With so many powerful characters leading the casts of both Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra, opinion is often divided about who is the strongest Bender of each element. Comparisons have often been made to determine the best Waterbenders, Airbenders, and Firebenders, but fan-favorite Toph Beifong has always been declared the best Earthbender without much debate.
Though Toph is without a doubt one of the most powerful Benders of all time, many forget about the second Earthbender of Team Avatar, Bolin. Bolin's skill often goes unrecognized by both viewers and other characters in The Legend of Korra, despite many instances where he surpassed bending expectations. Does Bolin not get enough credit, or is Toph truly an unchallenged master?
10 Bolin: Learned to Bend Without a Master
From everything viewers learn about Bolin and his brother Mako's childhoods, the two mainly grew up on the streets. Neither states how they mastered their bending, but both tell Korra that they used their abilities to get by.
Before they meet Korra, Bolin also learned the Pro-bending style of fighting, which was a more modernized version of the art, once again without a master. Fully mastering an element without outside aide is a difficult feat, and is a testament to Bolin's prowess and ability.
9 Toph: Learned to Bend From The Original Earthbenders
When she was a child, Toph ran away from home, frustrated with her overprotective parents. During that time she encountered a group of Badgermoles. Realizing she was blind as well, the Badgermoles taught Toph how to extend her senses through Earthbending.
Toph quickly grasped the basics of her element and continued to hone her abilities in secret when she returned home, creating a unique style for herself.
8 Bolin: Faster Bender
Out of all the Earthbenders depicted in the series, Bolin is without a doubt the fastest. Traditional Earthbending was always shown to be a two-step process: Lift the earth and then throw it. Bolin does it all in one fluid motion. It's worth noting that he is not just bending smaller rocks, but large boulders and huge slabs.
Bolin's aptitude for quick combat also helped him exceed all others in his specialized sub-skill (more on that later).
7 Toph: Pioneered Seismic Sense
Of the two bending specializations Toph learned, Seismic Sense was arguably the most useful. Learning the ability from the Badgermoles, Toph was able to "see" by detecting vibrations in the earth. Being blind herself, Toph used her outward appearance to her advantage.
Many of her opponents originally underestimated Toph, not realizing she could counter their attacks before they could even reach her. Toph would later pass on the technique to Aang and her daughter, Lin, proving essential to both her students several times over.
6 Bolin: Unconventional Bending Style
Since Bolin taught himself how to bend, his style reflected his lack of formal training. Unlike other Earthbenders, Bolin integrated acrobatics into his fighting movements. The Earthbending seen up until Bolin's introduction was always very grounded, steady, and strong.
Bolin's unique movements allow him to remain unpredictable in combat, making him more dangerous due to Toph's more standardized style.
5 Toph: Invented Metalbending
Arguably Toph's greatest claim to fame, she invented the specialized sub-style of Metalbending when she was only twelve years old. Toph single-handily turned the tide of the war and pushed the limits of bending beyond what was thought possible. Not even Avatars had been previously capable of Metalbending.
For a time, the skill was so rare that Toph's feats were probably terrifying enough for several Fire Nation soldiers to rethink their position in the war.
4 Bolin: Could Earthbend With No Connection to Earth
Another trait of traditional Earthbending is that the Bender usually has to remain planted on the ground. In fact, Toph could be made vulnerable by cutting off her connection to solid earth due to her blindness. Bolin's connection to his element was so great he was able to bend it while traveling on a fast-moving metal rail car.
Though Toph undoubtedly grew stronger as she grew older, her reliance on feet never diminished, which gives Bolin an edge over her.
3 Toph: Destroyed an Entire Fleet of Fire Nation Ships
The greatest onscreen feat Toph ever accomplished in the series was her destruction of the Fire Nation Air Fleet. During the four-part finale Sozin's Comet, Toph travels with Sokka and Suki to intercept the Fire Nation's army. Using her Metalbending skills, Toph cripples the ships' rudders, causing them to crash into each other.
Without Toph, Sokka and Suki may have had more than a tough time minimizing the damage the fleet caused.
2 Bolin: Greatest Lavabender
Like Metalbending, lavabending is a specialized sub-skill of Earthbending that is much rarer (at least by the time of The Legend of Korra). Shown being used in the original series by Avatars Kyoshi and Roku, lavabending was later primarily used by Red Lotus member Ghazan. Bolin did not discover his own knack for the skill until Ghazan attempted to kill him.
Bolin's abilities quickly surpassed that of Ghazan, due in part to his quicker style of bending. It allowed Bolin to become even more dangerous against his opponents, and arguably let Bolin outclass every Metalbender alive (since lava melts metal).
1 Toph: Bent the Weight of the World
In the followup comic trilogy The Rift, Toph attempts to reconnect with her estranged father. He refuses to even recognize her as his daughter, and only apologies for his actions when the threat of dying from a cave in scares him honest. Toph's bending powers are the only thing that keeps her, her father, Katara, and several others from being crushed. Katara stated that Toph literally bent the weight of the world.
Aside from an Avatar, Toph's actions were the largest and most powerful display of Earthbending in the franchise continuity, proving her own words about being "the greatest Earthbender in the world."