| “ | You have summoned the Eternal Dragon. Speak your wish so that I may grant it. | „ |
| ~ Shenron upon being summoned by the Dragon Balls. |
Shenron is a titular major character in the Dragon Ball franchise. He is a wish granting dragon created by Kami of the Earth Dragon Balls. After Kami permanently fused with Piccolo, Dende recreated the dragon, and he was then able to grant two wishes per summon. Then, sometime after the events of the "Majin Buu" saga, Dende powered him up a second time, and now he can grant three wishes.
He is voiced by the late Kenji Utsumi in the Japanese version, and by Christopher R. Sabat in the English version.
Name[]
Shenron/Shenlong is named after the spiritual dragon of the same name in Chinese mythology, who is known as the master of storms and a bringer of rain (to the point of being a weather entity). Shenlong is often shown with azure/green-colored scales and is said to be five-clawed (marking its stats as an imperial dragon).
It is a common tale that those in old days of China would appease a Shenlong to pray for plentiful rainfalls. However, akin to both the symbolism of rulers and dragons alike it is easy to enrage one with a poor gift or in a more common way (ruffling their scales via the "nilin/gekirin" concept). In the Shenlong's case, how they vent their said rage is often through creating destructive rainstorms and hurricanes.
In Dragon Ball, the Shenlong here is often referred to in its pinyin/Mandarin reading (pronounced as "Sheh-n-loh-ng" or "Sheh-n-roh-n", but pronounced as "Sheh-n-rah-n" in the Funimation dub as a mispronunciation). In the Japanese on'yomi reading used for names like Goku's and his family, as well the Ox King, Shenron and Shenlong's names alike are to be said as "Shinryū" (this on'yomi pronunciation is not used in the series).
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Because everyone on Earth was killed by Super Buu, the limits on Shenron being able to bring back the dead only once was lifted.
- Bringing back multiple people tales up the power of two wishes, which is why Dende ensured Shenron could grant three; there had to be come kind of compensation to balance this.
- Dragon Ball GT revealed the effect of the cracked Dragon Balls being overused, Shenron has a polar opposite named "Black Smoke Shenron" whom the Seven Shadow Dragons are collectively part of.
External Links[]
- Shenron on the Dragon Ball Wiki
- Shenron on the Inconsistently Admirable Wiki
