‘Dragon Ball Super’ Explains Why Jiren Never Revived His Master

The latest issue of the Dragon Ball Super manga brings the Tournament of Power to a close, and does so in much different fashion than what we got from the anime series. While the big action moments in Goku and Vegeta’s final battle against Jiren will have fans buzzing, there was actually a major piece of story that the manga addressed, and the anime did not: the deeper goals of Jiren’s quest to win the Tournament of Power.

If you don’t mind the SPOILERS, read below to learn why Jiren revived his dead master, Gicchin!

In the anime, it was revealed via flashback that Gicchin saved Jiren from the evildoer who wiped out his village, training the young boy to be one of Gicchin’s warrior students. When that same evildoer attacked Gicchin and his students, the master was killed (along with most of his followers), leaving Jiren filled with grief and fury. After that, Jiren didn’t ever again open himself up to the vulnerability of truly joining a family or community, believing that a relentless and solitary pursuit of strength was the purest form of achieving justice. He also claims that if he were to get to make a wish with the Super Dragon Balls, that “strength forgives all, even the past.”

Well, the Dragon Ball Super manga makes Jiren’s motivations much clearer than those vague proclamations: in this version of the ToP’s final bout, we learn from Universe 11’s God of Destruction, Belmod, that he and Gicchin were once good friends. However, where Gicchin believed that teamwork was the ultimate key to great strength, Belmod thought that solitary pursuit of strength was a better philosophy for a warrior, and the two went their separate ways, as Belmod rose to rank of destroyer. While Goku and Vegeta are tag-teaming Jiren, a conversation between Belmod and his angel attendant Marcarita results in a big reveal: Jiren needs the Super Dragon Balls as the ToP prize, in order to wish Gicchin back to life, because his master was killed by a demon, and therefore can’t be resurrected by other means (like an angel’s staff being used to resurrect Freeza). Jiren feels he is still lacking the training and insight to truly become the avatar for justice that Gicchin was, and needs his master back to finish that teaching.

The Top ends with Jiren losing the fight, but winning some important insight, as Belmod calls out his selfish ambition, and then informs his prized fighter that he needs to reframe his thinking. According to Belmod, all Gicchin wanted was for Jiren to learn the strength of teamwork – which is why Belmod honored his old friend by bringing Jiren into the Pride Troopers. Ironically, in brushing off his teammates in the ToP, Jiren learns the value of teamwork, as Goku, Vegeta, Freeza and Android 17 come together to defeat Jiren, in a shocking upset.

Some fans are taking this reveal as a potentially big clue about Dragon Ball Super’s future. The same manga issue begins the new “Galactic Patrol Prisoner Arc”, and that storyline’s villain has been revealed as a potentially powerful demonic figure. Is it the same evildoer who killed Gicchin? Upcoming issues may soon reveal that answer.

Dragon Ball Super currently airs its English dub on Adult Swim during the Toonami programming block Saturday evenings at 9:30 p.m. It is also available to stream on Funimation and Amazon Video. The Japanese language release of the series is complete, and available to stream on FunimationNOW, VRV, and Crunchyroll. The manga has chapters that can currently be read for free thanks to Viz Media.