- "My little Packie,
I just wanted to tell you I love you and all of your siblings. You will all do great things in your lives, I may not be there in person but I will always be watching from Heaven.
Love, Aiden McReary (Dad)" - ―A letter that Packie keeps in his wallet from his father, dated July 6, 2006 shortly before he died
Aiden McReary is the deceased biological father of the five McReary siblings, appearing as a key supporting character throughout Sibling Rivalries.
Description[]
Aiden was born to Eileen and Sean McReary, who both passed away before he married Maureen. He is an only child which explains why the McReary siblings never mentioned any aunts/uncles or cousins on his side.
Aiden had a dog named Chiquita that was gifted to him by his aunt Maeve when he was in kindergarten, who passed away around the time he was about to go to college.
He was the first husband of Maureen McReary, and the biological father of Patrick McReary, Francis McReary, Gerald McReary, Derrick McReary, and Kate McReary. He met Maureen at college in autumn 1992. They dated each other for the next six years, as well as graduating in 1996. They get married in 1998, and move to Vancouver, B.C., Canada later that year after receiving a job opportunity. Afterwards, they bring five beautiful children into the world. Aiden was also a smoker, and as stated by Packie, he died shortly after Kate's birth from lung cancer. Immediately after passing away, Aiden went to heaven and immediately reunited with his parents and dog Chiquita.
For nine years, the McReary siblings were raised only by their mother; they did not have a father figure again until July 2015, when Maureen meets and eventually marries a man named Hector Wilson; Hector would become the siblings' new step-father.
From Hector, Maureen had a new baby in September later that year, and named him Aiden, after her first husband.
Aiden makes his first appearance in Season 8 comic "Pack To The Future", as a spirit that comes into Packie's dream. Aiden tells him not to give up on loving his brother Francis as he is leaving for college, which makes Packie very angry and depressed. Later, as Francis' airplane leaves, and the whole family is watching, a cloud with Aiden inside also watches with happiness, as he knows Francis will be very successful in college.
Aiden prominently has physical appearances in Season 10 comic "Pack To The Past", which serves a prequel to the entire series. The comic depicts how Maureen met Aiden, and their relationship from marrying each other to having children together. Maureen deeply mourns the loss of Aiden in 2006, and struggles to raise her five kids herself, until she accepts the challenge since she loves them all dearly.
Aiden was cremated after his death, with his urn making brief appearances for the rest of "Pack To The Past". After this comic, his urn appears on a shelf in Maureen and Hector's room. Author GTA Nerd claims that anytime the urn has not been visible (literally any comic before "Pack To The Past"), it may have been in Maureen's closet. Still, it is unknown in-universe why the urn had not appeared since the beginning of the series.
Season 12 special "Christmas In July" saw the largest role for Aiden yet, seeing his spirit move to heaven immediately after his death and watching over his children as they planned their titualar Christmas in July party. He was upset that they did not recognize the 15 year anniversary of him passing away (June 10, 2021), but he meets Packie in his dream and tells him about the true meaning of Christmas. Aiden tells Packie that the holiday is really about the birth of Jesus Christ, as is Easter being about Jesus coming back to life after he was crucified on Good Friday. Packie decides to change the party from a traditional Christmas party to honoring Jesus by reading the bible and playing other religious games.
Trivia[]
- Aiden and Maureen met in 1992 and married in 1998, which is a reference to when Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories took place, respectively.
- Aiden McReary was intended to be the name of one of the siblings' known cousins, who would have debuted in the scrapped Season 3 comic "The Golden Boy". As this cousin would have been on their father's side based on the surname, this would have meant Aiden did have at least one sibling with a child.
- Following this comic's cancellation, the name Aiden would be revealed for their father in "Wouldn't It Be Nice?" (which was a non-canon comic but remained true), and Aiden would become an only child.
- Aiden was mentioned to be a fan of the Grand Theft Auto series while Maureen does not seem to like them too much. This justifies why young Francis and Packie are also allowed to play the games. He passed away before Grand Theft Auto IV was released, and Maureen did not purchase the game for their children; Jason Parker is mentioned to have bought Packie and Francis the game around 2011-2012, then Maureen may have reluctantly purchased Grand Theft Auto V in 2013.
- As revealed in "Love, Stevie", Aiden also owned 2003 title Manhunt, which gave him nightmares.
- Gerry seems to have inherited Aiden's curly hair style, which in turn Aiden inherited from his mother.
- A noticeable difference between Aiden McReary, and the original character he is based on from Grand Theft Auto IV, Mr. McReary (aside from being given a first name) is Aiden being beloved by his family for his caring nature, and heavily mourned after his death (even if his smoking habit did cause a rift between him and his family). On the other hand, Mr. McReary was a horrible man that beat his sons, and his family are pretty much better off without him not causing any more trouble.
- Aiden and Carlos Garcia Montero are the only characters to have their deaths visible to the readers. In Aiden's case in "Pack To The Past", after a kiss on the forehead by Maureen, he chuckles, and peacefully passes away on his bed.
- In his last moments of life, he told Maureen that he was okay with her remarrying as long as she was as loving with him as she was with him. As an angel in Heaven, Aiden is shown to be very fond of Hector Wilson.