Spoilers Most Definitely

Welcome to my second Naruto character study! Today I shall be talking about Gaara, the sweetheart. Those of you familiar with Naruto may be thinking I’m crazy or you may be thinking, “Yes girl he was such a sweetheart!” Either way let’s delve in shall we?

He has lived a hard life. His mother poured such love into him and yet his father treated him with nothing but suspicion and contempt. I will never understand why they treated the jinchuriki the way they did. I mean they’re saving the village by being hosts! If they had been nice to him he would not have gone postal!

Plus Shukaku was a jerk to him. Shukaku had his own issues and took them out on Gaara and didn’t let him sleep, imagine not being about to sleep. Science and common sense has proven we need sleep, so it makes sense that he went crazy the way he did.

But at the heart of it, he was a kind child looking for love. His brother and sister feared him, his father distrusted him and then ordered his uncle to try and kill him and make him think his mother never loved him. Then he carved the Kanji character for love in his forehead.

I always thought that was ironic. Especially when I didn’t know his back story and I thought him nothing more than a bloodthirsty killer. I was like, he’s so cold and yet he has love on his forehead?

But then it was explained because he was heartbroken by his uncle on the supposed meaning of his name, being to love himself, so he gave in to that.

About his uncle, his dad decided Gaara was a failure and decided to have him killed… dickhead! Even when he came back reanimated I’m going to admit I was still mad! How dare he! But you know what, Gaara became the strong man he is today because of those hardships and that crushing loneliness.

Gaara, like Neji, had great development. He went from being a killer and carrying out orders without thought to working his way up the ranks, gaining the trust of his people and becoming kazekage.

And like Neji Gaara changes because of Naruto. Not because Naruto beat him but because Naruto saw the loneliness in him. He knew how hard it was to be alone, hated and despised. Up until that point in the manga/anime I didn’t know if Naruto felt that loneliness because he always acted so happy. I knew he acted out for attention but I didn’t know how deep his loneliness and sadness ran. But when he confronted Gaara, you could just see the pain in his eyes (shout out to the mangaka) and Gaara saw it too and that healed Gaara.

Also because Naruto gained strength from protecting others and not himself and as Naruto won the fight so did his ideology. Although Naruto and Gaara were similar Naruto was able to make friends, Gaara never was but he made friends with Naruto and that’s what changed his life. He was able to give the love he craved and he was loyal 1000%.

All Gaara needed was love. When he met someone who understood him, it healed him. And then they became friends. He then let his brother and sister in and thankfully his father was already gone and so his life improved. In Shukaku and Gaara’s lives love was the key.

(Sure his father tried to kill him to save the village but I don’t buy it! It was his fault in the first place, he wanted a weapon and not a child and kept him isolated and… I could go on all day, I don’t like him).

Gaara still has a ruthless edge to him when he fights an enemy but he’s also strategic, smart and kind. It really was his mother protecting him in the sand. Because of his hardships he can rule with fairness and wisdom. He knows the value of love and friendship and how crushing persecution and loneliness can be. If everyone understood this and wanted to make sure no one felt that way (lonely and unloved) the world would be a better place.

That is all,

Next shall be Shikamaru.

Ps: Isn’t it trippy that Gaara never got physically hurt when he was child? His mother kept her promise!

PPs: Isn’t it interesting that Shukaku was the only tailed beast whose name we knew from the beginning. I’m surprised none of us noticed and that none of us asked what Kurama’s name was. Okay I didn’t ask, you may have.