Please don't read this thread if you are scared of spoilers! I am sure they will pop up! So, in my opinion, Breaking Bad is such an incredible show. I absolutely love Walter White. Watching his transformation from a weak chemistry teacher to the mighty Heisenberg was such a pleasure to watch. But this guy is literally on the line of good/evil. He cares for his family and will do anything for them, but that notion of doing anything often goes into the world of evil. This is a guy who will have no qualms killing you if you even dare threaten his family, or even the lovable rogue Jessie Pinkman. Now, as a meth dealer the DEA obviously see Mr White as a villain, and he definitely is in society's eyes. But there is so much more to him than that. In your opinion, hero or villain? I'll go with heroic villain... (easy get choice!)
Spoilers Alert! Has to be a heroic villain for me. It's the only reason I rooted for him, even though he directly/indirectly killed many people. The way the show was winding down before the final episode and the way he talked to Jesse in his explanation of how Jane truly died, made me feel that he is absolutely a villain. But he redeemed himself in the final episode, and in my mind, he was pretty heroic for doing so.
He's an evil, villainous monster with the right motive initially. Yes, he's a chemist that uses his abilities to become a meth manufacturer in order to provide for his family, but he's transcends into evil because of how he'll run over anyone to get what he wants. In the end, he's plain and simply a monster after confessing to Jesse about his heinous actions involving Jane and admiting his true feelings to Skylar about his whole ordeal in the meth business. So I believe he leans a lot more to the villain side, but I can understand that his activities ruined him too. Walter is definitely a well rounded and complex character.
He's not evil, I would consider him a tragic hero FromLog In:We see a normal, every day family man be slowly destroyed by forces outside his control and a series of poor choices he makes in order to try to do what he thinks is right - provide for his family. Somewhere along the way he loses sight of this goal and ends up alienating himself from his family, the very people he was willing to give up everything for.
But ultimately the choices you make are what define you as a character. In my view, Walter White became evil, he became corrupt and chose to do evil things and have people killed for his agenda. The money got to his head as did his liking for the meth business, a business he didn't have to get into to begin with, though he needed the quick money with time working against him. In theory, he could have signed off on his life insurance to reach his goals of providing for his family and not put his close ones at risk. When it all boils down, it's the exact reason why him and Jesse never reconnected in the end nor did him and his family. They saw him for what he really turned out to be - a monster. I guess I just see it a different way. I mean I will admit I rooted for Walter many times because I related to what he was trying to do, but I just see Walter more as a villain than an actual hero after everything concluded and the way his family and others were affected by him. There's surely an imbalance measuring the two. On a scale of 10, Hero: 3 points and Villain: 7 points. As I quote Walter White, he says "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!"
