| "What do we quote?" Sometimes... You have to become a Monster to Stay Human.
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Aiden Caldwell is the playable protagonist of Dying Light 2 Stay Human.
Biography[]
Aiden's exact date and place of birth is unknown, but it's likely that he was born either in the year 2013 or 2016 either before or during the Harran Virus pandemic that eventually spread across the world. His father saved his life when he was young, telling him never to forget who he was or where he came from. He is an unknowingly infected survivor in a dying world, where getting attached to others is deadly.
He is a member of an outcast group known as the Pilgrims, a group that wander the world and are compared to Japanese Ronin and Old West desperadoes. He claims to have travelled over 2,000 kilometres (1,242 miles) from Crossdale River.[1] Aiden's travels lead him to the City in search of his lost sister, Mia. The only person he remembers from his past, who he believes is the key to unlocking it and teaching him who he really is.[2][3]
02 February 2022
12 February 2016
30 January 2015
Events of Dying Light 2 Stay Human[]
After escaping a group of virals in a tunnel, Aiden meets a fellow pilgrim named Spike. The two of them walk through the forest to a mansion where they drink beer and Spike tells him that he got a trail on a guy named Waltz, telling him to contact an informant at a nearby house. After securing a safe zone in the house, Aiden sleeps and has a dream where he and his missing sister Mia are in a hospital being experimented on, a fire starts and Aiden loses track of Mia.
The morning after, Aiden contacts the informant and the two plan to meet in the sewers, Aiden asks the informant if Mia is alive and the informant confirms she is alive. Aiden makes his way to the sewer and encounters a volatile, who bites his hand, the informant saves Aiden but Aiden has a seizure and passes out.
Aiden wakes up to the sound of the informant being interrogated by a group of bandits, when he goes to investigate he is attacked by bandits and kills them, after a few fights the informant gives Aiden a GRE Access Key telling him to go to Fisheye and find Lawan. The informant locks Aiden in a vent as Waltz comes into the room and kills the informant, Aiden has a seizure and Waltz notices him and sends his men after him. After escaping Waltz and his men, Aiden finds an entrance into Villedor.
Aiden finds himself in the Bazaar, home of one of the largest factions in the city, the occupants quickly learn he is without a biomarker and also infected and try to hang him to prevent an attack, Aiden is saved by a man named Hakon at the last second and is taken back to a workshop owned by Sarah and Jana where Hakon injects him with an inhibitor. despite the injection, Aiden tries to attack Sarah but is knocked unconscious by Jana. Aiden wakes up and Hakon tells him he needs a biomarker to get to the Fisheye, the two leave before nightfall and stumble upon a military crate that Hakon was after, Aiden uses the GRE Access Key to open a lock much to Hakon's surprise. Before they can talk about it, night falls and Aiden has a seizure but is saved by Hakon, the two run to the Bazaar but are turned away by the gatekeeper due to Aiden not having a biomarker. A howler spots them and they run to Cillian's Hideout.
At Cillian's hideout, Hakon and Cillian argue before Hakon goes to scout out Saint Joseph's Hospital while Aiden sleeps, he hears Mia taunting him in his sleep before Hakon calls him on the radio telling him to meet him in Saint Joseph's Hospital. In the hospital Aiden and Hakon sneak by infected and at one point the two are separated when an elevator crashes, Aiden finds an inhibitor and injects it so he can climb up to Hakon.
After meeting up with Hakon, he gives Aiden a biomarker but his biomarker starts going off due to low immunity and Aiden has to quickly escape. After escaping Hakon asks him about what he will do when he finds his sister, and Hakon tells him he wants to live by the ocean and asks Aiden for help. Hakon gives Aiden a pair of Binoculars and tells him to head for the Bazaar. When Aiden arrives at the Bazaar he helps out the locals while he waits for Hakon to give him a call.
Events of Bloody Ties[]
Aiden gets a call on his radio from a stranger telling him to qualify for Carnage Hall to stop Skullface from destroying the city. When he goes to the bapistry where tryouts are held, he is turned down due to not knowing the password. He inspects a poster of a strong man that says ¨THIS COULD BE YOU!¨ but is interrupted by a guy who takes his money. Aiden chases the thief and when he catches him they are ambushed by infected, after killing the infected the thief tells Aiden they should go back to the tryouts as a team.
At the tryouts, Aiden meets Roy and Tatsuo and learns that the thief is named Ciro. Ciro and Aiden fight other competitors and are victorious, only for Skullface to appear and attack Tatsuo, taking something from him. Aiden and Ciro get up and challenge Skullface but both are quickly defeated by the weapon Skullface stole from Tatsuo. Skullface shuts off the UV lights in the building and lets a bunch of virals in, Aiden fights the virals with other competitors while Ciro tries to fix the generators.
When the lights go on, Ciro's father Ogar yells at him for fighting in the tournament, Aiden and Ciro go outside and Ciro reveals that Ogar is the ex champion of Carnage Hall and that Skullface is the current champion, he also talks about his brother Abel who died in Carnage Hall. Ciro tells Aiden that to qualify for Carnage Hall they need to complete 3 challenges in the city, Aiden completes all 3 with ease and meets with Ciro for drinks after each challenge. Once he finishes every challenge Ogar calls him and tells him to meet him at the Bapistry and begs him to not let Ciro fight.
Aiden is told to go to the Central Loop for the final challenge, Ciro is surprised to see Aiden there and realizes Ogar sent him there to stop him, before Aiden can change Ciro's mind the challenge starts, after fighting for a while Ciro mysteriously disappears and Aiden wins. Ogar meets up with him and they find the body of one of Astrid's guards, Ogar tells him to go to Carnage Hall to find Ciro.
At Carnage Hall, Aiden asks around if anyone knows where Ciro is, he is told by Ogar to meet with a bald eunuch named Severus who gets him into a fight. Much to Aiden's shock, people are killed in the fight and he quickly learns that Carnage Hall is a bloodsport event and frantically calls Ogar, who tells him that Astrid must´ve changed the rules. Aiden emerges victorious and Astrid asks him for his name, and gives him a new name to use in Carnage Hall.
Skills and Abilities[]
As a survivor of the post-Fall world, Aiden is an exceptional survivor, his strength, speed, and affinity for combat make him a strong survivor, capable of performing feats that no one else has, and regularly pushes through dungeons and death-traps that no other had dared to touch. His skillset being compared to the likes of Kyle Crane, a survivor of the 2015 Harran pandemic who became known as the 'Legend of Harran' due to his extensive skillset and physical capabilities as a Nightrunner.
Throughout the game, it's revealed that Aiden had been experimented on during his childhood by Waltz, these experiments had chances of causing blackouts, in which Aiden would mindlessly attack those around him, his strength and speed were bolstered during these events, capable of tearing apart Volatiles with his bare hands. Aiden learned to gain control of it during his confrontations with Waltz, going from blacking out and losing control to being in complete control in his final fight with Waltz.
Aiden can additionally enhance his physical capabilities with the use of Inhibitors, drugs created by the G.R.E to enhance the user's strength and immunity to THV.
Aiden's unique skillset gives him the power to become an agent of change within the decaying metropolis of humanity's last stronghold, Villedor.
Appearance and Personality[]
Aiden is a young Caucasian male in his early 20s, with short brown hair and blue eyes. His face is weary and slightly scarred. He is of average height, with an athletic physique.
Aiden is portrayed with a younger looking face, devoid of stress and scars in the cover art, though the artwork only uses a side shot of his face.
During the E3 2018 world premiere, Aiden initially wears a dark green long sleeve shirt, rolled up to the elbows, dirty khaki and light brown pants, and brown boots.
In Promotional advertisements and game updates, his main outfit is the Stay Human outfit, consisting of a white, blue and red face mask, a worn denim jacket with a red hood, with red trim around the waist and arms, a plain white T-shirt with a blue and turquoise print, worn charcoal running pants with a dual stripe print on the left leg above the knee, dark green shin guards with a small lime line running down towards the foot, with white, grey, and red sneakers
His starting outfit is a modified version of the Pilgrim's outfit, lacking the hood and face mask.
Aiden is friendly and usually amicable to most survivors he comes across, willing to help them out if they need it. He's sympathetic and introspective, capable of seeing the bigger picture depending on the scenario, evident during his conversations with Thalia in the Book Club quests, depending on the dialogue options. Despite his willingness to help and putting his own goals aside for the sake of others when they need it, Aiden is an opportunist, only helping others throughout the story if they can help him, and can become easily angered when a promise made to him is either broken or pushed to the side. This anger is evident during his quest to get to the Central Loop, when either Aitor or Sophie delay giving him access to the Metro Station.
As a Pilgrim, not being tied to any side or faction, Aiden makes it clear that he has no stakes in the conflict between the Survivors and the Peacekeepers and will only care for either side if they can help him with his own goals, evident when Sophie tries to ask for his help in the conflict, Aiden bluntly tells her that he doesn't care about the fates of either side.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Jonah Scott (the voice actor of Aiden) was a huge fan of Dying Light and Roger Craig Smith, the voice actor for Kyle Crane in Dying Light.
- A running joke in the Dying Light community is how often Aiden gets punched in the face in main and side quests, as well as being hit in the head by weapons, despite directly facing those that hit him during said scenes.
- Aiden was based on the DC comic character, Nightwing, in a lot of ways, as the voice actor and directors wanted a balance between edgy and smartass.
- Despite the experiments performed on him, Aiden cannot permanently turn, as when he does "turn," he mindlessly rampages until morning, where he regains his senses, with no memory of what had occurred.
- Aiden can have a Scarecrow made for him after the Scarecrow Queen quest.
- In a cut content mission for one of the factions, Aiden could lose his hand.
- The face models for Aiden are modelled differently for his in-game model and during the ending cutscenes.
References[]
- ↑ Aitor: "Where did you come from?"
Aiden Caldwell: "Crossdale River."
Aitor: "That's over fifteen hundred kilometers from here!"
Aiden Caldwell: "Actually, more than two thousand. Freeway bridges collapsed. There are no straight paths." - ↑ Dying Light 2 Stay Human - Dying 2 Know: Episode 1
- ↑ Dying Light 2 Dev Interview | PC Gaming Show E3 2021