Dormant power and hidden power.

Just thought I share my thoughts on the Gohan potential debate, and maybe get some constructive criticism where I'm found wanting. So leggo...

quote Herms

Chapter: 151, P2.1
Karin: “Unlike the Super Holy Water, the Super God Water isn’t just a trick; it’s not merely ordinary water. Rather, it’s magnificent water capable of drawing out all the power you’ve got hidden inside you…However, if you’ve already mastered all of your power through training, even if you drink the Super God Water you won’t get stronger at all…”

quote Herms

Chapter: 479 (DBZ 285), P10.1-5
Context: Elder Kaioshin explains his ‘ability’
Elder Kaioshin: “With my psychic powers, I can take the hidden power which anyone has, no matter how amazing a master they may be, and draw it wa~~ay, wa~~ay out above their limits...”

Now, according to those quotes we learn one main thing i.e. a person can unlock their hidden power through training.

quote Herms

Chapter: 402 (DBZ 208), P6.5, P7.1-6
Context: after Goku asks Gohan to be the next one to fight Cell
Goku: “Piccolo, Gohan has more unbelievable power than we think. Think about it. He’s fought the same as everyone since he was a little squirt…When I was about his age, I wasn’t anything special...In the Room of Spirit and Time, the dormant power sealed away deep, deep inside him began to be released.”

In the Cell Saga, the intense training in the ROSAT began to release the hidden/dormant power Gohan had acquired(i.e. post Guru unlocking). But Gohan could only fully access this power when enraged.

quote Herms

Chapter: 488 (DBZ 294), P4.9, P5.1-2
Context: after Gohan’s unintentional display of power
Goku: “…Am…amazin’…So he really wasn’t just some regular dirty old geezer?...*talking to Kaioshin* ‘Do-dormant ability’… That’s a person’s true power, that they have hidden all along… Right?”
Kaioshin: “Ye-yeah…I-I think so…”

In the Boo saga, Goku defines dormant power (as shown above). The example will use this theory on is Vegeta.

Vegeta's hidden power was unlocked by Babidi, and he could only match Goku's Ssj2.
Now here's how it pans out: Vegeta had been training for seven years and he attained Ssj2 whose power is somewhere around Kid Gohan's Ssj2. So as Vegeta trained he acquired some power(pre majin power up) while the rest of his power(the difference that would make him equal to Goku) was hidden our, due to his lack of proper training methods that would make him unlock that power without the use of magic.

In Gohan's case, he stopped training and began to lose the power that was already available to him, but his dormant power remained the same and probably also grew as he became older.

So if Gohan had been doing the right training during the 7yrs of peace he would have been able to access the power he had through 'Elder Kai's ritual' in super saiyan(i.e. Ssj2 or 3). Because we know that warriors can unlock and even surpass their limits if they do the right training.
Not to mention that if Gohan continued to train after Boo's defeat, he'ld still be able to get stronger even as Ultimate Gohan!

Kienzan what i meant basically is this.

When a person (saiyan, human etc) trains, they usually obtain two powers i.e. available/usable and dormant/hidden power.
Now a person can unlock their dormant power through training or magic.

In Vegeta's case, the total sum of his power(available + dormant) during the Boo saga was equal to his Majin Ssj2 power. Which means if he did the right training during the 7yrs he'ld have been equal or even stronger than his Majin state.

Finally, if Gohan trained he'ld still get stronger even with the Elder Kai's power up, and even Vegeta still gets stronger.

Thanx Blockinlick you've summed it up perfectly.

I'd like to make a slight change to what has been said...if i may.

I think there your trying to complicate things by saying there are 2 different kinds of power. It's easier if you simply leave it as one. The power you already have, and then you have potential, a completely different thing.

We learn that Potential is forever growing through the unlocks that Goku has, Gohan and Krillen have on Namek too, yet they can still become stronger through further training. You can only gain strength if that potential has built up a bit. We learn this through the Cell arc.

We are told by Goku that both Gohan and himself have reached a barrier for SSJ and cant get any stronger. We know this to be true. The only way Gohan gets stronger is by surpassing that limit put on the SSJ and becoming SSJ2. I think that the SSJ forms themselves also have potential, let me explain.

Goku says his SSJ is maxed out, but we learn later on that he has improved it by becoming stronger, or equal to SSJ Gohan Cell games. All we actually know is that Goku's SSJ2 is in fact stronger than Gohan's was/is, we know nothing about his SSJ...although as i said, the SSJ forms themselves also have potential and can improve, hence why Goku made the improvement in the first place.

Back to the potential thing.

Gohan has always been so powerful through accessing his potential through bursts of rage, through training in the RoSaT, he was seriously starting to tap into it, making him the strongest being ever seen. We then learn that he slacked off his training, not getting any stronger. This doesn't stop someones potential from increasing however, which is why Gohan is so strong in his Ultimate form. Regardless of whether he trained or not in those 7 years, that would still be the strongest he could be at that point in time.

Let me give you another example of potential and its forever increasing value.

Master Roshi, we first meet him and he is very strong, in fact thought to be able to get no stronger..or implied to. Either that or he was rusty, but it's never been implied that he was stronger at a younger age. He then trains in between the tournaments to keep up with Goku's growth, and becomes stronger himself, tapping into his own potential that had been slowly growing over the years.

I think that makes sense to everyone...I hope? lol

The way I understood it was that Bibidi and Babidi's Majin spell was an inferior copy of the Kaioshin's ability. It relied on anger and pent up insecurities to draw out a person's abilities beyond their normal max. I don't believe it fully drew out all of Vegeta's power. Even taking his age as compared to Gohan's into account, his full potential shouldn't be that much lower than Gohan's.

I see dormant and hidden powers as one and the same thing; a part of someone's full potential that is available to them at a given stage of life. Taking the example of Gohan having his hidden powers unlocked by the Elder Kaioshin; I don't for one bit believe that Gohan could not have gotten stronger, had he continued to train thereafter. IMO: Kaioshin only drew out whatever part of Gohan's potential (his hidden/dormant power at the time) that was available to him then.

As Saiyans were stated to age slower for the sole purpose of being to fight longer, I believe that Gohan (who was only just 18 in the Buu arc IIRC), had a tremendous amount of hidden powers within him that had yet to be uncovered. You could of course argue that the unlocked power that was beyond Gohan's natural limits somehow came from " future hidden power", but I still don't think that was all of it...