Tertiary Characters

Page One

	Grandpa Gohan This is the man that found Kakarott as an infant soon after his arrival on Earth, and took him in as his own grandson. Naming him "Goku", in reference to his odd monkey-like tail, Gohan's kind heart embraced the boy despite his fiery temperment. However, one day Goku fell down a high mountain. Gohan nursed him back to health, and to his astonishment, from that day onward Goku was a different persn entirely. No longer was he tempermental and violent- he became a sweet-natured, innocent child. Unfortunately, Gohan didn't get to see his adopted grandson grow into a man, for he was accidentally killed by Goku the first night the Goku looked at a full moon. Goku had no memory of killing his beloved grandfather, and from then onward believed that the four-star Dragon Ball housed Gohan's spirit.
	Emperor Pilaf Pilaf is the first villain on Dragon Ball, and is really more like comic relief than a true evil presence. He's a diminutive, blue man who wants to rule the world, and comes up with various schemes to accomplish this (think Pinky and the Brain). One of them is to collect the Dragon Balls, but (you guessed it), Goku and the gang get to the Dragon Balls first. While he doesn't seem like much of a threat, he does manage to throw the world into chaos now and again. He freed the wicked Piccolo Daimao, who had been imprisoned in a jar for centuries, and in GT, he tried to use the Black Star Dragon Balls, which put the whole world into danger.
	Oolong Oolong is one of the first beings to join forces with Goku and Bulma in Dragon Ball. He is a pig, and that description works on several levels, for he has an unhealthy addiction for women's underwear, nudie magazines, and the like. But he's pretty harmless, and Bulma and Goku find his shape-shifting ability rather useful through the beginning of Dragon Ball.
	Puar (Puaru) Puar seems to be some breed of floating cat, but just like Oolong and just about every other animal in Dragon Ball, he's fully sentient. Also, just like Oolong, he's a shape-shifter. In fact, they went to the same shape-shifting college! Puar is introduced along with Yamucha, and it's clear from the beginning the two are partners in crime. Puar and Yamucha remain friends throughout Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z, but as the series progresses Puar's abilities seem to be less and less useful.
	The Ox King The Ox King and Grandpa Gohan both trained under Master Roshi as young men, making them almost brothers. And despite the legends of the beastly king that ruled Mount Frypan, the Ox King is definitely not a mean guy. In fact, his incredible size is misleading, for he's really a pretty nice guy. If there's a temperamental member in his family, it's definitely Chichi.
	Shenlon the Great Dragon Shenlon is the Dragon of Earth, summoned by the seven Earth Dragon Balls. He can only be summoned when the Dragon Balls are active, and they become active after one year's rest from granting a wish (so you can't summon Shenlon more than once a year). But Shenlon isn't all-powerful. While he apparently can grant your heart's desire, he can't grant the same wish twice (i.e., he can't revive someone who he revived before). However, he can affect a group of people in one wish. For instance, you can ask Shenlon to resurrect everyone that died in a specific incident, or under similar circumstances, all with one wish. At first, he can only grant one wish upon summoning, but after he gets a "power-up" from Dende, he can grant two.
	Karin Karin is an ancient white cat (also fully sentient) who lives atop Karin Tower. His primary function in the series (whether Dragon Ball or Dragon Ball Z) is growing the sensu beans the Z-Senshi use time and again to instantly heal even mortal wounds.
	Mr. Popo Popo is Kami's attendant, and groundskeeper to the Sky Palace. Most of the time you can see him tending the gardens, but don't sell him short. Despite his rotund form, he's pretty strong. And very knowledgeable, as he served all the Kami's previous to the Namekians.
	Dr. and Mrs. Briefs These are Bulma's parents. They're never actually named, and they don't appear too often on the series, but Dr. Briefs especially contributed a great deal of the behind-the-scenes work. As founder and president of Capsule Corporation, he is one of the world's leading scientists. He invented the encapsulation process, as well as many of the gadgets the Z-Senshi used. Also of note are the space ships used by Goku in the Namek Saga, and the ship used by Vegeta at the tail end of the Frieza saga. And he developed the famous Gravity Machine that let Vegeta practice in over 400 times Earth's natural gravity. Mrs. Briefs isn't much of a character, but she's a painfully good-natured woman, always ready to serve guests tea and cakes.
	Radditz (Raditzu) Radditz is Goku's elder brother, who traveled to Earth to follow up on Goku's disappearance. When he finds out that Kakarott lived as a human, he tried to force him into finishing his mission of purging Earth by taking Gohan hostage. Big mistake. He faced both Piccolo and Goku in battle, and wound up taking the Makankosappo right through the chest.
	Lord Enma (Enma-Daio) Enma is the Lord of the Dead, or in other words, the Judge. All Earth's deceased line up at the Check-In station immediately after death, and when they stand before that huge desk, Enma examines their records and sends them to Heaven or Hell. Unfortunately, sometimes Enma gets a bit testy, and starts sending everyone to Hell :)
	King Kai (Kaio) Kai is the god of the Northern Galaxies (meaning there are Kais of the West, East, and South Galaxies as well). What exactly he does isn't terribly clear, but his primary purpose on DBZ is putting deceased warriors through rigorous training on his little planet. Aided by his pet monkey Bubbles (one of the very few animals who don't speak), and the arrogant cricket Gregory, worthy warriors go through a series of drills in ten-times Earth's gravity, becoming vastly more powerful warriors in a very short amount of time. He also brags knowing every martial art technique worth knowing, and he taught Goku the Spirit Bomb (Genki Dama) and Kaioken techniques, which were critical in defeating both Vegeta and Frieza.
	Nappa Nappa was the large Saiyan warrior who accompanied Vegeta to Earth, in order to collect the Dragon Balls. Nappa is a hot-blooded warrior, immensely powerful, but not very smart or patient. He managed to wipe out Tien, Chaiotzu, and Piccolo without much effort, but he couldn't even land a punch on Goku, who had just returned from his training under King Kai. Vegeta was so disgusted by Nappa that he incinerated the lug.
	Guru (Saichoru) Guru is the Eldest Namek on the planet. Nameks reproduce asexually, so Guru actually gave birth to all the Nameks on the planet when the Namek Saga took place. Apparently, he tried to revive a nearly dead population, and gave birth to hundreds of children. He is also the one who created the Namek Dragon Balls, which summon Porunga.
	Nail Nail is the most powerful Namek warrior on the planet when Frieza shows up. He is Guru's attendant, and almost an idol to young Dende. He bravely faced Frieza one-on-one, in a doomed effort to protect Guru. Frieza beat the snot out of him, but didn't actually kill him. Big mistake, for Nail was found by Piccolo, and the two merged, giving Piccolo an immense power boost that allowed him to face Frieza's second form without much effort.
	Dodoria Dodoria is one of Frieza's right-hand warriors, in charge of the armies that swarmed Namek in search of the Dragon Balls. He's a very powerful warrior, but he didn't do much on the series. Vegeta blew him away without much effort.
	Zarbon Zarbon seemed to hold the same position as Dodoria- essentially, Frieza's assistant and errand-boy. While he has a handsome appearance in this form, he transforms into a hideous beast in order to access his fullest ki. Vegeta eventually killed him, too.
	The Ginyu Force The Ginyu Force is Frieza's most elite fighting squadron. This group is renowned for their incredible skill, power, and... odd ballet-style poses. The short green one is Guldo, the orange skinned one is Jeice, the blue one is Buurta, and the big guy is Recoome.
	Captain Ginyu Ginyu is the leader of the Ginyu Force, and his far more powerful than the rest of his team. He also has the ability to switch bodies with an opponent; a tactic he likes to use when he's fighting a very hi-ki enemy. He essentially lets the opponent beat him to a pulp, and then switches bodies with him.
	Porunga Porunga is the Dragon of Namek, summoned by Guru's Dragon Balls. Porunga is more anthropomorphic than Shenlon (as you can see in the picture), and also has different powers. For instance, he can grant three wishes at a time. However, he can't resurrect more than one person with one wish. But there's another benefit to using Porunga; his Dragon Balls regenerate after 120 days (the length of a Namek year).