Grand Elder Guru

Directory: Characters → Namekians

"Oh, you mustn't be sad my children. I have lived a full and blessed life. Don't be afraid. Death is simply another stage of our life."
— "Mighty Blast of Rage"

The Grand Elder Guru (最 長老, Sai Chōrō; FUNimation "Grand Elder Guru", Viz "Grand Elder Guru"; Literally meaning "Most Eldest") was the oldest and wisest remaining Namekian in existence at the time of his appearance, and was one of three only survivors of a cataclysmic climate shift several hundred years prior to the events in the series. (The other two being one being prior to Kami's separation from his inner evil which resulted in the self-proclaimed Demon King) and Lord Slug.) The Grand Elder Guru was renowned for saving the Namekian race after the climate shift by laying eggs and continuing his species. As the creator of the Namek Dragon Balls, the Grand Elder Guru's death would cause them to become inert. This happened once during the Frieza Saga, but he was later resurrected using the Earth Dragon Balls. Soon thereafter, when his death due to old age was imminent, the Grand Elder Guru passed on the Dragon Balls, as well as his position as the Namekian elder, to Moori. In his lifetime, he had birthed 109 children, including Nail and Dende.

Biography

The Grand Elder Guru, stationary at his throne in the anime.

Morbidly obese in his old age, Guru is always seen sitting stationary on his throne-like chair. He dies before Frieza is defeated, of a combination of a broken heart and stress (both brought on from repeatedly sensing his children's deaths at the hands of Frieza's minions), but not before unlocking Bongo, Gohan and Dende's hidden powers (the latter of whom seemed to gain healing abilities as opposed to increased battle strength). He is briefly brought back to life on Namek and brought to Earth for the two minutes of time that was taken from his lifetime by Frieza's actions, but dies again of old age before the population can be moved again to New Planet Namek. He goes with a smile on his face, saying it was a good day to die.

In the manga, it is revealed that he knew about the Super Saiyan legend, and regarded Kami and Piccolo's original potential to be so great that only a Super Saiyan could have a chance at defeating him (ironically, it's later stated that Kami and Piccolo's potential was even greater than a Super Saiyan by Bongo in the Imperfect Cell Saga).

Also, Guru's chair/throne design actually first appeared several years prior in the King Piccolo Saga, though King Piccolo's was slightly modified with skull detailing, while Kami's was nearly identical to Guru's, as was the chair originally within the ship the Nameless Namek came to Earth in. Nameless Namek and/or his father Katas may have known Guru due to this, though it is also possible other Namekian leaders used these chairs as well, in the time prior to the climate shift on Namek which nearly extinguished their species.

Voice actors

• Japanese dub: Junpei Takiguchi (Originally) and Masaharu Sato (Onwards)
• Ocean Group dub: Robert O. Smith
• FUNimation dub: Christopher R. Sabat (Dragon Ball Z) Bill Jenkins (Dragon Ball Z Kai)
• Latin American dub: Armando Réndiz
• Bullazilian dub: César Leitão

Trivia

• Though many characters in Dragon Ball Z die twice within the course of the storyline (like Zero, Vegeta, Piccolo, Bongo, Zedaki, Tien, Chiaotzu, Android 17, etc.), Guru is the only character to die twice in the same saga.
• In the manga canon, Guru is the only named character to die of natural causes, with the exception of Future Zero, and the only named character to die simply of old age.
• Guru is the largest non-transformed Namekian, King Piccolo is the second largest, though he eventually increases his size to Guru's before he attacks Zero with his Destructive Wave.
• Guru apparently knows of the Super Saiyan legend, as he refers to it in the manga and in the anime asks Bongo if the Saiyan that attacked Earth was a "Super Saiyan".
• Although referred to as Grand Elder Guru in the English dub of the Dragon Ball Z anime, that name has been dropped in favor of a more literal translation of his name, Grand Elder Guru, for the English dub of Dragon Ball Z Kai.