History Characters / BreakingBadWalterWhite

** An interesting one- denial, or a lack of responsibility. Walt keeps trying to break into the criminal underworld, but while his chemistry knowledge and product are amazing, his actual foresight and longterm planning is nonexistent. Whenever Jesse runs into a reasonable snag in their operation (needing a distributor to deal more meth, finding it difficult to legally acquire the chemicals needed for P2P meth creation), Walt blames him and calls him an idiot. This is despite the fact that Walt is ''Jesse's partner by his own admission'' and thus shares some of the responsibility for keeping the operation up and going. He wants absolutely nothing to do with the grittier sides of the operation and keeps foisting all the responsibility of being caught onto Jesse. This takes a much darker turn in Season 5, [[spoiler: where the absence of Gus allows Walter to fill his place in the Albuquerque underworld and run his own empire... which completely falls apart as a result of his actions.]]

Walter White is a highly-intelligent yet underappreciated high school chemistry teacher living in Albuquerque, New Mexico. When he is diagnosed with terminal lung cancer on his fiftieth birthday, Walt begins to worry what will happen to his family with his death now imminent and the treatments to keep him alive being very expensive.

Walter White is a highly-intelligent yet unappreciated high school chemistry teacher living in Albuquerque, New Mexico. When he is diagnosed with terminal lung cancer on his fiftieth birthday, Walt begins to worry what will happen to his family with his death now imminent and the treatments to keep him alive being very expensive.

Walter White is a highly-intelligent high school chemistry teacher living in Albuquerque, New Mexico. When he is diagnosed with terminal lung cancer on his fiftieth birthday, Walt begins to worry what will happen to his family with his death now imminent and the treatments to keep him alive being very expensive.

** [[spoiler: This makes the rather tragic contrast in a {{Jerkass Woobie}} way of few times he was a positive example of this. He really ''did'' intend to properly retire from the drug trade in ''Gliding Over All'', as shown when he rebuffs Lydia in the very next episode. And in ''Ozymandias'', he tried his hardest to save Hank, even with Hank arresting him, by being willing to give up 80 million. He not only fails at saving him but his family believes he meant to get him killed.]]

* WhatYouAreInTheDark: A major element of the series is putting Walter through ever higher and higher stakes and showing his response. Almost every one he makes shows him to be quite a reprehensible human being.
** [[spoiler: This makes the rather tragic contrast in a {{Jerkass Woobie}} way of the one time he was a positive example of this. As he tried his hardest to save Hank, even with Hank arresting him, by being willing to give up 80 million. He not only fails at saving him but his family believes he meant to get him killed.]]

* OutGambitted: [[spoiler:By Hank, Gomez, and Jesse by luring him into a false sense of desperation. The three of them succeed in outsmarting Walter through his worries of his own money getting burnt, and it lures the latter into going in the desert, allowing them to expose the location of Walter's real money.]]

* OutGambitted: [[spoiler:By Hank and Jesse.]]

** Saul has his own issues, wanting money and his brother's version of love again, it doesn't change the fact that Walt repeatedly dismisses him as a "two-bit lawyer", even though Saul has been consistently and insanely useful to Walt throughout the series. Walter White literally thanks the guy ''once'', in the whole show

'''[[SecretIdentity Heisenberg)]]:''' Fulminated mercury... a little tweak of chemistry.

** Played completely straight with Saul Goodman with Walt yet again being the taker. Yes, Walt is paying Saul a percentage, but that is mostly so Saul has an incentive other than not getting caught. In truth, their relationship is almost completely one-sided for the majority of the series, with Saul being forced to cater to every last one of Walt's demands (even going out of his way to protect Walt in some cases) while risking his own life in the process. In return, Walt never shows any concern for Saul's safety and with the exception of "Crawl Space, never thanks Saul for any of his risk, even going so far as to threaten Saul when the latter wants to break ties with Walt.

* TheHerosBirthday: The first episode begins on Walt's 50th, and it's also the last normal day of his life (he is diagnosed with cancer the next day). His 51st and 52nd birthdays are significant too: on 51, [[spoiler:Skyler turns on him for good, even to the point of wishing death on him]], and on his 52nd birthday [[spoiler:he returns to Albuquerque to die.]]

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/32434541445.png]]
[[caption-width-right:300:''"A guy opens his door and gets shot, and you think that of me? No. '''I am the one who''' '''''knocks'''''!"'']]

* ArchEnemy: Hank views Heisenberg as his.

* PaperTiger: The public believes Walt to be a criminal mastermind in control of a vast empire. In reality, he's just a very good cook with some good connections. [[spoiler: The neo-nazis, who are supposed to be his henchmen, have no problem stealing from him once they realize how powerless he really is. By the end of Season 5, he has been reduced to pulling cheap tricks and giving empty threats to intimidate others into doing what he wants.]]

* DeathGlare: Surprisingly, a master of this. Just see his expression near the end of ''Over'', to Saul in ''Bullet Points'' or to Bogdan in ''Cornered''.

* CharacterDevelopment: THE WHOLE POINT of ''Breaking Bad''. He basically starts off from a meek, socially awkward put upon chemistry teacher who also works at a car wash to a more assertive, abusive patriarch. And the rest is history.

** The '''entire show''' is this trope for Walt. His money problems and lack of professional success are due entirely to his own ego and miserliness- he once had a promising career in Gray Matter and his work even co-earned him a Nobel Prize, but he threw it all away because he couldn't stand the fact that his then-girlfriend came from money as he wanted to be an entirely self-made man, and for the self-same reason he turns Gray Matter down later both when they offer him a well-paid job out of genuine respect for his talents and contribution to the company, or at least to cover his medical expenses, and ''even then'' it is implied that they would have helped him out at numerous points in the show if he had only asked for it. His entire criminal career, and all of the death and destruction that goes with it, is based on the incredibly petty motive that he doesn't like handouts.

* ControlFreak: Another trait of Walt's that is both a huge strength and a huge flaw. His perfectionism makes his product the best on the market, but his love of control leads him increasingly to act like a ManipulativeBastard, not just to protect himself, but to change the behavior of those close to him whenever it doesn't suit him.

* ConsummateLiar: Walter lies to everyone, including himself most of all.

* ClandestineChemist: A TropeCodifier and currently provides the trope image, not for his family. Walt is a brilliant chemist, but after leaving a company that became successful without him and working as a chemistry teacher, he rarely gets to use his full potential on the subject and instead chose to use his skills and knowledge to produce methamphetamine and poison as a living.

** His victory against Gus hinges on Gus being so bent on revenge that he would want to kill Hector himself. It works. [[spoiler:He later uses it to wipe out the Nazis and Lydia, seeing Lydia as a CreatureOfHabit and exploiting Jack's hatred of rats and {{Pride}} against them.]]

** In the final scene of the show, [[spoiler:Walt takes a rather nostalgic-feeling stroll through the Aryans' meth lab before dying of blood loss from his bullet wound. Badfinger's "Baby Blue" starts playing as background music, with the lyrics implying that he is dying next to his true love, which isn't his family or even his money, but his blue meth, his creation that he is so proud of because there was no one better than him.]]

** Walter has shown that he cares about Skyler but he is frequently an asshole to her and becomes downright abusive in the final season.

* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: To almost everyone else, he certainly wouldn't think so, but while he tries to deceive himself into thinking he has good intentions, he subverts them at every turn by using those intentions to manipulate others, especially Jesse and his own family. [[spoiler:By the end, he's clearly proud of the legacy he's carved out for himself, affectionately leaving a bloody handprint on the chemistry equipment in Jack's meth lab before he bleeds out.]]

** He seems to have always had a ego problem and some {{informed kindness}}, but he still worked two jobs for his family and his son talks of how he used to be very fondly.

** He seems to have always had a ego problem, but he still was a caring father who worked two jobs for his family before he broke bad...
** For how low he has sunken, he still cares for his family and tries to be a good family man to them. [[spoiler: After he has fallen, he still ensures his family gets the remainings of his wealth, and helps Skyler avoid prosecution for no other reason than that he didn't think she deserved to be dragged into this mess. He also finally admits his criminal actions were entirely self-serving]].

* {{Foil}}: Walt shares some traits with each of his rivals throughout the series:
** Like Tuco, both have a BerserkButton that goes off whenever someone affects their ego.
** Like Gus Fring, both are criminals that hide in plain sight, ostensibly focused on the "professional" side of drug dealing.
** Like Mike, Walt is motivated -- at least initially on Walt's side -- to get money to ensure the financial stability of their loved ones.
** Like Hank, both have little regard when it comes to exploiting Jesse for their own ends.
** Like Lydia, both are ProperlyParanoid, anal retentive criminals who believe MurderIsTheBestSolution to cover their asses.
** Like Saul, he carries out business under an assumed name and an alter-ego. Both characters are also highly intelligent and talented, but terrible self-saboteurs who were struggling as a result of their poor life choices, and were then only able to find success by illegal means.

** When his son establishes an online donation website to pay for his cancer treatment, Walt does ''not'' take it well and is even resistant to Saul's suggestion of using it to launder his drug money.
** Saul has his own issues, wanting money and his brother's version of love again, it doesn't change the fact that Walt repeatedly dismisses him as a "two-bit lawyer", even though Saul has been consistently and insanely useful to Walt throughout the series.

** Epically so the end of ''Crawl Space,'' which also symbolizes his descent into total moral bankruptcy.

->''"My wife is seven months pregnant with a baby we didn't intend. My fifteen-year old son has cerebral palsy. I am an extremely overqualified high school chemistry teacher. When I can work, I make $43,700 per year. I have watched all of my colleagues and friends surpass me in every way imaginable. And within eighteen months, I will be dead. And you ask why I ran?"''