Walter White

"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 White

Walter Hartwell White, Sr., also known by his alias Heisenberg, is the main protagonist and anti-hero of Breaking Bad.

Biography
Walter White is a talented chemist who, as a graduate student at the California Institute of Technology, contributed with the research that helped a team win a Nobel Prize in Chemistry. After graduating school, Walter founded the firm Gray Matter Technologies with Elliott Schwartz, his former classmate and close friend. Around this time, Walter dated his lab assistant, Gretchen. However, he abruptly left both Gretchen and Gray Matter Technologies, retaining financial interest in the company. Gretchen and Elliott later married and made a fortune, over which Walter secretly harbors animosity. By the start of Breaking Bad, Walt has been forced to work as a high school chemistry teacher in Albuquerque, New Mexico, providing instruction to uninterested and disrespectful students. The job pays so poorly that he is forced to take a second job at a car wash, which proves particularly humiliating when he must clean the cars of his own students. Walter is married to Skyler White; they have a teenage son named Walter Jr., who has cerebral palsy. Skyler is also pregnant with their second child, Holly, who is born at the end of season two. His other family includes Skyler's sister, Marie Schrader, and her husband, Hank, who is an agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Season 1
Soon after his 50th birthday, Walt passed out while working at the car wash. He was then reluctantly rushed to the hospital via ambulance where he was eventually diagnosed with stage-three terminal lung cancer and given less than two years left to live. This grim prognosis causes a dramatic change in Walt's usual mild-mannered demeanor, and he decides he must take extreme measures to provide for his family's long-term financial security. After being invited by his DEA agent brother-in-law, Hank, to accompany him on a live raid on a methamphetamine lab, Walt has a circumstantial encounter with one of his former students, Jesse Pinkman, whom he finds out is a meth dealer and manufacturer, also referred to as cook, who goes by the name "Captain Cook". With this information, Walt blackmails Jesse into helping him also enter the illegal drug trade on the production side, using his chemistry knowledge to cook remarkably potent and chemically pure "crystal" meth with Jesse to help him distribute it.

Operating out of an RV in the desert, the two must defend themselves against two dealers, formerly Jesse's distributors, who accuse Walter of being a DEA agent. At first offering them the recipe to his crystal meth, Walter instead gasses them with phosphine gas and leaves them to suffocate in the RV, before driving away with an injured Jesse in tow. Walter and Jesse soon discover that one of the dealers is still alive, and restrain him in Jesse's basement. After a coin flip, Jesse is tasked with disposing of the dead dealer's body, and Walter with killing the other, a prospect that sickens him. Ignoring Walter's instructions on using a specific plastic container, Jesse dissolves the dead body in a bathtub of hydrofluoric acid, but the acid eats through the tub and the floor beneath it, spilling dissolved entrails in the hall.

Meanwhile, Walter has begun providing food and a latrine to his prisoner, Krazy-8, whom he also confides in, attempting to find any excuse to leave him alive. Due to his illness, Walter passes out briefly while delivering food in one such instance, breaking a plate. Awakening later, Walter picks up the broken plate and goes to get the key to set Krazy-8 free. However, while upstairs, Walt has a sudden realization that there is a large sharp piece of the plate missing, which Krazy-8 picked up and hid on his person while Walt was passed out. Realizing that Krazy-8 intends to kill him the second he sets him free, Walt decides that he has no choice but to kill the dealer, which he does by pulling back on the bike lock around his neck holding him in place until he chokes to death. Following the disposal of the body, Walter severs ties with Jesse.

At a dinner party with his family, Walter finally reveals his cancer, having first told Skyler about his health condition some time before. They implore him to visit specialist doctors and undergo chemotherapy. At first adamant to decide his own fate, to die honorably instead of suffering the indignities of chemotherapy side-effects, Walter finally agrees to treatment. He pretends to accept financial assistance from his wealthy friends Elliott and Gretchen as a cover story to explain the source of payment for his chemotherapy. In reality, he approaches Jesse to rebuild their business arrangement and so pay for the treatments himself as a matter of pride. Jesse, unable to replicate Walter's recipe, accepts Walter's partnership and agrees to their clearly defined roles: Jesse the salesman and Walter the cook. Jesse learns that Walter has lung cancer and, realizing his goals of helping his family after his death, develops a newfound respect for him.

Walt sends Jesse to negotiate with Tuco, a violent psychopath with links to the Mexican cartels who has taken over local drug distribution after the death and disappearance of Krazy-8. During their first meeting, Tuco refuses to pay up front for the product and savagely beats Jesse when he attempts to end the deal. With Jesse in the hospital, Walt confronts Tuco with the demand for up-front payment, using the pseudonym "Heisenberg." As Tuco prepares to assault him, Walt detonates a concealed explosive (Mercury(II) fulminate), blowing out the top floor of the hideout and intimidating Tuco into surrendering payment with a promise for future business. Jesse recovers from his wounds and the two resume cooking meth, this time circumventing the restrictions on over-the-counter drug pseudoephedrine products by stealing a large drum of methylamine from a chemical warehouse and using an alternate method of synthesis. Now able to produce four times as much crystal meth as before, and of higher quality, the two begin steady business with the increasingly psychotic Tuco.

Season 2
Fearing for their lives, White and Pinkman cook up a plan to kill Tuco. White creates a batch of ricin, a potent poison they hope will kill Tuco after they trick him into ingesting it under the pretense that it is a new batch of meth. As they devise a scheme to deliver the poison to Tuco, Tuco kills one of his own deputies and a DEA raid shuts down his operation in Albuquerque. Tuco kidnaps Walter and Jesse, planning to take them to a "superlab" in Mexico. He first takes them to a hideout, a shack in the desert just outside the Mexican border where he keeps the two captive. Tuco tells them that he and his cousins plan on taking White to cook more meth in a Mexican lab. Tuco insinuates that he will kill Jesse, but White manages to convince Tuco that he needs his partner in order to cook. Time is running out and fearing that the cousins will kill Jesse as soon as they arrive, the two discuss ways of killing Tuco. They realize that they have the ricin poison with them, and they tempt Tuco into taking a hit. Jesse convinces Tuco to snort a line but during the conversation, Tuco grows suspicious about the product. Pinkman goes in to tell Tuco that it has a special ingredient, Pinkman's old trademark signature of adding chili pepper to his meth. Tuco, upon hearing this, says he hates chili powder and doesn't take the drug. They try again, this time adding the poison to the food that Tuco is preparing for them and his uncle, but Tuco switches his plate and instead gives his poisoned food to his uncle, who, having witnessed the poison being put into the food, flings the plate to the floor. Tuco eventually figures out that they are trying to harm him, so he takes Jesse out back to kill him. Angry and desperate, White and Jesse manage to incapacitate Tuco and escape when they see a vehicle approaching the house, a vehicle they believe is bringing the cousins. White and Pinkman run and hide, but instead of the cousins arriving, they realize that Hank has shown up after tracing Pinkman's vehicle using the tracking device installed in his car. A shootout between Hank and Tuco ensues, leaving Tuco dead. White and Pinkman run off into the desert.

With Tuco out of the picture, Walt decides that it's time the two become the new meth kingpins, expanding into Tuco's old territory. Things seem to be on track until one of their dealers, Skinny Pete, is mugged, forcing Jesse to confront the perpetrators. One of the junkies is killed when his wife drops a stolen ATM on his head, but Jesse takes credit for the killing, earning him fear and respect and further solidifying "Heisenberg" in the area. Another dealer, Badger, is arrested by the DEA during a sting operation, forcing Walter to deal with a crooked lawyer named Saul Goodman who can offer only an expensive solution to keep Badger from snitching while also keeping him alive. Then Saul demands a cut of the meth profit in return for being Walter and Jesse's legal counsel and advisor in their drug operation, further eroding their income.

Meanwhile, Gretchen, Walter's former lover and co-head of Gray Matter, discovers Walter has been lying to his family about her and her husband Elliott paying for his cancer treatment. She is horrified when an angry and bitter Walter blames them for getting rich off his research, but she continues to keep secret Walter's refusal of their financial assistance, for his family's sake. Skyler goes back to work for Ted Beneke, her former boss, who apparently once groped her while drunk, forcing her to quit her job. She increasingly relies on Ted for emotional support due to Walter's constant absence and strange behavior.

After Walter notices a large blotch on a scan of his chest, he believes the cancer has spread. Having only $16,000 remaining of the meth money after the numerous setbacks, he and Jesse spend several days in the desert cooking 38 pounds of meth to sell off before Walter dies. At the doctor, Walter discovers that the blotch is only a treatable side effect of the radiation and that his tumor has shrunk 80%. He plans to quit his meth partnership once the 38 pounds are sold off, but he finds himself bored with the return to his mundane life, finding pleasure only when he is distracted or dealing with dangerous situations.

When one of Walter and Jesse's dealers, Combo, is killed by rival dealers, Jesse is sent spiraling into a drug addiction that drags his new girlfriend Jane out of her sobriety. With their remaining dealers backing out, Saul uses his connections to introduce Walter and Jesse to a new distributor, Gus Fring, a cautious yet successful businessman who is skeptical of Jesse's dependability. Gus reluctantly offers to buy Walter's products for 1.2 million dollars but offers him only a one hour time frame to deliver. Walter attempts to contact Jesse to complete the exchange, but he and Jane are incapacitated after injecting heroin. Walter breaks into Pinkman's apartment to retrieve the meth. He manages to wake Jesse up, and asks him where the meth is. Jesse, who is high, tells Walter that it is hidden underneath the kitchen sink. Trying to rush to the deal, Walter receives a text message informing him that Skyler is giving birth. Walter is forced to complete the trade by himself just as Skyler goes into labor. He narrowly manages to complete the transaction, but he misses the birth of his daughter.

Walter loses trust in Jesse who has now begun to use heroin and promises to give him his share of the payout only if he agrees to go sober. Jane threatens to blackmail Walter, prompting him to turn over Jesse's share of the money. Janes father, growing suspicious of his daughter's recent behavior, catches Jesse and Jane with heroin and paraphanelia. He demands she return to rehab immediately, but Jane manages to convince him that she will go first thing the next morning. Jesse and Walter agree to go their separate ways, but Walter feels obligated to help Jesse. Walter gives Jesse his money and Jesse and Jane plan on running away before her father can take her to rehab. With almost half million dollars, they decide to go to New Zealand and get clean, agreeing that sobering up is something they should do together and the decision has to be their choice to make and not to placate those around them. They plan to destroy their remaining supply of drugs, but they decide to use just one more time.

After a coincidental meeting with Donald, Walt returns to Jesse, only to discover that he and Jane have taken heroin again. Walter attempts to wake Jesse by shaking him, knocking Jane from her side to her back. When Jane begins to cough and vomit, Walter decides to not intervene, letting her die. Jesse wakes up and realizes Jane is dead and Mike arrives to help him deal with the police. Later, Walt is confronted by Skyler who has finally discovered his numerous lives and lies. She leaves him, even when Walt offers to tell her everything, saying, "I'm too scared to know." The next day, two airplanes collide in the sky right above Walt's house. Before any of the other wreckage reigns down, a pink teddy bear splashes directly into his swimming pool.

Season 3
A week after the Wayfarer Flight 515 collision, Walt finally moves out of the house and into his own apartment. The next day, Skyler comes to visit him and hands over divorce papers and revealing her deduction that Walt is a drug dealer, and this is how he has paid for his treatment. Walt concedes and specifies that he is a crystal meth manufacturer, not a dealer, but Skyler still wants a divorce, saying she won't tell the police as long as he stays away from the family. After visiting and consoling Jesse about the plane crash, Walt meets with Gus, who makes Walt an offer of 3 million dollars for three months of his time, but Walt turns him down as he wants to get his family back.

Walt confides in Saul that Skyler knows about his double life, leading Saul to ask Mike to bug the White house. Walter Jr. sides with Walt during the marital spat, even packing a bag and going to Walt's new apartment in an effort to live with him, which Walt puts a stop to. However, Walter does eventually break back into his house after Skyler changes the locks to forcibly move back in with the family. Skyler responds by beginning an affair with Ted Beneke and informing Walt right away.

Walt reacts with furious anger at the realization that his wife is having an affair, and goes to Beneke Fabricators to talk to Ted. While waiting outside his office, Walt notices Ted peeking through the blinds and attempts to force his way into the office by throwing a large potted plant at the window. Security escorts him out and Mike picks him up and takes him straight to Saul's office, revealing they both knew about the affair because of the bugs.

Walt furiously fires Saul for bugging his house, who cancels the website money launderying. Following an attempt by Walt to intiate an affair with Carmen, he is suspended indefinitely with pay, and refuses to leave the house despite Skyler's affair. Gus eventually pulls him back into the meth-cooking business with a ploy pitting Jesse and Walt against one another, and showing him the state-of-the-art superlab he has just installed in one of his buildings. Once he has decided to go back in he moves back out of the house and signs Skyler's divorce papers.

Hank informs Walt of his impending investigation into Jesse and the RV, prompting Walt to get involved in the destruction of the RV, barely managing to not be discovered by Hank thanks to a well-timed phone call. After Jesse lands in the hospital due to Hank's beating, Walt manipulates Gus into making Jesse his partner to replace the nerdy Gale so Jesse will drop the charges on Hank. Later, Skyler forces Walt to pay for Hank's hospital bills after she deduces he is the reason behind the attack on Hank, lying to Marie and telling her that Walt earned the money counting cards and gambling in backrooms, providing a less extreme lie to account for his behavior and finances.

When Hank comes around, he lets the family know he received a warning call one minute before the ambush informing him of it. Walt concludes that Gus has orchestrated this entire series of events: steering the cousins away from him and onto Hank while also saving Hank's life, creating a firefight that would put heat on the cartel and allow him to corner the meth market in the Southwest. Walt meets with Gus at the Pollos Hermanos industrial plant, letting him know he has come to this conclusion and is grateful. Gus in return extends Walt's contract to 15 million dollars for a year's work along with a guarantee of safety for his family.

As Walt begins to write checks for Hank's medical bills, Skyler decides to become involved in the money laundering side of things, meeting with Walt and Saul and asserting her own demands. Walt also becomes friendier with Gus, eating dinner with him on occasion. However, when Jesse discoveres Tomas, Andrea's brother, murdered Combo, and is working for dealers who work for Gus, he demands retribution. Gus agrees to stop using children in his organization, but Tomas then turns up dead in a playground. When Jesse seeks vengeance against the two dealers who murdered him, Walt intervenes and kills them both, telling Jesse to run, fearing Gus's wrath.

Walt meets with Gus and Mike in the desert, asserting that what he did was necessary and Jesse is in hiding, not to be given up by Walt. Gus rehires Gale as Walt's lab assistant, secretly planning to replace Walt with Gale as his skills at running the lab increase. Walt begins to suspect this, and has Jesse lie in wait near Gale's apartment with a gun. When Mike and Victor kidnap Walt, planning to kill him, he promises to give up Jesse, but instead orders him to kill Gale, saving both their lives and keeping their jobs safe. Jesse goes to Gale's apartment and despite his pleas, shoots him as the season ends.

Season 4
After Jesse shot Gale, the two were brought to the lab and held together until Gus arrived and slit Victor's throat for being seen at the murder scene. Ever since, Walt has started to become paranoid and is plotting to get rid of Gus in order to ensure his safety. Walt bought a .38 Snub Nose Revolver from a guns dealer and started practicing his draw, and also tried getting Mike to help him get an audience with Gus so he could assassinate the drug-lord.

Walt worries that Gus is trying to set Jesse against him. Lately Jesse has been tasked with helping Mike and has met with Gus, so Walt creates some ricin and gives it to Jesse hoping that he'll be able to get close enough to poison Gus. After giving him the ricin, Walt places a GPS tracker on Jesse's car, confirming that Jesse went to Gus's house yet didn't poison him. When Jesse seeks Walt's help regarding how to teach the cartel how to make meth, Walt confronts him about the ricin and they get into a fist fight.

While Jesse is in Mexico, Walt continues cooking meth in the superlab under the supervision of Tyrus. He also drives Hank out to Gus's farm and to the industrial laundry as part of Hank's investigation. After being tasared and kidnapped by Tyrus, Gus meets with Walt and says that he's going to be taking care of Hank and that if he interferes, he'll kill Walt's family. Immediately Walt goes to Saul to get the phone number of the guy who makes people disappear and instructs Saul to tip-off law enforcement about the threat against Hank. At home, Walt is horrified to discover that he doesn't actually have enough cash to pay the guy to make his family disappear.

Because he had Saul make an anonymous tip to the D.E.A. threatening that The Cartel was seeking to kill him in retaliation for his killing of The Cousins, the D.E.A. send agents to Hank's house to guard he and Marie. Walt sends Skyler, Walt Jr., and Holly with them until he can figure out how to get Gus before he can make good on his threat to execute them all.

Walt manipulates Jesse into believing this was the work of Gus, who has a history of exploiting children and using poison to eliminate his enemies. Together they plan to have Jesse refuse to cook and lure Gus to the hospital so Walt can use a radio-activated pipe-bomb to blow up his vehicle and kill him. As Gus is leaving the hospital, however, he realizes that if he didn't poison Brock, then somebody did, and has the gut instinct to abandon his Volvo and seek another mode of transportation, figuring Walt is somehow behind the scheme. As Gus and his henchmen walk away, Walt bursts into tears from a rooftop across the street, distraught that another attempt on Gus has failed.

When Walt retrieves the car-bomb, he asks Jesse what happened, but Jesse is immediately taken in for questioning by federal agents for suspicion of posessing ricin. Walt has Saul visit Jesse while hes under arrest and he clues Saul into a potential enemy of Gus, Hector Salamanca, who Gus has been terrorizing at a retirement home.

Walt deduces that Hector is an enemy of Gus. Walt goes to the home and suggests that Hector surely hates Walt for what happened to Tuco, Leonel and Marco, but surely Hector must hate Gus more for killing his friends and family.

Walt convinces Hector to strap the bomb under his wheelchair once he returns from a meeting with Hank, in which Hector offers no other information, but succeeds in luring Gus to the retirement home. Hector later detonates the bomb Walt strapped to his wheelchair, killing Hector and Tyrus instantly and fatally wounding Gus.

Later that same day, Walt kidnaps one of Gus' henchman and forces him to escort them down the elevator to the main Super-Lab under the laundry where Jesse has been taken hostage and forced to cook the meth. Walt guns down both men and then rescues Jesse, who assists him in dumping all the chemicals and starting a huge fire before they evacuate all the immigrants working in the laundry.

Back on the rooftop of the hospital, Jesse reveals to Walt that Brock wasn't poisoned with Ricin, but a plant called Lily of the Valley which children often think is edible. Walt is relieved that Brock is ok and tells an uncertain Jesse that even though Gus did not poison Brock, he still "had to go". After Jesse leaves, Walt calls Skyler, who is curious about what happened with Gus and his men's death. Walt simply tells her, "I won..." and then drives off, pausing for a moment to gaze at Gus's Volvo, still in the parking garage, and smile.

The final shot of Season 4 zooms back in on the potted plant in Walt's yard that the spinning gun pointed at in the previous episode. As the camera zooms in on the plant, the music plays "until you travel to the place you can't come back..." and the tag "Lily of the Valley" is revealed, implying that Walt had poisoned Brock to win back Jesse's trust against Gus.

Season 5
After Gus' death, Walt returned home and disposed of all evidence from the pipe bomb and Lily of the Valley poison. Walt, Jr. and Skyler return home and while Jr. is excited about Hank's validation, Skyler tells Walt that she is afraid of him. Walt enjoyed a glass of scotch in celebration when he suddenly remembered Gus' cameras in the superlab.

Walt and Jesse stopped Mike in the desert and after a heated argument the three worked with Old Joe to devise a plan to destroy Gus' laptop which was being held at the local police evidence locker. They managed to destroy the laptop by powering up a giant magnet inside a moving truck outside the police station. They escaped but had to leave the truck. In the car, Walt told Mike that he was certain the magnet worked "because I said so."

Walt visited Saul at his office and when Saul tried to fire him as his client, Walt told him "we're done when I say we're done." Returning home, Walt told Skyler he knew what happened to Ted and, hugging her, said "I forgive you.".

Before helping Jesse search for the missing ricin cigarette, Walt hid the ricin in his bedroom's electrical outlet and placed a dummy cigarette in Jesse's roomba. Walt consoled Jesse after he had an emotional breakdown about nearly killing Brock and reassures him that their decision to kill Gus was justified. Walt and Jesse extended an offer to Mike to form a new meth operation and accepted his decision to decline. When the DEA ceased Mike's funds he reluctantly changed his mind and Walt smugly accepted his partnership.

Walt, Jesse, and Mike worked with Saul to sort out a new front for the meth manufacturing. They ended up agreeing on a mobile lab inside houses that were being bug bombed by Vamonos Pest Control. The mobile lab yielded less meth per cook than they were making for Gus but they each received a larger cut. However, Mike took "Legacy Funds" from each cook to recoup the lost savings of Fring's former colleages. Walt didn't take to this decision kindly at first but reluctantly accepted it.

Walt sells his Aztek to his mechanic for $50 and buys himself a new Chrysler 300 and Jr. another Dodge Challenger. He tells Skyler to launder another $20,000 and she tells him that she wants the children out of the house. He refuses. The next morning, Skyler reluctantly makes a "51" with bacon on Walt's eggs to celebrate his birthday. Instead of a grand party, Hank and Marie arrive for dinner. As Walt gives a speech thanking the family for their support over the last year, Skyler walks into the pool and sinks to the bottom. Walt dives in to save her. Hank and Marie offer, on behalf of Skyler, to take Walt Jr. and Holly for a few days. Walt sarcastically congratulates a frightened Skyler about her brilliant plan but she tells him that her only choice is to wait for Walt's cancer to return and keep the children away from as much crime as she can.

The next day, as Mike and Jesse argue over killing Lydia Walt, looking at his Heisenberg hat, informs them that the cooking must never slow down, no matter what. Outside, Jesse gives Walt a brand new TAG Heuer watch. At home, Walt shows the watch to Skyler and tell her that she will come around, just as Jesse did.

After interrogating Lydia with Mike and Jesse, they learn she had nothing to do with the GPS tracker. She suggests they steal methylamine from a train that runs through New Mexico but Walt calls the task impossible. Jesse comes up with a plan involving siphoning off 1,000 gallons and replacing it with water. The men and Todd narrowly pull off the heist and witness as Todd murders a bystander.

After disposing of the boy's bike and body; Walt, Jesse and Mike debate what to do with Todd. They vote to keep him close so he won't do anything rash. Walt tries to tell Jesse that their operation is now in the "smooth sailing" mode but the next day Jesse and Mike inform him they are selling their share of methylamine for $5 million each and bowing out of the meth trade. Walt refuses to join them, even when Mike's contact refuses to buy unless he gets all 1,000 gallons. Walt forces Jesse to dine with him and Skyler and when Skyler sullenly leaves the table he reveals to Jesse that his family has left him and his drug empire is the only thing that matters to him. Walt then heads to the Vamonos HQ where he is tied up by Mike so the methylamine can be sold without Walt's interruption. Walt escapes and hides the methylamine, promising -- at gunpoint -- that he has a solution where "everybody wins".

At the meeting with Declan, Walt offers to sell Mike's 35% stake in the crew and responsibility for distrubution for $5 million. After the deal is sealed, Walt and Jesse retreive he methylamine from the Car Wash under the glare of Skyler. Jesse reminds Walt that he is done with the meth trade too but Walt tries to convince him that throwing his talent away is a mistake. Jesse willingly leaves Vamonos without a penny. Walt then begins training Todd on cooking meth. Walt removes the bugs from Hank's office and overhears that the DEA is going to arrest Mike. Walt tips off Mike and later meets him to hand off a "burn bag" of cash, a gun, and a passport. After handing over the bag, Walt demanded Mike give him the names of the nine guys in prison who would likely flip on Walt since their legacy funds stopped flowing. Mike refused and in a fit of rage Walt storms up to Mike's car and shoots him through the window. Horrified by his actions, Walt drops the gun and staggers to Mike. He attempts to apologize but shuts up on Mike's dying request.

Walt and Todd disposed of Mike's car and body. Walt made an arrangement with Lydia to sell Blue Sky to the Czech Republic in exchange for the names of Gus' former ten henchmen. Walt paid Todd's uncle and neo-Nazi friends to murder them all in the span of two minutes. The plan was executed perfectly and no one was able to squeal to the DEA. Walt and Todd continued to cook meth flawlessly and effortlessly for three months until Skyler showed Walt a giant pile of cash in a storage unit and asked him for her children back. After a visit to the doctor, Walt paid Jesse a visit and gave him two duffle bags of cash. He then told Skyler "I'm out" and they had a lunch the next day with their kids and Hank and Marie.

During a family cookout, Hank flips through Leaves of Grass in Walt's bathroom and discovers that it is dedicated to "W.W." by "G.B." As Hank recalls a conversation with Walt regarding the initials from his earlier investigation, surmising that "G.B." is Gale Boetticher, he realizes that Walt is Heisenberg. Hank begins to secretly investigate Walt. Walt discovers a tracking device on his car and realizes Hank knows he is Heisenberg.

Hank meets with Skyler and asks her to go on record with a confession, but she refuses. Marie  learns the depth of Skyler's involvement with Walt's operation. Walt buries his money in the desert. Jesse, overwhelmed with remorse over the deaths that earned him $5 million, attempts to dispose of his money by throwing it in people's front lawns. Police bring him in for questioning, but Jesse refuses to roll over on Walt.

Declan supplies methamphetamine for Lydia's Czech connections, but she is dissatisfied with the product's quality. Walt rebuffs her attempts to lure him out of retirement. She arranges to have Declan and his associates killed in an ambush and reinstates Todd as cook. She remains dissatisfied with Todd's product, but he promises to improve.

Walt meets Jesse and Saul in the desert and offers Jesse money to leave town and assume a new identity. Jesse agrees, but then realizes Walt poisoned Brock and framed Gus. Jesse agrees to help Hank catch Walt. Walt contracts with Todd's uncle Jack to order a hit on Jesse. The "price" is one more cook, to teach Todd how to improve his product.

Jesse calls Walt to tell him he will get him "where [Walt] really lives". Walt receives a picture on his phone, staged by Jesse and Hank, showing an opened barrel of money, identical to the ones Walt buried in To'hajilee. Jesse calls Walt and offers him an ultimatum: meet Jesse at the site of the buried money, or Jesse will burn every barrel. Walt frantically drives to the reservation. Realizing he has been set up, Walt hides, calls Jack, and tells Jack to bring his men as soon as possible. When Hank and Gomez arrive with Jesse, Walt tells Jack not to come and surrenders to Hank. Walt waits handcuffed in the back of the SUV as Hank calls Marie to inform her of Walt's capture. Despite Walt's instructions, Jack and his crew pull up to the site, take cover and draw their weapons on the outnumbered Hank and Gomez. Helpless, Walt watches as the gang kills Gomez and begs for them to spare Hank. To support that plea, Walt admits to Jack that the specific location he gave them referred to the place where he buried $80 million. Hank, recognizing the futility of Walt's pleas, chides Walt for being so naive. Jack shoots and kills Hank. Jack steals almost all of Walt's $80 million, leaving Walt with one barrel. He readies to execute Jesse (on Walt's command). Todd convinces Jack they may need Jesse alive in order to find out what Jesse told the DEA.

Marie confronts Skyler and tells her Walt is in custody. She offers her and Hank's support, provided Skyler turns over all of Walt's false confession tapes implicating Hank and tells Walt Jr. the truth about his father. Skyler agrees and tells Walt Jr. everything about his father. They return home to find Walt hastily packing their bags. He explains they need to flee. Skyler realizes Hank has been killed and pulls a kitchen knife on Walt. They fight over the weapon, with Walt Jr. defending his mother and eventually calling the police on his father. Walt escapes with Holly. After taking full responsibility for the meth business during a call to Skyler that is monitored by the police, he leaves Holly at a fire station and assumes a new identity through Saul's contact and moves to a secluded cabin in New Hampshire.

Todd and his gang threaten Skyler with demands that she not mention Lydia to the DEA agents. Jesse cooks for Todd under duress and tries to escape his captivity. He is caught in an escape attempt and Todd kills Andrea in front of him as punishment. Walt decides to call Walter Jr., who hangs up on him after accusing Walt of killing Hank. Walt calls the Albuquerque DEA office in order to surrender, but moments later sees Elliott and Gretchen Schwartz on a Charlie Rose interview, in which they both deny Walt made any major contribution to Gray Matter besides the name. The police arrive at the bar to find no trace of Walt.

Walt steals a car and returns to New Mexico. He coerces Elliott and Gretchen to use his drug money to create an irrevocable trust in favor of Walter Jr. that he'll receive on his 18th birthday. Gretchen and Elliott are to claim it is their donation to Walt's innocent children, who had a monstrous father. He proceeds to purchase an M60 machine gun and recover the vial of ricin from his now-abandoned house. He constructs a remote-activated machine that allows the M60 to fire unmanned. Walt then visits Skyler and Holly and bids them farewell. Walt meets Lydia and Todd at a coffee shop under the pretense of wishing to discuss a new business proposition. He previously laced the only packet of stevia sweetener in the container on her table with the ricin. Lydia dismisses Walt as she adds the ricin to her tea.

Walt confronts Jack and his gang at the compound, and goads Jack into bringing Jesse into the room. Realizing that Jesse is a captive and not complicit in the gang's operations, Walt, feigning anger, tackles Jesse to the floor as he triggers the M60 mounted in the trunk of his car. The hail of gunfire rips through the wall, killing all of the gang members except Todd who is unhurt and Jack who is wounded. When the gunfire stops, Jesse strangles Todd with the chain of his handcuffs, finally breaking Todd's neck. Jack tries to dissuade Walt from finishing him off, but is promptly shot dead mid-sentence. Walt, who was hit by a ricocheting round from the machine gun, begins to bleed. He asks Jesse to kill him, as he now truly wants to die, but Jesse refuses. Moments later Lydia calls Todd's cell phone, which Walt answers. Walt unsympathetically informs Lydia that he has poisoned her with ricin, and hangs up. Jesse drives away from the compound, crying with relief and emotion. Walt walks to the lab, and smiles nostalgically as he takes a final look around. He leaves a bloody handprint on a chemical tank, then falls onto his back with a satisfied smile, apparently dead. Police enter the lab moments after he collapses.

Personality and Traits
An extremely complex character, the entire story of Breaking Bad shows Walter White's transformation from well-meaning and sympathetic anti-hero to a ruthless and loathsome villain of his own story. It also charts his constantly shifting personality and motivations as they become darker and more selfish as the series goes on. 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.

At the beginning, after being diagnosed with 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 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 to 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. This culminates when he murders Mike in an ego-driven rage after Mike had gone on a vicious rant about how badly he screwed everything up. 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 sobbed 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. 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 refused to ever physically hurt his family, growing angry at the idea of Saul's suggestion to kill Hank after he realized who Walter was. Before Jack killed Hank, Walter begged and bargained for Hank's life and was utterly broken when Jack 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 his precious blue meth.

Walt's victims

 * First-hand
 * Emilio Koyama (Poisoned with phosphine gas)
 * Krazy 8 (Strangled with bike lock)
 * Rival Dealers (Ran both over with his car, shot the surviving one in the head)
 * Two of Gus' henchmen (Shot)
 * Mike Ehrmantraut (Shot)
 * Six members of Jack Welker's crew (Shot with a remote-activated M60 machine gun)
 * Kenny
 * Frankie
 * Lester
 * Matt
 * Two unnamed white supremacists
 * Jack Welker (Shot in the head after being severely wounded by the M60)
 * Lydia Rodarte-Quayle (Poisoned with ricin)

Third-hand
 * Second-hand
 * Jane Margolis (Accidentally rolled her over on her back while sleeping, causing her to asphixiate on her own vomit; Walt witnessed but did nothing to save her)
 * Gale Boetticher (Shot by Jesse, but murder is plotted and initiated by Walt)
 * Supplied the bomb for the Casa Tranquila bombing
 * Gus Fring
 * Tyrus Kitt
 * Hector Salamanca (Volunteered to sacrifice in order to kill Gus)
 * Ten of Gus' ex employees (Orchestrated by Walt with help of Todd's uncle, Jack: stabbed with shivs inside two minutes across multiple prisons, with the exception of Markowski, who was set on fire)
 * Dan Wachsberger
 * Ron Forenall
 * Dennis Markowski
 * Jack McGann
 * Andrew Holt
 * Anthony Perez
 * Isaac Conley
 * William Moniz
 * Harris Boivin
 * Raymond Martinez
 * Victims of the Wayfarer 515 crash (167) in Albuqerque, New Mexico (Not saving Jane Margolis caused her father and air-traffic controller Donald to become grief-stricken and give incorrect orders causing the planes to crash)