Maybe it’s just because we’re major Harry Potter fans, but whenever we watch anything, whether it’s something as entertaining as Game of Thrones, or even if it’s just something as boring as an informercial, we have a habit of sorting the characters into Hogwarts houses. Alright, so maybe it’s more than a habit at this point, maybe it’s actually an obsession, but let’s not nitpick.
Instead, let’s take a look at these 10 characters from everyone’s favorite Breaking Bad spin-off (wait, isn’t it the only Breaking Bad spin-off?), Better Call Saul, and sort them into their Hogwarts houses. It’s time to find out who goes where!
10. Nacho Varga - Gryffindor
Ignacio Varga, simply called “Nacho,” is a highly intelligent career criminal that could very easily fit into the Ravenclaw House, or even Slytherin, but we’ve sorted him into Gryffindor.
Nacho’s smart, there’s no doubt about it, and he’s got big dreams, too. He’s analytical and calculating, which gives him the ability to fly under the radar while trying to move the pieces of his drug dealing family around without anybody realizing it. But, it takes some serious guts to go head-to-head with the likes of Hector and Tuco Salamanca, so we’re placing Nacho in Gryffindor.
9. Mike Ehrmantraut - Hufflepuff
Mike Ehrmantraut is an enigma disguised as a simple man. In Breaking Bad, it seems like all he wants is to take care of his family. At first glance, it seems like everything he does is to provide for his granddaughter and give her a brighter future, but his motives are actually a lot more complicated than that.
Mike’s a Hufflepuff because he’s a guy who keeps his word, no matter what the cost. His yes means yes, and his no means no. Not only that, but he’s extremely loyal to his employer — in this case, Gus Fring. Mike is right-hand man material. He wants to keep things fair and just, even if he spends most of his time on the wrong side of the law.
8. Hector Salamanca - Slytherin
We hate to advance the stereotype that “only evil people are in Slytherin,” but just because Hector Salamanca (aka Tio) is undeniably evil, doesn’t mean that’s why he belongs in this Hogwarts House. Or does it?!
What makes Hector perfect for Slytherin is his ambition. Heck, his ambition isn’t even ambition anymore. It’s not an admirable “I’m going to be the best I can be!” kind of determination; Hector’s steely resolve is more like, “If I can’t be the very best, then nobody else can, either.” You get the sense that if this guy goes down, he’s taking people with him. And his and Gus Fring’s demise in Breaking Bad is proof enough of that.
7. Howard Hamlin - Gryffindor
Howard Hamlin is a tough one to read. Sure, he seems sleazy sometimes (actually, you’d better go ahead and make that “most of the time”), but he does have a conscience, as is evidenced by the guilt he felt upon Chuck’s death. He’s also done some not so awful things for Jimmy and Kim.
When you get down to it, Howard is just as complex a character as anyone else in this series, and we can’t fault him for that. Granted, he may not always succeed, but Howard always does what he believes is right; he even tries to be chivalrous, and it’s for those reasons that we’d place him in Gryffindor.
6. Gale Boetticher - Ravenclaw
Poor Gale! What a sorry hand he was dealt, and yet, during the short time we knew him, we grew to love him. A nerd with an MS in organic chemistry, we’re happy to see a character like Gale in Better Call Saul; but just what the heck is he doing on that show when he obviously belongs on The Big Bang Theory?
Anyway, maybe it’s just us, but Gale reminds us a lot of Neville Longbottom. However, we’re not going to stick this guy in Gryffindor. Instead, we say he belongs in Ravenclaw. This house values cleverness, intelligence, wit, and eccentricities, and Gale had all of those qualities in abundance.
5. The Cousins - Slytherin
The Cousins (aka Leonel and Marco Salamanca) act as hit men who work for their uncle, Hector Salamanca, and they are inseparable. We rarely, if ever, see them apart. Of course, we learn why these two are so close in a flashback in Better Call Saul, and that sheds some light on their unbreakable bond.
You could probably argue that these two belong in Hufflepuff because of their undying loyalty to each other, but we’re putting them in Slytherin. This Hogwarts House values those with ambition and pride, yes, but it also looks for determination, cunning, and resourcefulness. That being said, we’d say these two have got plenty of those traits between them.
4. Gus Fring - Ravenclaw
How could a guy with a brain like Gus Fring’s not be sorted into Ravenclaw? Sure, he could fit into Slytherin pretty well, too. The ambition, the cleverness, the dogged determination — it’s all there with Gus. But he wouldn’t have gotten where he is in Better Call Saul were it not for his giant intellect.
Gus isn’t just a smarty pants, he’s a mastermind. He’s established a successful chain of restaurants and he knows how to use them to launder the money he makes with his drug business. Gus is thorough, discreet, and reserved. Gus knows the value of appearing unassuming. He’s got an ego, but he only shows it to his criminal associates, and even then, just barely. This guy thinks long and hard before he does anything; the mark of any Ravenclaw.
3. Chuck McGill - Slytherin
Huh. It just occurred to us how much Wormtail and Chuck McGill have in common. Both were thought to be innocent at the beginning of the story. Both were secretly betraying the people who trusted them. And both of them met their ends prematurely, yet, some might say none too soon.
Chuck is smart, capable, and downright good at what he does. He tries to play it down, but he takes pride in his work. When Jimmy swoops in and threatens to undercut all that Chuck has achieved in his career, Chuck tries to play it off like it’s just water off a duck’s back; b but it gets to him. It’s easy to see that Chuck and Saul Goodman were cut from the same cloth. We’re placing Chuck in Slytherin.
2. Kim Wexler - Ravenclaw
Kim Wexler is such a complex character; you could sort her into just about any house. But we’re sticking to our guns when we say that we think Kim’s a Ravenclaw.
Seriously, is there a character in Better Call Saul who’s smarter than Kim? This girl’s on fire. She’s a fearsome opponent in the courtroom, not only because she knows her stuff backwards and forwards, but because she’s clever enough to spot loopholes that other people miss. Far from a goody-two-shoes, Kim has a criminal streak in her, which further allows her to display her creativity, wit, and on-the-fly intelligence.
1. Jimmy McGill - Hufflepuff/Saul Goodman - Slytherin
The title guy. He’s really two people, isn’t he? He’s separated the good angel on his right shoulder from the little devil resting on his left, and he’s turned them into his two personas. You’ve got good ole Jimmy McGill, the loyal little brother who works hard and is never fully appreciated, just wanting to do something spectacular like his big bro, Chuck. This is whyJimmy McGill is a Hufflepuff.
But then you have Jimmy’s inner demon, a guy named Saul Goodman. Saul is all that Jimmy wants to be, and Saul is who Jimmy becomes. Saul is cunning, resourceful, intelligent — and not in the Ravenclaw book-smarts way, Saul’s got street smarts.
Ultimately, Saul is as ambitious as they come, making him a Slytherin.