Naruto Series: Gaara (INFP)
Quick Note: I did seriously consider the argument for INFJ, but I don’t see any indication of Fe in Gaara beyond his drive for unity and harmony which is a tendency among all the feeler types. Gaara tends to be far too stoic. For instance, within the last few episodes of the original Naruto series (pre-Shippuden), Temari has to tell Gaara to smile or no student would want to train with him, and he basically disregards her advice. Even Sai (who most people agree falls within the TiFe/FeTi axis somewhere) picks up on the value of faking a smile.
Fi:
“He was the one who taught me to deepen my bond with my people. Thanks to him, I was able to regain my true self.”
“I fight for my sake only and live to love no one but myself.”
“Without mutual trust and understanding, all that will remain in this world is fear and terror. I simply can’t tolerate giving up so easily, or any plan that doesn’t incorporate morality.”
“Let me ask you this… When did all of you forsake yourselves?”
“Appearances and status. Such foolish, outdated concepts.”
As a very young child, Gaara is shown to be warm and friendly in spite of his tragic past. He constantly tries to connect with others. It isn’t until his father orchestrates an assassination attempt via Yashamaru and Gaara is led to believe that no one ever loved him, that he turns himself over to evil. From that point on, he kills in order to prove or validate his existence, similarly to how Naruto runs around shouting his name to everyone he meets. Gaara specifically targets those similar to him or those he can relate to, like Sasuke, which suggests that he’s leading with Fi. (He keeps talking about Sasuke having eyes like him.) During his fight with Naruto, Gaara keeps goading him to fight only for himself, forget his friends, and prove his own existence. He declares these values constantly for the entire duration of the fight, from the moment Sasuke confronts him until the time Naruto finally defeats him. In addition, upon changing back to the side of good, Gaara begins to idealize Naruto, which is a strong Fi tendency. He wants to be important to people and accepted, just like Naruto. Gaara grows up to be highly empathetic. He strives for harmony and unity among Shinobi everywhere. One can clearly see his ability to connect with and inspire people demonstrated in his speech before the final battle in the series. He also frequently tries relate to others through shared feelings and life experience (AKA: You’re like me. We’re the same). Lastly, Gaara is very quiet and thoughtful, and not typically impulsive in his behavior or speech, demonstrating a clear preference for introversion.
Ne:
“What then was left for me in this existence? Why go on living? For a long time, I couldn’t find an answer to that. But in order to live, you need a purpose. To exist for no reason is the same as being dead.”
“If love is just a word, then why does it hurt so much if you realize it isn’t there?”
“What if this person you honor and would even die for is not a virtuous person?”
Gaara definitely strikes more like an intuitive rather than a sensor. I hate to phrase it that way, because Ne is very different than Ni. However, in Naruto, the two tend to blend, which I touched on in this article: Personality Bleed: Typing the Creator of Naruto. Since he strikes me as a solid Fi dominant, I’m led to believe that his intuition function is Ne combined with the author’s Ni bias, and I do have some evidence to suggest Ne preference. As Gaara’s character is revealed, he is shown constantly asking questions. During cut scenes of him as a very young child, he is shown asking things like ‘why do we get hungry?’, ‘why is the sky blue?’, and ‘what does pain feel like?’ Gaara is also shown asking his opponents the reason behind their actions, and explaining his own reasoning constantly. He asks Guy Sensei why he stepped in to save Lee. I could produce many other examples. The bottom line is that Gaara is constantly wondering about things and asking questions that many people wouldn’t think to ask, which is a typical Ne tendency. Gaara is also constantly pondering about his purpose in life, and searches for a reason to exist no matter what his situation. In addition, during matters of important, Gaara frequently has a lot to say. Despite being so young, he is the first one to speak at the Five Kaga summit. He easily shares his thoughts and opinions with others, and appears to have no issues putting his thoughts into words. He is also good at returning people’s questions with more questions as a form of rebuttal.
Si:
“I know him well. He takes too many risks when it comes to his friends…that’s why.”
Gaara is deeply affected by his past, and clings to the lessons learned from it. After Yashamaru attempts to assassinate him, he gives Gaara a mandate to love and fight only for himself. Gaara clings to this lesson, in spite of the man having just tried to kill him. He is shown regurgitating it back to Naruto, Sasuke, and etcetera later on. In addition, sometime before the final Chunin exam battles, Gaara feels compelled to explain his thoughts and nearly his entire history to Shikamaru and Naruto, which suggests Ne/Si. He also has a very defense/security oriented fighting style. If we ignore the automated sand defense that he has no control over, Gaara also has his sand armor Jutsu that he defaults to whenever feeling threatened, which expends large amounts of Chakra. In addition, he frequently hides himself within a thick sphere of sand.
Te:
Gaara’s inferior Te comes out the strongest when he is evil. When someone simply looks at him wrong, Gaara has been shown declaring that the offender must die, and he then carries out the execution without hesitancy. In these moments, when reacting in the heat of anger or some other emotion, Gaara is prone to kill in very extreme and excruciating ways. Overkill. He essentially takes intense and sudden control over the situation, until his anger is appeased. This would be very bad use of Te.
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Interesting analysis. I always saw Gaara as a INXX type, this is quite convincing for INFP. Personally I had him as INFJ due to his emphasis on being socially integrated and accepted, a large part of his character is seeking external validation and learning to harmonise with others in order to be accepted.
In one of the filler arcs, he joins the academy as an instructor to improve the citizens’ opinion of him, which to me is more Fe than Fi. He also espouses some fairly crystallised metaphorical views, such as when he tries to tell Matsuri what a weapon really is and his quote at the kage summit that true peace can only be effected in the real world. To me this is more Ni than Ne although you could be right that the author’s personality and style causes characters to seemingly use Ni more than they actually do. Overall it’s hard to say given that fictional characters don’t always act consistently but I enjoyed this article, keep it up!
Thanks! That’s fair. To be completely, honest, I cringe every time I type a Naruto character because the Ni is everywhere. O_O
I agree with KY Gaara being an INFJ. When unhealthy he acted a lot on Se impulses yet at the same time preferred to remain distant from his physical environment. From a young age, he has constantly been thinking of his purpose in his life. He focuses a lot of finding the meaning of words- initially carving love onto his forehead to symbolise how he is a demon who only loves himself.
I can see his Fe coming into play in seeing how he unites the different villages together. He capitalises on how every village has been hurt by the Akatsuki in the same way and unites them by pushing them towards a common goal, declaring that they are simply all shin obi.
I don’t see a lot of Ne waffling or exploring the different possibilities, rather I see the more singular line of Ni in him. He seems more certain in his conclusions.
Gaara has some moments of recounting the past. Perhaps with your understanding of the cognitive functions, you could look in to whether he does so in Si- detail heavy way or Ni detached way. Could Gaara have initially been in a Ni-Ti loop of basically ignoring Fe, fixating on his search for meaning and existence-trapped in his own head.
The Naruto series as a whole lacks good Ne, so I agree that Gaara’s Ne seems Ni-esque. However, due to the Fi tendencies and the inferior Te overkill, the only other type I could really consider was ISFP. I don’t see an inferior Se in him (his actions always seemed more purposeful, not really impulsive), and he has the rigidity of a Te user. I’m not really spotting any Ti. In addition, Fi frequently values harmony similarly to the Fe users. My thing with Gaara is that with all of his drive for harmony, he draws all of the “empathy” and peacekeeping/unifying efforts back to his own personal experience as a jinchuuriki and with Naruto, which seems more Fi to me, possibly Si as well.
You said that Gaara taking the time to share and articulate his entire history to Shikamaru + Naruto in indicative of Ne/Si. Could you please expand upon this?
Si users tend to be more eager to verbally reference the past in detail as a means of explaining themselves… because they’re naturally/purposefully tying things back to the past anyway. I don’t really remember Gaara being asked any questions or being compelled to share his backstory in anyway… He just volunteered it.
I gave it some thought and you are probably right that Gaara is a Fi-user. Whenever he connects with people, he always does it through referencing his own personal experiences first. He has formed an exceptional roadmap of his own emotion experiences from the past to the present and seems to be quite good at sorting them out, being able to assign a specific value towards them that reflects his feelings. In a similar way to Obito, when unhealthy he goads Naruto to prove him wrong and delights in the prospect of crushing Naruto’s ideals, reinforcing that the lessons learnt in the past prove to be true (Fi-Si), thus validating the pain he has gone through and by extension proving that the fighting for yourself is the only way to validate your own existence. He talks about how Naruto was able to help him find his ‘true self’. He doesn’t naturally just absorb the emotion vibe from other people like a Fe-user would.
Other Gaara quotes:
“You’re the same then. When you feel the honor of your idol under scrutiny… you become enraged, as if it were your own honor being questioned. The more precious your idol is to you… the harder you fight for him.”
“Perhaps the companionship of an evil person is preferable to loneliness.”
We really appreciate you taking the time to post this. Most people wouldn’t. And that first Gaara quote is actually really good… I’m tempted to use it.
Is possible to an INFP not to be stoic?
Certainly. Ne can get very bubbly or quirky (especially in combination with Fi). I know a couple of INFPs that are definitely not stoic.
Not only that, but cry in front of others and be a drama queen, although all that comments about Fi be hyper reserved and shy? LOL
Well, it depends. If you easily cry and stuff around strangers, I would question whether or not you’re actually an Fi dominant. (That doesn’t mean it’s impossible… there are other potential factors.) If you’re just doing this around people you’re close to, it’s not abnormal for an Fi.
The evidence for Gaara’s inferior Te is primarily from when he is in an unhealthy state. Can you see some ways his Te manifests itself in a healthier state?
Well, for starters, those unhealthy explosions of Te disappear which means the two start working together in a more cohesive way. That by itself is evidence of a healthier state. But, beyond that, Gaara in general is a very controlled person, which is a demonstration of his Te. You don’t see his emotions run amuck later on, and he starts working toward his goals. He also becomes a successful leader, which would require healthy use of his Te. We don’t really get an up close and personal view of his life so it’s kind of hard to say beyond that.