| “ | If you had sacrificed your pawn… you might have scored that point. | „ |
| ~ Kim Da-Eun berating Tory Nichols for protecting Devon. |
| “ | Let this be my final lesson to you. And a more painful one than the last. | „ |
| ~ Sensei Kim before attacking Tory Nichols. |
Kim Da-Eun is a major character in the YouTube Red/Netflix series Cobra Kai.
She is a Korean karate sensei who is a close friend of John Kreese and an acquaintance of Terry Silver from their days training karate under her grandfather, Master Kim Sun-Yung. Da-Eun is later recruited by Silver to train the students of the Cobra Kai dojo following Kreese's arrest.
She is portrayed by Alicia Hannah-Kim in her first villainous role. As a child, she was portrayed by Sara Anne.
Biography[]
Past[]
Kim Da-Eun watched as a little girl while John Kreese and Terry Silver sparred together under the guidance of her grandfather, Kim Sun-Yung. Kim Sun-Yung galvanized Captain Turner's teachings of no mercy and, in particular, taught them unfair tactics to attack their opponents when they are weak or even if the fight has not begun yet. Kim Da-Eun carried on these teachings.
Back in Korea, she, along with everyone else, would climb Chiri-san, the tallest mountain on the mainland. They would train for hours at the peak, long after the sun had set and the nights had become cold, wearing heavy packs filled with water.
Cobra Kai[]
Season 5[]
Kim Da-Eun first appears in episode 6, where she meets Terry Silver at the airport with the senseis she had hired for him. Silver recruited her to get all the best martial artists she could find to head his dojos to further his expansion in the valley, and, ultimately, worldwide. He lures her in with promises that she will have her grandfather's teachings finally given the credit that they deserve.
During her training, she torments Tory Nichols and the other students through physical and emotional means, proving to be just as ruthless and dangerous as Terry himself, and even more sadistic. She forced the students to fight one another brutally, and even chastised Tory for protecting Devon Lee during a match instead of letting her get beaten severely for the sake of winning.
Terry attempted to get Cobra Kai into the Sekai Taikai, the largest karate tournament in the world, and promised Kim that this would be how her family's legacy and teachings would be preserved. During the match, Terry paid off the referee to allow Cobra Kai to cheat against their opponent, Miyagi-Do, and still be given the victory. Kenny Payne uses Terry's technique called the "Silver Bullet" to cut off Hawk's airway and win the match.
After learning that Terry paid off the referee, Tory refused to compete and left, leaving them without an opponent and ultimately resulting in Miyagi-Do being allowed to compete in the tournament. In perhaps her most heinous act, she punished Tory severely by forcing her to smash through solid stone with her hand, almost breaking it.
In the season finale, Kim arrives at the massive dojo brawl, and fights Tory one-on-one, though Tory is able to ultimately defeat her offscreen with Devon's help. Kim Da Eun later watched Daniel LaRusso fight Terry Silver, in which the fight is won by Daniel when he uses the crane kick to finish Silver off. Following Terry's arrest for his numerous crimes, Kim Da-Eun was nowhere to be seen, having likely escaped in the denouement.
Season 6[]
After the closure of Cobra Kai, Kim returned to South Korea to continue training her younger students. However, Kreese, who had faked his death and escaped prison, traveled to South Korea in an effort to convince Kim to send her students to the Sekai Taikai, as Silver had successfully guaranteed Cobra Kai a spot in the competition. Kim agrees, but explains that Kreese must convince her still-alive grandfather to send them to the dojo. Though Sun-Yung initially refuses, after Kreese is able to retrieve his long lost Eunjangdo, he relents and allows Kreese and Kim to enter the Sekai Taikai. Kim then introduces Kreese to her students, specifically showing off her top student Yoon Do-Jin. Kreese, however, instead takes interest in the reckless Kwon Jae-Sung, whom he correctly believes is a better fighter than Yoon simply limited by his own incompetence.
Kim and Kreese arrive at the Sekai Taikai, with Kwon and Tory, who turned to Kreese after her mother died, as team captains. There, Kim continues berating Tory for her past actions, whilst also clashing with Kreese for his dishonorable tactics which rarely involve the actual fighting in the ring. During the first event called “Captain’s War”, Cobra Kai were able to beat Miyagi Do and Falchi da Notte, but Sensei Kim was shocked when the Iron Dragons were able to overpower Cobra Kai easily through two of their best students; Zara Malik and Axel Kovacevic. One night, Kreese sends the Cobra Kai kids to torment the Miyagi-Do kids, much to Kim's dismay. She decides to go out looking for the kids, and encounters Chozen Toguchi, the third sensei of Miyagi-Do who is also looking for the Miyagi-Do kids after having let them loose. The two encounter each other multiple times, and eventually fight each other in a bar, which culminates with them kissing and having sex on the beach. They later trace a man who had kidnapped Daniel and followed him to the hotel. After they meet Daniel and Kreese, the four finds out that the man and Sensei Wolf of the Iron Dragons dojo works for Terry Silver, who is the Iron Dragons manager and wants revenge. When Kreese attempts to kill his former best friend, Kim stops and tells him to focus on the tournament.
During the next event, Kim eases down tensions with her team starting with Tory who was exposing Iron Dragons female captain, Zara, for the latter's true colors and then Kreese who punched and accused Silver of stealing his eunjangdo and replaced it with a spa ticket. She then realized that it was Chozen who stole the knife to mess with Kreese and Silver and tells him to put it back, but he counters that he had nothing to do with it. Cobra Kai is then eliminated after losing their tag team match to Miyagi-Do.
When the team is about leave the hotel and return to South Korea in defeat, Kim stops Tory from nearly fighting Kwon. However, Cobra Kai is reinstated following the disqualification of Tiger Strike. She and Kreese trains Tory and Kwon for their semifinal match. At the tournament, Kwon advances to the finals. Tory talks to Kim if sacrificing everything in her life to uphold the karate legacy of her grandfather was worth it which Kim replies absolutely. During the all-dojo brawl, Kim and Chozen team up to fight Tiger Strike sensei's Oksana and Ivanov with last minute assistance from Gunther Braun who knocks down Ivanov. The fight is halted when Kwon accidentally impaled himself with Kreese’s knife when he tried to kill Iron Dragon student, Axel Kovacevic, shocking Kim and everyone.
Following the events, a funeral is held for Kwon and has a conversation with Kreese about that they should expect punishment from her grandfather over what happened in the Sekai Taikai. Master Kim then tasks her by performing a deadly technique that’s dangerous to learn. Kreese, however, reveals that Cobra Kai will be withdrawing from the Sekai Taikai over the events that transpired. As a result, Kim Da-Eun is tasked by her grandfather into killing Kreese to prove his loyalty to him. When she refuses, Master Kim taunts her that she’ll never lead or take over his dojang. Kim then confronts Kreese, who reveals that she isn’t like her grandfather and shouldn’t be like him. Realizing that her grandfather is leading her into the wrong path and that most of the events have turned her into a ruthless Sensei, she resolved to kill him. That night, she snuck in her grandfathers tent with the intent to kill him. Kim Sun Yung, however, anticipates his granddaughter’s move trying to kill him, leading to a fight between them. While Kim Sun basically gains the upper hand, Kim Da soon turns the tables on him and kills him using a technique she was forced to learn. Following this, she says farewell to Kreese saying they will never see each other again. As they part ways, Kreese tells her to lead the dojo in taking place of her grandfather.
After Cobra Kai’s victory in the Sekai Taikai, it was revealed that Kim Da-Eun, having realized her grandfather’s wrongdoings, would eventually reform her dojo in a similar way to how Johnny Lawrence did during the first season and teach her students less merciless tactics, using balance and defense instead of the way of the fist. As she continued training her students, she is visited by Chozen, and the two start a relationship.
Personality[]
Kim Da-Eun is an extremely dangerous, cold-blooded and ruthless individual. She seems to have more honor than Terry, but is even more violent and sadistic than him. Even Terry was stoic and somewhat shocked when Kim forced Tory to smash stone with her bare hands, which is saying something because he made Daniel LaRusso do something similar in 1985, albeit with wood. When she was a kid she was afraid of her grandfather and wanted to make him proud of her. Even as an adult, she still trying to make her proud of him and her grandfather sees her as a disappointment and would never make her as his successor. Why her grandfather always favored Kreese more than her and why she resents him.
But despite having a rough upbringing and a ruthless personality, Kim is not heartless. She cares about her students, and doesn’t want them to lose or get hurt. When Axel kill Kwon, Kim became scared of him, and preferred not to return to the tournament out of a protective need to keep her students away from Axel and Sensei Wolf.
Following the defeat of the Iron Dragons and having realized the error of her grandfather’s ways, she became a much more nice hearted and less merciless person when teaching her students back in Korea less merciless tactics and using the Miyagi philosophy and having started a relationship with Chozen.
Relationships[]
Family[]
Friends/Allies[]
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Enemies[]Currently:[]
Formerly:[]
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Trivia[]
- Before the fifth season's release, it was rumored by the fans that Kim Da-Eun would be related to Terry Silver's sensei Kim Sun-Yung, who was mentioned in The Karate Kid Part III which was confirmed in a preview clip.
- There might another rumor that Sato Toguchi might related to Kim Sun-Yung.
- Mostly in season 6, she resents John Kreese for stealing her grandfather’s love from her and she has father issues.
- A deleted scene showed her riding a motorcycle to Terry Silver’s flagship dojo where she ordered Big Red and a few students to confront Miyagi Do upon arrival.
External Link[]
- Kim Da-Eun on the Karate Kid Wiki
- Kim Da-Eun on the Heroes Wiki
