- "Hank is a dogged investigator who is going to be sorely disappointed when he finds out who he's been chasing all this time."
- ―Vince Gilligan
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Boisterous and outspoken by nature, Hank can sometimes come off as rude or insensitive to the viewer or to other characters. His cavalier attitude causes him to believe that having friends and co-workers of color gives him a free pass to call Mexicans "beaners," and that working for the government entitles him to certain contraband perks, like Cuban cigars. In some ways, Hank is introduced as the antithesis of Walt, in a good way: he's popular, cheerful, successful, and constantly bragging about his skills. Walt dislikes it when Walter Jr. looks up to Hank, yet he loves Hank on some grudging level, at one point making it very clear to Saul that Hank is family. Hank has shown himself to be a good law enforcement agent and competent investigator who was able to expose Gustavo Fring for what he truly was. Despite his skills, Hank's image of Walt as a mild-mannered chemistry teacher blinded him from discovering, for a whole year, that the mysterious drug kingpin "Heisenberg" he was pursuing so vigorously was under his nose the whole time (although, admittedly, Walt's cunning schemes and lies to cover his tracks can be credited for Hank's continued ignorance as well).
In the course of his work, Hank is promoted to the prestigious yet more dangerous base in El Paso, Texas from Albuquerque for a short time, but experiences a traumatic event courtesy of the Mexican drug cartels and moves back to Albuquerque. This experience leaves him with enduring, debilitating anxiety attacks. These attacks, which reveal a more vulnerable side to Hank that he tends to disguise, increase in intensity after two brutal members, The Cousins, ambush Hank leave him with a debilitating injury. After the Cousins' shootout, Walt realizes he's partly responsible for Hank's situation and thus saves him from Gus.
Hank has a cavalier exterior, but the dark side of his job affects him more than he cares to admit. Despite his considerable shortcomings, Hank is basically a good-hearted family man. Although he is loud and opinionated, he is competent at his job and, before learning Walt's secret and Skyler's complicity, cared deeply about his in-laws. Hank brews his own beer, which he has named "Schraderbräu", in his garage, and enjoys playing fantasy football. Hank drives a midnight blue 2006 Jeep Commander until he is attacked by the Cousins. After he is well enough to drive, he drives a silver 2011 Dodge Durango. During his incapacitation following the attack by the Salamanca cousins, Hank started collecting minerals as a hobby. On several occasions, he irritably corrected people (especially Marie) when they referred to this activity as "rock collecting" ("Thirty-Eight Snub").
When Hank finally finds out that Walt is the meth kingpin and mastermind "Heisenberg" he has been searching for, he feels betrayed, humiliated, and vengeful towards Walt, swearing he will put Walt "under the jail." He plots even more feverishly to destroy Walt, trying to gather the evidence from Skyler and trying to persuade Jesse to give Walt up. Hank's single mission in life becomes trying to get Walt to pay for his crimes, and he becomes deeply invested in making sure Walt doesn't die of cancer before he can be convicted. Even after being blackmailed into silence by Walt and Skyler, Hank refuses to give up and continues to try and find a way to put Walt behind bars. Despite knowing that exposing and arresting Walt would mean the end of his DEA career, due to Walt operating for so long beneath his nose, he continues anyway. Jesse, furious at Walt for other reasons, forges an uneasy alliance with Hank, and Hank allows Jesse to stay at his house, seeing him as his only option of bringing Walt down and refuses to risk his safety by putting him in DEA protection. Hank's strong desire to bring Walt down is evident when Jesse states that he is afraid Walt will kill him at a proposed meeting and after leaving the room, Gomez is worried that the "kid" might be right about the meet being a trap and Hank corrected Gomez by saying "Oh, you mean the junkie murderer?" Hank clearly believes Jesse is just as guilty as Walt is for the crimes they have committed (most notably the Gale murder, and the manufacturing of crystal meth under Walt's drug empire). Hank tells Gomez that if Walt does kill Jesse, at least they'll get it on tape, showing that he does not care for Jesse much and is willing to sacrifice him in order to catch Walt. After tricking Walter into leading them to the location of his buried drug money and confessing to a multitude of his crimes, Hank finally succeeds at his mission to bring his brother in law to justice and is filled with joy. Unfortunately, this is short lived as Hank is almost immediately caught in a gunfight with Jack and his gang, whom Walt had called to rescue him, leaving him wounded and defeated.
Even in his final moments, Hank maintained his composure and a remarkable display of courage, even though Jack sadistically played along to Walt's offer that he would spare Hank if he agreed to let them go. Hank saw through this facade and refused to sacrifice his dignity and beg Jack for his life. He possibly gains back some small amount of respect for Walt, due to his pleading for his life and no hesitation of offering up his money to save his life, despite everything Hank had done to Walt to try and take him down. To this end, Hank accepted his death despite Walt's pleas, knowing full well that Jack intended to kill him anyway. Hank met his fate with the same disposition that he carried throughout his life. This is a direct contrast to Jack himself, who lacked the intuition Hank possessed and attempted to save his own life by attempting to bribe Walt with the promise of telling him the location of his money when faced with death, even though Walt had already made up his mind for revenge after Jack killed Hank. And despite everything, he respected Walter enough to call him the "smartest guy he's ever known".