Super Saiyan

The Super Saiyan was introduced as a fictional legend in the Dragon Ball manga created by Akira Toriyama. The first character to transform into a Super Saiyan is the series' main protagonist Son Goku, in volume 27 of the 42 volume manga series, better known to general fans as Dragon Ball Z; named so after the anime adaptation of the manga series was split into two sub-series. The Super Saiyan also appears in a third, anime-only series called Dragon Ball GT. In the series, the Super Saiyan is a transformation that is only accessible to characters who possess heritage from the fictional race called the Saiyans. The effects of the transformation results in greatly enhanced physical abilities.

The first transformation to Super Saiyan occurs involuntarily, when a Saiyan has reached his natural limit and is overcome with intense emotion. Future transformations are achieved when the Saiyans massively increase a certain energy in their bodies called chi. As the series continued, the status of the Super Saiyan as being "legendary" is quickly departed from due to more characters developing the ability to transform.

The legend of the Super Saiyan is first introduced by the Saiyan prince Vegeta during the second story arc of the series called the Freeza Saga. Even though a detailed description of the legend is stated in the Freeza Saga, an indirect reference was made to it earlier in the series in the previous story arc called the Saiyan Saga. The legend told the story of a Saiyan with unlimited power who had existed a millennium prior. The assumption that many Saiyans had was that any Saiyan becoming a Super Saiyan was an extremely rare event, and only being a possible transformation for the stronger individuals of the race. When a Saiyan achieved the state of Super Saiyan, it was said that his pure heart would be overcome by rage, resulting in this radical transformation. The Super Saiyan legend was known by many races, and was considered the strongest being in the galaxy.

Because the Super Saiyan transformation had not been demonstrated by any Saiyan in recorded history, most races that had heard the legend of the Super Saiyan dismissed it as simple mythology, even most Saiyans. This was until several Saiyans emerged that possessed physical potential that had rapidly evolved beyond their known natural limits. The galactic overlord Freeza also had dismissed it as simple legend until he witnessed a genetically weaker Saiyan defeat one of his elite warriors. As a result, Freeza realized that a Super Saiyan emerging was a possibility. Fearing the Saiyans, he destroyed the race and their planet.

However, four Saiyans (Goku, Vegeta, Raditz, and Nappa) escaped the destruction, and one of the four would ascend to the legendary form and use it to defeat Freeza. Goku and Vegeta procreate with humans later in the series to produce hybrids, and most of the hybrids inherited the potential to ascend to Super Saiyan in spite of their impure heritage.

It was originally stated that a Saiyan must be pure of heart to make the transformation, whether it be pure good or pure evil. The legend also originally stated that only one Super Saiyan would emerge in a thousand years; this is later contradicted when another Super Saiyan appears one year later. As a result, the legendary status of the Super Saiyan ceases and by the end of Dragon Ball, there are numerous other Super Saiyans. It was later discovered that any male with at least half Saiyan heritage was biologically capable of ascending to Super Saiyan if they were powerful enough, but only under the appropriate conditions. In the written series, all the male characters with Saiyan heritage who existed after the Freeza Saga managed to achieve Super Saiyan, and some of the characters managed to achieve advanced Super Saiyan