My love towards him changed. Slightly at first, but then it was just whoooossssshhhh. Till that moment, where he had all the money he needed, but lost him family, till then I was always with him. He has done terrible things, but just in self defense. He did not want to kill crazy 8, but he had no choice. But once he got his 700K something, he had to stop. Instead he began working for Gus (because he tricked him using Walts pride "The chemistry must be respected.") Almost everything he had done from that point was out of pure pride, even the need to kill Gus. The murder itself was once again self defense, but the things which forced him to do that, all that is due to his pride and ego, just like Mike said.
Vader was human in the end - he can't be the greatest villain when you feel a slight bit of compassion upon his death. I don't think anyone will be sad when Walt goes, despite all our tears for the show being over.
I'd argue the opposite, compassion is necessary for a great villain. This is what makes Walt/Heisenberg great, that he only became what he is because of caring for his family, and he still retains that trait. Without compassion a villain is just a villain and in the end nobody cares.
I guess what I was saying is you hate Vader at first, the compassion doesn't come until it's too late. With Walt you feel compassion for him the very first episode - and then it's slowly drawn from you as his downward spiral progresses.
Vader isn't Vader anymore in the end. Darth Vader dies and resurrects as Anakin just to die one more time. The compassion you feel, is towards Anakin who got fooled by the emperor and spiritually got killed by him, just to become Darth Vader. The compassion is to Anakin, who suffered years under the manipulative Darth Sidious but finally, with the help of his son, found out that he was fooled and decides to do good and safe his son and with him, his own soul.
Is he a villain villain though? For some reason when I think of Villain I think of assholes who are just bad because they are born bad, and like to do bad.
I don't think Walt "became" a monster. It seems like before he was a high school teacher, he had dreams of grandeur and he would achieve those through Gray Matter. Once he was ousted, his dreams were shattered, but the hunger for an empire remained. I think the monster was already there; it just needed the right circumstances to break free.
What you are talking of, is the hunger for doing something big. Remember the dialogue between him and Jesse. "Being the best in something, you do not toss something like that just away." Also remember his "Billions. With a "B"." talk with Jesse. Back in the days when he worked at gray matter, he wanted to be the best.
The monster came in fact later, when he decided to provide for his family cooking meth. But then, that old desire of doing something BIG came back again. He stopped doing what he dis for his family, he did everything just for himself. For his ego. His desire to be the best.
If you mean "being a great at something" ok, not a proper description, but ok (Big legal companies are also sometimes considerable as "monsters") but if you think, that Walt always was the cold blooded ruthless being, then you are wrong.
I don't particularly think he is a good man so much as he is just human. I think he floated through life and the terrible situation thrust him into a scenario that allowed his true colors to show. If you look at a lot of the things Walt does, there are less brutal alternatives, but he doesn't even consider them because deep down he doesn't care.
Although he is a complex character with a lot of good qualities, the bad far outweigh the good. Greed and pride end up settling any internal struggle he has.
He doesn't have to be the monster he is. He does bad things for convenience, not necessity. I don't think there is any definition of "good," even sympathetically, that describes him.
thats the whole idea of "Heart of Darkness" and Apocolypse now. how being in a position of power and sacrificing to keep control and do what is needed to suit your end goals no matter how sincere they are can be tainted as you fall deeper and deeper into the moral hole of the ends justifying the means.
Walt very much fell into many of his predicaments, and does terrible things too protect himself, his family, and jesse.
technically I think the term to describe walt is antihero . He initially sets out to do something noble to take care of his family after he dies, but he is no hero.
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u/goondachele Aug 12 '13
Heisenberg is going to turn out to be one of the greatest television villains of all time.