Dragon Ball's Frieza is one of the most iconic anime villains of all time, but it turns out that the villain wasn't always planned to be a part of the story. When one realizes that fact, there are a lot of plot inconsistencies that suddenly make sense, particularly in the preceding Saiyan Saga.

Frieza is introduced as the boss of Vegeta, Nappa, and Raditz, commanding an interstellar force that dominates the galaxy, and is seen searching for the Dragon Balls on Namek in order to wish himself immortal. While pursuing the escaping Vegeta, Goku, and later, his friends, are dragged into the conflict, and much is revealed about the Saiyans, Frieza, and his role in their (near) extinction. It's also shown that Vegeta truly has a grudge against Frieza, and was hoping to use the Earth's Dragon Balls in order to defeat him for good. It leads to a wonderful beginning of redemption for Vegeta... or does it?

Frieza's Debut Created Many Plot Holes in the Saiyan Arc

Toriyama Clearly Didn't Have Frieza in Mind During the Saiyan Arc

While that's how the story is presented during the Namek arc, it really doesn't jibe with what was explicitly stated and shown on-screen during the Saiyan Saga. When Vegeta is first introduced, there's an implication that he is in service to no one, and is merely acting according to his own will. The Saiyans have no fear of Frieza finding out what they're doing or that they're going to Earth. Vegeta's stated intention for the Earth Dragon Balls is the same as Frieza's: to become immortal, not for the power to defeat Frieza. Obviously, being immortal would give Vegeta an edge, but that still wouldn't guarantee victory.

Then there's the issue of the fate of planet Vegeta, the Saiyan homeworld. Initially, Raditz says that planet Vegeta was destroyed by a meteor storm. Later, it is said in anime-only filler that it was destroyed by a wrathful god who obliterated the planet with meteors. Finally, it's eventually revealed by Dodoria that Frieza was the one who truly destroyed planet Vegeta, and that the meteor story was merely the lie told to the surviving Saiyans. That would almost suggest that Frieza was worshiped as a god by the Saiyans, but later materials, such as the Broly movie, prove that to be false.

The story's retcons affect more than just Vegeta, however. The first hints of Namek are dropped when Vegeta recognizes Piccolo as a Namekian, changing him from some kind of demon into an alien (something that would eventually be undone again in Super and Daima, making him an alien from the Demon Realm).

Why Frieza's Appearance Causes So Many Plot Holes

Vegeta's Survival Explains Many of the Inconsistencies

It's known to many that Vegeta was originally supposed to die at the end of the Saiyan Saga, and Goku's decision to spare him was a result of how popular Vegeta had become. When Goku spares Vegeta, he even makes a comparison to Piccolo, saying that Vegeta could also have the potential for redemption. With that idea already in place, it was clear that while Vegeta would appear again, it likely wouldn't be as the big bad villain. That meant Toriyama needed to create a new villain who was even higher than Vegeta, and that turned out to be Frieza.

Toriyama ended up changing and retconning a lot about Vegeta when Frieza was created, making him into a more sympathetic figure who was secretly out for vengeance against the being who massacred his people.

Toriyama ended up changing and retconning a lot about Vegeta when Frieza was created, making him into a more sympathetic figure who was secretly out for vengeance against the being who massacred his people. It's a far better character concept than what Vegeta was originally conceived as, certainly, and Frieza obviously worked very well as a major villain, with his real estate broker-influenced desire to conquer and sell whatever land he could get his hands on, no matter the cost. That doesn't change the fact, though, that his introduction brought many plot holes.

Although Vegeta's popularity was a major contributing factor, it wasn't the only thing. While many mangaka will come up with a general outline for where the story is going, Akira Toriyama rarely planned that far ahead; often, he didn't even know what next week's chapter would be while writing this week's. As a result, he didn't plant any clues about Frieza's existence, or anything of the sort, simply because the character hadn't even been conceived of yet.

Can Frieza's Plot Holes Be Fixed?

Frieza-induced Plot Holes Don't Really Matter, In the End

Some of the plot holes surrounding Frieza and his introduction to the story can be fixed. For example, Nappa's extreme deference to Vegeta could be because of his status as Prince of All Saiyans, rather than because he was the one in charge of the organization. Nappa is the sort of guy who would continue to honor Vegeta as a prince even after the destruction of the Saiyan race. And Vegeta, despite his fear of Frieza, would likely not even mention the tyrant, so the absence of references to him is understandable.

Many of them can't really be explained, however; Vegeta should've wanted the Dragon Balls for the power to kill Frieza, not immortality. If Vegeta was aware of Frieza's role in the Saiyan homeworld's destruction, then he should've told Goku that, as it would've been much more convincing than his attempts at intimidation ever could be. But in the grand scheme of the story, do any of these inconsistencies really even matter?

If Toriyama had let himself be bound by what he had already written, it's likely that Frieza never would've come to be, and anime would be missing out on one of the greatest villains ever, and Vegeta may never have had his incredible redemption. It's likely for the best that he was willing to retcon so much of Vegeta's initial character, even though that sort of thing goes against common writing advice. It just goes to show what a master Toriyama was, and how he was able to whip up an excellent new Dragon Ball villain on the fly.