Son Goku is the main protagonist of the Dragon Ball series. Goku is a Saiyan male originally sent to destroy Earth as a newborn. After a head injury at an early age alters his memory, ridding him of his initial destructive nature and allowing him to grow up to become one of Earth's greatest defenders. He constantly strives and trains to be the greatest warrior possible, which has kept the Earth and the universe safe from destruction many times. .

Son Goku

Son Goku (孫そん悟ご空くう Son Gokū), born Kakarot (カカロット Kakarotto) is pure of heart, possessing no negative feelings or thoughts. He is highly loyal to his friends and family, even willing to sacrifice himself to save others as he did against Raditz and Cell. He strongly believes in repaying debts, as he gave the then-evil Vegeta a Senzu Bean for technically saving Gohan and Krillin from the Ginyu Force. He is a man of his word, committed to keeping his promise no matter what; 2 prime examples being the resurrection of Bora and giving the Omni-King a friend even more fun than himself. He has a very practical and carefree view of life and his goals are very simple; he only seeks new adventures and challenges like testing his limits as a warrior. He has no interest in luxury or high-ranking positions, as he rejected Kami's offer to become Guardian of Earth and, likewise, Whis' offer to become the next Universe 7 God of DeWestruction, though the latter was mainly due to his morality making him unsuitable for it. At the same time, he shows such unwavering will and tenacity to succeed, always determined to never give up against any adversity.

Goku has been noted several times to have a special effect on people. His genuine compassion for others and love of life in its most simple nature is capable of inspiring them to change somewhat for the better, even causing several of his enemies to become his allies. He convinced the amoral and self-absorbed God of Destruction Beerus that Earth was worth keeping around. He made the reserved assassin Hit smile in genuine happiness, viewing Goku as an equal. He piqued the interest and became a friend of Grand Zeno, the most powerful being in the multiverse, due to his similar childlike, innocent personality. He made the immensely independent Jiren acknowledge Goku's view of companionship and sought to learn from Goku's example. He even made the spiteful and sadistically greedy Frieza come to truly respect Goku, despite his long-standing hatred of the Saiyan after their brief alliance. His passion to help people even inspired Merus, a Guiding Angel, to willingly violate Angel Law and directly engage against evil with his true divine powers, knowing the penalty of it.

He has shown such innocence since childhood, mainly because of spending most of his childhood on Mount Paozu in isolation, apart from the first few years of his life with his grandfather, and spending his adolescence traveling the world to sharpen his combat skills. This lack of social experience and proper education growing up (apart from the basic education from Master Roshi) left him rather ignorant in many things outside of battle and had little development in emotional maturity. During his childhood, he originally had difficulty telling the difference between a male and a female without physically touching them, which often got him in trouble.

Son Goku Abilities

Goku Kamehameha

Goku's signature move since obtaining it. It unleashes a powerful and long-stretching blue energy blast from his cupped hands. Goku first learns the move as a kid after witnessing Master Roshi using it. It can be charged to compete with practically any enemy attack. Since mastering this technique, Goku has continued to improve on it and develop new variations of it.

Goku Kaio-ken

Goku learns this technique while training under King Kai after dying against Raditz. While using it and any of its multipliers, Goku's various capacities and techniques are all proportionally increased. However, the strain of using too high a multiplier and/or for too long can be dangerous and greatly damage his body. As such, he ceased using it after his gaining Super Saiyan. While he can combine the two powers, Goku never tried this while alive as doing so could lead to near-certain death. Later, however, with his Super Saiyan Blue, taking advantage of his divine form's superior energy control and more naturally calm-mindedness, he was able to use this technique more regularly.

Goku Spirit Bomb

Easily Goku's most powerful techniques and arguably the strongest in the series, it allows Goku to channel ki from all sources of life that he can detect and focus it all into a single energy ball. It was taught to him by King Kai during his training for the upcoming battle against Vegeta and Nappa. Over time, Goku continually learned to expand the range of which he could gather energy, thereby increasing both the size and power of the Spirit Bomb. He reserves this technique as a last-ditch effort for only the most powerful of foes.

Goku Instant Transmission

Goku learns this technique on the Planet Yardrat after his battle with Frieza by learning Spirit Control - which also allowed him to sense ki from a much greater distance. This technique allows him to teleport to any location so long as he can find an energy source to home onto. However, it also greatly extends his ability to sense energy. Noticeably in Yo Son Goku, he seemingly improved on the technique as transports to the radish field without sensing anyone, possibly because he had accurate enough knowledge of where it is.

Goku Dragon Fist

A technique that generates a giant gold serpentine-dragon from Goku’s charging body and extended fist that will attack and ensnare the target before erupting in a large exploding. While never seen in the original manga, Goku uses this technique in Wrath of the Dragon to defeat Hirudegarn. He also uses this in Dragon Ball GT.

Goku Evil Containment Wave

A technique learned from Master Roshi to battle Goku Black and Future Zamasu. It binds a target in a swirling stream of green energy before being guided into a container. It also requires a special tag to properly complete the sealing. While normally life-threatening to use, Goku's immense power lets him use this multiple times without even remotely exhausting any of his strength. The benefit of the technique is to defeat enemies they cannot or will not kill.

Goku Autonomous Ultra Instinct

The art of automatic self-movement, Goku began learning this from Whis. During the Tournament of Power, Goku unlocked a special state, enabling him to put to usage this skill. While very crude at first and only able to apply it defensively, he ultimately learned to complete this power to defend and attack simultaneously with optimum efficiency. With this power, he is able to instinctively and instantly react to any nearby threat in the most effective way possible. Initially, Goku's usage of this ability was only unlocked subconsciously during dire situations and he was unable to activate it at will after the Tournament of Power.

With further training from Merus, Goku unlocked the ability to use the ability with his own will, consciously activating the both forms at will. However, Whis has stated that Goku is on the bottom rung of level in Ultra Instinct as his accuracy with it is his own (Whis), and the Grand Minister's. To which, Goku began training under Whis in learning to access the fundamentals of Ultra Instinct in base form, so as to build a better basis for when accessing the enhanced form. After training, he becomes capable of using Ultra Instinct in his base form, though his control with it is still imperfect. He's capable of heightening his precision with Ultra Instinct with Super Saiyan God, a state that focuses on calm and methodical fighting, though even in this state, it's still imperfect, as Granolah was capable of catching him off-guard.

Goku Quotes

Yo, I’m Goku

Power comes in response to a need, not a desire.

I am the hope of the universe...I am the answer to all living things that cry out for peace...I am the protector of the innocent...I am the light in the darkness...I am truth. Ally to good...Nightmare to you!

I am looking at things from a much higher perspective than you. I observe this world, this universe, the truth of all things. And I have realized that humans must be destroyed...Out of all which the gods have made, mortals are their sole failure. In order to make this world, this universe, into a beautiful utopia, I must remove humanity, in place of the gods who refuse to admit their mistake.

I don’t understand why you call Saiyans by such mindless names. The only thing it does is reveal your own fear and ignorance. I guess name calling is your only attack, because you’re too weak to challenge me any other way.

It looks like they only want me, and that’s exactly who they’ll get

Don’t get ahead of yourself, you haven’t beaten us yet.

Show them what a Saiyan is made of!

I could go one step farther If I wanted to.

Your new form is burning through more power than your body can supply. You should have waited until you were used to this form and knew how to regulate it before you started picking fights.

With my new found power, I can beat anyone!

Kaio-ken holds no limits to the amount of power that can be stored.

I am going to be a lot stronger than I ever was!

I’ve spent months preparing for the day I’d face you in your final form. I’ve come a long way, Cell.

Maybe you’ll come back someday as…as a better person, I hope. I’d like that. Perhaps we’ll have a little one on one

I think I know how to get that smirk off your ugly mug. I’m going to renovate your face.

With my new found power, I can beat anyone!

Well, if your friend is stronger than you, I guess you’re the third strongest Saiyan now.