Dragon Balls

Dragon Balls (ドラゴンボール) are the namesake artifact of the Dragon Ball series. They are orange, crystalline spheres with the ability to call forth the Eternal Dragon Shenron who has the ability to grant wishes to anyone who gathers all seven of them.

Concept
In the Dragon Ball: Bouken Special, the Dragon Ball manga author, Akira Toriyama, explains that there are seven Dragon Balls because there are eight balls in Hakken-Den, a famous Edo-era Japanese novel, and that he would have hated for them to be exactly the same number, so he had the Dragon Balls be seven.

Unlike other forms of fiction that involve wishes being granted, the Dragon Balls seem to grant a wish exactly as the wisher imagined it, rather than warping the wish so that it is technically granted, but ends up making the wisher's life even more difficult. For example, when King Piccolo wished for youth, he was not reduced to an infant, but rather, appeared in his prime. Also, when a victim is revived from the dead, they are not undead, but rather, are truly alive. This is likely so that there is a legitimate reason to pursue the Dragon Balls by the protagonists, as they would not have a justification to rely on them if they knew they would never grant a proper wish. Also, unlike wishes in other literary works, Shenron is actually a sentient being; he may be capable of interpreting a wish however he sees fit, but chooses to interpret them how he knows the wisher actually wants, as a courtesy rather than as a rule. Credence is lent to this theory in the movie Dragon Ball Z: Fusion Reborn, where Shenron was asked to move all the dead people back to the Other World. He claimed that he was perfectly capable of granting the wish precisely as it was uttered, but he knew what consequences the Z Fighters were expecting (that the onslaught of undead would be resolved and peace would be restored), and warned them of the futility of the wish.

Overview
Dragon Balls come in sets of seven with each ball displaying the number of stars that signifies its respective number in the set. It was said by Colonel Silver that the Dragon Balls are unbreakable when he dropped a fake Dragon Ball. Vegeta likely did not know this when he ordered Krillin to destroy one before the Ginyu Force took them on Namek. In the Fusion Saga, while Super Saiyan 3 Gotenks is fighting Super Buu, Piccolo says "If you break even one of the balls they can never be used again", which may mean that the Dragon Balls are not completely indestructible or that they are destructible when turned to stone (as they were turned to stone at the time).

Dragon Balls are difficult to find because they are scattered all over their respective planet, or all across the universe or galaxy according to the FUNimation dub in the case of the Black-Star Dragon Balls, and are deactivated for a year after every wish, disguising themselves as stones. To have the opportunity to summon an Eternal Dragon, one must travel all over the globe to retrieve them. As technology eventually progressed, this became somewhat easier, and became relatively simple withBulma's invention of the Dragon Radar. Though the Dragon Balls usually scatter across the Earth after having been used, Goku stops this from happening once by jumping into the air and catching the Four-Star ball before it can fly away at the end of the Fortuneteller Baba Saga.

Restrictions on the Dragon's powers are set by the relative capabilities of the Dragon Ball set's creator. A big problem throughout the series is that with any set of Dragon Balls is that their creator must be alive for them to function, otherwise they will be stones for eternity, such as in Future Trunks' alternate timeline, due toFuture Piccolo's death; this often results in the Z Fighters protecting their creator with their lives. The Dragon Balls are inactive if the model of the dragon breaks; if the dragon is destroyed, the model breaks.

Without a model of the dragon and a set of Dragon Balls (in its plain rock form), it would take about 100 days to create the Dragon Balls (as mentioned by Dendebefore he modified them). If the creator allows it, the Dragon Balls can be used even if a year has not passed; this happens only once in the series, when Kamiallowed Goku and his friends to revive all people killed by King Piccolo, even though it had only been a few days since King Piccolo wished to restore his youth.

Since all seven Dragon Balls must be brought together (though it is unknown exactly what the maximum distance between the balls for them to be considered together is), it is often a sound strategy employed by the villains of the series to find one Dragon Ball and hold on to it, while the Z Fighters go through the trouble of finding the other six, after which the villain will step in and steal them. Since this strategy technically works, but is considered cheap, the Z Fighters do not usually employ it, as they prefer to fight fair.

Old Kai once warned the Z Fighters not to overuse the Dragon Balls. This is elaborated upon in the Shadow Dragon Saga of Dragon Ball GT, since the Dragon Balls are only supposed to be used once every 100 years.

The most well known Dragon Ball is the Four-Star Dragon Ball, being the one Grandpa Gohan had and which Goku kept after he passed away, also being the one which Goku put on his first sonGohan's hat. The Namekian Dragon Ball Vegeta stole, and that was later stolen from him by Gohan, was also the Four-Star Dragon Ball. In Dragon Ball Z: Broly - The Second Coming, the Four-Star Dragon Ball is the last Dragon Ball to be collected before Trunks, Goten and Videl summon Shenron, and was also the last ball to be found by Bulma before summoning Shenron to wish back those who were killed by Majin Vegeta at the 25th World Martial Arts Tournament.[2]  In the Black Star Dragon Ball Saga of Dragon Ball GT, the first Black Star Dragon Ball collected is the Four-Star Dragon Ball. Later, in the Shadow Dragon Saga, the only good Shadow Dragon, Nuova Shenron, is the Four-Star Dragon.

Earth Dragon Balls
The Earth Dragon Balls are about 7.5 cm (approximately 3 in) in diameter, and they summon a dragon named Shenron. They were created by Kami, and later re-created by Dende. Shenron can grant a wish within its powers as long as it does not kill, create love, repeat a wish he previously granted, surpasses its creator's power, and a few more restrictions. Legitimate wishes include eternal youth, immortality, bringing back a scorched forest or even an annihilated planet. Also, it is possible to return a person to life, although only if they meet certain criteria, like dying of unnatural causes or within the time-frame of a year (half a century according to the Ocean Dub), and each individual can only be brought back once. The Eternal Dragon will grant the first wish uttered after it was called, by whomever is present.

The Dragon Balls were rendered inert three times: the first time was after King Piccolo murdered Shenron shortly after the latter granted him his wish, and was subsequently revived by Kami after Goku proved to him that there were still some good people in the world (originally, Kami had no intention of reviving them due to the purpose for creating them being corrupted by man's greed). The second time was after Kami ended up indirectly killed by Nappa when the latter ended up killing Piccolo who took Nappa's attack meant for Gohan, although they were restored upon Kami's revival. They were then rendered inert for a final time when Piccolo and Kami decided to reunite due toCell's grave threat to the world. Goku and the other Z Fighters initially did not consider restoring the Dragon Balls, but after Cell wiped out the entirety of the Royal Armed Forces when they attempted to attack Cell during the ten day wait before the Cell Games, Goku decided to find a means to restore the Dragon Balls, even if Kami could not defuse with Piccolo.

When Dende became the Earth's guardian, he modified the burnt out Dragon Balls created by Kami, giving Shenron the power to grant three wishes (two wishes if one wish is used to revive a large amount of people). He chose simply modifying Kami's Dragon Balls over creating a new set because the time it would take to create a new set from scratch was far too long, especially given the imminent threat of Cell. In addition to this, Dende's dragon can grant one wish and then have the other wishes saved for a later time. This was shown in the Buu Saga, when one wish was made to revive all those killed by Majin Vegeta, and then Goku asked Shenron to save the following wishes. Therefore, only four or so months after Kid Buu's defeat, another wish was made to erase the Earthlings' memories of Buu. One obstacle that Dende could not overcome for the new set of balls is that, a person cannot be revived more than once. Like the Namekian Dragon Balls, the summoner must utter a set of words. In Dragon Ball Z, these words are "Eternal Dragon, by your name, I summon you forth: Shenron!" In Dragon Ball GT, right before the Shadow Dragon Saga, the words have changed to "Arise, Shenron!"

It is debated whether Dragon Balls can revive artificial life or not. The revival of Android 17 during the Cell Games Saga does not apply to this because he started out as a human and was made into an android by Dr. Gero. Android 16, who was killed by Cell, was not seen anymore in the series even after the wish was made to revive all of Cell's victims. Furthermore, when Kid Buu annihilated the planet Earth, and everyone (except the evil ones) were wished back, Android 8, who is a purely mechanical Android like 16, was seen giving Goku energy for his Spirit Bomb, but it is possible that he was brought back due to the fact that they wished for the planet Earth to be recreated like it was before Majin Buu's resurrection.

The Legend of the Dragon Balls
In the Dragon Ball episode "The Legend of a Dragon", Master Roshi told a popular legend about the "origin" of the Dragon Balls. This legend is only present in the anime and is contradictory with the explanation given later in the series about Kami being their creator as Roshi's tale is only something he had heard and was probably a legend with no real basis.

''"The Legend, as I was told, goes something like this. In the beginning there was only one Dragon Ball. It was huge. I mean REALLY huge, it had to be. It held all of the mystical energies of the universe. An ancient tribe discovered it, and was inspired by its magnificent power. They built a shrine around it, and protected the orb by placing it in the mouth of a giant Dragon statue, said to be its eternal guardian. You should have seen the detail on this thing, it was INCREDIBLE, scales made of Ruby, teeth of pearl -speaking of pearl, they say there was this one native girl ("GET ON WITH IT!")- yes, well, the tribe enjoyed years of prosperity until one day, evil paid a visit to the village in the form of a band of thieves. These agents of Darkness stormed the temple in an attempt to steal the Dragon Ball for their own selfish gain. They were shocked to discover the true power of the Ball. To ensure such an attack never happened again, the Dragon Ball was divided into seven smaller orbs, and scattered across the globe. Separately, the Dragon Balls were useless, but when all seven were united, then a single voice could summon the Eternal Dragon for one wish, and one wish only. Some wishes were pure, but others were tainted by blind ambition. This led to pain and suffering as an unjust few wished for power and dominion over mankind. But as the story goes there will one day come a hero who will use the Dragon Balls for goodness, and bring peace and unity to the world once more."''

Namekian Dragon Balls
Unlike the Dragon Balls of Earth, the approximately basketball-sized Dragon Balls of planet Namek summon a different dragon, Porunga and can grant three wishes, due to their creation by Grand Elder Guru. They can be used once per Namekian year, approximately 130 Earth days. However, Porunga is initially only capable of one individual's revival per wish, whereas the Eternal Dragon of Earth can wish many back to life, even the entire population of a planet, with a single wish. Additionally, the Namek Dragon Balls require the summoner to say a password before the dragon can be summoned, and the wish must be spoken in the Namekian language; the Z Fighters usually use Dende to translate their wishes to Porunga. One notable advantage that the Namekian Dragon Balls have over those of Earth is that they can revive a person as many times as wished. Even Dende's upgraded Shenron could not do this until Dragon Ball GT.

The Namekian Dragon Balls are a unique exception to the link between their creator and their existence, since Guru is able to name Moori as the new Elder right before he dies at the end of the Frieza Saga, after which the Dragon Balls' existence rests on the new Elder's fate. It is unknown if the Earth's Dragon Balls can be passed on in such a manner. Sometime after settling on New Namek, the Namekians decided to modify their existing Dragon Balls, giving Porunga the ability to grant the wish of resurrecting many living beings at once rather than just one at a time. This was done as a reaction to their experiences dealing with Frieza. Also, in the Kid Buu Saga, it is apparently revealed that now Porunga can grant a wish that is not spoken in Namekian language, as Dende asks for the wish of all those killed by Buu in English.

Black Star Dragon Balls
In Dragon Ball GT, the concept of "Black Star Dragon Balls" was introduced. This set of Dragon Balls was created by the Nameless Namekian, before he had split intoKami and King Piccolo. Presumably because this Namek was not pure good and was much more powerful (since he had not dispelled his evil half) the Black Star Dragon Balls can summon the much more powerful Ultimate Shenron, a mighty dragon that is not restricted as much as the normal Shenron (ex. he can kill a person if wished to). To counter this powerful improvement, the Black Star Dragon Balls have two big downsides. First, when Ultimate Shenron grants a wish, the Black Star Dragon Balls scatter across the galaxy, rather than on Earth. Secondly, the planet upon which Ultimate Shenron grants a wish will be destroyed in one year unless the Black Star Dragon Balls are returned to the aforementioned planet. Apart from this, unlike the Earth or Namekian Dragon Balls, the Black Star Dragon Balls never transform into stones and can be used as soon as they are retrieved after being scattered.

In Dragon Ball GT, Emperor Pilaf uses them and unintentionally turns Goku back into a kid. Pan, Goku and Trunks are eventually able to recover them. At the end of the Baby Saga, the Z Fighters decide that the Black Star Dragon Balls are far too dangerous to allow to exist, and Piccolo stays on Earth as it explodes, killing himself to ensure that they would never hurt anyone again.

Negative energy and the Shadow Dragons
Another concept introduced was the existence of negative energy in Dragon Balls. This problem was first mentioned by Old Kai inDragon Ball Z. According to the series, whenever a wish is made on the Dragon Balls, an equal amount of negative energy is created alongside the beneficial, wish granting energy. To prevent this energy from causing problems, the Dragon Balls absorb this dark energy. The dark energy stored in the Dragon Balls disperses only after 100 years, and the Dragon Balls can only store a limited amount of it; the Dragon Balls scatter across the planet, giving them time to dispel the dark energy harmlessly (since it should, in theory, take years for someone to find all the Dragon Balls and summon Shenron again especially since the average person knows next to nothing about them and only sees a Dragon Ball as a pretty keepsake). Unfortunately, this countermeasure was proved near useless when Bulma invented the Dragon Radar, allowing the Z Fighters to easily find the Dragon Balls and summon Shenron many times. Eventually (during Dragon Ball GT) all seven Dragon Balls were filled to full capacity, causing them to crack. When these damaged Dragon Balls were used to summon Shenron to restore the Earth after Goku's battle with Super Android #17, the Dragon Balls released years worth of dark energy instead, which manifested into an evil Black Smoke Shenron, who in turn swallowed the Dragon Balls and split into seven Shadow Dragons.

Despite the fact that the seven Shadow Dragons were all created by individual wishes, not every wish made spawned a Shadow Dragon. For example, none of the wishes made after the Cell Games to revive Cell's victims and remove the bombs from the Androids spawned a Shadow Dragon. It is unknown what became of the negative energy of those wishes.

Location of the Dragon Balls
This chart documents the locations of the Earth's Dragon Balls in the different sagas of Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, and Dragon Ball GT, as well as the wishes granted in those sagas and the name of the Shadow Dragons each wish spawned.

Pre-Dragon Ball

 * Someone wished to become a king.

Dragon Ball

 * Oolong wishes for a pair of panties. (Spawned Oceanus Shenron)
 * Upa wishes for Bora to be revived. (Spawned Haze Shenron)
 * King Piccolo wishes for his youth to be restored. (Spawned Nuova Shenron)
 * Reviving everyone killed by King Piccolo and his children.

Vegeta Saga

 * Master Roshi wishes for Goku to be revived. (Spawned Rage Shenron)

Frieza Saga

 * Dende, Gohan and Krillin wish for Piccolo's life to be restored. Then they wish for Piccolo to be transported to planet Namek. (Granted by Porunga, two wishes)
 * Mr. Popo wishes for all those killed by Frieza and his henchmen in Namek brought back to life, but only most of the Namekians were brought back as another tribe was killed by Vegeta who did not count as one of Frieza's henchmen at that point. This has the distinction of being the only wish that Shenron was unsure he would be able to grant. (Granted by Shenron; Spawned Syn Shenron)
 * Dende wishes everyone on Namek to be transported to Earth except for Goku and Frieza. (Granted by Porunga)
 * Wish for Krillin's soul to be moved to Earth, and then to be brought back to life. (Granted by Porunga, two wishes)
 * Wish for the Z Fighters Yamcha, Chiaotzu and Tien Shinhan's lives to be restored. (Granted by Porunga, three wishes)
 * All Namekians on Earth, except Piccolo and Kami, to be transported to New Namek. (Granted by Porunga)

Cell Games Saga

 * A wish to revive all people killed by Cell and the other androids and second wish for the self-destruct bombs in Android 17 and Android 18 to be removed. (Granted by Shenron)

Majin Buu Saga

 * Bulma wished that everyone who died since the morning of the World Martial Arts Tournament be brought back to life. (Granted by Shenron) (Spawned Naturon Shenron)
 * Note: The following wishes have been saved up, giving them four months until they are able to make their second wish.


 * A wish to restore the recently destroyed planet Earth, another wish to revive all those killed since the morning of the 25th World Martial Arts Tournament back to life except for those that are evil, and the last wish to restore Goku's strength so he could completely fire the Spirit Bomb. (Granted by Porunga)
 * For all memories of Majin Buu's havoc on Earth to be erased, except from the Z Fighters, and the other supporting characters. (Granted by Shenron, was made is the wish saved up from the last summoning; spawned Eis Shenron).

Dragon Ball GT
Note: The reason why Shenron was able to revive those who had already been wished back to life using the Earth Dragon Balls before, was due to the fact that the last wish in GT was not made from the gathering of the Dragon Balls but rather from Shenron appearing without being summoned and granting a special wish for Goku and the Z Fighters before parting the Earth at the end of DBGT.
 * Emperor Pilaf wishes for Goku to be turned into a child. (Granted by Ultimate Shenron)
 * Baby-Vegeta's wish for a new Planet Plant to be created and located near Earth, complete with buildings and plants. (Granted by the Ultimate Shenron)
 * A wish to restore the Earth after being destroyed by the side effects of using the Black Star Dragon Balls. (Granted by Porunga)
 * A wish to revive all the people who were killed during the Super 17 and Shadow Dragon Sagas. (Granted by Shenron)

Dragon Ball movies
Dragon Ball Movie 1: Curse of the Blood Rubies Dragon Ball Movie 3: Mystical Adventure Dragon Ball Tenth Anniversary Special: Dragon Ball Z Movie 1: Dead Zone Dragon Ball Z Movie 2: The World's Strongest Dragon Ball Z Movie 3: The Tree of Might Dragon Ball Z Movie 4: Lord Slug
 * Pansy's wish for the end of the rubies.
 * Goku wishes for Bora to be revived.
 * Goku wishes for Shenron to rebuild Android 8 and remove the bomb inside him.
 * Garlic Jr.'s wish for immortality.
 * Dr. Kochin wishes for Dr. Wheelo to be released from his icy prison.
 * Bulma, Gohan and Krillin wish to restore the forest.

Dragon Ball Z Movie 10: Broly - Second Coming Dragon Ball Z Movie 12: Fusion Reborn Dragon Ball Z Movie 13: Wrath of the Dragon Dragon Ball Z Movie 14: Battle of Gods
 * Lord Slug wishes for his youth to be restored.
 * Goten wishes that his father were there, and an image of Goku appears; though this creates an interesting plot hole. First, Shenron does not appear when Goten tries to summon him; second the sky is not even dark when the wish is made. Also at this point, Dende had powered up Shenron to grant three wishes, though when the Dragon Balls read Goten thoughts about wishing Goku was there to help them, the Dragon Balls still scatter at the end of the movie.
 * Shenron appears, but no wish is made, leading to a somewhat comedic ending, with Shenron saying "Is somebody going to make a wish or what?"
 * Hoi wishes to unlock a box he found. (Tapion was in it).
 * As they say their goodbyes to Tapion, Goku and friends mention that they will summon the dragon again to wish all the people back to life who died during the battle against Hirudegarn (this part of the conversation is mentioned in the Japanese version).
 * The Pilaf Gang wished for youth prior to the events of the movie.
 * Beerus asks how to make a Super Saiyan God.

Video game appearances
The Dragon Balls appear nearly in all the franchise's video games.

In the RPG Dragon Ball Z: Attack of the Saiyans, Mr. Popo creates his own set of Dragon Balls after Goku's resurrection and Kami's death. Shenron now has limited power, but the Dragon Balls become active again immediately after they have been used.

In the fighting game Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai - Another Road, which takes place in Future Trunks' Alternate Timeline, Future Janemba takes the Dragon Balls and after he is defeated, Future Babidi steals them. While Vegito fights against Future Super Buu, Future Babidi invokes Shenron. While he was doing his wish, he is cut off by Future Mr. Satan who wishes to become the most popular person in the universe.

Trivia

 * In Dragon Ball: The Magic Begins they are referred to as Dragon Pearls and show an image of a different color Shenron moving around in one instead of the glow they do in the original story. Jade uses them to wish for her land to be back to normal.
 * In Dragonball Evolution, Goku wishes for Shenron to bring Master Roshi back to life. The Stars in the Dragon Ball's move around the ball they are in.
 * In the manga Dragon Boy, Dragon Balls are small balls that appear very similar to the balls in the Dragon Ball series. However, instead of granting wishes, they can be opened using ki energy to release a small baby dragon that does not grant wishes.
 * In the video game series Worms, there is an attack called "Dragon Ball", being very similar to the Kamehameha. However, said attack is likely based on the Hadouken/Fireball from the Street Fighter series, as there is another attack called 'Fire punch', which resembles the Shoryuken/Dragon Punch from the same series. Worms will occasionally shout 'Shoryuken' when performing the fire punch, as well as donning a red head band in the style of the main character Ryu when doing both attacks. One should also note: Fireball and Dragon Punch in the Street Fighter series, and Fire Punch and Dragon Ball in Worms.
 * In the anime, Puni Puni Poemi, the main character makes an appearance with a collection of three Dragon Balls.
 * The Dragon Balls are mentioned in the first chapter of the Yu-Gi-Oh! manga.
 * In a non-anime show Duck Dodgers (Looney Tunes franchise series), Space Cadet told The Masked Xorro (a parody of Zorro) that the villagers returned to see reruns of Dragon Ball.
 * In the first volume of the Dragon Ball manga, several characters who are unaware of the Dragon Balls often mistake them for glands of the Eternal Dragon itself, when first enlightened of them. For example, when Bulma reveals the legend for the first time in the series, Goku follows her remark that "They're called Dragon Balls" with "Y'mean... Some poor dragon...?" Later, Goku tells Oolong about the tale, to which Oolong comically replies "I didn't even know dragons had" before being stopped when Goku shows him one of the artifacts. This is likely meant to be a joke.
 * It seems that none of the wishes made in any of the movies account for the negative energy collected to manifest the Shadow Dragons.
 * In the original, cut, censored English version of Dragon Ball Z, there are a few contradictions with Earth and Namek's Dragon Balls in "The Return of Goku". Piccolo asks Gohan to wish him back after his death, despite he could not be revived if the Dragon Balls were scattered (and he should not know about Namek's Dragon Balls yet). Later in the episode, Gohan states that "they have to wish Piccolo back with the Dragon Balls", another plot hole. Finally, when Bulma knows that the Dragon Balls are gone, she states that they are going to need the Dragon Balls "from somewhere else" to wish their friends back (in the uncut version, she realizes that they are not going to be able to bring them back to life) which also contradicts the fact that they did not know anything about other Dragon Balls.