User Profile

Character's full name (western style): Toph Bei Fong
Anime/manga/video game that the character is from: Avatar: The Last Airbender
What school year your character is going to be: 7th
IN-DEPTH Background/personality info on your character, as well as any character development that occurs during the series (Include any changes to fit into the Avoria world~):

Toph is the only child of the incredibly wealthy and prestigious Bei Fong family, whose power and influence spans wide across the Earth Kingdom from where they reside in the town of Gaoling. Despite this, though, Toph's existence was a carefully guarded secret by the Bei Fong family since, in their eyes, she was delicate, weak, and fragile because of one important thing: Toph was born blind. Because of this disability her parents have kept her under constant watch. The most exciting thing in her life was the Earthbending lessons she wound receive from her "master"; if they could be called that. She was forbidden from learning anything other than basic training.

Which...didn't exactly work out the way they'd hoped, as Toph expanded her understand of Earthbending far beyond what had ever been known before. Using Earthbending, Toph became able to "see" using the vibrations she picked up while bending. It was using this ability that she was able to learn Earthbending from badgermoles, large beasts that live underground. This was a heavily guarded secret by the young girl, though, and she never told anyone about it. The only people who knew the true force behind her massive Earthbending skills were the fighters and spectators of the Lei Tai tournament "Earth Rumble" where she fought under the alias "The Blind Bandit". Her record was a 42-0 winning streak before Aang and the others showed up and the Airbender blew her out of the ring.

Angry with herself for losing, Toph stormed out of the ring without evening lending an ear to Aang's pleas for her to become his Earthbending teacher. He eventually finds her on the Bei Fong estate and proceeds to ask her again to become his teacher; Toph immediately refuses and before either she or Aang can react, the ringleader and one of the fighters from the Earth Rumble tournament kidnap them. In exchange for their release they demanded a hefty sum, which the Bei Fongs were all too eager to pay; they just wanted their 'helpless' little daughter back.

When they paid the ransom Toph was released--but the two kidnappers announced that they'd decided to sell Aang to the Fire Nation. Katara begs Toph to help Aang as her father and Earthbending teacher lead her away, but her father tells Katara that his weak and helpless, fragile daughter cannot do anything. That's when Toph steps in and interjects, instantly moving to fight the Earth Rumble kidnappers--which now consists of every contestant in the tournament. And to both her father and her teacher's amazement, Toph single-handedly defeats each and ever one of the bandits without much effort and with absolutely no injuries.

That night, Toph pleads with her parents to be more understanding. She's shown them her powers and abilities, that's she not helpless. She gets the opposite result of what she wants, though, and her parents tell her that they have given her too much freedom. Aang, Katara, and Sokka leave when their ever-so-hospitable hosts blame them for the incident, believing that Aang will never find a real Earthbender to teach him. They're preparing to leave when all f a sudden Toph appears saying her parents have; changed their minds' about the whole thing. In truth, she's run away and doesn't plan on going back (this leads to the Earth Rumble leader and her former Earthbending teacher being hired to chase after her).

Personality-wise, Toph is fiercely independent, outgoing, direct, sarcastic, and brutally frank. She's not afraid to speak her mind on any matter no matter whom she may be talking to. Being a noble she was most definitely educated on proper manners and etiquette, but Toph pointedly decides to ignore this part of her heritage and go about conducting herself however she may please, which caused problems between her and Katara when she first joined the group. Seeing as gestures of help as piteous and demeaning, it was only after she met and talked with Iroh that Toph came to realize that people sometimes offer their aid because they want to, not merely because they pity you. Since then Toph improved a great deal and became less calloused, although she's still as strong-willed and haughty as ever. For a blind twelve-year-old, she acts more like an arrogant tomboy than a noble.

As the story progresses and Toph's character evolves, we begin to see that not only is she a true Earthbending master, but she also has her flaws. One of which is the fact that Toph is very vulnerable against air-based attacks. Without her enemy touching the ground to cause vibrations, Toph cannot see where an attack is coming from and therefore cannot react to it (this is seen when Sokka drops a wrestling belt on Toph's head from atop Appa). It somewhat relates to her reliance on contact with the ground, as on sand her ability to sense vibrations is heavily reduced and things appear "fuzzy". Her second weakness is that she cannot swim. Despite these flaws, though, we see that to date, Toph is the only Earthbender able to bend metal. By using vibrations to sense the impurities in metal and bend them so that she can manipulate their structure.

Other skills Toph possesses are the ability to tell when someone is lying based upon their physical reactions, never forgetting a voice she's heard, and she speed and agility are only matched by the freakishly amazing strength she seems to possess.

These skills have of course been reduced since arriving in Avoria. Although she can still "bend" to a degree, she cannot use them to the multitude available to her in the TV show. Bending is still her only means of "seeing", so her journal has been equipped with a voice component to allow her to communicate with people.