Enigma of Combination
The Enigma of Combination is one of the artifacts of the Thirteen. Possessed by Nexus Prime, it is not only capable of fostering unity and cooperation of the minds of sentient creatures in its proximity, but also of bestowing one of the greatest abilities known to Cybertronians- that of combination. This ancient tool can instantaneously merge any Cybertronians together into a combiner, enhance the power and mental stability of pre-existing combiners, or integrate new components into pre-existing combiner teams.
Fiction
The Covenant of Primus
In ancient times, Nexus Prime wielded the Enigma of Combination, which contained a fraction of his own combinational powers. Much like its owner, the Enigma frequently changed size and shape, making it impossible to predict or keep track of. The Covenant of Primus
IDW Generation 1 continuity
According to Alpha Trion, the Enigma used the same source code as the Star Saber and the Triptych Mask. Trion believed that the Enigma, and the other Artifacts of the Primes, were unbeatable by 'ordinary' Cybertronians. Aphelion
In the ancient past of Cybertron, the Enigma was held by Nexus Prime, who used it to create the Ancient Headmasters, combining humanoid Transformers with beast-form Cybertronians from the ranks of his ally Onyx Prime. Sickened by these "abominations", the barbarian Galvatron waged a bloody crusade to slay all the Headmasters, then killed Nexus himself and took the Enigma to prevent its powers from being used to perpetuate what he saw as further perversions of Cybertronian purity. Later partnering with Nova Prime, who hoped to use the Enigma's power for his own ends, Galvatron lied and claimed that Nexus had fled the planet, taking the Enigma with him. However, their mutual ally Alpha Trion could detect the falsehood in Galvatron's words—none had ever known whether or not the Enigma was anything more than a concept, but Galvatron clearly knew it to be a physical object. Realizing that he had accidentally tipped his hand, Galvatron shot the Enigma into space to put it beyond anyone's reach, The Crucible hoping that the Enigma would crash and burn up in some distant star. Now and On Earth Eventually, seven million years ago, it crash-landed on Earth. The Crucible According to Galvatron, Onyx only tolerated Nexus due to his ownership of the Enigma. Somehow Onyx knew that the Enigma had not been destroyed and was on Earth. Onyx sent G.B. Blackrock as a sleeper agent to find the Enigma and to summon him when he had found it. Helden
The Enigma landed in what would become Mesopotamia. In 4000 BCE, its light drew the attention of wandering tribes of humans, who huddled around it for warmth, little suspecting that through its powers, their thoughts and ideas would be "combined", leading to the founding on that site of Earth's first city, Uruk, and the birth of human civilization. Uruk's ruler, the ancient warrior Gilgamesh, built huge walls made of black rock around the city to protect it, from which his descendants would later take their family name. The "Blackrock" lineage passed the Enigma from generation to generation, building for themselves an immense fortune as the Enigma's powers led humankind to incredible technological developments such as the atomic bomb and the invention of the internet. The arrival of Transformers on Earth in the 21st Century led the current scion of the Blackrock line, Garrison, to deduce the Engima's Cybertronian origins. ONoffON
Optimus Prime learned of the Enigma's existence from Alpha Trion, but their conversation was spied upon by Prowl, who had his own plans for it. The Crucible Around the same time, rogue Skywatch agent Spike Witwicky became aware of Blackrock's possession of the Enigma's, and though unaware of what it actually was, planned to steal it from the Wanmu, China facility of Blackrock's company, Onyx. Signals, Calls and Marches Both Prowl and Galvatron—now leader of the Decepticons—realized that Spike likely had some information about the Enigma's whereabouts, and both attempted to hunt him down. Vs. Galvatron managed to convince Prowl's ally Arcee to join forces with him to destroy the Enigma once and for all, but Prowl and the Constructicons, allied with Spike, beat them to the punch, attacking the Onyx facility to recover the ancient talisman. ONoffON
As Devastator started tearing into the facility, Blackrock attempted to send the Enigma down a drop shaft but Devastator easily caught it. The Enigma demonstrated the ability to change size in order to be properly held by the giant. Before the Enigma's energies could have any effect on Devastator, Spike made his big entrance and the sight of him reawakened Prowl and the Constructicons' shared hatred of Spike, causing Devastator to go berserk and try to smash Spike and everything in his way. The Decepticons eventually arrive at the facility and Arcee tried to reach out to Prowl and calm him down, only for Devastator to hurl the Enigma at her in a blind rage. During the chaotic battle, the Enigma was taken by Scoop who stole the Decepticon shuttle and flew off to Cybertron to deliver the artifact to Starscream. Galvatron grimly predicted that this will soon mean the end of Cybertronian society. The Obliterati Starscream used the artifact to bolster both Superion and Menasor, the latter of whom Swindle immediately set loose on Caminus later. First Contact Caminus detected the Enigma's energy within the rogue combiner and tried to warn his cityspeakers regarding what they were most likely dealing with but the cityspeakers were unable to properly interpret the warnings The Sum and Its Parts
The Enigma was later used to reinvigorate the defeated Aerialbots after Devastator began attacking Caminus's spacebridge. Realizing that Superion couldn't take on Devastator alone, Starscream used the Enigma on a group of bystanders, merging them into a new combiner, which called itself "Defensor". Mistakes and Mayhem Now that the Constructicons were in custody, Starscream used the Enigma on Scoop and turned him into Devastator's new leg. Additionally, Scoop's devotion to his "Chosen One" meant that Devastator would obey Starscream's orders. Acting on Prowl's orders, Rattrap managed to steal the Enigma and deliver it to the captive Autobot, who used it on himself and some other Autobots to create Optimus Maximus. You, Me, and the Universe
After all this chaos, the Council of Worlds had the Enigma put under secure guard on Cybertron. The Badgeless stood guard, along with an Autobot juuuust to be sure Starscream didn't pull a fast one. Soon into this agreement, Arcee stole it with the intent to destroy it: she wanted to be damn sure Starscream didn't turn people into combiners against their will. The Camien Torchbearers, who saw destroying a Primal relic as blasphemy, intervened to help Windblade and became a combiner, Victorion, themselves! Eventually Windblade managed to convince Arcee to return the relic, so as to make sure Starscream had no excuse for military action. An Uneventful Night
During the time he kept it Blackrock managed to deduce what the Enigma did. He used it to make combiners from his army of Thrust and Ramjet drones. He also linked all his Onyx products to each other via copying the Enigma's source code. He was able to exploit this when the Autobots brought one of his devices onto their ship. It granted him control of the systems aboard the Ark-7 which he used to cripple the warship. The Nothing Man Blackrock implied to Spike Witwicky that via the Enigma he had extracted information regarding the Thirteen. Aphelion
When the Autobots and Decepticons stormed Galvatron's underwater base, Galvatron revealed the full extent of Blackrock's manipulation. The Onyx technology had co-opted the source code of the Enigma, and the millions of Onyx devices across the world were still linked to one another—the entire Earth had become a gigantic Engima of Combination, and Galvatron could control its energies. He gleefully did just that, first breaking Victorion apart and then mish-mashing some of the combatants together to create Galvatronus and Sky Reign. It's Beginning To And Back Again
Superion—who had not been created through the Enigma—managed to hold out against its powers long enough to hack into the Onyx source code, copying part of its workings into his own mind. When he separated, he took a vital part of the code with him, nullifying the effects of the Earth-Enigma so long as he never re-formed. As Above... So Below
Timelines
Ratchet was exposed to an "ancient artifact", giving him the power to combine. Customization class G1 cartoon Ratchet bio
Combiner Wars cartoon
Toys
Timelines
- Autobot Ratchet (2016)
- Class participants who finished creating their Ratchet toy in-class were given an exclusive Enigma of Combination accessory. As with the previous year's Covenant of Primus, it was handcrafted by Myu who offered the accessory to class participants, but without any official Hasbro endorsements.
- This accessory can be held by any toy with 5mm ports; more interestingly, it can be used with the Combiner Wars Optimus Prime toy, plugging into the combined form's chest plate. Naturally, this means that, if you so desire, you can give the Enigma to Menasor, or worse, Grand Scourge... but that would be evil, and you'll have to spend the rest of your life living with the knowledge that you've disgraced the legacy of the Thirteen to achieve your own twisted, selfish ends.
Notes
- When listing a handful of the artifacts of the Primes, the novel Exiles mentions the Infinite Combinatoric. Given the abilities its name implies, this might have been an early name for the Enigma. It wouldn't be the only point of confusing discontinuity between artifacts in Exiles.
- When asked if the Enigma and the Infinite Combinatoric had a connection, Vector Prime enigmatically asked the questioner if "...there [is] a connection between Jupiter and Odin and Ahura Mazda and Zeus and Marduk?" Make of that what you will.
- It also shares similarities with the Spark of Combination from Energon.
- Some combiners created or enhanced by the Enigma display unusual powers: Superion was able to split his body apart at will and swap legs into arms almost instantaneously, while Defensor was able to detach entire limbs and use them as rocket-propelled projectiles.
- Blackrock mentions that the Enigma can tap into the "primal force" of the universe to alter the mass of any given target, providing a tongue-in-cheek explanation for why combiners tend to be several times the size of their components.
