With the resent revelation that T-bone is going to have some kind of major role in Watch_Dogs 2 I’ve realised why he appeals so much more to people.
T-bone, Clara and Jordi are all characters that are routinely held up by detractors as ‘superior’ characters, infinitely more preferable as protagonists. It’s what the WD 2 cast is all about, too.
While their personalities aren’t too similar to each other, what they do have in common is one thing: they are all straightforward (yes, even Jordi, just in a different way). You take one look at them and you have a fairly good idea of what they are about.
Now, Aiden isn’t like that. He sends a plethora of mixed messages. Unlike the others, Aiden requires attention to make sense as a character. In the context of a game which is constructed around secrecy and manipulation and that’s steeped in moral ambiguity, this approach to write a protagonist seems to – maybe not make more sense – but it is an appropriate approach.
With Aiden, it’s the player who needs to figure out who he is. His emotions aren’t on his sleeve, he hides them. He’s calm in all moments of adversity, except for the final confrontation, when he starts to crack. He lies a lot. He’s lying to himself. He’s also lying to the player. He’s a con artist, remember that.
Does he care about his family? And if he does, is he only horribly inept to show it? Or perhaps he cares, but not so much he’s willing to change his lifestyle for their well-being, surely a small step, given his skill-set. If Aiden wanted out, he could.
Does he help innocents out of a genuine sense of altruism and justice? Or does he merely enjoy the challenge (as the game at least once implies) of hitting a target that’s running away?
Which innocents is he protecting in the Decoy side-missions? Or perhaps he only takes these jobs for the money and so he has an excuse to drive real fast? It is expressly stated somebody else is committing a crime while he takes the cops for a ride.
Even his non-lethal options are brutal and excessive. The game trying to sell the baton as more merciful is at least somewhat manipulative. The baton, when wielded with enough strength and skill, breaks bones and is perfectly capable of crippling for life. There’s a reason other than game mechanics none of these guys ever get up again. Realistically, some of them died anyway.
What kind of person would experience being blackmailed only to turn around and do the exact same thing to another? Someone, I might point out, less likely than he is to get out of it unharmed.
Or take the slave auction. Aiden is clearly horrified by it, but at the same time he understands exactly the auction’s primary point isn’t money, it’s power.
And then we have another Aiden altogether. The one who trolls (street signs, toys, horsie rides, random fish and moose heads…) That’s someone flexing his power, too.
Speaking of which, when Defalt taunts him, he’s not enraged, the way a one-trick pony would be, he’s highly amused and impressed by the other’s skill. He’s enjoying the contest.
There is the Aiden who drinks and chugs drugs to help stay focussed. The one willing to blast his brain with borderline-illegal software so he can hallucinate being a giant spider or bouncing off flowers. You think that’s not part of his personality?
What about his completely warped sense of other people’s privacy? Power. And it corrupts. Because that’s what this game is about, too. If all that information exists, and is accessible in any way, someone will use it. If you’re lucky, then just for shits and giggles, if you’re not… well, say goodbye to your savings and your freedom.
Yes, Aiden is a hypocrite. Of course he is. He’s called out on his behaviour by the overall game and by other characters. More than once, too. He is responsible for his own suffering. And he’s found a very dysfunctional way to handle it, too, like real people sometimes do.
Aiden is not nice. He is not meant to be nice (if you play him like that, the game will occasional contradict you, too). He is not meant to be particularly relatable or sympathetic. He does, however, make perfect sense for a game like this.
So, I understand disliking these traits. I even understand not wanting to invest time and thought into putting the pieces together. Personal taste is what it is, none of us get to pick it.
You don’t have to agree with my interpretation, either.
But don’t try to dismiss this character as “bland” and having “no personality”. If he’s so “generic”, please point me to all the other characters just like him, because I haven’t seen them yet.
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