ABILITIES | POWERS: He's a normal human being without any supernatural powers! For non-supernatural abilities...
Firearms. Nacho is shown to be proficient in the use of handguns and a decently good shot! While we don't ever see him pull off any crazy trick shots or shoot anyone from far away, he does seem to be comfortable and decently good with using handguns and close- to mid-range shots, despite his dislike of killing or hurting innocents.
Strong, quick, agile. Nacho is about as physically strong, fast and agile as it's possible for a standard-issue (i.e., non-superpowered) human being of his relative size/age to be! At least once he's able to successfully pull off a feat that nobody expects him to be able to when he dives headfirst into a trap house to rescue a stash of narcotics as the cops are raiding it.
Intelligence. Nacho is bright, clever and observant, and an astute student of human nature... mostly. While he occasionally does do dumb things out of impulsiveness (especially early on in the series, before Shit Gets Real for him), he's shown to mostly have a fairly good sense of cause and effect and to be very logical in his thinking. This is occasionally to his detriment, as he sometimes assumes everyone will be as logical as he is, which is, frankly, not always the case.
Good liar. His reserved nature helps him out a lot in this respect, as it makes him difficult to read even when he isn't lying. This quiet, observant nature combined with his intelligence and shrewd way of thinking makes him an effective liar, who is good at knowing what to say to deceive those around him. This is made evident with how he's able to pull the wool over the eyes of the Salamancas and convince them he's loyal to them when, in fact, he is not.
PERSONALITY: Nacho is intelligent and reasonable, shown to be logical in his thinking (mostly-- bar a few small moments of impulsiveness that we'll dive into later) as well as bright and observant about other people's psychology as well as the ways of the world. He's bilingual, speaking both English and Spanish fluently, and he's willing to think before speaking or acting (mostly). He's shown to have a good head for business and money, and to understand when doing something would be a bad idea; he talks Tuco out of killing Jimmy because killing a lawyer for no reason would bring unwanted scrutiny on their crew. Hilariously, his logical thinking can actually work against him, as he assumes everyone will be as logical as he is; this is shown when he didn't realize a newbie criminal would actually call the police for help after Nacho stole his baseball cards.
He's also deceptive and tends to be a good liar who is able to fool many people easily. Granted, fooling Tuco isn't exactly hard, considering the... Tuco... of it all, but he's shown being able to trick other people who are also very clever and observant themselves. He's shown to have a sense of how to modify his own behavior to be more appealing to the people he wants to believe him. He acts slightly differently around Tuco, Hector and Lalo, because they are all different people and he seems to know, whether through instint or observation, how to slightly modify the way he acts in order to better get along with different types of people.
He's helped in this regard by the fact that he is reserved and quiet and tends to prefer to observe and make judgments and plans before acting. (Again, mostly!) While some of this partially brought on by stress as he becomes even quieter and more withdrawn as the series goes on-- he's a bit more expressive and prone to joking around in earlier seasons-- it's also just clearly part of who he is even when times are good, since even when we first meet him, he's a relatively reserved person who prefers to ask questions first and shoot later. He generally plays his cards close to his vest most of the time.
Despite his intelligence and general observant nature, Nacho can be short-sighted and impulsive in times of desperation. Usually, he prefers patience, observation and playing the long game over rushing in and doing something stupid, however when something important to him is threatened (this is most often his father, who he's very close with) he can become rash, impulsive and prone to seeking out immediate "quick fixes" out of desperation. Usually, this involves planning to kill his cartel boss higher ups. This is shown to be a short-sighted approach on his part, though, as while he doesn't succeed in killing any of his bosses, each one he removes from duty is replaced by one that is even sharper and more dangerous than the one before.
Nacho has strong family values and despite his tendency towards subterfuge and deception, is shown to be very loyal and sincere where his family is concerned. This especially true when it comes to his relationship with his father. Nacho values his father's life and their relationship above all else, and is even willing to sacrifice his own life for the sake of his father's, even committing suicide to guarantee his father's safety. He's also shown to crave a fatherly figure and fatherly guidance, something he often turns to Mike for when his dad cuts him off over Nacho's inability to severe his criminal ties.
Nacho can be greedy and money-hungry, and other than his father's safety, the one thing that can make him behave rashly is the promise of huge sums of money. This is more true in the early seasons, though; by the time he dies, he doesn't seem to care as much about money and material things as just making sure his father is safe. However, when we first meet him, he's very prone to seeing dollar signs and that can also make him do stupid things, such as casing the Kettleman's home in an obvious way that gets him picked up by the police. It's implied but not outright stated that his criminal activity was originally picked up by him as a "get rich quick scheme" and his intention was likely to get in, get rich and get out; however, Nacho eventually discovers that there isn't an easy "out" when you get as deep into the criminal underworld as he is.
He can have a temper at times, although less so than many of the other cartel members we meet. When we first meet him, he attempts to fight Jimmy physically despite being restrained to a chair in police custody. However, Nacho's temper dissipates the longer the series goes on. While he can have a temper, it's made apparent that Nacho isn't a sadist and doesn't like hurting other people for no reason, and that even when his ego is challenged, there are limits to the amount of violence he's willing to inflict on somebody. He shows obvious disgust when Lalo talks to Hector about torturing a hotel owner, and although he's willing to beat up guys in his crew who don't pay up when he's forced to, it's pretty evident that he doesn't enjoy it.
Lastly, this brings us to the final element of who Nacho is as a person-- he can be surprisingly compassionate at times, especially towards those he views as innocent, vulnerable or in some way undeserving of violent retribution. He allows the customers to leave Los Pollos Hermanos when the cartel takes it over as a ploy to get to Fring. He shows obvious guilt the first time he shoots someone and is clearly preoccupied with thinking about it to the point of injuring himself while working in his father's upholstery shop. While he doesn't seem to feel bad about betraying the dangerous, sadistic cartel leaders-- either of his own violition or when forced to by Gus Fring, saying they are "psycho sacks of shit" who deserve to die-- he clearly does feel for those he considers weaker, more vulnerable or innocent and dislikes to see innocent people who aren't in the game being hurt by the hardened criminals who are. Nacho has a moral code and while he is willing to do some pretty terrible things for both noble and less-than-noble reasons, he has a line and is of the opinion that "there are some things you just don't do"-- such as threatening someone's child or treating innocent people like collateral damage.
SAMPLE:Test drive! Let me know if that's not enough variety and I'll whip something up or grab a meme link.
INVENTORY: Only the clothes on his back. Dead men have no need for Earthly possessions.
NOTES: n/a
IF ACCEPTED, WOULD YOU WANT A PLOT-LIGHT OR PLOT-HEAVY CUSTOM INTRO? Ooh, plot-heavy if available, please! That would be neat.
ignacio "nacho" varga | better call saul
CONTACT: candycigarettes@plurk
HOW DID YOU HEAR ABOUT THE GAME?: Test drive!
CHARACTER: Ignacio "Nacho" Varga
CANON: Better Call Saul
CANON POINT: Post-death, right after the events of 6x03, "Rock and Hard Place".
BACKGROUND: Wiki to the rescue!
ABILITIES | POWERS: He's a normal human being without any supernatural powers! For non-supernatural abilities...
PERSONALITY: Nacho is intelligent and reasonable, shown to be logical in his thinking (mostly-- bar a few small moments of impulsiveness that we'll dive into later) as well as bright and observant about other people's psychology as well as the ways of the world. He's bilingual, speaking both English and Spanish fluently, and he's willing to think before speaking or acting (mostly). He's shown to have a good head for business and money, and to understand when doing something would be a bad idea; he talks Tuco out of killing Jimmy because killing a lawyer for no reason would bring unwanted scrutiny on their crew. Hilariously, his logical thinking can actually work against him, as he assumes everyone will be as logical as he is; this is shown when he didn't realize a newbie criminal would actually call the police for help after Nacho stole his baseball cards.
He's also deceptive and tends to be a good liar who is able to fool many people easily. Granted, fooling Tuco isn't exactly hard, considering the... Tuco... of it all, but he's shown being able to trick other people who are also very clever and observant themselves. He's shown to have a sense of how to modify his own behavior to be more appealing to the people he wants to believe him. He acts slightly differently around Tuco, Hector and Lalo, because they are all different people and he seems to know, whether through instint or observation, how to slightly modify the way he acts in order to better get along with different types of people.
He's helped in this regard by the fact that he is reserved and quiet and tends to prefer to observe and make judgments and plans before acting. (Again, mostly!) While some of this partially brought on by stress as he becomes even quieter and more withdrawn as the series goes on-- he's a bit more expressive and prone to joking around in earlier seasons-- it's also just clearly part of who he is even when times are good, since even when we first meet him, he's a relatively reserved person who prefers to ask questions first and shoot later. He generally plays his cards close to his vest most of the time.
Despite his intelligence and general observant nature, Nacho can be short-sighted and impulsive in times of desperation. Usually, he prefers patience, observation and playing the long game over rushing in and doing something stupid, however when something important to him is threatened (this is most often his father, who he's very close with) he can become rash, impulsive and prone to seeking out immediate "quick fixes" out of desperation. Usually, this involves planning to kill his cartel boss higher ups. This is shown to be a short-sighted approach on his part, though, as while he doesn't succeed in killing any of his bosses, each one he removes from duty is replaced by one that is even sharper and more dangerous than the one before.
Nacho has strong family values and despite his tendency towards subterfuge and deception, is shown to be very loyal and sincere where his family is concerned. This especially true when it comes to his relationship with his father. Nacho values his father's life and their relationship above all else, and is even willing to sacrifice his own life for the sake of his father's, even committing suicide to guarantee his father's safety. He's also shown to crave a fatherly figure and fatherly guidance, something he often turns to Mike for when his dad cuts him off over Nacho's inability to severe his criminal ties.
Nacho can be greedy and money-hungry, and other than his father's safety, the one thing that can make him behave rashly is the promise of huge sums of money. This is more true in the early seasons, though; by the time he dies, he doesn't seem to care as much about money and material things as just making sure his father is safe. However, when we first meet him, he's very prone to seeing dollar signs and that can also make him do stupid things, such as casing the Kettleman's home in an obvious way that gets him picked up by the police. It's implied but not outright stated that his criminal activity was originally picked up by him as a "get rich quick scheme" and his intention was likely to get in, get rich and get out; however, Nacho eventually discovers that there isn't an easy "out" when you get as deep into the criminal underworld as he is.
He can have a temper at times, although less so than many of the other cartel members we meet. When we first meet him, he attempts to fight Jimmy physically despite being restrained to a chair in police custody. However, Nacho's temper dissipates the longer the series goes on. While he can have a temper, it's made apparent that Nacho isn't a sadist and doesn't like hurting other people for no reason, and that even when his ego is challenged, there are limits to the amount of violence he's willing to inflict on somebody. He shows obvious disgust when Lalo talks to Hector about torturing a hotel owner, and although he's willing to beat up guys in his crew who don't pay up when he's forced to, it's pretty evident that he doesn't enjoy it.
Lastly, this brings us to the final element of who Nacho is as a person-- he can be surprisingly compassionate at times, especially towards those he views as innocent, vulnerable or in some way undeserving of violent retribution. He allows the customers to leave Los Pollos Hermanos when the cartel takes it over as a ploy to get to Fring. He shows obvious guilt the first time he shoots someone and is clearly preoccupied with thinking about it to the point of injuring himself while working in his father's upholstery shop. While he doesn't seem to feel bad about betraying the dangerous, sadistic cartel leaders-- either of his own violition or when forced to by Gus Fring, saying they are "psycho sacks of shit" who deserve to die-- he clearly does feel for those he considers weaker, more vulnerable or innocent and dislikes to see innocent people who aren't in the game being hurt by the hardened criminals who are. Nacho has a moral code and while he is willing to do some pretty terrible things for both noble and less-than-noble reasons, he has a line and is of the opinion that "there are some things you just don't do"-- such as threatening someone's child or treating innocent people like collateral damage.
SAMPLE: Test drive! Let me know if that's not enough variety and I'll whip something up or grab a meme link.
INVENTORY: Only the clothes on his back. Dead men have no need for Earthly possessions.
NOTES: n/a
IF ACCEPTED, WOULD YOU WANT A PLOT-LIGHT OR PLOT-HEAVY CUSTOM INTRO? Ooh, plot-heavy if available, please! That would be neat.