Dragon Ball as a show has no shortage of powerful combatants, as shown by the main character Goku, the myriad of villains like Frieza, and especially Vegeta, the prince of all Saiyans. Many characters within Dragon Ball have a lot of powerful abilities, and even skilled techniques that make most of them stand out from the rest, but Vegeta as a character is no doubt the one who has worked very hard to prove to himself and others that he is the most powerful. However, his failings and weaknesses have been repeatedly exposed and brought to the forefront of his character development since day one. What this means in particular however, is that Vegeta may have multiple weaknesses, but only one of them is so directly tied to his greatest strength. In particular, his pride as a Saiyan warrior.
Why exactly is that? Vegeta as a character has multiple weaknesses, especially during his time as an antagonistic force to the main cast; Vegeta also has so many strengths and victories that showed why he himself was a major threat to anybody who opposed him. However, aside from overestimating his abilities on major events, as well as his lack of awareness when it comes to his own flaws, Vegeta has a huge flaw that contributed to most of his failures and endangering the earth on multiple occasions. This flaw, while also his greatest strength, happens to be so core to his character and personality as a whole that fixing this problem requires more than just getting rid of it, but introspection.
How Pride Helped And Hindered Vegeta
Despite his weaknesses, it bears mentioning that Vegeta's greatest strength and weaknesses are one and the same. Even during his early days, and first introduction in Dragon Ball Z Vegeta always had an unbridled overconfidence and pride in himself, his title, and his heritage. While many are familiar with his cocky attitude, Vegeta is also very keen with a great battle instinct that has supplemented his enormous power and ability to even overpower Goku during their first ever battle together. This stems from his pride, which prevents Vegeta from getting lazy or causing helpless mistakes with an outright refusal to remain passive, but also allows him to cause mistakes that stem not from helplessness but ego and his own arrogance.
Vegeta's pride has always motivated Vegeta in all of his major decisions. From his first battle with Goku, where he was challenged and slowly being overpowered, to Dragon Ball Super where he aspired to learn God Ki and achieve Super Saiyan Blue in an attempt to catch up to Goku and remain his equal. Vegeta has succeeded in most of his training, especially in growing as a person and family figure, but even when he grew up his pride hindered his growth and progress in various ways not-relating to his own ego-driven arrogance. After all, his first battle against Frieza had him deluding himself to believing he had become the Legendary Super Saiyan, only for his pride to be shattered and his worldview to come into question as he was obliterated and eliminated by Frieza. Then, in the Android/Cell Saga, his pride once again forces him to grow in strength and achieve Super Saiyan, only for his same pride to cause him a broken arm by Android 18, and a broken back by Perfect Cell.
Why Pride's His True Weakness.
Dragon Ball Z wasn't shy about showing why Vegeta's pride could have been the ultimate hindrance to his growth and successes, but even more when we find out who is the reason why Pride is his greatest weakness to begin with. After all, it started with the very first opponent who challenged him, as well as the one who only recently is he trying to deviate away from and cease his journey to catch up to; Son Goku. Whether intentionally or not, Vegeta's pride as a Saiyan warrior revolved around becoming stronger than Goku and eventually surpassing him out of respect and an intense rivalry that fans have universally adored and become invested in. It is not a doubt that Goku's victory over Vegeta, as well as his gradual rise to strength and godhood as pushed Vegeta's pride to wanting to achieve the same levels of strength in order to live up to the pride of being the prince of all Saiyans. However, this weakness of his has explained most of his failures and achievements as a whole.
When considering all of Vegeta's achievements and failures, some might say that it'd be an easy thing to do to cast aside his pride as well as focus just on being himself. However, pride is a part of Vegeta's core attributes and worldview, it is inextricably tied to his character and therefore cannot just be easily removed or overcome. Despite all that, it's not impossible for Vegeta to redirect his pride towards not being perfect or overcoming Goku exclusively, but rather forging his own path to becoming the strongest warrior in Universe 7 and achieving his own achievements that aren't comparable to Goku's. Vegeta may yet have a long road to overcoming the negative aspects of his pride, and to be able to grow into the type of warrior he wishes to be, but according to the Dragon Ball Super Manga we may yet get to see his true growth and individual aspirations.