Avatar: What Happened To Toph After The Last Airbender Ended
During the four-part series finale of Avatar: The Last Airbender, “Sozin’s Comet", Toph Beifong (Jessie Flower) helped defeat Fire Lord Ozai (Mark Hamill) and the Fire Nation regime by destroying the Fire Nation’s fleet of airships alongside Sokka (Jack De Sena) and Suki (Jennie Kwan) - but what happened to Toph after the hundred-year war against the Fire Nation ended? The Avatar: The Last Airbender comic series by Dark Horse Comics and The Legend of Korra Nickelodeon sequel series continue Toph’s story by making Metalbending, an Earthbending technique she invented herself, her legacy.
Born into the wealthy Beifong family from the Earth Kingdom, Toph was suffocated by her parent’s overprotective and traditional ways, who treated her as if she were a helpless little girl just because she was born blind. At a young age, Toph learned to Earthbend from blind badgermoles, who used Earthbending to “see” by feeling the vibrations within the earth. Unbeknownst to her parents, Toph took part in underground Earthbending competitions under the moniker “The Blind Bandit,” before she met Aang (Zach Tyler Eisen) and became a vital member of Team Avatar. Despite her parent's opposition, Toph left home and became Avatar Aang’s Earthbending teacher during his journey to master all four elements before battling Fire Lord Ozai. After the Avatar: The Last Airbender season 3 finale, Toph eventually mends the bad blood between herself and her family, and finds her calling as a Metalbending teacher.
As the only Metalbender in existence, Toph decides to pass on her knowledge by establishing a Metalbending school after the hundred-year war ends. When the Earthen Fire Refinery offers to sponsor Toph’s school in exchange for their Metalbending expertise, Toph is excited about the partnership until she discovers that the factory is owned by her estranged father. Upon being reunited with Toph, her father disowns her as his daughter, but the two make amends after they become trapped during a mining accident and Toph saves them using her Metalbending. After Toph left home within Avatar: The Last Airbender, her father hired two Earthbenders to bring her back home. Trapped inside of a metal cage, Toph escapes by bending the unrefined earth within the metal, thus inventing Metalbending. Since Toph’s discovery of Metalbending was a direct result of her strained relationship with her father, it is rather ironic that the bending technique is also what leads to the reparation of their relationship.
Within the sequel series The Legend of Korra, it is revealed that Toph also establishes a Metalbending Police Force within Republic City, a haven built by Avatar Aang and Fire Lord Zuko where citizens from all four nations can live in harmony. Apart from her invention of an entirely new Earthbending technique, Toph’s legacy is also carried on through her two daughters, Lin (Mindy Sterling) and Suyin (Anne Heche). Lin, following in her mother’s footsteps, grows up to be the Chief of Police within Republic City, while Suyin, matching her mother’s rebellious spirit, ventures out on her own and develops the first Metalbending city, Zaofu. After Toph retired from the Police Force, she set off on a solo journey, searching for enlightenment by traveling the world and settling in the Foggy Swamp.
Since one of Avatar: The Last Airbender’s central themes within the series is the importance of harmony and balance, it seems rather fitting for Toph’s story to end where it began for the audience. While Toph isn’t formerly introduced until season 2 episode 6 “The Blind Bandit,” Toph first appears to Aang in a vision within the Foggy Swamp during episode 4 “The Swamp” as a young girl wandering through the forest. Within season 4 of The Legend of Korra, Korra (Janet Varney), the Avatar after Aang and the reincarnation of his spirit, meets Toph for the first time in the Foggy Swamp, allowing Toph's story to come full circle in the eyes of the viewer. While Aang first encountered Toph as a vision in the mysterious swamp when he was a young kid, his reincarnation encounters her once more as an old woman in the same location many years into the future.