Vegeta is the proud Saiyan warrior ofDragon Ball, having first appeared as a villain during the Frieza Saga ofDragon Ball Z. However, Vegeta outlived his villainy, and came to become one of Goku’s most stalwart allies, something which gave him the opportunity to have a family of his own.
Vegeta is known to come from a long line of royalty, and he shares his name with the very planet that his people live on, suggesting that they’ve been in power for a very, very long time. Vegeta’s family history going backwards isn’t too well known, but his generation and that of his children is fairly well documented withinDragon Balllore. Here are all the known characters who are related to Vegeta within the canon ofDragon Ball.
Vegeta IV
Voiced by: Christopher R. Sabat
Vegeta is the fourth of his name, the eldest son of King Vegeta, and thus, as he often declares, the rightful Prince of All Saiyans. Vegeta was once a minion of Frieza’s, serving in the Frieza Force as one of the few known surviving Saiyans alongside Nappa and Raditz. During this time, he committed many diabolical and malicious acts, but he secretly longed for revenge against Frieza for his people, and this helped to turn him into a less villainous character.Vegeta would ally with Gokuand come to live on Earth, building an intense rivalry that would drive both to greater heights.
As Vegeta grew acclimated to life on Earth, he would marry Bulma, and then have two half-Saiyan children, Trunks and Bulla. Like Goku, Vegeta is capable of many transformations, such as the Great Ape form (before he lost his tail), various levels of Super Saiyan, and his ultimate technique as of now, Ultra Ego, which uses the power of Destroyer Gods.
King Vegeta III
King Vegeta III is the father of Vegeta, as well as Tarble. He was the reigning King of the Saiyans when Frieza took power, and turned out to be the last king when Frieza annihilated the Saiyan homeworld of Planet Vegeta. Little is known about King Vegeta’s wife, except that he had one, and she was the mother of both Vegeta and Tarble. Vegeta claims he was more powerful than his father was even as a child, and Vegeta and his father were the only known Saiyans to be considered “Elite,” suggesting he was still rather strong.
King Vegeta could be a harsh ruler, exiling baby Broly due to his extremely high power level at birth, but he does seem to have cared for his people overall, if only because they were his.
Tarble
Voiced by: Masakazu Morita (Japanese only)
Tarble is Vegeta’s younger brother, a kindhearted Saiyan who wasn’t fit for battle and was thus sent away from Planet Vegeta, allowing him tohave survived the destruction of the Saiyan homeworld. Tarble only appears inDragon Ball: Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return!!, a special which was never dubbed into English, although he is referenced inBattle of Gods. Like his brother, Tarble settled down on an alien planet and married a native woman, in his case an odd-looking being named Gure. Tarble seeks out Vegeta, hoping to secure help in dealing with remnants of Frieza’s forces.
When the threat is dealt with, Tarble and his wife return to their homeworld and continue to live in peace. Because he’s not really a fighter, Tarble’s existence is rarely acknowledged, but he is definitely out there in the universe.
Bulma Briefs
Voiced by: Monica Rial
Bulma is Vegeta’s human wife, and the mother of his two children. Bulma is a brilliant scientist, with her most well known invention being the Dragon Radar, as well as a time machine constructed by her future counterpart from Future Trunks' timeline.Bulma and Vegeta initially meton Planet Namek, when Vegeta was trying to obtain the Namekian Dragon Balls. Their attraction to one another built slowly, and during the time skip between the Frieza Saga and the Androids Saga, it’s revealed that Bulma is carrying Vegeta’s child, the soon-to-be baby Trunks.
Bulma comes from the wealthy Briefs family, responsible for creating the capsules used throughout the series, and her father Dr. Briefs is a brilliant scientist in his own right. She also has an older sister named Tights.
Trunks
Voiced by: Laura Bailey (Young)/Eric Vale (Future/Teen)
Trunks is Vegeta and Bulma’s son, and the oldest of their children. Trunks is born during the gap between the Frieza Saga and the Androids Saga, and is first introduced through his time-travelling future counterpart,commonly referred to as “Future Trunks.“Future Trunks grew up in a devastated world where most of the Z Fighters were defeated in battle and Goku died of a heart virus, and traveled back in time hoping to change that fate. Future Trunks initially has a difficult relationship with his past father, who he never knew growing up, but Vegeta comes to care for Future Trunks eventually.
Trunks is seen as a child throughout the Buu Saga andDragon Ball Super. He’s close friends with Goku’s youngest son, Goten, and when trouble arises, the two often fuse together to form the warrior Gotenks, who possesses a wide variety of abilities. By the time ofDragon Ball Super: Super Hero, Trunks is a teenager, looking and sounding more like his future counterpart, but with a distinctly different personality due to growing up in a period of peace. Trunks and Goten are shown to be rather out of shape for fighting in the film, as evidenced by their failed attempt to fuse into Gotenks. InGT’s finale, Trunks is shown to have a distant descendant who goes by “Vegeta Jr.”
Bulla
Voiced by: Parisa Fakhri (GT)/Bryn Appril (Super, as a baby)
Bulla is Vegeta and Bulma’s only daughter, and their youngest child. Bulla first appears in the epilogue ofDragon Ball Z, where she’s seen as a young child. She is born during the course ofDragon Ball Super, where she’s summoned out of her mother’s womb prematurely by Whis, who was impatient for the baby’s arrival. Bulla plays a minor role inDragon Ball GT, where she’s a close friend of Gohan’s daughter, Pan, who is roughly the same age.
Bulla takes after her mother more so than her father, lacking her father’s aggressiveness and drive to battle, although she’s still known to enact violence on occasion.Vegeta treats Bulla very differentlythan he treated Trunks as a child, often bending to her desires and never forcing her to train, suggesting he has a soft spot for his daughter.
Overall, Vegeta’s family runs the gamut from powerful warriors to peaceful people. Vegeta’s personality has changed greatly since settling down on Earth, and that’s very much reflected in the family he has raised versus the one that raised him. While he still seeks to outdo Goku at every turn, Vegeta has come to realize the value in having a home and something to defend, and won’t hesitate to step in to protect his family if the situation should call for it, even against a God of Destruction.
Vegeta’s family tree showcases how much Vegeta himself has changed more than almost anything else in the series, and that’s what makes him one ofDragon Ball’s best characters.
Dragon Ball
From the creative mind of Akira Toriyama, Dragon Ball is a mega multimedia franchise that spans back to the 1980s. Dragon Ball expanded quickly, starting as a serialized manga for Weekly Shonen Jump in Japan. It made its way overseas via manga and an anime adaptation that is enjoyed worldwide. Dragon Ball was the initial starting animated series that followed the adventures of the young Son Goku as he sought after the Dragon Balls. These mystical orbs would grant the wish of any who gathered them together. Then, the series would branch off into the immensely popular Dragon Ball Z, which followed Goku as an adult and featured high-intensity battles and Goku’s never-ending search to be the strongest. The series has also enjoyed several popular video game adaptations and continues to release several new animated series and theatrical films up to the recent popular Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero.
