Dragon Ball Daima Just Explained Piccolo's Villainy, and Turn to Good, With Subtle Line That's Easy to Miss

Piccolowas always one of the most interesting franchise favorites to return inDragon Ball DAIMA. Introduced as the demon spawn of King Piccolo inDragon Ball,he was built up to be a destructive force early in the series, but even by the early arcs ofDragon Ball Z, he began assessing his place on Earth and fighting those who would destroy it. Through making friends with Gohan and heroic deeds on Earth and Namek, Piccolo abandons his villainy well beforeDragon Ball DAIMA.

It’s not to say it was an outright change of heart, as even in the Raditz Saga, Piccolo sought out Goku to kill him in battle to avenge King Piccolo. By the time of the Saiyan Saga and beyond,Piccolo had taken on Gohan as a ward to train him, seeing him for his vast potential while bonding with him as if Gohan were his son, eventually. While Piccolo would grow into this more pragmatic personality asDragon Ballcontinued,Dragon Ball DAIMAoffers a decent explanation for why he and other Namekians were generally peacefullater in the franchise.

Dragon Ball DAIMA Piccolo as a child

Piccolo’s Redemption Is Subtly Explained in Dragon Ball DAIMA

Independence, for Better or for Worse

InDragon Ball DAIMAepisode #2, Piccolo is one of the supporting characters likely to join Goku in the Demon Realm, showing him talking about the Namekian exodus from the Demon Realm. While Neva stayed behind to guard the Demon Realm’s Dragon Balls, the remaining Namekians escaped because, as Piccolo explains,“Nameks don’t like to be ruled.“Not only does this show Neva’s attitude toward Gomah inDragon Ball DAIMA, but it also holds to Piccolo’s philosophy across theDragon Balltimeline since his appearance at the Budokai Tenkaichi tournament in chapter #166.

Piccolo lost to Goku in said tournament but vowed to get revenge for King Piccolo, who was defeated by him, in future arcs of theDragon Ballfranchise. Yet, Goku’s death, while successfully helping Piccolo defeat Raditz, put Earth on Vegeta and Nappa’s radar, as they planned to use Earth’s Dragon Balls to wish for immortality and likely exterminate Earth’s citizens. Through this revelation, Piccolo takes Gohan to train inDragon Ball Zchapter #11 (Dragon Ballchapter #205) initially out of self-preservation;Piccolo doesn’t become good out of altruism but for his survival.

Dragon Ball DAIMA Shenron-1

Dragon Ball DAIMA Introduces A Big Shenron Retcon That Changes His Relationship With Goku Forever

Shenron is one of the most important characters in Dragon Ball with unparalleled sway over its characters, but DAIMA retcons his wish parameters.

But even this doesn’t prepare fans for Piccolo’s sacrifice to protect Gohan and Earth’s futurewhile recognizing Gohan as the only person to call him a friend. It’s after this point that Piccolo still pragmatically suggests he be resurrected to bring back Kami, and thus Earth’s Dragon Balls, in control of his circumstances while using sound reasoning, fighting alongside Earth’s warriors and the victimized Namekians in the Frieza Saga. Piccolo may have wanted vengeance against Goku, but this was slowly written out, especially after killing him in the Raditz Saga, as he instead fought against threats to his survival.

Namekians Escaping Oppression Is Unsurprising in Dragon Ball Canon

They Didn’t Exactly Hand Over the Dragon Balls

The fact that Namekians didn’t like to be ruled is unsurprising, especially as it’s been confirmed acrossDragon BallandDragon Ball Superthat they’remore interested in peacefully settling rather than being subjugated or conquered. Such is the case inDragon Ball Superchapter #69, which isconnected with its lore byDragon Ball DAIMAby the moment confirming that Namekians scattered outward from the native Demon Realm. InDragon Ball DAIMAepisode #2, Piccolo clarifies that he was toldNamekians of the Demon Realmhad a comfortable life but didn’t wish to be ruled over nonetheless.

Dragon Ball Supershowcases characters like Monaito’s benevolence, further isolating King Piccolo as an exception to typical Namekian behavior, as he discusses the flipside of not wishing to be ruled. When faced with the potential threat of Frieza, Monaito disregards wishing those Namekians back or getting revenge on Frieza, and wishing not to displace those who have settled on planet Cereal since the Namekians' passing. But in the Namek Saga ofDragon Ball Z, those settled on the planet Namek fought back more directly against Frieza for a reasonable cause.

Unlike the Namekians of Universe 6, many of whom were broadly absorbed by Saonel and Pilina, the remaining Namekians on Namek were scattered and unfused during Frieza’s attack. The Namekians were still largely peaceful, with only Nail as their native warrior-type and the rest scattered across villages guarding the individual Dragon Balls. Upon threat of their villagers being slaughtered,the Namekians cleverly collaborated with the Earthlings to prevent Frieza from getting his hands on the Dragon Balls.This is a surprising development considering the first iterations of the Namekians in the franchise.

King Piccolo Was Another Anomaly to the Namekians in Dragon Ball

The Demon King Created a Different Early Perception of Namekians

SinceDemon King Piccolo was a villainous figure inDragon Ballcanon, with his spawn Piccolo Jr., now known simply as Piccolo, also originally evil, it’s surprising to see his species taking such an about-face. But King Piccolo was merely the evil half of the Nameless Namekian from whom he and Kami were split, wishing to become the Guardian of Earth.With King Piccolo retaining the Nameless' resentment of humanity’s evil, this can be understood afterDragon Ball DAIMA’sretcon as a twisted manifestation of a desire to fight against Earth’s oppressors, only to create a worse one.

However, this is also due to King Piccolo still being largely written differently from how Namekians are written today, with the biggest remnant later appearing in the form ofLord Slug inDragon Ball Z.Butgiven Piccolo’s spawning from the evil half of the Nameless Namekian, it’s remarkable how much his character has changed.Piccolo shows surprising moments of docility, like having a cell phone gifted by Videl so he can keep in touch with her, Gohan, and Pan inDragon Ball Super: Super Hero. The once-antagonist demon spawn works hilariously well as he grows domesticated on Earth.

With Piccolo and other friends of Goku being shrunk inDragon Ball DAIMA, it’ll be interesting to see him return to his ancestral home of the Demon Realm and help stop its absolute domination by Gomah.