Summary
- Toph finally reveals Lin's father as Kanto, but knowing his identity doesn't resolve her conflicted feelings or mend their relationship.
- Lin grapples with her childhood frustrations over Toph's parenting style and lack of supervision, striving to follow in her mother's footsteps.
- Both Lin and her sister Suyin reacted differently to not knowing their fathers, with Suyin building a new family and legacy, while Lin became police chief.
Lin Beifong spends most of Toph's daughters, Lin and her sister Suyin, have different fathers, Toph's lifelong refusal to disclose Kanto's identity complicated their relationship, and Lin grappled with the weight of that mystery for most of her life.
The question of the identity of Lin Beifong's father looms over the first three seasons of The Legend of Korra. Toph raised her daughters with hands-off parenting and very little supervision, the opposite of her strict upbringing in the prestigious Beifong family. Suyin and Lin reacted differently to not knowing the identity of their fathers; Suyin builds herself a family and a legacy to replace the one she lacked, and Lin strove to compensate for the distance from her mother by following in Toph's footsteps, becoming the police chief of Republic City.
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Toph Reveals That Lin's Father Was Called Kanto
Lin Growing Up Without A Father Weighed Heavily On Her
In The Legend of Korra, season 4, episode 10, "Operation Beifong," Toph reveals that Lin's father was named Kanto. Toph refuses to go into further detail about Lin's father, adding only that he was a "nice man," but their relationship ultimately didn't work out. After Toph reveals his name, she asks Lin why her breathing has suddenly changed. Lin argues that growing up without a father and never discussing him has weighed heavily on her, and although she had thought about reaching out to her mother many times over the years, seeing Toph again reminded her of why she hadn't.
Lin's primary conflict throughout The Legend of Korra is based around her relationship with Toph.
Lin's primary conflict throughout The Legend of Korra is based around her relationship with Toph. Following their difficult childhoods and uncertainty about their fathers, both of Toph's daughters rejected their mother. Suyin went wild without supervision and was arrested, but she managed to turn her life around and devote herself to building a family with her husband and children. Lin was relentless in trying to impress Toph, one of the world's greatest earthbenders, and while doing so became the police chief of Republic City.
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Knowing Her Father's Identity Didn't Resolve Anything For Lin
The Expanded Legend Of Kora Material Hasn't Revealed Anything Else About Kanto
When it's revealed that Kanto was simply a man, Lin can't understand why Toph kept him a secret.
Although Lin learns the name of her father, Kanto - something that her sister never gets (though many fans theorize that Suyin's unidentified father is Sokka) - knowing his identity doesn't resolve Lin's conflicted feelings about or mend her relationship with Toph. Toph's refusal to identify him turns him into an enigma that haunts Lin for her whole life. When it's revealed that Kanto was simply a man, Lin can't understand why Toph kept him a secret. Both sisters and Toph eventually reconciled, after she acknowledged that she wasn't the best mother, but was nonetheless proud of the women they had become.
Unfortunately, The Legend of Korra reveals no other information about Kanto - and the expanded material hasn't focused much on that part of her life. While Toph finally told her the identity of her father, Lin still had to work through her relationship with her mother on her own and come to with a lifetime of unanswered questions. Lin Beifong might have learned her father's identity, but The Legend of Korra police chief had to reconcile the conflict within herself to truly accept her difficult childhood, and reunite with Toph.
The Legend of Korra
- Release Date
- 2012 - 2014-00-00
- Showrunner
- Bryan Konietzko
- Directors
- Joaquim Dos Santos
Cast
Janet Varney
P.J. Byrne
WHERE TO WATCH
- Seasons
- 4
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