Walter White

***Declan**: You're Heisenberg.*
***Walter White**: You're goddamn right.*

*- Walter White's famous quote as he declares himself "Heisenberg".*

*- Walter White's famous speech towards his wife.*

*- Walter White's famous phrase proving to Tuco Salamanca that he knows and understands his limits, gaining his money and meth value in return.*

## Character Overview:

### Alias:

Heisenberg
Walt
Mr. White
W.W.
Walt Jackson
The Meth Man
The Manufacturer
The Kingpin
Mr. Mayhew
Mr. Lambert
David Lynn

### Occupation:

Co-Founder and Co-Owner of Gray Matter Technologies.
Employee at Application Labs.
Chemist at Sandia Laboratories.
Chemistry teacher at J. P. Wynne High School.
Cashier at A1A Car Wash.
Crystal meth manufacturer.
Co-Owner of A1A Car Wash.
Criminal Kingpin.
Drug Lord.
Founder and leader of his drug empire.

### Powers/Skills:

Genius-level intelligence
Enhanced Durability
Expertise In Chemistry
Psychological Manipulation
Manipulation
Hacking Skills
Deception
Intimidation
Marksmanship
Strategy & Planning
Engineering
Wealth
Strategic Mind
Torture Methodology
Knifemanship
Weapon Versatility & Expertise
Business Management

### Goals:

Provide for his family by leaving behind a large sum of money accumulated from distributing crystal meth when he dies from cancer.
Avoid incarceration at all costs.
Establish his own drug empire and cook meth for his own satisfaction.
Kill Gus Fring to ensure his and his family's safety.
Kill Jack and his gang, to avenge Hank.
Free Jesse Pinkman from any type of pain, and law trouble.
(All Succeeded; Later backfired with the cost of his own life)

### Hobby:

Cooking meth.
Spending time with his family.
Spending time with Jesse Pinkman.
Doing business work.
Teaching students.
Drinking alcohol.
Smoking.
Scheming.
Planning.

### Crimes:

Mass Murder (Inc. Murder By Proxy, Child Murder By Proxy, & Animal Murder)
Terrorism By Proxy
Stalking By Proxy
Psychological Abuse
Genocide By Proxy
Grand Theft Auto
Organized Crime
Drug Trafficking
Sexual Assault
Sabotage
Hacking
Theft
Identity Theft
Torture By Proxy
Kidnapping
Assault & Battery
Domestic violence
Vandalism
Breaking And Entering
Conspiracy
Child Poisoning
Blackmail
Bombing
Child Abduction
Incrimination
Vigilantism
Corruption
Extortion
Fraud
Reckless Driving
Money Laundering

### Type of Villain:

Egotistical Mastermind

**Walter Hartwell "Walt" White, Sr.**, also known by his alias **Heisenberg**, is the main anti-villainous protagonist of the crime drama series *Breaking Bad* and a minor overarching character in both *El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie* and the sixth and final season of *Better Call Saul*.

A brilliant but underachieving chemist working as a high school science teacher, Walt is diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, which spurs him on to use his chemistry knowledge to cook and sell crystal meth to provide for his family after his imminent death.

As the series progresses and he becomes more involved in the drug world, the formerly mild-mannered and unassuming teacher slowly changes and transforms into an increasingly sinister, dangerous and ruthless criminal driven more by ego and greed than his stated altruistic motives, this way becoming the main villain of the series. He serves as the former teacher/meth partner of Jesse Pinkman, the archenemy of his brother-in-law Hank Schrader, and the arch-rival and competitor of Gus Fring.

He was portrayed by Bryan Cranston, who also played Snizzard in *Mighty Morphin Power Rangers*, Lucifer in *The Fallen* and Vilos Cohaagen in the *Total Recall* remake.

## Personality:

An extremely complex character, Walter White evolves throughout the series from a mild-mannered family man into a ruthless drug kingpin. His turn to villainy and the gradual reveal of the darkness that was within him all along over the course of the series has led him to be commonly compared by critics to a number of Shakespeare villains, most prominently Macbeth.

In the beginning, after being diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer, Walter's stated motivation was to make enough money to leave behind for his family. While this was true to some degree, holes could be seen in this motivation as early as the first season, where he turns down the seven-figure job from his former business partners out of pride. While the money he could leave behind continued to be an important driving point for him for the rest of the story, he gradually reveals that he sincerely enjoys the thrills and feelings of power that being a criminal brings, and he has such great pride in his near perfect blue meth. He mentions early on in the series that he never felt like he had any say in his life, and so his work as a drug dealer is the first time he's had control. He also feels that he is making up for his rash decision to leave his former business partners for a $5,000 buyout, abandoning a company that is now worth billions of dollars, creating a meth empire to give himself a similar feeling. He reveals to Skyler in the end that everything was done for himself, as it made him feel alive.

Walter was an extremely prideful and arrogant man, to the point of being a narcissist. Nearly everything he does is driven by his massive ego, leading a very smart man in making very stupid decisions. This ranges from turning down the aforementioned job offer to cluing his brother-in-law, Hank, in that his primary suspect for being Heisenberg, was most likely not the real Heisenberg, not wanting anyone else to take credit for his work, even at the risk of being captured later. As a result of his ego, Walter takes criticism extremely poorly; this is best shown when Mike Ehrmantraut calls him out for turning on and killing Gus Fring because he thought he could run his business just as well but turned out to be wrong. While he was absolutely right, Walter became so angry that he shot and killed Mike in an ego-driven rage. His very partial redemption at the end comes from letting go of his pride to a degree, though it was still his pride that drove him to make his final moves when he saw his former business partners discrediting him.

As the series moved forward, Walter became more ruthless. The man who cried as he strangled Krazy-8 in self-defense was eventually able to poison a young child without remorse in order to begin his final plans against Gus-even brushing off Drew Sharp's death as he whistled at work after his disappearance was announced on the news. The decay of his morality was noticed by both Skyler and Jesse, making Skyler terrified of him despite helping him before, and disturbing Jesse into wanting to leave the meth trade altogether.

Despite his ruthlessness, Walter still deeply cared about his family, growing angry at the idea of Saul Goodman's suggestion to kill Hank after he realized who Walter was. In the pilot episode, he even assaulted a jock for making fun of his son's cerebral palsy. Before Jack killed Hank, Walter begged and bargained for Hank's life and was utterly broken when Jack Welker fired the shot. Getting revenge on Jack became one of his driving motivations in the final episode of the series. He was also greatly against the idea of killing Jesse until it seemed necessary to him, and at the end took a bullet to save Jesse's life. This did not stop him from being emotionally abusive and manipulative towards them. His relationship with Jesse, in particular, was as an abusive father-figure who kept Jesse loyal to him through manipulation and blackmail.

As much as he loved his family, it is made clear that he loves one thing more. While dying, he strolls through the meth lab, examining the equipment lovingly, signifying that his one true love was the empire he had built.

## Victims:

***Victims that were directly killed by Walter White:***

### Direct:

1. **Emilio Koyama** - Poisoned with phosphine gas for attacking Jesse and holding Walter at gunpoint.
2. **Krazy-8** - Strangled to death for trying to kill him.
3. **Rival Dealers** - Killed to save Jesse's life; one was run over, the other got shot in the head.
4. **Two of Gustavo Fring's henchmen** - Shot in the head to get to Jesse.
5. **Mike Ehrmantraut** - Shot in the stomach for insulting him.
6. **Lydia Rodarte-Quayle** - Poisoned with ricin to protect his family and tie-up loose ends; Lydia was not actually seen dying on-screen, but she was mentioned to be in fatal condition and not expected to survive.
7. **Kenny** - Shot with a remote-activated machine gun to avenge Hank and Gomez and free Jesse.
8. **Matt** - Shot with a remote-activated machine gun to avenge Hank and Gomez and free Jesse.
9. **Lester** - Shot with a remote-activated machine gun to avenge Hank and Gomez and free Jesse.
10. **Two unnamed Neo-Nazis** - Shot with a remote-activated machine gun to avenge Hank and Gomez and free Jesse.
11. **Jack Welker** - Shot in the head to avenge Hank and Gomez.
12. **Himself** (*unintentionally*) - Accidentally shot with own remote-activated machine while protecting Jesse from the carnage; Walter ultimately bled out to death in Jack's meth lab.

***Victims that were indirectly killed by Walter White:***

### Indirect

1. **Jane Margolis** - Accidentally rolled her onto her back, and then let her choke on her own vomit, presumably to keep Jesse on his side, although his ulterior motives are unknown.
2. **167 airplane passengers** (*unintentionally*) - The father of Jane, Donald Margolis, was an air-traffic controller that accidentally caused a plane crash due to depression caused from Jane's death, which in turn was Walt's fault, making Walt connected to the disaster.
3. **Gale Boetticher** - Shot in the head by Jesse on Walt's orders to make sure Gus can't kill him.
4. **Hector Salamanca** - Willingly blew himself up to kill Gus and avenge his family, using a bomb made by Walt.
5. **Gustavo Fring** - Blown up with a bomb by Hector, with Walt's help, to make sure he can't kill Walt or his family.
6. **Tyrus Kitt** - Blown up with a bomb by Hector, with Walt's help, due to being in the room while the explosion went off.
7. **Dan Wachsberger** - Assassinated by Jack's men on Walt's orders, to make sure he won't reveal information to the feds.
8. **Jack McGann** - Assassinated by Jack's men on Walt's orders, to make sure he won't reveal information to the feds.
9. **Andrew Holt** - Assassinated by Jack's men on Walt's orders, to make sure he won't reveal information to the feds.
10. **Anthony Perez** - Assassinated by Jack's men on Walt's orders, to make sure he won't reveal information to the feds.
11. **Isaac Conley** - Assassinated by Jack's men on Walt's orders, to make sure he won't reveal information to the feds.
12. **William Moniz** - Assassinated by Jack's men on Walt's orders, to make sure he won't reveal information to the feds.
13. **Harris Boivin** - Assassinated by Jack's men on Walt's orders, to make sure he won't reveal information to the feds.
14. **Raymond Martinez** - Assassinated by Jack's men on Walt's orders, to make sure he won't reveal information to the feds.
15. **Ron Forenail** - Assassinated by Jack's men on Walt's orders, to make sure he won't reveal information to the feds.
16. **Dennis Markowski** - Assassinated by Jack's men on Walt's orders, to make sure he won't reveal information to the feds.
17. **Steve Gomez** (*unintentionally*) - Walter's call to Jack led his gang to arrive in To'hajiilee and murdered Steve in a firefight.
18. **Hank Schrader** (*unintentionally*) - Walter's call to Jack led his gang to arrive in To'hajiilee and ultimately led to Hank getting shot by Jack.
19. **Andrea Cantillo** (*unintentionally*) - Revealed her address and relation to Jesse to Jack and his gang as part of a ploy to kill Jesse. Several months later, this would lead to her getting shot in front of Jesse's eyes as punishment.
20. **Todd Alquist** - After freeing Jesse and killing the majority of the Neo-Nazis, the former took the opportunity to strangle Todd with his chains and then snap his neck as Walt watched on.

## Gallery:

Walter's appearance in the 1980's.Walter first meeting Gustavo Fring.Walter outsmarting Mike Ehrmantraut.Walter with Jesse Pinkman, in Gustavo Fring's meth lab.Walter with Jesse, Mike and  Gus in his meth lab, as Gus slits Victor's throat."WHERE IS THE MONEY?!!"Walter's villainous breakdown.Walter's villainous laugh.Hank Schrader realizing that Walter is in face "Heisenberg".Walter shocked at firing at Mike, injuring and later killing him.Walter crumbling down at Hank Schrader's death.Walter White's death.
## Trivia:

* Bryan Cranston won four Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, tying him with Dennis Franz for the record in this category, thanks to his performance as Walter White.
* Creator of the series, Vince Gilligan, has stated that his intention with Walter White's tranformation throughout the show was to turn Mr. Chips into Scarface.
* The song that Walt whistles after hearing about Drew Sharp's disappearance is "Lily of the Valley". Coincidentally, this is the same plant he used to poison Brock with. This in it of itself can be an indicator that Walt has stooped so low in his morality that he sees children as expendable.
* There are several allusions to Walter White being a symbol for Satan himself:
	+ His drug known as Blue Meth corrupts others into killing each other or going against each other from either inhaling it or having wars over the distribution of the product - one example being when it influences Tuco to beat one of his henchmen to death for inadvertently insulting him.
	+ Like Satan, Walter White starts off as one with good intentions but lets his ego and hunger for power corrupt him into doing evil deeds.
	+ As Marco and Leonel Salamanca are asking Hector to identify Walter White as Heisenberg, they use a Ouija board for him to spell out his name.
	+ He is even referred to as such by other characters to allude to this symbolism-particularly Jesse when he tries to persuade Hank into not allowing them to meet each other in a public place out of fear that Walt might kill him ("*Mr. White is the devil"*).
	+ His attire after having been more involved in the drug business, a bald head with a goatee, is reminiscent of the description most often associated with Satan.
* Throughout the show, Walter can be seen subcounsciously picking up traits from the people he killed, likely in order to represent his descent into villany and his slow transformation into a drug kingpin.
	+ His first victim in the series, Krazy-8 liked to eat sandwiches with the crust removed. In Season 3, Walt can be seen removing the crust from a sandwich he prepared.
	+ After killing Gus, Walt also adopted some of his mannerisms and strategies. He started driving around an old Volvo (the same model of car that Gus drove) and started presenting himself in a friendly persona while working at his car wash, similarly to how Gus portrayed himself during his daytime job at Los Pollos Hermanos. Similarly, he also started using a front business for his meth operation, Vamonos Pest.
	+ Lastly, upon killing Mike Ehrmantraut, Walter started ordering his drinks with ice, in a similar fashion to Mike. It's worth noting that prior to that, Walter used to request his drinks with no ice.