Darkest character in DragonBall and why?

[Lord Beerus]

I'd say Vegeta was the "darkest" character given how much of bitter, hostile and angry person he comes across given how he grew up. Always being told he was the best because of his social status, only to find out that was a load of shit as he got his ass kicked by a bunch of scrubs on a back-water planet. And then when comes across the person who whittled his race down to a handful, he's outmatched from the get-go, get's beaten close to death, before being killed and with his last breath, begs Goku, the very person he most likely resented the most at that time, with tears in his eyes, to kill Freeza so that the Saiyan race have some kind of pride and value left.

Vegeta's character is really fucking tragic when you take a deeper look at it.

[ABED]

Much of that tragedy is of his own making.

[MarCas92]

(Insert Mr. Popo joke here).


The term "dark" when refering to a character or a story in fiction is something that I feel has lost a lot of it's meaning. Especially, when talking about Dragon Ball. It's all relative to itself I feel. Especially when you consider the fact that even at it's most serious, Dragon Ball is still pretty darn silly.

However, using the descriptor the OP gave, I definitely have to put my vote for Future Trunks. His life sucks so bad and is characterized by nothing but despair and death. He's already pretty angsty,but in his position I'm surprised he's not more brooding and angry. But I feel him being so optimistic and able to function properly despite this is a HUGELY important and likable feature of his character.

[shinmaru]

The whole Trunks/Androids story is dark, but if i have to choose a character from that arc I would say first form Cell.
An ugly creature looking like an insect who sucks people with his tail and powers up with human souls.
You can make a scary blockbuster horror movie out of Cell

How Cell absorbed 17 was dark, too

[Lord Beerus]

Much of that tragedy is of his own making.

Reducing his already bare bone amount of Saiyans to just three of his race is his own making. But there's no way he could have predicated what went down in he battled against Goku and the gang. Same case on Namek. There was so much shit that happened on Namek that he didn't expect to happen or just didn't prepare for. I mean, yeah, he knew Freeza could transform and goaded him into it, but I don't think he was expecting the gap in strength to be that large, especially after exploiting Zenkai's. I mean, I'm positive Vegeta was expecting Freeza to get stronger, but not that stronger.

[ChronoTwigger]

Zamasu.
He got all dark facets for a character.
He started from a privileged closed haven. He kill his master. His own ambition twist his mind, become crazy, then become a monster by merging and twisting his body too. He find a new power into hating things and from that point on he totally loose individuality, unaware of any body/mind/habitat difference. His mind was a real hell, very creepy to analyze.

I had to say that, putted in another franchise, Zamasu could have been the final dark figure, rivaling to some Go Nagai best figures.

(To me, Future Trunks is TRAGIC, not entirely DARK. Grim was the scenery, but he was indeed a positive character).

[kinisking]

For me, its future trunks. The guy grew up in a world screwed by androids with only Gohan as his mentor, and then saw him dead at 13, then once that was over, his world was attacked by Goku black, and everyone except him and mai died and weren't even brought back to life(Technically they were as alternate versions).

That's a solid argument and he has every right to be sad, but he never seems depressed and unhappy. I'm speaking overall. Vegeta is a fundamentally unhappy and unpleasant character regardless of circumstance.

I lost count of how many times Trunks cried in Super. He definitely seems depressrd and unhappy all the time.

Not to mention his PTSD like moments. Wouldn't be surprised if this keeps up for a long time. Every moment he's in this new world is a moment that reminds him of his failure. On the other hand, Vegeta hasn't been half as grumpy as he used to be. I think he truly does enjoy his life regardless of how he acts.

[ABED]

Much of that tragedy is of his own making.

Reducing his already bare bone amount of Saiyans to just three of his race is his own making. But there's no way he could have predicated what went down in he battled against Goku and the gang. Same case on Namek. There was so much shit that happened on Namek that he didn't expect to happen or just didn't prepare for. I mean, yeah, he knew Freeza could transform and goaded him into it, but I don't think he was expecting the gap in strength to be that large, especially after exploiting Zenkai's. I mean, I'm positive Vegeta was expecting Freeza to get stronger, but not that stronger.

It's not the events, it's how he deals with things and how he usually makes them worse. He didn't know how much stronger Freeza would be, so why goad him into a battle? This goes beyond underestimating his enemies, he picks fights, doesn't care about anyone including his child, he's arrogant, he's insecure hence why he's arrogant, and he's homicidal. His upbringing doesn't absolve him for the attrocities he's committed. It's for these reasons that I think he's the darkest character.

[8000 Saiyan]

I'd say Vegeta.