Terry Silver

Terry Silver
Biographical Information
Name	Terrence Silver
Personal Information
Friends	John Kreese (best friend) Mike Barnes Snake Dennis Margaret Spencer Milos Dadok Ponytail (best friend, deceased) Kim Sun-Yung (sensei)
Enemies	Daniel LaRusso Mr. Miyagi Captain Turner Jessica Andrews Pham Minh Thao
Affiliation	Cobra Kai Dojo (formerly) DynaTox Industries U.S. Army (formerly)
Series Information
First Appearance	The Karate Kid Part III
Last Appearance	December 19 (Flashbacks)
Portrayed By	Thomas Ian Griffith (The Karate Kid Part III) Nick Marini (young, Cobra Kai Season 3)

"So have patience, my friend. I'm just getting everything rolling. When I'm finished with that kid, he'll be begging me to be his teacher! And you know what he's going to learn from me? Pain! In every part of his body! And fear in every part of his mind! And here's the kicker: he's going to thank me for it. ...Johnny, by the time that little twerp steps into the ring to defend his title, I'm going to have him thinking he's invincible. And then, he's going to find out what pain and fear really mean... right in front of a thousand people."

―Terry Silver to John Kreese

Terrence "Terry" "Twig" Silver is the main antagonist of The Karate Kid Part III and the original corporate owner of the Cobra Kai Dojo.

A close friend of John Kreese from his military days, Terry Silver is a wealthy and corrupt billionaire/toxic waste dumper who helps Kreese get revenge on Daniel LaRusso after his humiliation at the 1984 All-Valley Karate Tournament. Also a Karate expert, Silver hatches an elaborate, time-consuming and expensive plot to trick Daniel into training with him so he can lose to Mike Barnes in the All Valley Karate Tournament and redeem Cobra Kai in the eyes of the public.

Biography

Military Career

"I owe you man, you saved my ass. Anything you need, I'm there for you, your whole life. You hear me Johnny? Your whole life. I owe you."

―Terry thanks John Kreese

Terry Silver thanks Kreese with a hug and a promise

During the Vietnam War, Silver, Kreese, and "Ponytail" were under the command of Captain Turner. While on a mission in North Vietnam, static from Silver's radio caused their team to be discovered and captured by NVA forces. While in captivity, Ponytail was executed much to Silver's horror, and the rest of their team were imprisoned and forced to fight for the North Vietnamese's amusement above a pit of snakes. After one of his soldiers threw another into the pit, he told Silver that the pit isn't the worst part. When an NVA soldier told Terry to fight the captain, a frightened Terry hesitated, but Kreese volunteered, saving Terry's life as Captain Turner would have likely defeated and killed the inexperienced and traumatized Silver. During the fight, the NVA camp was attacked by the US Air Force, and the team was able to liberate themselves after Kreese killed their former captain. Terry then swore to John that since he, "saved his ass," he would be there for him for his entire life, anything he needs.

DynaTox

After his military service, Silver eventually became the CEO of the nuclear waste disposal company DynaTox Industries, though whether or not he founded the company is unclear. Terry also used his fortune to buy John Kreese the original Cobra Kai Dojo, sometime prior to 1979.

The Karate Kid Part III

Terry Silver in the Karate Kid Part III.

Terry Silver seen in the start of the movie wearing white martial arts gi and training. He was happy to see Kreese in his mansion and hugs him. When Kreese reveals he is financially ruined, due to the Cobra Kai’s defeat at the hands of Daniel and Miyagi, Silver makes it a personal mission to help Kreese recover and avenge him. To this end, he sends him to Tahiti to recover from the severe hand wounds inflicted by Mr. Miyagi following Kreese's unprovoked assault on Miyagi, buys him twenty new dojos all over the Valley, recruits “Bad Boy” Mike Barnes to defeat and terrify Daniel, and has his thugs and Mike force Daniel to enter the All Valley Karate Tournament. He also pretends to train Daniel for the tournament, after Miyagi refuses to do so, though his motives are later revealed to be part of an elaborate plan to have Daniel perform acts that directly conflict with every value he learned from Miyagi's training, as well as physically hurt him.

He effectively gains Daniel's interest in the Cobra Kai training method, using such tactics as driving a convertible blue Ford pickup truck and wearing a shirt with an altered collar to appear “humble.” He has Daniel perform tasks such as “QuickSilver” method, but his deficient technique causes Daniel to injure himself, which amuses Silver who laughs at Daniel injuring himself, as he is fulfilling Kreese's wish for Daniel to suffer. He even pays a guy to harass Daniel in order for Daniel to get violent, which he does by punching him in the face. When Silver reveals his true motives to Daniel and orders Barnes to assault him, while he and Kreese starts taunting Daniel. Suddenly, Mr. Miyagi arrives and easily beats both Barnes and Kreese. Before fighting Silver, Silver mocks him. Silver then attacks Miyagi, only for the latter to counter his strikes, and use minimum and well timed offense to defeat him. After being defeated, he finds himself being mocked by Miyagi. Unafraid, Silver says that Cobra Kai will one day open around the every town & he will make sure that Miyagi will be forgotten.

At the climactic All Valley Tournament, Silver orders Barnes to keep the score tied until the sudden death round by committing illegal moves, in order to cause Daniel as much pain as possible before beating him in the end. At one point during the match, he tells Daniel that this is when the real pain begins. However, Daniel via encouragement from Miyagi uses the kata he was taught to defeat Mike in the sudden death match to score the point and winning the championship. Disgusted & humiliated, Terry walk out of the arena as all of his plans have completely failed.

Pre-Cobra Kai

It is unknown what happens to Silver after the 1985 tournament. It is possible that he goes back to his unethical company. It is possible that he plans another revenge scheme, which most likely does not succeed. It is also possible that he is caught for his illegal and unethical actions at DynaTox and is imprisoned as well as the permanent closure of DynaTox. After the tournament, the All Valley Committee of 1985 permanently bans Cobra Kai from competing due to his, Kreese's and Barnes’ disreputable and foul behavior.

Cobra Kai

Season 1

In "All Valley", the board of the All Valley Karate Tournament tells the current Cobra Kai sensei Johnny Lawrence that the unethical actions of Silver, Kreese, and Barnes at the 1985 All Valley Under 18 Karate Tournament is what caused Cobra Kai Dojo's lifetime ban from the tournament. The board asks Johnny what his relationship is with Terry Silver, to which Johnny replies that he doesn't even know who that is.

Season 2

The iconic photo of Kreese in Vietnam was strongly implied to have been taken by Silver.

In "Take a Right", Terry is shown in a flashback when Daniel is tells his students that he once joined Cobra Kai. He also explains the negative effect the culture there had on his personality.

In "Lull", Kreese tells Johnny that "a buddy" took the 1970-1972 U.S. Army Karate Champion photo that Kreese has kept hanging in the dojo since its opening.

Season 3

He appears in flashbacks to 1968. He is part of a special unit in Vietnam alongside John Kreese, and the men became friendly during training. During a mission, Silver's radio erupts, causing Kreese to hesitate on igniting explosives that otherwise would have killed Silver. The hesitation and radio malfunction led to the unit being captured by Vietnamese extremist. The soldiers are tortured and forced to fight one another to the death, solely for the entertainment of their captors. A unit member named Ponytail is executed by the captors, leaving Terry horrified. He blames himself for his death and their capture, though the unit captain Turner blames Kreese. Silver is chosen to fight against Captain Turner, causing Silver to hesitate. His hesitation spurred Kreese to take Silver's place in the fight, mainly out of guilt. Kreese wins his fight against Turner just as US military forces arrive to rescue the unit. Kreese frees Terry and the other soldiers, Terry tells him that he owes him for life and will be there for him forever.

In the present day, Kreese makes a call to someone, and says it has been a long time. It is possible that the person he called was Terry.

Personality

After being captured in Vietnam during the war and seeing his fellow soldier Ponytail be killed by the Vietnamese, Terry is shown to be scared and traumatized. After being rescued by Kreese, Terry promises him that he owes him for the rest of his life, and the two would then go on to be close friends.

It can be assumed that Silver's traumatic experiences in Vietnam would have a negative effect on his personality and life, as after military service, he becomes the CEO of DynaTox Industries, that illegally dumps toxic waste into the ocean without showing any remorse.

When Kreese is financially ruined due to Daniel and Miyagi, Terry makes it a mission to avenge Kreese and make Daniel and Miyagi, most notably Daniel suffer. His goal is to cause Daniel and Miyagi great pain and suffering. He goes as far to pretending to befriend Daniel and manipulating him into behaving ruthlessly for a short time and performing tasks that cause him great pain, before eventually scaring Daniel by revealing his true motives. During the All Valley tournament, Terry orders Mike to commit illegal moves, which will prolong the fight, in order to cause Daniel a lot of pain. At one point during the fight, Silver makes it clear to Daniel that he wants him to suffer. However, after his plan fails in the end, a disgusted Silver walks out.

Unlike other villains, such as Johnny, Kreese, Chozen and Mike, who were all aggressive and intimidating, Terry is a much more calculating villain. Instead of intimidating people (Daniel in particular), he successfully projects himself to be a good guy, and emotionally manipulates people into trusting him. He knows how to sweet talk his way into earning people's trust. His actions can be seen as far worse than the others, as they make their actions up front, while Terry hides his true nature until it is time for him to reveal himself.

Terry's actions after military service and in his revenge scheme, prove he's a psychopath, and one of the most manipulative and corrupt human beings in the franchise. However, despite his poor character flaws, some positive characteristics he has are his devoted loyalty to Kreese and desire to repay Kreese for saving his life numerous times while in the war.

Fighting Style

Like the Cobra Kai mentality, Terry strikes first and hard, and displays a lot of offense. He easily beats Snake and Dennis during his sparing match with them. However, he only possesses very little defense, which makes it easy for Miyagi to beat him. During his fight with Miyagi, the latter easily wins by countering all of his strikes, while displaying little and well timed offense. Despite his fight with Miyagi, he is shown to be a better fighter than his friend Kreese, as he lasted a bit longer in his fight with Miyagi than Kreese.

Gallery

Trivia

• Terry Silver is Cobra Kai creator Hayden Schlossberg's favorite Karate Kid character.