Frieza was born into a family unlike almost anything else in Universe 7. His father, King Cold, was already an extraordinarily powerful and feared being, but Frieza possessed an even more terrifying natural potential. He did not need years of training to reach the level that other warriors struggled their entire lives to achieve. His strength came naturally, and alongside that strength was an equally remarkable cruelty. Even as a young member of his race, Frieza possessed the arrogance and ruthlessness that would eventually make his name synonymous with terror across the universe.
King Cold recognized his son's potential early. Rather than allowing Frieza to remain merely another member of his family, Cold eventually handed control of his empire over to him. By the time Frieza took command, the organization that would become known as the Frieza Force already possessed enormous influence. Under Frieza, however, its operations expanded dramatically. Planets were conquered, civilizations were subjugated, and entire worlds became commodities in the planetary trade.
Frieza did not need to personally conquer every planet. His overwhelming reputation allowed him to command armies of soldiers, elite warriors, and entire races who fought under his banner. Those planets that could be conquered were taken, their inhabitants were eliminated or displaced, and the worlds were subsequently sold or incorporated into his growing empire. Frieza gradually became the dominant mortal power across enormous portions of Universe 7, eventually controlling hundreds of planets and a vast interstellar empire.
Among the races serving him were the Saiyans.
The Saiyans were violent, proud, and naturally gifted warriors who lived for battle. Their ability to survive brutal combat and grow stronger made them extremely useful to Frieza. Rather than destroying them immediately, Frieza incorporated them into his forces and used them as soldiers for planetary conquest. Saiyan warriors were sent across the universe to defeat civilizations and prepare worlds for Frieza's planetary trade.
Frieza, however, never truly trusted them.
The Saiyans were powerful, but they were also proud and fiercely independent. Frieza understood that a race capable of producing increasingly powerful warriors could eventually become a threat. More importantly, the Saiyans possessed an ancient legend concerning a warrior capable of reaching an extraordinary transformation known as the Super Saiyan.
Frieza's concerns were not entirely irrational. He had already reached a level where almost no ordinary warrior could challenge him, but the existence of a warrior who could potentially surpass him was something he could not tolerate. His paranoia toward the Saiyans gradually grew.
During this period, Frieza also became aware of beings who existed far above ordinary mortal rulers.
Among them was Beerus, the God of Destruction.
Frieza had encountered Beerus and learned firsthand that there were beings whose power existed on an entirely different level from his own. Beerus was not another emperor competing for territory. He was a divine being whose authority and strength stood above the mortal powers of the universe. Frieza understood that challenging such a being would be foolish.
Yet this knowledge did not humble him.
Frieza simply recognized the hierarchy of power that existed above him. He could rule the mortal universe and command countless worlds while still acknowledging that Beerus occupied a position beyond his reach. His relationship with Beerus was therefore fundamentally different from his relationship with the mortals beneath him.
Beerus himself had his own reasons for disliking the Saiyans. During his interactions with the Saiyan royal family, he developed a negative opinion of them, and at one point gave Frieza permission to destroy Planet Vegeta. Frieza already possessed his own reasons for wanting the Saiyans gone, particularly his fear of the Super Saiyan legend, so Beerus's approval merely removed another obstacle.
Eventually, Frieza decided that the Saiyans had become more trouble than they were worth.
In Age 737, Frieza gathered his forces and moved against Planet Vegeta. The Saiyans had no idea that their supposed master had already decided to exterminate them. Most of the Saiyan warriors were still scattered throughout the universe on missions, while the remaining population was gathered on their homeworld.
Frieza approached the planet and raised a single finger.
From it emerged an enormous sphere of energy.
He launched the attack toward Planet Vegeta, and the world was consumed in a massive explosion. The Saiyan homeworld was destroyed, along with almost the entirety of the Saiyan race. Frieza watched the destruction with satisfaction as one of the most powerful warrior civilizations in the universe disappeared in an instant.
The destruction of Planet Vegeta was subsequently covered up. The remaining Saiyans were led to believe that their homeworld had been destroyed by a natural disaster, allowing Frieza to conceal the truth and prevent the surviving warriors from immediately turning against him. Among those survivors were Prince Vegeta, Nappa, and Raditz, who remained members of the Frieza Force.
There were only a handful of Saiyans left alive.
One of them was a newborn infant named Kakarot.
His parents, Bardock and Gine, had realized that something was wrong when Frieza ordered the Saiyans to return to Planet Vegeta. Bardock suspected that Frieza intended to do something to the Saiyans and sent his son away in a small space pod. Kakarot was launched toward Earth shortly before Planet Vegeta was destroyed.
Frieza's empire continued after the genocide.
The Saiyans were gone, but Frieza remained the unquestioned ruler of his vast organization. He continued conquering worlds, selling planets, exterminating civilizations, and commanding his soldiers across the galaxy. He had achieved what most beings could only dream of. He possessed overwhelming power, an enormous military force, countless worlds under his control, and the fear of almost every mortal civilization that knew his name.
Yet Frieza's ambition had not disappeared.
He still desired greater control over the universe, and his arrogance remained untouched by the destruction of the Saiyans. He believed that strength gave him the right to rule and that those beneath him existed either as tools, servants, or obstacles.
But that was not all. The God of Destruction, Beerus and his Angel Whis were the two divine beings he had interacted before but the difference between a mortal like him and gods like them was vast, so vast that he himself could not help but think of it as insurmountable.
Freeza never needed to push himself past his limits. He was the king of the Frostborns ever since he had become a functioning adult. His opponents were either mortals who stood no chance in his presence or the divine themself that could not be surpassed.
For now, he had destroyed the Saiyans.
He had conquered countless worlds.
He had built an empire that stretched across the universe.
And, for all practical purposes, there was no mortal warrior alive whom he believed could challenge him.