Characters / The Karate Kid: Terry Silver

The Karate Kid Main Character Index
Daniel LaRusso | Johnny Lawrence | John Kreese | Terry Silver | Miguel Diaz | Robby Keene | Samantha LaRusso | Eli "Hawk" Moskowitz | Tory Nichols | Demetri Alexopoulos | Kyler Park
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Miyagi-Do and Associates | Cobra Kai and Associates | Eagle Fang and Associates | The LaRusso Family | Other Characters

Terry Silver

"Everything I do, is for the future. Mine and theirs. So savor every moment before it's gone."

^{Click here to see Silver in the 1980s}
"Now the real pain begins, Danny Boy."

^{Click here to see Silver in the 1960s.}
"Anything you need, I'm there for you. Your whole life."

Played By: Thomas Ian Griffith, Nick Marini (1960s flashbacks)

Appearances: The Karate Kid Part III | Cobra Kai

"There are no morals to the story, no happy endings! Life isn't a fairy tale; it's a competitive sport! Right and wrong, there's no such thing. There are only winners... and losers."

Kreese's Green Beret squadmate during their time in the Vietnam War and longtime business partner who was Daniel LaRusso's second sensei (or rather tormentor) in the events of The Karate Kid Part III. After his champion and mercenary, Mike Barnes loses the 1985 All-Valley, Terrence "Terry" Silver seemingly steps away from karate for good. However 34 years later, he is later re-recruited by Kreese as his co-sensei to help lead the new generation of Cobra Kai students in preparation for the All-Valley tournament. After Cobra Kai wins the tournament, an unappreciated and infuriated Silver betrays Kreese and completely takes over the dojo for himself, now with the desire of expanding it all over the valley.

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A-F

• The Ace:
  • After the events of The Karate Kid Part III, he still maintains his occupation as a successful businessman with a more modernized house, his own cook, and party guests. This comes into play later as his new franchise products attract more customers to join Cobra Kai.
  • Despite not practicing karate for quite some time, he quickly establishes himself as Cobra Kai's most formidable fighter, defeating Robby quite easily during a personal sparring session and even getting a clean win against Johnny Lawrence, the latter of whom Kreese couldn't beat without a sneak attack. In addition, a drunk Terry is still able to deliver a Curb-Stomp Battle against Stingray.
  • Throughout Season 4, Terry outplays Kreese in the manipulation game multiple times. He wins a bet against Kreese by advising Kenny to pull a Wounded Gazelle Gambit against Robby and in the Season 4 finale, Terry bribes Stingray into getting Kreese arrested.
  • This gets reinforced by Season 5. Sensei Hyan-Woo believed that it was impossible for both Johnny and Chozen to defeat him in a fight (who is strong enough to need both Johnny and Chozen together to take down). Unlike Silver's fight against Johnny where one can say his performance was hampered by a sneak attack, Silver makes an unambiguously clean win against Daniel LaRusso while the latter had no distractions or handicaps to affect his performance. In the finale of Season 5, Silver proved to be an even match against Chozen Toguchi and was only taken down by Daniel after the former had severely exhausted him in a hand-to-hand fight and a duel with weapons.
  • Rewatch The Karate Kid Part III, and you can see just how skilled Silver is by being the only fighter in the series to make Mr. Miyagi work a little (even though the former got his ass whooped). When all is said and done, Silver was able to hold on his own against the Miyagi-Do master better than anyone else in the series — including Kreese, Johnny, Chozen, and Mike. Shows just how absolutely dangerous he is against his other foes, especially with Miyagi himself long passed away.
• Actor Allusion: There's bit of a parallel regarding Silver's career as a sensei and the man who portrayed him (Thomas Ian Griffith) as well as the latter's overall career. When The Karate Kid Part III hit, Silver was portrayed as a highly accomplished Tang Soo Do fighter, whereas Griffith was an up-and-coming actor who began to have more roles after his Part III breakthrough. However, both put their passions on massive pause at one point and focused on other options regarding their careers (Silver realigned his life after the 1985 All-Valley loss and focused primarily on his businesses, Griffith retired from acting and focus more on behind-the-scenes work). So when Silver made his grand reappearance, this meant Griffith returned to acting after a 14-year time span, but it doesn't stop there. As Season 4 presents, Silver initially gave up on karate entirely before Kreese re-recruits him into Cobra Kai as his co-sensei; this is the moment where Silver goes back to his initial passion for karate. So if anything, both Silver and Griffith went back to their passions around the exact same time after a long initial retirement.
• Addled Addict: He claims that a lot of his over-the-top behavior during the events of Part III was the result of doing a lot of cocaine in The '80s, but his behavior in season 4 shows that the cocaine only exacerbated something that was already there.
• Affably Evil: Throughout Season 4, he acts as the Reasonable Authority Figure and has multiple Pet the Dog moments. However, he has also become really good at suppressing his psychotic nature. When he finally lets loose his dark side, it is a doozy to watch. Even at the start of Season 5, he remains as this as he just wants to run his dojo and does not bother Daniel or Johnny until they start interfering with his business.
• Age-Gap Romance: At the start of season 4, he is involved with a woman, Cheyenne, who is clearly a few decades younger than him.
• Alas, Poor Villain: Yes, he's committed a number of heinous acts during his involvement with Cobra Kai that commences in his well-deserved beatdown and arrest in the Season 5 finale. But like Kreese, he was just a former POW that struggled with PTSD upon his return to the states. As a matter of fact, it's safe to say had Kreese not come back into his life, Silver could still maintain a crime-free existence as a successful, mindful businessman with a loving girlfriend by his side. You could say he was clearly living his best life before Kreese came back into the picture and ruined it all again.
• Always Someone Better: Is this to Kreese, and not just because he's wealthier. He's taller, far more of a Combat Pragmatist, has more connections and resources for Cobra Kai (mainly due to his wealth), seems to have gained more respect for his students (considering Kyler's high praise of him), and (comparing both of their bouts to Johnny Lawrence) has much more dangerous combat skill. You can even compare their lifestyles after the 1985 All-Valley and see who's clearly able to live a better life during the interim between the The Karate Kid film series and Cobra Kai. Perhaps it's no wonder why Kreese tries to use their Vietnam War flashback to assert control over Silver; he's that jealous of him!
• Arch-Enemy: Silver manages to amass a great number of enemies upon his reappearance in Season 4 and his time as the Big Bad of Season 5, standing out as the most personal foe to the following:
  • To Daniel LaRusso as his former Evil Mentor from Daniel's brief time in Cobra Kai in The Karate Kid Part III. Daniel is still traumatized by the Training from Hell Silver put him through when he was a teenager, while Silver likes to rub the torturous training he had brought upon him in Daniel's face. It eventually becomes even more personal in Season 5 as Silver first disrupts Daniel's marriage, then gives him a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown, before promising to make Daniel watch as he expands Cobra Kai globally. It's all too clear that Daniel and Silver see each other as their biggest threats, which reaches its peak when Daniel's the one giving him a well-deserved Curb-Stomp Battle to finish him off in the Final Battle.
  • To Chozen Toguchi, who Daniel recruits to help him take down Silver. Chozen's Undying Loyalty to Daniel sees him develop just as personal of a hatred towards Silver as Daniel when Silver repeatedly antagonises Daniel after Chozen had sworn he would "beg for mercy" if he ever went near the LaRussos again. Silver on the other hand takes great pleasure in mockingly reminding Chozen of this before their climactic duel in the Season 5 finale, though he does also show respect for Chozen as a fellow warrior and Worthy Opponent. It's also worth noting that this extends to their mentors, Sato Toguchi and Kim Sun-Yung, both of whom have a history with each other — particularly Sato's grudge against the latter.
  • To John Kreese, his former Best Friend and partner whom he had framed for assault and attempted murder and sent to prison so he could take over Cobra Kai. Now that his war buddy betrayed him, Kreese spends most of Season 5 plotting revenge on Silver from behind bars, using Tory as The Mole and spy, and eventually prioritizing this goal over his previous rivalries with Daniel and Johnny, even forming a brief Enemy Mine with the duo to help bring Silver down.
  • To Mike Barnes, his former mercenary hired to torture and brutalize Daniel in the 1985 All-Valley. It's safe to say Silver was the one responsible for ruining Barnes' life to some degree, as the latter was banned from karate, experienced heavy regret for tormenting Daniel, and even had to work odd jobs just to maintain a life purpose before finding one in the furniture store he now owns. At this point, Barnes has nothing but contempt for Silver (expressing disbelief that Silver got what he wanted), but it becomes personal after Silver himself had Barnes's furniture store burned down just because Barnes gave Daniel the name of an old lawyer who might have incriminating evidence on Silver. This causes a furious Barnes to lead Johnny and Chozen on an invasion of Silver's home in the Season 5 finale, even though Daniel understandably believes it's a stupid idea.
  • To Stingray, whom he beat half to death in order to frame Kreese. While he gives Stingray a ton of perks for his part in the Frame-Up, Stingray privately admits he's terrified of Silver and only agreed to the deal out of cowardice, and he eventually turns on Silver when his conscience gets the better of him.
  • Johnny Lawrence eventually becomes an adversary to Silver as well, the former wanting to take him down as much as he wants to do the same with Kreese. However, it becomes personal with the two when Silver attempts to lavish Robby and Shannon with luxuries, leading to a series of events where Johnny is curb-stomped by Silver at the old dojo. By Season 5, Johnny joins Daniel and Chozen in their campaign against Silver, openly desiring to take him down. It's worth noting that Silver's animosity towards Johnny extends even before the events of the first Karate Kid film in which Kreese's desire to mold Johnny into the face of Cobra Kai hinders Silver's grand plan of expanding Cobra Kai.
  • Among the Gen Z students, the one that personally stands out against him is his former ace, Robby Keene. Even before Robby defects from Cobra Kai, tensions between the two were already brewing, first in a sparring exercise where Silver completely obliterates Robby into a pulp, then later in an exercise where Silver successfully has Kenny take advantage of Robby's compassion to beat him, and then in the All-Valley where Silver angrily calls out Robby for going "too easy" and showing respect to Hawk, before Robby dares him to take on the latter. However, Silver's increasingly corrupting influence on the dojo, particularly on Kenny, is what prompts Robby to leave, to the point where he completely sheds his animosity toward Miguel, Johnny, and Daniel, re-joining Miyagi-Do for the sake of rescuing Kenny and the others from Cobra Kai. At this point, Robby sees Silver as his main enemy, and it gets more personal between the two when Silver orders the Cobra Kais to go "No Mercy" on Robby and the rest of the Miyagi-Fangs after Robby walks into the dojo and calls out Silver's corruption.
• Awesomeness by Analysis: Terry’s specialty is recognizing and/or exploiting the weaknesses in anyone, whether physical or emotional. This includes himself. He knows that Kreese and his guilt-tripping is his own greatest weakness. He knows that Kreese’s greatest weakness is Johnny. He knows that Johnny’s greatest weakness is Robby. And he knows that Robby’s greatest weakness is Kenny.
• Awesome, but Impractical: His Silver Bullet technique, a quick strike to the diaphragm with enough power to take away someone's breath and, when done by Terry, can tear through training dummy. It has a cool name and look impressive but has a wind up and requires precision so he seldom uses it when fighting for real. Daniel is able to easily block it in their climactic fight in season 5.
• Ax-Crazy: While he appears to be more civil and approachable than Kreese, Terry is no less insane and bloodthirsty than his past war comrade and delights at the very idea of seeing his students brutalize and harm each other. He also has a gleeful knack for telling his students to indulge in their worst aspects and act as destructively as they possibly can. He's even worse when in a drunken stupor where he senselessly beats the hell out of Stingray partly because of his annoyance and partly because of personally feeling insulted by being told by Kreese that he's merely a tool to assist Cobra Kai, not an actual equal. Season 5 shows just how unhinged he can really be when pushed to his limits: his reaction upon losing to Chozen in a fight is to grab a katana and try to murder him.
• The Bad Guy Wins: Not only does Cobra Kai win the tournament in season 4, but Terry orchestrates his complete takeover of Cobra Kai by framing John Kreese for aggravated assault and attempted murder on Stingray and having him arrested.
  • And to follow that up, he finally accomplishes his 34-year goal in opening up Cobra Kai franchises from all over the valley (since boasting about it during his revenge plan against Daniel). Too bad Kreese won't be there teaching alongside him.
  • However, the finale of season 5 shows Silver suffering an even bigger downfall than in Part III. Not only does he lose to Daniel, but his students abandon him after learning that Cobra Kai's victory in the last tournament was due to bribery and he is arrested after Stingray admits that it was Silver who assaulted him, not Kreese.
• Badass Boast: He gloats about opening a branch of Cobra Kai dojos in the Valley while also bringing up the prospect of offering free lessons. Unfortunately for him, it doesn't come to pass after Daniel defeats Barnes in the 1985 All-Valley Tournament. He gets his wish at the end of Season 4 of Cobra Kai in spades.
• Badass Creed: Used in both Karate Kid 3 and Cobra Kai:
  "There are three things that make a champion. The three Ds. Desire. Devotion. And discipline. The first two I can't give you. The third one I can, but you have to be willing to receive it."
• Bait-and-Switch: We're initially led to think another squadmate nicknamed "Ponytail" is Terry due to his distinctive hairstyle, but then he dies and it turns out Terry is actually "Twig".
• Big Bad:
  • In The Karate Kid Part III, he tries to ruin Daniel's life in the third movie for humiliating Kreese. The two are technically working together, but Silver has more screen time.
  • He shares the role with Kreese again in Cobra Kai Season 4 once the latter brings him back to the dojo as his co-sensei. However, his slipping psyche and renewed obsession with Cobra Kai's "No Mercy" philosophy (which he takes to an even greater extreme than Kreese) results in him slowly taking over the spotlight as the season's main antagonist. This culminates in him framing Kreese for assaulting Stingray and taking over Cobra Kai. He effectively becomes this in Season 5, which reaches its peak when Daniel takes him down in a final fight, followed by his arrest for assaulting Stingray and disgrace for being outed as a cheater.
• Big Bad Duumvirate: Kreese is still the sensei of the Cobra Kai dojo as of Season 4, but Silver comes in (with all his resources and loyalty to Kreese) to help the deranged Evil Mentor in the worst way possible. However, this alliance doesn't last for long, as Silver becomes the sole Big Bad by completely usurping control of the dojo in the season finale.
• Big Bad Friend: Becomes this to Kreese after betraying him to the police.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: In Part III, Silver wormed his way into Daniel's life by pretending to be a poor, humble sensei trying to help Daniel, all the while torturing him with a harsh training regimen, wrecking his bonsai business, and turning him into a brute. He hasn't missed a step thirty years on, able to effortlessly win over almost everyone who doesn't know his true nature and posit himself as a pillar of the community.
• Blood Knight: The guy sports a terrifying look of excitement when beating the crap out of Johnny Lawrence or Daniel LaRusso. He is no less thrilled when fighting Chozen to the death, and even says that he "always knew" he would "die on the battlefield".
• Bond Villain Stupidity: In the season 5 finale, he probably could have won and ruined things for the LaRusso family, as he had proof that the kids Daniel had been teaching had broken into his dojo. However, after playing his cards carefully for so long, he finally lets his bloodthirsty nature get the better of him and brutally fights Daniel, who hadn't broken in and was there to break things up. This is on top of Daniel eventually getting proof that he framed Kreese, meaning Silver is the only one who gets carted off in handcuffs.
• Breakout Villain: After starting as a Suspiciously Similar Substitute for Kreese created because Martin Kove's scheduling conflicts meant his role in The Karate Kid Part III had to be reduced, Silver has become popular enough to have his backstory explored through Season 3's flashbacks before making a well-publicized return in Season 4.
• Broken Pedestal:
  • Daniel views him in much less positive light such after realizing that everything Silver did to "train him" in The Karate Kid Part III was out of torture. The moment Silver reveals Mike Barnes is actually working for him, all respect Daniel had for vanishes.
  • As a matter of fact, this may have extended to Barnes himself who had some degree of respect for Silver after the latter promised him 50% of Cobra Kai's share if he won the tournament. All of that gets thrown out the window when Barnes loses the tournament, Cobra Kai is completely disbanded, and Barnes is banned from the sport; when he is finally reintroduced, Barnes has nothing but contempt for Silver and only sees him for the twisted bastard he is.
  • In Season 4, he comes to view Kreese as a liability after decades of holding him to a high standard of loyalty after the latter saved him back in Vietnam, even more so when Silver is quick to figure out that the reason Kreese brought him back in the present day was to get back at Johnny. To that end, he burns the bridge he had with Kreese by having him framed for the assault on Stingray.
    Silver: You remember when you asked me who your weakness was? It's Johnny Lawrence. That's what this was all about, right? This is never about us teaming up, or bringing back the glory days, that was all bullshit.
    Kreese: That's not true...
    Silver: Yes, it is! And I fell for it. You know why? 'Cause everyone has a weakness, John. And mine... is you.
    Kreese: You think that I'm your weakness?! Well, you've got it backwards! Because I am your strength, I have been your strength ever since Vietnam.
    Silver: Yes, there it is! I can always count on you playing the guilt card. How many times do you expect me to repay that debt before we're square?!
  • In Season 5, he becomes this to Tory after she learns he bribed the referee at the All-Valley Tournament. The season finale has all the Cobra Kais lose respect for him when they see proof that their victory was a sham, abandoning the Dojo in disgust, with Kenny appearing especially devastated to find out that his mentor is a wicked, unprincipled fraud.
• The Bus Came Back: After having been absent since Part III, Silver returns to the Karate Kid universe in season 4 of Cobra Kai.
• Cheaters Never Prosper: Towards the end of season 4, Tory discovers that he paid off the referee to favor Cobra Kai, making Tory's win a tainted one. When confronting him in the next season, Silver makes no hesitation of denying it, claiming it was an "insurance policy". However, when he does bribe the referee during the Sekai Taikai tryouts, the only instance that this backfires is that Sam manages to beat Devon by making every one of her strikes undeniable. In the finale, Tory, along with the rest of Miyagi-do and Eagle Fang expose Silver's bribery, ultimately leading to the mass exodus of Cobra Kai students discarding their shirts once Silver is defeated by Daniel.
• The Chessmaster: Being a ruthless businessman, Silver values strategy above brawn and impresses that upon Cobra Kai's students. He wins a bet against Kreese by pitting Kenny against Robby, knowing Robby would go easy on him. He also sets up a trap for Johnny in the likely event he confronts him over his influence on Robby. Silver also rigs the tournament by paying off the ref, and orchestrates his takeover of Cobra Kai by framing Kreese for attempted murder and having him arrested.
  Terry: What your opponent is thinking is key. In war. In business. In a fight.
• Combat Pragmatist: He fervently espouses the idea of "attacking your enemy's weakness", whether it's a mental, emotional, or physical one. He coaches Kenny to victory in a sparring match against Robby by having him fake an injury and take advantage of Robby's compassion when he hesitates to finish Kenny off, and beats Johnny in a Curb-Stomp Battle by ambushing him with a kick to the head, possibly giving him a concussion before the fight even starts. When he fights Daniel the first time, he takes advantage of Daniel's lack of emotional balance to taunt him and make him further lose focus. He even has his own fighting style called the "quicksilver method" which has three basic rules: If a man can't stand, he can't fight. If a man can't breathe, he can't fight. And if a man can't see, he can't fight.
• Contrasting Sequel Antagonist:
  • He's the resident Evil Mentor in the third film of The Karate Kid film series. However unlike Kreese (who's mainly a physically-imposing Drill Sergeant Nasty) and Sato (who is a raspy-voiced man with a sense of honor), Silver is a Manipulative Bastard with a Faux Affably Evil persona convincing enough for Daniel LaRusso to believe he's a trustworthy man. Also, unlike Kreese (who has his students do the bullying for him) and Sato (who centers his animosity toward Miyagi), Silver is directly antagonistic toward Daniel himself, torturing and demoralizing him throughout the events of the film.
  • This also applies as Cobra Kai's Big Bad. John Kreese was more content having one dojo, albeit with a strong core team of "natural-born fighters" like Robby, Tory, and Kyler, and preferred a confrontational approach in fighting whether it was for himself or for his students. By contrast, Silver's ambitions focused on a franchise of dojos, with the desire to be inclusive as possible (shown when he has no problem accepting unorthodox fighters like Kenny and Piper), and prefers a pragmatic approach in fighting for himself and his students.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: He's made millions of dollars as a professional toxic waste dumper. And that's not even counting his desire in establishing Cobra Kai as a franchise of thug dojos (which he ultimately succeeds as of Season 5).
• Curb-Stomp Battle:
  • His sparring lesson with Robby shows just how leagues ahead Terry is when it comes to karate skill. To the point where Robby can't even get close to making a hit on him, even after Terry goads him to put in his 100%.
  • Gives one to Johnny Lawrence as well. Yes, the same sensei that was able to take down Kreese twice when showing no mercy had absolutely no chance against Kreese's war-buddy.
  • Delivers an absolutely brutal one to Daniel for constantly defying and undermining him throughout the series. It's so bad that Daniel (briefly) loses his drive to fight against Terry and Cobra Kai.
• Dangerous Forbidden Technique: His "Silver Bullet" is a punch to the chest that can cripple the opponent's breathing, making it a potential One-Hit KO.
• Death Seeker: He has elements of this in Cobra Kai, likely from survivor's guilt and trauma from the Vietnam war, resulting in him having very little concern for his own safety when he gets into a fight. During his fight with Chozen he makes it clear he isn't afraid of dying.
  Terry: "I was meant to die on a battlefield. Do it."
• Disc-One Final Boss: While he's obviously the Final Boss for Season 5 (and it really shows when Daniel is finally able to embrace Mr. Miyagi's teachings in spirit), his plans in globalizing Cobra Kai are foiled and he ends up arrested for his multitude of crimes (i.e., bribery, assault, false testimony, arson, etc.). That being said, the Miyagi-Fangs now have the Sekai Taikai to deal with, while at the same time, his war buddy, Kreese, escapes from prison likely to continue his war against Daniel and Johnny. Even then, it's possible that Silver could bribe his way out of legal trouble (he's done it many times with his toxic waste scandals) and continue becoming a threat to Daniel and co.
• The Dog Bites Back:
  • John Kreese saved Silver's life fifty years ago and has never let him forget it. Despite being aware by the time of the series that he's paid back the debt many times over, Silver still has trouble saying no to Kreese when the latter plays the "I saved your life" card to guilt him into saying doing him a favor. And on top of that, Kreese once again dragged Silver into his petty little war against Daniel and then bullied him with the Trauma Button whenever he felt his authority in the dojo was being threatened. It’s no wonder Silver finally struck back at Kreese by framing him for assaulting Stingray. It’s been a long time coming.
  • Throughout Season 5, Terry pushes through his ultimate goal in spreading Cobra Kai all the way to a global scale — assuming that Daniel and Johnny have thrown in the towel. However, Daniel repeatedly trying to stop him puts Terry in a position to see his nemesis as a threat and go through great lengths to ruin his life.
• Dragon-in-Chief:
  • Silver may be committing his evil actions on Kreese's behalf, but he's far more dangerous than him, being a Corrupt Corporate Executive with vast resources along with being a sadistic Manipulative Bastard, while Kreese is merely a disgraced karate teacher bullying people weaker than him. Silver could easily turn on Kreese and become the Big Bad of the franchise himself (which he actually does by the end of Cobra Kai season 4), if it weren't for his Undying Loyalty to Kreese as a result of saving his life during the Vietnam War. It's even implied he is a better fighter than Kreese, not that it helps him when he fights Mr Miyagi.
  • Silver repeatedly proves himself to be more pragmatic than Kreese, provides resources to improve their dojo, and is able to get Johnny and Daniel to split simply by reintroducing himself. His former Captain tries to pull rank and prod at Silver's Trauma Button when he unintentionally threatens Kreese's ego, but it only makes Silver more uncontrollable.
• The Dreaded: For a guy who's 6' 5'', arguably the most dangerous Cobra Kai fighter, and is an affluent Faux Affably Evil businessman with a huge level of influence in the valley, he's got quite the reputation among his peers (and not a good one).
  • After all the hell he put Daniel through in Part III, it's safe to say that Daniel's reasonably afraid of him, as seen by his reaction when Silver (alongside Kreese) enters the Miyagi-Do dojo. It's also telling that Daniel never mentioned Silver in any of his stories about his past conflicts with Cobra Kai, and later warns Johnny against antagonizing Silver.
    Daniel: [To Johnny] Silver's a psychopath, okay? You cannot strike first with this guy!
  • It takes one good look from the old man for Nestor (the bodega owner) to back down and act all chill when the latter tries to lecture him about store policies (a stark contrast to him picking an argument with Kreese).
    Nestor: [To Silver] Hey man, if you're gonna use this place as a conference room, you gotta buy something. [Silver gives him a Death Glare] Take your time.
  • Being on the receiving end of a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown from the deranged sensei/businessman is enough for Stingray to be very reluctant in telling the truth of what Silver made him do, out of fear of what Silver might do to him. Stingray himself admits it's not easy.
    Stingray: [To Miguel, Sam, Hawk, Demetri, and Bert] But if I tell you what really happened... you know... he'll find out, I can't. It's not that easy, you guys.
  • Amanda casually brings up his name to her cousin Jessica Andrews (who lived through many of the events of Part III) as the latest of Daniel's past adversaries to have reemerged due to her irritation with Daniel's ongoing feud with Cobra Kai. Jessica immediately chokes on her drink and then proceeds to tell her what happened back in 1985, helping clue Amanda in as to just what a serious threat he really is. Jessica even admits that she still has nightmares about what Terry put her and Daniel through in Part III.
  • When he's finally exposed in the Season 5 finale, he shows up at the Cobra Kai dojo, covered in blood and clearly even more unhinged than before. Everyone in the dojo backs away from him in fear and hatred.
• Drugs Are Bad: Terry reveals in Season 4 of Cobra Kai that part of his crippling instability in the third film was because he was on cocaine for most of the 80s. He also lets it slip he indulged in hardcore drug abuse as his own self-destructive way of escaping his demons. He's become sober since then, but unfortunately he's still every bit as unhinged in the 21st century as he was back then; he's just better at hiding it.
  "Back in the '80s, I thought I could conquer the world. I came pretty damn close. Then I went off the rails. I was so hopped up on cocaine and revenge, I spent months terrorizing a teenager over a high school karate tournament. It sounds insane just talking about it."
• Embarrassing Nickname: In Vietnam, his squad nicknamed him "Twig" due to his unimpressive physique. He's shed it in the years since. Well, in the physical sense at least — it takes just one visit from Kreese for Terry's decades worth of therapy, lucidity, and detoxification to desperately waver.
• The Emperor: A karateka example, given he's basically taking over karate in San Fernando Valley in Season 5, forming a virtual karate shogunate with multiple dojos in his disposal and multiple senseis in his regime.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Silver is genuinely fond of Kenny and takes him under his wing because the kid both reminds him of himself before he learned karate and he sees his great potential. It's just a shame that this means being an Evil Mentor and making the kid a worse version of himself rather than giving genuine good advice and making him a better person. And while it's less so than her relationship with Kreese, he does seem to sincerely care about Tory beyond her usefulness to his agenda, wanting to help her achieve all she can and believing he's giving her the tools to do that.
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • Unlike Kreese, who continued to harass Daniel and the Miyagi-do students even after Daniel shut down the dojo following the school brawl, Silver leaves them alone when Daniel seemingly honors the bet after the All-Valley and only reengages when Daniel breaks their deal and pokes the bear. Even after Chozen meddles with his sensei scouting, Silver still tries to give Daniel one last chance to leave him alone without any repercussions before declaring him as an enemy once again.
  • Even his threat of telling Kreese that he will "take good care of Lawrence" was more of a ploy to get the last laugh. In Season 5, Silver leaves Johnny alone until he also gets involved with Cobra Kai again.
  • While he has no problem with the guy being part of Cobra Kai, he knows that Kyler is just Dumb Muscle and not a very good leader or role model for the other students. It's partly why he tells Kenny to stop following his lead and take charge himself.
  • He appears to show a degree of this following Kim Da-Eun emotionally abusing and goading Tory into shattering a stone dummy's "head" with her bare fist, severely injuring her hand in the process. Despite arranging and supervising the exercise, he remains stoic and looks somewhat glum about Tory's torture, even expressing sympathy for her having to abandon Robby to remain loyal to Cobra Kai when the exercise is concluded. This contrasts with his gleeful sadism toward Daniel both in The Karate Kid Part III, when he goads him into a similar act on a wood dummy, and earlier in the fifth season of Cobra Kai, when he has no problem taking advantage of the psychological scars that he left on Daniel from that same event (among others).
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: After the Miyagi-Fangs expose his bribery of the ref at the All-Valley Tournament to the Cobra Kai students, Silver can't grasp the concept that his students won't listen to him anymore now that they know the dojo's accomplishments were actually a result of his wealth and not their own skills. He treats the bribery as if it was an "insurance policy" that he cannot be penalized for and that it changes nothing about them winning, despite the fact that paying off a referee to guarantee the victory means that the students clearly weren't good enough to win on their own.
• Evil Counterpart:
  • To Daniel LaRusso, now that Daniel himself has become an influential businessman, and is the wealthier counterpart to his co-sensei (Johnny). Both also have darker impulses that constantly threaten them to go off the rails. Despite Daniel's preached virtues of calmness and balance, Terry says (with reasonable validation) that Daniel has always been a hothead and that maybe he always had a little Cobra Kai in him. On Terry's end, he had spent the last three decades trying to do better with himself while repressing his previous psychopathic personality and seemed to genuinely regret his torment of Daniel. Ultimately though, Daniel is able to come to terms with his more vitriolic temperaments while remaining firmly loyal to Miyagi-Do's teachings and reconcile with his rival Johnny, whereas Terry relapses into the madman he was in The Karate Kid Part III because of Kreese's cruelty and constantly pushing his Trauma Button and ends up betraying his long time friend.
  • To Mr. Miyagi (now that Silver is an elder master of martial arts), being his complete antithesis. Both are war veterans who found renewed purpose in life by teaching karate and passing karate, including to Daniel LaRusso in the original The Karate Kid series. Both of them also have a habit of using their enemies' weaknesses agaisnt them. However their differences do not go unnoticed.
    • Mr. Miyagi was very short (at 5'3''), introverted and soft-spoken, stoic, caring, would prefer moving away from fights, culturally representing the best of Eastern values, prefers to teach individual students, and lived a modest lifestyle as a maintenance attendant prior to his death.
    • Terry Silver is very tall (at 6'5''), extraverted and quite loud sometimes, charismatic, manipulative, relishes a good fight whether with his allies or enemies, culturally represents the worst of Western values, desires to build a franchise with many students to teach, and lives a lavish lifestyle as a well-established (albeit corrupt) businessman.
• Evil Is Bigger: At 6ft. 5in., he towers over everyone in the entire The Karate Kid franchise, and is the Big Bad of The Karate Kid Part III, as well as Cobra Kai Season 4 and 5. Anoush even calls him a "Giant Bond villain."
• Evil Is Hammy: Silver's personality is so bombastic that his nefarious presence is immediately felt onscreen.
• Evil Is Not a Toy: At the start of Season 4, Silver has seemingly moved on from being the person he was in The Karate Kid Part III and has worked hard to keep his darker nature in check following the events of that movie. He's initially reluctant to get back into the Cobra Kai business with Kreese. But in his attempts to get the better of Johnny and Daniel, Kreese keeps gleefully prodding at Silver's fragile psyche and eventually Terry's sociopathic tendencies get the upper hand and he promptly turns on Kreese, framing him, getting him arrested and taking over his dojo and his franchise.
• Evil Is Petty: Destroying a teenager's life because he caused some distress for your war buddy. Also doubles as Disproportionate Retribution.
• Evil Mentor: As he was to Daniel and Mike Barnes in The Karate Kid Part III, he is now this to the new generation of Cobra Kai students.
• Evil Old Folks: Like Kreese, he's aged significantly over the years. That doesn't change the fact that he's still a ruthless nightmare to deal with.
• Evil Overlord: A realistic fiction example in Season 5, given that he’s an extremely wealthy businessman with a level of influence in the valley vastly surpassing Daniel LaRusso who opens multiple dojos and recruits hundreds of students and numerous senseis all under his regime.
• Evil Sounds Deep: Age certainly has made his voice distinctively deep (a stark contrast to his younger self in Part III), especially when you compare it to the other veteran Cobra Kai characters (i.e., Daniel, Johnny, Kreese) who all sound more or less the same.
• Evil Plan: Of the Vengeance Is Mine! variety, targeting Daniel and Mr. Miyagi for what they did to Kreese in the first movie.
  • Later it’s revealed that his new Evil Plan is usurping Kreese as head of Cobra Kai and establishing it as a corporate empire to take over the valley.
• Eviler than Thou: Is this to Kreese, and it's not hard to see why.
  • Unlike his war buddy (who's content with operating one Thug Dojo under the "No Mercy" creed), Terry (in The Karate Kid Part III) is just that ambitious to have a franchise of thug dojos all over the valley—meaning more and more bullies coming out to terrorize the valley. And that's not even counting the fact that his style of villainy is more of manipulation and torture than just being a complete Jerkass (in Kreese's case).
  • Zigzagged, but eventually played straight throughout Season 4. While Kreese (who was worse by comparison at the time) brings Terry out of a lifetime of peace and therapy, Terry's sanity begins to slip—seemingly causing the Kreese himself to internally question his own teachings by demonstrating that he's willing to cross lines even Kreese isn't (particularly Terry's beatdown of Johnny, illegal tactics against opponents during the tournament, and bribing the referee). At the end of Season 4, Terry frames Kreese for his own No-Holds-Barred Beatdown of Stingray and gets him arrested.
  • This also goes along with their long-term goal. Kreese’s plans seem to simply be about revenge against Daniel and they’re for shortsighted because it’s not clear what he wants long term. Silver however wants to make a worldwide franchise which would turn kids all over the world into an army of raging bullies and securing a lasting legacy for his creed.
• Evil Virtues: As much of a bastard as he is, he is a loyal friend to Kreese and goes out of his way to help him. Not so much 35 years later.
  • As rotten as he is, he does seem to have genuine affection for many of the students he teaches, wanting to help them improve and gain confidence and, unlike Kreese, he is willing to put the work in with training and nurturing talent rather than writing off anyone who doesn't meet his standards right away. This is most apparent with Kenny who Terry sincerely cares about due to seeing a lot of himself in him and sees himself as a father figure to, believing he's providing him with good guidance.
• Exact Words: He's upfront in letting Kreese know that "you disappearing was the best thing that ever happened to me." But Kreese wasn’t listening, and so this applies again at the end of Season 4.
• Expository Hairstyle Change: Terry's comeback to villainy is signaled by the return of his old ponytail.
• Expy: He's basically the Emperor Palpatine of The Karate Kid franchise; the unseen Greater-Scope Villain of the first film (he was the one who bought the Cobra Kai dojo for Kreese) who steps up as the main antagonist of the third film. Oh, and he's also a corrupting influence, much like Palpatine himself, as he hires Mike Barnes as his champion to enact his revenge on Kreese's behalf, corrupts Daniel so that he could turn to the dark side for the worse, and even corrupts Kreese himself to an extent (had it not been for Silver, Kreese would have completely given up Cobra Kai for good). For added bonus, Terry also has an ominous theme to go along with his character, much like Palpatine.
• False Friend: Terry introduces himself to Daniel as a "friendly Big Brother Mentor" type, just to later reveal himself to be Evil All Along to the poor kid For the Evulz.
• Familial Foe: Terry is a former enemy of Daniel LaRusso, and while he might not specifically seek out fights with Amanda and the LaRusso kids, Samantha is quick to help out her father and suffers a lot due to The Corruptor actions of first Kreese, then Silver, making a lot of her classmates unstable and violent (something which her brother eventually gets caught up in as well). Daniel's future cousin-in-law also experiences a lot of harassment from Silver during the events of The Karate Kid Part III.
• Fatal Flaw:
  • Surprisingly, his habit of using his fortune to get what he wants. Due to growing up in wealth and maintaining it as an adult, Silver sees bribery as just another tool he can use in his Combat Pragmatism arsenal. On the other hand, his followers that did not have the same luxury just see it as plain cheating and dishonesty, which is why when Tory sees he bribed the All-Valley referee, she becomes disillusioned with him, as do all of the other Cobra Kai students when they see the video of him admitting to it.
  • His sadism is another big one. Terry actually achieves his goal in Season 5; while Daniel and Chozen continue to try to expose him, Johnny decides to leave him be and focus on his family. Daniel eventually throws in the towel and tells Terry that he's won, as his obsession is costing him his family and he wants to focus on getting Amanda back. But Terry can't resist beating Daniel within an inch of his life and letting him know he plans to destroy him even further and indoctrinate Sam and Anthony as well. Even though Daniel does give up for a while, it actually convinces Amanda that Silver is every bit as dangerous as Daniel has been saying, convinces Johnny to join the fight as well to take Silver down, and ensures that Chozen will stay around to mentor the combined dojo and, eventually, help defeat Silver in person.
  • His tendency to bury and forget his problems rather than actually try to resolve them. To deal with his trauma from serving in the Vietnam War, he hopped up on cocaine and tried to discard his identity as "Twig" by basically adopting the persona of his loudmouth fallen comrade "Ponytail." When he's seen again 35 years after The Karate Kid, Part III, Silver has cleaned up his act with therapy but it soon becomes apparent that he had only suppressed his psychopathic tendencies with another persona of humble and magnanimous business tycoon "Terrence."
• Faux Affably Evil: And how. He'll go all the way to make himself look "humble" to get on Daniel LaRusso's and Mr. Miyagi's good graces. As soon as his façade slips, he's even more psychotic than Kreese ever was. He re-establishes this throughout the latter part of Season 4 and 5, presenting himself as an honorable philanthropist and wise teacher to the San Fernando Valley community (he even gets into Amanda's good graces!) all to hide the cheating, psychopathic megalomaniac he really is.
• Final-Exam Boss: The Final Battle between Daniel and Silver at the flagship Cobra Kai dojo has the former utilizing fight techniques from all three main dojos as he beats the hell out of his Arch-Enemy. Prime examples being the QuickSilver method (from Cobra Kai) taught by Silver himself, the Screaming Eagle (from Eagle Fang) taught by Johnny — which Daniel uses to stun Silver's breath, and his signature Crane Kick (from Miyagi-Do) as the Finishing Move.
• Foil:
  • Partners in crime, co-senseis, and old war buddies they may be, but John Kreese and Terry Silver have very different lives and more importantly, approaches to running Cobra Kai.
    • Kreese is implied to have come from a less well-off background, having to work as a busboy after his mother's suicide, while Silver comes from a wealthy family, given his talk about taking over his father's business and the fact that he is very rich in the present day.
    • Kreese's only mentioned relative is his mother, whom it is implied he remembers fondly. Silver's only mentioned relative is his father, with whom he doesn't appear to have a good relationship, given that he casually threatens to cut him off financially if he doesn't come home to help run his business.
    • Kreese leaves his girlfriend to go to war, and is devastated by her death, which is a painful memory for him decades later. Silver abandons his girlfriend for a petty karate rivalry, and pretty much forgets about her the moment she's out of the picture, ignoring the many text messages she sends asking where he's gone.
    • Kreese generally remains outwardly calm, even when acting with murderous intent. Silver becomes almost cartoonishly excited and animated when the opportunity for a fight arises.
    • Kreese is a poor long-term strategist, always preferring to strike back immediately at his opponents for even the most petty of slights with no regard for the consequences of his actions. Silver favors Pragmatic Villainy, encouraging his students to focus on the All Valley as it's the only fight that truly matters.
    • Kreese believes fighters are born, not made, favoring "natural athletes" like Robby (because of his relationship to Johnny), Tory (because of her rough upbringing) and Kyler (because of his wrestling training). Silver thinks a champion can come from anywhere, and supports unorthodox fighters like Kenny and Piper. This fits with their respective backgrounds, as Kreese is an accomplished brawler long before receiving any formal training, telling David he's "been fighting [his] whole life", while Silver doesn't appear to have been much of a fighter before or even during his time in Vietnam, being mocked by his squadmates and nicknamed "Twig" due to his lack of muscles.
    • Kreese favors a strong core team and spends more time cutting students than recruiting them. Silver wants Cobra Kai to be as expansive as possible, spending huge amounts of money on merchandise to appeal to the mainstream and making plans to open dojos all over the Valley.
  • Terry and Johnny Lawrence also have a surprising amount in common.
    • They were both very close and loyal to Kreese 30 years ago, to the point of having an almost-familial bond with him. Losing an All-Valley Tournament to Daniel LaRusso would cause them both cut off ties with Kreese.
    • Both of them were convinced by Kreese to let him back into their lives 30 years after their aforementioned falling-out, only for the man to try assert dominance and control over them; which caused them both to lose any remaining affection and loyalty for him, and cut him off permanently.
    • Terry and Johnny both tormented Daniel LaRusso 30 years ago, but Johnny would eventually reconcile with his rival while Terry reignited their enmity more intensely than ever.
    • Both of them grew up in the lap of luxury but had strained relationships with their rich (step)fathers. However, Terry still inherited his father's wealth and continues to live lavishly, while Johnny and his stepfather have cut each other off completely, leaving Johnny to fend for himself and live in a shabby apartment at first.
    • Both Johnny and Silver have a partner that is significantly younger than them who also have a good influence on them. Johnny stays with Carmen who helps support him emotionally which helps him change Cobra Kai (when he had it) and his own ideals for the better. Silver's current relationship with the mindful Cheyenne is unknown but he is clearly nowhere near as close to her as he used to be in Season 5 as Cheyenne does not appear and unlike Johnny, no longer contacts or lives with Cheyenne and has gotten worse from the progress he made in the past.
    • Also, while Terry has adjusted very seamlessly to modern times, Johnny remains stuck in the eighties.
    • Finally, both of them have more aggressive tendencies that they struggle with due their history with Cobra Kai. But Johnny has overall become a better person than he was 30 years ago, while Terry threw away any progress he made over the last 30 years after becoming re-involved with Kreese and Cobra Kai, and became even more vicious than he was all those years ago.
• From Nobody to Nightmare:
  • Being in the same event as Kreese, this unlucky soldier would go on to become a wealthy businessman who would dump chloride sludge and once manipulated a teenaged Daniel into embracing Cobra Kai brutality (not to mention hiring a vicious fighter like Mike Barnes as Daniel's rival).
  • Reestablishes himself as this in Season 4, having grown into a laid-back rich guy who has seemingly reflected on his past and moved on. When Kreese comes back into his life it becomes apparent that he's actually just repressed his problems and when they boil out of him they are ugly to the point even Kreese is given pause.
• From Bad to Worse: His morality and mental state. When Kreese convinces him to return, he slips back from Retired Monster to the Manipulative Bastard he was in Part III, successfully swaying even more youth into Cobra Kai. But it’s not enough for Kreese as he prods Terry’s Trauma Button to keep him in line. This eventually causes Terry to shed his remaining sanity and loyalty to Kreese, enough to beat a man half to death and frame his former comrade for the deed.
• Funny Bruce Lee Noises: Does the famous Bruce Lee Kiai while fighting Mr. Miyagi, both to show mockery and display of his outrageous nature. Mr. Miyagi does the same after beating him.

G-Y

• Genius Bruiser: He's a terrifyingly intelligent manipulator and strategist as well as a very skilled businessman and Combat Pragmatist who is capable of handing a Curb-Stomp Battle to both Robby Keene and Johnny Lawrence.
• The Giant: A karateka example, but it's inevitable when you're played by someone as towering as Thomas Ian Griffith.
• Glass Cannon: In his most maniacal state, he's this. In the final episode of Season 5, Silver challenges Daniel to one last fight, but it ends with Daniel giving him a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown, since Silver was almost completely exhausted after his fight with Chozen earlier at his mansion. He furiously attacks Daniel and even attempts to bludgeon him to death with the All-Valley trophy, but Daniel is fully in control of the fight and manages to defeat the crazed sensei by breaking through his weak defense.
• Gilded Cage: Kreese tries to portray Silver's current peaceful 21st century life as this. There's a grain of truth to it, even if Terry knows very well his former actions were wrong.
• Good Hair, Evil Hair: As Terrance, his hair is long and unkempt—which symbolizes him moving on from his dark past as a Cobra Kai sensei/benefactor and wanting to live a mindful life of peace and clarity. However, Kreese pushing Terrance's PTSD buttons reverts the latter into coming back to Cobra Kai, now as the psychopathic ponytailed Terry that we know from The Karate Kid Part III.
• Greater-Scope Villain: Zigzagged. Silver was the one who gave his old war buddy Kreese the resources to open up Cobra Kai in the first place, before later convincing Kreese to continue his vendetta against Miyagi and Daniel (just when his friend was starting to have second thoughts and display some fleeting humility), with ambitions to further expand Cobra Kai into a chain of Thug Dojos (arguably making him surpass Kreese's wickedness). However, the novelization of The Karate Kid Part III indicates that Kreese was the one who originally inducted him into Cobra Kai rather than vice-versa, playing a role in setting Silver on the path toward being the Corrupt Corporate Executive he became (and their dialogue in the film suggests that Kreese was initially like a mentor/protector to Silver as well). If anything, this implies that Silver and Kreese are more like a Big Bad Duumvirate rather than the former necessarily being the Big Bad of the franchise (with Captain Turner as a Predecessor Villain as seen in Cobra Kai and Kim Sun-Yung being a possible unseen Orcus on His Throne).
  • However, he can be seen as this in Cobra Kai, considering how much more dangerous he is compared to Kreese, in addition to the far more devastating impact he had for Daniel LaRusso. Case-in-point, all the drama regarding Cobra Kai’s ban from the All-Valley can be traced back to his over-the-top revenge plot against Daniel (which was Silver’s initiative, not Kreese’s), in addition to Daniel’s resentment for Cobra Kai and belief that anyone can be a part of the dojo’s corrupt philosophy. Coming into Season 4, his sanity (or insanity) is basically a Sealed Evil in a Can, which when unleashed due to PTSD, creates the aforementioned villainous persona that far surpasses Kreese — especially when you consider his emphasis on combat pragmatism, greater combat skill, and his ambition to open Cobra Kai as a franchise. By the aforementioned season's end, he usurps Kreese as the head sensei of Cobra Kai (by framing him to the police), become the series' new Big Bad.
• Green-Eyed Monster: He shows shades of extreme envy towards the energy that Kreese put into Johnny.
• Hated by All: Hoo boy... He veers in to this as soon as he is exposed for his bribery and is arrested for his assault on Stingray. Even prior to his heartbroken students (including his Morality Pet, Kenny) turning on him out of disgust, he is already seen with contempt from Daniel and Mr. Miyagi in The Karate Kid Part III, Mike Barnes and Jessica Andrews in the interim, and later Johnny, Chozen, Amanda, Shannon, Carmen, the Miyagi-Fangs, Stingray, Robby and Tory throughout the show. Even he draws the ire of his (former) closest allies: Kreese for betraying him to the police, and Kim Da-Eun who slips away after Silver's defeat possibly not wanting anything to do with him given his exposure as a fraud and defeat from Daniel.
• He's Back!: A villainous version as when he’s reintroduced in Cobra Kai he’s become a much more tame healthy philanthropic man who has come to regret his actions and has worked to move on from his trauma and his time with Kreese. Kreese however eventually returns to his life and it doesn’t take long for “Terrance” to slip back into Terry. His bringing back the ponytail cements it.
• Hidden Depths: His first appearance in the present-day has him skillfully playing the piano.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Terry teaching Daniel the "QuickSilver" method in 1985 as a means to torture him end up being the finishing touch to his own downfall 35 years later, from Daniel himself nonetheless.
• Honor Among Thieves: John Kreese saved Terry's life in the Vietnam War by volunteering to fight against Captain Turner in Terry's place. Terry never forgot that debt, and pretty much puts running his billion-dollar company on hold just to help his friend back on his feet. Terry's plan to ruin Daniel's life pretty much came solely due to him wanting to restore the reputation of Kreese's dojo (although he certain finds his own enjoyment tormenting Daniel). The genuine loyalty and friendship between the two is almost bizarre in how much it contrasts with their otherwise sociopathic behavior.
• Iconic Sequel Character: Silver is introduced in Part III as the film's Big Bad but eventually becomes a major antagonist in the franchise. Despite the film's negative reputation, Silver's cunning and bombastic personality easily made him a fan favorite. He's so popular that he was brought back during the Distant Sequel's fourth season, and he immediately causes chaos once again.
• Idiot Ball: For someone so intelligent and manipulative, he grabs this ball HARD in Season 5, after Daniel receives the name of his lawyer from a long-ago reformed Mike Barnes. All he had to do was let Daniel make that call, have the lawyer simply tell Daniel "I'm sorry. I'm not at liberty to divulge information about my clients. Good day, sir.", and then call it a win. Instead, Silver, letting his bloodthirsty nature get the best of him, commits arson on Mike's furniture store, which enrages Mike enough to team up with Chozen and Johnny for revenge.
• Important Haircut: In the past, he had short hair instead of his iconic ponytail. It's likely he adopted his later one to honor his and Kreese's friend who was executed in front of them as he is shown to have it in his youth in a flashback with Kreese.
• Informed Judaism: In "Ouroboros", the obviously-Jewish "Sensei Rosenthal" says he made a deal with him at "Shabbat services", which there aren't very many reasons to attend unless you are Jewish. Furthermore, Rosenthal doesn't say anything about Silver just showing up, implying Terry might attend regularly. "Silver" can also a be heavily-stereotypical Jewish name, in hindsight, although without Rosenthal mentioning Silver's Judaism, there's not one indication of it.
  Silver: Looks like your students made their decision. Shalom, sensei.^* In a way that shows he clearly knows it means "Goodbye" as well as "peace".
• I Owe You My Life: He's grateful to Kreese for saving his life and will do anything to return the favor. When Kreese tries to use it to hurt and bully him, though, Silver decides he's had enough. Subverted by the Season 4 finale in which he declares Kreese as his weakness and frames him to the police.
• Irony: Silver suffers a heavy dose of this, from Daniel himself.
  • Silver mentions to Daniel that kata's only good for working a sweat, not to win the tournament. Daniel uses kata in the tournament enough for Mike Barnes to be distracted so that Daniel can make the finishing blow and win (and to add insult to the injury, ruin Silver's plan in the process).
  • Silver mainly teaches Daniel the QuickSilver method to torture him. Daniel ends up using it against him in their Season 5 Final Battle.
  • And finally, Silver mocks Daniel for his "Crane Crap" that the latter used against Johnny Lawrence in the '84 tournament, believing he can't win with it. Daniel uses it against Silver as his finishing move, showing he can win with "that Crane Crap".
• It's Personal with the Dragon: While there's definitely enmity between Daniel and Kreese after everything the latter has done for many years, Daniel's conflict with Silver is much more personal as a result of Silver subjecting Daniel to brutal training and psychological torture when he was a teenager.
• Jekyll & Hyde: Implied. When we first see him again in season 4, he’s Terrance now. He tells Kreese that it feels insane how he terrorized Daniel who was a kid back then and with therapy he was able to get himself back on track and seems to be a different person. After a little nudging from Kreese, Terry starts to slip out. With that, slowly comes his sociopathy, violent tendencies, and his desire to please Kreese. And these things get worse as the season goes on. Throughout the season we see further Sanity Slippage through more pushing from Kreese. By the end of the season Silver is the same sadistic villain he was in the third movie, to the point that he betrays and frames Kreese.
• Katanas Are Just Better: Season 5 shows Terry has a pretty extensive collection of katanas in his home office. He later uses one to fight against Chozen.
• Kick Chick: Male equivalent. Being so tall, Silver makes extensive use of kicks. Fitting as Thomas Ian Griffith is a black belt in Taekwondo and trained in Kickboxing as well as Karate.
• Knight of Cerebus:
  • Despite his cartoonish behavior, he’s arguably the biggest threat Daniel faces in his life. Enlisting a Psycho for Hire in the form of Mike Barnes (who is easily Daniel's greatest rival), and corrupting/torturing Daniel all for a petty revenge? It’s safe to say he’s responsible for what is arguably Daniel’s darkest chapter. That’s not just counting the fact that unlike Kreese and Sato, he’s a Corrupt Corporate Executive with far less redeeming qualities, but of all the villains in The Karate Kid trilogy, he’s the only one with an ominous theme. When all is said and done, he's basically the karateka equivalent of a crime lord.
  • By Cobra Kai, he seems to be reasonable man who's put his awful actions behind him and serves as a comfortable Foil to Kreese's more impulsive nature, but the series takes a much darker turn once he's gone from "Terrance" to "Terry" once more and we see the truly unhinged monster buried within. It's to the point that Kreese himself becomes disturbed by his actions and as his Sanity Slippage continues, he only gets more and more terrifying. By Season 5 once he fully takes over Cobra Kai, he easily brings forth what is essentially the darkest season yet, as his expansion plan puts Daniel and Johnny in a position where they align themselves with Chozen, Barnes, and even Kreese, even going as far as to sign-up for the world Sekai Taikai tournament, all so that they can stop this madman from taking the controversial "Way of the Fist" to global levels. And that not even counting the heinous acts that greatly surpasses any other antagonist in The Karate Kid franchise (i.e., bribing in the tournament, burning down Mike Barnes' furniture store, disrupting Daniel's marriage, slashing Chozen with a sword).
• Large and in Charge: He's by far the tallest character in the series and establishes himself as one of the co-senseis of Cobra Kai, and completely takes over the dojo from Kreese by the season finale.
• Large Ham: He's an over-the-top character who thrives off of the pleasure of damaging Daniel, mentally and physically. The later revelations about his cocaine habit during the time the film is set casts a darker light on this behavior.
• Leitmotif: "Terry Silver" from The Karate Kid Part III, with distinctive variations for some of his appearances, even making a return with his reappearance in Season 4! Speaking of Season 4, the series presents Silver with a new eerie theme (which is carried over in Season 5) almost every time he shows up or is mentioned.
• Laughably Evil: During his fight with Miyagi, he starts making Funny Bruce Lee Noises.
• Madness Mantra: Repeatedly mutters "you want to be Cobra Kai" as he drunkenly, viciously beats Stingray to a pulp.
• Manipulative Bastard: Oh yeah...
  • He was a much more twisted villain than Kreese who was just The Bully. He goes out of his way to befriend Daniel and encourage him to become more aggressive, only to cause him to injure himself before revealing it was all just head games. This leaves Daniel close to a Heroic BSoD.
  • And if getting into Daniel's head in The Karate Kid Part III wasn't enough, during an encounter between him and Daniel in a convenience store, Silver coerces Daniel into embracing the ways of Cobra Kai once more, as he did while training under Silver's teachings prior to the 1985 All-Valley Tournament.
    "You just don't wanna admit there's always been a little Cobra Kai in you."
  • His work and distribution on new Cobra Kai equipment and merchandise is what attracts more recruits into joining Cobra Kai. Including Piper Elswith.
  • He successfully manages to bribe the referee into fixing the match in Cobra Kai's favor, which guarantees the advantage that leads to Tory's victory over Sam.
  • And after giving Raymond a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown, he manages to persuade him into framing Kreese with the promise of bringing him back to Cobra Kai. Which eventually leads to Kreese's arrest.
  • Season 5 shows how Silver puts his experience in the corporate world to good use. He's very good at fronting as someone who earnestly wants to improve kids' lives, as seen in his TV ads and public appearances, appearing to outsiders as much more polished and personable than Kreese, whom at least some people can spot as a villain. Needless to say, anyone who joins Cobra Kai expecting this to be the case is soon very disappointed.
  • Demonstrates this to a terrifying degree in Season 5. He effortlessly takes a toll on Daniel's health and subtly dismantles his relationship with his family with only a few choice appearances and words, all while making Daniel out to be the aggressor. To add insult to injury, he muses aloud to the enraged Daniel just how easy it was to destroy his life and gloats that he'll soon have Samantha and Anthony indoctrinated into Cobra Kai. Daniel doesn't take it well.
• Man of Wealth and Taste: He's extremely rich and loves showing it off with his impressive suits, nice cars, fancy art and expensive whiskey.
• Mask of Sanity: Terry is able to blend in society with a polite and gentlemanly veneer to hide his traumatic experiences during the Vietnam War, combined with his abuse of cocaine that turned him into the raving lunatic that he was in the '80s. In the present, Terry maintains that same veneer back in the '80s when presenting himself as either a Reasonable Authority Figure as a sensei and a Villain with Good Publicity in general. And again, he doesn't hesitate to drop the act if he gets his buttons pushed, something that Daniel found out the hard way in their first fight in season 5.
• Meaningful Name:
  • He's now a silver-haired billionaire, who also happens to be a terrible person in general. ("Terry" conforming to Cobra Kai's Letter Motif, of course.) And, at the very end of season 4, he finally snaps like a twig and reverts to the maniacal mastermind he was in Part III.
  • We also find out he bribed the ref at the 51st All-Valley, and later betrayed his "best friend" Kreese. The phrase "thirty pieces of silver" seems to spring to mind...
• Messy Hair: His first reappearance since Part III shows him with his hair unkempt. He later puts it back into his signature ponytail upon rejoining Cobra Kai.
• Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: While he's (eventually) initially happy to work with Kreese, he finally gets sick of the latter treating him like a subordinate instead of an equal partner. He then decides to get rid of Kreese and take control of Cobra Kai for himself.
• Moral Myopia: When he is exposed for cheating at the previous tournament, Silver is quick to shift the goal posts by pointing out how Chozen, Johnny and Mike attacked him in his home, ignoring that this was in response to Silver's own trespasses against them.
• Motive Decay:
  • Claims to be doing everything he does against Daniel and Miyagi for the sake of avenging Kreese's defeat at the 1984 All-Valley, but he's also quick to abandon his old friend for the sheer thrill of screwing with Daniel and Miyagi's life. In the end, Silver is just a sadistic jerkass.
  • A tragic example in Season 4, considering how Silver wanted Cobra Kai to take a far more peaceful approach (for pragmatic reasons) in preparation for the All-Valley after Kreese re-recruits him to the dojo. Kreese's bloodthirsty nature clashing with Silver's pragmatism causes Silver to go through Sanity Slippage, eventually committing violent acts like beating up Johnny at the old Cobra Kai dojo and giving Stingray a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown, the former of which appalls Kreese. Season 5 has Silver not even giving a damn when his students (particularly Kenny and Kyler) put their bully victims into life-threatening situations (a prime example being Kenny and Kyler giving Anthony a brutal swirly in the toilet), in addition to Silver committing unbelievable acts never seen in any The Karate Kid antagonist such as burning down Mike Barnes's furniture store or giving Chozen a deep slash in the back with his katana.
• My Greatest Failure: In Vietnam, he was horrified when his failure to evacuate the base the squad is supposed to blow up results in the team's capture and his fellow soldier Ponytail’s death.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain:
  • By the fifth episode of Season 5, Silver has seemingly won: Amanda has left Daniel, Chozen is leaving town, and a downhearted and defeated Daniel has thrown in the towel. All Silver has to do is accept Daniel's surrender; instead goads Daniel into a fight and beats him to a pulp. This has Amanda racing back to her husband's side, finally understanding how dangerous Silver is, and Chozen and Johnny likewise join forces to take Silver down. In other words, Silver lays the seeds for his ultimate defeat.
  • The Miyagi-Fang students expose Silver's cheating using footage of him admitting to it taken by cameras he installed in Cobra Kai's main dojo. This results in his students renouncing him.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: A drunken, unstable Silver beats the shit out of Stingray when the latter visits the Cobra Kai dojo and appeals to be allowed back in as a student.
• Non-Idle Rich: It's revealed in this series that he inherited his company from his father, meaning that he had the resources to avoid serving in Vietnam like a lot of affluent young men did. Instead, he joined the Army and became a Green Beret.
• Noodle Incident: He somehow came across Rembrandt's Storm on the Sea of Galilee painting after its theft in 1990. Mike Barnes steals it from his mansion at the end of Season 5 hoping to get money from it to recoup his losses after his furniture store burned down.
• Occidental Otaku: In Cobra Kai, we see that his home is full of Japanese art and artifacts, and he shows a very detailed knowledge of Japanese culture, enough to call out Chozen for using a specifically Okinawan toast while pretending to be from Kyoto. Silver is implied to have lived in Japan for a time, or at least to have visited often enough to familiarize himself with the country.
• Old Master: He's around 70 by the time he reappears in Cobra Kai, and a Karate sensei capable of easily outfighting Johnny and Daniel on separate occasions, and matching Chozen in a fight to the death using real weapons.
• Parental Substitute: To a few of his students, most notably Kenny who Silver sees as similar how he once was—a wimpy kid who is bullied by others and doesn't have many friends. Silver sincerely cares about him and provides him with guidance, even if his advice just makes Kenny a worse person.
• Pay Evil unto Evil:
  • For all of Silver's troubled nature and own cruel, dangerous streak, it's immensely satisfying that someone in this series finally got the drop on John Kreese in the Season 4 finale, he did it in an intelligent and ruthless fashion, and that Kreese even brought it on himself by seeking Silver out and messing with him.
  • However, he finally ends up literally on the receiving end of this, after going too far in Season 5. Not only do Daniel's students and even Tory expose him as a fraud, but Daniel himself defeats him in combat, using the same "QuickSilver" technique, with Daniel's "Crane Kick" as a finishing touch to make this trope literal.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: Zigzagged. He calls Miyagi a slope even more so than Kreese, not to mention using racially insensitive Funny Bruce Lee Noises to mock Mr. Miyagi's fighting skill. However, Cobra Kai reveals he has quite the obsession with Asian culture (as seen with the showpieces in his house and his knowledge of somewhat-famous Asians), followed by the fact that he was more than willing to ally with South Korean-sensei Kim Da-Eun and show a degree of respect to Chozen despite his animosity toward him. Whether this is genuine or just another manipulation tactic is hard to say.
• Pragmatic Villainy: This is what makes him much more dangerous than Kreese. Unlike the former, Silver is (usually) intelligent enough not to let his arrogance and anger get the best of him and engage in Stupid Evil actions that are detrimental to his goals. When Kreese was ready to encourage the Cobras to get back at Miyagi-do/Eagle Fang for the sprinkler prank, Silver implored them to let it go and get their revenge by winning the tournament.
• Precision F-Strike: He claims the last F-word in Season 5, where he details the contents of the message he intends to send to Miyagi-Do/Eagle Fang prior to the Sekai Taikai.
  "Stay the fuck out of our way, or someone will get hurt."
• Pungeon Master: Downplayed but he occasionally makes puns about his last name, such as calling his fighting style the "Quicksilver approach" and nicknaming his devastating finisher move "the Silver Bullet".
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Ultimately (in the entire The Karate Kid franchise), Silver is the Blue Oni to Kreese's Red Oni. Kreese is more confrontational, whereas Silver is more methodical.
  • In terms of overall personality in The Karate Kid Part III, he's definitely the Red Oni to Kreese's Blue Oni given the former being completely unhinged (granted, as he was a cocaine fiend in the '80s) compared to Kreese being a little more tranquil.
  • Cobra Kai reverses this at first, given Kreese's desire for outright confrontational war against Johnny, Daniel, and their students, whereas Silver being more level-headed given his approach on fighting at the right time and wanting to bring Cobra Kai back to glory. However, Kreese pushing on Silver's trauma buttons reverses this again, with Kreese again being more level-headed and fair (as shown in the tournament), whereas Silver is more unhinged to the point of embracing the "No Mercy mindset" way too far and going all the way in cheating.
• Relationship Sabotage: He spends part of Season 5 getting in Amanda's good graces, to mess with Daniel and drive a wedge into his and Amanda's marriage. Only after Jessica recounts her experience with Silver to Amanda does she see Silver for the man he truly is.
• Renaissance Man: Explicity called this by Hawk in the series. He is a master Karate Sensei and fighter, a Vietnam War veteran, a very talented piano player, and an extremely wealthy businessman and entrepreneur.
• Retired Monster: Silver did realize the craziness and destructive path he was on in the third film and had gotten treatment to change. Kreese had to put in a lot of effort and play on their military traumas to get him to return to Cobra Kai and then abuse him enough that Terry's bad side came back...
• Rich Bastard: He lives a life of considerable opulence, even more than Daniel, and shows himself to have almost no moral boundaries.
• The Rival: To Daniel LaRusso? Of course! Dating all the way back to when he tortured him in The Karate Kid Part III, to now as Daniel's biggest threat when he becomes an older sensei in Cobra Kai season 4 and 5. That being said, he's also made plenty of enemies upon his return to the dojo.
  • Mr. Miyagi, obviously—considering Silver was Daniel's other mentor and Miyagi himself being Silver's complete antithesis. After seeing just how much of a threat Silver is to Daniel, Miyagi finally gives in to train Daniel for the upcoming 1985 tournament.
  • Johnny Lawrence clearly hates Silver just as much as Kreese due to Silver's involvement with Cobra Kai (this becomes personal when Silver enters into Robby's and Shannon's life by providing them riches as an act of grooming). Silver on the other hand actually resents Johnny even before The Karate Kid (1984) mainly because Kreese's affection and desire to groom Johnny into an All-Valley champion got in the way for Silver's ambitions in spreading Cobra Kai worldwide. As a matter of fact, it's Kreese's affection for Johnny that heavily contributes to Silver betraying him.
  • Chozen Toguchi, both of whom are easily the most powerful (at least on-screen) in their art (Chozen being a master of Miyagi-Do Karate surpassing Daniel, Silver being a master of "The Way of the Fist" Karate surpassing everyone else, including Johnny and Kreese). Silver sees Chozen as the biggest threat to his expansion of Cobra Kai, which ignites when the former sees through the latter's deception. Chozen on the other hand has disdain for Silver, given their former masters' presumed dark history with each other (Sato hates Kim Sun-Yung for his dishonorable way of karate).
  • Mike Barnes as well, paralleling Johnny's hatred to his Evil Mentor, Kreese. Barnes clearly found Silver crazy after regretting his heinous actions toward Daniel, but it becomes personal when Silver finds out about Barnes working with Daniel to contact Silver's lawyer and burns down his furniture store. Silver on the other hand acknowledges Mike's presence, but doesn't take him seriously despite the latter's obvious vendetta against him.
  • And finally, Kreese himself, being responsible for framing his old war buddy as a means to usurp him and take over the dojo. You could tell how much he wants to bring him down really bad when he uses Tory as a proxy for a while to spy on Silver, as well as work with Daniel and Johnny in revealing Silver's ultimate motive—even though he falls for Daniel's trap.
• Sanity Slippage: At the start of Season 4, he seems to be a completely different person than he was in Part III, going as far as to admit he went through detox and therapy to manage his psychological issues. So, when Kreese comes in and reignites those triggering memories of him in Vietnam and Cobra Kai, his dark side starts to re-emerge.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Money!:
  • He buys off grand juries trying to indict his company for illegal dumping of chloride sludge.
  • Slips right back into doing this from 1985 by bribing the referee at the 51st All-Valley.
  • It's heavily implied he managed to buy the "impartial" ref for the Sekai Taikai entrance fight with the Miyagi-Do/Eagle Fangs.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: After his defeat in Karate Kid III, Terry cleaned up, went to therapy, and focused on his career as a businessman. He was living a seemingly peaceful and successful life for decades until Kreese comes back and reignites Terry's long suppressed PTSD and psychological issues.
• Sensei for Scoundrels: Being Cobra Kai co-founder, he attempts to school Daniel and Mike Barnes in Cobra Kai's teachings. Cobra Kai has him returning to the dojo to teach a newer generation of students, particularly Robby, Tory, Kyler, Kenny, Piper, Devon, just to name a few.
• Seven Deadly Sins: Silver has embodied most of them, if not entirely, at some point in his life:
  • Pride: While he's not as overtly egotistical as Kreese, he makes it up for for his squeaky-clean image while viewing everyone else as beneath him. Like Kreese, Silver's own arrogance is also his greatest weakness. Silver has a tendency to underestimate his opponents despite his intelligence and strength. Especially when he got too overconfident after spending most of Part III tormenting Daniel until the latter gets a Heroic Second Wind and succeeded defeating Mike Barnes.
  • Envy: It is when Kreese turned down his offer for the Sekai Taikai and favoring Johnny as Cobra Kai's number one student what made Terry secretly resent Kreese, and ultimately betray him at the end of Season 4.
  • Wrath: At his most dangerous, Silver can be as every bit as bloodthirsty and sadistic when pushed to his limits.
  • Lust: Terry is easily drawn to violence and seems to enjoy making his enemies suffer physically and mentally.
  • Greed: Silver is a wealthy businessman and lives in a life of opulence. He uses his vast wealth to get his way and the lengths he will go to make Cobra Kai a global household name, even if it means through bribery.
  • Gluttony: Of two different aspects: 1) Silver previously abused cocaine after serving the military to cope with his PTSD. 2) He ambitiously seeks to expand Cobra Kai worldwide in hopes of indoctrinating more students to its "No Mercy" philosophy.
  • Sloth: Silver sends anyone to do his dirty work, befitting his Manipulative Bastard status. He also has no problem taking shortcuts for his own convenience rather than putting an effort, like bribing a referee under the pretense of "insurance policy" to ensure Cobra Kai's victory.
• Sharp-Dressed Man: When he's out in the public, given his wealth and status.
• Shell-Shocked Veteran: He still suffers flashbacks to Vietnam and implies he was doing a lot of cocaine as a coping mechanism during The Karate Kid Part III. In the intervening years, he seems to have gotten better, having gotten clean and gone to therapy, but it soon becomes apparent he's only repressed his problems and when Kreese nurtures them back to the surface, something very unpleasant comes out to play.
• Signature Move: Downplayed, but Silver has a tendency to utilize a powerful backwards kick to send his opponents flying to the ground, a technique he's used against Robby, Johnny, Daniel and Chozen. There's also his "Silver Bullet" strike, but he only uses that for extreme situations. Or when someone REALLY pisses him off.
• Silver Fox: No pun intended. Like most of the original cast, he's aged considerably with his hair having gone completely, well, silver in the years since, but he's still very fit as he was 34 years ago and quite handsome.
• Slasher Smile: Gives one to Daniel right before he reveals his plan.
• Smug Snake: At the end of Part III, even though he proves unable to have done anything to sever Daniel and Miyagi's bond nor break Daniel's spirit. Cobra Kai proves he hasn't lost this side of himself.
• The Sociopath: A classic example, but nevertheless is better at hiding it than Kreese. Terry is a wealthy and corrupt businessman. He is superficially charming, thoroughly manipulative, masks his true intentions to fool others by feigning humility and takes sadistic pleasure at the pain (physical and psychological) he inflicts on others. He is more willing to bend the rules to his favor, especially through bribery to escape accountability for his actions, and ordering students to use underhanded tactics to achieve his end goal.
• Sore Loser:
  • Is disgusted with Barnes' loss in the All-Valley Karate Tournament finals, and Cobra Kai getting banned from tournament participation as a result.
  • Decades later, when the Miyagi-Fangs (and Tory) expose him as a fraud, Silver tries to get defensive by justifying his actions and pointing the blame at Daniel and his students. This time, no one's buying it.
• The Starscream: Takes over Cobra Kai by the end of season 4 by giving Raymond a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown and framing Kreese for it.
• Still Got It: Even though he's aged considerably and implied to have not practiced karate in a while, he quickly establishes himself as Cobra Kai's most dangerous fighter — easily outclassing Robby during a sparring session and actually wiping the floor with Johnny during their fight at the original dojo. It certainly helps that he has the intelligence of finding one's weakness to his advantage as well.
• The Team Benefactor: After rejoining Cobra Kai as a co-sensei, Terry starts pouring his money into the dojo's capital, purchasing better training equipment, producing new merchandise, and resuming his original plans to expand Cobra Kai into a valley-wide franchise.
• That Man Is Dead: Subverted. “Terrance” deeply regrets the man he was in 1985 and tries to leave that man behind with therapy and honest living. But Kreese was hearing none of it and it doesn’t take much effort for him to drag old Terry out. It bites him in the ass at the end of Season 4.
• Then Let Me Be Evil: He reluctantly agrees to return to Cobra Kai but his insistence on pragmatism and restraint makes Kreese accuse him of going soft; he also tries to reach a truce with Daniel only to get angry when Daniel (not unreasonably) rejects him without hearing him out. By the end of the season, his frustrations with how everyone is treating him have him decide to take the gloves off and prove to be as violent and ruthless as anyone in the show, and take Cobra Kai over by having Kreese framed for aggravated assault.
• Tragic Villain: Yes, really. At the beginning of Season 4, Silver originally wanted nothing to do with Kreese's Cobra Kai campaign and even regrets how he acted 35 years ago. He attempts to resume his idyllic routine but Kreese's words begin to dredge up long-buried memories and trauma. Even after he agrees to co-teach Cobra Kai, Terry is mostly uninterested in revenge against Daniel and even offers what might have been a sincere apology. He’s more concerned with continuing Cobra Kai's original mission of expanding its ethos throughout the valley and constantly tries to remind Kreese of the bigger picture and rein him in from needlessly antagonizing Daniel or Johnny. Terry also tries to prove his loyalty to Kreese, which eventually leads him to baiting and ambushing Johnny at the original Cobra Kai dojo location. However, Kreese's disgust with him for hurting Johnny, along with realizing that Kreese will never consider him an equal, is what finally causes Terry to snap like a twig and revert to the maniacal mastermind he was in Part III. As satisfying as it is to see him arrested at the end of Season 5, it's still somewhat tragic knowing that Silver would've never gotten involved with the karate war and kept living a life of peace had Kreese never reached out to him in the first place.
• Trauma Button: The sight of a torch being used to caramelize a serving of crème brûlée triggers Silver's flashbacks of his Vietnam War days.
• Undying Loyalty:
  • Kreese takes his place fighting Captain Turner and ultimately frees him from the POW cage. In turn, Terry swears a solemn debt to him which will be paid back in the third film, and ultimately Season 4 of this show.
    Terry: Anything you need, I'm there for you. Your whole life.
  • Deconstructed in Season 4. After having built a nice life for himself away from karate drama, Silver's loyalty to Kreese allows him to be convinced to return to Cobra Kai and start relapsing into being the same cackling villain he was in Part III. When it becomes clear to him that Kreese sees him as a lackey rather than a true partner, he finally has enough of Kreese taking advantage of his loyalty and holding his life debt over his head, and decides to frame Kreese for assault and take over Cobra Kai for himself.
• The Unfettered: He'll stop at nothing to get what he wants and will resort to bribery and psychological manipulation to achieve his desired outcomes. Nowhere is that made clearer than in Season 5, where he takes the center stage as the Big Bad. He's willing to do anything to succeed; even resorting to arson (burning Mike's furniture store down) to outright murder to cover his tracks.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Like Kreese, he was a pretty nice guy back in the 60s. In fact he was the kind of “fortunate son” who could have avoided wartime, but decided to enlist of his own volition, implying the kind of honorable person he was. The hellish experiences they went through in Vietnam warped him into the Corrupt Corporate Executive we saw in the third film.
• The Vietnam Vet: He served as a Green Beret alongside Kreese during their time in the Vietnam War and would go through the same kind of hell as the Cobra Kai sensei did, eventually warping into a Corrupt Corporate Executive as seen in Part III.
• Viler New Villain:
  • He's introduced in The Karate Kid Part III as Kreese's war buddy and wealthier counterpart, and it's really saying something when you directly go as far as to become a Faux Affably Evil mentor just to torture the living hell out of a teenager who caused distress to your best friend. And that's not counting Silver's past actions (and his tendency to bribe his way out of consequence), his henchmen making Johnny's gang look like angels, and his ambition to take over the valley with a franchise of Thug Dojos (as opposed to being content with one).
  • This is also re-established in Cobra Kai when he is re-introduced in Season 4. His Faux Affably Evil persona is harder to see through at first glance than Kreese (something Amanda LaRusso can speak on), his tendency to strike enemies relies on deception instead of confrontation (which results in far more devastating effects), his habit of cheating via bribery (something Kreese doesn't even consider), and his embracing of "No Mercy" with his beatdown of Johnny Lawrence (mind you, Kreese's Morality Pet) is something that his war buddy and co-sensei is appalled by. Season 5 takes this to a whole new level when he commits unbelievable acts never seen in the likes of Kreese, such as burning down Mike Barnes's furniture store, messing around with Daniel's marriage, attempting to kill Chozen with a katana, and making sure the world knows his "Way of the Fist" legacy and embraces it.
• Villainous Breakdown:
  • It doesn't strictly affect his actions for the rest of the movie, but when Miyagi privately humiliates him in his own dojo, he snaps and starts screaming at him. Given that he was also a complete cocaine fiend, it shows just how unhinged he is under the influence.
    Terry Silver: You think this is the end of it, old man? I'm going to open Cobra Kai dojos all over this valley! HELL, I MIGHT EVEN TEACH FOR FREE! FROM NOW ON, WHEN PEOPLE SAY KARATE AROUND HERE, ALL THEY'LL MEAN IS COBRA KAI KARATE! JOHN KREESE'S KARATE! YOU WON'T EVEN BE A MEMORY!
    Daniel LaRusso: Yes, he will. You won't.
  • He has a far more sinister one when Johnny, Mike and Chozen brazenly confront him in his own house, actively trying to kill them and throwing all sense of subtlety aside once his plans are exposed to the world. He also directly challenges Daniel to a proper duel so he can beat him down even worse than he did before. This is far from the suave, calculating Chessmaster he was when the season began.
    Terry Silver: Everything you did to try and stop me amounted to nothing but pain. You got your ass kicked, Danny-boy! Now, you can either accept that... or I can kick it again right now.
• Villainous Friendship: He's one of the few people Kreese seems to genuinely care for, even after all the atrocities he's done. Unfortunately, Kreese taking their friendship for granted leads to Terry betraying and framing him at the end of season 4.
• Villainous Virtues:
  • His virtue of loyalty is clear. He promised to repay Kreese for saving his life, and even fifty years later, he's still willing to do what it takes. By season 4, he has had enough of Kreese playing the POW guilt card and becomes The Starscream.
  • When he told Chozen he was Not Afraid to Die, it seems he meant it. Indeed, when Chozen has a sai pointed at a prone Silver's throat, the latter calmly says that it was his fate to "die on the battlefield," and exhorts his opponent to finish him. And if he wasn't bluffing, this makes him much braver than Kreese, who showed very visible fear when Mr. Miyagi and Daniel had him at their mercy.
• Villain Has a Point:
  • Silver laments on how “war does something to a man” during his “humble” greeting to Daniel and Mr. Miyagi. While his Faux Affably Evil persona is blatantly obvious, he’s not entirely wrong, as Cobra Kai goes deep into his PTSD—coupled by Silver revealing that he was on cocaine for the entirety of The Karate Kid Part III (very likely as a post-war coping mechanism).
  • When Daniel accuses him of changing him while under his tutelage, Silver retorts that Daniel was a hothead as a youth (and even still is as an adult) and all his lessons did was inspire him to embrace it. He isn't entirely wrong.
  Daniel: That's bullshit. You tortured me.
  Silver: Please...you were a hothead. All I had to do was wind you up and get out of the way. And...if you're being honest with yourself, you know you liked it.
  • His assessment that Kenny should be a leader and stop looking up to Kyler is fair, even if he said it to strengthen Kenny's brutal nature.
• Villain Respect: Silver gains a genuine respect of Chozen for his skills, even if it is Miyagi-Do of all karate types. While he does not think much of Johnny at first, Silver ends up commending him on his guts and tenacity.
• Villain with Good Publicity: When Demetri researches Silver online, the only dirt he can find on him is a minor toxic waste dumping scandal in Borneo that happened in the '80s. Otherwise, he's publicly known as a Vietnam vet turned successful businessman. Silver's gone to a lot of effort to cover up his previous crimes and any information about his past behaviour, such as his cocaine addiction. With Cobra Kai under his wing as of Season 5, he is touted as a philanthropist out to save the kids of the Valley.
• Visionary Villain: Silver plans on franchising Cobra Kai and spreading it across the country; indeed, this is a Call-Back to his original goal all the way back in The Karate Kid: Part III. Unlike then, however, Silver looks like he may actually be on his way to doing so, since Cobra Kai actually wins the All Valley (thanks to him bribing the referee) in season 4. It acts as the impetus for him announcing expansion, and by season 5, multiple dojos have now opened up.
  Terry: The only thing better than a full dojo... is a whole valley of full dojos.
• Vocal Evolution: His teaser reveal features a blend of voice clips from his appearance as a younger man and now... and his current voice (being much older) has a more gravelly, grim quality to it.
• White Hair, Black Heart: His hair has gone completely white with age and he's definitely not on the side of the angels.
• Wicked Cultured: While waiting for Kreese, he starts reading Thomas Hobbes's Leviathan although Silver's level of education remains mostly a mystery. Furthermore, he enjoys fine wine, has a Big Fancy House full of tasteful artwork and valuable antiques, throws upper-class parties that are clearly not debauched orgies, and plays his piano for fun. Season 5 also shows him to have a passable knowledge of Japanese and Korean language and customs.
• With Friends Like These...: Being aware of the Toxic Friend Influence, his first instinct (and appearance) when Kreese tries to phone him is to hang up on him. He flat out tells Kreese that due to his Heel Realization Kreese was the worst thing in his life, but lets Kreese play on their trauma survival and war camaraderie — until Kreese tries to use it to hurt and manipulate him further. Then he gets him framed for attempted murder.
• Worf Had the Flu: Silver's defeat against Daniel in the Season 5 finale was partially from being exhausted from fighting Chozen beforehand.
• Worthy Opponent: Played with.
  • While Daniel does keep undermining him to the point he drops all pretense of pleasantry and begins to actively destroy Daniel's life, he admits to Kim Da-Eun that Daniel is indeed the only person to have ever really given him trouble, viewing him as his tried and true nemesis.
  • He comes to view Chozen with respect, seeing him as a twisted sort of kindred spirit as neither are afraid to kill, and are "true warriors" at heart. Chozen disagrees, but the sentiment is there. Silver even ups the ante with Chozen once he proves his match in a straight duel by incorporating weapons into the mix. Considering Chozen mopped the floor with all six of his original senseis, this is to be expected.
  • Downplayed, but he admires Johnny's tenacity and does (to some degree) respect his fighting skills, even if he never quite understood why he was Kreese's best student.
    Terry: You got guts, Lawrence, I'll give you that.
• You Have No Idea Who You're Dealing With: Daniel warns Johnny to not strike first with Terry, and Terry himself goads Johnny that "he would like to see him try." Terry makes good on that remark by anticipating on Johnny, "striking first" and wiping the floor with him after a sneak attack.
• Would Harm a Senior: He has no problem attacking Mr. Miyagi when he confronts him at the Cobra Kai dojo. As it's Mr. Miyagi he's facing, however, he's easily one-upped by his opponent.
• Younger Than They Look: He only come across as much older than the younger fighters in The Karate Kid trilogy (i.e., Daniel, Johnny, Chozen, Mike) simply because he and Kreese fought in the Vietnam War together, being closer in age with the latter. In real life though, Thomas Ian Griffith is four months younger than Ralph Macchio and three years younger than Yuji Okumoto.

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