My name is Walter Hartwell White. I live at 308 Negra Aroya Lane, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 87104. To all law enforcement entities, this is not an admission of guilt. I am speaking to my family now. Skyler, you are the love of my life. I hope you know that. Walter Jr., you're my big man. There are going to be some things that you'll come to learn about me in the next few days. But just know that no matter how it may look, I only had you in my heart. Goodbye.
„
~ Walter recording a farewell message for his family
“
I said, FUCK YOU. AND YOUR EYEBROWS.
„
~ Walter to Bogdan
“
Look, Skyler, I just haven’t quite been myself lately. I haven’t been myself lately, but I love you. Nothing about that has changed, and nothing ever will. So right now, what I need is for you to climb down out of my ass. Can you do that? Will you do that for me, honey? Will you please, just once, get off my ass. You know, I’d appreciate it. I really would.
„
~ Walter calmly tells Skyler to stop meddling in his affairs
“
All right, I’ve got the talking pillow now. Okay? We all, in this room, we love each other. We want what’s best for each other, and I know that. I am very thankful for that. But what I want, what I need, is a choice…. Sometimes, I feel like I never actually make any of my own–choices, I mean. My entire life, it just seems I never, you know, had a real say about any of it. Now this last one–cancer–all I have left is how I choose to approach this…. Skyler, you’ve read the statistics. These doctors talking about surviving. One year, two years, like it’s the only thing that matters. But what good is it to just survive if I am too sick to work, to enjoy a meal, to make love? For what time I have left, I want to live in my own house. I want to sleep in my own bed. I don’t want to choke down thirty or forty pills every single day and lose my hair and lie around too tired to get up and so nauseated that I can’t even move my head. You cleaning up after me? Me–some dead man, some artificially alive, just marking time? No. No. And that’s how you would remember me. That’s the worst part. So that is my thought process, Skyler. I’m sorry. I just–I choose not to do it.
„
~ Walter confessing his true feelings to his family
“
Jesse!
„
“
Who are you talking to right now? Who is it you think you see? ...Do you know how much I make a year? I mean, even if I told you, you wouldn't believe it. Do you know what would happen if I suddenly decided to stop going to work? A business big enough that it could be listed on the NASDAQ goes belly up; disappears, 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, Skyler. I am the danger. A guy opens his door and gets shot and you think that of me? No. I am the one who knocks!
„
~ Walter telling Skyler who he is
“
Alright, let's talk about Gale Boetticher. He was a good man and a good chemist. He didn't deserve what happened to him. He didn't deserve it at all. But I'd shoot him again and tomorrow and the next day and the day after that. When you make it Gale versus me, or Gale versus Jesse, Gale loses! Simple as that. This is on you, Gus, not me, not Jesse. I mean really, what'd you expect me to do? Just simply roll over and allow you to murder us? That I wouldn't take measures – extreme measures – to defend myself? Wrong! Think again.
„
~ Walter to Gustavo Fring
“
Then what else should I not worry about, Saul, hm? Should I not worry that Gus plans to murder me at the first chance he gets? Should I not worry that my drug-addicted partner doesn't seem to care whether he lives or dies? You should see his house. It's like skid row! He has actual hobos living there! Now how long before Gus decides that he's too big of a risk? That guy Mike, that grunting dead-eyed cretin, sucker punching me in the face! I've got Gus wielding a box cutter! I mean...Western Union! Message received! Let me ask you, when did this stop being a business, hm? Why am I the only person capable of behaving in a professional manner?
„
~ Walter venting to Saul
“
If that's true, if you don't know who I am, then maybe your best course... would be to tread lightly.
„
~ Walter in response to Hank saying "I don't even know who I'm talking to right now."
“
If you're watching this tape, I'm probably dead, murdered, by my brother-in-law Hank Schrader. Hank has been building a meth empire for over a year now and using me as his chemist. Shortly after my 50th birthday, he asked that I used my chemistry knowledge to cook methamphetamine, which he would then sell using connections that he made through his career with the DEA. I was astounded, I always thought Hank was a very moral man, and I was particularly vulnerable at the time, something that he knew and took advantage of. I was reeling from the cancer diagnosis that was poised to bankrupt my family. Hank took me on a ride along and showed me how much money even a small meth operation could make. I was weak, I didn't want my family to go into financial ruin, so I agreed. Hank had a partner, businessman named Gustavo Fring. Hank sold me into servitude to this man. When I tried to quit, Fring threatened my family. I didn't know where to turn. Eventually, Hank and Fring had a falling out and things escalated. Fring was able to arrange.. I guess you call it a hit.. on Hank and it failed, but Hank was seriously injured. So I wound up paying his medical bills, which amounted to a little over 177,000 dollars. Upon recovery, Hank was bent on revenge. Working with a man named Hector Salamanca, he plotted to kill Fring. The bomb that he used was built by me, and he gave me no option in it. I've often contemplated suicide, but I'm a coward. I wanted to go to the police, but I was frightened. Hank had risen to become the head of the Albuquerque DEA. To keep me in line, he took my children for 3 months he kept them. My wife had no idea of my criminal activities, was horrified to learn what I had done. I was in Hell, I hated myself for what I had brought upon my family. Recently, I tried once again to quit and in response, he gave me this. I can't take this anymore. I live in fear every day that Hank will kill me or worse, hurt my family. All I can think to do is to make this video and hope that the world will finally see this man for what he really is.
„
~ Walter's fake confession
“
Open your eyes! Can't you see that I needed you on my side to kill Gus. I ran over those gang bangers, I killed Emilio and Krazy-8, why? I did all of things to try and save your life as much as mine! But only you're too stupid to know it!
„
~ Walter trying to convince Jesse that he cares about him
“
I watched Jane die. I was there. And I watched her die. I watched her overdose and choke to death. I could have saved her. But I didn't.
„
~ Walter revealing to Jesse that he watched Jane die
“
Jesse!
„
“
I did it for me.
I liked it.
I was good at it.
And I was really...
I was alive.
„
~ Walter explaining why he became Heisenberg to Skyler
Breaking Bad ThemeNegro Y AzulWalter signing A Horse With No Name
Walter Hartwell White Sr., also known by his clandestine pseudonym and business moniker Heisenberg, is a chemist and drug kingpin living in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Walt is a former high school chemistry teacher at J. P. Wynne High School who, after being diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, starts manufacturing crystal methamphetamine with his former student, Jesse Pinkman, in order to pay for his treatments and secure the financial future of his family: his wife Skyler, son Walt Jr., and infant daughter Holly.
Due to Walt's skill with chemistry and dedication to perfection, the meth he cooks is astonishingly pure and potent - and due to an alternative chemical process he uses to create it, it has a distinct blue coloration. Walt's "Blue Sky" catches the attention of dealers who want a piece of such high-quality product, and also the DEA who want to find out where it's coming from. Walt adopts the moniker "Heisenberg" as an alias as he immerses himself in the drug trade and works his way up to the international level, becoming a famous and feared drug kingpin.
The following synopsis contains massive spoilers for Breaking Bad.
In the 1980s, Walt co-founded the company Gray Matter Technologies with his friend Elliott Schwartz and then-girlfriend Gretchen, but he left both Gray Matter and Gretchen soon after and sold his stake in the company for merely $5,000, while Gretchen and Elliott married and then went on to propel Gray Matter Technologies to becoming a multi-billion dollar business. Walt was never credited for his early work in the company, and resented them for it for years after. Walt eventually took up two jobs as both a high school chemistry teacher and a car wash employee in order to stay financially afloat. Eventually, though, he was diagnosed with lung cancer, and, fearing the idea of dying without leaving any money to his family, Walt began to search for other means of making money.
After joining his brother-in-law and accomplished DEA agent Hank Schrader on a drug bust and hearing from Hank about the lucrative profits that drug manufacturing and dealing could produce, Walt decided to use his knowledge of chemistry to become involved in the drug trade as a chemist and manufacturer in order to settle his financial woes and leave money behind for his family. Knowing nothing about the drug trade, he enlisted the aid of Jesse Pinkman, to help manufacture and, more importantly, sell his meth. Walt, by means of a P2P cook utilizing methylamine, produced methamphetamine of unrivaled chemical purity and a distinctive blue color, which was christened "Blue Sky" by dealers and users alike and which instantly began to dominate the market thanks to its potency.
While initially heavily reluctant to use violence, Walt gradually came to see it as a necessity, and eventually developed into a ruthless drug lord motivated largely by vanity, ego, and greed. At the beginning of his new career, he and Jesse made mere thousands of dollars through street dealing, and were constantly met with failure. Following multiple tense, deadly partnerships with distributors Tuco Salamanca and Gustavo Fring that ended in their respective deaths, however, and with the help of Jesse, Gus's former enforcer Mike Ehrmantraut, and Lydia Rodarte-Quayle, Walt eventually became the head of his own drug empire: the largest methamphetamine manufacturing operation in US history, branching as far as Eastern Europe, and enlisting Skyler to help him launder the profits.
After accumulating over $80 million USD from his involvement in the drug trade, and following a resurgence in his cancer, Walt retired from the drug business permanently. However, shortly after, Hank accidentally stumbled upon a vital clue that led him to the realization that his own brother-in-law, Walt White, was in fact the famed drug kingpin that he had been chasing for a year: Heisenberg. Though Walt attempted to blackmail Hank by threatening to paint Hank as Heisenberg and himself as a victim of Hank, Hank was able to corner Walt with help from Jesse, who finally betrayed Walt after a devastating revelation. Walt fell into a trap when Jesse falsely threatened to burn his accumulated fortune, and Hank and his longtime DEA partner Steve Gomez finally arrested him. At the last minute, though, Jack Welker and his gang appeared, Walt having just minutes before called them to come save him from Jesse, who Walt had thought was alone and about to kill him. Walt pleaded with Jack, but could not stop him, and, following a large shootout, Steve was killed and Hank was executed. Walt had his entire fortune stolen by the gang, save for one barrel of money that Jack left him. Seething, with the rewards of all his drug efforts stolen and his brother-in-law dead, Walt betrayed Jesse to Jack, who, at Todd Alquist's request, took Jesse as a slave to cook meth for him and his gang.
Walt returned home and attempted to escape with his family, but Skyler and Walt Jr. resisted him, and, desperate, Walt left them, kidnapping Holly (though he later had her returned) and berating Skyler in a DEA-tapped phone call in an attempt to paint her as a victim and absolve her of any criminal guilt or suspicions. With his whole family and most law enforcement now against him, though, Walt went into hiding in New Hampshire with the help of a disappearer and remained in hiding for almost a year. Eventually, he returned to Albuquerque to both say farewell to Skyler and to give her the coordinates to Hank and Steve's undiscovered bodies so that she could strike a deal in court and get their family's life back, to settle an old dispute, and to ensure his family's financial security once and for all.
Walt went on to confront and then massacre Jack's entire gang, executing Jack in the same way that Jack did Hank and getting revenge for the murders of both Hank and Steve. In doing so, Walt set Jesse free from his slavery, and quietly succumbed to a ricocheted bullet wound he sustained in the massacre on the floor of a meth lab, having finally resolved many of the problems he had caused.
Statistics
Tier:10-B, 9-C to 9-B with various weapons, 9-B to 9-A with explosives
Range:Standard Melee physically, Hundreds of Meters with guns
Intelligence:Genius (Despite only being a high school chemistry teacher, Walter is an extremely skilled chemist, being the self-proclaimed best meth cook in all of America, and possibly the entire world[26]. After switching to a p2p cook, the purity of his meth reached as high as 99.1%[27], making it by far the most valuable meth on the market, even catching the attention of Gustavo Fring, who at that point was the single most powerful drug kingpin north of the Mexican border. Trained Jesse Pinkman to be almost as good of a meth cook as himself, despite Jesse having no formal background in chemistry and even having flunked his chemistry class in high school, with his meth reaching purity levels of up to 96.2% unassisted[28], outclassing even the likes of Gale Boetticher, who graduated with a bachelor's degree in chemistry and learned Walter's formula. Co-founded Gray Matter Technologies with Elliot Schwartz and Gretchen Schwartz, which would go on to be worth $2.16 billion. Constructed a turret from scratch and used it to wipe out Jack Welker's gang, despite having no formal background in engineering[29]. Constructed a pipe bomb from scratch[30] and was able to lure Gus into a trap so he could kill him with it[31]. Managed to hide his underground meth operation from his relatives, including Hank Shrader, who was a DEA agent and one of the best investigators on his team, for over a year, with Skyler and Hank only finding out through specific moments of carelessness from Walter, and even put together a fake confession painting Hank as the one running his meth operation so that Hank would be unable to expose him after he found out the truth[32]. Came up with a plan with the help of Jesse to rob a train completely undetected, taking 1,000 pounds of methylamine from one of the train cars and replacing its weight with about 920 pounds of water[33]. Figured out that Krazy-8 was planning to kill him after he collected the shards of the plate he accidentally broke and placed them together to deduce that a large chunk of it was missing, taken by Krazy-8 so he would have a weapon to kill him with once freed[34]. Outsmarted bothMikeandVictoreven when he was backed into a corner by them, creating an opportunity for Jesse to kill Gale so that Gus would still need both of them[35]. ConvincedDeclanto become his distributor, despite the fact that he originally wanted to get the Blue Sky meth off the streets and was unwilling to compromise on the methylamine sale[36])
*Smith & Wesson 4506: Walter was in brief possession of one after stealing it from its original owner, Krazy-8, though would later dispose of it by dissolving it in hydrofluoric acid.
Ruger LCR: A polymer-framed revolver. Walter bought one with the intention of using it to kill Gustavo Fring.
Smith & Wesson M945: A .45 caliber semiautomatic pistol. Walter stole one from one of the rival dealers that killed Tomás and used it to execute him after he had ran him over.
M4A1 Carbine: An assault rifle. Walter briefly possesses one after he steals it from Tuco Salamanca.
M60: A gas-operated, air-cooled, belt-fed, general-purpose machine gun that fires from the open-bolt position and is chambered for the 7.62 mm NATO cartridge. Walter bought one from Lawson so that he could construct a turret with it, with the intention of wiping out the entirety of Jack Walker's gang.
Other
Standard Tactics:
Weaknesses: While Walter is a very intelligent man, he is greatly hindered by his overwhelming sense of pride. This is reflected in many occurrences across the series, the most egregious of which being his refusal to join back Gray Matter Technologies and have Elliot and Gretchen pay for his treatment, despite the fact that accepting this deal would have allowed him to fully live out his life and provide for his family without having to resort to illicit means of income. Walter was diagnosed with lung cancer relatively early in the series, which can sometimes hinder him by causing him to cough uncontrollably, temporarily making him defenseless and giving away his position.
Trivia
Walter is one of the only two characters who appear in every episode of Breaking Bad, the other being Jesse Pinkman.
Walter is the only character to have spoken dialogue in every episode, with Jesse having no dialogue in the episode "Buried".
Walter sold his share of Gray Matter to Elliot for $5,000, towards the end of the show, his share would be worth upwards of $720 million. This was inspired by the real-life story of Apple co-founder Ron Wayne selling his interest in Apple to Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs for $2,300, missing out on billions of dollars.
In 2016, Vince Gilligan finally revealed the true reason for why Walter left Gray Matter. He revealed that Walter left Gretchen and Gray Matter because he felt inferior to her and her wealthy family, thus confirming that his ego and pride were the reasons why.
Walter was born in 1958, because Jane Margolis' father mentions she was "twenty seven next month" and that her date of birth was April 1982, so the year is 2009. So "Pilot" takes place in 2008, since the most recent occurrence of Walt's birthday, in September, must have happened in the year before, and Walt turns 50. So then, "Fifty-One" takes place in 2009, and "Felina" in 2010. This is further confirmed by Vince Gilligan in an interview that Better Call Saul takes place "in 2002" and "6 years before Saul meets Walt White".
Bryan Cranston developed most of Walter's backstory, and also partially chose his attire. When he developed Walt's mustache, he said he wanted it to look like a dead mouse.
Walter's doctor told him he may live two years in the best scenario: He lived almost two years after his diagnosis, missing the 2-year mark by a single day.
Walter's gunshot wound in the finale is at his right side of his lung and is also on the opposite side of the same spot where he shot Mike.
Walter has killed (inadvertently or otherwise) 201 people (including himself).
Walter has the last on-screen death of the show.
Walter is 5'11" (180 cm) and 165-170 lbs (75–77 kg).
According to Aaron Paul's audition tape, Walter was originally supposed to be 41 years old.
