Guiding Hand

The Guiding Hand is a pantheon from the IDW portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.

In the name of Kirby, let it be so.

The Guiding Hand are five ancient deities created by Primus. They are featured in one of the more prominent myths regarding the creation of the planet Cybertron and its native people.

Members

• Primus, the Light-giver and Life-giver
• Mortilus, the Death-bringer
• Solomus, Wisdom Incarnate
• Epistemus, Knowledge Personified
• Adaptus, Blessed with an Infinity of Shapes

Fiction

IDW Generation 1 continuity

According to a religious story related by Cyclonus, the Guiding Hand were formed after the creation of the planet Cybertron when Primus the First Light stood forth on the miracle planet. At the time, he felt a nest of sparks within him and he split his essence into five other vessels. They became a remote but nurturing presence on early Cybertron and populated it with a gesture, thus creating the Transformer race. Under their reign came the First Golden Age of Cybertron which was shattered when Mortilus believed that the Guiding Hand should become a fist against the rest of the universe. As Mortilus stood against Primus, all of Cybertron became divided in a conflict that saw the planet shudder and its first moon being ripped asunder. The Death-bringer was ultimately destroyed in the struggle but the conflict left the remaining members of the Guiding Hand mortally wounded.

Primus who was near death went into the heart of Cybertron where he re-integrated himself to the planet and became Vector Sigma that was the source of all sentience. Solomus was trapped by Mortilus into a crystal prison but the wise god managed to re-arrange it into the Creation Matrix that not only served as a connection to Vector Sigma but provided wisdom to future generations of Transformers. Both Epistemus and Adaptus were not as lucky as Mortilus had stripped both bare. Epistemus was transformed into a brain module whilst Adaptus became a transformation cog. Prior to their death, they offered their designs to future generations to utilize both their intellect and functionality to face the rigors of their environment. With Mortilus's destruction, death itself was gone and this allowed the sparks of Cybertronians to burn perpetually, rendering them functionally ageless. After this period, the first inheritors of the Guiding Hand became the Knights of Cybertron who were given the gifts of sentience, wisdom, intellect, change and immortality whereupon they went to spread peace across the universe. Primus: You, Me, and Other Revelations

The Guiding Hand were mentioned in an ancient inscription within the Matrix of Leadership. Rewind was unfamiliar with the very term "Guiding Hand", while Optimus Prime knew them because of his contact with the Matrix; in his words, it had made him privy to “a rival set of facts” and “alternative truths”. The knowledge faded from his memory upon the splitting of the Matrix. The Death of Optimus Prime

Their existence or otherwise is a matter of some debate - "evolutionary engineerists" like Ratchet and Jetfire reject the concept of "gods" entirely in favour of atechnogenesis Primus: You, Me, and Other Revelations, and even Optimus Prime himself, before he took that name, once rejected the whole idea of Adaptus and Mortilus. Others, like Springarm, were true believers. Chaos Theory Part 2 Forged medics have better hands than ones who were constructed cold, seen by some as proof of Adaptus' existence Life After the Big Bang and the link of Adaptus to forged Transformers may be why in the old days, constructed Transformers suffered apartheid. Chaos Theory Part 1

Cyclonus' version of the Guiding Hand myth was one Rewind hadn't heard before. Primus: You, Me, and Other Revelations

The Hand, if they existed, created the first Transformers roughly twelve million years ago. Liars, A to D Part 1: How to Say Goodbye and Mean It

Notes

• The Robots in Disguise story "Primus: All Good Things" has the Metrotitan said to be part of the Guiding Hand's fleet and that these gods lived in a city and were known by Omega Supreme. It's not known if this was the writer confusing the Knights with the Hand or if this is deliberate, mirroring how real world religions will get real-world historical details wrong or conflated. (Probably an error)

	Guiding Hand
Primus Solomus Epistemus Mortilus Adaptus