While Frieza was unquestionably the one who physically detonated the entirety of Planet Namek during his battle with Goku in Dragon Ball, he still wasn’t the one who should be held responsible for the world’s destruction as that honor goes to a fighter whose heritage is tied to the indigenous population of the planet aka the formerly-villainous Namekian Z Fighter himself, Piccolo.
The total annihilation of Planet Namek was the result of Frieza’s iconic fight against Goku during which Goku was able to unlock Super Saiyan for the first time and ascend to a level of power that was believed to be impossible at that time. However, the only reason the two warriors engaged in battle at all is linked to Frieza’s original reason for being on that planet to begin with: he was searching for the Dragon Balls. Frieza decided that he was going to collect Planet Namek’s Dragon Balls and use the magical artifacts to summon the Eternal Dragon and wish for immortality, thereby making him the unchallenged ruler of the universe until the end of time. While Frieza’s mission is a pretty standard one for a Dragon Ball villain, there is one question that arises from this event that leads to the complete obliteration of an entire world: how did Frieza find out about the Dragon Balls in the first place?
In Dragon Ball chapter 204 by Akira Toriyama, Goku and Piccolo are nearing the climactic end to their team-up battle against Goku’s evil brother, Raditz—one which resulted in both Raditz’s and Goku’s deaths. Since Raditz was more powerful than Goku and Piccolo combined, Goku decided that the only way to stop him was for one of them to hold the villain in place while the other shot him with a deadly blast. In the end, it was Goku who was holding Raditz still and Piccolo who delivered the fatal blow, one which shot right through Raditz and hit Goku as well, killing both siblings in a single attack. Before Raditz died, Piccolo decided to rub his defeat in his face by telling him that Goku would be wished back to life with the Dragon Balls in a matter of days while Raditz would remain dead forever—effectively taking from Raditz the only satisfaction he may have derived from his defeat. However, when Piccolo explained what the Dragon Balls were and their all-powerful wish-granting properties, Raditz was wearing his Scouter which recorded and sent that information directly to his villainous Saiyan partners, Vegeta and Nappa.
The idea of Vegeta and Nappa knowing about the Dragon Balls was bad enough, but they weren’t the only ones who picked up on Raditz’s transmission. At that time, Raditz, Nappa, and Vegeta were working for Lord Frieza who also had access to every bit of information sent through the Scouters. It is later revealed that Frieza heard Nappa and Vegeta discussing the Dragon Balls among themselves as well as the artifacts’ link to the Namekian race–as certain Namekians have the power to create the wish-granting orbs–which leads to Frieza’s invasion of Planet Namek to find those Dragon Balls and make his wish.
While it could be argued that Vegeta and Nappa were the ones who ultimately told Frieza about the Dragon Balls (albeit inadvertently), they only came to know about them because of Piccolo, meaning Frieza’s entire plan to invade Namek and take the Dragon Balls for himself began with Piccolo. Frieza is one of the most evil villains in Dragon Ball lore, and Namek was far from the first world he single-handedly destroyed, so the fault of Namek’s destruction cannot be placed at his feet since Frieza was just doing what he has always done. The true blame for Namek’s obliteration lies with the one who sent Frieza to that planet to begin with, accidentally or otherwise–meaning Piccolo was responsible for Dragon Ball’s destruction of Namek.
