Son Goku

Portrait of a muscular martial artist with spiky black hair in an orange gi with a blue undershirt, fists clenched and glowing with energy

Also known as: Kakarot; Son (by Master Roshi and old friends)
Birthday: Born years before the series begins
Height: Around 175 cm
Rank: Low-class Saiyan warrior by birth
Team: Z Fighters / Earth's defenders
Clan: Saiyan race; Son family of Mount Paozu
Occupation: Martial artist and farmer
Japanese voice: Masako Nozawa
English voice: Sean Schemmel (Funimation); Peter Kelamis and Ian James Corlett (Ocean dub)
Affiliation: Z Fighters
First appearance: Episode 1 (Saiyan Saga)
Series: Dragon Ball Z

Who is Son Goku?

A Saiyan sent to destroy Earth as an infant, Goku instead grew up among humans and became the planet's foremost defender. Cheerful, blunt and endlessly curious about stronger opponents, he trains obsessively yet fights to protect his family and friends rather than for conquest. His willingness to spare enemies repeatedly reshapes the story, turning former destroyers into reluctant allies, and his death and returns drive much of the series.

Appearance

A compact but densely muscled martial artist with permanently wild black hair that sticks up in stiff points and never changes shape. He wears a loose orange gi over a blue undershirt, blue wrist wraps and blue boots, with a school crest on the chest or back that changes as he trains under different masters. His eyes are dark and round, giving him an open, boyish look even in adulthood. When he dies he keeps a glowing ring above his head. Transformed, his hair stands rigid and turns gold, his eyes become green and his aura flares white-gold.

Personality

Cheerful, direct and almost childishly simple outside combat, he cares more about good food, good friends and a good fight than about money, titles or responsibility. His kindness is genuine: he routinely spares enemies, trusts people who have tried to kill him and gives opponents time to recover or power up, a habit that repeatedly endangers the planet. Underneath that is a Saiyan hunger for stronger rivals that he rarely admits to, and a competitive streak that can make him reckless. He is a poor student, an absent-minded husband and an inattentive father, yet in a crisis he becomes calm, decisive and willing to die without hesitation for the world.

Background

Born on Planet Vegeta as Kakarot, a low-class infant sent to Earth to conquer it, he was found in the mountains by the hermit Son Gohan, who named and raised him. A fall as an infant erased his violent programming and left him gentle. He grew up alone after his grandfather's death, then met Bulma and travelled the world gathering the Dragon Balls, trained under Master Roshi and Korin, fought in the World Martial Arts Tournament, destroyed the Red Ribbon Army and defeated King Piccolo. He won the tournament and married Chi-Chi, settling into quiet country life and raising a son before his Saiyan heritage caught up with him.

Role in Dragon Ball Z

Saiyan Arc
His brother Raditz arrives and reveals his alien origin; Goku allows Piccolo to kill him along with Raditz, then trains in the afterlife with King Kai. Revived by the Dragon Balls, he reaches the battlefield as his allies are dying and fights Nappa and Vegeta, using the Kaio-ken and a Spirit Bomb to survive the Saiyan prince.
Namek and Frieza
Recovering in a medical pod, he travels to Namek too late to save most of his friends. He pushes himself in high gravity during the trip, holds his own against Frieza, and when Krillin is killed he transforms into a Super Saiyan for the first time, fighting through the planet's destruction before escaping offworld.
Androids and Cell
Warned of a lethal future, he is crippled by a heart virus mid-battle and spends much of the conflict recovering. He trains with Gohan in the Room of Spirit and Time, fights Cell at the tournament and then withdraws in favour of his son, finally teleporting the self-destructing Cell away and choosing to remain dead.
Majin Buu
Granted a single day among the living, he enters the World Tournament, reveals Super Saiyan 3 against Majin Buu and teaches his sons the Fusion Dance. Restored to life, he fuses with Vegeta as Vegetto, is absorbed and later gathers energy from the people of Earth for a final Spirit Bomb.

Abilities and techniques

Kamehameha

His signature energy wave, learned by sight from Master Roshi. Cupped hands gather ki that is released as a concentrated beam; he can fire it one-handed, from odd angles, or stack it with transformations and the Kaio-ken for enormous output.

Kaio-ken

A King Kai technique that multiplies his ki, speed and strength in set folds while wreathing him in red aura. The strain damages his own body, so he uses it in bursts, most famously layering it onto a Kamehameha against Vegeta.

Spirit Bomb

He borrows energy from the surrounding environment or from living beings and compresses it into a vast sphere. Gathering it leaves him defenceless, and it works best against the malicious, which makes it a desperate last resort rather than a staple.

Super Saiyan transformations

Grief on Namek triggers the golden-haired Super Saiyan state; later he masters it for everyday use and develops the bulkier second grade and the long-haired, heavily draining Super Saiyan 3, each stage multiplying his power at increasing cost.

Instant Transmission

Learned from the Yardrats, this lets him vanish and reappear at any ki signature he can sense, across continents or planets. He adapts it offensively, teleporting behind opponents and using it to carry a detonating enemy away from Earth.

Combat instinct and adaptability

Decades of tournament fighting give him an uncanny ability to read opponents, copy techniques after seeing them once and improvise mid-exchange, often closing power gaps through sheer technical skill and stubbornness.

Relationships

Chi-Chi: Wife; She keeps their household together and pushes their sons toward schooling while he vanishes for months of training or dies outright. Their bond is affectionate but strained by his indifference to domestic life.
Son Gohan: Elder son; He recognises enormous hidden potential in his gentle son and trains him hard, eventually stepping aside and entrusting the world to him, a decision that defines both of their arcs.
Vegeta: Rival turned ally; Their relationship moves from attempted murder to grudging partnership. Vegeta's obsession with surpassing him drives much of the saga, while Goku treats him as the rival he always wanted.
Piccolo: Former enemy and comrade; Once his deadliest foe, Piccolo kills him to stop Raditz, then becomes Gohan's mentor and one of Earth's staunchest defenders, a transformation Goku accepts without reservation.
Krillin: Oldest friend; They trained together under Master Roshi and remain close; Krillin's death at Frieza's hands is the trigger for his first Super Saiyan transformation.

Notable moments

He lets Piccolo impale him along with Raditz, choosing his own death to stop his brother's invasion.
Krillin's murder on Namek pushes him into the first Super Saiyan transformation seen in the series.
He uses Instant Transmission to carry a self-destructing Cell off the planet, dying to save everyone present.
He unveils Super Saiyan 3 against Majin Buu while on borrowed time among the living.
In the closing episodes he leaves with Uub to train him, flying off on a new adventure.

Trivia

Masako Nozawa voices him in Japanese along with Gohan and Goten.
The crest on his gi changes over the series to reflect his current teacher.
He spends a large portion of the Android and Cell arcs either ill or deceased.
His Saiyan birth name, Kakarot, is used almost exclusively by Vegeta and other Saiyans.
He is notoriously squeamish about needles despite enduring extreme physical punishment.