Guru is the oldest and wisest remaining Namekian in existence and is one of three of the only survivors of a cataclysmic climate shift several hundred years prior to the events in the series, (the other two being Kami and King Piccolo, who were one being prior to Kami's separation with his inner evil, which resulted in the self-proclaimed Demon King). As the creator of the Namekian Dragon Balls, Guru's death could cause them to become inert. This happened once during the Frieza Saga, but he was later resurrected using the Earth's Dragon Balls. Soon thereafter, (when his death due to old age was imminent), Guru passed on the Dragon Balls, as well as his
position as the Namekian elder, to Moori.
Morbidly obese in his old age, Guru is always seen sitting stationary on his throne-like chair. He dies before Frieza is defeated, of a broken heart, but not before unlocking Krillin, Gohan and Dende's hidden powers, (the latter of whom seemed to gain healing abilities as opposed to increased battle strength). He is briefly brought back to life on Namek and brought to Earth for the two minutes of time that was taken from his lifetime by Frieza's actions, but dies again of old age before the population can be moved again to New Namek.
In the manga, it is revealed that he knew about the Super Saiyan legend, and regarded Kami and Piccolo's original potential to be so great that only a Super Saiyan could have a chance at defeating him (Ironically, it's later stated that Kami and Piccolo's potential was even greater than a Super Saiyan by Krillin in the Imperfect Cell Saga).
Also, Guru's chair/throne design actually first appeared several years prior in the King Piccolo Saga though King Piccolo's was slightly modified with skull detailing, while Kami's was nearly identical to Guru's, as was the chair originally within the ship the Nameless Namek came to Earth in. Nameless Namek and/or his father Katas may have known Guru due to this, though it is also possible other Namekian leaders used these chairs as well prior to the climate shift on Namek which nearly killed them.
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- Japanese Dub: Junpei Takiguchi (Originally) and Masaharu Sato (Onwards)
- Ocean Dub: Lee Tockar
- FUNimation Dub: Christopher R. Sabat
- Latin American Dub: Armando Réndiz
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- Though many characters in Dragonball Z die twice within the course of the storyline (like Goku, Vegeta, Piccolo, Krillin, Yamcha, Tien, Chiaotzu, Android 17, etc.), Guru is the only character to die twice in the same saga.
- In the manga canon, Guru is the only named character to die of natural causes, with the exception of Future Goku, and the only named character to die simply of old age.
- Guru is the largest non-transformed Namekian, King Piccolo is the second largest, though he eventually increases his size to Guru's before he attacks Goku with his Destructive Wave.