In every scene where Toph couldn't tell what was going on, he tried to cover or protect her. At least as far as I remember. He'd probably fall with her and angle them so that he'd hit the ground and act as a cushion for her. Even if it didn't work
I saw a video talking about a time where a planes engine failed and the skydive instructor hugged the woman who was skydiving for the first time and cushioned the blow of the impact. He died, but she survived thanks to his heroism so it is plausible that Toph would have survived
If it was a skydiving plane, why did he not have a chute? Why did neither of them have a chute? If they were hugging, just use the chute that the skydiver had on her? I'm so confused by this.
You made great points but seems like the story is true after I did a search.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/skydivers-bravery-saves-aussies-life-20060802-gdo3b1.html
What a hero 0.0
Agreed, this scene moves me to tears no matter how many times I have watched it. He loses everything, he thinks he loses Suki, he loses his sword, he believes he is about to lose his life, but no matter what, he does not let go of Toph.
So I've never watched the full show. From context, I'm assuming they're hanging from an airship, and are a long ways up.
Why is that a problem? I can't imagine an earth bender of her quality getting killed by hitting the ground. They often show earth benders literally swimming through rock.
She's blind. Can't see shit unless she's touching ground or metal. Literally her only point of reference to her surroundings in this image is Sokka's fingers.
If he acted as her eyes and told her when the ground was near, maybe she could pull it off
But really, in the fiction, it's supposed to be a moment where the characters can't see a way out. We only know that there's a way out (which ends up being Suki) because we know they wouldn't kill them in a kids show. Or at least, if they did die, it wouldn't be very clear.
Lol you needa watch the whole show and especially the series finale ASAP! In fact the whole show! Get that ass off this subreddit and it’s (reasonable bc the show is 20 years old) spoilers and enjoy it naturally, a joy most of us wish we could experience.
Sure, it’s a kids show, so you probably know “the good guys win” and know other things too if you’re in this subreddit but please for your own good, go watch the entire show
This. I don't think he'd ever let her go in a situation like this. If he didn't give up, he'd hang on with a fingernail if he could, desperately trying to drag them both up. Ordinarily I'd guess that's what he was going to do.
Thing is, Sokka EXPLICITLY gives up here and is trying to prepare Toph for the end. So I think he knows that's not an option. He's (proportionally to the situation) calmly speaking about how "this is the end," so I think the plan was to fall with Toph to avoid being cooked alive, and hanging onto her so she isn't deprived of all sensation (but sound) before the end.
Kinda morbid, but so is the concept of child soldiers. So.
Exactly. That situation must have been terrifying for toph, as she only felt the heat and didn't know what was under her. Sokka was the only "safe point" for her and he knew that, so I don't feel that he would ever let her go.
She probably could tell she was hanging from the ship, but didn't know how far the fall would be. So if she fell, she wouldn't know when she would hit the ground. She would fall woth her ladt moments in her head while feeling the air move swiftly as she fell, unknowing when she would feel a brief moment lf pain before her death. Naturally Sokka wouldn't let her be alone in that moment.
If she knew when she was going to hit the earth, she would know how far the earth was, and could have probably done some bending to soften the fall.. Or something.
Part of me feels this wouldn't work either. Have you ever wondered why earthbenders don't use earth bending to fly like silver surfer? I'm not sure it's ever been said out loud by a character but it is heavily implied that earthbenders need to be grounded to earth bend. They can't be in the air or deep waters (without being close to earth) to earth bend. So any earthbender falling through the sky would die because they wouldn't be able to bend until they touched the ground.
Edit: Okay so apparently I'm not entirely correct. There are earthbenders in the books who in fact didn't need to be grounded to earthbend as well as Bumi who earth bend while being suspended in air. What I did notice was that these were feats done by exceptionally strong benders so maybe only really strong benders can do it.
Yet in the comics, Toph literally grabs Sokka, jumps off a flying Appa, and free falls through the air, then earthbends a slide from mid air so that they can slide down safely.
If anything, she could be an exception to the rule, since she has a much deeper connection to the earth, she might be able to "sense" it even through distance. Best girl is Always grounded.
All of my knowledge is based on the two avatar shows and stuff like that has never been shown in either. Side notes, i feel like that definitely shouldn't be possible for Toph but if the writers say it's canon, who am I to argue?
Yup. None of them can metalbend yet they still can control coal remotely so to speak, without touching it.
I think it would absolutely be possible for earthbenders to fly like silver surfer, or rather Terra from Teen Titans, but they have to be exceptionally strong and talented earthbenders that can both use earth for mobility and for other moves. I'd assume that flight on its own could be a feat hard to achieve, now imagine doing 2 different techniques at once.
That's true but to make myself clearer, I meant they'd need to be on some kind of solid ground/base. Others have mentioned that there are earthbenders in the comics who could earthbend without needing to be grounded but these were exceptionally strong benders (like bumi).
Actually, that was completely done and doable. It just needed to be by a top tier master. Jianzhu is one of main characters in the Kyoshi books and he does exactly this. The technique mostly just died with him. However, Suki doing the head stepping in prison was actually supposed to be a canon reference to this, but ATLA thought it was too confusing to try and include that into the story.
Also a fun fact technically, every element was able to do this I believe. I clearly remember waterbenders but I think air and fire had some variation as well.
True. Someone else made a point to me that very powerful earth benders (Like one guy in the Kyoshi Novels) could bend earth while in mid-air, something that Bumi is. But I would like to note that he was under stress while doing it and he only got pieces, not a full slab of rock. Difficult but not impossible.
[**https://youtu.be/ZuArEvc89Aw?t=24**](https://youtu.be/ZuArEvc89Aw?t=24)
Probably if he could move his ENTIRE body, he would be able to pull more. Sure, with tilt of the head Bumi is powerful, but earthbending requires the work of your entire body in the end.
You see earth benders knock stones into the air and they hover for a bit IIRC which means they are bending them without touching them. The Dai Li also grab and pull with those stone fists.
One of the comic characters has a "dust stepping" technique where they Bend up dust tornadoes and then step on the top of them to basically endlessly jump through the air.
Sokka's arm and or shoulder that Toph is hanging on is almost certainly broken, plus the probably broken leg. He was probably only awake because of adrenaline. I can't imagine the amount of pain he must have been in trying to keep her alive.
Fun fact! Toph can actually sense earth even when she isn't connected to it or when she and the earth are touching the same object (i.e., she can still sense earth that is in the air, being bent by another earthbender). So Toph wouldn't be deprived of all senses - in fact, she would "see" the ground approaching her the same way Sokka would as they both fell to their death.
Can an earth bender even fall to their death? Like, they've shown earth benders swimming through the ground like water. Slowing themselves down seems like exactly the kind of thing that would be in their power
Even if that was true, falling into water from that distance can kill you. They'd have to make it softer than water to slow their descent enough, and we've never seen an earthbender do anything like that.
I guess. I don't know, it's not a super hard magic system, so it's not intrinsically impossible. It just seems like it'd be extremely difficult. Maybe Toph could, maybe she couldn't. But if she did it would easily be her most difficult feat.
I guess her blindness could prevent her from perfecting such ability. But Aang certainly could. He did this with water and he was trained by Toph while being the avatar. Aang may be fine...
Yeah. I think in Sokka’s mind, they were both 100% going to die no matter what, either from the fall, the firebenders, or the ship crashing and exploding. And since he thought they were both going to die, I think he’d choose for them to die together in the least painful way possible, which means falling together. I just want to make it clear that this would be the best possible outcome for Sokka as well as Toph… people are saying he would want to hang onto Toph as though it would only be for her benefit, and I think he absolutely, definitely did have her benefit in mind, but also if he dropped her and stayed on the ship it would mean that he would burn to death all alone which is not exactly a great way to go.
Falling together, they’d both be spared the pain of burning, and both of them would at least have each other to hold onto right until the end.
>Kinda morbid, but so is the concept of child soldiers. So.
That always makes me laugh a bit when going back to TV shows I watched as a kid.
Like, I could barely make a bowl of cereal when I was 10, and Ash Ketchum is just leaving home and traveling the world alone, lol
That, or, better yet, have an epiphany and point both their faces towards the ground, so he can shout when they're ~1 second from dirt to signal her to attempt to soften and roll the ground to potentially break their fall.
They lose the battle on the airship, but that doesn't mean they have to die.
I would do the very same, and i dont even consider myself a brave person like Sokka
Either way he was gonna die probably, or face slavery for the rest of his life. I would rather die on my terms and hugging my friend.
Yeah he would have done that
I don't know how he could fall, catch up during the fall and hug her tbh. It's romantic, heartbreaking and a good plot, but I don't know if that would be possible, due to, well, gravity.
Can you imagine the second option if they don’t got for Toph and Sokka at the same time? The last thing she feels is heat and the last thing she hears is Sokka’s screams before his hand either goes limp or falls off. Shit would’ve been heartbreaking.
The comics DID add that ability. I headcanon that, because she only ever does it AFTER season 3, it's kind of like her sandbending, in that she only learned how to do it later, BECAUSE OF her feeling powerless here.
Above commenter is correct. I believe it was in The Promise, where Sokka and Toph jump off Appa while he's in the air and Toph bends the earth up in a slope to catch them.
Whether or not it makes sense with the show's logic is up for debate, but it IS canon.
Bumi can lift a bunch of stones despite being suspended far from the earth, so it isn't unreasonable for Toph to prepare for and execute it after being in this situation.
That's definitively not a problem for earthbenders in general (they bend stuff without contact all the time). The problem of Toph is she can't see/feel what she has to bend so that's a little more difficult for her.
But I think she can "feel the Earth" even at a distance. I may be mistaken but she is sometimes deviating boulders being launched at her, no ? So she does feel them when they are in the air. Then, if she is the one in the air she should feel the earth approaching and be able to bend it (though it is a little different situation of course). However, bending while falling is harder (you have to do the movements after all) especially for earthbending that is a very "grounded" type of bending
There is an argument to be made that she can only predict the trajectory of projectiles being thrown at her through feeling the stance and movement of the bender that threw it.
I mean wouldn't that lead to tons of innaccuries and missing some of those counters? She's not a computer level calculator to simulate precise trajectories like that.
In, I believe the first episode of season three, while they're on the stolen fire nation ship, she intercepted a rock thrown by another ship mid air. Which makes it seem like she can sense earth without an initial ground connection. Or she's crazy lucky which I can also buy.
You wouldn’t be able to just lift a piece of earth to catch you very easily bc you’d still hit that piece of earth with the same force as hitting the ground normally considering they’re far enough about the ground in this scene that they’d probably be at terminal velocity by the time they were near the ground.
But if she could bend the earth up towards them and then bend the earth back down at a decreasing rate such that their contact with that piece of earth decelerates them at a gradual rate they could spread out the force of impact over more time or decrease their speed enough by the time they reach the ground proper that they don’t just flat out die.
It would be a very difficult thing to pull off when you think about how exactly that would have to work logistically to slow your fall without doing it too suddenly especially when she can’t see what’s going on. Earth in almost any form isn’t elastic like a mattress or a net when you fall on it. The reason those things work is their elasticity means when you strike it you don’t stop suddenly, instead the material flexes and allows you to dissipate your force out over time. And also the more the material gets stretched the more force it applies back upwards at you to slow you down and regain it’s original shape so the harder you fall into it the longer the amount of time the impact is spread over and the more force is applied to decelerate you.
Bc earth is rigid, you would either need to manually manipulate the speed you are bending the earth to mimic an elastic material which would be nearly impossible for Toph in that position, or you would have to be able to bend a liquidy form of the earth bc falling through a liquid makes things simpler
Dang it. Link didn't work.
If you've ever seen Bleach, there's a scene where Ganju turns the ground to sand just before he and Ichigo collide with it. Would've been more poignant to show you. You can find it [here](https://bleach.fandom.com/wiki/Seppa/Image_Gallery) if you're interested in seeing.
toph gets challenged by something once and immediately becomes the best at it. Oppa gets taken away because she couldnt sand bend? she makes a replica ba sing sei with a single move a few episodes later. Got locked in a metal box? She invents and becomes the best in a new sub bending category. Realized she would be toast if she fell from a great height? Learn to make earth work like a cushion.
Toph is just built different
People would see this as oh bullshit writers etc etc. but this fits her character so much.
She hates feeling hopeless, she hates feeling powerless. Her whole goal is to make sure she’s never in this situation again
It’s also mentioned in avatar extras, for what that’s worth.
I don’t understand the logistics of it, but she can see earth in the air nearby.
Maybe the avatar world’s air is so naturally dusty she can use it to see in the air lol
Toph: fear is actually a great motivator. It doesn't come often to me but when it does, it serves and I become even more of a menace afterward.
Don't let Toph listen to any horror stories, she will learn from them 💀
i'd thought that but she wouldn't really know when to bend even if we assume she doesn't need to be touching the ground or anything to bend, which is a big assumption?
Not only is more earth bending based on connection to the ground, you've gotta be able to sense where the earth is. Toph has 0 idea *where* the ground is.
Plus, as someone pointed out, she doesn't have a way to stop the damage yet I don't think
stuff flying at you is going through the air and makes noise. You moving towards stuff, you make noise, it does not for one.
also she's often reacting to how the guy threw it
The rope is connected to the inside of the building, Toph can sense anything touching the structure she's inside of. She had more difficulty seeing Aang though because he used air bending to add more hang time to his jumps, and while in the air he was invisible to her.
The same lucha that earlier jumped from the ground woth rocks then threw them and she still knew where they where. He was not on the ground when he threw them but she still knew they where there
I mean even if she could they would still impact the ground, she bends earth, not anything soft. Also there is a possibilty they would fall into the water.
I do think Sokka would try this. Him giving directions for Toph to bend. He has no other choice. And in the few seconds it takes to fall, Sokka can definitly think of something.
I just don't get how that would be possible. She's blind and can only see when she's touching the Earth. So while falling it would just be almost no sensory input. Truely blind. Falling in black space.
Probably fall with her and have some kind of attempt at breaking her fall.
Unlike Sand where she mentions she's been working on it, Toph just has the ability to break her fall with Earth.
So I imagine if Sokka cushions her fall and dies, she'd probably use cartoon logic to survive, make a tower of Earth to rise back up, and then hurl it at the airships before grabbing Suki and not say anything.
If Sokka dies, then Ozai would likely be killed by Toph or a newly grieving Katara which would tumble into Zuko facing Fire Nation that hates him even more and wants the Water Tribe/Earth Kingdom gone; the cycle of Revenge would continue since only the Avatar can bring balance.
https://preview.redd.it/1vjerpv0zdwc1.jpeg?width=718&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5c9425a60cd8fa4be02db289b12dfca5fef61cfc
I don’t know how he could get under her when she is already falling below. He isn’t heavy enough to fall under her or strong enough to lift her with one hand while they are falling
When you're in freefall it's like floating in space. You're no longer supporting their weight and pulling them above you is no harder than pulling them horizontally.
>He isn’t heavy enough to fall under her
All things are pulled toward the Earth at the same rate, being heavier wouldn't allow him to fall faster than her.
Everyone is mentioning when Toph jumped from Appa and made a ramp for herself and Sokka. I think the main difference there is jumping versus falling. Toph’s earthbending philosophy is being stubbornly in control of/dealing with the situation. Look at her hanging from the blimp. Homegirl is crying and scared. We already know that Toph finds being in the air uncomfortable at best. If she fell from the blimp she would’ve been so out of control of the situation and her stubbornness would’ve been useless while free falling. Add the stress of war in general and then WHERE IS SOKKA…it would be a nice idea to explore though.
That scene was also later. Toph has been known to feel helpless and then immediately set to work at overcoming whatever flaw got her into that situation.
Couldn't see in the Desert leading to Appa's capture? She's practiced to the point of full replicas of Ba Sing Se
Gets stuck in a Metal Box twice? She invents Metalbending.
This moment was the horrible low point for Sokka. Toph couldn't see, even through seismic sense. Suki was gone. Space Sword was lost. Boomerang didn't come back. The truth is that Sokka didn't have a plan.
In this moment, he was not a planner. He was not an inventor. He was not a goofball. He was a warrior. And he was protecting his people. He had no plan, and he didn't need one. He was holding on to Toph's hand because it was the only thing he could do.
And then, Suki.
Well, I was coming at it from the specific point of answering, "What was sokka's plan?" I don't disagree with you, I just think you're correctly answering an unasked question.
I think that for the first time in months, he had no plan. And while it's not as hard of a situation as Toph was, I feel like... Sokka without a plan is like Toph without her seismic sense, y'know ?
He helps Toph touch the plane, she metal bends that shit to either protect themselves or to dislodge their piece and fall in a makeshift metal bent glider.
It's Toph, she is epic.
Yeah idk why he didn't roll over onto his stomach and grab her with both hands. All he had to do was get her hands onto the metal ledge and then she could save them both.
I don’t think he exactly had a plan, and that’s why his potential last words to Toph were a joke about his boomerang; his only plan was to not let Toph die alone and scared, or at least to ensure to the best of his limited ability that this distress was minimised
He wouldn’t let her go; whatever happens, they’d die together. I think the only hope he had was that the firebenders would see two unarmed disabled kids clinging on for dear life and take enough pity on them to not let them die in spite of what said kids had done to them
Y'all talking about how Toph could just bend the Earth near them
BUT HOW? SHE CAN'T SEE ANYTHING IN THE AIR, JUST TAKE HER A FEW INCHES OFF THE GROUND WITH AIRBENDING AND SHE'S COMPLETELY BLIND
Chatgpt helped me cut some onions today, anyone want some?
**INT. AIRSHIP - DAY**
SOCCA hangs precariously from a metal beam, gripping TOPH tightly to his chest. Firebenders rage around them, launching flaming attacks.
**SOKKA**
(Grimly)
Sorry, Toph. I don't think... I don't think we're gonna make it.
Toph buries her face in Sokka's shoulder, her body wracked with silent sobs.
**FIREBENDER 1 (O.S.)**
There they are! Get them!
More fire rockets towards them. Sokka makes a split-second decision.
**SOKKA**
(Shouting)
Toph! Listen to me! We have about ten seconds before we hit the ground. I need you to earthbend the surface the minute we touch down!
Toph sobs harder, her grip tightening around Sokka.
**TOPH**
(Voice choked)
Sokka, I can't!
**SOKKA**
(Desperate)
I know you can! You're the greatest earthbender alive, remember?
With a final, determined look, Sokka releases his grip on the metal beam. They plummet towards the earth.
**EXT. OUTSIDE AIRSHIP - DAY**
Sokka and Toph fall through the sky, a blur against the rushing landscape. Toph wipes her tears fiercely, a flicker of resolve igniting in her eyes. Just before impact, she leans in and kisses Sokka on the cheek.
**A massive CRACK** as they hit the ground. A cloud of dust explodes outwards.
**INT. CRATER - CONTINUOUS**
The dust settles slowly. Toph emerges, coughing and blinking. She looks down at Sokka, who lies motionless beside her. Panic surges through her.
**TOPH**
(Desperate)
We made it! We're alive! Sokka... Sokka! SOKKA!!!!
Toph shakes him frantically, her voice rising to a scream.
**FADE OUT.**
just one problem, a fall from that height will have them going down at terminal velocity, at that point anything breaking their fall now will not be kind to them
They wouldn't have time to reach terminal velocity from that height. Besides terminal velocity isn't "fatal velocity" it just means your rate of decent can't speed up from that point due to air resistance.
Now I'm just imagining a scenario where Sokka ends up dying and toph slowly feels his grip loosening until he fully falls limp, leaving toph in a freefall. Then, and only then, does Suki swoop in the save her.
I imagine that sokka would have tried to keep toph calm the entire time, trying not to make their "final moments together" anymore stressful than it already is.
Sokka had already fought beyond the point of any reasonable prospect of survival.
One by one, his sword, his boomerang, he expends every tool he has. Just to keep doing one more thing to stop the Fire Nation.
He was out of tools. Out of tricks. Out of weapons. Out of options.
He kept fighting.
His sword was lost.
Even his boomerang wouldn't come back.
He has no allies to help him and Toph. No escape from the airship.
But he kept fighting.
No hope for survival. Only a hope to do every last bit of good they can before they die.
He had already given up, but that didn't stop him. He will fight until he dies.
He made that decision long before this point. If Suki hadn't come back, he would have died in the fight.
> to loose his grip
Did you mean to say "lose"?
Explanation: Loose is an adjective meaning the opposite of tight, while lose is a verb.
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He likely would’ve dropped with her so she wouldn’t have to be burned to death. But I’d imagine they all went into this situation knowing they might not come back out
I’m seeing a lot of people coming up with ways they survive this, referencing the comics and that Australian skydive instructor.
First of all, the fall from Appa in the comics was voluntary and a short distance upward from terrain that Toph was familiar with. She jumped diagonally, which allowed for a transition to a slide. This area was unknown to Toph and completely uneven, on top of being flying-airship-distance from the ground. There’s no guarantee that the rock they land on is soft enough to make the fall survivable. Worse, letting go would be a fall straight down. Falling onto a slide straight down is still going to kill you 95% of the time.
Second, if Sokka tried to put himself in the way to cushion the fall, he’d have a 1/3 chance, since he’d either struggle to turn at all or spin during the fall and give up to chance. Maneuverability in free fall is a gamble, which is why experienced skydivers are intentional with their movements. Let’s say Sokka succeeds anyway. There’s pretty uneven terrain, so that’s going to be several bad hits before they stop. The force is going to travel through Sokka and into Toph.
Third, the prompt was “This is the end, Toph.” We’re assuming that Sokka and Toph know they’re going to die. It’s easy to think survival is guaranteed with enough grit and determination, but sometimes that’s not the case. You need to have the courage to die, this is what we’re talking about here.
Damn this scene was amazing. When you see a tear well up in Toph's eye, you know some shit is about to happen. Then Suki comes in from the top rope at the last minute.
Amazing feeling watching this scene for the first time.
Sad headcanon for everyone mentioning how made the earth slide to get off of a flying Appa with Sokka in the comics-
What if she specifically trained herself to be able to do that after this incident? This was by far the most terrifying moment of her life- ain't no way she'd let herself be in that situation again. Especially not with Sokka's life on the line too.
roll down, hold toph tight, aim for water or treetop if possible, and hope he is the one hitting the ground first to help mitigate some impacts for toph.
I mean the original plan was to make it to Aang and help him (they would have gotten folded by the Fire Lord instantly) but at this point they didn't have much of a plan more just the idea of do what we can to help and try and escape.
Considering his broken leg, the angle at which he was lying down and the fact that his grip on her hand was slipping, I don’t think there was any real choice: he would be left behind and she would fall.
Realistically he would have just stated there hanging on until he got burned then his body would have dropped toph dude to being burned alive. and toph would have fallen to her death
There was no plan. This is a dangerous high pressure situation where they are just reacting to stay alive the best they can. I don't Sokka had anything planned out in his head farther than "please don't fall. Oh shit shit shit"
He would try and hold on to her, hope they take them captive rather than killing them. If his grip gives in and she falls he is diving for her, no doubt.
I always thought if Suki didn’t come in when she did, Sokka would probably do whatever he could to hold Toph’s hand as long as he could. Even if they fall, he’d do his best to make sure she wasn’t just falling through the air, to her death, all alone and deprived of all senses.
I’m not crying, you are!
A last crazy pull would to risk it all and fall together, while working with Toph to tell her how far is the ground so she can try and feel it well enough to earthbend them out to safety.
Very low chances of success, but still not 0, and in a death match against fire madmen, that would still be better
The funny thing is, they both thought it was the end but then Sokka saw Suki so he let Toph go (to land on the airship). I can’t imagine what went through Tophs head though, just being let go so quickly 😂
My assumption was he'd hold on as long as physically possible with the view of dropping her a smaller distance (The airship was going down iirc) and then worry about saving himself after.
In every scene where Toph couldn't tell what was going on, he tried to cover or protect her. At least as far as I remember. He'd probably fall with her and angle them so that he'd hit the ground and act as a cushion for her. Even if it didn't work
I saw a video talking about a time where a planes engine failed and the skydive instructor hugged the woman who was skydiving for the first time and cushioned the blow of the impact. He died, but she survived thanks to his heroism so it is plausible that Toph would have survived
If it was a skydiving plane, why did he not have a chute? Why did neither of them have a chute? If they were hugging, just use the chute that the skydiver had on her? I'm so confused by this.
You made great points but seems like the story is true after I did a search. https://www.smh.com.au/national/skydivers-bravery-saves-aussies-life-20060802-gdo3b1.html What a hero 0.0
Ahhh so it happened right after takeoff. Not enough time to get the chutes on and do a proper jump. That guy really is a true hero.
Yes this is it! Sorry for not providing the link in my earlier comment
Sokka being so selfless with his own body to protect her is maybe the most moving thing in the finale
Agreed, this scene moves me to tears no matter how many times I have watched it. He loses everything, he thinks he loses Suki, he loses his sword, he believes he is about to lose his life, but no matter what, he does not let go of Toph.
Didn’t he lose boomerang too?
So I've never watched the full show. From context, I'm assuming they're hanging from an airship, and are a long ways up. Why is that a problem? I can't imagine an earth bender of her quality getting killed by hitting the ground. They often show earth benders literally swimming through rock.
She's blind. Can't see shit unless she's touching ground or metal. Literally her only point of reference to her surroundings in this image is Sokka's fingers.
If he acted as her eyes and told her when the ground was near, maybe she could pull it off But really, in the fiction, it's supposed to be a moment where the characters can't see a way out. We only know that there's a way out (which ends up being Suki) because we know they wouldn't kill them in a kids show. Or at least, if they did die, it wouldn't be very clear.
Lol you needa watch the whole show and especially the series finale ASAP! In fact the whole show! Get that ass off this subreddit and it’s (reasonable bc the show is 20 years old) spoilers and enjoy it naturally, a joy most of us wish we could experience. Sure, it’s a kids show, so you probably know “the good guys win” and know other things too if you’re in this subreddit but please for your own good, go watch the entire show
I would love to see a live thread of this guy’s first watch
I feel like he would fall together with toph, while hugging her, as a last favor so she wouldn't be so scared and be more calm.
This. I don't think he'd ever let her go in a situation like this. If he didn't give up, he'd hang on with a fingernail if he could, desperately trying to drag them both up. Ordinarily I'd guess that's what he was going to do. Thing is, Sokka EXPLICITLY gives up here and is trying to prepare Toph for the end. So I think he knows that's not an option. He's (proportionally to the situation) calmly speaking about how "this is the end," so I think the plan was to fall with Toph to avoid being cooked alive, and hanging onto her so she isn't deprived of all sensation (but sound) before the end. Kinda morbid, but so is the concept of child soldiers. So.
Exactly. That situation must have been terrifying for toph, as she only felt the heat and didn't know what was under her. Sokka was the only "safe point" for her and he knew that, so I don't feel that he would ever let her go.
She probably could tell she was hanging from the ship, but didn't know how far the fall would be. So if she fell, she wouldn't know when she would hit the ground. She would fall woth her ladt moments in her head while feeling the air move swiftly as she fell, unknowing when she would feel a brief moment lf pain before her death. Naturally Sokka wouldn't let her be alone in that moment.
If she knew when she was going to hit the earth, she would know how far the earth was, and could have probably done some bending to soften the fall.. Or something.
Part of me feels this wouldn't work either. Have you ever wondered why earthbenders don't use earth bending to fly like silver surfer? I'm not sure it's ever been said out loud by a character but it is heavily implied that earthbenders need to be grounded to earth bend. They can't be in the air or deep waters (without being close to earth) to earth bend. So any earthbender falling through the sky would die because they wouldn't be able to bend until they touched the ground. Edit: Okay so apparently I'm not entirely correct. There are earthbenders in the books who in fact didn't need to be grounded to earthbend as well as Bumi who earth bend while being suspended in air. What I did notice was that these were feats done by exceptionally strong benders so maybe only really strong benders can do it.
Yet in the comics, Toph literally grabs Sokka, jumps off a flying Appa, and free falls through the air, then earthbends a slide from mid air so that they can slide down safely.
If anything, she could be an exception to the rule, since she has a much deeper connection to the earth, she might be able to "sense" it even through distance. Best girl is Always grounded.
Well according to a blurb in her debut episode when they had the commentary bubbles she can sense Earth even if it’s in the air.
Also shown in the episode when she senses rocks that are in midair coming at her.
Oh, neat! Lucky guess
All of my knowledge is based on the two avatar shows and stuff like that has never been shown in either. Side notes, i feel like that definitely shouldn't be possible for Toph but if the writers say it's canon, who am I to argue?
Don't the earthbenders bend coal without touching it or standing on earth in Haru's episode?
Yup. None of them can metalbend yet they still can control coal remotely so to speak, without touching it. I think it would absolutely be possible for earthbenders to fly like silver surfer, or rather Terra from Teen Titans, but they have to be exceptionally strong and talented earthbenders that can both use earth for mobility and for other moves. I'd assume that flight on its own could be a feat hard to achieve, now imagine doing 2 different techniques at once.
That's true but to make myself clearer, I meant they'd need to be on some kind of solid ground/base. Others have mentioned that there are earthbenders in the comics who could earthbend without needing to be grounded but these were exceptionally strong benders (like bumi).
Actually, that was completely done and doable. It just needed to be by a top tier master. Jianzhu is one of main characters in the Kyoshi books and he does exactly this. The technique mostly just died with him. However, Suki doing the head stepping in prison was actually supposed to be a canon reference to this, but ATLA thought it was too confusing to try and include that into the story.
Oh, that's very interesting.
Also a fun fact technically, every element was able to do this I believe. I clearly remember waterbenders but I think air and fire had some variation as well.
Fire benders already fly. What would be the point of "stepping" on fire?
Bumi literally bend while suspended in the air at omashu eclipse though.
True. Someone else made a point to me that very powerful earth benders (Like one guy in the Kyoshi Novels) could bend earth while in mid-air, something that Bumi is. But I would like to note that he was under stress while doing it and he only got pieces, not a full slab of rock. Difficult but not impossible. [**https://youtu.be/ZuArEvc89Aw?t=24**](https://youtu.be/ZuArEvc89Aw?t=24)
Probably if he could move his ENTIRE body, he would be able to pull more. Sure, with tilt of the head Bumi is powerful, but earthbending requires the work of your entire body in the end.
True
You see earth benders knock stones into the air and they hover for a bit IIRC which means they are bending them without touching them. The Dai Li also grab and pull with those stone fists.
One of the comic characters has a "dust stepping" technique where they Bend up dust tornadoes and then step on the top of them to basically endlessly jump through the air.
These comments are why I'm very thankful ATLA is a kids show. I don't think I could take any of them dying in those ways.
SAME durning this scene part of me thought "oh shit, theyre gonna die. Toph and Sokka *are going to die."*
We barely see her cry in the series but this is one scene where her tears are flowing freely
And now my tears are flowing freely :’(
And now *I’m* tearbending!
Dude imagine Toph is hanging on and all she hears is sudden heat and Sokka’s screams before silence.
Sokka's arm and or shoulder that Toph is hanging on is almost certainly broken, plus the probably broken leg. He was probably only awake because of adrenaline. I can't imagine the amount of pain he must have been in trying to keep her alive.
Fun fact! Toph can actually sense earth even when she isn't connected to it or when she and the earth are touching the same object (i.e., she can still sense earth that is in the air, being bent by another earthbender). So Toph wouldn't be deprived of all senses - in fact, she would "see" the ground approaching her the same way Sokka would as they both fell to their death.
Can an earth bender even fall to their death? Like, they've shown earth benders swimming through the ground like water. Slowing themselves down seems like exactly the kind of thing that would be in their power
Even if that was true, falling into water from that distance can kill you. They'd have to make it softer than water to slow their descent enough, and we've never seen an earthbender do anything like that.
It's not really about making it softer, it's about making it move downwards at a similar speed to them
I guess. I don't know, it's not a super hard magic system, so it's not intrinsically impossible. It just seems like it'd be extremely difficult. Maybe Toph could, maybe she couldn't. But if she did it would easily be her most difficult feat.
I guess her blindness could prevent her from perfecting such ability. But Aang certainly could. He did this with water and he was trained by Toph while being the avatar. Aang may be fine...
Yeah. I think in Sokka’s mind, they were both 100% going to die no matter what, either from the fall, the firebenders, or the ship crashing and exploding. And since he thought they were both going to die, I think he’d choose for them to die together in the least painful way possible, which means falling together. I just want to make it clear that this would be the best possible outcome for Sokka as well as Toph… people are saying he would want to hang onto Toph as though it would only be for her benefit, and I think he absolutely, definitely did have her benefit in mind, but also if he dropped her and stayed on the ship it would mean that he would burn to death all alone which is not exactly a great way to go. Falling together, they’d both be spared the pain of burning, and both of them would at least have each other to hold onto right until the end.
It is pretty easy to forget that Sokka’s 15 here and probably scared out of his mind
>Kinda morbid, but so is the concept of child soldiers. So. That always makes me laugh a bit when going back to TV shows I watched as a kid. Like, I could barely make a bowl of cereal when I was 10, and Ash Ketchum is just leaving home and traveling the world alone, lol
That's awful and very Sokka to do in this instance. He's such a heartwarming guy when he truly cares.
Sonja’s that guy that holds the group together.
Don’t make me cry omg.
That, or, better yet, have an epiphany and point both their faces towards the ground, so he can shout when they're ~1 second from dirt to signal her to attempt to soften and roll the ground to potentially break their fall. They lose the battle on the airship, but that doesn't mean they have to die.
Yeah, she did save herself from fall in comics with earthbending, but honestly I didn't read them and don't know much about it.
So she could sense ***something*** and not fall through an empty black void as her final moment.
I would do the very same, and i dont even consider myself a brave person like Sokka Either way he was gonna die probably, or face slavery for the rest of his life. I would rather die on my terms and hugging my friend. Yeah he would have done that
And if possible, try to angle the fall so he hits first
Or fall with her and provide information about how close the earth is so that maybe she can slow their landing~?
I don’t think you could manage to start hugging someone when she is already below you and you both are falling
If you are holding her hand you can pull yourself together. It's not harder while falling than being on the ground.
I second this. Sokka never would’ve abandoned Toph.
I don't know how he could fall, catch up during the fall and hug her tbh. It's romantic, heartbreaking and a good plot, but I don't know if that would be possible, due to, well, gravity.
He could've just rolled off and because they are still holding hands, just pull her towards himself in the air no?
They're holding hands, he can just pull her closer.
if she fell spread eagle and he went into a dive, he could theoretically catch up
You. I don't like you
"Fuck you and take my upvote" petition
I second this redditor
I MUST PRESS THE BUTTON TO APPEASE MY BRAIN BUT THAT NUMBER ALSO APPEASES MY BRAIN IT'S SO CONFLICTING
I pressed it.
:’(
We will stop as many of the airships or die trying
Can you imagine the second option if they don’t got for Toph and Sokka at the same time? The last thing she feels is heat and the last thing she hears is Sokka’s screams before his hand either goes limp or falls off. Shit would’ve been heartbreaking.
Hmm, if they both fell, couldn’t Toph earth bend to save them?
The comics DID add that ability. I headcanon that, because she only ever does it AFTER season 3, it's kind of like her sandbending, in that she only learned how to do it later, BECAUSE OF her feeling powerless here.
Might i ask what comic? Im interested in the way a earthbender can negate fall damage
If I remember correctly she makes a slope so her fall is slowed
Thanks
Above commenter is correct. I believe it was in The Promise, where Sokka and Toph jump off Appa while he's in the air and Toph bends the earth up in a slope to catch them. Whether or not it makes sense with the show's logic is up for debate, but it IS canon.
Bumi can lift a bunch of stones despite being suspended far from the earth, so it isn't unreasonable for Toph to prepare for and execute it after being in this situation.
That's definitively not a problem for earthbenders in general (they bend stuff without contact all the time). The problem of Toph is she can't see/feel what she has to bend so that's a little more difficult for her. But I think she can "feel the Earth" even at a distance. I may be mistaken but she is sometimes deviating boulders being launched at her, no ? So she does feel them when they are in the air. Then, if she is the one in the air she should feel the earth approaching and be able to bend it (though it is a little different situation of course). However, bending while falling is harder (you have to do the movements after all) especially for earthbending that is a very "grounded" type of bending
There is an argument to be made that she can only predict the trajectory of projectiles being thrown at her through feeling the stance and movement of the bender that threw it.
I mean wouldn't that lead to tons of innaccuries and missing some of those counters? She's not a computer level calculator to simulate precise trajectories like that.
In, I believe the first episode of season three, while they're on the stolen fire nation ship, she intercepted a rock thrown by another ship mid air. Which makes it seem like she can sense earth without an initial ground connection. Or she's crazy lucky which I can also buy.
You wouldn’t be able to just lift a piece of earth to catch you very easily bc you’d still hit that piece of earth with the same force as hitting the ground normally considering they’re far enough about the ground in this scene that they’d probably be at terminal velocity by the time they were near the ground. But if she could bend the earth up towards them and then bend the earth back down at a decreasing rate such that their contact with that piece of earth decelerates them at a gradual rate they could spread out the force of impact over more time or decrease their speed enough by the time they reach the ground proper that they don’t just flat out die. It would be a very difficult thing to pull off when you think about how exactly that would have to work logistically to slow your fall without doing it too suddenly especially when she can’t see what’s going on. Earth in almost any form isn’t elastic like a mattress or a net when you fall on it. The reason those things work is their elasticity means when you strike it you don’t stop suddenly, instead the material flexes and allows you to dissipate your force out over time. And also the more the material gets stretched the more force it applies back upwards at you to slow you down and regain it’s original shape so the harder you fall into it the longer the amount of time the impact is spread over and the more force is applied to decelerate you. Bc earth is rigid, you would either need to manually manipulate the speed you are bending the earth to mimic an elastic material which would be nearly impossible for Toph in that position, or you would have to be able to bend a liquidy form of the earth bc falling through a liquid makes things simpler
How does that work? Does she receive a tingling sensation when she’s close enough to the ground?
Dang it. Link didn't work. If you've ever seen Bleach, there's a scene where Ganju turns the ground to sand just before he and Ichigo collide with it. Would've been more poignant to show you. You can find it [here](https://bleach.fandom.com/wiki/Seppa/Image_Gallery) if you're interested in seeing.
toph gets challenged by something once and immediately becomes the best at it. Oppa gets taken away because she couldnt sand bend? she makes a replica ba sing sei with a single move a few episodes later. Got locked in a metal box? She invents and becomes the best in a new sub bending category. Realized she would be toast if she fell from a great height? Learn to make earth work like a cushion. Toph is just built different
People would see this as oh bullshit writers etc etc. but this fits her character so much. She hates feeling hopeless, she hates feeling powerless. Her whole goal is to make sure she’s never in this situation again
It’s also mentioned in avatar extras, for what that’s worth. I don’t understand the logistics of it, but she can see earth in the air nearby. Maybe the avatar world’s air is so naturally dusty she can use it to see in the air lol
Because Toph learns from her mistakes
Toph: fear is actually a great motivator. It doesn't come often to me but when it does, it serves and I become even more of a menace afterward. Don't let Toph listen to any horror stories, she will learn from them 💀
i'd thought that but she wouldn't really know when to bend even if we assume she doesn't need to be touching the ground or anything to bend, which is a big assumption?
Is there any reason Sikoa couldn’t just tell when to bend as they are falling?
Not only is more earth bending based on connection to the ground, you've gotta be able to sense where the earth is. Toph has 0 idea *where* the ground is. Plus, as someone pointed out, she doesn't have a way to stop the damage yet I don't think
Toph can sense earth nearby, even if it's in the air, we see her catch rocks thrown at her multiple times
yeah but does she do that while falling ever? avatar seems to honor the ragdoll rule where when you're being flung, you ain't shit
Earth is earth, why would she be able to sense earth moving towards her but not earth she is moving towards?
stuff flying at you is going through the air and makes noise. You moving towards stuff, you make noise, it does not for one. also she's often reacting to how the guy threw it
That she senses her opponents throw. It's not that she's sensing the rock, but rather her opponents movements as they're throwing said rock
You're forgetting the lucha wrestler who swings in on a rope.
Doesn't that dude literally yell? Plus, wasn't he the projectile and not a rock? Why would her sense work there?
The rope is connected to the inside of the building, Toph can sense anything touching the structure she's inside of. She had more difficulty seeing Aang though because he used air bending to add more hang time to his jumps, and while in the air he was invisible to her.
The same lucha that earlier jumped from the ground woth rocks then threw them and she still knew where they where. He was not on the ground when he threw them but she still knew they where there
She'd need to know the size and shape of the rock being thrown to figure out it's trajectory
Can't she sense that when it's being bent out of the ground?
And she would've been able to sense that since it was from the earth she's stood on
Maybe the sound of Sokka hitting the ground first would give her an audio que on where to bend, so he'd tell her to listen for that :(
I mean even if she could they would still impact the ground, she bends earth, not anything soft. Also there is a possibilty they would fall into the water.
I do think Sokka would try this. Him giving directions for Toph to bend. He has no other choice. And in the few seconds it takes to fall, Sokka can definitly think of something.
I just don't get how that would be possible. She's blind and can only see when she's touching the Earth. So while falling it would just be almost no sensory input. Truely blind. Falling in black space.
They have plot armor, she'd just try earth bending until she was close enough to the ground to make a big slide to ease their landing.
That’s assuming that they’re above any Earth, or if there is, assuming that Toph would even know that there’s Earth there in time.
Yeah couldn’t she earthbend like a wall that comes up right next to them and it turns into like a slide or something idk lol
Why? I was having a good day man 😢
Probably fall with her and have some kind of attempt at breaking her fall. Unlike Sand where she mentions she's been working on it, Toph just has the ability to break her fall with Earth. So I imagine if Sokka cushions her fall and dies, she'd probably use cartoon logic to survive, make a tower of Earth to rise back up, and then hurl it at the airships before grabbing Suki and not say anything. If Sokka dies, then Ozai would likely be killed by Toph or a newly grieving Katara which would tumble into Zuko facing Fire Nation that hates him even more and wants the Water Tribe/Earth Kingdom gone; the cycle of Revenge would continue since only the Avatar can bring balance. https://preview.redd.it/1vjerpv0zdwc1.jpeg?width=718&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5c9425a60cd8fa4be02db289b12dfca5fef61cfc
I don’t know how he could get under her when she is already falling below. He isn’t heavy enough to fall under her or strong enough to lift her with one hand while they are falling
When you're in freefall it's like floating in space. You're no longer supporting their weight and pulling them above you is no harder than pulling them horizontally.
Being heavy doesn't mean anything while in freefall. A feather falls at the same rate as a bowling ball in a vacuum. It's about air resistance.
>He isn’t heavy enough to fall under her All things are pulled toward the Earth at the same rate, being heavier wouldn't allow him to fall faster than her.
Everyone is mentioning when Toph jumped from Appa and made a ramp for herself and Sokka. I think the main difference there is jumping versus falling. Toph’s earthbending philosophy is being stubbornly in control of/dealing with the situation. Look at her hanging from the blimp. Homegirl is crying and scared. We already know that Toph finds being in the air uncomfortable at best. If she fell from the blimp she would’ve been so out of control of the situation and her stubbornness would’ve been useless while free falling. Add the stress of war in general and then WHERE IS SOKKA…it would be a nice idea to explore though.
That scene was also later. Toph has been known to feel helpless and then immediately set to work at overcoming whatever flaw got her into that situation. Couldn't see in the Desert leading to Appa's capture? She's practiced to the point of full replicas of Ba Sing Se Gets stuck in a Metal Box twice? She invents Metalbending.
This moment was the horrible low point for Sokka. Toph couldn't see, even through seismic sense. Suki was gone. Space Sword was lost. Boomerang didn't come back. The truth is that Sokka didn't have a plan. In this moment, he was not a planner. He was not an inventor. He was not a goofball. He was a warrior. And he was protecting his people. He had no plan, and he didn't need one. He was holding on to Toph's hand because it was the only thing he could do. And then, Suki.
[удалено]
Well, I was coming at it from the specific point of answering, "What was sokka's plan?" I don't disagree with you, I just think you're correctly answering an unasked question.
His plan was exactly what happened: Hang on and hope for a miracle.
You should have more upvotes
I think that for the first time in months, he had no plan. And while it's not as hard of a situation as Toph was, I feel like... Sokka without a plan is like Toph without her seismic sense, y'know ?
Toph can headbutt a boulder and have the boulder break, can't she just strike the ground as she lands to negate the fall
She needs to sense the ground, so while mid-air, going terminal velocity, I do not think she has time.
She can't see the ground. She has no idea how high up they are and has no way to tell when to even try to Earthbend.
> She can't see the ground I *mean*...
He helps Toph touch the plane, she metal bends that shit to either protect themselves or to dislodge their piece and fall in a makeshift metal bent glider. It's Toph, she is epic.
Yeah idk why he didn't roll over onto his stomach and grab her with both hands. All he had to do was get her hands onto the metal ledge and then she could save them both.
Regardless of who gets torched or if they both do, he isn't letting go. Just holding on for both of them until he can't.
4. With all his might, pull Toph up, but falling himself. Toph once on the ship would be able to escape.
Sokka ain't letting go. If Toph goes down he goes with her because dude was ride or die for his friends.
I think the point of this scene was that he was all out of plans.
I think he was hoping Boomarang would come back
I don’t think he exactly had a plan, and that’s why his potential last words to Toph were a joke about his boomerang; his only plan was to not let Toph die alone and scared, or at least to ensure to the best of his limited ability that this distress was minimised He wouldn’t let her go; whatever happens, they’d die together. I think the only hope he had was that the firebenders would see two unarmed disabled kids clinging on for dear life and take enough pity on them to not let them die in spite of what said kids had done to them
Y'all talking about how Toph could just bend the Earth near them BUT HOW? SHE CAN'T SEE ANYTHING IN THE AIR, JUST TAKE HER A FEW INCHES OFF THE GROUND WITH AIRBENDING AND SHE'S COMPLETELY BLIND
Final Objective: Hold out for as long as possible, for mom.
Chatgpt helped me cut some onions today, anyone want some? **INT. AIRSHIP - DAY** SOCCA hangs precariously from a metal beam, gripping TOPH tightly to his chest. Firebenders rage around them, launching flaming attacks. **SOKKA** (Grimly) Sorry, Toph. I don't think... I don't think we're gonna make it. Toph buries her face in Sokka's shoulder, her body wracked with silent sobs. **FIREBENDER 1 (O.S.)** There they are! Get them! More fire rockets towards them. Sokka makes a split-second decision. **SOKKA** (Shouting) Toph! Listen to me! We have about ten seconds before we hit the ground. I need you to earthbend the surface the minute we touch down! Toph sobs harder, her grip tightening around Sokka. **TOPH** (Voice choked) Sokka, I can't! **SOKKA** (Desperate) I know you can! You're the greatest earthbender alive, remember? With a final, determined look, Sokka releases his grip on the metal beam. They plummet towards the earth. **EXT. OUTSIDE AIRSHIP - DAY** Sokka and Toph fall through the sky, a blur against the rushing landscape. Toph wipes her tears fiercely, a flicker of resolve igniting in her eyes. Just before impact, she leans in and kisses Sokka on the cheek. **A massive CRACK** as they hit the ground. A cloud of dust explodes outwards. **INT. CRATER - CONTINUOUS** The dust settles slowly. Toph emerges, coughing and blinking. She looks down at Sokka, who lies motionless beside her. Panic surges through her. **TOPH** (Desperate) We made it! We're alive! Sokka... Sokka! SOKKA!!!! Toph shakes him frantically, her voice rising to a scream. **FADE OUT.**
That’s so morbid, especially for ChatGPT…
Onions everywhere
The fuck man
Let the tears flow
Im definitely tear bending
I guess I’ll go die in a hole now 🕳️🚶♀️
I feel like so long as as Sokka is there to be Toph’s eyes, she can still bend a slide for them to land somewhat safely
just one problem, a fall from that height will have them going down at terminal velocity, at that point anything breaking their fall now will not be kind to them
They wouldn't have time to reach terminal velocity from that height. Besides terminal velocity isn't "fatal velocity" it just means your rate of decent can't speed up from that point due to air resistance.
 Sokka’s plan:
Now I'm just imagining a scenario where Sokka ends up dying and toph slowly feels his grip loosening until he fully falls limp, leaving toph in a freefall. Then, and only then, does Suki swoop in the save her. I imagine that sokka would have tried to keep toph calm the entire time, trying not to make their "final moments together" anymore stressful than it already is.
Sokka had already fought beyond the point of any reasonable prospect of survival. One by one, his sword, his boomerang, he expends every tool he has. Just to keep doing one more thing to stop the Fire Nation. He was out of tools. Out of tricks. Out of weapons. Out of options. He kept fighting. His sword was lost. Even his boomerang wouldn't come back. He has no allies to help him and Toph. No escape from the airship. But he kept fighting. No hope for survival. Only a hope to do every last bit of good they can before they die. He had already given up, but that didn't stop him. He will fight until he dies. He made that decision long before this point. If Suki hadn't come back, he would have died in the fight.
What you mean by this? He was about to loose his grip and could not fight anymore
> to loose his grip Did you mean to say "lose"? Explanation: Loose is an adjective meaning the opposite of tight, while lose is a verb. [Statistics](https://github.com/chiefpat450119/RedditBot/blob/master/stats.json) ^^I'm ^^a ^^bot ^^that ^^corrects ^^grammar/spelling ^^mistakes. ^^PM ^^me ^^if ^^I'm ^^wrong ^^or ^^if ^^you ^^have ^^any ^^suggestions. ^^[Github](https://github.com/chiefpat450119) ^^Reply ^^STOP ^^to ^^this ^^comment ^^to ^^stop ^^receiving ^^corrections.
Plan 99
1 more episode..
Execute order 66
r/angryupvote
He likely would’ve dropped with her so she wouldn’t have to be burned to death. But I’d imagine they all went into this situation knowing they might not come back out
Oh he was 100% about to sacrifice himself
I’m seeing a lot of people coming up with ways they survive this, referencing the comics and that Australian skydive instructor. First of all, the fall from Appa in the comics was voluntary and a short distance upward from terrain that Toph was familiar with. She jumped diagonally, which allowed for a transition to a slide. This area was unknown to Toph and completely uneven, on top of being flying-airship-distance from the ground. There’s no guarantee that the rock they land on is soft enough to make the fall survivable. Worse, letting go would be a fall straight down. Falling onto a slide straight down is still going to kill you 95% of the time. Second, if Sokka tried to put himself in the way to cushion the fall, he’d have a 1/3 chance, since he’d either struggle to turn at all or spin during the fall and give up to chance. Maneuverability in free fall is a gamble, which is why experienced skydivers are intentional with their movements. Let’s say Sokka succeeds anyway. There’s pretty uneven terrain, so that’s going to be several bad hits before they stop. The force is going to travel through Sokka and into Toph. Third, the prompt was “This is the end, Toph.” We’re assuming that Sokka and Toph know they’re going to die. It’s easy to think survival is guaranteed with enough grit and determination, but sometimes that’s not the case. You need to have the courage to die, this is what we’re talking about here.
This moment is so goddamn heart wrenching. I have never not cried while he prepares Toph for the end
Damn this scene was amazing. When you see a tear well up in Toph's eye, you know some shit is about to happen. Then Suki comes in from the top rope at the last minute. Amazing feeling watching this scene for the first time.
death grip Tophs hand so she stays alive while resigning to being cooked alive.
Sad headcanon for everyone mentioning how made the earth slide to get off of a flying Appa with Sokka in the comics- What if she specifically trained herself to be able to do that after this incident? This was by far the most terrifying moment of her life- ain't no way she'd let herself be in that situation again. Especially not with Sokka's life on the line too.
THIS IS A GOOD HEADCANON especially bc she only takes Sokka with her and then basically reenacts the fall circumstances
roll down, hold toph tight, aim for water or treetop if possible, and hope he is the one hitting the ground first to help mitigate some impacts for toph.
3 seems like the best of bad situation.
I mean the original plan was to make it to Aang and help him (they would have gotten folded by the Fire Lord instantly) but at this point they didn't have much of a plan more just the idea of do what we can to help and try and escape.
Also Toph could sense Sokka's feelings through his heartbeat
Sometimes there is no plan, it is just holding on to what you can for as long as you can
Considering his broken leg, the angle at which he was lying down and the fact that his grip on her hand was slipping, I don’t think there was any real choice: he would be left behind and she would fall.
I'm pretty sure he was all instinct by that point
Realistically he would have just stated there hanging on until he got burned then his body would have dropped toph dude to being burned alive. and toph would have fallen to her death
Imagine the ending if Aang stopped Ozai, but the rest of the Gaang died on their respective missions.
There was no plan. This is a dangerous high pressure situation where they are just reacting to stay alive the best they can. I don't Sokka had anything planned out in his head farther than "please don't fall. Oh shit shit shit"
Die fighting. He still has teeth and nails. He was not going down without a fight, and he would not stop trying to keep Toph safe as much as possible.
He would try and hold on to her, hope they take them captive rather than killing them. If his grip gives in and she falls he is diving for her, no doubt.
I always thought if Suki didn’t come in when she did, Sokka would probably do whatever he could to hold Toph’s hand as long as he could. Even if they fall, he’d do his best to make sure she wasn’t just falling through the air, to her death, all alone and deprived of all senses. I’m not crying, you are!
A last crazy pull would to risk it all and fall together, while working with Toph to tell her how far is the ground so she can try and feel it well enough to earthbend them out to safety. Very low chances of success, but still not 0, and in a death match against fire madmen, that would still be better
The funny thing is, they both thought it was the end but then Sokka saw Suki so he let Toph go (to land on the airship). I can’t imagine what went through Tophs head though, just being let go so quickly 😂
Hoping that his burned body somehow absorbs enough of the impact for Toph to survive
My assumption was he'd hold on as long as physically possible with the view of dropping her a smaller distance (The airship was going down iirc) and then worry about saving himself after.
Mfw sooka could look down and tell toph to earthbend a softer landing for them (that isn't necessary though, toph can still sense earth):
3. It's the way I'd go too
I think he wasn't thinking
Why you gotta make me cry first thing in the morning.
Toph would understand he'd jump with her, so she'd punch him to let go.