The infamous dragon balls from the Dragon Ball franchise have the ability to bring forth Shenron, the eternal dragon. As long as it is within the power of Shenron’s creator, the eternal dragon can grant any wish. Once they grant a wish or two, the dragon balls turn into stone for a year.
Finding the dragon balls and summoning Shenron is the source of most of the conflicts in the series. Villains like Emperor Pilaf, the Red Ribbon Army, King Piccolo, and Frieza, have searched for the dragon balls to grant their evil wishes. Shenron and the dragon balls are pretty much the MacGuffin of the Dragon Ball universe. Shenron himself has become an iconic character. He is featured prominently in many Dragon Ball merchandises, including toys, video games, and is even featured heavily in the opening title sequences.
Shenron may be an important character in the series, fans hardly know much about him outside his role in granting wishes. A lot of information about him is generally not common knowledge, which is why we are going to go through the 20 Things You Didn’t Know About Shenron. There is more to learn about this dragon than meets the eye, and we are going to go through the twenty of the most surprising things that you probably didn’t know.
20 Shenron Can Perish
Despite being called the Eternal Dragon, Shenron is capable of perishing like any other living being. This is proven when King Piccolo exterminates Shenron in the King Piccolo saga of the original Dragon Ball. After granting Piccolo’s wish of eternal youth, Piccolo blasts the dragon to oblivion.
Up till that point, the Eternal Dragon was thought as being completely impervious; King Piccolo proved otherwise. Up till that point, the villains of Dragon Ball were mostly silly or non-threatening. Piccolo changed that in a big way, adding greater stakes to the conflict, and giving a worthy villain for Goku to face. Shenron’s passing was, in many ways, when the series started transitioning from a light-hearted martial arts story to a high tension action drama. Fortunately, Shenron is brought back to life by his creator Kami.
19 No Place Like Home
Not much thought is given to what Shenron does when he isn’t summoned to grant peoples’ wishes. In fact, I just always assumed he just doesn’t exist when he is not summoned. Like, he only comes to life every time he summons, and simply disappears out of existence until he is summoned again.
It turns out that Shenron lives in the center of the Earth
Apparently, that is not true. It turns out that Shenron lives in the center of the Earth, and is only summoned when the seven dragon balls gather. What he does there is anyone’s guess. When Kami made him, did he make in the center of the Earth, or did he teleport to the center of the Earth? Whatever was the reason, it is nice to know that Shenron has a place to call home.
18 Don’t Make Him Mad
Since no one has ever successfully wished it, many assume Shenron can’t eliminate people. If he was able to exterminate the protagonists’ enemies, than a lot of the heroes’ problems could be easily fixed. Unfortunately for Earth’s protector, Oolong tries to wish Shenron to get rid of Vegeta and Nappa before they arrived to Earth. Shenron could not comply, as both of the Saiyans were more powerful than Kami, the dragon’s creator.
Shenron makes it clear that he can’t make wishes that exceed the power of his creator Kami. However, he never states that he can’t eliminate anyone. He just can’t eliminate beings stronger than his creator. While that would make him virtually powerless to stop any foes post-Dragon Ball, it also means he could’ve been used to pretty much snuff out any of the antagonists in the original Dragon Ball show.
17 Sharing A Voice
In a time before Dragon Ball Super was even a twinkle in Toei Animation’s eye, for the longest time, Omega Shenron was considered to be the strongest Dragon Ball villain of all time. This was before Beerus, Hit, Goku Black, or Jiren ever hit television screens. Omega Shenron is the final antagonist in Dragon Ball GT. Omega is all the negative energy that the dragon balls have gathered after decades of the heroes using the dragon balls too much.
Sabat voiced a vast majority of the Dragon Ball cast
A clever thing that the English dub did with Omega is that he is voiced by Chris Sabat. That alone is unusual, as Sabat voiced a vast majority of the Dragon Ball cast including Vegeta, Piccolo, Yamcha, Racoome, and many more characters. Nonetheless, Sabat also voices Shenron. Sabat uses a more distorted version of his Shenron voice for Omega, highlighting the fact that Omega is meant to be a corrupted version of Shenron.
16 Namekians May Have Stolen This Idea
Dragon Ball Super introduces a new set of dragon balls and a new kind of Eternal Dragon. The Super Dragon Balls and Super Shenron are able to grant any wish, with no limitation. Whereas the normal dragon balls from Earth and Namek have limits of what they can do, Super Shenron does not have those limits, he can literally make any wish possible.
In a little retcon in Dragon Ball Super, it is revealed that ancient Namekians came across the Super Dragon Balls and took pieces from them to invent their own set of dragon balls. For the longest time Namekians were taking credit for the creation of the dragon balls. It turns out they actually stole the idea from someone else. If the Namekians didn’t invent dragon balls, who did?
15 Zalama, The Dragon God
Zalama is dragon god from ancient times who invented the Super Dragon Balls and Super Shenron. Not much is known about them other than the fact that they are essentially the father of all dragon balls. If Zalama didn’t invent the Super Dragon Balls, then the Namekians wouldn’t be able to take pieces of them and invent their own set of dragon balls.
No dragon balls would mean that Goku would have never met Bulma
If Namekians didn’t create their own dragon balls, then Kami wouldn’t have come up with the idea of the dragon balls for Earth either. No dragon balls would mean that Goku would have never met Bulma, meaning the entire franchise couldn’t exist without Zalama creating the Super Dragon Balls…
Unless, of course, it turns them also stole the idea from someone else, yet nothing has been revealed about that.
14 Origins Of The Shadow Dragons
After the Super 17 saga in Dragon Ball GT, the protagonists try to use the dragon balls again to wish everyone who perished back to life. Instead of normal Shenron being summoned, Black Smoke Shenron appeared. So it turns out that every time the dragon balls grant a wish, negative energies from across the universe is absorbed into the orbs. Fortunately, the orbs are able to expel these negative energies naturally over the course of a hundred years. Since in ancient times it took humans about a hundred years to gather the dragon balls anyways, it was never an issue until Bulma created the Dragon Radar.
Because finding the dragon balls became so easy for Bulma and the others to do, more and more negative energy was being built up without enough time for the orbs to expel it. All the negative energy eventually corrupted the dragon balls and created Black Smoke Shenron.
13 Black Star Dragon Balls
Surprisingly, before Kami came to be, there was another set of dragon balls on Earth. The Black Star Dragon Balls and Ultimate Shenron work pretty much the same as normal dragon balls and normal Shenron. They can grant a wish, and afterward, the seven balls will be split up. Ultimate Shenron is actually bigger than normal Shenron and is bright red.
The Earth will explode after a year when Ultimate Shenron grants the wish
The other main difference is that the Black Star Dragon Balls will scatter not across the Earth, but all across the universe. Also, the Earth will explode after a year when Ultimate Shenron grants the wish. They are meant to be more effective dragon balls, yet I find the consequences outweigh the benefits.
12 Dark Dragon Balls
Dragon Ball Heroes is a card focused arcade game released in Eastern Asia. It’s the source of very nonsensical storytelling, and fan fiction quality. In Dragon Ball Heroes there is an arc that centers on Dark Dragon Balls and Dark Shenron, and they are not the same as Black Star Dragon Balls from GT; they are apparently completely different. Dark Dragon Balls are red orbs with black stars on them. They are created by an evil version of Dende, and they are scattered across the galaxy.
Each dragon ball has latched onto some of the biggest villains in the franchise, giving them a power boost. Frieza, Cell, Kid Buu, Turles, Janemba, Lord Slug, and Broly, each has their own Dark Dragon Balls. Once all together, the orbs are used to summon Dark Shenron, who is completely evil, but still grants wishes.
11 Shenron Is Based On Chinese Lore
Despite being a Japanese product, a lot of the early elements of Dragon Ball were based on Chinese lore. The first arc of the entire series was based on the Chinese novel Journey to the West, which was about a monk traveling to India and finding some sacred scrolls through his trek. Most of the original cast of Dragon Ball was based on the characters in Journey to the West, and the dragon balls serve as the scrolls the monk is searching for.
The entire Earth gets surrounded by black clouds
Shenron is based on the mythical Chinese dragon, Shenlong. Shenlong is a spiritual dragon who controls the weather. Shenron, in a way, also controls the weather. Every time he is summoned, the entire Earth gets surrounded by black clouds.
10 Shenron Is Bonded With Its Creator
The dragon balls are a useful tool for the cast to have. If any character perishes, or a major catastrophe happens, they can just use the dragon balls to wish everything back to normal. However, here’s the catch, the dragon balls only exist as long as their creator is still alive. If their creator dies, then the dragon balls, and the Eternal Dragon, cease to exist. This happened when Kami disappeared after Piccolo’s passing; the dragon balls on Earth were briefly gone. The same thing when Guru passed during the Namek Saga, the Namekian dragon balls also became stone and no longer work.
Ownership of the Namekian dragon balls can, fortunately, be passed down. Guru, after being temporarily resurrected by Earth’s dragon balls, was able to pass down guardianship of the dragon balls to his heir Moori. When Dende came to Earth to replace Kami, he had to create his own dragon using what remained of the original Shenron.
9 Dende Can Turn Shenron Off
The dragon balls have always been an easy out for the characters to use. Chaos and destruction became nonissues for the protagonists as they can literally wish all their problems away. It is honestly one of the more frustrating aspects of Dragon Ball, as mortality really loses meaning once the dragon balls were able to pretty much make any wish possible.
Dende apparently turned off the dragon balls and Shenron
It seems like Dende was just as frustrated with Earthlings overreliance on the dragon balls as the fans were. In Dragon Ball Online, a Dragon Ball MMORPG, Dende apparently turned off the dragon balls and Shenron after the defeat of Kid Buu. He is eventually forced to reactivate Shenron during the course of Online’s story mode in order to aid the players.
8 100 Days
When Kami and Piccolo became one again, the dragon balls became useless again, as Kami no longer exists. Goku then brings Dende from Namek to replace Kami as Earth’s Guardian. Using what remains of Kami’s Shenron, he is able to revive a “new” and improved Shenron. Dende’s Shenron is now able to grant two wishes rather than a single wish.
It was good fortune that Dende was able to reuse the old Shenron to make an upgraded version of the Eternal Dragon. If Dende had to rebuild a new dragon from scratch, he claims that it would take about a hundred days. A hundred days seems like a relatively small amount of time to create something so omnipotent.
7 There Are Other Dragons In Dragon Ball
Shenron and the other Eternal Dragons are not the only dragons within the Dragon Ball universe. Well, at least not in the world of filler in Dragon Ball. In filler episodes of Dragon Ball Z, Gohan had a pet dragon named Icarus. Icarus was kind of a baby dragon, first appearing in the Tree of Might movie. He would disappear around the time Gohan goes to High School. It is never explained how Icarus, who was clearly labeled as a dragon, is related to the Eternal Dragons, the only other known dragons in the world Dragon Ball.
Gohan had a pet dragon named Icarus
Side note, King Ghidorah, the giant dragon monster from the Godzilla franchise, makes a background cameo in the original Dragon Ball show. It turns out Akira Toriyama, the author of the Dragon Ball manga, likes to make reference to Ghidorah his other work as well.
6 Shenron Knew The Origins Of The Super Saiyan God
Shenron seems to know everything. He knew who Beerus was when he met him, even though most of the other cast didn’t even know he existed beforehand. Only some of the Kais knew Lord Beerus existed; not even the Supreme Kai was aware of Beerus. Piccolo (who is fused with Kami) and Dende also didn’t have knowledge about Beerus, so how does Shenron have that knowledge? How can Shenron have information that not even his creators were aware of?
He also somehow knew what the Super Saiyan God was as well, yet, Goku wasted a wish to get that information out of him. Wishes are illogical in nature, so they can break any rules for all I care. It just doesn’t make much sense for him to know who Beerus was. Who told him, or is he just Omni-knowledgeable?
5 Shenron Is Summoned Nine Times
The Dragon Ball Z show is often time is split into four main sagas; Saiyan, Namek, Androids, and Majin Buu Sagas. Across the four sagas, Shenron has been summoned five times. He is summoned once in the Saiyan Saga when the cast used their one wish to revive Goku. He is then summoned again in the Namek Saga; King Kai has Kami and Mr. Popo use their wish to revive all the innocents slain by Frieza and his forces. In the Androids Saga, the new and improved Shenron is summoned to grant two wishes. The two wishes were to revive everyone Cell eliminated and to remove the bombs in Androids 17 and 18.
The new and improved Shenron is summoned to grant two wishes
Shenron is summoned twice in the Buu Saga. The first time he summoned by Bulma, who wanted to use a wish to resurrect all the good people Vegeta harmed while under Babidi’s control. Finally, the heroes will summon him one last time to erase the Earth’s population memories of Majin Buu. He was also summoned four times in the original Dragon Ball series.
4 Shenron Has Appeared In Eleven Dragon Ball Movies
Recently Toei has announced that there will be a new Dragon Ball movie for December of this year. It would be the twentieth film in the Dragon Ball franchise (not including the awful Dragon Ball Evolution). Shenron, at this point, has already appeared in eleven of the current nineteen movies. He is generally used in these films by the villains to grant their wish. He appears in Curse of the Blood Rubies, Mystical Adventure, Dead Zone, The World’s Strongest, The Tree of Might, Lord Slug, Fusion Reborn, Wrath of the Dragon, The Path to Power, Battle of Gods, and Resurrection ‘F’. Even though his appearances in all these films are mostly just cameos, he is still one of the most recurring characters in all the films.
3 Shenron Has Never Messed Up Anyone’s Wish (Except Pilaf)
The old telling, be careful what you wish for, is never really an issue when dealing with Shenron. Whatever wish you want from him, he will grant it consequence free. His wishes never backfire on the wisher, and they are always granted with what the wisher had in mind. For example, when King Piccolo wishes for eternal youth, Shenron didn’t turn him into a child or a baby. He turns him into his prime, which is what King Piccolo intended when he wished it.
The only real time a wish has royally screwed over someone was with Emperor Pilaf, who wished for him and his lackey’s youth back. It surprisingly backfires on him, one of the few times, if not only times, that Shenron has granted a wish too literal. He transforms Pilaf and his gang into babies. Why he chose to go so literally with Pilaf, yet gave Piccolo exactly what he wanted, is beyond me.
2 Shenron Can Be Revived
When King Piccolo eliminated Shenron at the beginning of the King Piccolo Saga in Dragon Ball, the Earth’s dragon balls were no more. They were turned to stones, and the protagonists had no way to use them to bring back the people being exterminated by King Piccolo and his children. Goku, after defeating King Piccolo, makes his way to Kami’s lookout. Kami then revives Shenron, allowing Bulma and the others to revive everyone harmed by Piccolo.
Kami then revives Shenron
It is a nice safety measure to have, in case anyone else decides to eliminate Shenron again. As long his creator is still alive, Shenron can always be revived. It looks like the only way to get rid of Shenron for good is to take out his guardian.
1 Shenron Can Leave Earth Any Time He Wants
Shenron may live in the center of the Earth, he isn’t bound to it. In the last episode of Dragon Ball GT, Shenron decides to leave the planet. The dragon balls became corrupted by being overused and having too much negative energy being built up. The Shadow Dragons were born out of this and were a threat to the universe. After the heroes defeated the last dragon, Shenron suddenly appears and chooses to leave Earth to prevent more people from overusing the dragon balls ever again.
He takes Goku with him, resulting in one of the better episodes of Dragon Ball GT. It felt fitting that the namesake dragon balls would be the focus of the last episode, and it was almost sobering to see Shenron and Goku leave the planet. It was honestly a better ending than what Z gave us, and I can only hope Dragon Ball Super can give us fans an even better ending to the Dragon Ball Saga.
