Toph Beifong

Character
Name:	Toph Beifong
Occupation:	Earthbending master, professional earthbending fighter (formerly), con artist (formerly), Chief of Police of Republic City (formerly)
Relationships:	Aang (friend and student), Katara (friend), Sokka (friend), Suki (friend), Zuko (friend), Iroh (friend), Lao Beifong (father), Poppy Beifong (mother), Lin Beifong (older daughter), Suyin Beifong (younger daughter), Bataar Jr. (grandson), Huan (grandson), Opal (granddaughter), Wei and Wing (grandsons)
Fandom:	Avatar: The Last Airbender
Other:	; [1] by MarcelPerez
	Click here for related articles on Fanlore.
	Contents 1 Canon 1.1 Avatar: The Last Airbender; 1.2 The Legend of Korra; ; 2 Fandom 2.1 Popularity and Reception; 2.2 Fanon and Speculation; 2.3 Shipping 2.3.1 Notable Pairings; ; ; 3 Fan Works 3.1 Fan Fiction; 3.2 Fan Art; 3.3 Fancomics; 3.4 Fanvids; 3.5 Cosplay; 3.6 Meta; ; 4 Links 4.1 Archives and Communities; 4.2 Resources; ; 5 References;

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.^[1]

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%).^[2]

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

Examples Wanted: Editors are encouraged to add more examples or a wider variety of examples.

Fan Fiction

"When You've Bowed, You Leave the Crowd" AKA "When You've Bowed…"^AO3^{FFN archive} by Lavanya SixDate: 27 Mar 2011 (AO3)Length: 2 281 wordsStatus: Complete

A far futurefic.

"When They Asked"^AO3^archive by talibusorabatDate: 18 Apr 2012 (AO3)Length: 597 wordsStatus: Complete

A post-canon/pre-LOK fic about Toph's experience with motherhood and relationship with Lin.

"Kintsugi"^AO3^archive by discordiansambaDate: 19 Nov 2019–14 Jan 2021Length: 87k wordsStatus: In progress

Pre-canon divergence AU in which Zuko ends up a servant at the Beifong estate instead of searching for the avatar. Focuses on the relationship between Zuko and Toph.

"Chain of Flowers"^FFN^{FFN archive} by Lavanya SixDate: between 31 Dec 2009 and 28 Jan 2013Length: 400 wordsStatus: Complete

The title may reference the floral names of Poppy and Toph, and the multigenerational links between Beifong mothers and daughters.

untitled^Tumblr by nothing-more-than-hot-leaf-juice, probsjosh, theotheristhedoctor, gaangarangDate: 13 August 2020–18 August 2020Length: 157 words

Spontaneous scriptfic collab featuring Toph and Bumi.

Fan Art

Toph by MarcelPerez.
Toph Beifong by itsbloogr-art
Beginnings by lovelyrugbee

we needed more bastard toph^Tumblr by iloeDate: 24 May 2020

Likely part of a wave of fan art spurred by the 2020 ATLA Renaissance.

Little Toph and Poppy Beifong^Tumblr by byghostfaceDate: 26 Jun 2020

Pre-canon. Poppy affectionately tends to her young daughter, Toph.

Painted Toph Again by raidesart
T O P H by Dana Terrace

Fancomics

Because I finished rewatching AtLA the other day.^Tumblr^archive by henpendripsDate: 10 Jan 2020

Toph was the only long-term member of the core Gaang not to have a one-one-one "field trip" with Zuko between the Day of Black Sun and the series finale. Fan may seek to rectify this in fan works.

Fanvids

Toph and Lin Beifong - Mama Said Knock You Out AMV

Cosplay

"The Boulder and Toph". Archived from the original on 2021-09-09.
"Toph Bei Fong by tophwei". Archived from the original on 2021-09-09.

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

^ that-catholic-shinobi. As a disabled person posted to Tumblr on 1 Jan 2016. (Accessed November 2020.)
^ phantomstatistician. Toph's FanFiction Shipping Chart 2013*-Present, posted to Tumblr on 6 May 2020. (Accessed November 2020.)

[1] that-catholic-shinobi. As a disabled person posted to Tumblr on 1 Jan 2016. (Accessed November 2020.)

[2] tomstatistician. Toph's FanFiction Shipping Chart 2013*-Present, posted to Tumblr on 6 May 2020. (Accessed November 2020.)

[1]

[2]

Character
Name:	Toph Beifong
Occupation:	Earthbending master, professional earthbending fighter (formerly), con artist (formerly), Chief of Police of Republic City (formerly)
Relationships:	Aang (friend and student), Katara (friend), Sokka (friend), Suki (friend), Zuko (friend), Iroh (friend), Lao Beifong (father), Poppy Beifong (mother), Lin Beifong (older daughter), Suyin Beifong (younger daughter), Bataar Jr. (grandson), Huan (grandson), Opal (granddaughter), Wei and Wing (grandsons)
Fandom:	Avatar: The Last Airbender
Other:	[1] by MarcelPerez
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.
Contents 1 Canon 1.1 Avatar: The Last Airbender 1.2 The Legend of Korra 2 Fandom 2.1 Popularity and Reception 2.2 Fanon and Speculation 2.3 Shipping 2.3.1 Notable Pairings 3 Fan Works 3.1 Fan Fiction 3.2 Fan Art 3.3 Fancomics 3.4 Fanvids 3.5 Cosplay 3.6 Meta 4 Links 4.1 Archives and Communities 4.2 Resources 5 References