although he has compassion for the people he is close to, Aiden doesn't hesitate in taking another life if he has to. Because of this, others often see him as cold-hearted and without conscience, but he does what he does to stop the corruption plaguing his city. The player can also finish the game and not kill anyone except the three main antagonists and three supporting characters of the game.

## **Appearance**

### **Video Games**

* Watch Dogs
* Watch Dogs 2
* Watch Dogs: Legion

## **Trivia**

* Aiden is an Old Irish name meaning "Fire Walker". Pearce is an Anglo-Saxon name meaning 'Rock'.
* Upon writing Aiden's character, Senior Producer, Dominic Guay stated the developers cited Walter White from *Breaking Bad* as well as Dexter Morgan from *Dexter* as inspiration for the character.
* The symbol on Aiden's hat and the back of his trench coat is based on the logo of the game's original title *Nexus*.
	+ According to Creative Director, Jonathan Morin, the symbol is meant to represent connectivity and the broken "Z" on his Vigilante Mask is used to emphasize the Hacking element exploiting that connectivity.
	+ Nexus is the custom license plate of Aiden's personal car, a silver Sonarus LX (spelled “N3X U5”) which he eventually gives to his sister and nephew to leave Chicago.
* Aiden canonically has owned two cars over the course of the trilogy. The first was a Sonarus LX in *Watch Dogs,* which he gave to Nicky during the mission "Little Sister". He later owned a Vespid 5.2 as seen in the teaser for his *Watch Dogs: Legion* DLC *Bloodline.*
* Aiden's Profiler appears to be modelled after an iPhone 4S smartphone.
* Aiden's weapon of choice appears to be a Px4 handgun, which he is seen holding in promotional trailers, cutscenes, and other media.
* Although Aiden is right-handed, he can use both his Profiler and a one-handed weapon simultaneously.
* Aiden is 6'2" (188cm) as shown from his mugshot when he gets arrested in "Dressed in Peels", and weighs 205 pounds (93kg).
* Aiden, as part of his hacking skills and need to monitor his family, is proficient in social engineering.
* According to Nicole, Aiden was a fan of hockey and cars as a kid.
* Aiden shares similarities to Ezio Auditore from Ubisoft's *Assassin's Creed* series. Both lost a member of their family and they are highly skilled vigilantes. Aiden is also similar to Sam Fisher from the *Splinter Cell* series, both are highly skilled hackers and both are proficient in stealth tactics.
	+ Aiden also seems to have some similarities with Marvel's Punisher, both lost a family member (Punisher, however, lost the entire family), both became a vigilante to avenge their deaths. Aiden even makes an indirect reference to the 2004 film *Punisher* at the end of the game by mentioning "punishment" in the credits narration. However, Aiden is far above Punisher since he mostly lets the petty thieves and criminals live, whereas most iterations of the Punisher tend to kill them.
	+ Aiden also shares similarities to John Reese from the television series *Person of Interest,* who uses a backdoor to a crime prevention/monitoring AI similar CTOS.
* Aiden has no legal job in the campaign and no CTOS record of a legal job. It is assumed he lives off money he and his partner stole as hackers before his niece died, and off the money he continues to steal through the course of the game.
* All of Aiden's outfits are virtually the same as his cover outfit, although with varying shoes and boots, gloves, different sizes and patterns on his clothes, as well as hoods and collars on some outfits.
* When profiling Aiden, it will show Error on all boards, due to him hacking the CTOS profiler to wipe himself off. There are a few exceptions, however:
	+ During "Big Brother", if you profile Aiden with the camera in Nicky's house:
		- Pearce, Aiden
		- NO RECORD
		- Age: 39
		- Occupation: NO RECORD
	+ When in prison during "Dressed in Peels":
		- Smith, Joe
		- Recent Assault Conviction
		- Age: 42
		- Occupation: Pool Cleaner
		- Income: $17,500
	+ When masquerading as Crispin during "Stare into the Abyss" and "A Risky Bid":
		- Crispin, Nicholas
		- VIP Auction Guest
		- Last visit to America: 12 years
		- Occupation: International Trade
		- Income: $3,050,000
	+ During "Hope is a Sad Thing":
		- Putters, Andy Lee
		- Homesteader
		- Age: 40
		- Occupation: Compost Specialist
		- Income: $46,400
	+ During "In Plain Sight" and "Sometimes You Still Lose":
		- Pearce, Aiden
		- WANTED CRIMINAL
		- Age: 39
		- Occupation: Unemployed
	+ When trying to find Defalt in "Dot ConneXion":
		- Bitch, Defalt's
		- CRY MOAR
		- Age: 39
		- Occupation: U MAD BRO
* At the end of the game, once the credits are rolling, the player can see a video of WKZ News, interviewing Doctor Mendez, Jackson's therapist. She comments on a book she's writing about Aiden, with the end goal of exploring his mind and personality.
	+ However, Doctor Mendez only met Aiden a few times in-game. It is not possible that she had more encounters with him between Lena's death and the beginning of the game's main story, as Aiden only learns of her existence at Jackson's party (Big Brother).
* Aiden is sometimes referred to by the citizens of Chicago as "The Fox" because of the stylized fox head on his hat, and the colors of his trench coat and sweater, which resemble that of a gray fox's coat.
* All characters that are targets for Aiden can be either knocked down or killed, except three of them: Iraq, Quinn, and Damien.
* Aiden's haircut might change if the player wears particular outfits (for example, the Cyberpunk Outfit gives Aiden a shorter haircut).
* It is possible to see Aiden without his regular Vigilante outfits three times in the storyline: in two flashbacks (one at the Pawnee tunnel where Lena died and the other at the cemetery), and during "Dressed in Peels".
* Aiden is playable in *Watch Dogs: Legion* as part of the Bloodline expansion, along with Wrench from *Watch Dogs 2*.