Toph Beifong - History and Family

History and Family

Toph is the only child of the wealthy Bei Fong family, who reside in the Earth Kingdom town of Gaoling and whose symbol is a winged boar. Toph's parents view her blindness as a disability and assume that she is vulnerable to exploitation by the world and therefore keep her concealed. Despite her handicap, Toph developed special skills by keeping company with the blind 'Badgermoles' that inhabited nearby caves. By imitating their movements, Toph became a master of the martial art known as 'Earthbending'; but kept her ability secret from her family and teacher. Later, Toph fought frequently in Earth Rumble, an earthbending Lei tai tournament arranged to resemble Professional wrestling, under the alias "Blind Bandit". By the time Aang and his friends discover Toph at the tournament, she had become champion, holding a 42-0 win-loss record prior to her encounter with Aang.

In order to escape her parents' control, Toph fled secretly with Aang and his friends and volunteered herself as Aang's Earthbending instructor. Toph's defiance of authority and co-operation annoyed Katara; but the two later became close friends. It is implied in some episodes ("The Serpent's Pass" and "Sokka's Master") that Toph has a crush on Sokka; but this is never confirmed or explored further.

The Bei Fong family appears well-known and influential in the Earth Kingdom, in that Toph's display of her family's seal was sufficient to gain passage on a ferry ("The Serpent's Pass"), though doing so in the city of Ba Sing Se ("City of Walls and Secrets") did not allow herself and her companions into a party.

In later episodes, Toph becomes less snide of character, but retains her cocky attitude. Her bending abilities improve when she learns to bend metal by detecting and manipulating the impurities therein.

Toph joins Sokka and Suki in the finale to prevent the Fire Nation's decisive attack on the Earth Kingdom's capital. The three succeed in stopping the Fire Nation's airship brigade, giving Aang the opportunity to defeat Phoenix King Ozai. Toph's last appearance is in complimenting Sokka's poorly-drawn image of the group, thus emphasizing that she cannot see it and causing a moment of laughter.

In The Legend of Korra, Toph (now voiced by Kate Higgins) taught Metalbending to certain Earthbenders. She was well regarded as a powerful bender. This is apparent in the Legend of Korra series when Hiroshi Sato exclaims that his metal suites were made of metal so pure that even Lin Bei Fong's "renowned mother" could not bend it. Toph gave birth to a daughter named Lin Bei Fong, and founded the Metalbending police force of Republic City, of whom Lin became Chief. Lin's father has not yet been revealed on the show.