Kami taught Goku not to kill?

[Kid Buu]

I often see the theory that Goku didn't kill from the 23rd Budokai arc to the end of the Namek arc because Kami supposedly told him not to kill. However, I cannot find any quote to support that, and I find that theory kinda strange, since Kami himself wanted Piccolo to be killed in that very same arc.

While Goku does spare Piccolo (and later Vegeta), he makes a point that he wants to keep them around because there isn't anyone else to provide him a challenge, and he even helps Piccolo kill Raditz in the Saiyan Arc.

The only times I see him take offense to murder is Vegeta killing Nappa and the Ginyu Force, but I just think Goku got pissed because there wasn't a real reason for Vegeta to do that to them except to be a dick. They were pretty much finished before Vegeta even killed them.

What are your thoughts?

[B]

I always saw "Goku doesn't kill anybody!" as a kind of odd observation, as if it's a very intentional decision on Toriyama's part, which I don't think it is. As you said, there is Raditz, and of course he wouldn't condone just killing people for the hell of it and when they can't defend themselves. And then you have a situation like Cell, where Goku clearly doesn't have a problem with somebody taking him out, even if it's not him. I guess there's just so much non-stop action going, people found it weird that Goku rarely does the deed. Goku's approach to murder seems... pretty sane to me; he's not against it when his life is or friends are in immediate danger, but doesn't do it simply because he can.

[FoolsGil]

Keep in mind that Out of Story, Toriyama was already planning the Saiyans and the Namekians by the 23rd Budokai, and likely set Goku as 'thou shalt not kill' to place him as a foil against Raditz and the others. In Story? I'd go with Goku accepting the value of life as he grew up. Kami has never said one thing about sparing your enemies. His deal was protecting the Earth, sparing the monsters who attack defeats that purpose.

[Blackstripe]

There are two reasons that Gokuu doesn't like to kill, and they each involve a different group of people.

Gokuu doesn't like harming/killing people weaker than himself because he's a nice guy, and gets no satisfaction out of it. He also seems to dislike bullies, so that's also a factor.

Gokuu doesn't like killing strong opponents because that means he won't be able to fight them again. It's not too easy for him to find worthy opponents, so he treasures any that he comes across.

[precita]

Goku killed about a hundred Red Ribbon army soldiers.

[soulnova]

To be honest one could see it as a part of "growing up".


But there's something else... Just three years before the 23rd budokai, he had killed Piccolo Daimao... the strongest person in the last +300 years on Earth. When Goku got to Kami's he was cocky about this fact. He might have not thought about it right away, but I think that during those 3 years it dawned on him just how lucky he was to have someone as Piccolo Jr still alive. He wouldn't give up on that just like that. Being the *strongest* also might have made him realize that he (for the most part) didn't need to kill his enemies. He followed this train of thought with Nappa and the rest of the Ginyu force (before Vegeta got rid of all of them).