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Haleema Hayad

FULL BIRTH NAME: Haleema Hayad

CURRENT AGE: 17 years

GENDER: Cisgender Female

GENDER IDENTITY: Female

SPECIES: Human

RACE: Caucasian

HERITAGE: Lebanese

SEXUAL ORIENTATION: Heterosexual

PLACE OF BIRTH: Austin, Texas

PLACE OF RESIDENCE: Seoul, South Korea

MORAL ALIGNMENT: Chaotic Good

RELIGION: Christianity

OCCUPATIONS: College Student, Artist, Martial Artist

LOVE INTEREST: Kwon Jae-Sung (formerly, Axel Kovacevic (currently)

PORTRAYER: Andriah Tayeh

PERSONALITY AND CHARACTER ANALYSIS: Haleema Hayad is shy, quiet, and mild mannered. However, she is easily excitable. She also has a temper that causes her to snap at the most unexpected moments. She is creative and imaginative, which makes her a good problem solver. She has a talent for ballet and is good with fighting fans, and she often uses her art as an escape. Though she is insecure, she has a strong set of morals and isn't easily swayed when it comes to right or wrong. She can forgive, but she never forgets.

CHARACTER ARC: Haleema Hayad was born in America to a Lebanese mother and a Lebanese father. Her mother was a deadbeat, but she was close with her father, who had moved his family to Texas for job opportunities. The people in her hometown were not accepting of her Arab heritage and she was bullied often. Her only escape from her home life was ballet, which her father enrolled her in when she was three years old. After her father died (when she was twelve years old), she quit ballet and realized that traveling to South Korea was on his bucket list, so she flew there, planning to just visit. When she arrived, she was targeted by a group of racists and saved by Kwon Jae-Sung, who was trained in Cobra Kai karate by Master Kim. He took her back to the dojo and she decided that she would join. There, she met a girl around her age named Hyun Cheong, who grew up in Korea and knew Kim through family. Haleema and Hyun quickly became friends, but the friendship was not to be.
  Haleema developed a friendship with Kwon that budded into a romance when they were fifteen years old, causing Hyun to feel left out. They went strong for a year. Around that time, Haleema received a letter from her mother asking her to visit because she was dying. Haleema didn't want to go, but Kwon encouraged her. Hyun asked to go with Haleema, but Haleema said that it was something that she needed to do alone. She went to see her mother in Lebanon, only to realize that she had lied. She wasn't dying and she wanted to know what Haleema had been doing in Korea. Haleema reluctantly gave some details, but not everything, and left in a hurry.
  When she went back to Korea, someone named Kreese was there, and he brought out a side to both Hyun and Kwon that scared Haleema. She brought this up to them. Kwon promised her that he was still the same, while Hyun was closed off and cold. Kreese brought out a side to Kwon and Hyun that Haleema feared. She broke up with Kwon and asked to remain friends, but he was too hurt and angry to remain friends, so he cut ties with her, only working with her when necessary for training. She desperately tried to remain friends with Hyun, but that did not work out.
  When Master Kim and Kreese took their students to America to compete, Haleema was already feeling apprehensive about the dojo and didn't fully believe in Cobra Kai's cause. She didn't feel comfortable opening up to Kwon like she usually did, so she kept it to herself.
  She was originally one of Cobra Kai's six fighters chosen for the Sekai Tekai and was the female captain. Unfortunately, when Kreese's favorite student, Tory Nichols, returned to Cobra Kai, Haleema was stripped of the title of captain and it was given to Tory. The only reason why Haleema was able to go on the trip was because Kim pulled some strings. This only furthered Haleema's distrust in Cobra Kai.
  Kreese was harsher and harsher on the students and Haleema felt increasingly isolated. She made friends with a new dojo called the Iron Dragons and some of the Miyagi-Do students, though she was weary of Wolf, the sensei of Iron Dragons. She befriended one of the Iron Dragons, Axel Kovacevic, and eventually developed romantic feelings for him, though she did not tell him because he liked someone else. When she discovered that he was being abused by Wolf, she quietly reported the sensei to the authorities, which backfired when Cobra Kai sensei Terry Silver threatened her about it.
After this, she left Cobra Kai and decided not to fight in the tournament. As a result, Kreese called Hyun in to replace Haleema.
  Haleema and Hyun ended up being a part of a brawl that broke out at the tournament.
Tragically, Kwon died during a fight between him and Axel. Devasted, she left. She originally blamed Axel for Kwon's death, but she eventually contacted him and they kept in touch.