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Dragon Ball: Why Is the Supreme Kai from Every Universe a Glind?

Published

2 days ago

December 16, 2024

Christoph Rediske

supreme kai shin nahare dragon ball daima

Summary

Table of Contents

Glinds may be chosen to be Supreme Kais due to their unique ability to create life in their respective universes.
Only Glinds born from golden fruits have the potential to become Supreme Kai of their universe.
The selection process for minor Kais, like King Kai, involves drawing lots among the Glinds living on Kaishin.

First unveiled during the Buu Saga in Dragon Ball Z, the Supreme Kais are Gods of Creation tasked with spreading life in their respective universes, and for some reason, all of them are Glinds. Glinds, also known as Core People, are a race of beings that originated in the Demon Realm, specifically the Second Demon World, as established in Dragon Ball Daima.

It seems weird that the Supreme Kai all belong to one race when their more violent counterparts, the Gods of Destruction, do not share the same quality. The only Gods of Destruction who belong to the same race are Beerus and Champa from Unverses 7 and 6, who are twin brothers. The rest all look vastly different from each other, implying that, technically, anyone from any race can become a God of Destruction as long as they are deemed worthy enough. So why isn’t this the case with the Supreme Kais of the multiverse?

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Why the Glinds?

It’s Most Likely Due to the Capabilities of Their Race

Dragon Ball Daima episode 10, “Ocean”, had Shin explain the history of the Glinds and why they left the Demon Realm. The Supreme Demon King wanted to expand the Demon Realm and ordered a Super Majin named Rymus to create the multiverse. After doing so, Rymus appointed select Glinds to oversee these universes as the Supreme Kais. But why did he pick the Glinds specifically?

While it hasn’t been explicitly explained just yet, the reason can be deduced based on the Supreme Kai’s role. As mentioned above, the Supreme Kais are Gods of Creation and are meant to balance out the God of Destruction. The former creates worlds and fills them with life, while the latter destroys them. This implies that the Glinds capable of taking the mantle of Supreme Kai have the power to create life.

A race of beings that can create entire worlds and fill them with life probably doesn’t come around very often, which is likely why the role of Supreme Kai belongs solely to the Glinds. Keep in mind that this is just a theory. The way things are going with Dragon Ball Daima right now, this could be proven right or wrong in a future episode.

Now, this can be a little confusing since, in the show and manga, the Supreme Kais have never been shown to exercise their powers to create worlds and life. Though, to be more accurate, it’s not that they can manifest a world into existence, but rather just start an impetus for it to happen, as was explained by Akira Toriyama in Chōzenshū 1. However, he does say that the Supreme Kais can create life. Unfortunately, it’s just never been demonstrated in the series yet.

But Then Why Are the Gods of Destruction Different?

To be a Supreme Kai, you need to have the power to create, so it makes sense that to be a Destroyer God, you must have the power to destroy. The ability to destroy isn’t unique to any single race. Anyone who has trained and mastered ki has the ability to destroy, as shown by the Z Fighters and pretty much everyone who participated in the Tournament of Power in Dragon Ball Super. That’s not to say that becoming a God of Destruction is any easier than being a Supreme Kai, unless you think training and becoming the strongest being in your universe is an easy task.

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Which Glinds Get Selected to Be Supreme Kais?

Not Every Glind Can Become Supreme Kai

Dragon Ball DAIMA – Kibito and Supreme Kai (Kaioshin) — **©BIRD STUDIO/SHUEISHA, TOEI ANIMATION**

Just because you’re born a Glind, doesn’t necessarily mean you’re destined to be a Supreme Kai in one of the twelve universes. However, the selection pool probably isn’t looking too good after the Glind trees that birthed them have died, as stated in Dragon Ball Daima episode 10. Glinds used to grow from one of five Glind Trees and spawn from those trees’ fruit every few centuries, but a Glind’s lifespan can last from several thousand to millions of years, according to the Supreme Exciting Guide.

“We Glinds are born once every few centuries from a Glind Tree… There are five Glind Trees.” – Supreme Kai Shin, Dragon Ball Daima episode 6, “Lightning”

So what makes a particular Glind a good candidate for becoming a Supreme Kai? First, you should know that there are two types of Glinds: those born from regular fruits and those born from golden fruits, which are far less common. Only those born from golden fruits are capable of becoming Supreme Kais. There is a bit of conflict regarding how Supreme Kai replacements are chosen though. The Super Exciting Guide states that a golden fruit Glind has to be born a Supreme Kai. However, in Dragon Ball Super, Gowasu, the Supreme Kai of Universe 10, is instead training his replacement, Zamasu, and had to give him the role of Supreme Kai for a little while to allow him to use a Time Ring.

How About the Minor Kais?

The Supreme Kai isn’t the only major role the Glinds have to fulfill in the order of the multiverse. The minor Kais, like King Kai, and the Grand Kai that supervises them, are all Glinds as well, despite looking slightly different. These Kais can look less human and have more non-human body parts like whiskers and antennae. The four directional Kais of Universe 7 all have antennae, while the North Kai King Kai has whiskers. Their difference in appearance to the Supreme Kais is due to the minor Kais being selected from the Glinds born from normal fruit rather than a golden one. For some reason, the Glinds that come from ordinary fruits have slightly different physical traits than those born from golden fruits.

The Super Exciting Guide states that once one of the current minor Kais dies, the Glinds living on their homeworld, Kaishin, will draw lots to decide who gets to replace them. This process does call into question King Kai’s role though. As of Dragon Ball Super, King Kai has been dead for several years already, and yet no one has taken his role as the North Kai. An explanation might be that the process of replacing a Kai is just incredibly slow since they live for thousands of years; they probably perceive time differently from other beings. Another reason might be that the Kais are allotted a certain amount of time to fulfill their duties, and since King Kai can still perform his duties even in death, the Glinds are allowing him to “finish his term” so to speak.