Avatar: Why Toph Was A Guy In The Ember Island Players

Toph being portrayed as a guy in Avatar: The Last Airbender‘s Ember Island Players acting troupe was a subtle nod to the character’s history. Over the course of the show’s three seasons, Team Avatar expanded to consist of masters of each bending technique – Katara for waterbending, Zuko for firebending, and Toph Beifong for earthbending – in addition to strategic mastermind and space sword wielder Sokka. Together they were able to combine their strengths to defeat Fire Lord Ozai, but getting there was an arduous journey.

Aang needed to master all four elements, and each one took a full season to do so. After he mastered waterbending, Aang and the rest of Team Avatar traveled to the Earth Kingdom to find him an earthbending master – that person was ultimately Toph. She was not only an experienced earthbender but arguably was also the world’s most powerful one. Coupled with the fact that she was blind and could use her earthbending skills to see (and thus create a new style of earthbending) and that she discovered metalbending, Toph was the perfect teacher for Aang. And while Toph’s story remained largely consistent with the character’s core purpose, her characterization was notably changed from the original design.

Toph Beifong was originally designed as a muscular, jock-type guy who was meant to be a foil for Sokka and his “nerdiness”, as described by series creators Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino in the featurette “The Women of Avatar”. They always knew they would have an earthbender master train Aang in Avatar: The Last Airbender season 2, but having that character be a girl was something head writer Aaron Ehasz pushed for. So when it came time to have the Ember Island Players recap the series before Aang’s battle with Ozai, Toph was depicted as a guy, thus fulfilling the original vision for the character.

Click here to watch Avatar: 15 Hidden Details You Missed on YouTube.

What’s interesting is that the prototype for Toph made it far into animation, even appearing as one of the four benders in Avatar‘s opening credits. But it’s a good thing Avatar‘s creators agreed to make Toph a girl – and one with a sarcastic yet jolly personality, nevertheless – because that led to some of the best stories and character interactions in both Avatar: The Last Airbender and its sequel series, The Legend of Korra. If Toph remained a buff, teenage boy, Legend of Korra‘s story may have been impacted as well. Lin and Suyin Beifong’s stories were heavily affected by their relationship with their mother, after all. Furthermore, Toph’s own journey, not to mention her friendship with Katara, helped strengthen the character’s depiction.

Toph is now one of the fans’ favorite characters, and much of that is owed to how she was portrayed in the original series. It’s certainly possible the original version of the character would’ve been just as popular as the version audiences got, but in hindsight, Team Avatar wouldn’t have been properly balanced with the focus being on three teenage boys in Sokka, Zuko, and Toph.

About The Author

Mansoor Mithaiwala
(1888 Articles Published)

Mansoor Mithaiwala is Screen Rant’s TV Lead Editor. He originally joined the site as a freelance writer on the Lists team before moving over to News and Features, eventually becoming an editor in 2018. Over time he’s done quite a few different things, including helping launch gaming on the site, often handling news, features, and guides simultaneously. Now he sticks primarily to movies and TV, and spends way too much time looking at analytics. It sure seems like he’s put his Political Science degree to good use, huh?

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