WARNING: The following article contains major spoilers from Dragon Ball Super Chapter 70. Read ahead at your own discretion!

Vegeta’s character development in the entire series is one of the best in Anime history. From being one of the major antagonists who destroyed many planets and countless lives to being a savior of the Universe and a caring family man. For many who hold the series close to their heart, the Prince of all Saiyans is a beloved character.

The latest arc of Dragon Ball Super Manga introduced a character who shares a similar beginning to Vegeta. The authors emphasize their growth through the paneling. There’s been a lot of discussion among the fandom about the subtle parallels between Granolah and Vegeta. But before we get into that, let me mention a couple of points that differentiate Granolah from Vegeta in terms of their starting point.

Dissimilarities between Granolah and Past Vegeta

Granolah is much attached to his people whereas Vegeta is not

Since the start of the Granolah survivor arc, we can see that Granolah holds a big place for his people in his heart. Becoming a bounty hunter, working for the Heeters who treats him like trash, stealing OG73-i, and losing a large portion of his life for strength. It was all for avenging the slaughtered Cerealians. Heck, his house is near to the rummaged part of the planet which reminds him of ‘that day’.

After Vegeta found out that his home planet was destroyed, he didn’t feel that sad about the loss of his father and fellow Saiyans. The fact that he lost the chance to rule planet Vegeta and succeeding his father saddened him more.

You can argue that “No! He always talked about his race and his Saiyan pride. Before he died in the hands of Frieza, Vegeta, with tears in his eyes, told Goku to kill Frieza as the Galactic Tyrant killed his father and wiped out his entire race. He does care about his people” What I’m saying is, all the actions he undertook was to gain immortality and become the ruler of the Galaxy. The fact that he was born in a warrior race and the “Saiyan pride” only served his agenda. Initially, he was selfish and stubborn. But he changed after that.

Granolah avoids killing but Vegeta kills wherever he goes

In the end, Granolah wants peace. He wanted to spend time with his fellow people. At least, that is the case for now. Who knows, it could change in the future (his power in getting into his head, that’d lead to arrogance). But for now, he wants a comfortable life without thoughts of revenge and stuff. He doesn’t go around killing people to achieve his targets. He didn’t destroy the OG Androids completely nor did he kill any Sugarians when he stole the Dragon Ball.

Vegeta wanted to be King, even at the cost of peace. He wanted to bring people under his command. Disobey him and you’ll die. He killed off Nappa just because he wasn’t of any use to him anymore. Unlike Granolah, he slaughtered so many people and stole the Dragon Balls in Namek.

Both differ in their goals

Granolah wanted to become the strongest in the Universe to avenge his slaughtered people and find a way to bring them back. Vegeta wanted to become the best and gain immortality to rule whatever he sets eyes on. TFS describes this in a funny way:

Now that we’ve fixated the point that Granolah started off in a very different way than Vegeta, let’s explore the interesting parallels between their characters and story.

Parallels between Granolah and Vegeta

Both find it difficult to let go of their past

Granolah was almost ready to let go of his past when he thought he lost both his avenues for revenge. But when Elec told him that Frieza has been revived, ideas of revenge again took control of his mind. His determination to kill Frieza skyrocketed. As mentioned before, one of the reasons for why he didn’t live with the Sugarians is, from the mountain top, he can see his hometown which Frieza’s people destroyed. It acted as a reminder for what they did to his planet so that he never forgets it.

This shows he’s too fixated in his past and cannot move on from it. By reflecting on his past, he’s consumed by hatred.

Vegeta thinks too much about the history of his race. Unlike Granolah who has feeling of vengeance, Vegeta feels guilty about his past. He says that the ways of the Saiyans to slaughter people off a planet and sell it to the highest bidder was accumulating sin. His father built his kingdom atop countless deaths. So he thinks destiny has sown the seeds of the destruction of his people already. Frieza was just an instrument in their inevitable downfall.

Ever since the Moro arc, he became more compassionate and he started feeling guilty of his past actions (like slaughtering the Namekians for Dragon Balls). He basically told Goku to make his top priority to restore New Namek to how it was before. A complete 180 from his earlier avatar. By reflecting on his past, he’s consumed by guilt.

Beerus counters by saying “what’s does the history of the Saiyans got to do with the Vegeta now?” If Vegeta wants to improve and learn this new technique of the Gods, The Prince has to remove these thoughts of guilt and recreate himself from scratch. To learn the ways of a Destroyer God, one needs to think of destruction. So Vegeta begins to train and recreate his thought process to come out of these guilty feelings. When he meets Granolah later on, it’ll be interesting to see whether those guilty feelings will again resurface or not once he knows the truth about Granolah’s past.

Beerus makes a really important point. This determines the future growth of Granolah and Vegeta. Granolah is already in his peak form now. But, if he wants to improve on his skills, he needs to remove thoughts of hatred that cloud his mind and blinds his vision. Similarly, if Vegeta wants to learn new techniques of the G.O.Ds, he needs to remove thoughts of guilt which acts as a hurdle to achieve his objective.

Both were affected by Frieza and his men

Frieza was directly or indirectly responsible for the havoc caused in both the character’s home planet. So both have a common hatred towards Frieza.

Frieza’s men slaughtered Granolah’s people. Therefore, he wants to kill him for revenge. Vegeta hates him because he killed his father and destroyed his home planet, annihilating the Saiyans in the process. He wanted to become immortal so that he could overpower Frieza and become the new ruler of the Galaxy.

Both use the Dragon Balls to pursue their selfish goal

Granolah used the Cerealian Dragon Balls to ask the Dragon to make him the strongest warrior in the Universe.

Vegeta wanted to use the Dragon Balls to make himself immortal. Both wishes were against the original purpose of the Dragon Balls, which is to help people in times of great suffering.

Both worked under a terrible boss

Granolah worked for the Heeters who treated him like crap. They didn’t respect him at all. In fact, they wanted to dispose him off. They noticed Granolah’s power is growing at a crazy rate and saw him as a threat to their plans of domination.

Frieza forced the Saiyans to work for him. Vegeta did everything what Frieza told him to do. The Tyrant said that if Vegeta didn’t comply with his wishes, he’d kill his father. Even though he did everything he asked for, Frieza still killed his father and annihilated his entire race. Frieza disposed of the Saiyans because he noticed that they were getting crazy strong. He feared that the Super Saiyan legend would come true.

Because of their increasing strength, both their bosses wanted to remove them from the picture.

Conclusion

They started off in different directions, with different goals and ideologies. But there are parallels between them that cannot be ignored. The Cerealian Dragon made Granolah a lot stronger. But he did not train to get his new powers. So like Golden Frieza, he might struggle to use his powers to their full potential. He’s impatient for revenge and was in a rush to get stronger. So this may have repercussions in the future.

On the other hand, Vegeta is doing the right thing here. He’s training under Beerus in a slow and effective way. In the long term, his skills will be better than Granolah’s.

Beerus told Vegeta that unless he moves on from his past and let go of his feelings of guilt, it’ll cause a hindrance in his growth and won’t be able to learn the Destroyer God’s techniques properly. He’s slowly beginning to move on and he’s able to learn Hakai.

Granolah isn’t able to move on from his past. Feelings of hatred and vengeance have engulfed him. This may be Granolah’s downfall. He won’t be able to grow stronger because he can’t forget the past.

What do you think of the parallels between Granolah and Vegeta? Will our Saiyan hero overpower him or will the Cerealian have the last laugh in the fated battle which awaits us? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!