History Characters / TheKarateKidToryNichols

[[Characters/TheKarateKidCobraKaiAndAssociates Cobra Kai and Associates]] | [[Characters/TheKarateKidEagleFangAndAssociates Eagle Fang and Associates]] | [[Characters/TheKarateKidMiyagiDoAndAssociates Miyagi-Do and Associates]] | [[Characters/TheKarateKidTheLaRussoFamily The [=LaRusso=] Family]] | [[Characters/TheKarateKidOtherCharacters Other Characters]]-]]]]]

->'''Played by:''' Creator/PeytonRList

* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: While she has a sympathetic background and shows compassion towards Aisha, Miguel, and [[spoiler:Robby]], Tory is at heart a bitter, spiteful person who shows little concern for those she does not like and is willing to inflict unhealthy doses of DisproportionateRetribution towards anyone who she feels has wronged her. She starts to dial back to JerkWithAHeartOfGold in Season 4 after going to Amanda to help her get back into school, an act in itself was a result of being threatened by her aunt about potentially losing guardianship of her little brother.

** Her Cobrai Kai skills build on her street fighting background, making her brutal, ruthless, and pragmatic in combat. Tellingly, she very often is the first to go for a weapon of some kind in a fight.

* AmbiguousDisorder: It's implied in Season 3 Tory may have a mental illness, and given her disproportionate response to minor slights, possessive nature, and dependence on the relationships with those she has, it seems she has borderline personality disorder.

* MinorInjuryOverreaction: A variation. While Tory did have the right to physically rebuke Rodney when he tries to stroke her, rather than simply brush him off and back away, she (almost on instinct) puts him in a submission hold. This doesn't help Tory's case as it gives him potential legal leverage over her that she's only able to get out of with Kreese's help.

A troubled but confident girl who joins the Cobra Kai dojo in Season 2, Tory quickly becomes Aisha's friend, Miguel's second romantic interest, and Sam's arch-nemesis.

* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: While she has a sympathetic background and shows compassion towards Aisha, Miguel, and [[spoiler:Robby]], Tory is at heart a bitter, spiteful person who shows little concern for those she does not like and is willing to inflict unhealthy doses of DisproportionateRetribution towards anyone who she feels has wronged her.

* [[LikeFatherLikeSon Like Father, Like Daughter]]: According to her aunt Kandace, Tory gets her temper from her DisappearedDad.

* BecauseYouWereNiceToMe: She begins to back off of Sam because Amanda shows her compassion, being the first adult to not manipulate, abuse, punish or try to sexually extort her.

* InsaneEqualsViolent: Tory does seem to meet most of the criteria for [[UsefulNotes/PersonalityDisorders Borderline Personality Disorder]] and her aggressiveness and obsessive behavior has led to a few characters to believe that she is rather unhinged, which she takes '''real''' personally. Her violence however comes more from her unforgiving situation and that no one is looking out for her aside from Kreese, who ''encourages'' her volatile tendencies.

* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Loves her mother and her brother. This allows her to get exploited by all sorts of people, including her Aunt Kandice, her sleazy landlord, but also Kreese.

* EvilAunt: Her aunt is pretty much a possible future what Tory could grow up to become. She’s a criminal who cheats the system and tries to skim off of her sisters disability check which Tory depends on to take care of her mom and her brother. She even threatens Tory by holding custody of her brother over her head in the eventuality that her mom dies.

* DefrostingIceQueen: Highlighted during the girl's finals during the All-Valley tournament. After a season in which Amanda does everything in her power to help Tory with her home issues and get her back into school, Tory begins to feel remorseful after accidentally elbowing Sam in the eye. She has a moment of shock when Silver tells her to do it again at risk of disqualification, only for Kreese to back her side. Finally, when she lands the winning kick, the first thing she does is to see if Sam is okay before being mobbed by her teammates.

** [[spoiler:Season 4 finally puts a stop to this in the form of [[{{Irony}}her rival's mother]]. Amanda [=LaRusso=] finds out how hard Tory has had it and decides to help her out. This puts Tory on the path to healing.]]

* TheMentallyDisturbed: Played with. In her first two seasons, Tory is mainly treated as an AxCrazy GreenEyedMonster villain with very little weight given to how her mental state is keeping her from living a healthy life and is taken advantage of by those around her. In the fourth season however, Amanda is the first one to look at how Tory’s mental illness is something that needs to be seriously addressed rather than exploited or dismissed, and as a result, Tory finally starts getting real help.

** Amazingly, she becomes this to ''Kreese'' of all people. He sympathises with Tory having to deal with her mother's illness, sorts out her issues with her predatory landlord and confronts Amanda over accidentally getting her fired. But while all of these actions could be dismissed as Kreese simply wanting to secure the loyalty of a talented fighter, he proves that he genuinely cares about Tory in the Season 4 finale [[spoiler:when he learns from his mistakes with Johnny and allows Tory to fight how she wants against Sam rather than [[OrderedToCheat ordering her to cheat]] the way Silver does, finally putting his student's well-being ahead of his ego and desire to win.]]
** In Season 4, she becomes one to one of the least likely people possible, [[spoiler:Amanda!]] [[spoiler:After resenting Tory for everything she did to Sam during the previous two seasons, Amanda gets a glimpse into just how horrible Tory's home life is and begins to pity her. She then spends the rest of the season finding ways to help her and, despite her initial reluctance, Tory begins to trust her and appreciates her efforts.]]

** This is what persuades Amanda to help Tory in Season 4, given that Amanda herself struggled with a difficult family life and faced some legal issues in her youth as well, but learned to grow up and live with her anger.

* SanityStrengthening: In season 4, Amanda’s sincere advice that Tory seek out counseling, coupled with the subsequent in-house help with caring for her sick mother, alleviated some of the stresses and pressures that were negatively impacting her psyche. While she still has a lot of work to do, she’s no longer on a destructive vendetta against Sam and isn’t as [[HairTriggerTemper easily pushed into a rage]].

* ShipTease: Has her moments with Robby in Season 3. Examples includes being able to relate to Robby's current situation during their time with the probation office, and at the Cobra Kai dojo where she convinces him to fully embrace Kreese's teachings. This becomes a RelationshipUpgrade with Robby during Season 4.

** Come Season 4, Robby starts giving the Miyagi-Do secrets to Cobra Kai and Tory seems the most interested in learning what he has to teach, which makes sense as it will finally give her the edge over her more-skilled rival. But in conjunction, as her life grows increasingly complicated, she seeks help from Amanda to get off her self-destructive path. By the time of the tournament, Tory has become a much more balanced fighter and person, showing that perhaps the second-hand Miyagi-Do lessons are un-corrupting her.

* CharacterDevelopment: In Season 4, Tory starts to rein back her rage and hatred thanks to Amanda, the only adult aside from Kreese that she trusts and who actually helps her with her problems. This causes Tory to become more stable and far more honorable, ultimately culminating in feeling regret from injuring Sam and wanting to settle her fight in a fair way. She's even distraught after learning that Silver bribed the referee.

** To Mike Barnes in Season 3. She's the main Cobra Kai villain in the third installment who manages to be even more corrupted than their precursors (Johnny or Hawk/Miguel) who are completely void of redeeming qualities. They are also mercilessly violent fighters who will do anything to win. The only difference is that while Barnes had sadistic tendencies, he was more motivated to participate in Silver's scheme out of greed since Silver promised him a 50% share in his new chain of Cobra Kai dojos in exchange for loyalty, while Tory is joining at the risk of her financial future and her freedom.
* ContraltoOfDanger: Tory has the deepest voice of the recurring female characers by a pretty wide margin, and is also by far the most lethal.

* GlassCannon: As strong as she is, she's the DistaffCounterpart to Hawk in terms of offense/defense capacities. Her street-fighter style is clearly based on brief or short-term events. Up against an opponent that specializes in endurance and defense (as Sam does), she loses her cool quickly. [[spoiler:This changes in Season 4, as she embraces the Miyagi-Do techniques Robby brings to Cobra Kai, making her a much more balanced fighter. Perhaps coincidentally (or not), this coincides with her receiving guidance from Amanda, who encourages her to get professional help, which starts making Tory a more balanced person.]]

* CharacterDevelopment: In Season 4, Tory starts to rein back her rage and hatred thanks to Amanda, the only adult aside from Kreese that she trusts and who actually helps her with her problems. This causes Tory to become more stable and far more honorable, ultimately culminating in feeling regret from injuring Sam and wanting to settle her fight in a fair way and also being distraught after learning that Silver bribed the referee.

* DefrostingIceQueen: Highlighted during the girl's finals during the All-Valley tournament. After a season in which Amanda does everything in her power to help Tory with her home issues and get her back to school, Tory begins to feel remorseful after accidentally elbowing Sam in the eye. She has a moment of shock when Silver tells her to do it again at risk of disqualification, only for Kreese to back her side. Finally, when she lands the winning kick, the first thing she does is to see if Sam is okay before being mobbed by her teammates.

** [[spoiler:Season 4 finally puts a stop to this in the form of [[{{Irony}}her rival's mother]]. Amanda [=LaRusso=] finds out how hard Tory has had it and decides to help her out. This puts Tory on the path to healing. ]]

** The main reason Sam and Tory become such instant bitter rivals is because of how fundamentally different they are as people. Tory is a HardDrinkingPartyGirl who sees nothing wrong with stealing alcohol from the beach club, while Sam is quiet and rule-abiding, leading Tory to derisively refer to her as a "nun" or "princess". Tory is aggressive and spiteful with a hidden caring side, while Sam is kind and empathetic with a tempermental streak. Tory comes from a working-class background and struggles to keep her family together as their sole breadwinner, while Sam comes from a more wealthy, stable family. Tory embraces Cobra Kai's AttackAttackAttack fighting style, while Sam follows in her father and Mr. Miyagi's footsteps in stating that karate should focus on defense.

* FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse: While it's true she has a DarkAndTroubledPast, most of her darker actions (stealing a bottle of liquor from a club, attempting to maim Sam) have nothing to do with it and fall squarely under DisproportionateRetribution. Even Miguel knows that her assault on Sam is going too far and he (unsuccessfully) tries to stop her. He later calls her out on this in Season 3 and the finale proves [[spoiler:Tory is willing to forsake the well-being of her family just so she can satisfy her personal grudge against Sam. It winds up being deconstructed in Season 4, making it clear that while her past doesn't excuse her actions, just dismissing her problems outright only leads to more harm than good. Amanda taking notice of her problems and helping her through them allows her to finally heal and become a better person]].

* GlassCannon: As strong as she is, she's the DistaffCounterpart to Hawk in terms of offense/defense capacities. Her street-fighter style is clearly based on brief or short-term events. Up against an opponent that specializes in endurance and defense (as Sam does), she loses her cool quickly. [[spoiler:This changes in Season 4, as she embraces the Miyagi-Do techniques Robby brings to Cobra Kai, making her a much more balanced fighter. Perhaps coincidentally (perhaps not), this coincides with her getting help from Amanda and Amanda encouraging her to get professional help, which starts making Tory a more balanced person.]]

* TheMentallyDisturbed: Played with. In her first two seasons, Tory is more treated as tan AxCrazy GreenEyedMonster villain with very little weight given to how her mental state is keeping her from living a healthy life and is taken advantage of by those around her. In the fourth season however, Amanda is the first one to look at how Tory’s mental illness is something that needs to be seriously addressed rather that exploited or dismissed and as a result Tory starts getting help and healing.

** She does genuinely love her mom and younger brother and works several jobs to ensure they can stick together as a family.
** Amazingly, Tory becomes this to ''Kreese'' of all people. Kreese sympathises with Tory having to deal with her mother's illness, sorts out her issues with her predatory landlord and confronts Amanda over accidentally getting her fired. But while all of these actions could be dismissed as Kreese simply wanting to secure the loyalty of a talented fighter, he proves that he genuinely cares about Tory in the Season 4 finale [[spoiler:when he learns from his mistakes with Johnny and allows Tory to fight how she wants against Sam rather than [[OrderedToCheat ordering her to cheat]] the way Silver does, finally putting his student's well-being ahead of his ego and desire to win.]]

** In Season 3 she refuses to acknowledge that her expulsion and probation were her own fault (and that punishment was actually lenient considering the severity of her actions) and would rather continue to hunt down a PTSD-scarred Sam than admit to destroying her own life. Whenever she's confronted about how it was solely her fault for starting the school brawl, she deflects the blame onto others and [[PlayingTheVictimCard insists she's the biggest victim of the whole mess.]]

* NiceJobFixingItVillain: [[spoiler:Leading the attack on the [=LaRusso=] home and targeting Sam only causes her to finally overcome her trauma, along with Hawk deciding to leave Cobra Kai despite having been in line to become his dojo's new champion. It also causes Johnny and Daniel as well as their respective students to put aside their differences and unite against Cobra Kai and Kreese for the attack.]]

** This is what persuades Amanda to help Tory in Season 4, given that Amanda herself faced some legal issues in her youth as well, but learned to grow up and learned to live with her anger.

* PrivilegedRival: Inverted and played with. Tory comes from a much more rough-and-tumble life than Sam who has been pampered, and part of their enmity is born from Tory clearly seeing Sam as a RichBitch who doesn't know what real life is like and who judges Tory from her privileged status. Stuff like Tory having to work during 80's Night while Sam can just go and have fun clearly rubs Tory the wrong way, while Sam doesn't help the situation by accusing Tory of stealing wallets at the country club when she didn't and was Aisha's guest (though Tory ''actually'' stealing some booze played a part in that.)

** When Kenny joins Cobra Kai, she takes a liking to him and assists Robby with being a mentor to him and letting him hang out with them outside of class.
* PsychopathicWomanchild: Despite being having to be the sole breadwinner for her family, the responsibility has ''not'' matured her. If anything it has made her even more bitter and resentful and prone to resorting to unhealthy outlets, whether it's being violent for petty reasons or acting like a SpoiledBrat / SoreLoser after losing a fight.

* SanityStrengthening: In season 4, Amanda’s sincere suggestion that Tory seek out counseling coupled with the subsequent in house help with caring for her sick mother alleviated some of the stresses and pressures that were negatively impacting her psyche. While she still has a lot of work to do she’s no longer on a destructive vendetta against Sam and isn’t as [[HairTriggerTemper easily pushed into a rage]].

* SoBeautifulItsACurse: A very realistic version as Tory was sexually extorted by her creepy land lord who was threatening to blackmail her if she defended herself and might have even met his demands to “pay her rent” if Kreese hadn’t intervened. She’s stated that she’s also had to defend herself at work from sleazy costumers. The toll it’s taken on her is another contribution to her mental health taking a severe hit.

** Come Season 4, Robby starts giving the Miyagi-Do secrets to Cobra Kai, and Tory seems the most interested in learning what he has to teach, which makes sense as it will finally give her the edge over her more-skilled rival. But in conjunction, as her life grows increasingly complicated, she seeks help from Amanda to get off her self-destructive path. By the time of the tournament, Tory has become a much more balanced fighter and person, showing that perhaps the second-hand Miyagi-Do lessons are un-corrupting her.

* ToughSpikesAndStuds: Tory is one of Cobra Kai's top students and wears a spiked bracelet which she occassionally uses as a weapon.

* TheMentallyDisturbed: ZiggZagged In her first two seasons, Tory is more treated as tan AxCrazy GreenEyedMonster villain with very little weight given to how her mental state is keeping her from living a healthy life and is taken advantage of by those around her. In the fourth season however, Amanda is the first one to look at how Tory’s mental illness is something that needs to be seriously addressed rather that exploited or dismissed and as a result Tory starts getting help and healing.

** To Mike Barnes in Season 3. She's the main Cobra Kai villain in the third installment who manages to be even more corrupted than their precursors (Johnny or Hawk/Miguel) who are completely void of redeeming qualities. They are also mercilessly violent fighters who will do anything to win. The only difference is that while Barnes had sadistic tendencies, he was more motivated to participate in Silver's scheme out of greed since Silver promised him a 50% share in his new chain of Cobra Kai dojos in exchange for loyalty, while Tory is joining at the risk of her financial future and her freedom.

* ContrastingSequelAntagonist:
** To Johnny Lawrence during Season 2. She's in a rivalry with a [=LaRusso=] in a love triangle, much like Johnny was with Daniel. However, while Johnny was a rich kid who showed signs of having a HiddenHeartOfGold and was a GracefulLoser to Daniel, Tory is a member of the working class who proves to be a JerkWithAHeartOfJerk and refuses to accept defeat to Sam.

[[Characters/TheKarateKidDanielLaRusso Daniel [=LaRusso=]]] | [[Characters/TheKarateKidJohnnyLawrence Johnny Lawrence]] | [[Characters/TheKarateKidJohnKreese John Kreese]] | [[Characters/TheKarateKidTerrySilver Terry Silver]] | [[Characters/TheKarateKidMiguelDiaz Miguel Diaz]] | [[Characters/TheKarateKidRobbyKeene Robby Keene]] | [[Characters/TheKarateKidEliMoskowitz Eli "Hawk" Moskowitz]] | [[Characters/TheKarateKidToryNichols Tory Nichols]] | [[Characters/TheKarateKidDemetriAlexopoulos Demetri Alexopoulos]]\\

[[WMG:[[center:[-''Series/CobraKai'' '''[[Characters/CobraKai Main Character Index]]'''\\
[[Characters/TheKarateKidDanielLaRusso Daniel [=LaRusso=]]] | [[Characters/TheKarateKidJohnnyLawrence Johnny Lawrence]] | [[Characters/TheKarateKidJohnKreese John Kreese]] | [[Characters/TheKarateKidTerrySilver Terry Silver]] | [[Characters/TheKarateKidRobbyKeene Robby Keene]] | [[Characters/TheKarateKidEliMoskowitz Eli "Hawk" Moskowitz]] | '''Tory Nichols''' | [[Characters/TheKarateKidDemetriAlexopoulos Demetri Alexopoulos]]\\

*** [[spoiler: And again in Season 4. Despite jumping Hawk at the tattoo parlor with her Cobra Cronies, pinning him down and forcibly shaving his hair, she receives no punishment and Amanda continues helping her. She ends the season the All Valley Champion thanks to Terry bribing the ref, and still hasn't answered for any of her previous crimes.]]

[[Characters/TheKarateKidCobraKaiAndAssociates Cobra Kai and Associates]] | [[Characters/TheKarateKidEagleFangAndAssociates Eagle Fang and Associates]] | [[Characters/TheKarateKidMiyagiDoAndAssociates Miyagi-Do and Associates]] | [[Characters/TheKarateKidOtherCharacters Other Characters]]-]]]]]

[[Characters/TheKarateKidDanielLaRusso Daniel [=LaRusso=]]] | [[Characters/TheKarateKidJohnnyLawrence Johnny Lawrence]] | [[Characters/TheKarateKidJohnKreese John Kreese]] | [[Characters/TheKarateKidRobbyKeene Robby Keene]] | [[Characters/TheKarateKidEliMoskowitz Eli "Hawk" Moskowitz]] | '''Tory Nichols''' | [[Characters/TheKarateKidDemetriAlexopoulos Demetri Alexopoulos]]\\

[[Characters/TheKarateKidCobraKaiAndAssociates Cobra Kai and Associates]] | [[Characters/TheKarateKid EagleFangAndAssociates Eagle Fang and Associates]] | [[Characters/TheKarateKidMiyagiDoAndAssociates Miyagi-Do and Associates]] | [[Characters/TheKarateKidOtherCharacters Other Characters]]-]]]]]

[[Characters/CobraKaiDanielLaRusso Daniel [=LaRusso=]]] | [[Characters/CobraKaiJohnnyLawrence Johnny Lawrence]] | [[Characters/CobraKaiJohnKreese John Kreese]] | [[Characters/CobraKaiRobbyKeene Robby Keene]] | [[Characters/CobraKaiEliMoskowitz Eli "Hawk" Moskowitz]] | '''Tory Nichols''' | [[Characters/CobraKaiDemetriAlexopoulos Demetri Alexopoulos]]\\

[[Characters/CobraKaiCobraKaiAndAssociates Cobra Kai and Associates]] | [[Characters/CobraKaiEagleFangAndAssociates Eagle Fang and Associates]] | [[Characters/CobraKaiMiyagiDoAndAssociates Miyagi-Do and Associates]] | [[Characters/CobraKaiOtherCharacters Other Characters]]-]]]]]