Understanding Vegeta Part 1- Cementing A Rivalry & Freedom From A Tyrant

First things first, for those who do not know who Vegeta is, he is a popular character from the anime Dragonball Z. Dragonball Z began as a manga in Japan in 1989 as a sequel to Dragonball which was released in 1984. In 1996, it was released on television and became one of the biggest gateway animes for North Americans, one year after Sailor Moon and two years before Pokemon were released in North America. He is well known among fans as being from a race known as Saiyans, same as Goku, and the prince of said race. He is also well known for being Goku’s rival. So with that introduction and without further ado, let us delve into understanding Vegeta.

Vegeta is practically introduced into DBZ from the very beginning. He is one of 3 Saiyans who have their sights set on Earth to recruit Kakarot aka Goku. The other 2 Saiyans are Raditz and Nappa. They hope to recruit Goku to gain strength in numbers in hopes of overthrowing/killing their superior Frieza, who they are contracted by to find planets to destroy and sell for profit. Through a scouting transmitter, Vegeta learns that Raditz (Goku’s brother) failed in the mission and decides to take matters into his own hands to teach Kakarot a lesson whilst also hoping to obtain the seven Dragonballs to make a wish of gaining immortality which said information was also transmitted by Raditz’s device.

The film Bardock: Father of Goku reveals Vegeta’s upbringing as a child and confirms what Raditz told Goku about the Saiyans being a battle-seeking, proud, warrior-race destined to conquer and fight. Since boyhood, Vegeta was taught to train and fight and be ruthless and uncompassionate to those he conquered. It was practically the career for all Saiyans to conquer other planets, cull the inhabitants thereof, and sell it for profit all at the behest of Lord Frieza who kept all Saiyans in check with his mighty power. Vegeta’s father King Vegeta nurtured and instilled values of pride and strength in him and since Vegeta had been conquering and fighting other races basically since birth, this is what he knew his whole life. This was his culture, he enjoyed it, so he could not see it as morally wrong- his philosophy was most likely ‘the strong take what they want and those too weak to survive perish’. This is what he was born and bred to do. Unfortunately King Vegeta’s wisdom made Vegeta dangerously arrogant in thinking that he would be the sole achiever of becoming the Legendary Super Saiyan and that because he was of the elite class of Saiyan hierarchy, that he was by default the strongest Saiyan to live since Frieza eradicated Planet Vegeta (home of the Saiyans) and the only known Saiyans to have survived were himself, Goku, Raditz, and Nappa.

Heading to Earth to confront Goku, Vegeta and Nappa easily dealt with Goku’s friends until Goku himself arrived. Vegeta is a bit impressed with Goku’s level of power, not knowing what to expect when he arrived from King Kai’s planet, resurrected after his battle with Raditz. Vegeta is only interested in taking the Dragonballs in exchange for leaving Earth alone and asks Piccolo about them who refuses which forces Vegeta’s hand and the brute battle-hungry Nappa. Naturally, the battle is prolonged untl Goku arrives and Vegeta anticipates a proper challenge at last albeit he expects to deal with Kakarot quickly. Disgusted by Nappa’s performance at being defeated by Kakarot, a low-level soldier, Vegeta kills him. The weak are not worthy in Vegeta’s eyes. With the two of them left to fight each other, Vegeta relishes in finally having the opportunity to be able to put Kakarot in his place for refusing Raditz and failing in his mission to raze Earth as a child. A disgrace to all Saiyans.

Vegeta offers Goku one last chance to join him and rule the universe alongside him but Goku declines. Vegeta demonstrates his power and does not expect Goku’s trick up his sleeve, the Kao-Ken. Vegeta is able to outmatch Goku at Kao-Ken base and x2 but is then outmatched himself at x3. Vegeta is unable to increase his power, strength, and speed to Goku’s level and therefore Goku gains a significant advantage. Had Vegeta learned Kao-Ken and used it, he would’ve beaten Goku. Vegeta does not realize that although he received a good beating from Goku, he still endured which testified to Vegeta’s strength. Yet he is still in astonishment that a low-level Saiyan can have such power, not knowing that it was taught to Goku by King Kai. The fact that he was bested by a lower-class would infuriate him then and for a long time to come. It is obvious however, that while Vegeta was flying in space towards Earth, Goku trained for a full year and still could not match Vegeta evenly at base form- he had to use Kao Ken. Not even his trump card, Vegeta used his Galick Gun which would have outmatched Goku’s Kamehameha had Goku not gone to x4.

Being sent into the sky by the Kamehameha, Vegeta still wasn’t down and once returned to the battle, transformed into Oozaru (Saiyan Ape). He wiped the floor with Goku and even broke his legs and would have been done for, were it not for Krillin and Gohan’s intervention. A mini Spirit Bomb attack does not fell the villain but does considerable damage and is only defeated once an Oozaru Gohan falls on top of him, crushing him and rendering him unable to fight any longer. Had Gohan not transformed or had Vegeta killed him before he transformed, Vegeta would have been the victor of that battle.

Vegeta’s next arc sees him fly from Earth and recuperates at a space station. He vows to have vengeance against Goku for being defeated even though it was more of a draw but his mind is preoccupied by a greater threat- Frieza. Learning that Frieza is on Planet Namek to find the Namekian Dragonballs to wish for immortality, Vegeta makes him a bigger priority and heads there and openly declares himself an enemy. A struggle for the Namekian Dragonballs begins as Vegeta contends against Frieza and Gohan and Krillin who want to wish their friends who died from their battle with Nappa back to life. Once Vegeta had the wish of immortality granted, then he would focus on dispensing with Gohan, Krillin, and Frieza but circumstances forced him to ally with Gohan and Krillin to battle against the Ginyu Force- a group of mercenaries hired by Frieza to take Vegeta out. Vegeta saves Gohan and Krillin’s lives a couple of times but not out of the goodness of his heart- he needs them alive to take on Frieza later on.

Against the ropes battling Recoome; Vegeta, Gohan, and Krillin find themselves at death’s door until Goku’s timely arrival on Namek. Taking about six days to arrive, Goku had a lot of time to train and progress and did in 100x Earth gravity. This gave him a large power increase over Vegeta which he noticed while Goku fought against Jeice and Burter. To Vegeta’s eyes, Goku’s speed was perceived to be not moving at all. This only served to trouble Vegeta even more who on top of being saved by the low-class Saiyan was now surpassed by him in every way. He even thought Goku might be the Super Saiyan of Legend- his own birthright according to him. Vegeta leaves Goku to fight against Captain Ginyu alone to capitalize on the unsupervised Dragonballs at Frieza’s ship, clearly still determined to gain immortality and vanquish Gohan, Krillin, and Goku later which is exactly what he thinks after Goku is thrashed from his battle with Ginyu but knows he’ll need them to fight Frieza.

Making a deal with Vegeta to share the wishes from the dragon Porunga, Krillin and Gohan sneak away with the Dragonballs but it does not go unnoticed by Vegeta. Before he gets to make his wish, the dragon vanishes and the Dragonballs become stone signifying Guru’s death, creator of the Namekian Dragonballs. Enraged, Vegeta is ready to finally do away with the pests plaguing him and getting in the way of his plans but so is Frieza who arrives and Vegeta remembers who the real threat is.

Vegeta’s backstory and connections to Frieza are revealed as he was Frieza’s most favored Saiyan and Frieza killed Vegeta’s father for defying him against taking Vegeta. Stronger from his battle with Recoome after eating a Senzu Bean, Vegeta power struggles with Frieza and is even with Frieza’s first form. There is a huge grudge betweeen them both as Vegeta admits he always hated working for Frieza and doing his dirty work. Frieza admits it is a shame that it had to come to this because of how much he valued Vegeta. Goading Frieza into transforming, Vegeta underestimates him hugely and is no match for his 2nd form let alone his 4th form. Believing that he’d have a chance if coming back from the brink of death, Vegeta has Krillin fatally wound him and then Dende rejuvenate him. Believing he’s back more powerful than ever, Vegeta takes on Frieza’s final form only to perfectly miss him at every turn until he realizes the truth. Scared and knowing he is not what he thought he was, Frieza lays a beat down and humiliates a broken-spirited Vegeta who has lost the will to fight. Vegeta is thrown on the ground like garbage and sheds tears until Goku arrives.

Vegeta is relieved at Goku’s arrival and knows he’ll be the one to put Frieza down and laughs mockingly at Frieza until he’s penetrated by Frieza’s Death Beam. As Vegeta lays dying, he admits to Goku that it was Frieza who destroyed their home planet for fear of how strong the Saiyans were becoming and that it was Frieza who made him the person he was. He asks Goku to not let it happen to anyone else and defeat Frieza. With that, Vegeta dies expressing repressed feelings. But that is not the end of his story (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lB1IhaTlhdY&t=13s).

Resurrected with the Dragonballs, Vegeta sees the newly transformed Super Saiyan Goku battling Frieza. He is in awe at Goku’s new power and before he gets to blast Frieza, he is transported to Earth along with the others who were on Namek. Absolutely obsessed with Kakarot’s new power, Vegeta is beside himself and cannot accept one bit that he defeated Frieza however he becomes joyful in learning that Goku may have perished along with Namek meaning that with both Frieza and Goku dead, Vegeta is unchallenged and means to rule everyone on Earth. He abandons this mentality after Bulma offers him a place to stay at Capsule Corp. To his surprise and everyone else’s, he learns Goku is not dead and takes off to space in a Capsule Corp ship to find him and learn the secrets of becoming a Super Saiyan.