Dragon Ball Z: Who told Frieza about the Super Saiyan?

We all know how much Frieza was scared of the Legendary Super Saiyan showing up one day. In fact, the galactic emperor went so far as to attempt to wipe out the entire Saiyan race by destroying their home planet. Ironic, how Frieza is defeated by the same thing he feared. But how in the first place, did Frieza even come to know about this legendary golden haired warrior?

Well, the story starts when Frieza blows up Planet Vegeta. Remember this one Saiyan who tried to stop Frieza? Yep. I'm talking about Bardock, Goku's father.

Well, Bardock tried to stop Frieza, but ultimately failed. Frieza blew him up with an energy blast and Bardock seemingly died. But that wasn't the case.

According to the manga Dragon Ball Z: Episode of Bardock, somehow, Bardock gets transported to the past. He finds himself on a planet that is similar to Planet Vegeta, only to find no Saiyans, instead, there are other beings inhabiting the planet. Bardock notices these beings refer this planet as Planet Plant, which he recalls was the name of Planet Vegeta before the Saiyans inhabited it.

Soon enough, the galactic emperor of that time, Frieza's ancestor Chilled appears and attempts to destroy the planet.

Bardock, mistaking Chilled for Frieza, decides to fight him. Chilled makes fun of Bardock, and asks him who he is and what weak race he is from. Note that at the time, Saiyans had not yet evolved and hence Chilled had no idea of the Saiyan race.

Bardock tells Chilled that he is a Saiyan and that he is going to destroy him for what he did to their planet. He even calls him Frieza, which leaves Chilled confused. Nevertheless, Chilled thinks of Bardock as a weakling and goes into a fight with him. He lands heavy blows on Bardock, who is thrown to the ground.

As Chilled is starting to think that he has won, Bardock is enraged and remembers how Frieza ruthlessly planned to blow up Planet Vegeta. Infuriated, Bardock transforms into a Super Saiyan.

Bardock then beats Chilled, who is taken back to his ship by his henchmen. After being healed and regaining consciousness, Chilled tells his henchmen to give a message to his family: "Beware of a mysterious being whose hair can turn blonde, called a Saiyan." After that, Chilled passed out.

Thus, Chilled passed on the legend of the Super Saiyan to his family and future generations, which ultimately reached Frieza.

AV