Of course, they gave her this medal for unifying/reconquering the country...with their blessing to begin with, aren't Wu and the United Republic also like Chin the Conqueror in this ideological sense?
Chin didn't give out Medals for that.
IKR, training a special force thats going to turn bad is a real dumb thing to do, especially if you have the power to see the future as the avatar.
Point being, they wanted Kuvira to unify/conquer the Earth Nation for them, which is what Chin did (conquer/unify the Earth Nations). So, while they didn't do what Chin did, they wanted that same thing. So, their ideals were in line with each other.
Oh I understand.
PhysicistsareawesomePHD wrote: It is possible that the medal is just supposed to be similar to the Presidential Medal of Freedom in the real world and that the "of freedom part" hs no significant meaning.
According to Wikipedia the Presidential Medal of Freedom is supposed to [recognize] those people who have made "an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, cultural or other significant public or private endeavors"
Another name they could've given to the medal would have been "Kyoshi Medal of [Merit]". Kuvira accomplish what many others thought would not happen, at least not quickly, which was to reunify the lands of the former Earth Kingdom and that is very meritorious of her to do.
Avatar thoyrn wrote: I think the name is meant to be ironic.
More than likely as both Kyoshi and Kuvira weren't really about freedom, Kuvira more than Kyoshi.
Kyoshi is one of the most prominent figures in Earth Kingdom history, Avatar or not, and since she lived to be 230 years of age, she likely did a lot more deeds that we don't know about which could be the reason the medal is named for her. In the novel of her early life, she did kill a noted mad anarchist who had slaughtered hundreds of innocent people throughout the Earth Kingdom, freeing eveyone from his terror.Â
Personally, whenever I watch that scene where Kuvira crushes the medal, I immediately imagine Kyoshi's spirit being restrained by the other Avatars from going over there and attacking Kuvira.