Lin Beifong's relationships

This page is comprised of Lin Beifong's relationships with other characters in the Avatar World. Lin is a direct, uncompromising, strict, and occasionally hot-headed woman. As the Chief of the Metalbending Police Force, she regards the city's welfare as her top priority, and her goal is to end all criminal activity in Republic City.

Toph Beifong
"You're talking to her. I'm Chief Beifong.' 'Wait, Beifong? Lin Beifong? You're Toph's daughter!' 'What of it?' 'Well then, why are you treating me like a criminal? Avatar Aang and your mother were friends. They saved the world together."

Lin is the oldest child of Toph Beifong and has inherited her mother's strong and powerful earthbending skills. As the earthbending prodigy's daughter, she was trained in all the various skills and techniques of earthbending, including metalbending and seismic sense. Growing up, Lin's childhood with Toph was of freedom to make her on choices, Toph wanting to give Lin the opportunity to find her own path. Ultimately, Lin became more interested in getting her mother to pay more attention. Lin claimed that Toph claimed that her two daughters were a blessing but she never meant it. Later, Lin carried on her mother's legacy by becoming the Chief of the Metalbending Police Force.

Lin and Toph share certain similarities, such as a tough and straightforward attitude. Toph also did not let Aang's status as the Avatar affect her judgment, just as Lin refused to compromise and give Korra special treatment when the girl was arrested for damages to the city. A notable difference, though, is that Toph was quite relaxed about rules, albeit only during her childhood, whereas Lin rigidly follows and enforces them. However, Lin has shown that she is willing to break the rules when the people she cares about are in jeopardy.

Suyin Beifong
Since the age of twenty, Lin had a rather hostile relationship with her half-sister, Suyin. While their mother was raised in a highly strict environment, Toph gave her daughters more freedom than she had as a child. While Lin was a stickler to rules, Suyin was more rebellious. Sometime before 142 AG, Lin and Suyin had a falling out, after which Suyin moved away and established the city of Zaofu. Suyin tried to reach out to Lin, however, Lin never responded to her. Suyin had stated she already gave up any chance of them reconciling.

Tenzin
"I need to protect my family, and get them as far away from this conflict as possible. If Amon got his hands on my children, I hate to even think of it.' 'If you're leaving, then I'm going with you.' 'But-' 'No arguments. You and your family are the last airbenders. There's no way in the world I'm letting Amon take your bending away."

Lin and Tenzin seem to have a distant, yet professional relationship. They interact contentiously, but she seems to warm up to him at times. She is not so inflexible or unreasonable as to refuse Tenzin's request to let Korra off with a warning at their first meeting. As the past Avatar's son and Toph's daughter, Tenzin and Lin have known each other since they were children. Eventually, they had a romantic relationship, but it began to falter when Tenzin realized they had "different goals", according to him; one of which was Lin's lack of interest toward having children unlike Tenzin. Pema confessed her love to Tenzin while he was still with Lin, resulting in his decision to break off his relationship with the earthbender and Lin's attempt to get Pema jailed, albeit unsuccessful. Ever since, their own priorities in life continued to draw them apart, causing their interactions to become somewhat strained. As noted by Korra, Lin appears to still have some unresolved feelings for Tenzin. On the night of the Pro-bending Championship Tournament match, Tenzin requested they call a truce, to which Lin vaguely brought up their old relation and agreed. When they were both caught off guard during the match and stunned by Equalists, Lin's first action upon recovering was to check on Tenzin. When the Equalists invaded Air Temple Island, Lin fought them off to protect Tenzin's family. They left the island on Oogi but were soon pursued by Equalist airships. She saved the airbenders by using metalbending to destroy one of the airships. However, she was defeated by surrounding Equalists and later lost her bending to Amon.

However, even Lin's sacrifice was not enough to save the airbenders, and they were captured and later broken free by Korra. Lin Beifong also attended to Korra's healing session with Katara, however it was unsuccessful. Afterward Korra was visited by Avatar Aang, who gave her back her bending. Later, Tenzin watched as Korra restored Lin's bending, appearing shocked but proud.

Korra
"You all right?' 'Fine, thanks to you.' 'Don't mention it, kid."

When she held the position as the city's police chief, Lin was uncompromising in her duty of stopping crime and protecting the citizens of Republic City. As such, she immediately disliked Korra when the young Avatar flagrantly destroyed public and private property, and caused a great deal of collateral damage during her battle against three members of the criminal Triple Threat Triad, despite having assisted in their apprehension. Korra's stunt at evading arrest also did little to impress Lin, who asserted that the Avatar's style of "vigilante justice" had no place in her city. It was clear her opinion of the Avatar had not changed with her attendance of Tarrlok's gala at City Hall, where Lin stated outright that Korra had done "nothing to deserve" the praise of the city.

When the Fire Ferrets arrived at City Hall to protest against the United Republic Council's stance of appeasing Amon's request and closing down the Pro-bending Arena, Lin agreed with the team, affirming that it was "time the benders of this city displayed some strength and unity" against the Equalist threat, much to Korra's surprise. While guarding the arena alongside her fellow metalbending officers and Tenzin, she noted how different Korra was from Aang, stating that Korra was "tough as nails" compared to the previous Avatar. In turn, Tenzin stressed that Lin and Korra were similar in that regard, and would get along if Lin would give her another chance. When the Equalists attacked and Korra attempted to pursue Amon, Lin came to her aid, propelling her to the roof using her metalbending, thus allowing her to intercept the escaping Equalists. Lin was also a key combatant in the battle on the arena's rooftop against the Lieutenant and his lackeys. Korra came to the rescue of an electrocuted Lin, and the latter later used her metal cables to take down two Equalist chi blockers that were approaching Korra.



Though her goal was to leave Korra after evening the odds in order to infiltrate the Equalist airship, Lin reacted quickly to save the Avatar from falling to her death through the glass dome of the Pro-bending Arena, revealing that she was concerned for the Avatar's safety more than her duty of pursuing Amon. After witnessing how she had handled herself against the Equalists, Lin came to respect Korra and at least take her opinion into consideration. Following her capture by Amon, Lin was given a chance to keep her bending if she told Amon where Korra was. Lin refused, and Amon took her bending away. Following Korra's access of her spiritual nature, and regaining her own bending from the spirit of Aang, Korra used energybending to restore Lin's own bending abilities, for which she was grateful.

Metalbending officers
"I'm not giving up. I'm going to find my officers and take Amon down."

Lin is the daughter of Toph, the founder of the Metalbending Police Force, and so has always had a connection to the law. Eventually, Lin joined the force and became the Chief of Police, following in her mother's footsteps. Lin only recruited the most superior metalbenders into her force. When Saikhan became a police officer, she saw potential in him and took him under her wing. Under her tutelage, he managed to rise in the ranks and eventually became her right-hand man. Acts like this have earned Lin the deep respect of many of her men.

After several officers were captured during the fight between Hiroshi Sato and the Metalbending Police Force, Lin stated that she was going to resign from her position as Chief of Police in order to rescue the officers "her way", outside of the law. This further proves that Lin has a strong bond with the rest of the police officers.

Pema
"So, Pema stole you from Beifong. I'm surprised our 'esteemed Chief of Police' didn't throw her in jail.' 'Oh, she tried."

With Lin and Tenzin's relationship growing cold, Pema used this as an opportunity to confess her love to Tenzin, which culminated in marriage. Tenzin claimed that Lin tried to imprison Pema, but failed, implying a hostile relationship between the two women. Years later, Lin appeared to be on civil terms with Pema prior to the Equalist attack on Air Temple Island, accepting the duties of helping Pema and her family, and was even visibly concerned when Pema underwent labor during the attack.

Saikhan
"It was an honor serving under Chief Beifong for so many years and I wish her a speedy recovery."

Saikhan was Lin's right-hand man when she was chief, and also captain of the Metalbending Police Force. Under Lin's tutelage, he rose swiftly in rank, and because of this, he holds her in high regard. Lin trusted Saikhan to the extent where she appointed him as her successor as Chief of Police following her resignation after the battle at the Equalist factory.

However, after becoming her replacement, their relationship appears to have somewhat strained due to Saikhan's apparent switch of loyalty to Tarrlok.

Team Avatar
"Hope you got enough beauty rest. Come on, I'm busting you out.' 'Thanks. I owe you."

During the investigation of Hiroshi Sato and Future Industries, relations between Lin and Team Avatar were initially hostile, as Asami was disgusted at the suspicions and allegations Lin had toward her father. Upon the discovery of the hidden factory underneath the Sato estate, Lin disallowed Asami, Mako, and Bolin from entering, and ordered Officer Song to keep an eye on them. As Lin and the others were defeated during the battle that occurred soon after, Mako, Bolin, and Asami, outsmarting Song and disobeying Lin's orders, were able to rescue Lin and the others, saving her from being imprisoned by Equalists.

When Lin heard about Korra's kidnapping days later, her first action was to free Team Avatar from prison to aid her in her search, presumably having gained her respect after saving her in the past. She and Tenzin worked with the team throughout their search for Korra, and, despite not finding her, they found an underground Equalist facility, rescued Lin's metalbending officers, and discovered that Tarrlok was the one who kidnapped Korra. After learning this information, they returned to City Hall to confront Tarrlok, and were all subdued by his bloodbending as he made his escape. When they came to, they attempted to follow him in hopes of finding Korra, and managed to eventually find her being carried into the city by Naga.

Both Lin and the members of Team Avatar were present during Korra's healing session with Katara, and Mako, Bolin, and Asami witnessed Korra's energybending and Lin regaining her bending abilities.

Tenzin's children
"Nice work, kids."

Lin was friendly not only with Tenzin and his wife, but also with their children: Jinora, Ikki, and Meelo. She did not hesitate to protect Air Temple Island and the kids from the Equalists while Tenzin arranged to meet with the other council members, although she only halfheartedly agreed to bathe Meelo. While the island was under attack, Lin was protective of the children, telling them to hide inside the women's quarters during the assault. However, when Lin was in danger of being captured by the Lieutenant, the children came to her rescue and defeated the intruders with airbending. Later, when the Equalists began pursuing Tenzin and his family, who were escaping on Oogi, Lin came along and even prevented the Equalist airships from capturing the family by launching herself onto the airships and trying to destroy them. She willingly let herself be captured and had her bending stripped away by Amon. As Tenzin's family went into exile, Meelo acknowledged Lin as his hero.

Amon
"Tell me where the Avatar is and I'll let you keep your bending.' 'I won't tell you anything, you monster!' 'Very well."

As former Chief of Police, Lin acknowledged Amon as a threat to the safety of Republic City's citizens. When the Pro-bending Tournament was sabotaged by the Equalists, she was rendered unconscious while Amon staged his speech. When she awoke, she pursued him and aided Korra in battling the Lieutenant, as well as a few chi blockers. After the battle, she expressed regret at falling for his plan.

When she was captured and taken to Amon himself, he ordered that she tell him of the Avatar's whereabouts; in exchange, she would be permitted to keep her bending. Lin, however, refused to reveal anything, subsequently losing her earthbending and metalbending abilities with her defiance. Following Korra's access of her spiritual nature and regaining of her own bending from Aang's spirit, the Avatar used energybending to restore Lin's bending abilities.

Hiroshi Sato
"That source was a setup! You lured us down here."

When Korra stated her suspicions of Hiroshi being affiliated with the Equalists, Lin remarked that the successful businessman did have the means and the motive, helping Tenzin explain Hiroshi's history. She, her metalbending police officers, Korra, and Tenzin executed a search of the Sato estate, after having received a tip that a secret factory was located directly below the mansion; this venture led to the discovery that Hiroshi was a member of the Equalist organization. Having learned that he was affiliated with Amon and the Equalists, Lin viewed him as another enemy that threatened the safety of Republic City's citizens.

Tarrlok
"Chief Beifong was supposed to protect Republic City, but she was powerless to stop Amon's attack on the arena. She has failed us all."

As the United Republic Council prepared to cancel the Pro-bending Tournament Finals after Amon's threat on the arena, Chief Beifong interfered and convinced the Council to keep the arena open. She promised that the Metalbending Police Force would be able to protect the arena from any Equalist attack. Tarrlok asked Lin if she would personally accept responsibility for anything that happened during the finals, to which she agreed. Tenzin remarked that Tarrlok did not have Lin's best interest in mind, telling her that he was playing her.

After failing to protect the Pro-bending Arena from the Equalists' attack, Councilman Tarrlok publicly stated at a press conference that Chief Beifong had failed Republic City, and that new leadership was needed. Later, on the way to Hiroshi Sato's estate after receiving a tip that he was manufacturing weapons for the Equalists, Tenzin and Lin realized that if their search proved wrong, Lin would lose her job as Chief of Police. After losing many of her officers during the battle at the Equalist factory, she resigned as Chief of Police in order to rescue her officers without the law's limitations. Tarrlok began manipulating Chief Saikhan to carry out his desired laws, stifling anyone in his way, including the new Team Avatar. Korra confronted Tarrlok about releasing her friends and told him that what he was doing made him "just as bad as Amon." Enraged, the councilman attacked the Avatar with waterbending, but Korra soon gained the upper hand. Out of a water source and sensing his defeat, Tarrlok bloodbent her into submission and took her to his mountain hideout, far away from Republic City. To cover up Korra's absence, the waterbender planted fake evidence of an Equalist attack. Lin, Tenzin, and the rest of Team Avatar left to look for Korra in an underground Equalist prison, finding only the captured officers, who had already been stripped of their ability to bend by Amon. They deduced that it was actually Tarrlok who had kidnapped Korra and framed the Equalists. Quickly, they ran back to City Hall and confronted the chairman. At first, the waterbender denied the accusations. However, his servant intervened, telling them he had seen Tarrlok lock Korra in his truck. Lin asked the page why he waited until that time to confess the news, to which the page revealed that it was because of Tarrlok's bloodbending powers. Lin, Tenzin, and Team Avatar attempted to attack him, but he bloodbent them to unconsciousness and fled the scene before they could do so.