Shenron: Dragon Ball's Wish-Granting Dragon

Seven orange balls, an incantation, and the sky darkens to reveal a huge green dragon: Shenron is the driving force behind many of Dragon Ball's adventures. Here's what you need to know about the sacred dragon, from his rules to his various lives.

Gathering the seven Dragon Balls to summon Shenron

To summon Shenron, you have to gather the seven Dragon Balls, scattered across the world, in one place, then say the right incantation. In Japanese, the set phrase means “Appear, Shenron! And grant my wish!”, but more casual wording would do as long as the meaning gets across.

When he's summoned, the sky turns black, even in broad daylight, and the dragon stands out against the darkness; the light comes back when he leaves. Shenron looks like a traditional four-fingered Chinese dragon: brown antlers, sharp teeth, green scales, red eyes, a long serpentine body made mostly of tail, and long whiskers.

The dragon was created by Kami, the god of Earth: in the manga, Mr. Popo made the Shenron statuette, and Kami breathed life into it. Kami explains that he gave the Dragon Balls to humans to bring them courage and hope, but that they used them out of greed rather than for good. Chapter 242 of the manga reveals that the Dragon Balls are a creation of the Namekians, Kami's people.

🧲 Gathering the seven Dragon Balls makes Shenron appear; to collect all seven balls on your own fridge, stick on our Dragon Ball magnets.

One wish, then a year's wait: Shenron's rules

Originally, Shenron grants just one wish, then withdraws; the seven balls scatter across the planet and stay ordinary stones for a year. In the manga, when Oolong asks him to get rid of the Saiyan threat, the dragon replies that it's beyond his power: he can't grant a wish that exceeds his creator's strength.

Resurrection follows strict rules: the same person can only be brought back to life once by Shenron, and only if they didn't die of natural causes. In principle, the dragon only brings back people who have been dead for less than a year.

Shenron also depends on his creator: when Nappa kills Piccolo, Kami dies too, since their lives are linked, and the Dragon Balls turn back into stones. The dragon is neutral: he grants any wish within his power, whatever the intentions of whoever summons him, villains included. In the Buu arc of the manga, we finally learn that an unused wish can be saved for later: if only one wish has been made, you just have to wait four months.

In Dragon Ball Daima, Degesu, the Supreme Kai's younger brother, even claims that Shenron can't kill someone through a wish, because the magic that created him is white magic.

From Oolong's panties to major resurrections

Shenron had supposedly already been summoned before the series began by someone who wanted to become king, as Bulma explains to Goku. But the first wish we actually see granted is far less solemn. In chapter 19, whose Japanese title means “The Dragon Finally Appears!”, Emperor Pilaf and his henchmen summon the dragon in front of their castle; in chapter 20, Oolong interrupts Pilaf and asks for a girl's panties, which fall from the sky and land on his face.

In the anime, the dragon appears at the end of episode 11 of Dragon Ball, which aired in Japan on May 7, 1986, and Oolong's wish is granted in episode 12, on May 14, 1986.

After that, the dragon is mostly used to bring back the dead. In the manga, Master Roshi asks him to revive Goku, who died during the fight against Raditz, so he can face the Saiyans. During the battle between Goku and Frieza on Namek, Mr. Popo summons Shenron on Earth to bring back to life the victims of Frieza and his men, including the Namekians. After Cell's defeat, the dragon revives Cell's victims, including Future Trunks, but can't bring back Goku, who had already been revived once; he also turns down the wish to make Android 17 and Android 18 human, since it's beyond his power.

In the Buu arc of the manga, the sky suddenly turns black: summoned by Goku's friends, the dragon brings back to life the people who died on the day of the tournament, “except the bad guys.” In the anime, a wish saved for later is used, four months after Buu's defeat, to erase the monster from Earthlings' memories, except for Goku's friends and family.

In the film Battle of Gods, Goku summons Shenron, who reveals the Super Saiyan God ritual to him: five pure-hearted Saiyans channel their energy into a sixth. In Resurrection 'F', the dragon at first hesitates to revive Frieza, whose body had been cut to pieces by Future Trunks, then complies. And in Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero, Shenron unlocks Piccolo's hidden potential, while Bulma uses the remaining wishes for cosmetic touch-ups.

At the start of Dragon Ball Daima, Gomah wishes for everyone who fought Majin Buu, along with their friends, to become children again. Shenron then denies him a second wish: a newcomer only gets one wish, while his regulars get three.

🌑 Shenron plunges the sky into darkness, even in broad daylight; to dim the light in your own home, hang one of our Dragon Ball curtains.

Killed, revived, re-created: the lives of Shenron

King Piccolo has the Dragon Balls restore his youth, then kills Shenron before he can vanish, so that no one can use the dragon against him. In the anime, this death happens in episode 112 of Dragon Ball, which aired in Japan on May 18, 1988.

After the demon's defeat, Kami revives the dragon by striking his statuette with a magic beam: Shenron bursts out of it and speeds off toward Earth. Crafted by Mr. Popo, this statuette is kept under glass at Kami's Lookout; shattered when the dragon died, it has just been glued back together by its maker. The wish that follows brings back to life the victims of King Piccolo and his offspring, including Krillin, Master Roshi and Chiaotzu.

Many years later, during the Cell arc, Shenron disappears again when Kami agrees to merge back with Piccolo. The young Namekian Dende then re-creates Earth's Dragon Balls: in the manga (chapter 394), he offers three wishes per summoning, reduced to two if the dragon is to revive several people at once.

The Japanese version of the anime keeps the same rule; Funimation's English dub, however, speaks of two wishes with no conditions. In the film Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero, Dende upgrades the dragon even further by pouring special water on his statuette.

Porunga, Super Shenron and the dragons of GT

On Namek, the Dragon Balls summon another dragon, Porunga (Polunga), who grants three wishes instead of one, which must be spoken in the Namekian language. At first, he can only revive one person at a time, but he can bring back the same person more than once, which Shenron can't do.

Dragon Ball Super introduces Super Shenron and the planet-sized Super Dragon Balls, scattered across Universes 6 and 7. Created by the dragon god Zalama, they grant one wish with no limits, as long as it's spoken in the language of the gods.

In Dragon Ball GT, an anime-only sequel, Pilaf summons a red dragon, Kyūkyoku Shenron, at the start of the series and botches his wish: Goku turns back into a child. In the final arc, seven evil dragons are born from the Dragon Balls, each spawned by a wish made during the series. In the 64th and final episode, which aired in Japan on November 19, 1997, Shenron heals Goku, grants one last wish, then leaves Earth with him and the Dragon Balls, so that Earthlings stop relying on them. Dragon Ball Super and Dragon Ball Daima, on the other hand, show the dragon still active.

A dragon god: name, creation and voices

Shenron is a character created by Akira Toriyama for the Dragon Ball manga, launched in 1984. His Japanese name literally means “dragon god” or “divine dragon”; it's also written Shen Long. It comes from the Chinese shén lóng, the spirit dragon of Chinese mythology, usually described as the one who rules over wind and rain.

As early as June 1983, Toriyama came up with the short manga Dragon Boy, in which a young warrior is helped by a little dragon that comes out of a crystal ball: it's the ancestor of Shenron and the Dragon Balls. The dragon also features in the very first film based on the manga, Dragon Ball: Curse of the Blood Rubies, directed by Daisuke Nishio and released in Japanese theaters in December 1986 simply as Dragon Ball.

In Japanese, Shenron's longtime voice was Kenji Utsumi, who died in 2013; he was occasionally replaced, notably by Masaharu Satō in episodes 192 and 193 of Dragon Ball Z. Ryūzaburō Ōtomo took over the role in the Buu Saga of Dragon Ball Z Kai, then in Dragon Ball Super and Dragon Ball Daima.

In English, the dragon is voiced by Christopher Sabat, also the voice of Vegeta and Piccolo, in Funimation's dubs of Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball GT, Dragon Ball Z Kai and Dragon Ball Super, in the recent films starting with Battle of Gods, and in Dragon Ball Daima. In the Ocean dub of Dragon Ball Z, he was voiced by Don Brown.

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Shenron at a glance

Frequently Asked Questions

• How do you summon Shenron?
  You have to gather Earth's seven Dragon Balls in one place and say the incantation. The sky then turns black, even in broad daylight, and the dragon appears.
• How many wishes does Shenron grant?
  Just one originally. Dende announces three wishes for the dragon he re-creates, reduced to two for a mass resurrection, in the manga (chapter 394) as well as in the Japanese version of the anime.
• Can Shenron revive the same person twice?
  No: the same person can only be brought back to life once by Shenron. That's why he can't revive Goku after the Cell Games. Porunga, the dragon of Namek, doesn't have that limit.
• Who killed Shenron?
  King Piccolo, right after the dragon restored his youth, so that no one could use the dragon against him. Kami revives Shenron after the demon's defeat.
• What's the first wish we see Shenron grant?
  Oolong's: he interrupts Emperor Pilaf and asks for a girl's panties. Before the series began, someone had supposedly already asked the dragon to make them king.
• Who voices Shenron in English?
  Christopher Sabat, in Funimation's dubs from Dragon Ball through Dragon Ball Super, in the recent films and in Dragon Ball Daima; Don Brown voiced him in the Ocean dub of Dragon Ball Z. In Japanese, Kenji Utsumi was his longtime voice.

🎧 Shenron's statuette is kept under glass at Kami's Lookout; to protect a small treasure of your own, dress your earbuds case in one of our Dragon Ball AirPods cases.