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The Son family is the main family in Dragon Ball, and consists of six known members, plus extended family and an unspecified number of unnamed members. This is one of the two families in the series to have the Earthling and Saiyan bloodlines (the other being the Brief family).

Overview

Gohan,GotenAndChiChi

The Son family having breakfast

The Son family is introduced in the series with the character Son Goku, whose name is the Japanese on'yomi rendering of Sun Wukong, a character from popular Chinese and Japanese cultures. Unlike most associated characters, the Son family does not have a theme of naming.

Yosonfamily

The Son family as they appear in Yo! Son Goku & his friends Return!!

The Sons are noted as a family from Mount Paozu in the series. Supporting the fact that the Sons are an Eastern family, the Sons' last name is placed in front of the individual's name, which is consistent with family names in the real-life Eastern cultures. Furthermore, the Sons tend to wear traditional Asian styled garbs for their regular clothing.

Family History

The Son family originated from Grandpa Gohan, who adopted the infant Saiyan child Kakarot, whom he renamed Son Goku in Age 737. Goku was born on Planet Vegeta as the second and youngest son of Bardock and Gine, making him the younger brother of Gine and Bardock's eldest son, Raditz. Goku was sent to Earth to destroy all mortal life on it but a head injury wiped away all his memories and he forgot his mission, and Goku was raised as an Earthling. In the Dragon Ball Minus manga, the three year old Kakarot was sent to Earth by Bardock and Gine as Bardock had a bad premonition about Frieza's orders for the Saiyans to all return to Planet Vegeta, which later proved true as the order was part of Frieza's planned Genocide of the Saiyans. Both Kakarot and his elder brother Raditz (who was off world conquering a planet with the young Saiyan Prince Vegeta according to Dragon Ball Minus) survived the genocide as they were off world at the time. Up until the Raditz Saga, Goku was only known by his adoptive name and continued to stand by it even after he learned about his Saiyan heritage from his elder brother. At age 12, Goku meets Chi-Chi and inadvertently becomes engaged to her when she falls madly in love with him. Chi-Chi is the daughter of Ox-King, who is the ruler of Fire Mountain. Five years later, Goku decides to fulfill his childhood promise to Chi-Chi and marries her in a traditional ceremony, much to the delight of her father, Ox-King. After their first year as a married couple, Chi-Chi gives birth to their first son, whom Goku names Gohan after his adoptive grandfather. Goku and Chi-Chi prove to be loving and doting parents and Ox-King as a grandfather. However, Goku wanted to train Gohan in martial arts to follow the family tradition but Chi-Chi never takes to this and is adamant Gohan dedicate his time and strength to studying so he can become a scholar. Goku, although confused, lets Chi-Chi dominate the lives of her husband and son due to his fear of her temper. When Gohan gets older and proves to be potentially one of the strongest people ever known, Goku uses this revelation to train him and teaches him everything he knows to be a warrior. Goku is too occupied with training and Chi-Chi is too focused on educating Gohan to the point both have to rely on her father to support the family financially.

When Goku learns about his heritage and previous mission from Raditz, Goku rejects it all and kills Raditz for kidnapping and threatening Gohan's life. All his life, Goku never acknowledged Raditz as his brother and initially rejected his Saiyan heritage until the Frieza Saga, during which he decided to accept it after learning of Frieza's role in the Genocide of the Saiyans from the dying Vegeta. He later encourages Gohan to accept his own Saiyan heritage in order to defeat Cell.

When Gohan is eleven, Goku sacrifices himself to help Gohan stop Cell. Unknown to him at the time, Chi-Chi was pregnant with their second son, and several months later, Goten is born. Goku wouldn't get meet his new son until the boy is seven-years-old, and Goku immediately embraces his youngest son without hesitation despite the sudden revelation. When Gohan is seventeen, he meets Videl, whom he learns is the daughter of the fraud Mr. Satan, and falls in love with her. After his resurrection during the Kid Buu Saga, Goku and his family are able to live together once more. Chi-Chi forces Goku to work as a radish farmer to support their family when her father loses his fortune in a fire and is unable to finance the family anymore. Gohan and Videl marry after a three-year courtship and Gohan fulfills his mother's dream in becoming a scholar, but he returns to martial arts when a situation involving the safety of his family and the planet calls for it. Videl gives birth to a girl named Pan the following year. Pan would later learn martial arts from both of her grandfathers. At the end of Dragon Ball GT, Goku leaves to train with Shenron and disappears. The Son family would live in peace for the next several years and by Age 880, the only known Son family members left are Pan and her descendant, Goku Jr..

Family of Martial Artists

Several members of the Son Family and their extended family are trained Martial Artists and have at least two members who are both champions of the World Martial Arts Tournament, Goku and Mr. Satan, while Videl happens to be a Champion of the World Martial Arts Tournament's Junior Division. At least three members of the family Ox King, Grandpa Gohan, and Goku are students of Master Roshi's Turtle School. Son Goku originally learned Martial Arts from his Grandpa Gohan and went on to train under the likes of Master Roshi, Korin, Kami, King Kai, and Whis. Likewise Chi-Chi was trained by her father Ox King, though she did not allow Goku to train their eldest son, Gohan due to her fear that Gohan would end up like his father without a proper education and viewed Martial Arts as unnecessary and a distraction from his studies, however following Goku's first death, Gohan was trained in martial arts by his father's rival Piccolo and would later train under his father Goku, and received training on the Sacred World of the Kais under Shin and after breaking the Z Sword, had his potential unlocked by Old Kai. His alternate timeline counterpart Future Gohan would become Future Trunks martial arts teacher training him in a method similar to that of his late mentor Future Piccolo, and pass on to him knowledge of swordsmanship and techniques like the Masenko.

As a scholar, Gohan would later go on to write a book called Groundbreaking Science in Age 804, in which he compiled all of his research into the nature of ki and martial arts of the past. His book introduced the concept of ki to the masses and sparked a new wave of interest in the martial arts, resulting in the founding of New Turtle School by Krillin and New Crane School by Tien Shinhan. Goten ironically learned the basics of martial arts from his mother Chi-Chi whose views on martial arts had changed in the wake of Goku's second death during the Cell Games and decided to train Goten personally much like how her father taught her, Goten would later train under with his brother who taught him how to fly alongside Videl, and later under Piccolo during his fusion training with Trunks. Inspired by a passage from his brother's book Groundbreaking Science, Goten began studying swordsmanship with Trunks and together they co-founded the Kikoukenjutsu Sword School which in Age 820 foiled an attempted takeover by remnants of the Frieza Force.

Like her mother-in-law Chi-Chi, Videl was trained in the basics by her father, the World Champion Mr. Satan and often trained at her father's Satan House dojo, though she proved to be a more serious martial artist and later blackmailed Gohan to train her how to fly using ki resulting in her learning Ki control. Mr. Satan himself trained at Satan Castle in his youth. While Mr. Satan is not as strong a Martial Artist as most of the world believes, he is still capable enough to defeat the likes of Spopovich (before he was possessed by Babidi) and Lord Jaguar (during a fight while both were in high school) in a fight. Ironically, both Goku and Mr. Satan have fought Mercenary Tao when they were young martial artists, with both managing to survive an encounter with the deadly assassin, Goku during his conflict with the Red Ribbon Army while Mr. Satan's encounter occurred while he was training at Satan Castle, when he and his mentor made the mistake of mocking Tao unaware he was a deadly assassin. While Mr. Satan was badly injured during his encounter with Tao, he survived while mentor was killed, causing him to be more cautious when facing opponents stronger than himself. Though Mr. Satan was considered a joke by the Z Fighters and Cell, he did play a role in the defeat of Cell as he throw Android 16's still functional head to near where Gohan was allowing the Android to encourage Gohan to let go of his rage before it was crushed by Cell, which caused Gohan to transform into his Super Saiyan form. He also ended up taking credit for Cell's defeat which allowed Gohan to live in peace with his mother and little brother. Unlike her father, Videl was more dedicated to training and took martial arts seriously becoming Junior Division Champion during the 24th World Martial Arts Tournament and using her fighting skills to help defend Satan City. While she at first believed her father was responsible for defeating Cell, she herself did have doubts about his claims and through her interactions with Gohan and researching the Cell Games footage she began to suspect he was the young boy who fought Cell, realizing her father had simply taken credit for Cell's defeat though she was actually relieved when she later learn the truth from Gohan.

Coming from such a long line of martial artists, Pan trained under both her grandfathers Goku and Mr. Satan (like her mother she occasionally would train at Satan House dojo with Mr. Satan's other students), as well as being trained by both her parents, and occasionally sparred with her uncle Goten as well as his best friend Trunks. As she was introduced to the martial arts very early in her life, able to fly and even participate in the World Tournament effortlessly defeating older martial artists like Wild Tiger at the age of four. In Age 794, Pan herself became a martial arts instructor of Pan Fighting Network and as a 100-year-old grandmother she trained her grandson Goku Jr. in the martial arts as her grandfather did with her, continuing the tradition started by Grandpa Gohan and Goku.

Given their background as low class soldiers in the Saiyan Army, Goku's parents Bardock and Gine, as well as their eldest son Raditz trained in the fighting arts as well due to the Saiyan's warrior culture and strong combat instincts, though due to her gentle nature and poor fighting ability, Gine would retire from the army and fighting. However Bardock and Gine were low class warriors though Bardock was quite strong for a Saiyan of his class, and Raditz was mid class. It should also be noted that both Bardock and even Gine were capable of enduing ten times the Earth's gravity due to living on Planet Vegeta. Additionally, while stronger than most Earthlings, they, like most Saiyans, were unaware of certain abilities such as Ki Sense, forcing them to rely on Scouters. Raditz himself was surprised his brother's ability to concentrate his ki and how Goku and Gohan were able to change their power levels. Raditz was also stated to have a power level equal to the Saibamen used by Nappa and Vegeta during the Saiyan conflict, though his strength was superior to Goku's at least before his death and training under King Kai, though Raditz himself admitted that Gohan's power was abnormal and greater than himself. Due to the gentle nature of Goku, his sons, and Goku Jr. all, they all apparently had greater amounts of S-Cells which required to become Super Saiyans, making it easier for them to achieve the Super Saiyan forms. Additionally, while Bardock was capable of ruthless slaughter, he cared greatly for his comrades and was protective of Gine while on missions which lead to their romantic relationship which itself was a rarity among Saiyans and Bardock himself often joked that he had contracted Gine's "sickness" (gentle nature), indicating he too also had a greater amount of S-Cells which is supported by his acquiring his Super Saiyan transformation in Episode of Bardock.

While Gine herself likely had a high level of S-Cells due to her gentle personality, her retirement from the Saiyan Army and death during the Genocide of the Saiyans meant she herself was never able to acquire the form. Due to both his gentle nature and love of fighting, Goku was the first Saiyan in 1000 years to achieve form after his best friend was killed by Frieza. Additionally Goten had the additional advantage of being conceived several years after Goku become a Super Saiyan, thus along with his gentle nature explains how he was able to transform at such a young age. While he had to work harder to obtain the form, Gohan (and his future counterpart) his gentle nature combined with his hidden potential allowed him to acquire it much earlier than his father did and become the first person in his family to achieve Super Saiyan 2. Goku Jr. also likely benefited from being descendant from Gohan through his grandmother Pan. While Pan herself has never been shown to have acquired the transformation, she does have the potential to achieve it as her father was a Super Saiyan long before she was conceived. Additionally, Videl briefly took on a Super Saiyan-like form during the Super Saiyan God ritual, due to being pregnant with the partial Saiyan Pan at the time. It is unknown if any of Pan's children acquire the form, though given that Goku Jr. was able to acquire it, they presumably would have the potential to obtain it due to being descended from Gohan.

In addition to the Super Saiyan form, Bardock, Gine, Raditz, Goku, and Gohan all possess tails (though Goku and Gohan eventually lost them) thus all were capable of transforming into their Great Ape forms when exposed to a source of Blutz Waves, however they tend to lose control and follow their violet Saiyan instincts while transformed, though Bardock and Gohan demonstrate enough control to focus their destructive impulses and avoid attacking their allies. Though not a Saiyan, Grandpa Gohan managed to learn enough about Saiyans through his interactions with Goku such as their tails being a weak point and how the Great Ape transformation was triggered, having survived at least one transformation before he was accidentally killed by Great Ape Goku. He even encouraged Goku to train his tail to remove his weakness after being revived for a day by Fortuneteller Baba, making Goku the only known low class Saiyan to overcome said weakness through training, unlike his brother Raditz who had according to Nappa in Xenoverse 2 skipped tail training with Nappa and Vegeta. Due to the danger posed by their Great Ape forms, Goku and Gohan's tails were ultimately removed completely. Both Bardock and Raditz had a habit of wrapping their tails around their waist like most members of the Saiyan Army, though Bardock is shown letting his tail hang loose while at home with Gine in Dragon Ball Minus. Gohan is the only Saiyan hybrid in his family to have been born with a tail.

Family Tree

   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
Grandpa Gohan
(by adoption)
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
Bardock
   
   
Gine
   
   
Ox-King
   
   
Chi-Chi's mother
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
Raditz
   
   
Kakarot
(Goku)
   
   
Chi-Chi
   
   
Mr. Satan
   
   
Miguel
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
Goten
   
   
   
   
   
   
Gohan
   
   
Videl
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
Pan
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
Unnamed
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
Goku Jr.
   
   

Members

Son family members

Videl,PanAndGohan

Pan, Videl and Gohan

Extended members

Dokkan Battle Parental Guidance Bardock & Gine japanese card (DB Minus-DBS Broly Bardock & Gine UR)

Bardock & Gine'

Fused Members

Other

  • In Super Dragon Ball Heroes: World Mission, Beat is revealed to be a Earthling/Saiyan hybrid descendant of Goku (and by extension his wife Chi-Chi the mother of his two children). However it is unclear whether he is descended from Goten's branch or Gohan and Pan's branch.
    • Beat's Mother from the Victory Mission manga bares a strong resemblance to Chi-Chi which along with the revelation her son is Goku's descendant implies that she herself is a descendant of Goku and Chi-Chi through her father. This would also make both Beat's Mother and Grandfather Earthling/Saiyan hybrids.
  • During the time Captain Ginyu switched bodies with Goku, he was biologically a member of the Son family until switching back to his original body. He also switched bodies with Goku Black in Xenoverse 2.
  • The Bio-Android Cell contained cells from Goku, making him and his offspring biological relatives of the Son family.
  • Due to Zamasu switching bodies with Goku, he technically becomes a member of the family as Goku Black, going as far as to refer to himself as "Son Goku". The same can be said for his Potara fusion Fused Zamasu as well as Infinite Zamasu in the manga. Additionally there is Karoly Black: the EX-Fusion of Broly and Goku Black.
  • The artifical clones of Goku, Gohan, and Cell created by Android 21 in Dragon Ball FighterZ are biologically members of the Son family as well for the same reason.
  • Android 21 and her good and evil fissions are biological members of the Son family as 21 has DNA from Goku, Gohan and Cell.
  • The playable Earthlings in Dragon Ball Online are descendants of Goku and Vegeta. Two of the youth from the Dragon Ball Online trailers are also descendants of Goku and Vegeta.
  • Teacher Plush resembles Ox-King.
  • While not blood related, Piccolo acted as a "surrogate father" to Gohan, and for a time also lived with the Son family. He also trained Goten in the Fusion Dance. After the birth of Gohan's daughter Pan, Piccolo fulfilled the role of babysitter/nanny for baby, Pan.
    • In FighterZ, Goku mentions Piccolo babysitting Pan in a special story conversation with Tien, though Tien notes it sounds like Piccolo is more of a "surrogate grandfather" and Goku reveals that Chi-Chi had said the same thing. Tien tells Goku that being Pan's actual grandfather he shouldn't be telling people about Piccolo doing a better job caring for Pan than Goku himself (though Tien also notes he should do so in order to protect Piccolo's image).
File:Icarus4.png

Goku and Gohan with Icarus in the den they made for him

  • The Dragon Icarus acts as a close friend of Gohan's during his youth and could technically be considered a family pet of sorts (though Chi-Chi refused to allow Gohan to keep him, Goku created a den in a cave near their family home).
  • In Dragon Ball GT, Goku notes that he and Rage Shenron are brothers of a sort due to the wish that created Rage Shenron also bringing him back to life.
  • Goku also shares a strong attachment to the Four-Star Dragon Ball believing Grandpa Gohan's soul once resided within in it during his youth, which would years result in the ball's Shadow Dragon Nuova Shenron becoming Goku's ally and in Dragon Ball Fusions Goku can fuse with Nuova Shenron to create Nuova Goku. Gohan wore the ball on his Four-Star Dragon Ball Hat and in the Xenoverse series Nuova Shenron remembers the time he used to ride atop Gohan's head.

Trivia

  • In the Japanese version, all the male Saiyan members for the Son Family are voiced by Masako Nozawa (aside from Raditz who was voiced by Shigeru Chiba). However, in the Funimation dub, all adult forms of those characters have completely different actors. The only instances in the Funimation dubs of the Dragon Ball series where they shared actors were Stephanie Nadolny as Kid Goku (Dragon Ball), Kid Gohan (Dragon Ball Z), and Goku Jr. (Dragon Ball GT) and Colleen Clinkenbeard as the same pair (Dragon Ball: Curse of the Blood Rubies and Dragon Ball Z Kai respectively). In the Brazilian dub, Kid Gohan and Kid Goten have the same voice actress. In the Latin American dub, Kid Goku, Kid Gohan and Kid Goten have the same voice actress too.
    • In the Funimation dub, Kara Edwards voices both Kid Goten and Videl.
  • Goku and Chi-Chi’s Japanese voice actors Masako Nozawa and Naoko Watanabe also voice Goku’s parents Bardock and Gine respectively.
  • Goku, Chi-Chi, Mr. Satan, Videl, Gohan, Pan, and Goku Jr. have all fought in the World Martial Arts Tournament at some point. In fact, at the 23rd Martial Arts tournament after defeating Chi-Chi, Goku offered to fulfill his boyhood promise to marry her (which he mistakenly made due to his assumption that marriage was a type of food), becoming engaged to be married right their at the tournament which ironically was the same tournament where Goku became a champion. Similarly Videl and Gohan would also participate in the 25th martial arts tournament and Videl herself was Junior Division champion of the 24th World Tournament.
  • Goku's parents are unusual among Saiyan in that they had a loving relationship which is rare among Saiyan couples. While Goku himself married Chi-Chi in order to fulfill his promise due to having little interest in romance, Goku admits that he finds Chi-Chi strong willed personality attractive and cares about her greatly as (in the anime) he was outraged after learning Goku Black had killed her in the unaltered main timeline, though he admits that he has never actually kissed his wife despite having fathered two children with her, something which even Vegeta finds astonishing. Due to being raised on Earth, with traditional Earthling values Gohan's marriage to Videl is more typical of Earthling couples, though unlike Chi-Chi, Videl is more supportive and is fine with both her husband and daughter training.
    • As shown by Gine and Bardock, the family is also unusual among Saiyans for caring about their children as Bardock and Gine stole a space pod to send Goku offworld to Earth to save his life as they knew Raditz was with Prince Vegeta offworld. Even Gine noted Bardock's behavior and caring for his son was atypical of male Saiyans.
    • While Goku was raised with Earthling values and loved his adoptive Grandpa Gohan, he himself is a decent albeit a somewhat irresponsible father which forces his wife Chi-Chi to be the disciplinarian who ensures Gohan and Goten have a proper education as Goku only received a basic level of home schooling by Master Roshi who's martial artist training involved it to sharpen his students minds as the brain is a muscle too. While Chi-Chi was strict with Gohan and initial forbid any martial arts training, after Goku died during the Cell Games, Chi-Chi became less strict as she trained Goten in martial arts while still ensuring he too got a proper education like his brother, as Goten is shown to be better at math and understanding monetary value than his father Goku.
    • While Gohan and Videl are more laid back in raising Pan allowing her to train and go on adventures with her grandfather in GT while being protective of her in Dragon Ball Super, as his baby girl motivates Gohan to regain his strength to protect his new child and wife.
    • Likewise Pan is shown to have a strong bond with her relative Goku Jr. who goes to look for the Dragon Balls to restore Pan to full health when she comes down with an illness (ironically Pan's father wishes for Shenron to cure Pan of a fever in the Dragon Ball Super anime) .
  • Technically for the male members from Goku's side of the family, due to the naming origins of the name "Son Goku" from "Sun Wukong", it is possible to effectively-and-smoothly render the names of the three current Sons from Japanese on'yomi to Chinese pinyin, as per the Chinese dubs:
    • Son Goku -> Sun Wukong
    • Son Gohan -> Sun Wufan
    • Son Goten -> Sun Wutian
  • Some source materials state that Turles is a member of the family as he is said to be Goku's brother (and by extension Raditz's too) while other official sources including the original Japanese dub attribute Goku's resemble to Turles is due to lack of variation among Low-Class Saiyans and various sources state Kakarot and Raditz are Gine and Bardock’s only children. Additionally some dubs of Tree of Might also use the explanation that he is Goku's brother as it easily explains their resemblance as being a familial one. However most video games that feature him and members of the Son Family treat him as an unrelated Low-Class Saiyan who simply resembles Goku and Bardock.
  • In Dragon Ball Heroes, several members of the family are Time Patrollers. These members include Xeno Bardock, Xeno Goku, Xeno Goten, Xeno Gohan, and Xeno Pan. In World Mission, Goku's descendant Beat is also a member.
  • Interestingly, both Goku and his youngest son Goten resemble each other and Bardock. However in Goku and Goten's case both are the youngest in their generation of siblings and take after their fathers in appearance.
  • Certain members of the Son family have connections to the House of Vegeta/Brief family:
    • Raditz had known Vegeta IV since both were children and Goku/Kakarot became Vegeta's greatest rival.
    • Future Gohan mentored Future Trunks due to them being the only remaining Saiyans and Z Warriors left who had the strength to confront the Androids.
    • Goten and Trunks are best friends, rivals, and can fuse into Gotenks and EX Gotenks.
    • Bulma was Goku's first friend and the first Earthling female he encountered. Additionally she is friends with Chi-Chi whom she can relate to due to both being married to a Saiyan.
  • In the Speedy dub of Fusion Reborn, Gohan is Goku's brother instead of being his son.

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References

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