#especially cause the wiki article about the five elements gave me ideas which tie back into a different idea i got

[sagemoderocklee]

Hey Eeri, I wondered if Naruto was the sun and Sasuke the moon, what would be Lee and Gaara? I saw the star for Lee, because he shines with all his might at the risk of consum himself entirely, but I had not idea for Gaara? Have you an idea or do you prefer the dragon/tiger symbolism?

I think that the tiger/dragon symbolism for Gaara and Lee is such an amazing, working, and consistent one for them however, if we wanted to move towards something similar to Naruto and Sasuke, my first thought would be with Wind/Earth. Much like Fire/Water have that complimentary/opposing nature to them, so too do wind and earth, and i think it makes a lot of sense given that Gaara is the Kazekage and uses sand in his fighting, while many of Lee’s moves despite being physical (earth) in nature use wind as a common naming convention (5 out of 13 official, not anime-only techniques). 

According to the Naruto Wikia, which is a blackhole constantly sucking me back, Gaara’s Nature types are officially listed as Wind, Earth, and Lightning (for why???), he is also given Magnet Release in the novel but like I’m not sure how I feel about that because I don’t count the novels as canon, but it does make sense given that it’s a kekkei genkai and he’d have inherited it from his father...

So anyway, I’m disregarding that Gaara having Lightning Release because it makes Zero Sense! He never uses it! And it specifically is stated that lightning release is RARE but everyone and their mother apparently has it in the series now because Kishimoto cannot write! So disregarding that, we’re gonna focus on wind and earth. 

Lee doesn’t have an official nature type. I get why, but tbh it doesn’t honestly make sense because he still has chakra, he still uses chakra. He just can’t mold and manipulate it. He essentially just pushes his chakra into his arms and legs. 

It’s really common for people to misunderstand that Lee has and uses chakra, he just doesn’t use it conventionally. Which means that he has a chakra affinity, just like everyone else, he would simply have a harder time figuring out his affinity. Given, however, that a lot of his techniques are named with wind in mind, I think it’s safe to assume that Lee does in fact have a wind affinity. In my opinion, you could also argue that he has either fire or earth release, but for the sake of this argument I do think he’s more inclined to having an earth affinity because he is such a physical person and earth is representative of that. 

地 Chi (sometimes ji) or tsuchi, meaning "Earth", represents the hard, solid objects of the earth. The most basic example of chi is in a stone. Stones are highly resistant to movement or change, as is anything heavily influenced by chi. In people, the bones, muscles and tissues are represented by chi. Emotionally, chi is predominantly associated with stubbornness, collectiveness, stability, physicality, and gravity. It is a desire to have things remain as they are; a resistance to change. In the mind, it is confidence. When under the influence of this chi mode or "mood", we are aware of our own physicality and sureness of action. This is a separate concept from the energy-force, pronounced in Chinese as qì(also written ch'i) and in Japanese as ki, and written alternatively as 気, 氣, or 气.

wiki

The above, which I just pulled from Wiki, explains that earth in Japanese philosophy pertaining to the five elements, is representative of the physical body. I also bolded the part about resistance to change because Lee’s body is resistant to his desire to change it--being able to mold his own chakra, etc. I also find that Lee, in some ways, is resistant to change in that he continues to model himself after Gai-sensei and fears losing that. His sense of identity is so strongly rooted in Gai-sensei that I think change would be a challenge for him.

Gaara himself, represents Wind, however, he does have an earth affinity--he’s from Suna, he uses sand in his fighting, he is the leader of his village which requires him to be grounded, sure, steady, etc. I think, in many ways, he has that earth influence, but embodies Wind. 

風 Fū or kaze, meaning "Wind", represents things that grow, expand, and enjoy freedom of movement. Aside from air, smoke, and the like, fū can in some ways be best represented by the human mind. As we grow physically, we learn and expand mentally as well, in terms of our knowledge, our experiences, and our personalities. Fū represents breathing, and the internal processes associated with respiration. Mentally and emotionally, it represents an "open-minded" attitude and carefree feeling. It can be associated with will, elusiveness, evasiveness, benevolence, compassion, and wisdom.

Much like Gaara does exemplify parts of Earth, I think Lee also exemplifies parts of Wind, but is ultimately earth. 

Gaara is wind but he is still influenced by earth; Lee is earth, still influenced by wind. When the two come together, it creates a balancing force.

Now, if we were to go with a celestial metaphor--and I do absolutely love your star metaphor, which I imagine that Lee could also be led towards the supernova for a metaphor as well, or we could go with a shooting star metaphor (fast, short lived, often burned up in the atmosphere or destroyed on impact)--then it’s a little harder to place Gaara, specifically. From my perspective, Suna as a culture is more grounded in the earth itself, and that heavenly bodies are the dominion of the gods and you can’t call yourself that except under specific conditions. Gaara as the Kazekage, would thus have occasion to be compared to a god--and it’s funny I’m talking about this because I was thinking about something along those lines the other day. 

Anyways, I digress, and honestly my headcanons for Suna aren’t really pertinent to this conversation. 

For me personally, I feel Gaara would be symbolized by a planet. I think this makes sense if you consider earth--for example--as a place where life grows and is sustained. As Kazekage, that’s his role. I think of him as supporting and caring for others, and I think that could be the interpretation if you wanted to go with space metaphors. 

And from there, you have the star that either shines bright over this planet or a shooting star with a trajectory that’s also passing by this planet, or even the metaphor of colliding with (Gaara vs Lee). I think it’s a less consistent and less working metaphor overall than the tiger/dragon or wind/earth metaphor. I think as individual the star does work for Lee, but trying to pin down Gaara and find that balance between them is difficult because i don’t think celestial metaphors really work as well for him. 

Overall though, I think if you execute it well, then you can make that work. It’s just about understanding the characters and their relationship to each other and themselves. Like, in my opinion, I think a good writer really can accomplish any metaphor because they’ll take the time needed to explore it.