In the entirety of the Dragon Ball franchise, there is perhaps no other character that shares the same elusive qualities and mystery as much as the Grand Priest. Ever since his very brief introduction in Dragon Ball Super, season 1, episode 55, "I'd Like to See Goku, You See A Summons From Grand Zeno", fans got to find out some details about him and who he is, as well as the power he holds.

After this, he was seen again in the Tournament of Power, where he acted as a referee or a mediator who overlooked the competition and enforced the rules. His role here was to announce the fighters and universes that had been eliminated, all while keeping the same cold and indifferent demeanor throughout the whole event. This is where the point of contention started for fans as his nonchalance and vacant expression during the erasure of entire universes seemed to hint at a more sinister motive.

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Who is the Grand Priest?

From the few details that are known about him, the Grand Priest is the father of all the Angels that are designated to their specific universe in Dragon Ball Super. There are 12 of these Angels, though the overall number remains a mystery because there once used to be a total of 18 universes. Moreover, it has been shown that there are also Angels who are unaligned with any universe, such as Merus.

In the same episode as his introduction, Goku told Whis that while the Grand Priest may not look very imposing, his true power is great. To this, Whis replied by stating that his fighting prowess is in the top 5 across the entire Dragon Ball omniverse, putting him on a level of power that fans of the series cannot even comprehend yet.

During the Moro arc in the manga, Goku began training to better hone his Ultra Instinct under the guidance of Merus, who was in training to be an Angel. This is where Whis reveals that there are many different degrees of accuracy with Ultra Instinct and that while Merus's may be greater than Goku's, it's still inferior to the Ultra Instinct of Whis due to him using it for far longer. Then, Whis went on to say that, in the same vein, his own Ultra Instinct is far weaker than that of the Grand Priest.

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Grand Priest's Potential Plan

While the following theory of the Grand Priest is just speculation until the official Dragon Ball Super story confirms it, fans of the series have taken out some instances that seem to confirm it. The main driving point of the theory is that the events of the Tournament of Power, which saw the erasure of entire universes and the loss of potentially trillions of lives, were masterminded by the Grand Priest, not the Grand Zenos.

Seeing as how the Divine Hierarchy of Dragon Ball works, the Angels are forced to serve the Gods of Destruction and the mortals of their designated universes, despite being vastly stronger than all of them. Due to this system, the Grand Priest is also an attendant of his God of Destruction, Grand Zeno. He hated this fact, so he designed a way to get rid of this system entirely by orchestrating the Tournament.

The Tournament also showed us that when Zeno erases a universe, everything from the inhabitants and planets to the Gods of Destruction themselves of that universe is completely erased. However, the Angel is not. The theory posits that the Grand Priest may have wanted the Tournament of Power to take place to get rid of the system that made all of his children servile to Gods that were far weaker than them.

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This theory does seem to hold some merit, as those who agree with it tend to point to the reaction of the Grand Priest every time a universe is erased. He always seemed to meet an erasure with an ominous smile and a voice tone that changed. Another bit of supporting evidence can be seen when Universe 9 is erased from the Tournament and the camera shows the Angel of that universe, Mohito, with a creepy and sadistic smile that has never been explained. Fans say that this means that some of the Angels are in on their fathers' plan.

Another theory that could show the Grand Priest as being a major villain in the story is because of the heroes themselves. Ever since Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods which aired back in 2013, characters in the story have constantly been unlocking new transformations and power-ups that have brought them to the level of power to rival Gods.

From then on, characters and transformations have only gotten stronger, with Jiren rumored to be more powerful than Belmod, Toppo unlocking his destroyer form and the Z-Fighters from Universe 7 unlocking divine techniques. Even Goku gained access to the Ultra Instinct technique and Vegeta reached the power of the Gods of Destruction with Ultra Ego. This insane increase in power could be a cause of worry for the Grand Priest.

This theory also states that the Grand Priest was the one behind the Tournament of Power, only this time, he did it in fear of what the mortals may achieve. Seeing so many mortals grow to such incredible levels of strength made the Grand Priest worry about the breakdown of the entire Divine Hierarchy. If many mortals could achieve the powers of the Gods of Destruction and the Angels, then the Hierarchy itself would be meaningless. So, this theory states that the Grand Priest needed to get rid of the universes and just used the Tournament of Power as a front for achieving this goal.

Of course, there do exist many holes in both of these theories, namely that a wish from the Super Dragon Balls was always the main prize, so the Grand Priest should have been aware of anyone wishing the multiverse back into its original form. Still, the possibility of the Grand Priest being the ultimate villain of Dragon Ball is backed by some great theory-crafting that makes sense thematically. All that is left to do is wait for the eventual end of Dragon Ball Super to find out what is in store for our heroes!

Dragon Ball Super is available to stream on Prime Video.

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