Nacho Varga

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## Magnificent Baddie

### Alias

Nacho
Nachito
Martin Cavallo

### Allies

Mike Ehrmantraut
Saul Goodman
Arturo Colon
Manuel Varga
Amber (girlfriend)
Nikki (girlfriend)
Jo (girlfriend)
Krazy-8
Gonzo
Carlos
No Doze
**All formerly:**
The Cartel

* Juan Bolsa
* Don Eladio
* Lalo Salamanca (former boss)
* Tuco Salamanca (former boss)
* Hector Salamanca (former boss)
* The Cousins

Gus Fring (former boss)

### Powers/Skills

Intelligence
Gunmanship
Strength
Agility
Bilingualism (fluent in English and Spanish)
Cunning
Criminal knowledge
Stealth
Intimidation

### Goals

Make sure his father is safe no matter what.
Get Tuco out of the picture (both succeeded).
Kill Hector Salamanca for his father's safety (failed, although he still stopped Hector).
Get Lalo Salamanca killed on Gus Fring's orders (failed).
Avoid getting killed by the Cartel (technically succeeded; still died, just not by the Cartel).

### Crimes

Mass murder
Drug dealing
Assault
Theft
Robbery
Conspiracy
Treason
Terrorism
Vigilantism
Defamation
Kidnapping
Corruption
Harassment
Abuse
Organised crime
Aiding and abetting
Psychological abuse
Vandalism
Death threats
Torture

### Type of MB

Charismatic Criminal

**Ignacio "Nacho" Varga** is a major character in the crime drama series *Better Call Saul*, the prequel/sequel to *Breaking Bad*.

He was a criminal who had formerly been affiliated with both the Cartel and Salamanca Family, starting out as the right-hand man of Tuco Salamanca before going on to work for the latter's uncle Hector Salamanca following Tuco's arrest. Following this, Nacho played a bigger role in the Cartel to the point of becoming the one in command of the Salamanca turf in Albuquerque. Despite this, however, he grows more unhappy with the Cartel's ruthlessness as both the lives of himself and his father are put in danger - most particularly when he ends up being forced to collaborate with Hector's archenemy, Gus Fring, against the Cartel.

He was portrayed by Michael Mando.

## What Makes Him Magnificent?

* Nacho is consistently an affable, deeply sympathetic, and cunning criminal who outwits the entire Juarez cartel including Tuco, Hector and even Lalo.
* His debut has him talk down the infamously ill-tempered and insane Tuco Salamanca from killing Jimmy and a couple of skateboarders, establishing him as both charismatic and a lighter shade of black compared to the rest of the cartel.
* When he gets arrested for supposedly kidnapping the Kettlemans, he uses his contacts to Jimmy to quickly get his name cleared.
* He manages to make multiple street deals behind the back of someone as notoriously paranoid as Tuco without him noticing.
* He outsmarts and robs the arrogant criminal Daniel Wormald of all his drugs and forces him to give him his car in exchange for giving back his baseball cards.
* He arranges Tuco's imprisonment together with Mike when he realizes Tuco is growing even more unstable then before.
* When Hector shows himself to be an even worse boss than Tuco and tries to force his dad into a life of crime, he pulls off a complicated scheme to switch his heart meds with sugar pills that would have killed Hector if it wasn't for Gus' interference.
* He may spend a good portion of the story as Gus' blackmailed mole but not only is this not due to any blunder on his part, he also does an excellent job in this role.
* Even while still heavily suffering from his injuries, he manages to kill a gangster that was trying to ambush the Salamanca twins.
* He salvages several drug stashes from a house that already is being raided by a SWAT team without any of them noticing, earning him Lalo's trust.
* When being hunted by the cartel and staged to die by Gus, he escapes the ambush and even evades the Salamanca cousins multiple times.
* He willingly turns himself in to Gus in exchange for Mike (and only Mike since he doesn't trust Gus at all), guaranteeing his father's safety.
* Even in his last moments he gives a scathingly awesome speech to the Salamanca family and Gus, revealing that he crippled Hector before taking Bolsa hostage. He then commits suicide, dying under his own terms after having ensured the safety of his beloved father.

## What Makes Him A Baddie?

* He threatens to have Jimmy tortured or killed if he doesn't get him released.
* He robs his business associate Daniel Wormald as soon as he gets the chance.
* He is a hardened criminal, having his whole life being deeply involved in drug trade.
* He gets a rival gang wiped out by the Cousins by framing them for killing Arturo.
* He takes quite a noticeable amount of pride in having crippled Hector for life.

## External Links

* Nacho Varga at the Heroes wiki
* Nacho Varga at the *Breaking Bad* wiki
* Nacho Varga at the Villainous Benchmark wiki
* Nacho Varga at the Inconsistently Admirable wiki

## Navigation

*Heisenberg's Empire*
Patrick Kuby | Mike Ehrmantraut

*Los Pollos Hermanos*
**Nacho Varga**

*Others*
Old Joe