Toph Beifong

Toph Beifong is a main character in the animated series 2005 Avatar: The Last Airbender. She was introduced in Book 2: Earth (2006), and later appeared in the final season (2014) of its 2012 sequel series, The Legend of Korra.
== Canon ==
===Avatar: The Last Airbender===
Toph was born an earthbender in the Earth Kingdom to the wealthy Beifong family. Her parents believed her to be fragile and helpless due to her blindness, and so they isolated her from the outside world. At a young age, a crying Toph hid in a cave, where she met badgermoles, the original earthbenders, who were also blind. By imitating the badgermoles, Toph learned earthbending skills, allowing her to visualize her surroundings by detecting the sounds and vibrations of her environment.
By the age of twelve, Toph was slipping away from her home to compete in professional earthbending fights as the undefeated Blind Bandit. It was at one of these matches that she met Team Avatar: Avatar Aang and his companions, Katara and Sokka. Toph agreed to become Aang's earthbending master and ran away from home to join Team Avatar's adventure.
Over the course of the series, she formed deep and lasting bonds with the other members of the Gaang, and became the first earthbender to bend metal.
===The Legend of Korra===
After the events of Sozin's Comet, Toph founded the first school of metalbending, led the Republic City Police, had two daughters, and eventually met Aang's successor, Avatar Korra.
== Fandom ==
===Popularity and Reception===
Toph is generally well-liked by the fandom due to her impressive earthbending skills, tough attitude, and snarky sense of humor. Many also believe her to be a positive example of a disabled character.that-catholic-shinobi. As a disabled person posted to Tumblr on 1 Jan 2016. (Accessed November 2020.)
===Fanon and Speculation===
Fans of Toph often enjoy portraying her larger-than-life personality and earthbending skills in fan works. Toph Being Awesome and Badass Toph Beifong are filterable freeform tags on AO3, each having over 100 works.
Toph was the only long-term member of the Gaang not to have a one-one-one "field trip" with Zuko between the Day of Black Sun and the series finale; fan works sometimes seek to rectify this.
Toph did not appear in the first three seasons of The Legend of Korra. In that time, some fans speculated that she may have died prior to the events of the series along with Aang and Sokka, and some held out hope that she was still alive. She eventually appeared alive and well in the fourth and final season, which aired in late 2014.
=== Shipping ===
Toph has not been shown in a romantic relationship in Avatar: The Last Airbender, although her past relationships with her daughters' fathers are briefly alluded to in The Legend of Korra.
According to a sample of 267 stories posted to FanFiction.Net (FFN) between 13 October 2013 and 6 May 2020, Toph was most often listed in the site's pairing filter with Sokka (46%), followed by Aang (31%), Zuko (17%), Azula (3%), Katara (1%), and June (1%).phantomstatistician. Toph's FanFiction Shipping Chart 2013*-Present, posted to Tumblr on 6 May 2020. (Accessed November 2020.)
As of August 2020, Toph & Zuko is her most tagged relationship on AO3; Toph Beifong and Zuko Are Siblings is an established tag, with over 200 works. Out of Toph's romantic pairings, Toph x Sokka has the highest volume of works on the site.
====Notable Pairings====
* Aang/Toph (Taang)
* Katara/Toph (KaToph)
* Sokka/Toph (Tokka)
* Zuko/Toph (Toko or Zoph)
==Fan Works==
===Fan Fiction===
* The Dragon-King's Temple by kryal https://web.archive.org/web/20201112032943/https://archiveofourown.org/works/6211903/chapters/14231311
* The Avatar Makes Three by Avocadorlove https://web.archive.org/web/20201111223516/https://archiveofourown.org/works/16598252/chapters/38899721
* A Matter of Honor by Adridere
===Fan Art===
Toph MarcelPerez.jpg|Toph by MarcelPerez. |alt=Toph Beifong performing an earthbending move. Her facial expression is the very picture of smugness.
TophBeifong_itsbloogr-art.png|Toph Beifong by itsbloogr-art |alt=Toph Beifong performing an earthbending move.
Lovelyrugbee_Beginnings.jpg|Beginnings by lovelyrugbee|alt=A badgermole cuddling nose to nose with a young Toph. Greyscale digital sketch.
* Painted Toph Again by raidesart
* T O P H by Dana Terrace
===Fancomics===
===Fanvids===
* Toph and Lin Beifong - Mama Said Knock You Out AMV
===Cosplay===
* 
* 
===Meta===
==Links ==
===Archives and Communities===
* Toph Beifong tag on AO3
* ATLA fan fiction and crossovers featuring Toph on FFN
* Toph tag on Tumblr
===Resources===
* Toph Beifong on Wikipedia
* Toph Beifong on Avatar Wiki
== References ==
Category:Avatar: The Last Airbender Characters