

One of the recurring questions in the original Dragon Ball Z manga was if
Future Trunks's future could have been restored somehow.

Obviously the story was carefully made to remove the Earth Dragon Balls from
the picture, but that would still leaves the New Namek version as an option.
"Lucky" since Goku is dead that also removes the possibility for Trunks to
know that New Namek exists in the first place.

But then Trunks comes to the present timeline. And everyone in that timeline
knows that Namek still exist, with its set of Dragon Balls.

This in turn creates a question: is there any reason Trunks couldn't just get
the information about Namek new location from the present timeline, get a
spaceship from present day Bulma and get present Piccolo or even Dende to come
with him to the future Namek and ask them for help?

Notice that this becomes even weirder if you consider that in Super Trunks has
somehow made contact with the Kai but he still hasn't tried using the Namek
Dragon Balls to resurrect everyone.

Dragon Ball once implied some weird time limit for resurrection, but that
seems to apply only to evil people (because after a while their soul is
cleansed and reincarnated).

Is there any other reason I am missing or is this a case of "we don't care,
the cursed timeline is an useful plot device so it stays that way"? (which is
kinda odd since thanks to Xenoverse 2 even Akira should be aware that "most
time patrolers want to keep the happy future timeline going").

Also worth noticing that Team Four Star _**did**_ reference this in the
arbriged version: Bulma tries to find the new Namek but fails. Why she
couldn't just ask to the _past_ Z Fighters is still an open question.

Therefore, to summarize: _**is there any actual reason Future Trunks could not
have learnt the position of new Namek from the present timeline Z-Fighters and
then used a spaceship from present Bulma to reach the planet (maybe with some
of the present timeline characters tagging along to be recognized) and ask the
Namekian for help, either to restore the planet or resurrect the people killed
by the androids?**_


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dragon-ball-z
Could Future Trunks's future be saved?


**For the Cell Saga**

Future trunks could've traveled to Namek, using Vegeta's spaceship. Since
Trunks was born and raised on Earth implies Vegeta came on Earth, and he
could've easily used his spaceship or Bulma could've repaired it if needed
since she's depicted as a brilliant person when it comes to technology, to
travel to Namek, if Kami wasn't there on Earth for some reason. Trunks
could've easily gotten Namek's location from Picollo or others from the
present day.

**For Zamasu's erasure as well**

Z-fighters could gather Super Dragon Balls from their timeline and revive
Trunk's universe. As Super Dragon Balls have been shown to revive universes,
not sure about Earth's Shenron's power regarding this.

He could've used present-day's Shenron as well, to recreate the same, as
reviving the planets and dead is within reach of Shenron's powers.

One more thing is that the concept of timelines isn't straight in Dragon Ball,
as changing the past, just creates a new timeline, which doesn't follow the
space-time continuum.

I think Future is left as is, just in case new arcs are required (like they
created Cell Saga in Z and Goku Black in Super), as having a similar timeline
would remove that possibility, like which Goku to shine in that case.


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This interview from volume 4 indicates how the authors view Trunks's timeline.
Mainly, they do not view it as possible to revive anyone who dies, since the
earth's Dragon Balls are gone, and they view it as a point to make the story
more tense:

[![interview](https://i.stack.imgur.com/MbH1h.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/MbH1h.png)

## _Would_ Trunks "Save" His Future?

The answer is most likely no. Too much time has passed. Both those who died
and those who survived have grown to accept the deaths. This is not a foreign
theme to _Dragon Ball_. Think, for instance, of when Goku tells everyone not
to revive him after his death in the Cell Games. Interestingly, he does this
partly because he believes his presence attracts trouble to earth. He may be
onto something, because Trunks's timeline has minimal problems with Buu, and
Zamasu is actually caused by Goku in the present timeline. At any rate, Future
Trunks and Future Bulma decide to accept what has happened--all the
destruction and the deaths of their friends. They endeavor to move on with
life and rebuild from there.

Another very important thing to note is that the time machine serves a
function very similar to the Dragon Balls, and thus their wish has already
been granted. Namely, a timeline now exists where the Androids were defeated
and the dystopian future did not come. They can rest easy knowing there is a
timeline where their friends and family are living peacefully. This is enough
for them.

## _Can_ Trunks "Save" His Future?

There are some key problems in the Future Timeline.

  1. There are no Earth Dragon Balls in the Future Timeline due to Piccolo dying.
  2. It's possible the Namekian Dragon Balls may be unreachable due to infrastructure problems (there's reason to believe spaceship fuel may not be available in high enough quantities). The situation with the Super Dragon Balls is much worse since they're so big, and I do not see any way Trunks could gather them.
  3. Wish limitations on the Namekian and Earth Dragon Balls mean that Trunks probably could not fully revive his world. There is a rule that mass revivals cannot be done if more than a year has passed. Due to Frieza's revival in _Dragon Ball Super_ , however, it seems highly likely that Trunks could still revive individual friends as long as they haven't already been reincarnated or anything like that.
  4. A lack of knowledge is also a problem. Trunks likely doesn't know of the lifted limitations on the Namekian Dragon Balls (since they weren't able to do mass revivals before). He also probably doesn't know where New Namek is. And Trunks also likely does not know about the existence of the Super Dragon Balls (before his time traveling in _Dragon Ball Super_ ).

## Infrastructure Problems

[![Infrastructure
Problems](https://i.stack.imgur.com/zTRk8.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/zTRk8.png)

In _Dragon Ball Super_ , it is shown that Trunks and his mother struggle to
get enough fuel for their time machine, and only make enough for a one way
trip. In the present timeline, Bulma has only just invented the fuel for the
time machine, but is able to more easily make enough fuel for Trunks to use.
Most likely this is due to the androids decimating the infrastructure of the
whole world back in the future timeline.

Extrapolating from this, I would think it likely that the remaining
infrastructure would not be able to accommodate space voyages. In their blind
rampage, the androids may have destroyed all the space ships. Even if not, the
fuel would be a problem. Bulma decided to put all their efforts into the time
machine, and they barely scraped by with that. Even after the androids are
gone, they struggle getting enough fuel, suggesting the infrastructure problem
is not solved. They probably do not have the ability to make a spaceship and
the fuel it would require. This is an especially daunting task if they do not
know where New Namek is.

The Super Dragon Balls are not really an option for Trunks, given how big they
are. He could ask the gods to help him, but the Destroyers are unlikely to do
so, and the Supreme Kais have not been shown to be able to collect them (as
far as I can recall). Post Zamasu (post here refers to the time period after
Zamasu begins his plot, where he is active, and before Zeno kills him and
everything else), all the gods in the multiverse are dead, including the
Destroyers. It seems a safe bet that the angels and Zeno would not help Trunks
here due to their neutrality stance and the lack of a personal relationship
Trunks has with Whis. So though the Super Dragon Balls are the best shot
Trunks has at fixing everything, he doesn't really have any chance of being
able to use them. I think we need to rule them out.

Post Zeno, the whole multiverse is destroyed. There's a chance that the Super
Dragon Balls are gone too, ~~though they might be indestructible, so who
knows~~ (It is stated that Zamasu destroyed the Super Dragon Balls after
making his wishes). At that point, the only option Trunks has is to get help
from the other timeline. Beerus and Whis might be _able_ to collect the Super
Dragon Balls for him, but they _don't_. Whis instead offers a different
solution which puts Trunks back into the Zamasu phase. Though there's no rule
stated as far as I'm aware, I doubt the other Dragon Balls would be strong
enough to affect a different timeline. I believe we can infer this from the
interview from volume 4 (see beginning of this answer), where the authors
state that no one who dies in Trunks's timeline (mainly referring to Vegeta
and Goku) can be revived.

## Help From the Present

Even establishing these problems, there are obvious workarounds for Trunks.
For getting a spaceship, he could simply ask for one from his mother in the
past, where that's no problem. And with capsule technology, the limited space
in his time machine is no problem, so he can easily take them back. He can
also ask Goku where New Namek is.

So, Trunks should be set. But only if he can even think to ask. It's actually
a bit doubtful as to whether he could conceive of this plan, for reasons
explained in the next section.

## Lack of Knowledge

At the point in the story where we first meet Future Trunks, nobody knows
about the lifted limitations on the Namekian Dragon Balls. This is not
revealed until after the Buu saga. Thus, Goku and Future Trunks would both be
limited to thinking that these Dragon Balls cannot restore everyone killed by
the androids.

If we move to _Dragon Ball Super_ , Trunks still has no reason to inquire
about the Namekian Dragon Balls. Thus, someone from the present would have to
suggest it. It's very plausible they'd just not even think about it, and thus
not mention it. Particularly as they and the story tone often don't seem to
take Future Trunks's problems as seriously as he does:

[![Goku messes
up](https://i.stack.imgur.com/DsBd0.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/DsBd0.png)

(This is more of a _Dragon Ball Super_ thing than _Dragon Ball Z_ thing)

And given that even more years have passed, there's a great chance that it's
impossible to revive everyone due to the limitations on the Dragon Balls, as
explained in the next section.

## Limitations on the Dragon Balls

Not really a source, but I was using this to verify two rules I remembered.
<https://screenrant.com/dragon-ball-shenron-wish-rules-change-explained/>

I think it's true that it's been stated that people cannot be revived if too
much time has passed (one year). Given that Frieza was still revived even
though more time than that has passed, it probably has to do with souls being
purified in the afterlife or something. In Frieza's case, his stubbornness
prevented him from being purified. Given that this limitation rule is stated
as a general rule, and not directed solely towards evil characters, I think it
likely that ordinary people's souls are also purified and reincarnated, thus
making them unavailable for revival. If this is the case, then Trunks cannot
revive his world at the point in the story where he is introduced or any point
afterwards since too much time has passed.

Just going solely off my memory of the series, I'm not entirely confident on
those previous points on that limitation, simply because I don't remember it
being stated in canon (the linked article states "In a conversation with King
Kai in the Frieza saga, Kami claims that the Dragon Balls can only perform
mass resurrections when the subjects have been deceased for under a year,
drawing another red line under Shenron's abilities."). What I'm quite
confident on, however, is the limitation on being unable to revive someone who
died of natural causes. I recall King Kai contemplating this while considering
resurrecting the Grand Elder Guru, so this is definitely a rule. Thus, at the
very least, resurrecting Goku would be impossible since he died of natural
causes (a disease).

## Conclusions

Post Zeno, the only shot Trunks has is the Super Dragon Balls. But even in the
other cases, it's doubtful the Namekian Dragon Balls would be enough, given
the one year limitation on mass revivals. Trunks could potentially revive
individual friends and family members one by one (excluding Goku), but a mass
revival couldn't happen without the Super Dragon Balls.

Since Trunks has no hope of collecting the Super Dragon Balls in his timeline,
going to the present timeline would be his best chance. He could ask Beerus
and Champa to help him, but they are unlikely to do so, especially since Whis
already gave him a solution which the gods thought was already too generous
and too much time tampering.

Probably the best chance Trunks had for a mass revival was to have
participated in the Tournament of Power in the present timeline and taken the
wish granted to the winner. In that case, he probably could have even fully
resurrected the multiverse in the timeline Zeno destroyed (as long as it is
really true that the Super Dragon Balls have no limits).


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