The Evil Dragons, known as Shadow Dragons in the Funimation Dub are a group that act as the overarching antagonists in the Dragon Ball anime trilogy and the main antagonists of Dragon Ball GT. They are seven dragons that resulted from overuse of the Dragon Balls and were created from the negative energy of various wishes made by the characters throughout the Dragon Ball series.
Overview[]
The Shadow Dragons are a direct consequence of the numerous usages of the magical Dragon Balls over the course of the entire Dragon Ball series. Every time a wish was granted with the balls, the negative energy was released along with the positive energy. In response, the Dragon Balls would absorb the negative energy and disperse it harmlessly over countless years.
Originally, the difficulty of finding and assembling all 7 Dragon Balls meant that they had plenty of time to disperse the negative power accumulated from each wish, but increasingly advanced technology (such as the Dragon Radar) made finding the artifacts a simple task. Moreover, a seemingly-endless succession of powerful evildeors forced the defenders of Earth to use the Dragon Balls just to repair the damage done to the planet Earth and its people. Consequently, the balls had less and less time to disperse the slowly-immersing negative energy, causing a large amount of it to build up in the magic orbs. When the Dragon Balls could take no more, they soon cracked. Upon attempting to summon the Eternal Dragon Shenron, however, Goku and the others unknowingly released the negative energy in the form of a gigantic dark dragon named Black Smoke Shenron, Shenron's polar opposite before he immediately separated into the seven dreaded Shadow Dragons who each is taking form around one Dragon Ball.
The battle against the evil Shadow Dragons who are defeated for good, can be considered the closing segment of the Dragon Ball series (finding the Dragon Balls was the beginning) that teaches the Earth and its inhabitants to stop relying on the Dragon Balls to solve their own problems. It can also be seen as the heroes' greatest challenge: when the Dragon Balls finally turn against the Z Fighters. Interestingly most of the Shadow Dragons seem to justify and view the mayhem they cause as simply a form of punishment for overusing the Dragon Balls and their magic powers and tend to blame those that created them and the Z Fighters' overreliance on the said magic gems for the chaos they cause (although this is the same sort of twisted reasoning that Android 13 used to justify following his programming).
Members[]
- Black Smoke Shenron is the creator of the Shadow Dragons.
- Syn Shenron ("Yi Xing Long" in Japanese), also known as the One-Star Dragon, or Super Yi Xing Long (Omega Shenron) as he later came to be called, is the last of the Evil Dragons. According in Dragon Ball GT Perfect Files, he was born from the wish to bring back everyone killed by Frieza and his men and, as a result of so many people being brought back, is the most powerful dragon. He also has the ability to absorb the powers of the other Evil Dragons by swallowing the Dragon Balls. He represents the element of Darkness.
- Haze Shenron ("Liang Xing Long" in Japanese), also known as the Two-Star Dragon, is the first Shadow Dragon defeated and was born from the wish to bring back Bora. Since this was a small wish, this is likely the reason he is so weak. Haze uses the power of pollution to weaken his opponents. He represents the element of Toxicity.
- Eis Shenron ("San Xing Long" in Japanese), also known as the Three-Star Dragon, is the sixth Shadow Dragon encountered and is the only dragon to have two different wishes explained for his creation. In the anime, he states he was created by the wish to bring back all of King Piccolo's victims, but in Dragon Ball GT Perfect Files, it was stated that he was born from the wish to make everyone forget about Majin Buu. Either way, the good intentions of these wishes result in Eis being a very dirty fighter. He represents the element of Ice.
- Nuova Shenron ("Si Xing Long" in Japanese), also known as the Four-Star Dragon, is the fifth Evil Dragon encountered, but not the fifth to be destroyed. He was born from the first truly selfish wish, Piccolo Daimaou's wish to return his youth, and as a result, he is very honorable and has strong morals. Si was not destroyed by Goku, but was instead killed by Syn for his betrayal of the Shadow Dragons. He represents the element of Fire.
- Rage Shenron ("Wu Xing Long" in Japanese), also known as the Five-Star Dragon, is the second Shadow Dragon to be defeated and was born from the wish to bring Goku back to life in order to fight Vegeta and Nappa. However, since the wish was used to bring back one person, he was weak. He uses the element of lightning in combat, but rather than generating lightning, Rage uses electric slime to increase his size and strength. He represents the element of Electricity.
- Oceanus Shenron ("Liu Xing Long" in Japanese), also known as the Six-Star Dragon, is the third Shadow Dragon defeated and was born from a wish that Oolong had made to screw up Emperor Pilaf's. He wished for a pair of panties and, as such, she is extremely embarrassed by the wish that created her. Oceanus is alternatively good and bad, (she brings a village a great deal of fish and uses numerous dirty tactics when fighting Goku) since her wish was neutral. Oceanus is the only female member of the Shadow Dragons. She is also the only member to wield more than one element, water and air, though she seems to prefer using air-based attacks. She represents the element of both Water and Wind.
- Naturon Shenron ("Qi Xing Long" in Japanese), also known as the Seven-Star Dragon, is the fourth Shadow Dragon defeated and was created by the wish to restore all of Majin Vegeta's victims. Despite this being a rather large wish, Naturon is the weakest of the evil dragons on his own and relies on his ability to absorb creatures in order to fight. He represents the element of Earth.
Trivia[]
- Until Dragon Ball Super was made, there was an entire decade for the Minus energy to expel. Plus, it's implied the portal to Hell opening exacerbated the Minus energy, as Hell is where evil souls and energy reside; a Ball was shown cracking each episode.
- It@ also confusing in the fact that the Balls were destroyed with the Earth when the Black Star Balls blew it up. This would have also caused the Minus energy to dissipate due to the explosion.
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Machine Mutants Army of Hell Shadow Dragons Pilaf Gang Other |