Children in the Dragon Ball franchise has always been a funny thing. Really aside from Gohan and Future Trunks, most of the kids in the series have been introduced only to be given practically zero character development and are essentially forgotten about by Akira Toriyama. This can be seen heavily with Kid Trunks and Goten who are one dimensional funny distractions but don't contribute much to the series. But they are of major importance compared to the child of Android 18 and Krillin: Marron.
Born only one year after Krillin and Android 18 tied the knot in Age 770 between the Cell saga and the Majin Buu saga, Marron doesn't have highlight reels full of memorable moments or even that many fans. In fact, she was actually voted least popular DBZ female in a fan poll once. This is almost surely due to the fact that she is a young child who has done nothing of significance in the franchise other than standing around in the background as super powered aliens fight around her. Having to compete with that, it's no wonder why her creator might have forgotten about her.
However, that doesn't mean that she isn't completely robbed of any interesting facts about herself. We've combed through any information we can find about the cute, adorable and sort of bland blonde baby across all universes and timelines to bring to you this list. Here are 15 surprising facts that you didn't know about Marron from Dragon Ball Z. Let's go.
15 The Secret Meaning Behind Her Name
Casual fans of Dragon Ball Z may not think there is anything off about Krillin and Android 18's daughter's name. Granted, Marron is not really a common name but it sure isn't as weird as some of the other characters in this series. Raditz, anyone?
For those who speak French though, the name would have followed Akira Toriyama's penchant for naming characters in the series after food. Marron translated into french means "chestnut". Not only that, but the same word could be used to say "brown". Along with all the Saiyans being named after vegetables and the Ginyu Force being named after dairy products, these characters would make for a delicious feast if they were to all die. Nobody tell Goku about this, he's probably dumb enough to try and eat people because of this.
14 The OTHER Secret About Her Name
Hold on to your monkey tails fans, because there is another secret about Marron's name. While the last one was a cute inside joke from the author, this one is just a REALLY unfortunate coincidence.
Due to the nature of how Dragon Ball Z was made on television, the show would sometimes have to include "filler" episodes for the manga to catch up to it. This is how you get middling and dumb things like the Garlic Jr. saga. Speaking of middling and dumb things, that arc also included the debut of Krillin's short term girlfriend Maron. That's Maron with one R, just so we're clear.
Not that it really makes a difference because now it is clear that in the world of DBZ, Krillin named his daughter after his ex girlfriend. This is confirmed in a scene that we'll talk about in the next entry. But seriously Krillin, what the hell is wrong with you?
13 She Probably Didn't Meet Her Uncle For Years
At this point in the series, practically every main cast member is able to fly at astounding speeds. This would include both of Marron's parents. So with that in mind, we feel that the entire Android/Krillin extended family are a bunch of jerks.
In Dragon Ball Super episode 94, Krillin, 18, Trunks and Goten all head down to the island that 18's brother Android 17 keeps on guard to protect its animals. Upon arrival, 18, 17, and Krillin all make awkward small talk before Marron comes in to break the ice. As she greets her uncle, 17 replies that she's gotten big and then briefly forgets her name.
Now while it isn't explicitly said, it's highly probable that this might have been the first ever meeting between the two characters. That would mean that for nine years 18 never flew to visit her brother with Marron and 17 never came to visit either. What is with this family?
12 Never A Playable Character
There have been a lot of Dragon Ball games throughout its more than 30 year history. In all of the card games, fighting games, RPG games and MMOs, basically every character in the franchise has been playable. From A-listers like Goku and Vegeta all the way down to freaking Appule, every character has gotten a shot to star in these games. That is, except for one.
That's right, Krillin's own daughter Marron has never been a playable character in any DB game to date. We could understand the rationale behind this as she has never shown any particular fighting prowess through the manga or the show, but that hasn't stopped developers from putting in characters with no fighting ability before. Somehow, we feel that won't change with the upcoming Dragon Ball FighterZ.
11 She Gave Krillin A Nice Surprise
No we're not talking about her birth, although knowing Akira Toriyama it wouldn't be surprising if Krillin forgot to be safe or something while with 18. No, for this incident, we have to go back to what is considered by some to be the worst film in the Dragon Ball franchise, Bio Broly.
This film takes place during the Majin Buu Saga so at this point Marron is born. She doesn't have much to do in this movie but she is able to continue a running joke of Krillin getting disgusting things done to him. In the first film Dead Zone, Gohan pees into his mouth by accident. In this movie, Marron goes number 2 in Krillin's arms because he wasn't quick enough to bring her to the bathroom. Well, at least this time we don't actually see it happen.
10 Her Family Tree Is BIZARRE
In Dragon Ball, we've seen just about every form of race that you can. We've seen "androids" (according to Akira Toriyama), actual androids (think Cell), humans, saiyans, and whatever the heck Frieza is supposed to be. We've even seen mixed race people like Trunks and Goku's children, but Marron falls into a category unique to the series.
Given that one of her parents is a cyborg and the other one is a human, Marron earns the distinction of being the only half cyborg half human in the Dragon Ball franchise. If we include Dr. Gero's bizarre creations into the mix, then she is kinda sorta related to a robot Frankenstein, a giant ginger hair man and one of the series' main villains Cell. Yeah, we're stretching it here, but just think about Marron being related to Frankenstein and it should make it all better.
9 She Gives Chiaotzu Something To Do
Even hardcore fans of Dragon Ball Z will have a hard time telling you what the point of Chiaotzu is now. Heck, we should give credit to the folks at Team Four Star for making Chiaotzu a much character in their famous Dragon Ball Z Abridged series. Ever since he blew himself up in an attempt to kill Nappa, he has largely been tossed to the side.
From Battle of Gods onwards, Chiaotzu still largely does nothing, but at least he makes a good babysitter of sorts. Yet as we can see from some episodes of Super and the new films, Marron and Chiaotzu are paired up together to enjoy some innocent fun like flying or making faces to each other. Wholesome family fun is important alongside the genocidal aliens, after all.
8 Only Child Never To Be A Fighter
Don't let the above image fool you, that is just a fan design by the talented Aceliousarts on tumblr. If you're born into the world of Dragon Ball, there's at least a 99% chance that you are going to be somewhat competent in fighting. Heck, at least strong enough to take on the average person on Earth. Age isn't even a factor as we see that Gohan at the young age of four years old is already getting into fights with the likes of Raditz and Nappa.
Despite her parents being the accomplished warriors Android 18 and Krillin, Marron has not been shown to be a fighter of any sorts in ANY form of Dragon Ball media. Heck, even Bulla is shown in the video game Dragon Ball Fusions to be somewhat of a fighter. Do we have to tell you how to be a parent, Krillin?
7 She Breathes Through Her Skin
A trademark of the Krill Master from the very beginnings of the Dragon Ball franchise is that he has no nose. This raises the obvious question of how he breathes when his mouth is closed. Well according to an interview Akira Toriyama gave way back in the day, he breathes through his skin. Obviously.
Taking on the genetic traits of her parents, Marron has blonde hair like her mother and no nose from her father. Therefore, the only logical response is that Marron can also breathe through her skin like her daddy.
Or maybe what happened was that Krillin or 18 were playing got your nose with Marron and just never gave it back to her. WHAT KIND OF SAVAGE PARENTS ARE THESE PEOPLE!? Somebody send child services, please.
6 Her Purpose Is To Be A Plot Device
As more of the secondary characters in the franchise were pushed off to the background in favour of the ridiculously powerful warriors like Vegeta and Piccolo, fan favourites like Tien Shinhan were given practically nothing to do. But in his case, he at least had time to develop a character throughout his history. Marron, on the other hand, exists for one reason: to motivate Krillin.
This can be seen to great effect in Dragon Ball Super episode 75. Krillin had been retired from fighting for years, instead choosing to work as a police officer. After getting shot at by a mere bullet, Marron says that she wants a strong father. This inspires Krillin to get back into fighting shape. Well done, Marron, you can go back to doing nothing.
5 She Is Unbearable In Dragon Ball GT
Dragon Ball fandom, we gotta be honest with ourselves. Dragon Ball GT actually had some good ideas in it. Sure the execution of ideas like the Black Star Dragon Balls didn't always pay off, but there was a solid base to them. What they did to Marron's character however, is not even a good idea to start with.
While there wasn't much to her originally, she could at least get away with the fact that "cute" was her main characteristic as she was just a young child. By the time of Dragon Ball GT, she is a teenager who bosses around her father even worse than her mother does. Making her just like a typical teenage girl might be in character for this more grounded family, but that doesn't mean we have to like it.
4 GT Makes A Key Difference To Her Face
As we established earlier, Marron takes on her father's unique trait of not having a nose. It's a quirky part of her character that makes for great fun. But once again leave it to the bane of the Dragon Ball fandom to ruin this too. That of course would be Dragon Ball GT.
In this series, not only is Marron a spoiled little brat, but even worse than that she breathes through her nose! Yes it appears that Krillin's gift for breathing through his skin isn't not permeant in his children inside of the Dragon Ball GT world. Thank goodness that in Dragon Ball Super things were made right by taking away her nose again. The Dragon Ball community can handle a lot of things, but that isn't one of them.
3 She Only Appeared In One Original Movie
Prior to the triumphant cinematic return of the Dragon Ball franchise with 2013's Battle of Gods, there was a total of 13 Dragon Ball films. In those movies we saw it all, from a brain in a jar and a giant villainous dragon to Hitler himself storming Japan with his resurrected army. We even saw Marron! If only for one movie and unfortunately that movie was one of the worst: Bio Broly.
In that movie she doesn't really do anything of note except cry and poop in Krillin's arms as we mentioned before. That was Marron's grand contribution to the Dragon Ball films. Heck, take away all of Bio Broly's scenes from that movie and give them to Marron. It couldn't be worse than what we got.
2 She Doesn't Exist In Future Trunks' Timeline
One of the series' most beloved characters has to be the son of Vegeta and Bulma, Trunks. At least an alternate timeline version of Trunks, anyway. The main child version of him is much less beloved. But Future Trunks? Complete and utter tough guy who doesn't mess around like Vegeta and Goku are prone to doing.
But before he became strong enough to defeat the Androids of his world, he was helpless to stop the death of nearly everyone on earth. Included in those billions of deaths is the lovable baldie himself, Krillin. Killed by an energy blast from 18's bro 17, he never got the chance to win the blonde bombshell's heart and have Marron. Therefore, Marron never came to be. Just one more tragedy atop all the others of his timeline.
1 She's The Weakest Earthling
The fandom of DBZ has been divided for years about who the weakest character in the series cast really is. For all the flak that Yamcha receives, he actually isn't as weak as people as he could still take out 99% of human beings on Earth if he wanted to. Yajirobe is also a contender for the weakest one but at least he has some training and owns his sword.
No, our contender would have to be Marron. Not only is she not a fighter, she's also a child. If she doesn't start breaking wood planks soon, we are going to boot her out so fast her head will spin. Sure, Android 18 has said she's stronger than she looks, but that wouldn't be the first time that parents lied about their child's skills, would it?