Does Walt Jr. Get His Father‘s Drug Money in Breaking Bad?
In one word: yes. Walt Jr, Walter White‘s beloved teenage son, does eventually receive a huge cash payday courtesy of his now-deceased meth kingpin daddy. Whether or not he really deserves it after everything Walt put him through is another story…
To recap for those non-BB experts reading: Walter White is a high school chemistry teacher who starts cooking crystal meth after an inoperable lung cancer diagnosis to build a nest egg for his family. His lab skills and territorial ego quickly transform him from Mr. Chips to full-on criminal mastermind Heisenberg.
How Much Money Does Walt Jr. Get Exactly?
After his father‘s death in the dramatic finale, Walt Jr. receives a trust fund worth $9,720,000. This is the amount Walt had buried in barrels in the desert hideout before he was betrayed by Jack Welker‘s White Supremacist Gang who stole almost $70 million of his rainy day meth funds.
Walt manipulates his former business partners into laundering the remaining cash for Walt Jr. in secret, insisting he‘s trying "to set things right" for his kids. That‘s a nice sentiment for a guy who was willing to poison a child to maintain his massive illicit wealth and power.
A Breaking Bank for the Breaking Bad Universe
To put Walt Jr‘s $9.72M post-Heisenberg inheritance in perspective, his dad earned over $80 million during his lucrative criminal career cooking and selling premium blue crystal meth.
That empire generated an average of $15 million per month at its peak with Lydia moving 200 pounds a week for Walt‘s near-99% pure product when his signature formula hit overseas Czech markets.
Not a bad salary for a formerly downtrodden public school chemistry instructor! It rivals those at the top of the video game industry bringing home giant paychecks.
Blood Money Leads to Complications
Walt Jr. had idolized his father, so no doubt having to accept millions of dollars stemming from the meth trade taints his memory to some extent. Just imagine learning your dear old dad poisoned children and bombed nursing homes to fuel his ego!
Does anyone deserve to directly benefit from so much pain and exploitation of addiction? It raises complex moral questions akin to some of gaming‘s most ethically ambiguous antiheros.
While the cash allows Walt Jr. to pursue big life goals like college he otherwise couldn‘t afford, psychological baggage around its origin must haunt him. We see glimpses of his anger when he coldly rebuffs Walt‘s attempts to send money in Season 5.
The irony is $9 million can never undo the trauma of seeing his father morph into a murderous drug lord right under his innocent eyes. Much like blood money quest rewards leaving permanent scars on game protagonists.
What Does Walt Jr. Use the Cash for?
It‘s safe to assume with uncle Hank and aunt Marie cut out of any inheritance for being DEA agents investigating Walt —and mom Skyler living as a taxi dispatcher struggling to make ends meet — the sole purpose is to support young Walt Jr.
Likely covering:
- College tuition, room & board
- A used car and auto insurance
- Rent, utilities, groceries
- Medical needs & equipment
- Job training programs
Conservatively invested, $9 million could generate ~$200k+ annual income in semi-passive investment returns. Not a bad way to fund your early adult life thanks to meth!
Dollars and Sense of the Money Trail
Here‘s a quick snapshot of what key characters ended up with from Walt‘s illicit fortune. Moral of the story? Crime doesn‘t pay in the long run!
| Character | Amount Received | Use of Funds |
|---|---|---|
| Walt Jr | $9.72 million | College, cost of living |
| IRS | Tens of millions | Taxes on undeclared income |
| DEA/APD | ~$70 million | Seized drug money |
| Skyler White | $0 | N/A |
| Jesse Pinkman | $5 million | New life undisclosed |
| Saul Goodman | Barrel of cash | Made him a target |
| Walter White | $0 | He died |
So while Walt Jr. gets a piece of change barely scraping 10% of his dad‘s net worth, the moral decay left in his wake destroys nearly all relationships in the family.
No high score can rectify that.
Conclusion
At almost a decade removed from Breaking Bad‘s epic conclusion, unanswered questions still remain about beloved characters‘ fate.
For gamers and bingers alike hoping for redemption, some comfort comes knowing Walt didn‘t entirely fail protecting his family thanks to riches funnelled from his sinister alter ego Heisenberg.
His surviving son now has the financial means to choose any path, even if it stems from helplessly witnessing his father devolve into a monstrous drug kingpin.
That‘s the final legacy of antihero Walter White: a tainted but very large trust fund for his teenage child built by sin, greed and hubris in the form of sky blue meth.
