Tien Shinhan is a tall and very muscular bald-headed man.

His by far most prominent

feature is his third eye, which he has inherited from his alien ancestors (although
some sources claim the third eye was achieved via intense meditation).[10] The
third eye is indeed real, as he has proved at several occasions that he can both
move it around and close it, and even shoot ki laser beams out of it. Allegedly,
Tien is not naturally bald, as it is stated by his former mentor, Master Shen, that
he shaves his head much like Krillin does, though unlike Krillin he has never been
seen unshaven. Another noteworthy trait of his, is the large scar on the right side
of his chest, starting at his collar bone and running all the way down to his
abdomen; Tien received this scar at the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament during
his fight against his former mentor, Mercenary Tao, who caught him off guard with
his illegal Hidden Blade attack, scarring him for life.

Throughout the series he was worn a large number of outfits, however, out of all of
his many outfits, the most iconic one most likely has to be the Gi he wore during
the Androids Saga; which consists of a green baggy one shoulder tank top, a pair of
baggy green pants, red-and-green wristbands, black boots with yellow covers and a
red sash. Tien's non-combat outfit typically consists of a Hanfu-style robe with
loose pants and boots, in contrast to the Manchu-style clothing that most Chinese
characters in the series wears.

Tien wears a primarily green, black and brown-red formal outfit in Battle of Gods
and the manga version of the Universe 6 and Universe Survival Sagas. In
Resurrection ‘F’ and the anime version of the Universe 6 and Universe Survival
Sagas he wears a primarily black, pale yellow and brown-red version of this outfit.

Personality
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
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 to the future. He is very stern and serious, not cracking jokes and goofing
around as often as most of the other Z-Fighters.

During Dragon Ball Z, he is seen striving to become a powerful warrior and still
hopes to surpass Goku one day. Tien despises staying on the sidelines whilst his
more powerful friends and allies fight opponents far stronger than he and will
always attempt to assist even if he knows that it will most likely lead to his
death. Despite making new friends, Tien stays reclusive and is not very socially
active, spending most of his time training to become a better fighter, although he
still goes to Bulma's parties and interacts well with others there. Although he
lets go of his grudge against Goku and the others, he is still capable of holding
animosity towards people he considers unrepentant. One known person is Vegeta, whom
Tien blames for almost destroying the Earth, and continued to view him as an enemy
when he began allying with the Z-Fighters, (despite later knowing that the Saiyan
prince himself was a slave of Frieza). However, he forgives Vegeta after he proves
crucial in the defeat of Kid Buu and is later seen being civil with him.

Tien valiantly fights and defeats a Saibaman when the Saiyans arrive, and does
battle with Nappa, during which Chiaotzu sacrifices himself in vain, causing Tien
Shinhan to put all his effort into one final attack, which fails. Tien Shinhan 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 Cell at bay, nearly sacrificing his own life to allow Android 16
and Android 18 to escape, thus saving the Earth from certain destruction. When
Super Buu threatens Earth's existence seven years later, Tien arrives just in time
to save Gohan from a certain death.

In Dragon Ball Super, Tien's personality remains mostly the same, and is brave
enough to fight against the God of Destruction Beerus, the Frieza Force, and
Yurin's spell-empowered minion's (including Master Roshi). Since opening his own
dojo in the Universe Survival Saga, he is shown to be a serious and strict teacher,
but at the same time, patiently looks forward to his student's development. During
the Tournament of Power, Tien's brave and noble actions saved his entire team from
the sniper duo of Universe 2. Impressed by his bravery and noble will, Beerus
uncharacteristically praises Tien's fighting spirit following his elimination
telling him he has nothing to be ashamed of, having earned the God of Destruction's
respect.

He is not very technologically savvy or current with the times, so-much-so that he
doesn't even have a cellphone, which proved a hindrance during the Galactic Patrol
Prisoner saga, when the Z Fighters had no way to contact Tien to inform him of the
growing problems. It's later revealed in the aforementioned saga that Tien's not
very good at all at insulting people, as he was struggling to to find the words to
hurt Bikkura Quoitur's feelings.

Biography
Background

A young Tien training with Tao

He has a unique physical composition as a throwback to his ancestors, the Three-

Eyed clan;[1] he has the ability to grow arms from his back[2] 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.[11] 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.[12]

Dragon Ball
Fortuneteller Baba Saga
Main article: Fortuneteller Baba Saga

Tien and Chiaotzu scamming a village

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

Main article: Tien Shinhan Saga
"Poor Yamcha, only thing more pathetic than a loser is a loser who thinks he's born
to win."
— "Preliminary Peril"

Tien at the World Tournament

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.[13] Tien faces little in the way of
a challenge during the preliminaries and easily makes his way into the finals.

Tien battles Yamcha

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 fighting Jackie Chun

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 dominates Goku in the beginning of their fight

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.

Goku headbutts Tien

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.

Tien forges a friendly rivalry with Yamcha

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.

King Piccolo Saga

Main article: 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.

Tien begs for the Dragon Ball

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.

Tien training in solitude, in preparation for King Piccolo

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.

Tien faces mutated Namekian spawn Drum

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.

Tien after Goku defeated King Piccolo

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

Main article: Piccolo Jr. Saga
Tien Shinhan and Chiaotzu training for the Tournament

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.

Tien Shinhan, Chiaotzu, Yamcha and Krillin arrive at the 23rd World Martial Arts
Tournament

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.

Tien vs Mercenary Tao

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.

Tien defeats Tao with one punch to his stomach

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 clothes fall off while fighting Goku

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.

Kami asks Tien to kill him

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.

Dragon Ball Z
Saiyan Saga
Main article: Vegeta 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.
Tien and Chiaotzu during the arrival of the Saiyans

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.

Tien takes on a Saibaman

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.

Tien fights Nappa.

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 uses the Spirit Tri-Beam

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
Main articles: Namek Saga and Frieza Saga

Tien with Yamcha, Piccolo and Chiaotzu, shortly after arriving on King Kai's planet

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.[14] 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 Shinhan revived with the Namekian Dragon Balls

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
Main article: Trunks Saga

Tien as he appears in the Trunks Saga, just prior to Frieza and King Cold's arrival

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
Main article: Androids Saga
"Whatever it costs me, I will fight."
— "Goku's Special Technique"

Tien is ready to fight Android 20

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.

Tien is helpless to defend himself as he is mercilessly choked by Android 17

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 a 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.