One of the original characters in Dragon Ball is Krillin, who has been around since the first Dragon Ball series, along with Goku and Bulma. With that said, Krillin has almost always been a comic relief that either dies or gets beat up quite early in a fight. Nevertheless, he is still incredibly powerful when compared to regular human beings. But is Krillin a Saiyan, and why can he never become one?
Krillin is not a Saiyan because he was born and raised as a human being that doesn’t have any special genetic abilities. As such, the limits of his powers are hindered by the fact that he is completely human and doesn’t have Saiyan blood that would have allowed him to surpass his limits or go Super Saiyan.
It might be true that Krillin isn’t as powerful as the other characters in the series, but the fact is that Goku and the Saiyans are already ridiculously strong. Nevertheless, Krillin has always been strong but was always more of the comic relief that the show needed at certain points of the series. Now, let’s look at what exactly Krillin is and why he isn’t a Saiyan like Goku and the others.
Is Krillin A Saiyan?
Ever since the beginning of the Dragon Ball anime, there was always one character that stood by Goku no matter what. Yes, we are talking about his childhood best friend Krillin, who is one of the OG characters of Dragon Ball, alongside the likes of Goku and Bulma, who have always been the main characters in the series. And Goku and Krillin trained hard enough when they were children so that they could stand out in the World Martial Arts Tournament.
However, as time passed, it became apparent that Goku was a lot stronger than Krillin, who might have been his equal at one point in time but got left behind when his childhood best friend ultimately became too strong due to a combination of his insane work ethic and genetics. Of course, it was later revealed in Dragon Ball Z that Goku is actually a Saiyan, which is an alien race composed of elite warriors. And Saiyans were much stronger than regular humans, as most of them were born with power levels that surpassed adult men.
In that regard, Goku only became stronger and stronger as the series progressed, especially when he unlocked various levels of his Super Saiyan transformation (which was unlocked when he witnessed Krillin’s death at the hands of Frieza). Meanwhile, the other Saiyans like Vegeta, Gohan, and Trunks also reached incredible power levels that rivaled Goku. It was clear that Krillin was left behind.
The reason why Krillin was quickly left behind by his contemporaries and friends is the fact that he was never a Saiyan. Goku, as his history states, was found as an abandoned child by Grandpa Son Gohan. However, it was revealed that he had been sent to Earth as a Saiyan warrior so that he could eliminate everyone on the planet and become stronger as a result. But that never happened because he hit his head pretty hard as a baby and was raised well by a kind old man.
Meanwhile, Krillin was always born and raised on Earth as a regular human being. He was never a Saiyan warrior that had the Saiyan genes that Goku, Vegeta, and Gohan have. That’s why Krillin was left behind rather quickly by his contemporaries, who eventually became a lot stronger than him as time passed.
Nevertheless, despite the fact that Krillin is a regular human being, he is often considered the strongest regular Earthling because of the fact that all of the other powerful people living on Earth aren’t humans or weren’t born there. We can’t even consider Androids 17 and 18 as regular people because, although they were born human, they were modified to become incredibly powerful.
As such, Krillin is still quite powerful despite the fact that he is a regular human being. He isn’t quite at the level that Goku and the Saiyans are, but there were a lot of instances wherein he was able to show that he could fight strong opponents on par. While training for the Tournament of Power, Krillin was actually strong enough to nearly eliminate Goku’s base form with a good combination of tactics and strength. Although Goku was still leagues ahead of Krillin in terms of his power, his best friend was strong enough to pressure him that he needed to go Super Saiyan to eliminate him during their training session.
So, in other words, despite the fact that Krillin is mostly a comic relief nowadays (as evidenced by the fact that he got eliminated from the Tournament of Power rather early), he is still quite strong and is exponentially more powerful than all of the other regular human beings on the planet. And this is due in large part to the fact that he trained with powerful warriors and was able to have his potential unlocked during his time on Namek.
Why Can’t Krillin Became A Saiyan?
The very reason why Krillin cannot be a Saiyan is the very fact that he was never born as one. He was always a human being by birth, and that means that he isn’t like Goku, who everyone thought was a normal human being until it was revealed that he was a member of the Saiyan race.
But the fact that Krillin cannot be a Saiyan has never hindered his abilities. He was able to prove that humans are more than capable of breaking through their physical limits, as shown by the fact that Krillin’s training allowed him to fight on par with the base levels of some of his peers. Nevertheless, he will still always be hindered by the fact that he cannot achieve a form or a state that will allow him to become stronger exponentially.
There is, however, a catch. It might be possible for Krillin to become a Saiyan if he was able to get his hands on the Dragon Balls and wish for himself to become a Saiyan. But that is if and only if such a power was not beyond the dragon Shenron’s capabilities, as no one can make a wish that would exceed the dragon’s powers. Porunga, the Namekian dragon, and Super Shenron could quite possibly grant those wishes. Still, it doesn’t seem like it is in Krillin’s character to turn himself into something he isn’t just so he would become stronger.
