Immortality?

[Nazi Cola]

What exactly is immortality in DragonBall? What makes Roshi's different than Garlic Junior's? Is Garlic Junior truly invincible, even if SSj4 Gogeta fought him?

[Kaboom]

There's the "eternal youth" version, which Roshi and the other Sennin characters have. Then there's the "unable to be killed" version, which Garlic Jr. obtained and Vegeta and Freeza both ALMOST obtained.

[Kendamu]

I think Mutenroshi is simply immortality in the sense that he'll never die of old age. Gerlic Jr., on the other hand, has the immortality that Vegeta, Nappa, and Freeza were likely going for in that he stays eternally young and isn't able be to be killed.

[Wobbuffet]

Then there's the "unable to be killed" version, which Garlic Jr. obtained and Vegeta and Freeza both ALMOST obtained.

This bring us another question: Is it possible to destroy 100% of the body of a immortal being?
I mean, what if Garlic Jr. was blasted by a Super Genki Dama?

[Nazi Cola]

Yeah, that's what I also want to know.

[Goku100xKamehameha]

I always think that he died, If he's body is destroyed.

[Kiyza]

I've always seriously wondered if it was even possible for Shenlong or Porunga to actually grant immortality in the first place. I'd honestly think something like that would probably fall into the realms of it being beyond their power. After all, except for in Garlic Jr.'s case, no one actually makes the wish for it.

I've always interpreted immortality as being invincible as well, but I don't really think that would apply in Garlic Jr.'s case at the least. I believe Piccolo made some comment about how he'd still be able make his life a living hell or something to that effect, even if he couldn't completely kill him. Maybe it would be like how Freeza was still able to live with only the top half of his body intact?

[Cipher]

The only evidence we see of the nature of Garlic Jr.'s immortality is when Gohan runs a hole through his chest in the Garlic Jr. arc. He falls to the ground in a death-like state for a moment, then stands up, and we see the gaping wound close itself up. He then comments on the fact that he can't be killed, so we're meant to take this as a result of his immortality.

But does this mean he also has exceptional healing/regeneration in the case of non-fatal wounds, like Piccolo or Cell?

To what extent does he differ from, say, Buu, or Super Yi Xing Long, or any other character with extremely advanced regeneration? Like them, could he still be completely obliterated by a powerful enough blast? Are they just as "immortal" as Garlic Jr.? Less? More so? We have no idea.

[Darkprince410]

For anyone that's a fan of the revived Doctor Who series and the spinoff Torchwood, I've always assumed that Garlic Jr's immortality works like the "immortality" of the character Jack Harkness. In some situations what would normally kill a person just doesn't have any real impact on him (he was able to go into a room filled with radiation that could incinerate a normal man, but it didn't really affect him at all), whereas in other situations if he were to receive an injury that would kill a normal person, he would "die" but then come back to life afterward, with the amount of time between his "death" and his resurrection dependent on the severity of the actual damage. He was able to come back to life after being electrocuted only seconds before, was knocked off a building onto a park bench which basically folded him in half backwards and he came back within a couple of minutes, and was even able to pull his body back together from having a bomb detonated in his chest. It's possible that Garlic Jr's immortality works on a similar level, that he can "die" and have his body blown apart, but he'll eventually come back to life and it'll have pulled itself back together.

[Coola Yagami]

I still say someone can chop Garlick Jr's head off, and he'd still be alive for all eternity as a pissed off head unless some millenia or so later it can be reunited with its body or something.

[dbgtFO]

I still say someone can chop Garlick Jr's head off, and he'd still be alive for all eternity as a pissed off head unless some millenia or so later it can be reunited with its body or something.

Just like in "Death becomes her"
And I think that if you are a saiyan and you still get Zenkais, then immortality is a stupid choice for a wish, because if you can't die, you will never get close to death and can't become stronger by zenkais.
When Vegeta thinks he'll get immortality, he assumes Freeza will be done for, just because he can't be killed, but Freeza would still be able to transform, so Vegeta wouldn't actually be able to do anything to Freeza.
And what if Freeza just decided to blow the planet up before Goku has time to arrive? Would Vegeta survive in space? if he did, then he would freeze and choke, but since he cannot die, he would have to endure all that pain, which probably would suck.

[rereboy]

Then there's the "unable to be killed" version, which Garlic Jr. obtained and Vegeta and Freeza both ALMOST obtained.

This bring us another question: Is it possible to destroy 100% of the body of a immortal being?
I mean, what if Garlic Jr. was blasted by a Super Genki Dama?

If they really are "unable to be killed", they won`t die no matter what. Even if their body was completely destroyed, they would come back (assuming that their immortal body can be harmed. Its possible that becoming immortal would make their body impervious to harm in order to make them really unable to die. Either that or they would come back no matter what or they you remain alive but without a body, kind of a live ghost).

[Piccolo Daimao]

I still say someone can chop Garlick Jr's head off, and he'd still be alive for all eternity as a pissed off head unless some millenia or so later it can be reunited with its body or something.

Just like in "Death becomes her"
And I think that if you are a saiyan and you still get Zenkais, then immortality is a stupid choice for a wish, because if you can't die, you will never get close to death and can't become stronger by zenkais.
When Vegeta thinks he'll get immortality, he assumes Freeza will be done for, just because he can't be killed, but Freeza would still be able to transform, so Vegeta wouldn't actually be able to do anything to Freeza.
And what if Freeza just decided to blow the planet up before Goku has time to arrive? Would Vegeta survive in space? if he did, then he would freeze and choke, but since he cannot die, he would have to endure all that pain, which probably would suck.

Well, when he was about to become immortal via the Namekian Dragon Balls, Vegeta said that eventually he'll wear Freeza down and then he'll become ruler of the universe. I don't think he thought that, by becoming immortal, he would instantly become stronger than Freeza and kill him instantly. I don't know what his plan was, actually. It's a stupid plan, anyway. At least, if Freeza became immortal, he knows he's still the strongest in the universe and doesn't have any fear of dying.

[Bussani]

This bring us another question: Is it possible to destroy 100% of the body of a immortal being?
I mean, what if Garlic Jr. was blasted by a Super Genki Dama?

Personally, I think he'd regenerate/reappear as though the dragon had brought him back to life. I think of the immortality in Dragon Ball as being like a continuous version of that. A "get out of afterlife free" card, almost.

I think of zenkais as just being a souped-up version of what the body does naturally: it gets damaged, so it rebuilds itself stronger. This is how muscles are built through training. For Saiyans, it goes overboard. I don't think being magically immortal would make zenkais stop, though, because it seems silly for Saiyan genetics to realize the Saiyan can't become "near death"; that's assuming the above is true and they can still be hurt, of course. If it all worked out that way, an immortal Saiyan could really abuse zenkais.

[Terra-jin]

The "can't-ever-die" immortality is probably an incoherent concept when you really think about it. Garlic Jr. could still be temporarily wounded, but then he regenerates. Question is: how far can this regeneration go? Can be survive being exploded? Disintegrated? Having all of his body-mass erased from existence..?

Dragonball Multiverse makes use of a different version: Broly's body simply can't be scratched. Apparantly, not even a force of infinite magnitude could rip him apart. So then there's the question: can he survive both tension and pressure? And what if only a part of his body were sent back to his own dimension?

It requires some pretty creative tinkering with the laws of nature to make sense of it...

[TheDevilsCorpse]

The "can't-ever-die" immortality is probably an incoherent concept when you really think about it. Garlic Jr. could still be temporarily wounded, but then he regenerates. Question is: how far can this regeneration go? Can be survive being exploded? Disintegrated? Having all of his body-mass erased from existence..?

Dragonball Multiverse makes use of a different version: Broly's body simply can't be scratched. Apparantly, not even a force of infinite magnitude could rip him apart. So then there's the question: can he survive both tension and pressure? And what if only a part of his body were sent back to his own dimension?

It requires some pretty creative tinkering with the laws of nature to make sense of it...

Broli wasn't immortal in Multiverse, he was invulnerable. It's not that he can't die, he can't be injured, and this allows a pseudo-immortality since he can't be killed by force through traditional means. Salagir did say that if he stayed in the "Legendary Super Saiyan" form to long, he would eventually die. I'm not sure if Salagir ever expanded on what would happen to the Saiyan had he contracted a heart virus or something though.

[rereboy]

The "can't-ever-die" immortality is probably an incoherent concept when you really think about it. Garlic Jr. could still be temporarily wounded, but then he regenerates. Question is: how far can this regeneration go? Can be survive being exploded? Disintegrated? Having all of his body-mass erased from existence..?

Dragonball Multiverse makes use of a different version: Broly's body simply can't be scratched. Apparantly, not even a force of infinite magnitude could rip him apart. So then there's the question: can he survive both tension and pressure? And what if only a part of his body were sent back to his own dimension?

It requires some pretty creative tinkering with the laws of nature to make sense of it...

Broli wasn't immortal in Multiverse, he was invulnerable. It's not that he can't die, he can't be injured, and this allows a pseudo-immortality since he can't be killed by force through traditional means. Salagir did say that if he stayed in the "Legendary Super Saiyan" form to long, he would eventually die. I'm not sure if Salagir ever expanded on what would happen to the Saiyan had he contracted a heart virus or something though.

On DBM, Brolly is only invulnerable as long as he stays in LSSJ form. And a strong enough blast/shock can make him drop out of LSSJ.

So he is not immortal at all. It just takes a certain degree of power to overcome the natural defense that his LSSJ provides him.

[Deity]

I always thought Vegeta's plan was to keep fighting Freeza and keep almost dying, since he couldn't die because he'd be immortal, and keep getting zenkais until he's stronger than Freeza,

[TheDevilsCorpse]

On DBM, Brolly is only invulnerable as long as he stays in LSSJ form. And a strong enough blast/shock can make him drop out of LSSJ.

So he is not immortal at all. It just takes a certain degree of power to overcome the natural defense that his LSSJ provides him.

I'm done after this, since I don't want to derail the topic to DBM and I know you are basically agreeing with me, but I'm well aware that Broli is only invulnerable in "LSS". But Salagir has said only a big enough traumatic shock can force him out of the form. No amount of power can overcome him unless it is actually enough to scare him and rattle his mentality. SS Goku's Genki Dama, SS3 Goku/SS2 Gohan/(and stupidly) SS Vegeta's triple blast, as well as SS3 Vegetto's Dragon Flash (or whatever they called it -.-) still never killed him. He's only died from being blown into the sun, which was able to scare him enough to revert and then obliterate him.

While in "LSS" nothing can physically harm him, he is just invulnerable, which causes a pseudo-immortality. Though if you rattle him mentally by throwing him into the sun or possibly making Goku cry, it would be a different story as soon as he loses the "LSS" form.

[Darkprince410]

I always thought Vegeta's plan was to keep fighting Freeza and keep almost dying, since he couldn't die because he'd be immortal, and keep getting zenkais until he's stronger than Freeza,

Well, if it's immortality in a true sense in that they absolutely cannot die, then they wouldn't receive a Zenkai because they would never be "near death". It's the same way that a Saiya-jin couldn't receive a Zenkai from being resurrected, because again, they didn't recover from "near death".