Artifacts of the Primes

This article is about the in-universe objects. For the real-world mobile game feature, see Prime Relics.

Created at the dawn of time by Primus to battle his ancient foe Unicron, the Thirteen original Transformers employed many powerful weapons and icons in their battles. Many of these were crafted by Solus Prime, the smith of the Thirteen, while others were made by Primus himself.

Nearly all of the Artifacts of the Primes are now considered the stuff of legends, but sometimes legends have a way of turning up again...

Artifacts with known users include:			"So this orb has a real shiny blue suitcase/Ark of the Covenant/Maltese Falcon sort of vibe, what is it?"
Prima The Matrix of Leadership/Origin Matrix The Star Saber The Skyboom Shield Vector Prime The Blades of Time The Badge of Vector Prime Rhisling Alpha Trion The Covenant of Primus The Quill Solus Prime The Forge of Solus Prime The Creation Lathe The Forge Fire Amulet	Micronus Prime The Chimera Stone The Apex Armor Alchemist Prime The Lenses Nexus Prime The Chaos Edge The Cyber Caliber The Enigma of Combination/Infinite Combinatoric The Omni Saber Onyx Prime The Triptych Mask The Cortex Helm	Amalgamous Prime The Scythe The Transformation Cog Quintus Prime The Emberstone Liege Maximo The Liegian Darts Megatronus The Requiem Blaster The Thirteenth Prime The Matrix of Leadership The Zodiac The Scepter of Sparks
Artifacts belonging to less-attested Primes include:
Autonomous Maximus The Viewtrex Staff Logos Prime The Zeonomicon The Magnificence	Mortilus The Dark Spark The Void Scepter Zeta Prime The Vamparc Ribbons
Artifacts belonging to attendants of the Primes include:
Sentius Nobilius The Sword of Balance
Artifacts with no specific user include:
The Proton Spear The Terminus Blade	The Throne of the Primes The Halo of Primus

Fiction

Aligned continuity family

The Artifacts of the Primes were forged by Solus Prime for usage in the upcoming battle against Unicron. They did little to deter to the Chaos Bringer before Optimus Prime exposed his own spark to Unicron's anti-spark, knocking both beings into stasis lock. In the aftermath, Quintus Prime used the Emberstone to revive Optimus while Vector Prime used the Blades of Time to form a time-loop around Unicron so as to lock him in stasis forevermore. The Covenant of Primus The more potent of these artifacts would only activate in the hands of Primes. Operation Bumblebee, Part 2 Legacy

When the Rust Plague struck the Cybertronian colonies, the inhabitants of Neutronia fled their world. With the Space Bridges destroyed, they drifted aimlessly in space, eventually finding the Transformation Cog of Amalgamous Prime in the orbit of a black hole. When they brought the artifact aboard their ships, the artifact's energies caused them to mutate into the Mutacons. The Covenant of Primus

During the Age of Rust, Alpha Trion received the Badge of Vector Prime from Vector Sigma, which would later be given to Sentinel Zeta Prime in the hope that it would drive him into action. The Covenant of Primus.

When war broke out on Cybertron, Alpha Trion launched several Artifacts of the Primes into space and onto the planet Earth, for Optimus Prime to eventually make use of. Alpha/Omega Retribution The database containing the coordinates of these relics was raided from the Hall of Records by the Decepticons in the final days of the Great War, but they were unable to break the encryption. Orion Pax, Part 1

When the Ark launched, Alpha Trion indulged in fantasies of Optimus returning to Cybertron with the AllSpark and the other lost artifacts of his brothers. Exodus During their voyage, the Ark crew came across several of Cybertron's long lost colony worlds and found the fragments of the Cyber Caliber which eventually led to Nexus Prime reforming on Junkion. Simultaneously, Junkion itself was discovered to have formed around the gravitational pull of the Requiem Blaster, which was then stolen by the Star Seekers and affixed to the Tidal Wave. Exiles In a later space battle against the more agile Nemesis, the pirates were forced to detach the Requiem Blaster after it threatened to overheat and destroy their vessel. Retribution

Unknown years later, Optimus Prime and Megatron discovered Alpha Trion's work, with Megatron managing to claim the Forge of Solus Prime only to discover he could not access its power. Operation Bumblebee, Part 2 After Optimus Prime acquired the Star Saber, Legacy Megatron took drastic action and stole the arm of the deceased Liege Maximo to access the Forge. Via the Star Saber, Optimus learned of the Omega Keys and their potential to revive Cybertron via the Omega Lock. Alpha/Omega Upon Starscream rejoining the Decepticons, via gifting the Omega Keys to Megatron, Patch Dreadwing gifted the Forge of Solus Prime to the Autobots, who used it to upgrade their GroundBridge into a Space Bridge. Regeneration When Megatron threatened to use the Omega Lock to cyberform Earth, Optimus destroyed it with the Star Saber. In retaliation, Megatron destroyed Autobot Outpost Omega One, wounding Optimus Prime Darkest Hour to the point of death before Smokescreen used what little power remained in the Forge of Solus Prime to revive him. Rebellion In the aftermath, Ultra Magnus claimed the Forge as a standard war hammer, Project Predacon before it was shattered by Predaking. Evolution

Discovering an alternate method to synthesizing cyber-matter, the Decepticons began rebuilding the Omega Lock. Minus One Once completed, they attempted to use it to cyberform Earth once again only for the Autobots to claim the device and instead use it to revive Cybertron. Deadlock

Shattered Glass

As Ultra Mammoth and Ultra Magnus dueled on the dimensionally-displaced "Classicsverse" Earth, each boasted of possessing an Artifact of the Primes, evil Magnus with the Terminus Blade and good Mammoth with the Origin Matrix. When Magnus tried to stab his heroic counterpart in the spark, the Blade suddenly reacted with the Matrix, Distant Fissures recharging the Blade. Soon afterwards, Nexus Prime arrived to take custody of the Star Saber and the Terminus Blade. Restoration

2005 IDW continuity

Some of these legendary artifacts, such as the Matrix of Leadership and the Enigma of Combination, predated the rise of the Thirteen. Aphelion You, Me, and Other Revelations Following the unification of the Thirteen, Solus Prime forged the Star Saber. The First Who Was Named Some believed these artifacts to be magical in nature while others thought them merely the products of advanced science. The Crucible Lagrange In truth, these artifacts were, according to Alpha Trion, more akin to "metaphors made real" with their universe bending powers being beyond the comprehension of modern Cybertronian science. Aphelion

Following the conclusion of the First Cybertronian Civil War, the warrior Galvatron launched the Enigma of Combination off Cybertron, with it eventually crash landing on Earth. The Crucible The only artifact that was known to remain on Cybertron in the era that preceded the Great War was the Matrix of Leadership. Chaos Theory Part 2

Circa 2012, Alpha Trion deduced the location of the Enigma and set out to retrieve it. Burning Bright In the process, he sparked a three-way race for it, with Scoop eventually bringing it to Starscream. The Obliterati

Though the religious symbolism regarding the Primal artifacts had lessened on Cybertron, they remained venerated on the colony worlds, Caminus in particular. Victorion eventually questioned Optimus Prime on what the Matrix of Leadership meant to him. Prime revealed he saw it as nothing more than a piece of technology. Lagrange

Before departing Cybertron in 2011, Optimus Prime split the Matrix in two, giving half to Rodimus and half to Bumblebee. Rodimus's half of the Matrix was destroyed when he used it to counteract the effects of Tyrest's universal killswitch, while the other half was consumed by a black hole shortly before Unicron's apocalyptic attack thanks to Shockwave's machinations. Endless Forever Unforgivable As part of the plan to defeat the Chaos Bringer, Soundwave harnessed the full power of the Enigma of Combination and used it to connect to the Afterspark. Though he was successful, the strain turned both him and the Enigma to dust. Ceremony

Prime Wars Trilogy cartoons

In addition to the Matrix of Leadership, several artifacts were crafted by Solus Prime to help battle against Unicron, such as the Enigma of Combination and the Requiem Blaster. The Swamp When Solus was accidentally killed by the Blaster, it was sealed away in Primal Swamp. Athenaeum Sanctorum Eons later, the Enigma of Combination caused the outbreak of the Combiner Wars, while the Matrix proved instrumental in stopping a rampaging Trypticon. These were ultimately revealed to be part of a grand plan by Megatronus, which ended with him obtaining the Enigma and Matrix for his own. All Things Must Pass He later regained the Requiem Blaster, intent on combining the three into a device capable of draining the life from all Transformers and resurrecting Solus. Consequences However, these artifacts were removed from the device by a team of heroes before they could complete this task. Megatronus Unleashed

2019 IDW Continuity

Counting fourteen in total, Sea of Rust I the Artifacts of the Primes were said to be forged by Solus Prime and were thought lost after the Age of Primes came to an end, save for the Matrix of Leadership. Prime While some Cybertronians regarded the artifacts as Cybertron's greatest power and glories, others doubted their grandiose history. Light/Star

Noted scholar Termagax was an avid study of the artifacts, and was the one who instructed the Constructicons on the history of the Enigma of Combination when they stumbled onto it beneath Rivets Field. Constructicons Rising, Part 1 Termagax personally doubted the existence of the Thirteen themselves, suspecting that they had been dreamt up to explain where the artifacts had come from. Sea of Rust I

After the signing of the Nominus Edict, the fact the Autobot-led senate wouldn't search for the other missing artifacts was one of many points of contention that led to Termagax secluding herself from Cybertronian society. The Cracks Beneath Your Feet Part Two

In her partnership with Thunderwing, the amoral scientist Airachnid began a project to recreate the artifacts within the asteroid colony of Hexagon. When confronted by Scattershot's team of technical specialists, Airachnid briefly monologued about the project before a battle accidentally sent the five Autobots plummeting into the Combination Core, an artificial Enigma of Combination, from which they emerged as Computron. Light/Star

EarthSpark cartoon

When the Great War broke out on Cybertron, laborer Orion Pax was granted the Matrix of Leadership, ascending to become Optimus Prime. Disarmed

Quintus Prime's Emberstone eventually wound up on Earth beneath the land that would one day become Witwicky, Pennsylvania. Age of Evolution, Part 1

In the modern era, after the Autobots and Decepticons had come to Earth, the human siblings Robby and Mo Malto fell into the Emberstone's cave. After knocking it off its pedestal, the siblings replaced the Emberstone, causing it to activate, creating Twitch and Thrash from a pool of water and bestowing cyber-sleeves upon the humans to guide the newborn Terrans. Secret Legacy, Part 1

When Optimus Prime was informed how the Terrans had come into being, he recognized the Emberstone's powers from legend, having the Terrans and Maltos retrieve it for him. After he explained its capabilities, the relic was teleported out his hand by Skywarp. After it had been returned to the Maltos, Optimus ordered them to retreat and protect it. Falling back to the cave, the family, outnumbered by Arachnamechs, appealed to Quintus for aid. Heeding their call, the Emberstone created Hashtag, Jawbreaker and Nightshade before Nova Storm's missile barrage caused a cave-in. In the subsequent chaos, Mo lost her hold on the Emberstone, sending it flying into the pool. Age of Evolution, Part 1

When explaining the power of the Primes to the Malto family, Optimus Prime showed them the Matrix of Leadership and briefly mentioned the artifacts of the other Primes. Disarmed

One film

The Primes wielded various weapons during their war against the Quintessons, such as Amalgamous Prime's Scythe. The Matrix of Leadership was held by Zeta Prime until his death at the hands of his aide, Sentinel Prime. The Matrix rejected Sentinel and disappeared, causing Cybertron's energon supply to dry up. Fifty cycles later, Primus deemed Orion Pax worthy of the Matrix, transforming him into Optimus Prime. One

Age of the Primes marketing material

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Games

Transformers: Devastation

The Star Saber and Forge of Solus Prime were the melee weapons the Autobots could find in their quest to stop Megatron. The Star Saber could be wielded by any Autobot, while only Optimus Prime and Grimlock were strong enough to wield the Forge. Transformers: Devastation