Toph was penalized in LOK
Yet another critic, im aware that this is a very hot take but im willing to share my thoughts:
Looking at how LOK handles Katara vs Toph in their older years reveals a contrast in how women who live for themselves are framed compared to those who settle into traditional roles. Since the beginning of Avatar Toph was written as self absorbed in the best way possible. Fiercely independent, and completely unconcerned with traditional female norms or romantic desirability (more or less). Yet in LOK, that exact independence is framed as undesirable. Toph never marries, has two daughters with two different fathers, and becomes a neglectful, emotionally distant mother whose hands off approach leaves her family broken and lands her living alone in a swamp. Meanwhile, Katara is portrayed as the ideal, desirable wife who has Aang’s children and lives out her days as a respected widow. What makes this framing even more frustrating is their physical roles,Toph is still out fighting and participating as a warrior in her old age, while Katara completely reverts to a passive healerthe exact role she fought so hard against Master Pakku to prove she was more than. It almost leaves the audience (young girls) with an uncomfortable subtext: see girls? This is why you don't live entirely for yourself, or you'll end up like Toph, manless and destructive, too wild to tame. Toph’s choices weren't inherently wrong, but the narrative writes her self reliance as a flaw that costs her a healthy family, punishing the woman who refused to conform while rewarding the one who stepped into traditional domesticity.
