Did Toph Die? Ehasz, Aaron (writer) & Spaulding, Ethan (director). [26] When morning came, Aang returned to Earthen Fire Industries, informing Toph, Katara, and Sokka that the saboteur, out of gratitude to Aang for saving him, revealed that he had been hired by a pair of teenage girls, one of whom was a skilled earthbender. Upon learning that Loban excavated an unstable iron ore deposit site, she chastised him for it, telling him that he needed to start caring more about people's lives as opposed to just money. She chooses her three students (Penga, The Dark One, and Ho Tun) on the basis of her meteorite bracelet shivering in their presence. Episode 9. Toph nearly leaves the group after feuding with Katara over not contributing to the group's teamwork, though rejoins them following a meeting with Iroh and encountering Princess Azula for the first time. Upon being introduced to the young airbenders, Toph revealed to them that their grandfather had been a "real pain in [her] butt". Toph discovered the ability to bend metal in the spring of 100 AG. Being blind, Toph's mechanoreceptors and other senses are hyper-sensitive. The Lost Scrolls: Fire, page 159 of The Lost Scrolls Collection. After the family reunion evolved into an argument, causing a frustrated Ty Lee to storm out of the tent, Toph tried to cheer up the chi blocker by saying that she was her favorite out of all the Ty sisters. As Korra excitedly latched onto her, asking if Toph would be able to remove what Suyin could not, the elderly earthbender pushed her away, peeved about the fact that Korra even needed to ask about her abilities. [16] On their way toward Ba Sing Se to inform Earth King Kuei about Zuko's decision, Toph decided it was time to go back to her academy, and she left the team, accompanied by Sokka. Due to her time as a competitor and champion of earthbending tournaments, she was an expert in verbally taunting and insulting her opponents and, on occasion, her friends, particularly Sokka. At the same time, Suyin would later travel the world, eventually building a metal city, Zaofu. After the meeting, she came by the training Kyoshi Warriors. Team Avatar met with her, and Aang managed to convince the councilwoman to support more nonbender owned businesses. Toph had a crush on Sokka since at least the time when they traveled across the Serpent's Pass, which she tended to express by aiming more insults his way than toward anyone else. In "The Earth King", her name is reverted to 拓芙. Toph's father explained to Aang that as a result of Cranefish Town's expansion, there were dozens of factories besides the Earthen Fire Refinery there, as well as new challenges to deal with. She added that she once tried to teach Aang, who failed to learn because, as an Air Nomad, he did not have the necessary fortitude or feel for metal, while an earthbender, on the other hand, will have what it takes. Avatar: The Last Airbender. Toph is one of two known characters in the, Toph is the only character to appear in the graphic novel series for both. Toph joined Korra, Asami, Suyin, and Opal in flying to Gaoling on Juicy's back after Kuvira stole a Metal Clan plane and fled Zaofu. Artists had issues carrying out this design, resulting in multiple takes. Toph clarified that she wanted help holding up the building, but Aang replied that the building was already destroyed and that whoever built it had done a poor job. She found parallels between how she was treating them as people by restricting them simply so they could meet her vision of them with how her parents had treated her back when she still lived with them. Before they could heed the engineer's request, they heard a factory worker cry out for help, as the quakes had left him trapped under a haywire machine. Toph was the only member of Team Avatar whose life was not uprooted or dramatically changed by the. From this idea which blossomed as a joke and after long discussions, Toph was given her gender and turned into the character that was introduced in the show, ironically becoming one of Bryan's favorite characters. Episode 17. [37] This sense provided her with a distinct advantage when facing other earthbenders in combat because she could predict attacks as they began and quickly react. "The Tales of Ba Sing Se". They were soon cut off when her students called their attention to the spirit General Old Iron approaching the town. Her action, however, earned her a reprimanding speech from Aang, much to her annoyance. She took a liking to them, as they were also blind, and learned to Earthbend from their ways by "seeing" with her other senses and her "seismic sense" where she senses the every vibrations in the ground to know where ever… She was accustomed to lying on the ground and walking everywhere barefoot leaving her soles soiled, a habit common among the earthbenders. [1] Her success rate in intercepting projectiles was also tied to her sensing of vibrations, being able to feel an opponent's movement, and proceeding accordingly. Due to her blindness, Toph had no reading or writing skills. Toph told her daughters she considered them a blessing; though Lin thought she was lying. Sokka added that the terrain there was the most dangerous in all of the South Pole and how nothing could stay alive there long. In the case of Mako and Bolin they are biological brothers, yet can bend different elements, presumably due to their mixed heritage. To his relief, Toph agreed to tell no one. Her encounter with Iroh, however, taught her that Aang, Katara, and Sokka cared for her because they were friends, not because her blindness made them feel obligated to do so.[36]. Toph attended a festival that evening. Despite this setback, they managed to free the entire family and Toph warmly hugged her youngest daughter, before they all made their way back to the surface and reunited with Opal. To her great surprise, the seemingly tough wrestler had a secret pet crococat, named The Pebble. Both became desperate until noticing that the crococat had disappeared and stopped meowing. This was not entertaining enough for the restless Avatar, who asked the elderly woman to retell the story of how she taught Aang to earthbend. A joke about the prototype later appeared as the actor playing Toph in The Boy in the Iceberg play bore a closer resemblance to the initial design. Toph returned to her hometown of Gaoling where she officially signed documentation confirming her as a gubernatorial candidate. He and Toph offered to repair the building, but their help was rejected, a woman telling them that she and the others did not want to have their home repaired by benders after it was destroyed by benders, which Aang reluctantly accepted. The key to Earthbending is your stance – you've gotta be steady and strong. She later found Lin, Opal, and Bolin surveying the area around the city in order to determine where Suyin and the rest of the Beifong family were held captive. [11] By 174 AG, Toph's fighting style evolved to incorporate more fluid and evasive maneuvers, bending mud more akin to waterbending.[33]. When Meelo recognized her due to her age, crankiness, and blindness, Toph commented that she liked the young boy. When first introduced, Toph brought a completely new personality to the group. Noticing Aang's inability to pierce Old Iron's armor, Toph risked her own life to help him by metalbending it off. Toph loved battling and took great pride in her earthbending skills. As befits one who has mastered the use of neutral jing by waiting and listening to the earth, Toph had a great sense of hearing, able to clearly hear the most subtle of whispering from considerable distances and could recognize people by the sound of their voices. Seeing the earthbender among them fashioning earth gauntlets, Toph used a much larger version to knock them unconscious. Upon joining Team Avatar, Toph brought a completely new personality to the group. Toph attempted to bend the residual mercury out of Korra's body, though she gave up after the Avatar kept fighting her subconsciously. Sokka, after reading it, added the exchange was to take place at the Bridge of No Return, a place where the village used to deal with their criminals. When Korra awoke and requested to know what had happened, Toph answered that she was hoping Korra would be able to tell her that. Toph Beifong in the games By keeping an eye on Zaofu via the vines of the Foggy Swamp, Toph saw that Suyin and her family had been captured by Kuvira. Both daughters inherited her earthbending abilities and became masters in their own right. Yet when Suki saves them, they keep fighting to the end. [17], Due to her troubled past with her parents, Toph also exhibited a modernist attitude, believing that change is the key to progress. Walking up to Korra lying in a shallow water pool, the earthbender berated her for her "pathetic" performance, declaring her to be by far the worst Avatar she had worked with. Toph Beifong is an earthbending master, one of the most powerful of her time, and the discoverer of metalbending. Instead of a direct follow-up to ATLA, Legend of Korra ended up being a much different show, one with a premise that the reason Korra is the Avatar is that, spoiler alert, Aang died. as a result of the upgrades, machines and nonbenders were able to do all the work in the factory, and some bender employees were subsequently let go in order to save money. This page requires editing to meet Avatar Wiki's quality standards. Confronted with the possibility of death, Lao finally apologized to Toph for his past mistakes. Toph was often brutally honest when criticizing others, especially her friends. Toph Beifong in the films Season 2. Toph has not been with her parents since she ran away from home. Turning her back to Korra, she ordered her to go again. Arriving at the factory, they all sneaked in and Toph used her metalbending to tear a hole in the hangar's wall, before seamlessly sealing it again. They later reunited with the rest of the group on the grounds of the Earthen Fire Refinery, where the factory's interim boss, the engineer Satoru, became starstruck by Toph. Earthbending involves enduring attacks until the right opportunity to counterattack reveals itself, emphasizes "heavily rooted stances and strong blows that evoke the mass and power of earth", and demands precise stepping footwork to maintain constant contact with the ground. In The Promise trilogy, Toph is revealed to have established the Beifong Metalbending Academy, an instructional institution to help earthbenders learn metalbending, shortly after the end of the television series. In the following two days, Toph resumed her old habits of passing her time by relaxing. After returning to the capital, Toph told Suki of Ty Lee's intention to leave the Kyoshi Warriors, though Ty Lee had changed her mind.[23]. When Sokka excitedly pointed out a high-striker booth, Toph resolved to try to beat it. Chin the Conqueror- killed by Avatar Kyoshi. When Toph was walking in the woods, she steps into a fury gooey like substance. Both of them were aware that on traditional dates, the boy would drop off the girl, hoping to be invited in or at last for a good-night kiss. When Lin apologized for all she had said the previous night, Toph acknowledged that she had not been the best mother, though she was nonetheless proud of the women her daughters had become. Rock is a stubborn element. Now knowing where to go, Toph was introduced to Juicy, though she immediately noted that the "leaky, nasty thing" smelled worse than Appa. Afterward, she attended a banquet in celebration of the election with her friends, during which Katara inquired about the state of her metalbending academy; she answered without excitement that her school was doing well, to the point that she had more students than she could properly house. Ozai, viewing a nonbender as firstborn as \"shame\", planned to cast his son over the palace walls. After Republic City's formation, Toph became the city's first Chief of Police, forming the Metalbending Police Force to help maintain order. [27] Because Toph relies on sensation in her feet to perform earthbending, she becomes truly "blind" if the soles of her feet are damaged, as shown when Zuko accidentally burns her feet. She later stated that as long as someone could see the metal, she could bend it, which she demonstrated when metalbending screws and bolts to unscrew the wheels of Fire Nation tanks. She encountered Ogodei, who had successfully captured all the Acolytes, and used her metalbending to chain him down with his own weapon. When Liling's followers approached, the walls suddenly began to move, being controlled by Toph. As Aang tried to fight off Old Iron, Toph again called on her students, this time to help the Avatar. Although Toph's hair appeared to be short, it was shown to be very long and bushy when she let it down. That being said, she apparently had some math skills, as seen when she was counting money. Jet subsequently died from his serious internal injuries. Asking if she should not be training, Toph learned that Ty Lee needed a break as nothing felt right to her anymore. Aang managed to save both Hakoda and Malina, but Gilak fell to his death in the ravine. [6] Despite her handicap, Toph developed special skills by keeping company with the blind 'Badgermoles' that inhabited nearby caves. She called on Aang to help her, and Aang flew in on his glider and carried her away, allowing the building to fall down. She angrily slapped up a poster herself, only to inadvertently place it backward and say, "It's upside-down, isn't it?" Her parents expected their daughter to be well-mannered and proper due to their noble status in Earth Kingdom society, something with which Toph secretly disagreed, causing her to resent her parents' treatment.[1]. [18], After the conclusion of the battle, the fame of Toph's school rose, and she had to decline an invitation from Zuko to come to the Fire Nation Royal Palace, as she had too much work to do at her school.[19]. Liling commanded Yaling to go after Toph, and she managed to knock the blind bender down by attacking her in the air. Annoyed about Korra's subconscious resistance, Toph gave up and stated that Korra would have to bend the metal out herself, since she was adamant about keeping it in her body for the time being. As Fire Lord, Zuko and Aang created the United Republic of Nations, healing many of the rifts … [41], When she went on to teach her unique talent of metalbending, she realized how her dogged pursuit of her own dreams of becoming the world's first metalbending teacher disrespected who her students were. Toph is the youngest known earthbending master in. The major difference with Toph, however, is that unlike Ozai and Hiroshi, the actions of Toph's father were geared more toward paranoia and overprotection rather than directly inflicting pain on her out of some sense of morality. Kya (Sokka and Katara's mother)- killed by Yon Rha during Fire Nation raid Lu Ten (Iroh's son)- killed by Earth Kingdom soldier General Zaho- killed by Avatar Aang and Ocean Spirit In the following season, she was meant to serve as a foil to Korra with her "gruff mentoring style" contrasting the reserved Korra. Upon discovering badgermoles, earthbending animals who are also blind, she learned how to use earthbending as an extension of her senses. She accepted his offer of a guided tour of the refinery, with her friends tagging along as her entourage. Toph was forced to look the other way and tear up the police report because of controversy it would cause before sending Suyin away to live with her grandparents. [9][better source needed]. When Suyin began to tell Wei and Wing that the Metal Clan could not intervene in Gaoling without throwing the democratic movement into turmoil, Toph despaired at the current weak state of the movement, with Guan having likely brainwashed both the voters and the Earth King. [10] By imitating their movements, Toph became a master of the martial art known as 'earthbending', but she kept her ability secret from her family. One day when she was 6 years old, Toph ran away, upset that she was essentially trapped in a cage. Toph was the first known person to be born with a disability, the second being. Her design became a subject of difficulty for the staff, who wanted her to return to the size of her twelve-year-old self from the original series despite flashbacks in the earlier part of The Legend of Korra showing her as having grown in height. Arriving at the heart of the swamp, Toph explained that the roots of the banyan-grove tree connected the entire swamp and added that Korra's problem was that she had been disconnected for too long from those who loved her and from herself. Toph joined the rest of Team Avatar for Hakoda's conference on the Southern Reconstruction Project after Zuko and Earth King Kuei arrived in the Southern Water Tribe. As Korra lamented about her inability to recover her old form, Toph told her there were still traces of mercury in her body. Image gallery (298) Nickelodeon. The four quickly removed the armor, prompting the earthbender to tell Aang to give Old Iron an Avatar State-induced blow to the chest. Nevertheless, she accompanied Aang, Sokka, Katara, and three Air Acolytes, Xing Ying, Yee-Li, and Jingbo toward a cliff overlooking the ocean where they would commence the celebration of Yangchen's Festival by bowing to a stone statue. [40] Despite occasional clashes or spats,[41] Toph and Katara generally got along. ! Toph helped Lin and Bolin to free Suyin and her family. That night, Toph was woken from her sleep by a clanking sound coming from the Earthen Fire Industries factory, and she went to investigate, discovering one of the machines to have been deliberately jammed. Jessie Flower (in Avatar: The Last Airbender)Kate Higgins (in Books One and Three of The Legend of Korra)Philece Sampler (in Book Four: Balance of The Legend of Korra) Katara voiced that it was something she admired in Toph but could tell that she had been hurt by the insult and added that though it did not matter, she was in fact pretty, which visibly cheered up the blind girl.[37]. She was hurt when her father did not react to any of her accomplishments, concluding that talking to him had been a mistake and that she would never bother him again. Toph is an extremely talented and masterful earthbender—i.e., she has the ability to telekinetically manipulate, reshape and control stone and dirt; she eventually becomes the first person to develop the ability to "bend" metal as well. Having developed her own unique style of earthbending, Toph acquired a toughened personality and became famous for winning underground earthbending tournaments under the alias "The Blind Bandit", doing so behind her parents' backs. He was fired for missing so many days after her death. Happy to see Toph again, The Boulder requested her help in handling the small but fierce animal that had become extremely ill-tempered and gluttonous for no apparent reason, loudly meowing around the clock. When he offered to sponsor a new school building for her and her metalbending students in exchange for their coming by the refinery on a regular basis to help out with the machines, she enthusiastically agreed to his offer by stating that she would love to be in a partnership with him, though immediately corrected herself by saying that she meant the refinery. [6] Terrain that impairs Toph's ability to sense vibrations also hinders her abilities; she has some difficulty with sand, which constantly lacks solidity, preventing her from accurately "feeling" her surroundings. After the ordeal, Kanna, Pakku, Hakoda, Malina, Kuei, and Bosco gathered around Kanna and Pakku's igloo. She went into a cave and met some badgermoles. When a perplexed Korra asked her why she would want to keep poison in her body, Toph believed Korra to use it as an excuse to forsake her duties as the Avatar out of fear of getting injured again. When Lao once again asked Aang to attend the Business Council, he reiterated his agreement, though he insisted on first helping the people who lost their homes in the building's collapse. She grew shocked when her father told her that Aang intended to destroy the Earthen Fire Refinery for no apparent reason. Overjoyed that his beloved pet was alright, The Boulder earnestly thanked Toph, but also requested that she kept The Pebble a secret. (September 29, 2006). She initially appeared as a vision by Aang in "The Swamp". (September 22, 2006). Fighting style [37] She practices and hones her initially unique skill throughout the rest of the series, later teaching it to other earthbenders prior to the events of the Legend of Korra. [1] Her blindness and patience helped her to develop a keen sense of hearing. One day when she was young, Toph ran away from home and hid in a cave inhabited by badgermoles. But it caused both of them to feel that she was ignoring them as their mutual need for her attention caused them to react in different ways: the older and strict Lin following in her mother's footsteps as a Republic City police officer while the free-spirited Suyin rebelled against Toph by hanging with the wrong crowd. 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