Goku

Goku is the main character of Dragon Ball Z. The story revolves around him growing up, eventually becoming the ultimate fighting champion of the universe. But even as an adult he still has the same personality as he did when he was a child. His father was Bardock a third class Saiya-Jin solder. Bardock was killed by Freeza while trying to save Planet Vegita from Freeza. Goku was sent to concure Earth when he was only a baby. But he bumped his head so hard that he forgot his misson.

Vegita

Vegita is the archrival of Goku. He first arrived in the series attempting to gather the Dragon Balls to wish for eternal life. Instead, he died by the hands of Freeza, but was later Brought back by the Dragon Balls. He has fought along side Goku and his friends, and occasionally against. He is friend and foe, and one bad man all around.

Piccolo

Piccolo is Goku's oldest rival (unless you count Krillin or Yamcha). His father was Piccolo Daimou, the evil incarnate thatwas released from Kami(Earth's God. Kami had to get rid of all the evil in his body to become God, and Piccolo was that evil. When Goku finally killed Piccolo Daimou, Piccolo vowed his revenge, and spit out an egg with the present Piccolo in it.
This Piccolo has fought alongside and against Goku, but has played an even more important role in Gohan's life. As Gohan's fighting trainer, he installed a fighting sense into Gohan. He even began to care for the little tyke. After a while, Piccolo gave up on the whole rivalry.

Gohan

Gohan is the first son of Goku and Chi-chi. Because his father, Goku, is a Saiya-Jin, Gohan has lots of fighting potential to be a great fighter. Because of his mother, a fussy human, he prefers to study instead of train. After Goku died fighting Cell, Gohan killed Cell and took over the storyline (however briefly). And you never want to make Gohan extremly pissed or you had better be able to right very fast so that way you can write your goodbyes and your will.

Goten

Goten's father is Gokou, and has an older brother named Gohan. We don't see much of Son Goten during the DragonBall and DragonBall Z sequel. Apparently when Goten and Chibi Trunks first appeared, it was already near the start of the Majin Era. Goten has supernatural power just like the rest of the Saiyan, however, Goten is an exception. Goten reached to the Super Saiyan level without pushing himself to the limit like what Gohan and Gokou had to go through. When Gohan was training with Goten, Gohan asked Goten if it's possible for him to become a Super Saiyan. Goten just gave it a try, and without trouble, he transformed into a Super Saiyan.
Apart from the passion to fight, he likes to socialise as well. It seems that Goten is a real charming boy when he was in his teen, his wit attracted the hearts of a lot of girls at school. Goten seems to be too busy going on dates rather than spending time on training.

Android 18

#18 is the twin sister of #17. She is quite pretty and loves fashion. She has exactly the same destruction capabilities as her brother, and is just as cruel and deadly. Her objectives are exactly the same as #17, to wipe out the entire human race and conquer the planet.
However, #18 life is completely changed when Cell arrives. Cell, dominating the Z fighters in everyway imaginable, is also looking for #18. Luckily, Krillin risks his life and saves #18 from Cell. Eventually, Krillin falls in love with #18 and Krillin doesn't want her to suffer anymore. As a result, Krillin uses the power of the Shenlong to remove the self-destruction bomb inside #18, hence transforming #18 more of a human being than a robot. #18 is deeply touched by Krillin's gesture and the power of love and her own humanity has made her to erase her evil personality, and becomes a part of the Z team.

Krillin and #18 are later married, and they have a daughter called Marron.

Android 17

#17 looks just like an ordinary human from the outside, but underneath is a psycho relentless killing robot. He has a twin sister (#18) which is just as deadly as himself. #17 is one of the most powerful and successful androids ever built by Dr Gero. Under the control of Dr Gero, #17 eventually has enough of being controlled and no freedom, hence he rebels and kills Dr Gero. This way the androids are set free and are free to do whatever they like. Killing and destroying things becomes his hobby, and he isn't willing to quit until the human race is completely wiped out. #17 is powered by a self generating energy source, which means he has unlimited energy.

In the original future, the #17 and #18 takes out most of the Z team including Piccolo, Vegeta, Krillin, Tien, where the only Z survivers are Trunks and Gohan (Gokou already died from a heart disease at that time). However, the androids are eventually taken out by Trunks after he arrives back from the past via the Time Machine.

Trunks

Trunks is the son of another great Z soldier, Vegeta. Just like his father, he likes to battle and fight till the end, and has never given up. Trunks is not a pure Siyan-Jin, he is a mix of human and Saiyan, as you can tell by the color of his hair (purple). During the DragonBall Z series, Trunks appeared in two different sections of the storyline, one where he was a small boy, and another where he was already a grown-up. Trunks might not be the strongest in battles, he might not be the quickest, but he is the most important. He is one who changed the past and the future, without Trunks, Earth would been destroyed a long time ago.


So what is this about Trunks changing the past and the future? Referring to the timeline, in the original future, Gokou died of a heart disease and Vegeta was killed a long time ago. Earth was in consistant danger caused by the Androids 17 and 18 and the Dr Gero crew, and the only Z fighters left were Gohan and Trunks. Gohan was later killed by the Andriods and Trunks knew that if he goes and fight them, he would be killed as well. He changed plan. His mother, Bulma, completed building a time machine, so Trunks could travel back 17 years in time and passed on some medicine to cure Gokou's heart disease, so Gokou could avoid death and fight on protecting Earth. He travelled back in time to a period where he was only an infant, and his father Vegeta didn't even know who he was until Trunks explained the whole situation to everyone. After Trunks completed his mission, he went back to the future, then Chibi Trunks took over the modified future. Chibi Trunks was born a few years later after Future Trunks went back, and Chibi Trunks continued on the journey with the rest of the Z solidiers.

Future Trunks fights with a sword (not often though), however, Chibi Trunks never used a sword in battle before, so the sword is probably an extra technique Trunk developed later on in life. Chibi Trunks and Goten are good friends and they often work in a team during battles (like their transformation into Gotenks). With Goten assisting him by his side, Trunks and Goten have combined some real force for the Z Team.

Bardock

Father of Radditz and Kakarroto (Son Gokou). He looks exactly like Gokou and he is also considered as a low-class fighter just like Gokou. However, he proves the others wrong by becoming one of the very best and the most well known Saiya-Jins the at the time, with power level up to 10,000.

After Bardock and his group of Saiya-Jin fighters have conquered planet Kanassa, the very last Kanassan fighter, Dorload, suddenly comes out of no where and makes an unexpected attack on Bardock. Dorload attacks the back of Bardock's neck, which the attack does absolutely. However, that attack from the Kanassan is actually sending a signal via the neck to Bardock's brain which it enables Bardock to foresee the future. Dorload tells Bardock that he will see his own race (the Saiya-Jin) is going to face extinction, just like the Kanassans. Bardock does not believe a word the Kanassan says and kills him.

Bardock later knows about Freeza's plan to destroy Planet Vegeta and acknowledges what the Kanassan told him is really happening, he wants to stop Freeza and to change the future. Hence he starts his own attack first by attacking Freeza on his own. Unfortunately, Bardock fails, and Planet Vegeta is destroyed. Before Bardock's death, he tells his son Kakarroto to take revenge and have Freeza killed under the hands of a Saiya-Jin.

Bardock has a very long scar on the left side of his face, caused from a battle

Krillin

One of the most powerful Earth-born fighter. He starts training with Gokou under the guidance from Master Roshi at a very young age. In the beginning, Krillin is training just as hard as Gokou, however, because of Krillin's lazy personality, he starts taking lots of short cuts and eventually Gokou becomes stronger and stronger. Krillin is a Buddhist monk, which is also why he has a shaved head. He has a dirty mind and loves to check on other girls (like Master Roshi), and it seems if Krillin is just useless and doesn't know how to fight. However, Krillin is really the one who has the most potentials, he started training with Gokou at a young age and didn't stop training till his late 20's where after that he started to slack off more and more and eventually he stopped fighting completely. Which is also why he started as a main character in DragonBall but later became more of a supporting cast in DragonBall GT.

What is this thing between Krillin and Android #18? Well, during the Cell Saga, Android #18 is saved because of Krillin, and Krillin falls in love with her. Krillin's heart softened and has the feeling that #18 might be able to change into a normal human being if the self-destucting bomb is removed from #18's body. #18 is truely touched by Krillin's kind gesture, hence #18 turns herself in and becomes a part of the Z Team. At the end, Krillin marries Android #18 and becomes a family man. They have a child called Marron.