King Piccolo

"That's the problem with the human race. No respect...for the superior species."

- King Piccolo "Hahahaha, fool, you don't have a single clue of who I am do you? I am the abomination that haunts your nightmares. Soon, you will call me master."

- King Piccolo to Goku

King Piccolo, originally known as the Demon King is the penultimate villain of the original Dragon Ball series. He was born when Kami separated himself from his evil side in order to become God of Earth. King Piccolo is notable to be the most evil and threatening villain at this point in the series, whose story arc toned down its comedic aspect, and the first villain responsible for the death of many major protagonists.

Pre-Dragon Ball
Kami and King Piccolo were once the same being, the Nameless Namek, but when he wanted to become Guardian of Earth, he had too much evil in his heart, so he expelled that evil, dividing him into two, the good half, Kami, and the bad half, King Piccolo.

With Kami taking his place as Guardian of Earth, Piccolo sets loose and spreads chaos around the world, starting his reign of terror. With no one capable of matching his powers, humanity was left helpless against the demon lord, until one day Mutaito, Roshi and Shen's master, decided to challenge Piccolo. Unable to fight against him, Mutaito uses the forbidden technique called "Mafuba", a.k.a. Evil Containment Wave, which seals Piccolo inside of a rice cooker, at the cost of Mutaito's own life. The cooker is thrown away to the depths of the sea, never to be seen again. After seeing Mutaito's sacrifice, Kami creates the Dragon Balls to give hope to mankind.

Dragon Ball
Centuries later, the cooker is found and opened by Pilaf, who releases Piccolo expecting to gain his own kingdom after Piccolo conquers the world. Piccolo, fearful of the forbidden Evil Containment Wave, sends his spawn Tambourine to search and kill all martial masters in the world, so that no one could ever imprison him again.

When introduced, he is very aged, which effects his powers. Because of this, he is searching for the Dragon Balls to get the dragon to grant him youth. However, the fact that Goku is collecting the Dragon Balls gets in his way. After Goku defeats Piccolo's latest creation, Cymbal, Piccolo orders Tambourine to fight him, but as Tambourine is also defeated Piccolo decides to fight Goku personally, easily defeating him despite his old state and leaving him apparently dead, though he survives and is saved by Yajirobe. Piccolo takes Goku's Dragon Ball and goes after the remaining ones, being confronted by Master Roshi, who gathered the remaining Dragon Balls to lure him. Roshi attempts to use the Evil Containment Wave but fails, dying shortly after. As Piccolo summons Shenron, Chiaotzu attempts to make a wish to stop Piccolo, but Piccolo quickly blasts him before he can complete his wish. Piccolo finally makes his wish for eternal youth, but before Shenron leaves he blasts him, destroying the eternal dragon and preventing anybody else from making a wish on the Dragon Balls. Shortly after he dumps Pilaf away, setting off to spread chaos all over again. Tien, who watched the entire scene, decides to train to learn the Evil Containment Wave to stop Piccolo.

With no one left to stop him, Piccolo decides to take over the world instead of destroying everything like before. Using his newfound powers, he attacks King Furry and kills all of his guards, forcing the king to relinquish his position to him. King Furry reluctantly nominates Piccolo as the new king after Piccolo threatens to kill him and destroy the entire Central City. He immediately orders the release of all criminals around the world and institutes a rule that all are free to commit crimes as they wish. He also proclaims that in every year on the day of his crowning he will pick a random sector of the world and personally destroy it. His first pick is West City, so he flies to the place to destroy it.

Once he arrives at the city he is confronted by Tien, who has learned the Evil Containment Wave. Instead of confronting him, Piccolo spawns a new egg, giving birth to Drum, who proceeds to attack Tien. Tien is overpowered by Drum, but attempts to use the Evil Containment Wave anyway, which ultimately fails. As Drum is about to finish of Tien, Goku arrives and kills him in a single blow. Piccolo then confronts Goku, but this time Goku overpowers him, having become stronger thanks to the Ultra Divine Water. Unable to defeat Goku, Piccolo decides to take Tien as a human shield, forcing Goku to submit despite Tien telling him not to. Piccolo then cripples Goku by injuring his knees and left arm, so he tosses Tien away and prepares to finish Goku off, but Goku concentrates his power on his right hand, using a Kamehameha to propel himself and pucnh a hole through Piccolo's chest, mortally wounding him.

Before he dies, King Piccolo shoots out an egg, carrying his final spawn, Piccolo Jr. When Goku meets the guardian of Earth, Kami, he learns that Piccolo is the evil part of him that Kami had to expel in order to get the guardian of earth position.

Children/Spawn
Piccolo creates several minions, all named after musical instruments-

Piano, Drum, Cymbal, Tambourine, and his final creation, the reincarnation of himself, Piccolo Jr.. However Piccolo Jr. is much more powerful than his father, possessing all of the powers of his father and more. Piccolo Jr. starts out as evil as his father, he then becomes a hero when he becomes best friends with Gohan, Goku's son. Soon, Piccolo Jr. becomes a bit of father figure to Gohan and a true hero, sacrificing himself to save Gohan.

Powers and Abilities
At the time he appeared, Piccolo was the most powerful villain Goku had faced, easily defeating the boy. Piccolo displays abilities common to most Dragon Ball characters, including super strength, super speed (so fast that he appears invisible to normal humans), energy blasts, and super durability (being completely unaffected by Goku's Kamehameha, which was stronger than Roshi's, which destroyed the moon). However, he also has abilities unique to his Namekian physiology, such as regeneration and the ability to stretch his arms several yards.

King Piccolo's energy blasts are at least strong enough to destroy moons, as the much weaker Master Roshi was able to destroy Earth's moon. Piccolo can also seemingly materialize objects from thin air.

King Piccolo had a power level of 260 when in his youthful state.

Personality
"Reports tell me that the present king is nothing more than a bleeding heart peace-lover! Ha ha ha ha! It's always the sentimental ones who are my favorite to destroy! Don't you agree?"

- King Piccolo "It feels good, doesn't it? We're no different, you and I. We both love inflicting pain.  It's an intoxicating feeling, isn't it?"

- King Piccolo to Goku Being the concentrated evil that use to live within Kami before the separation, King Piccolo is cold, ruthless, sadistic, vain, power-hungry and very intelligent. Whenever he is inflicting pain on an opponent, or watching one of his subordinates attack someone else, he always smiles and/or laughs.

Old
King Piccolo takes this form as a result of aging and appears like this until he wishes on the Dragon Balls for eternal youth, in this form Piccolo is weaker than his older form but still stronger than everyone on the planet (other than Popo and Kami).

Great Namek
King Piccolo has the ability to grow to a giant size in order to increase his physical strength, endurance, and durability. King Piccolo uses this form towards the end of his fight with Goku.

Super Namek
King Piccolo and Kami's original form: The Nameless Namek was a Super Namekian. Super Nameks have much greater power than ordinary ones, with Nail stating that the Nameless Namek was at least stronger than Frieza's 1st form.

Dragonball: Evolution The Movie


In the live action movie, King Piccolo, known as just Piccolo, he is an evil alien who wants revenge on the Earth, and to prevent Goku and company from stopping the arrival of his faithful and powerful servant Oozaru by keeping them away from the dragon balls. In the movie, he kills Grandpa Gohan by collapsing the building. Little similarities can be seen between the anime/manga and the movie.

Quotes
"There are two things that I, Demon King Piccolo hate most in this world: Peace and Justice."

- King Piccolo expressing his hatred

"Do you want the truth? That it was mere amusement. Or do you need a higher purpose, perhaps fate."

- King Piccolo to Mutaito

"His name is Cymbal. My child of darkness."

- King Piccolo talking about his latest spawn to Piano

"How could your feeble, inadequate brains possibly comprehend how I feel!? He was of my scales and blood! Grr! I gave him life! Watched him hatch and spit his first slime!"

- King Piccolo angry over Cymbal's death

"Two of my finest warriors were destroyed as if they were mere amateurs! I don't know who is responsible for this outrage but I will personally see to their destruction for interfering with my plans!"

- King Piccolo upon realizing Tambourine has died

"Aha ha ha ha! Well, despite your shortcomings, you are a defiant one. It's been a long time since I've seen that kind of spark in someone's eye. I'm fortunate. I'm stronger."

- King Piccolo before finishing off Goku

"The seven Dragon Balls are mine! At last, I will reclaim my youth and with it, all my glory of power!"

- King Piccolo Rising to Power

"I wish to be made young again. Restore my youth and power! Return to me what time has stolen! Can you do this?"

- King Piccolo making his wish

"You're nothing but an inept clown surrounded by amateurs!"

- King Piccolo betraying Pilaf and his gang

"Surrender? Why should I surrender? You're the one who's losing all his men. Before you die, tell me... where's the king hiding?"

- King Piccolo to a bodyguard

"In fact, you will find that I will encourage your freedom. Every freedom. Heh heh heh. By now, you all know how powerful I am. But what you may not know is what a loving king I could be. So, my first decree will go out to the ones I love the most... of course that's the criminal element. We will begin by eradicating the police. Those wicked people who would stomp on your freedom and put you in chains for merely seeking the life that you desire. Theft, violence, murder, nothing will be illegal in this grand new world. Come out from the shadows. Your new king understands your pain."

- King Piccolo's second rise to power as he makes his televised broadcast

"My first decree is to abolish the police and release all criminals! I want riots! Order is legally dead!"

- King Piccolo's first decree as king

"No need to worry, however. I've taken care of all the arrangements. I know that all of you share my enthusiasm... Because it is a privilege and honor to be a part of this event. You're gonna love this. Your planet... heh... my planet... is divided into forty-three sectors. Each is represented by a slip of paper which has been placed in this box. To commemorate the anniversary of my rule, I declare this day, May thirteenth, as Piccolo day. As part of this annual celebration, I'll draw a slip from the box each year. And guess what, folks? There's more. Heh heh. The chosen sector will host that year's celebration, which will culminate in its destruction and I will do the honors."

- King Piccolo rising to power, the third power

"But seriously, I wish to maintain an open dialogue with my subjects. So, if, for any reason, you're displeased with my plan or any of my policies, please feel free to pay me a visit. My door is always open. Tell me what's on your tiny little minds, I'm here for you. And once you've unloaded all of your emotional baggage, I promise to remove your troubles... permanently!"

- King Piccolo making another decree

"Look at you. You're crying like a baby. You'll have to learn to be tougher than that. If you were more like me, you could overcome anything, even pain."

- King Piccolo expressing his sadism

"Good luck, my son. Get revenge for my demise. Destroy all of my enemies."

- King Piccolo's last words as he spits the egg for Piccolo Jr.

Trivia

 * In the manga, King Piccolo is the only villain to get his wish granted by Shenron.
 * Early in the anime, King Piccolo's blood is portrayed as red. Later, when Nameks are recognized as a true race within the series and not a simple demon clan as initially suspected, their blood is portrayed as purple, even though Drum's blood was seen as purple before the Vegeta Saga, the beginning of which still portrayed their blood as red.
 * In the English dub of the anime, when questioning how Goku could withstand his power, he remarks that he had fought all over the universe and never met anyone who could match his strength. This may have been a vague way of implying King Piccolo had used the ship in which Kami had originally come to Earth to seek stronger opponents in space sometime before being sealed away, though the original Japanese versions makes no mention of this, as the ship and Kami's origins had not been revealed during this time. Later, when the ship was finally revealed, it did not appear to have been used since it had landed on Earth with the Nameless Namekian on board.
 * In the series, Kami and Piccolo do not know they are aliens until meeting Vegeta and Nappa, since the Nameless Namekian lost his memories during childhood. King Piccolo and his reincarnation, Piccolo Jr., (as well as Piccolo Jr.'s brothers) were believed to be of demon origins. ◾Though, Piccolo was shown to know the language, and some of his powers and techniques are of Namekian origin, even replicating Grand Elder Guru's throne.
 * Strangely, King Piccolo is shown to know he is a Namekian in Budokai Tenkaichi 3: if the player pairs him against Lord Slug or Nail, he will say "I won't let anybody stand in my way, even if they're a Namekian!"
 * Despite not being referred to as Piccolo Daimao in the English dub, an attack increase item in Budokai 3 is called "Daimao's Power" and can only be used by Piccolo.
 * In Budokai Tenkaichi 3, in a pre-battle conversation, King Piccolo desires to merge with his son, Piccolo Jr. However, Piccolo Jr. is disgusted at the mere thought of such a union.
 * Despite being a Namekian, who are stated to only need water for nourishment, in anime filler, King Piccolo is shown to eat food when a feast is prepared for him.
 * In Chapter 383 of the manga Gin Tama, King Piccolo makes an appearance, where he is seen being sucked by a black hole, much in the same way as when he was sucked in by the Evil Containment Wave. Gintoki comically bought some seals and a rice cooker, saying "the previous owner had sealed evil king something --ccolo". Shimura then says "You were just missing the "Pi"!!!!! It's friggin' Evil King Piccolo!!!!!"
 * In Dragon Ball: Xenoverse, a Time Patrol NPC (a member of Frieza's native race) named Percei mentions fixing a time distortion where King Piccolo absorbs Kami and becomes a Super Namek, resulting in a war between his Demon Clan and the Red Ribbon Army's Androids, a war which almost destroyed the Earth. He is also mentioned during Future Warrior's training with Piccolo, after delivering him a All-Energy Capsule S created through Item Mixture, Piccolo will state his father overestimated his powers and lost to the Evil Containment Wave, using the story as an example of how power alone isn't enough and one must use everything at their disposal including Skill and Items to win, like how Master Mutaito used the Evil Containment Wave and Electric Rice Cooker to seal King Piccolo.
 * He and Mercenary Tao are regarded as the most evil characters in Dragon Ball.