Introduced initially as a foil to Goku, Vegeta was never supposed to last this long. He was a one-note character, an enemy to challenge Goku, who he deemed a worthless traitor. Yet as time went on and his popularity rose, Vegeta became a character with depth, with motivations and behaviors that reflected a character with much more going on beneath the surface.
In this article, we want to examine Vegeta’s central traits, his inner motivations, and things he may not want to admit to himself or to others. Here is a list of 10 Things No One Understands About Vegeta.
10 Vegeta Seeks A Family To Fill The Void
Despite initially leading a Saiyan strike force to Earth with the intention of recruiting Goku, Vegeta has mostly been a lone wolf. But after Bulma left Yamcha she found comfort in Vegeta, even though he had previously been bemused by her treatment of him. When they coupled, Vegeta allowed himself to finally pursue a family to fill the void of death of his own family had left. In this way, he is accepting that he is becoming a patriarch not just to his own family, but to Saiyans as well.
9 Vegeta Compensates For His Height
Everyone is familiar with the term “Napoleon Complex” or, more derogatorily, “Little Man Syndrome,” wherein a shorter person feels compelled to prove themselves despite their lack of height. This is fully evident in Vegeta, who has been portrayed as one of the shortest adults in the Dragon Ball family (with only Krillin being shorter than him). Outside of a weird, unexplained height gain in Dragon Ball Super (where he mysteriously becomes taller than Bulma), one sees many telltale signs that Vegeta’s height motivates his behavior, especially when standing side-by-side with Goku.
8 Vegeta Never Fulfilled His Revenge Against Frieza.
This lack of resolution on his part may have led to him embracing a family life. As popular fiction often says, lust for revenge can never be satisfied – Vegeta may never have settled down. Who’s to say that if he were the one to end Frieza that he still would have reformed?
True, he was able to gain closure of sorts when Frieza was killed first by Goku and then by Future Trunks, but with his vengeance never truly realized, Vegeta was able to embrace living a full life.
7 Vegeta Conceals His Greatest Fear
During the course of the Fusion Saga, Goku and Vegeta are confronted by monstrous roundworms, and while Goku is able to keep his cool, Vegeta becomes frantic. It’s amazing that, despite all the threats he’s faced across the universe, Vegeta doesn’t show true fear until he confronts these worms. We never learn what it is about those creatures that terrify him, nor do we know if he ever found out that they’re pretty commonplace on Earth but getting just a peek behind that curtain left an impression on many fans.
6 Vegeta Calls Goku “Kakarot” To Continue Saiyan culture.
Another example of Vegeta dealing with the traumatic annihilation of his planet is how he continues to call Goku by his Saiyan moniker, Kakarot. Vegeta recognizes that he and Goku were the only pureblood Saiyans left, and as part of a royal lineage, Vegeta honors his culture most of all.
To call Kakarot “Goku” would be to accept the decimation of the Saiyan society and letting go is something that Vegeta continually struggles with. As of this writing, Vegeta has only said “Goku” eight times in all of Dragon Ball.
5 Vegeta Has A Fragile Ego
Taking offense at even the smallest insult throughout the course of the show may seem like indication enough that Vegeta owns tissue-paper soft self-esteem, but it’s not until his own daughter made fun of his mustache that we see just how fragile his ego truly is. Bulla mildly insults her father – who had grown facial hair like his own father – and Vegeta has to almost immediately shave it off. He’s been called much, much worse than a “geek,” but having his daughter burn him reveals just how sensitive he can truly be.
4 Vegeta Feels An Obligation To Power From His Family
As the son of King Vegeta on the planet of Vegeta, Vegeta leaned hard into his lineage to define his status and power. In fact, with the appearance of Super Saiyan God Yamoshi to Goku, one has to wonder if Vegeta’s lineage is even more substantial than previously thought. His nearly constant, brutal training – “torture” as Goku called it – pushes Vegeta to greater heights of power worthy of his royal Saiyan bloodline. To reach a plateau would be disrespectful to all his forefathers, and Vegeta would never allow it.
3 Vegeta Hasn’t Truly Accepted His Father’s Death
Over the course of the Dragon Ball saga, Vegeta loves few things more than referring to himself as the Prince of Saiyans. Losing his planet and his family had an incredible impact on Vegeta, and he turned to vengeance and bitterness as a way to cope. In fact, his reluctance to even call himself the King of Saiyans reflects a part of him that won’t accept the fact his father is truly gone. One has to surmise that eventually, Vegeta will accept his role as a leader to his people.
2 Vegeta Is Learning How To Express Love
In the Saiyan culture, might makes right, and the mightiest rules the world. When they were children, Vegeta and Tarble were subjected to this rule, with Tarble even being banished to another planet for his perceived weaknesses.
This iron-fisted parenting made an incredible impact on Vegeta, and his interactions with Bulma and young Trunks shows how it’s still something he struggles with. Vegeta shows his love through violent repercussions against those that would hurt his family, but he’s still learning how to show love in a human way.
1 Vegeta Doesn’t Dwell On His Body Count
All of the main heroes in Dragon Ball have taken lives, including Goku, over the course of the narrative. What’s incredible is that they all show a degree of regret or sorrow for their kills, except Vegeta. In fact, it’s astounding to consider that Vegeta not only doesn’t show remorse, but he has by far the highest body count of any of the heroes. Vegeta, whether working in conjuncture with Frieza, under any other being’s influence, or even on his own, has killed thousands, maybe millions of sentient life forms.