GT's ending - so what exactly the hell happened?

[SSJFrogGinyu]

I know this question has probably come up eleventy-seven times on here already, but I just don't get it! The last episode of GT reminded me, in a way, of Eva's - almost completely random and nonsensical. GT's ending wasn't QUITE as bizarre (It wasn't an entire special episode with characters bursting out with motivational lines like "You choose your own happiness!" and "Even if it's raining, you can still be in a good mood!") but it wasn't at all what I was expecting.

I already knew Goku was going to go away forever; I spoiled that for myself years ago. But some explanation would have been nice. I rewatched the episode to make SURE I didn't miss anything this time. Last time I posted a question about GT on here the answer had been clearly explained in the first episode, so I didn't want to make the same mistake. Here's pretty much what happens:

Shen Long appears, tells everyone the Dragon Balls were misused to the point where they birthed the Evil Dragons, and so he going's to take them away. Goku makes a final wish to have everyone killed by Android 17 and the Evil Dragons brought back to life. Shen Long says "This is the last time," and grants the wish.

Then Shen Long turns to Goku: "Are you ready to go, Son Goku?"

Goku: "Oh, it's time to go now?"
Vegeta: "Kakarot, are you going off to train again?" and then, shocked: "Kakarot, are you... ?"

Goku jumps on the Shen Long's back, says "BYE GUYS, TAKING OFF NOW, LATERS!" and flies away without so much as a word to anyone. Chichi demands to know where's he going, but gets no response. It's like he just blows everybody off completely.

Goku visits Kuririn and Roshi at Kame-House, and then Piccolo down in Hell. Both visits ends the same. A character says: "Goku/Son, are you...?" then they turn around and Goku has vanished.

Pan wonders if the Dragon Balls are really gone. Trunks tells her they'll just have to rebuild the world by themselves, and once everyone learns from their mistake of misusing the DB's, they will probably come back again. She picks up Goku's discared gi. Vegeta tells her to cherish it. Everyone flies off.

Goku lies down on Shen Long's back. One by one, the Dragon Balls disappear inside his body. And the last ten minutes are of Goku Jr. at the tournament 100 years later (I suppose the tournament takes place after the TV special since Goku Jr. can go Super Saiyan there and sustain it.)

Okay... first of all, "Are you... ?" Are you WHAT? Dead? Possessed? Going to Valhalla? Second, why did the DB's disappear inside of Goku? Third, why did he keep vanishing? Was he a ghost, or astral projecting? Forth, yeah Vegeta mentioned Goku was going off to train, but the way it's handled it's almost like he has no choice. It's as if the writers knew what was going on but wanted to keep it a secret from us.

After seeing the episode (twice now) I started thinking about it and realized something. Right before Goku leaves on his journey to go fight the Evil Dragons, there's a moment where he seems to reflect a bit, like he knows something's going to happen after it's all over. What, I could never guess. Somebody help me out here. I feel like I'm trying to decipher a crazy dream I just woke up from and it's giving me a headache!

[Bussani]

It is pretty mysterious. There's a whole big analysis of the question available on the site. I don't think there's a lot I could add that isn't talked about there.

Edit: Oh, it has some GT TV special spoilers, so keep that in mind if you haven't watched it.

[TheDevilsCorpse]

http://www.daizex.com/general/tidbits/dbgt_ending.shtml

[Cipher]

Okay... first of all, "Are you... ?" Are you WHAT? Dead? Possessed? Going to Valhalla?

Dead.

It's as if the writers knew what was going on but wanted to keep it a secret from us.

You know, I don't think they did. I think they had a few certainties in mind (I'll defend the idea that Goku actually "died" while fighting Yi Xing-Long for example, and that it was likely intended to play that way by the writers). But overall, I think this is a bit of a cryptic-for-cryptic's sake type of ending. The best you'll ever get is a fan theory that uses the evidence well.

That said, here's mine. I've posted it a few times in other threads and other members have mentioned they were fans of it on occasion. But again, we can only guess.

Personally, I have my own reading of the ending. I'm not sure it's what the producers intended (if they even intended anything other than being cryptic for cryptic's sake), but it's one I've come to like.

I think it's very possible that the evil dragons were never truly a threat.

Bare with. Goku is killed by Yi Xing Long. I know it's a subject of some debate, but the series seems to go out of its way to imply that he was more than just knocked cold by Yi Xing Long's blast (the one that leaves him in that massive crater). Characters can't sense him. Shen-Long very pointedly revives him with his classic eye-glow from where he lies motionless after defeating Yi Xing Long, and characters seem to think he's died on the spot. Pan, of course, finds the shredded remains of his gi. So what was Goku wearing? Was he ethereal by that point? Finally, as he says good-bye to Vegeta, Piccolo and Kame Sennin, they all let out that infamous, "Goku, are you ... ?" I don't know about anyone else, but the missing word there seems with all implications to be "dead."

Now remember, when Yi Xing Long blasts Goku as he's holding up the Genki Dama, he's convinced those hits should be killing him. And from everything we know about their powers, he's right. And what does Goku say? "I can't die until I've defeated you." What if he meant this literally?

What if Shen-Long clued Goku in on some sort of deal at his moment of death? As in, literally, he would live until he defeated the dragon, and then act as Shen-Long's vessel/spirit/what have you for the Dragon Balls as he took them away. In this way, the dragons were never an actual threat; they had to be defeated. It was merely a question of sacrifice.

It makes a bit of sense. Super Saiyan 4 is a power hundreds of times stronger than the gods, stronger than Buu, stronger than anything to ever exist. And then some dragon from Earth's Dragon Balls, minus energy aside, shows up that can smack them around like nothing? So if some normal person had abused the balls, it would have been absolutely hopeless? Seems like a tailor-made threat for our heroes. Shen-Long/the Dragon Balls don't really have a motivation for destroying Earth in the first place. But a system in place to teach a lesson specific to those abusing the Dragon Balls seems to make sense.

So my reading: The evil dragons had to be defeated. But Goku was the price of their defeat. There's just too much emphasis on Goku's "death" and his "I can't die until I've defeated you" line to not warrant a deeper look.

And obviously he's granted the privilege of somehow being connected to the Dragon Balls upon their return.

[SSJFrogGinyu]

http://www.daizex.com/general/tidbits/dbgt_ending.shtml

Aw, hell. I should have read that first.

Anyway, the idea of him being dead makes sense now. He certainly does things that a regular person, a living person rather, would not do. There's the discarded gi to take into consideration. During the Genki-dama scene with Yi Xing Long, I did think it was strange that Goku was being hammered with powerful ki blasts that he bounced off like nothing, but sometimes my brain isn't reading as deeply as it should be. I thought the Genki-dama energy was protecting him.

Edit: Oh, it has some GT TV special spoilers, so keep that in mind if you haven't watched it.

I watched it last night so I could write a review for my blog. I've been covering the entirety of GT (with separate reviews of the Season One and Two sets) to answer the question "Is it actually bad?" and the TV special will put some closure on that. Anyway, it was... alright, I guess. As far as self-discovery movies go, it was good. I liked how every new challenge brought a little bit more out of Goku Jr. until he finally went SSJ at the end to beat the guardian demon. BTW, judging by the electrical currents around him I kinda thought he was actually SSJ2. I could be wrong though.

ALSO: I heard that in the awful English dub, a line is added where Goku leaves Vegeta in charge of protecting Earth before he goes away. I didn't check to see. I read that on the Dragon Ball Wikia page, which seems to be almost entirely based on the English dub.

[Thanos]

Well, needless to say it's left up to interpretation. It isn't exactly clear-cut what specifically occurred.

I think Goku became a god or became immortal or something like that. I could understand him having died in episode 64, yet the fact that Goku seems to be able to come to Earth freely in physical form (note his ability to pick up the dragon ball), even 100 years later, seems to me to imply that he is a guardian of Earth. Dende is the god of Earth, but cannot fight. He's more of an overseer, I think, and Goku is the protector. Or something.

Oh, and before he disappears from Hell, Goku tells Piccolo "I'll never forget you, as long as I live." I don't know if this means anything, but who knows?

Again, it's all about opinions, but that's the conclusion I've come to.

[Gohaz]

Well, it didn't look mysterious at all to me man..

I don't know for sure if he died, he may have died, but I think that really is open to debate, since we see him again at the very end of the DBGT 100 years later, I don't think Pan had a vision, that WAS Goku and he WAS around... but that brings me to the conclusion that Goku exchanged his earthly presence for a chance to beat Omega and bring everything back to normal.

Imo he had to be gone for the time the dragonballs were gone, hence him being absorbed into shen-ron, since he wouldn't be called back for another 100 years, Goku wouldn't be able to meddle on earthly affairs for said time...

After those 100 years, at the very end of the series, we see him wathcing over his descendent, and even interacts with him later on (at this point, movie).. which makes me think about 2 options:

Either Goku became some sort of "God" (just to exemplify), which would be something like Pan in Mythology (the greek Pan), who dwelled in the forest and protected certain areas.. or once the dragonballs were back, his spirit/essence was embedded on the four-star ball, just like he thought his gradpa's soul was when he was 12 yrs old... that would be a sweet touch in my opinion ^^

And I do have the opinion that he became eternal.. in a way, now that the dragon balls are back, his mission may be to watch over them, as to prevent what happened before to happen again, and I share Thanos opinion, he is a protector, he may now be to Dende what Popo was to Kami, or not even that, but still a protector!

[the_abberration]

I just chalked it up to when Goku swallowed the 4-star ball, he was imbued with a portion of the mystical dragon ball power. It's been awhile, but I seemed to recall that he was able to turn Nova good by absorbing the negative energy when the ball was inside of him.

After all was said and done, Goku had to leave because he was in some way connected to the dragon balls. That may explain why he just knew he had to leave, the balls going into him, Piccolo and Vegeta's reations, etc.

Maybe if he stayed he would have been able to grant wishes <j/k>.

[Gonstead]

Maybe if he stayed he would have been able to grant wishes <j/k>.

I once read this REEEAAALLLYYY old fanfic about Goku returning and having the power to grant wishes. It began with him returning, Krillin wished to be younger again (I think he was at a point where he needed help to walk around) Android 18 becoming completely human with no robotic parts. Goku asked if Chi-Chi wanted to be younger again but she denied and etc.

Then I can't remember exactly, but Gogeta appeared and after a fight with him and Super Saiyan 5 Goku, Gogeta somewhat becomes the new Anti-hero Vegeta type character.

And so the fan fic goes on about new enemies, Gogeta and SS5 Goku and blah.

I think that was like my first fan fic I ever read.

[Gohaz]

I just chalked it up to when Goku swallowed the 4-star ball, he was imbued with a portion of the mystical dragon ball power.

That is true, I forgot he ingested the ball..

[djkalteraphine]

Dragon Ball GT ends with Son Goku leaving the earth to make sweet love to space hookers on the back of his giant dragon. Along the way, he meets Freddie Mercury and they start a progressive rock band.

[Cipher]

Dragon Ball GT ends with Son Goku leaving the earth to make sweet love to space hookers on the back of his giant dragon. Along the way, he meets Freddie Mercury and they start a progressive rock band.

[DBZ Mick]

I like to think Son became Shenlong so to speak. It looks like all the Dragonballs get absorbed into him in the end.

[DBZGTKOSDH]

I like to think Son became Shenlong so to speak. It looks like all the Dragonballs get absorbed into him in the end.

So, Goku Jr. collects the Dragon Balls, summons Shen Long, and Shen Long says with Nozawa's voice: "Yo! Do you have anything for me to eat? There is no real food in those Dragon Balls, I get divided in seven and then compresed in those little balls unable to move for so long... I'm so hungry, I would even eat a HUMAN!"
Goku Jr. : ... Granny.. Pan... help...

[Hellspawn28]

I always believed that Goku became Shenron's avatar and must had some deal with him before the events of GT. I don't think Goku died, I think he was knock out and Shenron just recover him back to normal.

[Silver Sinspawn]

Dragon Ball GT ends with Son Goku leaving the earth to make sweet love to space hookers on the back of his giant dragon. Along the way, he meets Freddie Mercury and they start a progressive rock band.

I am saving that picture. It has SO MANY USES

[Kingdom Heartless]

Is that an actual Toriyama quote?

[Cipher]

Is that an actual Toriyama quote?

Yes. He said it in an interview with TV journalist Tadaima Ittekurunda. 1997, I believe.