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, is 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 Lin view her as the biggest threat the city had faced in recent times. 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 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 didn't 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 couldn't believe that level-headed 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 almost useless. After the match, the Equalists attacked the two with electrified gloves, rendering them unconscious. When they came to, Amon was attempting to escape and Korra was chasing after him. Seeing the Avatar fall after her waterbending lift came up short, Lin jumped into action and used her cables to save Korra. She then lifted her up to the roof of the arena, allowing Korra to fight the Equalists.

Once she joined the Avatar on the roof, Lin was electrified again by the Lieutenant, but managed to stay up and contend with the Equalists. Just as the chief attached her cables to the Equalists' airship, however, Korra began to fall through the 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.

Personality
Lin is a tough and uncompromising police chief, Tenzin himself describing her as "challenging". She makes it clear when she's irritated or dislikes someone, being abrasive, especially towards Tenzin. 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.

Abilities
While Lin has not shown any traditional earthbending abilities, she has clearly mastered metalbending; easily using the metal wires to deftly move around the arena and take down several chi blockers with ease.

Also, despite being fifty Lin is very agile, quickly recovering from a chi blocker attack glove 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. Being a metalbender, she's also learned in Seismic sense.

Relatives

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

Trivia

 * 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 airbending, 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.
 * As Chief of Police, Lin's armor is slightly different than the rest of the Police Forces'. The most noticeable difference is that Lin's armor is primarily black with gold trimmings, while the rest of the Police Forces' armor is light gray.
 * Her hair gets progressively gray throughout the first few episodes.