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In the latest episode (S04E06, "The Battle of Zaofu") Korra fights Kuvira who
wears the following uniform

![Kuvira in her uniform](https://i.stack.imgur.com/i4HRs.png) (from
[avatar.wikia.com](http://avatar.wikia.com/wiki/Kuvira))

In the linked article it is also said that

> While leading her army, Kuvira took to wearing a uniform with metal strips
> on her back, biceps, and calves, for which she developed a style of
> metalbending that involves bending the metal on her uniform and shooting
> them off of like projectiles.

Now I was wondering: Can't Korra bend the metal on Kuvira's uniform and chain
her (or subdue in another way)? Is this due to the fact that Kuvira already
has control over the metal (as described in the wikia article)?


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Why doesn't Korra bend the metal on Kuvira's uniform?


Korra more or less could bend the metal on Kuvira's uniform, as long as she
knows the exact type of metal. However, it would be pointless to do such
thing. An example would be: If Toph was an earthbender and so as Dai Li's
force, then Toph should have subdued them through earthbending like enclosing
them in a rock or in a statue, which of course Dai Li can always fight easily
being the earthbender itself. The same is applicable for both Korra and Kuvira
- both can bend metal, so neither can really overpower the other just by
chaining.


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I don't think there's a canonical explanation of how bending works, but the
way Earthbenders fight suggests that they have much more control over soil
that's near them, and that they work best with sudden, abrupt movements. For
instance, it's common for earthbenders to stop large slabs of rock, but they
always wait for it to get close rather than slowing it gradually from a
distance. Most attacks originate from the bender, and when they act on distant
earth it's usually to throw their opponent off balance rather than injure them
directly. There's almost no instances of earthbenders pulling rocks as a form
of attack.

It's also shown throughout the series that bending heavy loads is not unlike
physically lifting them; it's usually done much more slowly and the weight of
the rocks causes resistance against the bender's movements.

It's likely that Korra could bend Kuvira's armor, but it would be impractical
to do so from the distance they kept from each other while fighting. This
seems to be supported by the fact that in the season finale, after slamming
Korra against a wall, Kuvira pulls out three chunks of metal from it and
brings them close. She then launches small bits of the chunks at Korra very
quickly.

It appears Kuvira felt she couldn't have attacked Korra directly using the
metal in the wall, or using larger chunks of metal, without a high chance of
Korra dodging or using a quicker attack in response. By that same token, I
imagine if Korra tried to throw Kuvira from a distance, Kuvira would easily
hit her with a small piece of metal before Korra completed the throw. And
considering they can both react to small projectiles traveling at high speeds,
I doubt Korra would've been able to bend a large amount of metal and surround
Kuvira with it quickly enough to actually trap her either.


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