| “ | Welcome to Barcelona, b-tch. | „ |
| ~ Zara to Tory, her most famous quote. |
| “ | What's up everyone, it's your queen of karate here! Just finished our second Sekai Takai event where the Dragons absolutely slayed! Although, it was awesome to see other badass girls of karate fighting out there. Anyway, let's see if any of these other dojos there try to dethrone us. And to all my fans, I'm here to win for you! So stay tuned, I'll post again after our next event! Zara out. | „ |
| ~ Zara Malik |
Zara Malik is a major antagonist in Season 6 of the YouTube Red/Netflix series Cobra Kai.
She is the female champion of the Iron Dragons and a famous influencer that developed a rivalry with Tory Nichols during her time at the Sekai Taikai.
She is portrayed by real life multi-time Taekwondo champion and actress Rayna Vallandingham.
Biography[]
Zara trained at the Iron Dragons for an unknown period of time before meeting Cobra Kai and Miyagi-Do. Her inflated ego that spawned as a result of her mass social media platform made her think she was superior to other fighters, so when Tory started to gain popularity, she saw her as a threat. During the first event, she and Axel are able to defeat Tory Nichols, Kwon Jae-Sung, and Yoon Do-Jin easily. She also defeats a Polarslaget student from Sweden easily during the bo-staff competition, winning over the crowd as they chant Zara’s name. Following the matches, she vlogs her experiences, dubbing herself to be the "Queen of Karate", and mocks Sam and Devon Lee for their struggles in the first matches.
Sleeping with Robby to annoy and distract Tory, her plan proved to be successful.
Tory eventually got fed up with Zara and stole her phone to announce Zara's true side as a lying schemer to the world, which as a result made Zara lose a few sponsors. This made Zara target Tory during the Sekai Taikai brawl, though Robby proved that he loved Tory instead of Zara by choosing to side with her to fight against Zara.
Zara appeared to be shocked by Kwon's death, as she, liked everyone else, stopped fighting upon the accidental suicide of the Cobra Kai fighter.
But in Part 3, Zara was seen looking impressed with the announcement of Axel's victory over Robby, which put Miyagi-Do out of the competition. However, Gunther Braun announced a twist in the tournament by revealing Johnny Lawrence to sensei Cobra Kai for the rest of the tournament. Miguel Diaz would take the replacement of Kwon after his passing in the all-dojo brawl and Tory was announced to face Zara Malik in the female final after Samantha LaRusso withdrew.
While both female fighters were standing on the mat, Zara played some mind games, placing doubt about Robby actually loving her. During the first round, Zara scored an easy 5–0 lead. Before the second round, Robby reassured Tory that he loved her and gave her a kiss, leaving Zara feeling jealous. During the second round, Zara's baiting did not work against Tory, leaving Tory to land the first point on Zara during the tournament. Looking panicked that her quick-paced attacks weren't working, Tory managed to land two knockdowns in the same round before knocking her out (along with Zara's teeth) to secure a 43–5 point victory over Zara, thus giving her first defeat of her career. It was unknown what happened to her since she wasn’t seen supporting Axel in the boys final against Miguel or during the tie breaking match between Johnny Lawrence and Sensei Wolf. However, given how she wasn’t in these events, it is heavily implied she may have lost her popularity as the "Queen of Karate" following her defeat to Tory Nichols and possibly may have left the Iron Dragons for good.
Personality[]
From the start, Zara has shown multiple sides to her personality, such as her egotism when bragging about her invincibility on the mat to her fans online, to her ferociousness on the mat itself. She has also been seen as a major flirt, instantly becoming attracted to Robby Keene from the moment she saw him, as well as flirting with two guys at a bar.
Zara also has a fear of losing her popularity, as shown when she becomes bitter towards Tory Nichols when the other competitors in the Sekai Takai began to root for her after she won a match. She sees her chance to get revenge on Tory by stealing Robby from her and sleeping with him when she sees him alone at the bar; and after having sex with him, she repeatedly brings it up whenever Tory is around, just to further torment her.
Her fear of losing her fame and fans eventually controls her and eventually becomes her own downfall, and similar to Kwon in his fight with Robby, Zara loses focus and starts slipping up, which allows Tory to repeatedly tag Zara and score multiple points. Tory then ends the fight by kicking Zara in the face so hard, it knocks out a couple of her teeth and knocks her unconscious. Zara’s ego is then shattered, as she is dizzily helped off the mat. This proves that Zara is just an arrogant and egotistical martial artist who only cares for herself.
However, in spite of her self centeredness and conniving personality, Zara’s feelings for Robby appeared to be genuine, as what started out as a strong attraction, quickly shifted towards deep feelings after hooking up with Robby. This lead to Zara being angry when Robby didn’t side with her during the dojo brawl, and she was heartbroken when Tory and Robby kissed during the girls’ finals in the Sekai Taikai.
She was also stunned and disturbed by Axel’s actions of breaking Robby’s leg and felt bad for him, along with feeling bad for Axel when Sensei Wolf started physically assaulting Axel; showing that Zara does have a heart after all in spite of her immense cockiness and aggression.
Relationships[]
Allies[]
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Enemies[]
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Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Zara's actress Rayna Vallandingham is a real life martial artist who was a 13x taekwondo world champion and a degree in black belt.
- Zara's surname is "king" in arabic.
- It is unknown what country Zara had originated from, though given her surname and accent, she is likely either Southeast Asian or Arabic.
- Zara could somewhat be considered as a much more darker parallel to Tory Nichols.
- Zara's one-night stand with Robby has faced some controversy as it can be considered sexual assault, due to Robby being drunk and not remembering anything while Zara clearly did.
- When asked about it, Hayden Schlossberg said it was not assault as "she wasn't drugging/tricking/forcing him in any way". However, Jon Hurwitz agreed with a fans' sentiment that Robby did not consent. So whether their affair was considered assault or a somewhat normal sexual encounter is still up for debate.
External links[]
- Zara Malik on the Karate Kid Wiki
