Toph Beifong: Everything You Need To Know About Avatar: The Last Airbender's Fan-Favorite Hero

She's the greatest Earthbender in the world, and don't you dunderheads ever forget it. While Aang, Katara, and Sokka are the original three protagonists of "Avatar: The Last Airbender," Toph Beifong becomes just as core to the group once she joins up, and she's frequently cited alongside Prince Zuko and Uncle Iroh as one of the show's most popular characters. As we can see in the live action "Avatar: The Last Airbender" Season 2 trailer, Toph will arrive on Netflix when the series returns in 2026.

With the premiere of Toph (played by Miya Cech) on the horizon, now is the perfect time to do a deep dive on the character. Spoiler alert!: We'll be getting into plot details for the original show and, to a lesser extent, the ensuing comics and spin-offs. But since Netflix's "Avatar" has already made some notable changes to the source material, we may not be spoiling anything from the live action series.

The animated Toph debuts in "Avatar" Season 2, Episode 6, "The Blind Bandit," although Aang catches a glimpse of her earlier during a spirit vision in Season 2, Episode 4. 

While searching for an earthbending teacher, Aang, Sokka, and Katara attend the WWE-inspired Earth Rumble VI, a combat tournament where 12-year-old Toph, using the alias of "The Blind Bandit," is the reigning champion. The "Blind Bandit" persona is necessary to keep her fighting a secret from her overprotective, wealthy parents, who would certainly not approve. One thing leads to another, and she ends up running away to join the show's primary trio of adventurers and teach Aang earthbending.

Never one to mince words, Toph is a bullheaded, no-filter individual. In the original series, Toph is voiced by Michaela Jill Murphy, credited under the stage name Jessie Flower. She first appeared on "Avatar" as different characters in the Season 1 episode "The Fortuneteller."

Murphy has remained close to the franchise in the years since "Avatar" concluded, voicing a young version of one of Toph's daughters in flashbacks scenes for "The Legend of Korra." She's also popped up at various conventions and other series-related events, such as a 2021 live Twitch reading of the comic "Toph Beifong's Metalbending Academy."

Oddly enough, Toph was originally written to be a male character with a design similar to the unnamed Earthbender seen in the show's intro.

Toph is arguably the most powerful bender in the series aside from the Avatar. Her combination of raw strength, hyper-precision, and the situational awareness granted by her "seismic sense" — her ability to "see" by feeling vibrations in the ground — all make her incredibly tough to beat. And we haven't even mentioned metalbending yet...

Prior to Toph, Earthbenders consider metal too pure to bend. However, Toph's knack for detecting minute bits of earth allows her to pinpoint and draw upon bits of impurity within metals, creating a whole new form.

In the "Avatar" comics, Toph founds a metalbending academy where she teaches her techniques to a new generation of Earthbenders. By the time the events of "The Legend of Korra" roll around decades later, metalbending is used by a much larger segment of the earthbending populace.

As an adult, Toph serves as the chief of police for the young Republic City. At this point in her life, she's a single mother to two daughters — Lin and Suyin. As explained in "The Legend of Korra," Toph's daughters are half-sisters with different fathers. Suyin goes on to have five children of her own, including the airbending Opal, making Toph a grandmother. 

Toph eventually leaves her family and civilization at large to seek enlightenment. Her quest brings her to the spirit wilds of the Foggy Swamp. There, she helps train Avatar Korra, which prompts her to return and help her family in their battle against the Earth Empire tyrant Kuvira — a fellow metalbender. Even as an old woman, Toph displays a high level of power, just as you'd expect from one of the strongest benders to ever live.

In a red-carpet interview with The Direct, actress Miya Cech explained, "My version of Toph is going to be a little older and slightly more feminine. I feel like I wanted to work into a very humanizing space for her because, you know, she was a cartoon."

Cech said that she met with Michaela Jill Murphy, and that the two share "a very similar take in terms of process." Toph's look in the teaser for Netflix's second season doesn't deviate far from her animated outfit, which should make purists happy.

Toph will also return in the upcoming animated film "The Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender," which takes place after the end of the original series. Toph and the other core characters are all adults this time around, so Dionne Quan will provide her voice. The film has been delayed a few times and is currently slated for a theatrical release on October 9, 2026.