Despite not being an established Breaking Bad character and favorite like Saul Goodman or Gus Fring, Ignacio "Nacho" Varga became a fan-favorite character in his own right in Better Call Saul. As the popular series reaches its end, fans are looking back at how Nacho won them over even though he started out as an unknown character among many familiar players.
When first introduced, Nacho seemed like a fairly straightforward man, but he ended up becoming one of the more nuanced and tragic characters in the show, and his best quotes sum up his personality and story throughout the series.
"Croaking a lawyer for no reason is bad business."
"Mijo" (Season 1, Episode 2)
Tuco is an erratic and violent individual who never listened to anyone but himself in Breaking Bad. Better Call Saul immediately shows how influential Nacho can be when he helps convince Tuco not to kill Jimmy McGill, even when Tuco seemingly has his mind made up about it.
Nacho's dialogue not only proves his influence over individuals like Tuco, but also demonstrates that he is pragmatic and is seen as trustworthy by the Salamancas. He knows there is nothing to be gained by killing a lawyer like Jimmy, and even the paranoid Tuco trusts Nacho. When Tuco later goes to prison, other members of the Salamanca family give Nacho their trust, even when he is secretly working against them.
"For when you figure out you're in the game."
"Mijo" (Season 1, Episode 2)
When Nacho comes to Jimmy after the incident in the desert and asks for information about the couple Jimmy was trying to rip off, Jimmy insists that he doesn't want any part of it. Nacho leaves Jimmy a card with a phone number, telling him it is for when he figures out that he is in "the game."
At this early point in the story, Nacho understands the world of crime and the cartel far better than Jimmy does. He is the first person to try and get Jimmy to understand that what he wants doesn't matter, as once someone is thrust into that world, there is no leaving it. Telling Jimmy this is Nacho being honest but also him trying to use Jimmy for his own gain.
"Doing it for the money, I get it. But this s***, that's insane."
"Nailed" (Season 2, Episode 9)
When Nacho realizes that Mike is responsible for attacking the Salamancas' shipment, he cannot wrap his mind around it. Nacho is a pragmatic individual willing to do bold things for money or for self-preservation. Mike's actions were about making the Salamancas suffer for threatening him and his family.
As the series progresses, Nacho becomes more like Mike and can understand why he did what he did. Nacho sees there is more to life than money and self-preservation as Hector Salamanca and Gus Fring threaten his father's life and Gus Fring takes away any chance Nacho has of survival or freedom.
"It's him or me."
"Gloves Off" (Season 2, Episode 4)
Nacho has a strong sense of self-preservation. One of the clearest moments of this is when Nacho sees Tuco becoming increasingly unstable and dangerous and resolves to take him down, even though Tuco is his boss and supposedly his friend.
Nacho recognizes that he has no future if he remains at Tuco's side, so either he or Tuco needs to go. Mike Ehrmantraut helps Nacho pull this off and does it in a smarter way than Nacho planned, but that doesn't change the self-preservation that guides Nacho's decision.
"It's not about what you want. When you're in, you're in."
"The Guy For This" (Season 5, Episode 3)
Nacho tried to tell Jimmy that he was in the game years earlier. Back then, it just seemed to be a statement of fact, something neutral Nacho had accepted. Now when Jimmy doesn't want to continue working for Lalo Salamanca, Nacho's words about him not having a choice ring even truer.
Nacho's words are also more tragic this time around as Nacho tried to do what he wanted, but had all of his choice taken away from him by Gus Fring. He and Jimmy are in different circumstances, but Nacho understands what it is like to be in the game and to have all your choices and personal desires taken away from you, and he is trying to help Jimmy accept an unfortunate but important truth.
"I want to make my own decisions. Go my own way."
"Something Unforgivable" (Season 5, Episode 10)
When Nacho meets the powerful Don Eladio for the first and only time, the head of the cartel asks Nacho what he wants and how he will make the cartel money. As a double agent blackmailed into working for Gus Fring, Nacho cannot be honest with Don Eladio, and mostly just says the right things that will gain his trust.
However, there is still some truth to what Nacho says, as he says he wants to make his own decisions and do what he wants. Nacho has been unable to make his own decisions and do what he wants for a while now. The pragmatic part of him knows he will probably never have those freedoms again, but there is still a part of him that is hopeful. The sincerity behind those words also helps his lies to Don Eladio be even more convincing.
"I'd rather get some shuteye."
"Something Unforgivable" (Season 5, Episode 10)
Shortly before opening the gates for gunmen hired to assassinate Lalo Salamanca, Nacho speaks with Lalo as they sit around a fire and look up at the stars. They speak about how neither of them sleep much.
Nacho's line that he'd rather get some shuteye is about more than sleep. After everything he has endured at the hands of the Salamanca family and Gus Fring, he is understandably drained. He is tired of all the manipulation and violence and just wants some rest and to live in a world where he is not constantly fighting to protect his father and himself.
"My dad. I need to know he'll be safe."
"Rock and Hard Place" (Season 6, Episode 3)
Before Nacho turns himself into Gus Fring, he is adamant that his father will be safe and protected. Even though Nacho knows turning himself in is a death sentence, he is willing to sacrifice his own life if it means securing the safety of his father.
Everything Nacho did to kill Hector Salamanca and when working for Gus Fring was about protecting his father. Nacho's father doesn't know of the enormous sacrifices his son made for him, but Nacho loved and put his father above all else, even his own life.
"I put you in that chair."
"Rock and Hard Place" (Season 6, Episode 3)
Before his inevitable death, a captive Nacho drops one of the biggest bombshells in Better Call Saul. He reveals to Hector Salamanca that he was the one who paralyzed him. Nacho switched out the elder Salamanca's heart medicine with sugar pills and the stroke this caused would've killed him if it wasn't for Gus Fring.
Nacho knows he is about to die, but he is not going out without claiming responsibility for being the one to paralyze and nearly kill the powerful Hector Salamanca, proving that his work to hurt and undermine the Salamanca family went far beyond what happened with Lalo.
"When you are sitting in your s***** nursing home, and you're sucking down on your jello night after night for the rest of your life, you think of me, you twisted f***."
"Rock and Hard Place" (Season 6, Episode 3)
Nacho digs in the knife even deeper, making sure that Hector will never forget how Nacho irrevocably hurt him and the Salamanca family. Nacho wants Hector to understand the consequences for his many cruel and thoughtless actions.
Hector thought Nacho was nothing but a loyal minion, but Nacho was the one to create the beginning of the end for the Salamanca family, a truth that will haunt Hector for the rest of his life. Michael Mando's delivery of "you think of me" is particularly powerful and is up there with the most epic lines in all of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul.