What Happens To A Fighter's Ki After They Die?

[theherodjl]

We all know it can't be sensed anymore but does that mean that Ki 'decomposes' along with a dead fighter's body and simply disappears or does it release into the local environment and convert to other forms of energy?

[Nokra]

Don't they just keep it when they go to otherworld? Goku was able to fight, train and obtain new forms (ss3) after all.

[theherodjl]

Don't they just keep it when they go to otherworld? Goku was able to fight, train and obtain new forms (ss3) after all.

That's only if they earned the right to keep their body or if having their body is a requirement for damnation like with Freeza. The vast majority of beings in DB that die just turn into small, poofy soul clouds upon entering Enma's Palace, their bodies seemingly non-existent in the afterlife or tucked away someplace if Enma chooses so.

[Lionel]

You know the series doesn't go into much detail about the matter. We hear how Raditz was putting up a fight and Enma was forced to subdue him, prompting a glowing response of admiration from Goku for his strength. As to their living ki, two of the components, Yuki and Shoki have to do with the mind and a person's mental fortitude. Those are likely retained by the deceased as they pass on. Genki is more about a person's physical ability, right? I assume that element would be integrated into the planet and wildlife as the person's body decomposes.

[Desassina]

Ki disappears with their mind and soul, so that when it's given a new body, in the Otherworld or in the living one, it still has these characters' signature, but not when it's cleansed or reincarnated. Ki is therefore not matter.

[Tectorman]

I'm inclined to think it stays with the user's body (depending of course on the user keeping his or her body in the first place) in both directions. We have the aforementioned example of Raditz's brief fight with Enma getting respect from Goku. Although Frieza was bound in Earth's Hell, he could still at least mentally train, and therefore not only avoid getting weak but perfect his Golden form. And after Vegeta got pummeled by Kid Buu while dead, Porunga restored him to life, but he was still exhausted.

[ZeroNeonix]

I think of ki as being like a power source. If you fight to exhaustion, you're basically running on fumes. And if you keep pushing, like when Tien continuously used Neo-Tribeam to hold off Semi-Perfect Cell, your ki will completely run out and you will die. Or like in Vegeta's case, when he sacrificed himself in an attempt to destroy Buu. He used up so much energy so fast, his body turned into stone. As for what happens when a person dies without using all of their ki, I dunno. One would expect the remaining energy to explode from the body like a bomb, but it seems to just fade away instead.

[Melee_Sovereign]

Probably just headcanon, but I always thought that the soul keeps the ki.