ā | What do I want? Respect. I want to make my own decisions, go my own way. I don't want anyone to even think of playing me. And I don't want to be looking over my shoulder. | ā |
~ Nacho explaining to Don Eladio what he wants. |
ā | Him? You think the... Chicken Man? What a joke. Alvarez has been paying me for years. Years, but you know what? I would've done it for free because I hate every last one of you psycho. Sacks. Of shit. I opened Lalo's gate. And I would do it again, and I'm glad what they did to him. He's a soulless pig. And I wish I killed him with my own hands, and you know what else, Hector? I put you in that chair. Oh yeah, your heart meds? I switched them for sugar pills. You were dead and buried, and I had to watch this asshole bring you back. So when you are sitting in your shitty nursing home, and you're sucking down on your Jell-O night after night for the rest of your life, you think of me! You twisted f-ck! | ā |
~ Nacho's last words to Hector before attacking Bolsa and subsequently taking his own life. |
Ignacio "Nacho" Varga is the tritagonist in Better Call Saul, the prequel to Breaking Bad. Originally a ruthless criminal and right-hand man of Tuco Salamanca, he becomes more disillusioned with the life of crime as both his and his father's lives are put in danger by the Cartel. Eventually forced by Gustavo Fring to be his pawn, Nacho has to face off against Lalo, the most dangerous of the Salamancas.
He was portrayed by Michael Mando.
His Evil Ranking[]
His Villainous Deeds[]
Background[]
- He helped Tuco Salamanca and the ruthless Cartel in their drug dealings even though his father disagreed to this, and he indirectly dragged his father into danger despite not intending to.
Season 1[]
- He helped Tuco kidnap two skateboarders. He does convince Tuco to save Saul, but it was for pragmatic reasons for using him to steal from the Kettlemans.
- He leads drug deals with Daniel Wormald without informing Tuco and even tries to hide 20 dollars.
- He tried to steal from the Kettlemans and push Jimmy McGill to help him, which could revoke his license as a lawyer. after he is arrested he threatens Jimmy's life after giving them a warning.
- He stole all of Daniel Wormald's drug money and his personal baseball card collection.
Season 2[]
- He convinces Mike Ehrmantraut to murder Tuco to avenge his friend.
Season 3[]
- He brutally beats up Krazy-8 on Hector Salamanca's orders.
- He temporarily killed Hector by switching his pills so that he could suffer a stroke that left him crippled as a result.
Season 4[]
- He pays off a debt from a guy named Blinky by ripping an earring out of his ear and making it bleed.
- He helped The Cousins to massacre a gang which they wrongly believed to have shot on him and his partner.
Season 5[]
- After Gus Fring knew about his exploits, he agreed to work for him.
- He played a large role on Lalo Salamanca's attempted assassination, though he did deserve it for killing Howard Hamlin in front of Saul and Kim, burning down a hotel and likely causing numerous innocents to die and murdering Fred Whalen by brutally beating him to death.
- He vandalizes an empty Los Pollos Hermanos restaurant and blows it up on Lalo's orders.
- He forced Jimmy to represent Lalo Salamanca for so that he can be released from arrest, which leads Jimmy to look for release money in the desert and almost leads to his death.
Season 6[]
- He stole a gun from Juan Bolsa and tells Hector the truth about his condition while tormenting and mocking him before trying to kill Juan only to end up shooting himself as a result.
Why He Doesn't Stand Out?[]
- Despite passing the general standards due to his high kill count and unique act of disabling Hector with homicidal intent (even if he arguably deserved it), he still fails the high heinous standard of the series compared to other characters such as Gus, Lalo, the Cousins and Jack, who all do worse than him with similar or lower resources.
- He is genuinely tragic, as he grew to be very fond of his father Manuel and did everything he could to protect him from the Salamanca family, but when he aided the Cartel in their drug dealings, Manuel was inadvertently dragged into danger. This led to Nacho forcing himself to try even harder to ensure his father's safety and he never intended to drag his father into trouble.
- He becomes a far more sympathetic character as the series progresses to the point where he is relegated to an anti-villain, being forced to work for Gus Fring and do his bidding before getting betrayed by him, arguably making him a scapegoat.
- He has firm standards and tends to only hurt people who deserve it, such as the Salamancas.
- He has felt great remorse for a lot of his criminal acts, especially hating that he had to beat up Krazy-8, or by talking with his father.
- He genuinely loves his father, doing everything in his power to protect him from the Salamancas, even sacrificing himself to make sure his father is kept safe from the Cartel.
- He redeems himself by sacrificing his own life to ensure his father is safe. His death is also sympathetic as he shoots himself in the head to make sure his father is safe and Mike looks at him in sadness before a blue flower blooms near Nacho's corpse.
External Links[]
- Nacho Varga on the Villains Wiki
- Nacho Varga on the Heroes Wiki
- Nacho Varga on the Inconsistently Admirable Wiki
- Nacho Varga on the Breaking Bad Wiki
- Nacho Varga on the Magnificent Baddie Wiki
- Nacho Varga on the Guile Heroes Wiki
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Heisenberg's Empire The Cartel Los Pollos Hermanos Neo-Nazis Jimmy McGill's Contacts Others |
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Animated Features Live-Action Features Live-Action Television See Also |