| “ | Say my name.
'You're Heisenberg.' You're Goddamn right. |
„ |
| ~ Walter White to the drug dealers, quotations is the drug dealer. |
| “ | Who are you talking to right now? Who is it that you think you see? Do you know how much I make a year? I mean, even if I tell you, you wouldn’t believe it. Do you know what happens if I suddenly decide to stop going into work? A business big enough it could be listed on the NASDAQ goes belly-up. Gone. It ceases to exist without me. No, you clearly don’t know who you’re talking to so let me clue you in. I am not in danger, Skylar. I am the danger. A guy opens his front door and gets shot, and you think that of me? No. I am the one who knocks. | „ |
| ~ Walter White's famous speech to Skylar |
Walter Hartwell White, Sr., also known by his alias Heisenberg, is the main villainous protagonist of the television series Breaking Bad. He also appears in a flashback scene in El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie. 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.
What Makes Him Sympathetic?[]
- His father died of Huntington's Disease when he was six years old.
- He is a chemistry genius who is under-appreciated and is forced to work as a high school teacher and as a car wash worker just to provide for his family.
- He could have been a billionaire and have had a better life if he hadn't sold his shares in Grey Matter. This experience gives him an urge to succeed at any cost and drives a lot of his actions.
- His son suffers from Cerebral palsy and his treatment costs a lot of money.
- Walter suffers from insecurities that the people in his life don't respect him enough. His wife and son don't take him seriously enough, his brother-in-law makes jokes at his expense, his boss at the car wash insults him and forces him to perform tasks that he is not paid to do and the students at his school also don't respect him or the subject he is teaching.
- In the very first episode he is diagnosed with lung cancer and is informed that he doesn't have much more to live.
- After calculating the costs. Walter comes to the conclusion that if he dies, his family would have huge debts to pay. For this reason, he decides to start selling drugs in order to provide for son and wife.
- After meeting with Jesse Pinkman, the two of them form a friendship even though they often have arguments. Walter often saves Jesse's life and likes him.
- When he has to commit his first murder (of Krazy-8), Walter hesitates and ultimately decides to let him go away. In the end, Walter kills Krazy-8 but only because the later also attempted to murder him.
- Walter feels bad about letting Jesse's girlfriend die and even drops a few tears.
- He also feels bad that his actions have unintentionally cause a plane crash with many victims and have lead to a man commiting suicide. This leads to him keeping the eyeball of the pink teddy bear that fell in his pool, which serves as a reminder to him of the cost of what he does.
- Suffers from insecurities that his own son respects Hank more than him.
- Tries to encourage Todd that he is doing fine, after he sees that the latter is upset about the drug he has produced.
- Due to his criminal activities, all of Walter's relationships with his family suffer. He tries to fix them but everything he does is in vain.
- He tries to protect Hank from Gus by getting Saul to call the DEA.
- Refuses to kill Jesse even after the latter tries to burn down his house. In the end, he does hand him over to Jack's gang because he partially blames him for Hank's death but in the final episode, he rescues Jesse from this fate and allows him to drive away with a car.
- Feels bad after shooting Mike and attempts to calm him down in his last moment.
- Walter attempts to save Hank's life by offering all of his savings to Jack's gang. When Hank is killed anyway, Walter is overwhelmed with grief and remorse and wants to take revenge for his death.
- After his wife and son turn against him and call the police, Walter kidnaps his own baby daughter with the intention of looking after her because he doesn't want to be alone. Later, he feels regret and returns her to her mother.
- Lies on the phone that his wife wasn't involved in his business to keep her out of jail.
- Gives millions of dollars to his son even after the latter had turned against him. Not only that, Walter was able to engineer this in a way that prevented them from ever knowing the money came from him, which he doesn't mind.
- In the end he feels deep remorse about the crimes he has commited and how they ruined his life and the lives of his family. When he is fatally shot, Walter accepts his fate and dies in peace.
Trivia[]
- Throughout the show, Walter is shown to pick up traits of people he kills. For example, his 2nd victim Krazy-8 likes to eat sandwiches with the crust removed - and in season 3, we see Walter removing crust from his sandwich.
- Vince Gilligan said that Walter White didn't fully redeem himself in the final episode of the show - showing how evil he really became.
- Walter is considered to be one of the greatest characters in all of TV, helped by phenomenal writing and acting from Vince Gilligan and Bryan Cranston.