Lin Beifong

"earth"

- Come on, show a little more backbone. It's time the benders of this city displayed some strength and unity against these Equalists.

Chief Lin Beifong, the daughter of Toph Beifong, was the head of Republic City's Metalbending Police Force. Even though her mother taught Avatar Korra's previous incarnation how to earthbend, Lin has no special affection for the new Avatar. Korra's reckless ways left one of Republic City's streets in ruin, making her one of the biggest threats the city had faced in recent times from Lin's point of view. However, this changed when Amon and his Equalists made their public appearance and openly challenged the benders of the world.

Early life
Born to Toph Beifong two decades after the Hundred Year War, Lin Beifong inherited the earthbending prowess of her mother, eventually mastering the art and its subskill, metalbending. As an adult, she became the Chief of Police of Republic City, where she stands at the head of the Metalbending Police Force.

Since her mother was friends with Avatar Aang, Lin and Tenzin knew each other since childhood. According to Tenzin, she got along "famously" with his father. Earlier in her life, she dated Tenzin, but the two eventually drifted apart. The relationship was broken completely after Pema confessed her love for the airbender. According to Tenzin, Lin then unsuccessfully tried to throw Pema in jail.

Korra's arrival


When Korra arrived in Republic City, she was subsequently arrested and brought before Chief Lin Beifong. Tenzin eventually came to exempt the young Avatar of the charges; however, Lin made it clear that she wanted Korra out of the city. The next day, she attended a press conference during which Korra announced herself as the Avatar to Republic City. At that time, the new Avatar was also asked if she would be working with Chief Beifong, a question to which she did not reply.

Lin later encountered Korra again at a party hosted by Councilman Tarrlok, where she remained unimpressed with the Avatar, stating that Korra had done absolutely nothing to deserve the city's praise.

The championship finals


When the United Republic Council was planning to shut down the Pro-bending Arena after Amon's threat, Lin entered the City Hall and agreed with Korra, demanding that the council show backbone. In exchange for keeping the arena open, the chief agreed to provide heavy security for the event. This agreement convinced the council to leave the arena open. Tenzin encountered Lin later and tried to provide her protection, but she demanded that she not be babysat, insisting she could take care of herself. She then ignored Korra's thanks for agreeing with her in the council meeting and walked away.

Lin worked on establishing detailed security for the event, and finally agreed to bury an old hatchet and work together with Tenzin. The two exchanged some conversation during the match as the Wolfbats won a controversial victory, mostly after Korra won her tie-breaker match with Tahno. Lin remarked that she could not believe that sweet-tempered Aang was reincarnated into Korra, whom she described to be "tough as nails". Tenzin then commented that Korra reminded him of Lin at that age, and that he believed they would get along if she would give her a chance.



Unfortunately, the Equalists came prepared, and Lin's security proved to be useless. After the match, the Equalists attacked the two with electrified gloves, rendering them unconscious. When they came to, Amon was escaping the arena with Korra in pursuit. Seeing the Avatar fall after her waterbending lift came up short, Lin jumped into action and used her cables to save Korra. She then flung her up to the roof of the arena, allowing Korra to fight the Equalists.

Once she joined the Avatar on the roof, Lin was electrocuted again by the Lieutenant, but managed to recover and contend with the Equalists. Just as the chief attached her cables to the Equalists' airship, however, Korra fell through the Pro-bending Arena's glass ceiling, prompting Lin to let go of the airship and use the cables to once again save Korra. Korra thanked her, and then the police chief expressed her regret for allowing Amon to play her for a fool.

Investigating the Sato factory
After the Equalist attack, Lin received notoriety for failing to capture Amon. Tarrlok even proposed in a press conference that she be replaced as the Chief of Police. She start conducting numerous investigations with Tenzin, interrogating the witnesses of the incident in the arena. She later received intelligence that Cabbage Corp manufactured the weapons the Equalists used, so the Metalbending Police Force proceeded to shut down the company and arrest the owner.

When Lin and Tenzin were alerted by Korra of a possible connection between Hiroshi Sato and the Equalists, the metalbender at first doubted about its veracity but then agreed with Tenzin that he would have the means and the motive. The chief and the airbender then went to the Sato estate to ask him some more questions, to which the businessman excused saying it was all a misunderstanding. He then agreed to have his factory searched by Lin's officers. However, the chief and her men were not able to find anything to incriminate Sato.



However, a worker in the factory slipped Korra a note telling her to meet him underneath the Silk Road Bridge. The Avatar, Lin, and Tenzin met the worker, who explained that Sato was an Equalist, and he had indeed manufactured the weapons used during the arena attack, and he was working on an even more powerful weapon, for which he had a secret factory under his mansion.

Lin, Korra, and Tenzin, escorted by some metalbending officers, conducted a second search of the Sato estate, discovering a massive factory with Equalist propaganda and several weapons, including new massive mecha tanks. However, they soon found out it was a trap as Hiroshi Sato sealed the factory off and began to engage Lin, Korra, Tenzin, and the officers with the new robot-like machines. While the group was able to fend off Sato, he and the Equalists eventually overpowered the benders and rendered them unconscious. Sato ordered his men to bind and bring them to Amon.

Meanwhile, Mako and Bolin managed to sneak into the factory undetected, and began carrying Korra, Tenzin, and Lin out, but when Sato discovered them and prepared to attack the brothers, Asami appeared from behind and used an electrified glove to knock out her father and the Lieutenant, giving time for the rest of the group and herself to escape via airship. They, however, were forced to leave Lin's officers behind.

While on the airship heading back to the city, Lin, still in pain from the attack, told Tenzin that she feared for the fate of her men and, since she had failed as police chief, was planning to resign in the morning. Tenzin told her to not give up the fight, but the metalbender stated she was resigning so that she could find her men and take down Amon without the restraints of the law.

Lin officially turned in her resignation the next morning and turned the chief's position over to Saikhan.

Uniform
As Chief of Police, Lin's armor was slightly different than the rest of the Police Forces'. The most noticeable difference is that Lin's armor was primarily black with gold trimmings, while the rest of the police forces' armor is light gray. Also, the sole of her footwear was retractable, revealing her foot should she need to use seismic sense.

Personality


Lin is a tough and uncompromising police chief, Tenzin himself describing her as "challenging". She makes it clear when she is irritated or dislikes someone, being abrasive, especially toward Tenzin. Though, she can show her soft side at times. She apprehends anyone who breaks the law, regardless of their intent, as she was quick to condemn the actions of Korra when the Avatar destroyed public and private property in an attempt to thwart the actions of the Triple Threat Triad. She believes that the only way to maintain peace and stability in Republic City is through the use of military might, and works hard to enforce the city's laws, and feels that Korra may potentially compromise all of this. For this reason, she tends to hold a low opinion of the new Avatar, given the way she introduced herself to the city.

Lin has many traits that are completely different than those of her mother. While her mother was freewheeling and much more laid back where rules were concerned, Lin has a no-nonsense attitude and takes the rules that were set in Republic City very seriously. However, Lin has inherited her mother's habit of not giving special treatment to others based on titles, as seen through her treatment of Korra. Lin also cares deeply for the safety of Republic City, demonstrated when says she will resign from her job to take down Amon and his Equalists outside the law and its limitations.

Abilities
Like her mother, Lin has mastered earthbending in all its forms, allowing her to easily fight off multiple chi-blockers. As head of the Metalbending Police Force, Lin is especially proficient in the advanced art of metalbending. With her standard metal wires, she is highly versatile in battle. With them, she is able to perform considerable acrobatics, easily moving around the Pro-bending Arena to reach its roof. She can also fashion them as wrist blades for close-range battle. She has also shown considerable aim with these wires, able to snap Tarrlok's gavel from across the room.



Lin has also demonstrated a great mastery of seismic sense, which allowed her to locate a secret tunnel leading to Hiroshi's Equalist factory. She also used traditional earthbending to fight Hiroshi and his machines, using it to push her high up into the air. However, during this incident, she learned that she is incapable, like all metalbenders, of bending solid platinum due to its exceedingly high purity.

Also, despite being fifty, Lin is very agile, quickly recovering from a chi blocker attack and in the same move, somersaulting upright and taking down two chi blockers. Like her mother was, Lin is also considerably strong, able to launch Korra to the roof of the Pro-bending Arena with one arm's metal wire while using the other to swing in the air.

Relatives

 * Toph Beifong (mother)
 * Lao Beifong (maternal grandfather)
 * Poppy Beifong (maternal grandmother)

Trivia

 * The name Lin Beifong translates as "Gem of Northern China" when translated from traditional Mandarin.
 * She was first announced on July 23, 2011 at San Diego Comic-Con, and is the second named child of a member of Team Avatar, the first being Tenzin.
 * Chief Beifong's appearance bears a greater resemblance to her grandmother Poppy Beifong than to her mother, at least as seen in the Avatar: The Last Airbender series.
 * Lin Beifong has two scars on the right side of her face.
 * Lin was responsible for the development of the usage of metal cables as part of the Metalbending Police Force's uniform.
 * Lin Beifong's character design, but not her personality, was partially inspired by Han Young Ja, the general manager at Studio Mir, and longtime friend and colleague of Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino.
 * When Korra was frustrated with her inability to airbend, she tried directing an airbending attack at a newspaper hanging on a line with an image of Lin on the front page. When she failed to blast it away, she set fire to it instead.
 * Lin is the first person in The Legend of Korra to use seismic sense but third in both series.
 * Despite her being an earthbending master, Lin appears to heavily favor metalbending.