Tien Shinhan's History
Background
Tien has a unique physical composition as a throwback to his ancestors, the Three-Eyed clan; he has the ability to grow arms from his back and split into four people, as well as shoot laser beams out of his third eye. Due to being raised by Master Shen, Tien lost the ability to use the myriad powers of his third eye for good purposes. During the early years of his life, Tien entered Master Shen's Crane School. There, he learned powerful ki-based techniques such as the Solar Flare, the Dodon Ray and the Tri-Beam, and he was taught defensive techniques by Master Shen's younger brother, Mercenary Tao.
Fortuneteller Baba Saga
In the anime, Tien and Chiaotzu first meet Goku when they are pretending to save villages from InoShikaCho by pretending to kill it. When Goku discovers that they are really con artists, he tries to expose them by making the supposedly dead beast laugh, but Tien turns the people against Goku, saying that it is Goku who is partnered with InoShikaCho instead. Tien accomplishes this through hanging InoShikaCho over a fire and telling Goku to leave the beast to burn if he was not allied with it. When the merciful Goku cuts InoShikaCho down, he is chased away from the village.
Later, along with their master, Tien and Chiaotzu travel on a boat to Papaya Island for the upcoming 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament.
Tien Shinhan Saga[h]
Tien's first major role in the series begins at the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament. Introduced as the star pupils of the Crane School, Master Shen is entering Tien and Chiaotzu to defeat the students of his lifelong rival, the Turtle Hermit Master Roshi. In the preliminary rounds, Tien Shinhan leaves Nam unconscious and nearly dead after their match in order to send a clear message to Goku and his friends about what exactly they are up against. Tien faces little in the way of a challenge during the preliminaries and easily makes his way into the finals.
Using Chiaotzu's mental powers to fix the ordering of the matches in the quarter-finals, Tien decides to first face off against Turtle student Yamcha, whom he had been exchanging hostile words with since the start of the tournament. Yamcha puts up a better fight than Tien expected, but was still not a significant threat to Tien, who not only defeated him, but went further and ended the match by needlessly breaking Yamcha's leg while he was unconscious. Soon after this fight, when Chiaotzu uses the Dodon Ray against Krillin during their battle, and Goku mentions that it is same move that Mercenary Tao used, he learns of the death of his role-model and martial arts teacher Tao by the hands of Turtle student Goku and the tournament becomes more about revenge than victory.
Tien's next opponent is the winner of the 21st World Martial Arts Tournament, Jackie Chun and he faces his first true challenge. Jackie Chun challenges Tien not only in physical combat, but also begins to warn him about following an evil path. With the help of the Master Shen, Tien learns that Jackie Chun is actually Master Roshi in a disguise and proceeds to use Master Roshi's signature move, the Kamehameha against him. After this, despite having shown none of his true power, Roshi concedes the match and hops out the ring. Tien proceeds to track down Master Roshi shortly afterwards to find out why he forfeited, to which Master Roshi responds by telling Tien that it is time for younger fighters, Tien included, to take his place.
Tien then proceeds to battle in the final round against Goku himself. Goku is a powerful opponent and the fight seems to be relatively even until Goku suddenly becomes unable to throw a punch or dodge an attack without becoming frozen in place. Tien quickly learns that Chiaotzu is rigging the fight under Master Shen's orders and he demands that Chiaotzu stop since he wants a fair match. Master Shen takes this as defiance and orders Tien to kill Goku, but Tien, thinking about his own desires for the first time, humbly refuses (Thus, Master Roshi's words have proven true and Tien rejects the path of an assassin). The now infuriated Master Shen orders Chiaotzu to kill both Tien and Goku, and when Chiaotzu refuses, Shen then threatens to kill him instead. Master Roshi puts an end to this by blasting Master Shen out of the stadium with a Kamehameha, allowing Tien and Goku to concentrate on their match.
After deliberately letting Goku give him a beating to make up for the beating he gave him while paralyzed, Tien and Goku continue to battle and Tien sprouts two extra arms to fight Goku. He grabs hold of Goku's arms and legs with his four arms, and then precedes to smash Goku's stomach into his head, which causes Goku a lot of pain. He does this for a couple of times, but then Goku frees himself by slapping Tien in the face with his tail. Goku counters it when he grabs Tien's legs and holds onto them, causing Tien pain. Tien manages to throw Goku off, and they continue the fight.
Tien then decides to put an end to the match and use his ultimate attack, the Tri-Beam. He warns Goku to expect and dodge the blast (as there is no way to survive being hit by it) planning to force him out of bounds instead. Tien proceeds to use the attack and destroys the entire arena. Because of his warning, Goku dodged by leaping incredibly high in the air. Tien is convinced he will win at this point, as he can fly and Goku cannot, but Goku uses one final Kamehameha to propel himself into Tien like a rocket. Both fighters then fall to the ground, Goku slightly ahead. Goku attempts to use another, smaller Kamehameha to slow himself down, but is hit by a truck and lands first. Tien lands an instant later, thus winning the tournament.
After the match, Tien receives 500,000 Zeni and offers Goku half of the prize money as he recognizes that, it was mere luck that he was the one who landed second referring to the fact Goku would have won otherwise. He also apologizes to Yamcha for using such excessive force during their fight and the two agree to meet at the next tournament. Master Roshi offers to let Tien stay at the Kame House, but Tien declines, stating that he cannot follow the teachings of another, even if he has betrayed his master.
[h]King Piccolo Saga
The good mood is short-lived however, as Turtle student Krillin is unexpectedly killed while separated momentarily from the group. Along with his body there was a note with the character "demon" on it. Master Roshi tells everyone that it represents an incredibly powerful Demon King, King Piccolo, who was sealed away centuries ago by Master Roshi's old master using the suicidal Evil Containment Wave technique, but is now apparently free again. On hearing this, Goku, still not fully recovered from his battle with Tien, rushes off in a rage to seek his revenge.
Realizing the gravity of the situation, Tien volunteers to help in anyway he can. He is informed of the seven Dragon Balls, which when collected summon the dragon that can grant any wish and, along with Chiaotzu and Master Roshi, is soon on a quest to retrieve them in order to have the Dragon eradicate King Piccolo. After finding several of them though, their radar which informs them of the Dragon Balls locations shows them that the remaining ones are actually coming to them, meaning King Piccolo is also seeking the Dragon Balls and is coming for theirs.
Before King Piccolo can confront them, Master Roshi unexpectedly knocks Tien out and hides him in a cave. Master Roshi plans on using the Evil Containment Wave against King Piccolo and, since Goku is thought to have already been killed, Master Roshi considers Tien to be the last line of defense for the planet in case he fails. Semi-conscious, Tien can do nothing but witnesses Master Roshi's ultimately unsuccessful stand against the powerful Demon King, and watches him die. King Piccolo wastes no time joining the Dragon Balls together to summon the Dragon and Tien, in desperation, orders Chiaotzu to quickly make a wish to destroy King Piccolo before the Demon King can make one himself. Chiaotzu tries, but is quickly killed mid-sentence from a blast by King Piccolo, an act Tien can only watch in horror. King Piccolo continues to make his wish and then destroys the Dragon, knowing it is the only thing that can stop him.
After regaining his mobility, and King Piccolo has long gone, Tien practices the Evil Containment Wave, having learned it from watching Master Roshi perform it. After many attempts, Tien has fully mastered the Evil Containment Wave and heads off to King Piccolo's location in Central City to confront the demon. After he arrives and challenges King Piccolo, he is horrified on discovering that the vessel to be King Piccolo's prison is cracked and useless from his practicing. Knowing that he will not be able to use the Evil Containment Wave, Tien decides to confront King Piccolo regardless. In the anime, the jar is safely brought to the battle inside of a capsule.
King Piccolo, not seeing Tien as being worth fighting, spawns a new minion, Drum, his most powerful son yet, to take care of him. Drum quickly dominates the battle, but Tien is able to knock him down giving him the opportunity to use the Evil Containment Wave on King Piccolo. However, Drum gets in the way of the blast and before Tien can seal Drum in the Electric Rice Cooker, King Piccolo destroys it. Drum is about to finish Tien off when Goku intervenes and saves him, killing Drum with a single kick. Tien, amazed at Goku's new power, can only watch as Goku and King Piccolo then battle it out, using the last of his strength part way through their match to quickly fly in and levitate Goku out of the path of a powerful attack by King Piccolo. When the battle seems to be turning against King Piccolo, the Demon King decides to take Tien hostage in order to force Goku to allow himself to be crippled. Piccolo says that if Goku does not do what he orders, he will crush Tien's head. After King Piccolo severely damages Goku, Tien is discarded by King Piccolo, but Goku is more resilient than King Piccolo thought and uses one final attack to kill the Demon King.
With the battle over, Tien now heads back to the Kame House with Goku's friends Launch, Yamcha and Bulma. Tien gets all of his wounds treated by Launch, which he thanks her for. After hearing the huge news that Goku is getting trained by Kami up in the sky for three years, he vows to train harder than ever before in order to for sure bridge the now massive gap between himself and Goku.
Piccolo Jr. Saga
Tien keeps up his training, redoubling his efforts after learning that Goku is being trained by Kami, Guardian of the Earth. With the dragon restored, a wish is made to bring all those killed by King Piccolo back to life. Tien then trains with Yamcha and the newly resurrected Krillin and Chiaotzu until they are informed by Master Roshi that, to be able to compete with Goku, they are going to need to find better ways to train than are available at the Kame House. They all head to Korin Tower and train with Korin before each going their own separate way.
Three years after King Piccolo's defeat, Tien, along with Yamcha, Chiaotzu and Krillin, return to compete in the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament. He is somewhat surprised to see the now teenaged Goku and hopeful that he is even more powerful than before. His real shock, however, is seeing Piccolo Jr., and realizing that something of the Demon King has survived. Goku asks him to remain silent about the matter for the time, not wishing to create a panic.
When the lots are drawn up to determine the order of the fights, Tien once again has Chiaotzu manipulate the cards so that none of the group (Tien, Yamcha, Goku, Chiaotzu, and Krillin) or Piccolo Jr. fight each other in the preliminaries. Though the others are not aware of the number fiddling, and simply think that it is a coincidence.
The early matches seem to be going as usual, with the group quickly dispatching their foes. Tien then receives a horrible sense of something awful happening to Chiaotzu, and races to the scene and finds Chiaotzu heavily wounded and unconscious, which makes him furious. Chiaotzu's opponent turns out to be the now cybernetically repaired Mercenary Tao, greatly surprising Tien, who thought Tao to be dead. Tao explains that after his seeming death by Goku, he was rebuilt into the half-man half-machine before them, and that he seeks revenge on both Goku and the Crane School "traitor" Tien. Tien claims he has not betrayed Shen, but realized Shen's teachings were wrong. He gladly accepts his former mentor's challenge, wanting to avenge his best friend.
They get their wish as Tien and Mercenary Tao are the first of the eight finalists to fight. After a long silence, Tao lunges at Tien, but Tien quickly sidesteps and counters, knocking Tao to the ground. Tien then states that he does not want to embarrass Tao, since he taught him how to fight. Tien also forgives Mercenary Tao for what he did to Chiaotzu and tells him to forfeit. Tao refuses this and presses on his assault, though he is clearly outclassed by Tien, who dominates the whole battle. After Tien grabs one of Tao's wrists and attempts to escort him off the ring, the cyborg pulls a surprise maneuver and detaches his mechanical hand, revealing a knife that he quickly uses to slash Tien, scarring him permanently. Though disqualified for use of a weapon, Tao does not care, as he only participated in the tournament to kill Tien and Goku. Tao quickly drops his other hand to reveal a cannon and fires a Super Dodon Wave at Tien, claiming Tien has no chance of survival. Tien however nullifies the large blast with his Kiai and then proceeds to defeat Tao with a single punch to the gut. He takes Tao's unconscious body out of bounds and presents it to the watching Master Shen, telling him to take his brother and leave, and to never bother him again.
Tien's next fight is the one he has been waiting for, a rematch against Goku. The battle starts with numerous quick sparrings and shows to be fairly even, but with Tien having an edge in raw speed. This changes after Goku removes his weighted clothing though, making Goku fast enough to steal Tien's belt without Tien even noticing; resulting in Tien's boxers to be exposed to the audience. Realizing that he will not be able to defeat Goku physically, Tien uses a new technique he has created, the Multi-Form, and splits into four identical copies of himself. The Tiens disperse to the four corners of the ring, each one then firing a Ki Blast Cannon at the center, where Goku is, resulting in a large explosion which Goku has to leap to avoid. The Tiens quickly fire again, this time from their third eyes, at Goku, sending him crashing back to the ring. The Tiens warn Goku to give up before he gets hurt, but he appears unfazed by their attacks, and states they will not be able to pull off that trick again, which they then promptly attempt.
Goku dodges the beams this time though, and uses the Solar Flare against them, blinding the Tiens. He then quickly dispatches each of them, causing them to revert to the single being. Goku states that the new technique Tien has a critical weakness, as Tien's power is divided amongst the duplicates. With the fight over, Tien looks forward to their next rematch, suspecting that Goku was still holding quite a bit back.
Tien plays little role in following battles, he can only watch as Goku fights the seemingly all-powerful Piccolo Jr. He offers his assistance at several points, but is denied by Goku who wants to fight the demon alone, though he does open the Sealed Flask, which Piccolo Jr. used to trap Kami, after Goku tosses it to him. Tien also helps to evacuate their friends, creating a pit in the earth for them to take shelter from the Hyper Explosive Demon Wave, one of Piccolo Jr.'s more devastating attacks.
When it looks like Goku has been beaten, him having most of his limbs broken and with Piccolo Jr. close to finishing him off, Tien reluctantly accepts the order from Kami to kill the elderly guardian, thus also killing Piccolo Jr. He is stopped by Goku though, who says there will be no need for such extreme measures, he then evades the demon's onslaught and ends up defeating him with a surprise attack. After Piccolo Jr. is defeated, Tien joins in on the tournament victory celebration, and even shares a couple of laughs with Goku and Roshi. He is also among with the others very shocked over Goku's decision to give the demon a Senzu Bean to heal his wounds. Only a few moments after this, Kami asks Tien if he is expecting a visitor, and to his surprise he sees Chiaotzu flying towards him with a bandage warped around his head, and he is very happy to see that his best friend is alive and well. He then watches as Goku and Chi-Chi flies away from the World Tournament area on the Flying Nimbus.
Saiyan Saga
Five years after the tournament, Tien learns that Goku has died in battle against an amazingly powerful warrior called Raditz, a Saiyan who was Goku's older brother. Even more disturbing is that two more Saiyans, both more powerful than Raditz, are on their way to Earth and will be there in about one year.
In the early days, the wild Launch develops a bit of an infatuation with Tien, and she continues to chase him wherever he goes. Tien wastes no time, and is invited, along with Yamcha, Chiaotzu, Yajirobe and Krillin, to train at the Lookout so they can aid Goku when he is wished back to life in a year, after he completes his training with King Kai. In filler during this period, Tien and the other Z Fighters on Earth fight Shorty and Scarface, two illusion Saiyans they met on Planet Vegeta when using the Pendulum Room at Kami's Lookout to go back in time. Tien and his friends are overpowered greatly by the Saiyans, before they are transferred back to Kami's Lookout. The experience frightens Tien and the others, so they continue to train as hard as they possibly can.
When the Saiyans finally do arrive, the Z-Fighters decide to hold them off until Goku can arrive. Tien and Chiaotzu eventually find the Saiyans, Piccolo, Gohan, and Krillin's location, and join them, soon followed by Yamcha. Vegeta, deciding to toy with his opponents, has Nappa grow several Saibamen in the soil so that he can hold a small challenge. Knowing that they have to buy time, the Z-Fighters agree to this, and Tien volunteers to go first. He manages to quickly defeat the vicious creature (in two hits to be precise), which causes Vegeta to destroy it for its severe incompetence.
After all the Saibamen are killed, Nappa decides to enter the fray himself, taking on Tien as his first opponent. Tien is no match for the giant Saiyan warrior, and has his left arm ripped off in a single hit. Immediately, Tien tries to use levitation to escape, but is quickly smashed to the floor hard with the second hit. Seeing this, Chiaotzu sacrifices himself with a a self-destruction attack against Nappa, but it was in vain as Nappa remains completely unharmed and starts to fight with the now ally Piccolo and Goku's son, Gohan though even altogether they prove to still be no match for him.
Tien, enraged by the death of Chiaotzu, puts all his remaining strength into one final Tri-beam through his remaining right hand, killing himself from exhaustion in the process. The attack manages to do serious damage to Nappa's armor, but does not seriously damage the Saiyan warrior. In the anime however, Nappa goes as far as to praise Tien's efforts, claiming that had his aim been better, it would have seriously injured him. The attempt also shocked Vegeta, as he was the one to warn Nappa of its power and stating that if he had not warned Nappa, it could have killed him.
Frieza Saga
Because of the influence of Kami, after he perished, Tien was allowed to train on King Kai's Planet in the Other World as Goku did earlier. Joining him were the other warriors who also perished in the battle against the Saiyans, Chiaotzu, Piccolo and Yamcha. On King Kai's planet, King Kai contacts Goku and tells him that his friends all crossed Snake Way in a far shorter time than he did, and that they all requested for tougher training than what Goku had received. Prior to beginning his training with King Kai, Tien has difficulty making King Kai laugh during the prerequisite joke-telling test. In order to finally deliver a successful joke, Tien must literally power up and use the Multi-Form technique as he aggressively declares "You can tune a piano, but you can't tune a (tuna) fish" in the English version, and "You think what's up your nose is a secret but it's not (snot)" in the Japanese dub.
Tien, along with Chiaotzu and Yamcha, remains on King Kai's planet and learns of everyone's (Goku, Vegeta, Krillin, Gohan, Dende and Piccolo fused with Nail) mighty struggle with the evil tyrant Frieza on Namek. While there, in a filler scenario, King Kai calls upon the deceased Ginyu Force (excluding Captain Ginyu) to challenge Tien, Yamcha and Chiaotzu. Tien takes on both Jeice and Burter, and disposes of them rather quickly and easily, showing off how much stronger he had gotten. Knowing the Ginyu Force at one time defeated Vegeta, gave them all a sense of pride. Tien is eventually wished back to life along with Chiaotzu by a wish made to Porunga, as they willingly agreed on getting revived 4 months after Yamcha, in order to not get separated. Once back on Earth, Tien and Chiaotzu go into solitude, training in the mountains.
Frieza-Androids Interlude
A year later, while Tien and Chiaotzu are training in the mountains, they are interrupted when they sense two very powerful evil energies heading towards Earth. They then fly to the location of where the power is coming from. Both Tien and Chiaotzu are surprised to find Vegeta there (who was somewhat reformed during the crisis on Namek and now resides on Earth with Bulma) and the other Z-Fighters who inform them that the power they are detecting is Frieza, who has somehow survived the destruction of Namek, in company with his previously unknown father, King Cold. When Frieza does land, he is quickly dispatched by an unknown mysterious youth (Future Trunks). Piccolo, overhearing the young Super Saiyan's private conversation with Goku, tells everyone the warning that two incredibly powerful Androids will attack in three years time and defeat everyone with the exception of Gohan (and, of course, Future Trunks, but Piccolo does not make mention of the youth in order to keep his identity a secret). During the three years of training, Tien trains intensively and uninterruptedly alongside Chiaotzu across the Earth and his power increases.
Androids Saga
The three years soon pass and the Z-Fighters head to the location where the androids soon appear. Tien Shinhan tells the other Z-Fighters that he left Chiaotzu behind as he felt that even though they trained, he would not have been able to keep up in the battle. Enraged after witnessing Android 20 destroys half of the city where they appeared, Goku, Piccolo, and Tien fly off to a different location with the Androids following them. Tien notices that Goku is somehow already tired and out of breath just by flying. It is revealed that Goku's deadly heart virus is the cause of this abnormal lack of energy.
Not too long after this, Future Trunks arrives to the battlefield, bringing them the unexpected news that the Android pair that they have been fighting with, are not the ones that he had warned them about. Shocked and concerned at the reveal of this game-changing info, Krillin, Piccolo, and Tien head off after Android 20 (who is revealed to be Dr. Gero), in search for his laboratory. Tien himself does not get the opportunity to do any fighting until Android 16, Android 17, and Android 18 appear. He attacks Android 17, but is quickly over-powered by him, and ends up being choked until he is dropped. When the Androids leave to continue their pursuit of Goku, who is recovering from the heart disease, Tien concludes that these Androids turned out to be far stronger than anything they could have anticipated, and so he goes off with Chiaotzu to train and become powerful enough to help against this new threat.
Cell Saga
He is soon interrupted from this to lend his aid in hunting for the new menace, Cell. He tags along with Piccolo to, as quickly as possible, visit the places where Cell's energy shows up. But due to how great the monster is at hiding its energy, the hunt for it seems rather impossible. A couple days later Tien makes a visit to Master Roshi to check up on Goku's health. Suddenly, out of nowhere, the androids shows up asks where they are hiding Goku. Piccolo tell them that they will have to force it out of him. Not too long after the battle starts, Tien senses Cell's energy nearby. Tien decides to go after Cell and help Piccolo in any way he can, saying that it is under his dignity to just be a bystander.
Tien quickly catches up with Imperfect Cell, and witnesses his battle against the combined force of Piccolo and Android 17. Imperfect Cell defeats Piccolo though. When Imperfect Cell gets up, after being shot by Android 16, Tien tries to warn Android 17, but Android 17 ends up absorbed. This allows Imperfect Cell to become Semi-Perfect Cell. Semi-Perfect Cell then makes his move to absorb Android 18 as well, but is held off by Tien, who uses his Neo Tri-Beam to hold Semi-Perfect Cell in place. He knows the risk of the technique, that it can kill him if he spends too much energy, but he proceeds nonetheless. This maneuver stops Cell from pursuing Android 18 for some time, but slowly drains Tien's life force. Tien uses every ounce of energy he has, which ends in Tien passing out. Goku arrives and relieves the thoroughly drained Tien before he is destroyed by Semi-Perfect Cell.
When Perfect Cell declares his Cell Games, Tien decides to remain on the sidelines out of the fight; he even is given the chance to enter the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, but he bitterly declines the invitation, stating he has no chance against Cell. He does however get thrown into the mix when Perfect Cell spawns seven Cell Juniors to torment the Z-Fighters, in an effort to make Gohan angry. Despite receiving a severe beating by the small creatures, he does get in a hit with Yamcha while saving Goku (anime only). He and the other Z-Fighters soon get saved from the Cell Jr.s by Gohan, who turned Super Saiyan 2.
During Gohan's final battle with Super Perfect Cell, Tien vows not to let Gohan die as he feels guilty for letting Goku sacrifice himself (especially since Goku was largely the reason he trained extensively at martial arts). Tien, Piccolo, Yamcha, and Krillin all repeatedly fire energy blasts at Cell from behind in order to aid Gohan. The Z-Fighters are eventually brushed aside by Cell who is then finally defeated by Gohan with the help of an apologetic Vegeta. At Kami's Lookout, Tien tells the other Z-Fighters that he is going to get Chiaotzu and that they will most likely never meet again (which stays true for about 7 years). Saying his farewells, and confidently telling Trunks he will have no trouble whatsoever with defeating the future Androids, he then flies into the distance.
Majin Buu Saga
Seven years later, Tien Sh�??�??�??inhan makes an appearance with Chiaotzu as their training in the mountains is interrupted when they both sense Goku transforming into his Super Saiyan 3 form, both shocked by the power.
Tien later reappears alongside Chiaotzu whilst they are training in the mountains. Here, himself and Chiaotzu manage to evade being hit by Super Buu's Human Extinction Attack, which was used to exterminate the population of Earth. They then briefly examine the small craters left behind by Super Buu's attack.
When Tien finally intervenes in the main battle, he saves Mr. Satan, Gohan, Dende and Bee from being killed by Buutenks. Tien's strength appears to have increased drastically, but due to the enormous power differences he is unable to make any further impacts in the battle. Both annoyed and entertained by the sudden interruption, Buu shoots a small ki blast at him, which he is able to dodge quite easily. Whilst in mid-air, Tien quickly takes a look at the destruction caused by the ki blast, before landing on a cliff edge. He then fires a Tri-Beam at Buu, but is unable to damage the monster at all. He then says the situation is just like he feared, and that the power differences are too big for him to be of any help. After being cut in half by Goku, Buu's legs land right next to Tien, who is soon dispatched after a single sucker kick from Super Buu.
Throughout the rest of the fight against Buu, Tien presumably lays unconscious on the ground. In the anime he gets healed by Dende as soon as Buu goes chasing after Goku and Vegeta, but is not seen after that. When the Earth was destroyed by Kid Buu, Tien and Chiaotzu are also killed in the process. Once the Earth is restored and everyone is revived by the Namekian Dragon Balls, he and Chiaotzu later donate their energy to the Super Spirit Bomb so that Goku without a doubt will be able to kill Kid Buu, which he does not long after. He is later on seen over at a party held at Bulma's house.
After the end of the saga, the stoic Tien Shinhan mainly does farming in addition to his training. He can split into multiple bodies and grow extra arms, so harvesting the crops goes quickly. He is found by Launch, who fell in love with him at first sight and had been constantly pursuing his whereabouts, once again and even reluctantly lives together with her. As she is not cut out for farming and Tien has no interest in romance, she leaves after just a few days. After that, Launch apparently stops in from time to time. Though Tien gave her the cold shoulder, she still tenaciously persisted and eventually she and Tien got together as she wanted.
Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return!!
Two years after Kid Buu's defeat, Tien and Chiaotzu attend Mr. Satan's banquet at Mr. Satan's newly made hotel which celebrate Buu's defeat. The celebration is crashed by a brother duo, Abo and Cado, who are after Vegeta's brother, Tarble. The brothers are challenged by Trunks and Goten but they fail in defeating them. The brothers, merged as Aka, unleash a technique that destroyed the hotel. Aka is then defeated by Goku with a Kamehameha. After this encounter, they continue their feast.
Tien Shinhan (along with Chiaotzu) only appears in the manga version, in the anime version he was neither seen or even mentioned.
God of Destruction Beerus Saga
Four years after the defeat of Majin Buu, Tien Shinhan, along with Chiaotzu, attends Bulma's birthday party at Capsule Corporation (in the movie), or on a cruise ship (in the anime and manga).
While flying, they see Krillin, Android 18, Marron, Yamcha, and Puar. Tien Shinhan seems to be enjoying the party like everyone else. After the battle between Majin Buu and Beerus, Tien Shinhan along with Android 18 and Piccolo attempt to stop Beerus, all throwing a barrage of punches and kicks at him. Their attacks were being dodged until Beerus unleashed a kiai wiping out the three. After being defeated, Tien Shinhan realizes how strong Beerus is. After Vegeta sees Bulma get hit by Beerus and goes fully enraged, Tien Shinhan is amazed by Vegeta's power increase. Time has passed and Oolong is in a rock-paper-scissors match with Beerus. Oolong loses and Beerus is about to destroy the Earth. Tien is frustrated that Beerus is going to blow up the Earth but Goku arrives and asks for time to find out more about the Super Saiyan God. He later watches the battle between Goku and Beerus. In the end, Beerus still beats Goku and spares the lives on Earth.
Golden Frieza Saga
Sometime after the battle with the God of Destruction Beerus, Tien Shinhan is farming with Chiaotzu when suddenly, the sky darkens almost instantly so they realize Shenron must have been summoned.
Four months later, Tien Shinhan heads towards North City where Frieza has arrived with his 1,000 soldiers and Frieza destroyed it using a Death Beam. When Tien Shinhan lands he tells Gohan and Piccolo that he did not want Chiaotzu to help because he thought it was too dangerous for him. He, along with Gohan, Master Roshi, Jaco, Piccolo, and Krillin battle Frieza's army. After taking out several enemies, Roshi suggests that they part so they would not be overrun. Tien Shinhan leads his group of soldiers into a cave and takes them on without breaking a sweat, killing at least 50 of them with a single Tri-Beam. Just a while later, all the Z-fighters decide to regroup, and they continue pretty effortlessly beating up Frieza Soldiers until there are none left.
After that, Tien Shinhan was taken out by Captain Ginyu, who possessed Tagoma's body. After the Galactic Frieza Army was finished, Tien Shinhan takes a Senzu Bean from Krillin. Tien Shinhan watches the fight between Goku and Frieza and later Vegeta who steps in after Goku is taken out. After Frieza destroys the Earth as a last-ditch effort, Tien Shinhan gets protected by Whis, along with the others. Whis undoes time for Goku, so he can be able to kill Frieza and send him back to Hell. He is later on seen at a party together with the other Z-fighters who participated in the fight against Frieza, eating and talking with Roshi and Vegeta.
Universe 6 Saga
Tien Shinhan travels with Goku and the rest of the gang to the Nameless Planet where the Tournament of Destroyers is being held and they are taken there in Whis' cube. During the brief break at Beerus' Planet, Tien and Chiaotzu are seen leaving the group to go on a stroll around the lake, presumably quite fascinated by the alien world. After two hours and forty-five minutes of traveling, they arrive on the Nameless Planet. Tien is a bystander and sits in the stands while as he watches the entire tournament unfold.
"Future" Trunks Saga
In an extra set of panels for the manga version, after Future Trunks uses the Solar Flare on the Zamasus to their annoyance, it flashes to the present where Tien notes to Chiatozu that he thinks a god may have insulted his technique.
In the anime, Tien Shinhan (along with Chiaotzu) was mentioned by Krillin who was concerned about their absence, and Yamcha explained that he left them behind because he felt that they could not keep up in the game of baseball.
Universe Survival Saga
In the anime, sometime prior to this saga, Tien Shinhan has opened up his own martial arts school called the Tien-Shin Style Dojo. Goku comes over to pay Tien a visit after he gets the news from Oolong that Master Roshi is over at the new martial arts Dojo that Tien has opened in the mountain village he lives in nowadays. Tien was seen overlooking his students progress, he is a strict teacher but also eager to see his students evolve, while Roshi was watching a bit disappointed over the fact there are no young girls over there. Meanwhile, a mysterious beautiful girl that calls herself Yurin, visits the dojo in order to get trained by Tien (this would later turn out to be a lie, as she in fact holds a trivial grudge against him).
Goku invites him to participate in the Tournament of Power, Tien refuses at first to join because he didn't want to leave behind his students and still refuses when Goku lies about prize money. But then his students (under the effect of Yurin's mind control) start attacking the village, prompting Tien, Master Roshi, and Goku to rush over and neutralize the threat. He later fights against Master Roshi (strength significantly increased while under Yurin's spell), and loses, in which Goku fights and defeats the Turtle-Hermit. After Yurin's plans were foiled, Tien decides to take her on as a student, seeing her genuine desire to become strong, which she accepts. Tien (along with Master Roshi) then decided to participate in the Tournament of Power to use the prize money to rebuild his dojo as well as the village.
Tien Shinhan later participates in a sparring session with Goku, Piccolo, and Gohan in order to help Gohan unleash his full potential. Although Tien thought Goku was being too harsh, and that Gohan and Goku were taking things way too seriously, Gohan was successful in unlocking his extended powers. After meeting up at Capsule Corp, Gohan is forced to confess there is no prize money and the Universe will be erased if they lose, and everyone angrily confronts Goku. Bulma resolves this by promising to pay everyone for participating.
After Goku and Frieza arrive, Tien Shinhan and the others are transported by Whis to the Null Realm. After the Tournament began, Tien stays at the center alongside Gohan, Piccolo, Krillin, and Master Roshi, the group are confronted by Lavender, Botamo, Shosa, Comfrey and Dercori; Tien uses the Solar Flare to blind them while Gohan and the others launched an assault (which did no damage at all). During Kale's violent rampage against Goku, the female Saiyan unleashes a barrage of explosive ki blasts across the ring, which causes Tien and the others to get separated from each other. Shortly after the mayhem settles down, Tien knocks Za Priccio out of the arena with his Neo Tri-Beam, whom Master Roshi trapped with the Thunder Shock Surprise. He then regroups with most of the other members of Team Universe 7. Seeing the situation of the Tournament, Gohan, Piccolo, Tien and Master Roshi decide to fight separately.
Tien later stumbles across the unconscious body of Dr. Rota while investigating the gunshot noises, and while he is doing so he is berated by Vegeta for just gawking. Tien tells him to get down and Vegeta ignores him, but quickly listens to Tien after nearly being shot through the back of the head by a Ki sniper shot. Tien, Vegeta, and Goku get up high and find Gohan and Piccolo dodging hundreds of sniper shots when Goku suddenly notices someone who is reflecting energy blasts Vegeta heads off to put a stop to it, finding the cowardly fighter. Tien tells Goku to go with him and he will go and assist Gohan and Piccolo. Goku and Vegeta heads off to take care of Prum who they thought was the source but it turns out they fell into the enemy trap as Harmira of Universe 2 was the real shooter while as Prum acts as a mirror and scope, allowing them to attack anyone. Not long after he reaches Gohan and Piccolo's hiding spot, Tien notices Harmira and decides to take him down all by himself. Gohan gets worried about his decision, advising him it might just be another decoy, but Tien bitter-sweetly tells him that they do not have much of another choise.
Tien now realizing he might be Universe 7's final hope, uses his Multi-Form technique to create numerous copies of himself, and uses his extremely good eyesight to find the sniper, Harmira. With his eyes fully focused on him, Tien can see that Harmira is moving while firing and he is able to use his clones as a shield so that he can get up close to Harmira. Shin wonders why Tien would hide such a useful move, and Krillin explains that the weakness is that his power and speed is divided across all the copies, while Beerus looks on with concern. Tien finally is able to corner Harmira on the edge of the stage and fires a Neo Tri-Beam. Harmira after taking the blast head on reveals he is no longer able to target him as his shoulders are broken and he took enormous damage from the Tri-Beam. Tien calls Harmira a worthy opponent, then prepares another Tri-Beam to blast him off the stage; however, in a desperate last resort, Harmira fires at the arena, which breaks the ground under Tien in a huge explosion, knocking him off the platform. Harmira mocks Tien and goes to leave when Tien's other copies come back and tackle him off the stage. While falling down Tien mocks Harmira, telling his opponent that he will not go down alone, and smiles at him as they are both eliminated. Tien apologizes to Beerus and Shin, but Krillin tells him he has nothing to be ashamed of, as he saved everyone else and ended his fight in a draw. Beerus even praises Tien for his fighting spirit and efforts. After hearing this, Tien relaxes a bit and joins Krillin. Goku notices Tien has been eliminated and starts to sulk about losing 2 of their team members. Uncharacteristically, Vegeta cheers up Goku, telling him it does not matter, as that means they will just have to beat everyone else on their own if it so comes to it.
When Goku is battling Jiren, Tien Shinhan along with Gohan, Piccolo, Android 18, Android 17, Frieza, Krillin, and Master Roshi, gives Goku his energy to form the Universe 7's Spirit Bomb. Moments later Tien and the other watch Goku re-emerge from his own Spirit Bomb, whilst attaining Ultra Instinct Sign in the process.
Tien Shinhan simply watches the rest of the battle. He later witnessed Goku's and co. battle against Universe 6, Universe 2, Universe 4, Universe 3, and lastly Universe 11 (as well as Goku completing Ultra Instinct). in the end Universe 7 wins (with Android 17 being the last man standing), everyone are in awe of 17's wish to restore the erased universes. Tien and the others were returned back to Earth, the end credits show him and Chiatozu rebuilding their destroyed Dojo alongside their students and Yurin, the former two later attended Bulla's party.
In the manga, Tien battles Frost alongside Roshi, attempting to defeat him using Tri-Beam, however the attack fails to do anything and Tien is eliminated by Frost.
