Toph Beifong

Toph Beifong (Chinese: 北方拓芙; pinyin: Běifāng Tuòfú) is a fictional character in Nickelodeon's animated television series Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra, voiced by Jessie Flower in the original series and Kate Higgins and Philece Sampler in the sequel series. 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 single-handedly develops the ability to "bend" metal as well, and is the only metal-bender in the world until she creates her own metal bending school during the comic series. Toph has been blind since birth, but due to her extensive earthbending skills, she can locate objects and their movements by sensing their vibrations in the earth around her. She is introduced in the second season of Avatar, and travels with the protagonist Aang as his earthbending teacher. 2Character overview 3Creation and conception Toph was initially conceived as a sixteen-year-old boy that was athletic and muscular, designed to be a foil to Sokka. As the series progressed and the time came closer to the introduction of an Earthbender that would join the main characters, head writer Aaron Ehasz introduced the idea of a little girl being able to defeat strong and muscular adult Earthbenders, which though found humorous by some of the staff, was initially rejected by Avatar co-creator Bryan Konietzko. Following several long discussions, Konietzko stopped fighting the idea and warmed up to it, after which Toph was made female and introduced into the series, becoming one of Konietzko's favorite characters. The character's original design was recycled into the appearances of minor characters The Boulder and Sud. Her original design greatly influenced the appearance of Bolin in The Legend of Korra. Her Earth Rumble outfit, the clothing she wears for the majority of Avatar: The Last Airbender, was inspired by European fashion style