Laloward

Laloward is the slash ship between Eduardo "Lalo" Salamanca and Howard Hamlin from the Better Call Saul fandom.

Better Call Saul
PLAN AND EXECUTION

Howard and Lalo only ever encounter one another once, in the mid-season finale of season 6.

When Howard enters Kim and Jimmy's apartment to confront them, the candle sitting on the coffee table flickers, signaling his entrance.

At the end of his monologue  regarding Kim and Jimmy's actions, the candle flickers again, signaling Lalo silently entering the apartment. Kim and Jimmy, (particularly the latter) are stricken with fear and shock at seeing Lalo, but Howard doesn't see him yet since he came up from behind. Howard finally turns and sees Lalo, with Kim stuttering and telling him that he needs to leave.

Howard asks Lalo who he is, to which he responds "nobody" and that he just needs to talk to his lawyers. Howard scoffs and suggests that Lalo finds better lawyers. Kim tries to get him to leave again, but Lalo interrupts and says that they can take their time. Howard asks what this is about, while Lalo slowly pulls out a gun, and screws on a silencer to it. Howard looks between the pair and Lalo, confused, and Kim asks if Lalo could just tell them what he wants, to which Lalo says that like he said, he just wants to talk.

Howard's breathing becomes more shallow as he realises more or less what situation they're in. He attempts to deescalate, saying that "there's really no need to-" before being shot in the head by Lalo, killing him.

POINT AND SHOOT

Howard's body lays in the living room while Lalo talks to Kim and Jimmy. Later, Lalo gets killed by Gus in the superlab, partly because he let Gus keep talking until he was finished, unlike him cutting Howard off by killing him.

Gus instructs Mike and his crew to clean up the scene at Kim and Jimmy's apartment, and to make Howard's death seem like a suicide. In order to hide both bodies and make sure they're never discovered, Mike has Gus' men dig a hole in the superlab, and put both bodies inside, and then cover it up.

Construction of the superlab would then be completed, sealing the bodies up together for ever.

Breaking Bad
LIVE FREE OR DIE

DEA agents Hank Schrader and Steve Gomez survey the damages caused by the fire Walt and Jesse started in the superlab. Amongst all the debris, two bodies were uncovered that were burned beyond recognition. Originally, these were known to be the bodies of two guards that Walt had shot beforehand. Now, it is possible to interpret these two charred corpses as either those of the guards or those of Howard and Lalo.

Similarities
Better Call Saul has established two sides of the world the characters live in: the lawyer, legal side, and the cartel, illegal side. Howard was born on the far end of the legal side, and was born in a high position in the lawyer hierarchy, with his father and Chuck already being well established lawyers with an established legal practice, (a famous family name essentially). Lalo was born on the far end of the illegal side, being a cartel prince, with his family name being renowned in the cartel world. This places the two on opposite ends of a spectrum, but also like mirrors of each other, with their upbringings being remarkably similar.

Behind the Scenes
Part of the reason Laloward became a surprisingly popular ship is the comments that the pair's actors, Tony Dalton, (Lalo) and Patrick Fabian, (Howard) have made.

In an interview for Entertainment Weekly, when asked what they talked about while lying in the ditch, Tony answered: "It was very romantic. It was personal and romantic. Only Patrick and I know what was said and done in that ditch."

In a number of interviews, when asked about Howard's death, Patrick has had a tendency to remark on being killed by "the handsome Tony Dalton" or "handsome Lalo Salamanca". Patrick also posted a photo on his Twitter of him and Tony hiking together, with the caption: "Together forever."

Fanon
Prior to season 6, the pairing was practically inexistent. Then, with episode 7 approaching, some discussion of the two as a crack ship spawned, but when episode 7 was released, more people began to jokingly pair the two during the mid-season hiatus, especially with most fans theorising that Lalo would soon die as well. Once episode 8 was released, and the pair were buried together beneath the superlab, the ship grew exponentially.

Fans noticed how the two were buried with their hands touching, almost as if they were holding hands. Many fans joked about Howard and Lalo going off to Belize together, imagining that they either faked their deaths, went there in the afterlife, or a "fix-it" of sorts where they escaped there together and had met before their canonical meeting. Another version of them becoming close involves them in the afterlife, where fans would either imagine them as undead and zombie-like in their grave, or some sort of location after death where they're bound to each other.

Although originally referred to as a crack ship, many fans have begun legitimately pairing them together for a number of reasons, possibly the biggest being how the two are both very similar but also two sides of the same coin.

Some fans that shipped Lacho either switched to Laloward, ship both, or only ship Laloward jokingly. McWexler can be shipped alongside Laloward, most often them being posed against one another, with Lalo and Howard scamming Kim and Jimmy back and getting their revenge on the two.

Because of Patrick Fabian's remarks on the attractiveness of Lalo/Tony Dalton, many fans, (mostly jokingly) believe that one of Howard's last thoughts before he died was him noticing how attractive the stranger that walked in was.

Some fans have also made jokes about Gus and Lalo participating in "mlm hostility" throughout the show, and Point and Shoot being the peak of their hostility, while Lalo and Howard being buried together is "mlm solidarity", (fans also would say, especially after Fun and Games, that Laloward got the happiest ending out of any couple in the Breaking Bad universe, and that being buried together was very romantic).

Fandom
FAN FICTION
 * Shoot Your Shot by VillaKulla on AO3
 * Shoot Your Shot by VillaKulla on AO3

TUMBLR

Trivia

 * Lalo's last outfit before he dies, and the one that he's buried in, has him wearing blue loafers. Howard had HHM trademark a specific shade of blue for the company, (Hamlindigo blue). Howard is almost always wearing blue clothes, and blue is most often associated with the legal, lawyer world in Better Call Saul.
 * Some fans believe it symbolises Lalo walking all over the law/legality.
 * In an interview, Patrick Fabian mentions how some LGBT+ fans were a little disappointed to see Howard's wife, because before season 6, she was never mentioned but his wedding ring was visible, so many fans interpreted him as having a husband and being gay/bi. He continues to say that "[Howard's] a little gay in his heart, so don't worry."]
 * A fan then tweeted at Patrick with a photo of this comment, and the caption: "[...] can we maybe agree that howard is bi? just a little bit? [...]". Patrick Fabian then liked this tweet.
 * Lalo being gay has been a part of fanon ever since he was first introduced. Most fans would just jokingly say "just look at him" as evidence to this, (and they might mention his complex relationship with Nacho) but the main argument is that Lalo doesn't have a wife or kids. Fans find this strange, since Lalo is in his 40s, and the Salamanca family is a family dynasty, so it would make sense if Lalo was expected to have children. Not only that, but him being very attractive and charming can easily get him a wife, so most fans consider it strange that if he was straight he'd have no family, but that this would make sense if he was gay.
 * Allegedly, there was a comment made by an insider from Netflix on a Reddit post about plans to make Lalo explicitly gay, but this comment has not yet been found.
 * Fans have also pointed out how Lalo had an easy opportunity to get into Margarethe Ziegler's home by sleeping with her once he seduced her, but when she mentioned that she'd like to invite him in but can't due to working in the morning, he instantly agrees with no pushback, and instead opts to break into her house the next day, which proves much more difficult and nearly gets him caught. Some fans interpret this as Lalo not wanting to have sex with a woman.
 * Lalo's discussion with Juan Bolsa in Magic Man has Lalo telling Bolsa that Gus holds a grudge against the Salamancas because they killed his boyfriend. Although it seems like Max being Gus' lover seems to be common knowledge in the cartel, Lalo noticing it more acutely would make sense if he was gay as well.