There’s a thin line between love and hate. Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z offered Goku more than his fair share of rivals such as Krillin, Piccolo, and Tien, but there was something about Vegeta that was particularly special. Beyond their shared origins as Saiyans, Vegeta was probably the rival that did the most damage to Goku personally, as he was one of the major contributors to the deaths of many of his friends.
Obviously, Goku wouldn’t exactly have warm and fuzzy feelings for Vegeta at the moment, but he did grow to truly care about the Saiyan Prince as both a rival and a friend. While this isn’t an unusual pattern for Goku, it is interesting to see exactly when the switch happened. Goku and Vegeta have come a long way since the start of DBZ, but when did Dragon Ball’s main hero actually get over his hatred for the Saiyan Prince?
Goku Has A Habit Of Befriending His Enemies
And Vegeta Was The Toughest Nut To Crack
Vegeta is not the first example of Goku welcoming an enemy into his circle of friends. In fact, a vast majority of the people Goku regularly pals around with started out as rivals or outright villains. Yamcha, Krillin, Tien, Piccolo, and others fell into a pattern of trying to sabotage or kill Goku before they came to care about him. Piccolo is the example that is closest to Vegeta when it comes to Goku’s pattern with rivals. Originally born as Piccolo Junior, the Namekian was out for revenge against Goku for killing King Piccolo and trying to continue his desires for world domination.
Piccolo ended up losing to Goku in the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai, left at the mercy of Goku after a close match, but Goku did what Goku does and gave him a senzu bean, looking forward to when they would be able to fight again. Piccolo would end up becoming an invaluable ally after this point, despite the round about way of getting there. Piccolo’s mentorship and friendship with Goku’s son, Gohan, would become the catalyst for turning Piccolo firmly to the side of good. Piccolo also basically became a part of Goku’s family, helping to raise his grandchild Pan and even being shown to be in Gohan’s wedding photo while Chi-Chi herself was not in the photo.
This pattern would start far more slowly with Vegeta as the Saiyan Prince had a lot more to answer for. In their first fight, Goku was both clearly excited and out for blood because of the deaths of many of his friends, including Piccolo. As one of the earlier fights in Dragon Ball Z, the battle between Goku and Vegeta starts out almost playful on Goku’s part before it gets really serious. In the end, Goku ends up sparing Vegeta’s life in the hopes that they will fight again. Unlike with Piccolo, Vegeta would spend the majority of Dragon Ball Z as a reluctant ally but not a good guy in the most literal sense of the idea. In fact, Vegeta would become a villain protagonist throughout the Namek Saga and generally be the cause of more problems in the Cell and Buu Sagas respectively.
Goku has always had a habit of trying to see the good in people, but Vegeta might have tested this the most out of the people that Goku brought into his circle. Vegeta was often the one to flip-flop, going back and forth on whether he wanted this redemption arc to truly take off. Vegeta only finally makes that call at the very end of the Buu Saga, having been through a gambit of bad decisions and dying at least twice. After that point and going into Dragon Ball Super, Vegeta is firmly on the side of good and he and Goku are very much friends with far less of a caustic rivalry between them. But Goku’s feelings toward Vegeta shifted far earlier.
Goku Never Hated Vegeta, But He Never Really Understood Him
Vegeta's Death On Namek Changed Everything
One of the biggest turning points for both Vegeta and Goku happened during the Namek Saga. Vegeta spent the majority of his life under Frieza’s control, basically stolen as a child based on false promises of keeping his father alive. Frieza relentlessly went back on that deal and destroyed the entire planet because of his fear of the legendary Super Saiyan. Vegeta spent ages chasing down this myth and the idea of immortality in order to shed the yolk of Frieza and, in his mind, take his rightful place. Vegeta’s story isn’t one that is inherently evil, but Vegeta didn’t really have a chance to be good in the way that Goku did. He was gleeful in his destruction, but he hated what Frieza had done to him.
By contrast, Goku lost that Saiyan urge to murder thousands due to a head injury he suffered as a baby. That smack to the noggin changed Goku from the ground up and turned him into the gentle soul that he would be known as. Goku’s kindness is a result of his separation from Saiyan culture and a chance of fate. While he hasn’t had the easiest life, Goku has had the chance to live on his own terms and determine his own fate in a way that Vegeta never got to experience until much later. Goku often comes into interactions with this inability to see outside himself as a person, expecting the same slate of morality and experience from others and this often causes friction. While it give him the room to be merciful, it also often leads to him making poor decisions.
This fundamental misunderstanding shifts when Vegeta is dying on Namek after being speared through the chest by a beam attack from Frieza. In a moment of incredible vulnerability, Vegeta lays his cards on the table and tells Goku everything, entrusting the man with the task of ending Frieza as a way to avenge their people. In a lot of ways, Vegeta is the one who reaches out to Goku first in a moment of desperate need. This is where Goku’s understanding and respect for Vegeta shifts. He changes in Goku’s mind from being a rival who is evil, to someone who never had the chance to be his own man and that opens up Goku’s worldview as a result. This shift is one of the most important moments in the entire anime because it shifts the axis of one of its most important relationships.
One of the best things about Dragon Ball Z is how characters change and grow in subtle ways that can be lost against all the screaming and punching. Goku and Vegeta both change for the better as a result of their rivalry and subsequent friendship. While Vegeta was directly responsible for a lot of bad things, and quite a few deaths, after that moment in the Namek Saga, Goku approaches Vegeta differently in the Cell and Buu Sagas. Goku is actively trying to get Vegeta involved with the rest of the group, offering him a place to grow into himself and Vegeta changes so much as a result. Vegeta is often easily forgiven by Goku after that point, but it makes sense. While Goku has been around people who have suffered before, Vegeta’s trauma hits closer to Goku because of the ways in which their lives had diverged from the same planet. Goku never really hated Vegeta, but he came to understand and respect him after that moment.
