Grand Elder Guru

is the oldest and wisest remaining Namekian in existence at the time of his appearance. As the creator of the Namekian Dragon Balls, Guru's death would cause them to become inert, unless he passes down his authority to someone else.
==Appearance==
Guru is incredibly large, towering over all of his Namekian children even when sitting on the ground. Morbidly obese in his advanced age, he is always seen sitting stationary on his throne-like chair and always has his eyes closed. The patches on his body are a dark orange color, as opposed to the brighter yellowish color seen in other elderly Namekians.
==Personality==
Guru regards Kami and Piccolo's original potential to be so great that only a Super Saiyan could have a chance at defeating him. He also was a kind and humble individual who deeply cared for all of his children.
==Biography==
===Background===
Guru is one of the two known survivors of a cataclysmic climate shift on Namek several hundred years prior to the events in the series (the other ones being Kami and King Piccolo, who were once one being prior to Kami's separation with his inner evil). Guru is renowned for saving the Namekian race after the climate shift, by laying eggs and continuing his species. In his lifetime, he birthed 109 children, including his bodyguard Nail and the young Dende.
===Dragon Ball Z===
====Frieza Saga====
When Dende takes Krillin to Guru's home to get his inner powers unlocked, Guru thanks Krillin for taking care of the young Dende. It is revealed that Guru knows about the Super Saiyan legend when he asks Krillin if the Saiyan who attacked Earth was a "Super Saiyan". He unlocks Krillin, Gohan, and Dende's hidden powers (the latter of whom seemed to gain healing abilities as opposed to increased battle strength).
He dies before Frieza is defeated, of a combination of a broken heart and stress (both brought on from repeatedly sensing his children's deaths at the hands of Frieza's minions). His death also prevents Vegeta from wishing for immortality, just before Frieza found Krillin, Vegeta, Gohan, and Dende wishing with the Dragon Balls. Soon thereafter, King Kai chooses to revive him and all the other victims of Frieza's army with the Earth's Dragon Balls so the Namekian dragon, Porunga, would be brought back. 
The wish revives Elder Guru because Frieza's murder of the Namekians caused Guru to die of grief. The third wish left is used to transport everyone on the planet (except Goku and Frieza) to Earth. Later on Earth, when his death due to old age is imminent, Guru passes on the Dragon Balls and his position as the Namekian Grand Elder to Moori. As Guru dies again of his old age, he goes with a smile on his face, saying it was a good day to die. Upon his death, his body fades away (implying that Guru was allowed to keep his body upon death).
==Film Appearances==
===Super Hero===
When Piccolo asks Dende about Grand Elder Guru's ability, a flashback of Guru drawing out Krillin and Gohan's potential is shown.
==Other Dragon Ball Stories==
===Xenoverse 2===
A time rift anomaly forms around Guru's house on Planet Namek, forcing the Time Patrol to investigate. If the Future Warrior is a Namekian, they will be sent to monitor this anomaly at the beginning of the game. Hiding outside of Guru's house they observe Guru from afar. Guru senses a great power with evil intentions approaching Namek and Nail senses it as well. Guru tells Nail the Namekian Dragon Balls are a symbol of the wisdom of Namek and a symbol of hope and says they must not be taken. Dende asks Guru what they can do on their own and he gives him a cryptic answer, "a powerful warrior with a pure heart", confusing Dende. Guru tells Dende to have faith and that it is time for the Namekians to reveal their strength. The Future Warrior is then called away by Elder Kai informing him that he has been chosen for a critical mission by the Supreme Kai of Time and they fly off.
Later during the investigation the Warrior learns that Guru's House is under attack from Frieza and his army due to the presence of the Namekian Dragon Balls within the anomaly. The Warrior can join forces with Nail to repel the invaders when they attack. If they are diligent in their defense of Guru's house, Nail will allow them to speak with the Grand Elder, who will use his ability to Drawing out Dormant Power to increase the Future Warrior attribute limit from 1-100 to 1-125. If they continue to defend Guru's house after this, they can meet with Guru again. Guru will notice the existence of the Dragon Balls from Conton City and offers to teach them how to increase the Dragon Balls power increasing the number of wishes they can make during the next summon. Eventually he will give the Future Warrior Distorted Time Egg 3, that had been given to him by Lord Slug for safe keeping, unaware that Slug was working with the Time Breakers. Guru notes that Slug was able to cleverly conceal the fact that his heart was filled with evil and evil alone. However Guru also noted that had they not done as he instructed, then he would have most likely killed Guru and his fellow Namekians, so in order to keep chaos from befalling his planet, he decided to take care of the eggs, and had been doing so in secret ever since. The reason he gives the Warrior the eggs is because they are a mighty warrior with a strong sense of justice. He adds that he has a feeling that the warrior can get to the bottom of the mystery surrounding the eggs.
Guru will also mention an old Namekian legend about a gigantic Dragon Ball that existed on the edge of the horizon and fragments of it where supposedly used to create the Namekian Dragon Balls, though he believes it to be just a myth and doesn't know how much of it is true. He also mentions that for some reason he is only able to give birth to Dragon Clan members in his old age, thus explaining why there are so few Warrior-types like Nail. He also mentions that rarely Namekians are born with a great evil within them and surmises that some of these Evil Namekians escaped Namek during the cataclysmic weather to spread war and wickedness on some far-flung world.
After the 1.05.000 Update, the Future Warrior can return to Guru's House (after having met him twice before) and he will inform them that they still have untapped potential hidden deep within them despite having drawn out their potential previously. Guru states he has never encounter a case like the Warrior's but offers to draw out this power once more. This results in the Future Warrior's Level Cap increasing from 80 to 85 allowing them level up to 85 (this applies to all custom characters even if they do not actually participate in this event).
===Dragon Ball Fusions===
As a result of Tekka and Pinich's wish that created the Timespace Tournament, parts of Namek appear in the second area, including Guru's House. However it is initially covered by a Timespace Barrier which requires 50 units for each of the five Energy types. After recruiting more people, Tekka's team eventually manage to gather enough energy to break down the barrier and meet Guru. Goten is surprised by Guru's size, causing Pan to admonish him for rudely blurting it out, though Guru is not offended by Goten's outburst. Kid Goku notices Nail's resemblance to King Piccolo though does not attack him as he had upon meeting Kami. Guru congratulates them for breaking down the barrier and noticing they are pure of heart, he decides to ask them a favor which they agree to. He explains that one of his children had heard stories of the Demon King Piccolo and had begun to emulate King Piccolo's evil ways. Before Guru can finish, Goku determined to prevent another evil Namekian like King Piccolo from causing trouble, races off causing Goten and Pan to chase off after him, before Guru can explain the situation further. Tekka's team find the so-called Demon King is actually a young Namekian child named Moolin. Calling himself Demon King Moolin, the young Namekian taunts and insults Trunks and Pan, then forces Tekka's team to chase after him. Eventually Tekka and his team discover that Moolin is just a misguided child who has only been pretending to be an evil Demon King, after Pan hits him in anger causing the young Namekian to cry. After realizing their mistake, Goten convinces Moolin to be nice and help people like Piccolo. After returning to Guru, Guru apologizes for not explaining the situation better, but Goku says he jumped to the wrong conclusions. Guru then asks Nail to join Tekka's Team as a way to repay them for their help.
===World Mission===
In the Chapter 2, Side Story: "Kagyu's Adventure", in an anomaly where the game world Xeno Lord Slug and his Demon Clan invades Earth shortly before the Tournament of Power and Demon God Salsa meddles with the anomaly to cause Piccolo, Nail, and Kami to defuse, Nail reveals that he had heard of Slug from his father in the past who told him of the story of a Namekian infant sent offworld and later came to light was a rare specimen, a Namekian born with a heart of evil. This indicates the game world Grand Elder Guru was aware of Slug's origins though it is unknown if this was a side effect of the anomaly or part of the game world's official history.
==Power==
;Manga and Anime
thumb|Grand Elder Guru telepathically talking to King Kai
Though Guru is not shown fighting in the series, he has shown a number of abilities. As a member of the Dragon Clan, his most famous ability is the power to create Dragon Balls, to which he gave powerful abilities. He has the ability to unlock someone's hidden potential by placing his hand on their head; he did this for Krillin, Gohan and Dende. Krillin asked Guru if he was not weakened after unlocking his potential, but Guru replied that it did not matter as he only acted as a catalyst, and that his life force is not affected in the slightest. Guru can also view someone's memories by placing his hand on their head, and can perform telepathy and sense ki.
;Video Games
In Dragon Ball Z: The Anime Adventure Game, Guru's power level is stated to be 2,000.
Guru can use the Namekian Fusion ability in the Dragon Ball Collectible Card Game to fuse with any of the other Namekians in the game.
==Techniques and Special Abilities==
*Drawing out Dormant Power - Guru's signature ability that allows him to draw out a person's dormant potential. His life force is not effected by the use of this ability as he is simply drawing out the recipient's own dormant power. In addition to powering up the user, it may also awaken latent abilities such as Dende's dormant healing powers. Rarely individuals may possesses large amounts of dormant power that he may have to perform this several times to draw it out fully as shown with the second Future Warrior in Xenoverse 2 due to the vast amounts of power locked within them.
*Ki Sense - Guru can naturally sense ki and like all Namekians can even feel "evilness" within a person's ki.
*Telepathy - Guru can communicate telepathically with his Namekian offspring as well as others. He is also capable of reading a person's mind while drawing out their power.
*Namekian Fusion - As he is a Namekian, Guru is capable of fusing with another Namekian, though he never does this in the canon series. However, he can fuse in the Dragon Ball Collectible Card Game.
*As a member of the Dragon Clan, Guru can create Dragon Balls and during his lifetime his life was tied to the Namekian Dragon Balls before he passed them onto his son Moori shortly before his second death following the end of his remaining lifespan. In Xenoverse 2, he is shown to know of a method that allows even a non-Dragon Clansmen/non-Namekian to increase the power of a set of Dragon Balls increasing the types of wishes they can grant though this does not increase the number of wishes they grant per summon.
==Manga Appearances==
==Appearances in Other Media==
===Video Game Appearances===
*Dragon Ball Z II: Gekishin Freeza
*Dragon Ball Z: Super Saiya Densetsu
*Dragon Ball Z: Legendary Super Warriors
*Dragon Ball Z: The Legacy of Goku
*Dragon Ball Z: Budokai
*Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 3
*Dragon Ball Z: Harukanaru Densetsu
*Dragon Ball Z: Tenkaichi Tag Team
*Dragon Ball Z: Extreme Butōden
*Dragon Ball Fusions
*Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2
*Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot
In Super Dragon Ball Heroes: World Mission, the game world Nail (after an anomaly causes his fusion with Piccolo to come undone) mentions the game world incarnation of Grand Elder Guru when he explains what he knows of Slug's origins.
==Voice Actors==
*Japanese: Junpei Takiguchi † (DBZ Episodes 53-75, Budokai 3, DBZ Kai), Masaharu Satō (DBZ Episodes 100-105, Xenoverse 2), Yasunori Masutani (Fusions, Kakarot)
*English:
**Ocean Group dubs: Robert O. Smith † (DBZ Episodes 53-54 [41 Edited]), David Kaye (DBZ Episode 61 [48 Edited])
**Funimation dub: Christopher R. Sabat (DBZ, Budokai 3, Xenoverse 2), Bill Jenkins (DBZ Kai, Kakarot)
*Arabic dub: Ma'mūn Al-Rifa'i (DBZ episode 53), Mansour Al-Salti (DBZ episodes 54–104), Adnan Abd Al-Jalīl (DBZ Kai)
*Spanish:
**Castilian Spanish dub: Paco de Osca † (DBZ), Luisma Albarracín (DBZ Kai)
**Latin American Spanish dub Armando Réndiz
*Portuguese:
**Brazilian Portuguese dub: César Leitão (DBZ), José Carlos Guerra (DBZ Kai)
**European Portuguese dub: António Semedo
*Italian dub: Ciro Imparato
*Croatian dub: Kruno Belko
*Polish dub: Tomasz Marzecki
*Hungarian dub: Kristóf Tibor
==Trivia==
*Guru's chair/throne design actually first appeared several years prior in the King Piccolo Saga, though King Piccolo's was slightly different with skull detailing, while Kami's was nearly identical to Guru's, as was the chair originally within the ship the Nameless Namek came to Earth in. The Nameless Namek and/or his father Katas may have known Guru due to this, though it is also possible other Namekian leaders used these chairs as well during the time prior to the climate shift on Namek which nearly extinguished their species.
*Though many characters in Dragon Ball media die twice within the course of the storyline (like Goku, Vegeta, Piccolo, Krillin, Yamcha, Tien Shinhan, Chiaotzu, Master Roshi, etc.), Guru is the only character to die twice in the same saga.
*Although referred to as "Guru" in the English dub of the Dragon Ball Z anime, that name has been dropped in favor of a more literal translation of his name, "The Grand Elder," for the English dub of Dragon Ball Z Kai. This makes him the only character to have his name changed for the new show like this.
**However, marketing material, and games such as Xenoverse 2 retain the Guru name, as it likely takes up less space in text boxes it usually appears in.
*In the Hebrew dub, Guru is uniquely refered to as female, even though Namekians lack sex.
**Bulma believed that the Grand Elder Guru was a female Namekian in many dubs of Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball Z Kai
*In the Adventure Mode of Dragon Ball Z: Extreme Butōden, due to Omega Shenron's Minus Energy warping time and space, Guru appears alive on Planet Namek. In order to learn more about the power of the Legendary Saiyan needed to seal the Minus Energy in the Ultimate Dragon Balls, Goku travels to Namek and meets with Guru. Guru reveals that he had heard that the Legendary Saiyan is a form beyond a Super Saiyan and explain that it is a special Saiyan temporarily created from an ordinary Saiyan and possess the power of a god. He also explains that several Saiyans are needed to create one. It is later revealed that the Legendary Saiyan is simply another name for the Super Saiyan God form.
==Gallery==
==See also==
*Guru (Collectibles)
==References==
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