Overview
Tien Shinhan is a powerful warrior, a master of martial arts, and one of the most powerful Humans on Earth. Because of his harsh upbringing, Tien is initially cold and heartless, thinking nothing of exploiting innocents and inflicting pain. However,Master Roshi and Gokueventually help him to see the folly of his master'steachings, and he becomes a trusted ally from then on. His reclusive and independent nature strays him away from the other Z Fighters, except during times of dire need. He spends most of his time training with his closest companion,Chiaotzu. In Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball GT, Tien is usually seen training near a waterfall with his lifelong best friend Chiaotzu.
Creation and Concept Edit
When Akira Toriyama began creating the Dragon Ball mangaseries, he used Wu Cheng'en's Journey to the West as a prototype for his own work. Tien's three eyed physical characteristic resembles that of the story character Erlang Shen. Also, both characters are warriors introduced as adversaries of the main character in their respective stories.
The Daizenshuu books mention that Tien Shinhan is a descendant of the Three-Eyed clan.[1][2] The small description booklet in the boxes for Dragon Ball Z Season 1 and Dragon Ball Z Season 4 DVDs, which lists bios of a few of the characters, also mentions that Tien is a "Descendant of the Three-Eyed People." Tien Shinhan being a descendant of the Three-Eyed clan is a reference to the character Sharaku, who is also a descendant of an ancient race of three eyed humans in Osamu Tezuka's 1974 manga The Three-eyed One. Tien's origin is also referenced in the Dragon Ball: Raging Blast what-if story "The Top Earthling Tournament" where, after defeating Tien for the title of "strongest earthling", Krillin asks if Tien is even from Earth.
Technically, Tien is a triclops, which simply means a three-eyed creature, though this has never been depicted as being indicative of another alien race and is more likely just a rare trait in Humans. Also, Piccolo refers to Tien as an Earthling inDragon Ball Kai, the original Japanese version of Dragon Ball Z Kai. In popular culture, the third eye is from becoming enlightened (like the Hindu god Shiva). The fact that, despite being a descendant of the Three-Eyed clan, Tien was not born with his third eye is supported in the series in the video gameDragon Ball Z: The Legacy of Goku II, which states that Tien's third eye was achieved through deep meditation when the player scans the friendly Tien NPC with thescouter.
Name
Tien Shinhan's Japanese name pun is tenshindon, a quasi-Chinese dish actually invented in Japan and consisting of a crabmeat omelet over rice. It gets its name from the fact that it was originally made using high-quality rice. The character’s name is written in kanji (天津飯) with a katakana furigana reading (テンシンハン, Tenshinhan) to indicate that it has a foreign reading (i.e. Chinese). Although unlike Chiaotzu, "Tenshinhan" is actually also the normal Japanese reading for the kanji.
Personality
Tien enjoys eating jiaozi/gyouza (Chiaotzu gets his name from this food) and shumai (Shu and Mai are named after this).[3] His hobbies are volleyball[3] and training in martial arts.[4]
Tien Shinhan was originally a cold-hearted and ruthless warrior, never caring for anyone's life with the exception of his fellow students and mentors. This brutality can be plainly seen when he crushes Yamcha's and another fighter's leg during the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament. However, he finds a lifelong best friend in Chiaotzu, for whom he cares deeply, and vice-versa. He highly idolized his mentor Mercenary Tao, and desired to be a famous assassin like him. Due to Master Roshi's and Goku's consolations, he changed his demeanor and became one of the most respected warriors on the planet. Before he transitioned to the good side, he planned to kill Goku during the World Martial Arts Tournament as he was seen as a threat to himself and his cohorts. However, this mentality soon changes with the realization that he disagrees with the brutal methods employed by his masters, Shen and Mercenary Tao. He goes off on his own to train, and soon becomes a powerful ally to Goku and the others. His personality transitions from one of a brutal killer to that of an honorable warrior, one who cares deeply for those he strives to protect. He occasionally tries to repent for his former brutality but eventually rises above his horrid memories and looks toward the future.
During Dragon Ball Z, he is seen striving to become a powerful warrior, and still hopes to surpass Goku one day. He valiantly fights and defeats a Saibaman when the Saiyans arrive, and does battle withNappa, during which Chiaotzu sacrifices himself in vain, causing Tien to put all his effort into one final attack, which fails. Tien dies a hero's death, but is revived later by Porunga. When the conflict with the Androids comes into full swing, Tien puts his life on the line numerous times when assisting his friends against the mechanical demons, most notably when using his life-force to hold Semi-Perfect Cell at bay, nearly sacrificing his own life to allow Android 16 and Android 18 to escape, thus saving the Earth from certain destruction. After the defeat of Cell, Tien goes off to continue his training. When Super Buuthreatens Earth's existence seven years later, he arrives just in time to save Gohan from certain death. However, he is knocked out when Buu's severed legs reanimate and kick him, and later perishes when the Earth is destroyed.
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