Darkness (G1)

It also means you get a black repaint.

An aspect of the D-Void, a malevolent entity from within the Dead Universe, the Darkness is a limitless well of power, the dark mirror of the Creation Matrix held by Primes. It connects with Cybertronians as part of the D-Void's master plan, fooling them into believing they can contain its energies, provide it direction and purpose, and use its power for their own purpose. In reality, the Darkness is a tool by the D-Void used to twist the desires of Cybertronians to achieve its imperatives.

After fusing with Galvatron in the depths of a solar pool, the Darkness changes significantly, and becomes known as the Heart of Darkness.

Fiction

2005 IDW continuity

The Darkness first called out to Nova Prime through his Matrix, leading to the Ark exploratory mission to the Benzuli Expanse and the strange anomaly within it. It also called out to Ark crew-member Galvatron, promising a destiny and leading to him sending the Ark into the anomaly. Upon entry, the Darkness claimed them all and killed them, turning them into undead entities—but Galvatron was ultimately cheated of being its wielder, instead forced into servitude as a herald of the newly empowered Nemesis Prime. He decided to scheme a way around this. Spotlight: Galvatron

Nemesis Prime hit upon the grand idea of an Expansion, merging the Dead Universe and the main universe into one; this way, they could finally return home and would also be in a position to reorganize the universe into a more ordered form. This would also bring the Darkness to the main universe. The Expansion plot also involved having the current Matrix-holder, Optimus Prime, assassinated early on. Spotlight: Hardhead

When this failed, Nemesis Prime was forced to take matters into his own hands and wield the Darkness against Optimus. He revealed that it had called to him through the Matrix and was similar to the Matrix, but that unlike the light of the badge of office Primes bore, it had no limits. Spotlight: Doubledealer

However Nemesis Prime discovered that the connection to the Matrix went even deeper than that as the Darkness attempted to move on and claim Optimus Prime as its new host! Deep down, Nemesis had been worried this would happen—and this was the real reason he'd tried to have Optimus killed by others.

When Galvatron shot Nemesis in the back, the Darkness passed on into Optimus. Galvatron gave Optimus a choice: Optimus could either give him the Darkness as he'd always wanted, or throw himself into a solar pool before the force took hold of him. Optimus, thinking outside the box, gave Galvatron the Darkness and then threw him into the pool.

Sometime later, a hand was seen reaching out of the pool... Spotlight: Sideswipe And Galvatron arose, fully bonded with the Darkness! But the Darkness had changed, and he could now use it to resurrect and create Transformers. Rebirth Calling the entity the "Heart of Darkness", Galvatron felt that it was trying to warn him about something inside the Dead Universe. As he used it to revive Cyclonus, Scourge, the Sweeps and Jhiaxus, they too fell under its influence. Heart of Darkness #1

As Galvatron re-entered the Dead Universe, he was faced with the D-Void itself, and realized that the Heart of Darkness had been bestowed upon him to fight against this threat. Heart of Darkness #2 He went on to use it to raise an undead army, Heart of Darkness #3 and once used it as a weapon against zombies from another dimension. The Transformers: Infestation #2 With knowledge that the D-Void was targeting Cybertron, apparently gained through the Heart of Darkness, Galvatron made the planet his first line of defense. Heart of Darkness #4

However, this was all part of the D-Void's plan: through the Heart of Darkness, it influenced Galvatron into believing that using it to destroy Vector Sigma at Cybertron's core would stop the D-Void from entering the universe. In reality, doing so would turn the dead planet into a portal to the Dead Universe, allowing the D-Void to come through. Genesis It also used the Heart of Darkness to mind-control all Decepticons present except Megatron into combining into the "Deceptigod". Kings In the end, Galvatron succeeded in inserting the Heart of Darkness into Vector Sigma, seemingly causing him and the Sweeps to perish and Cyclonus to break out of the D-Void's control. As the D-Void began devouring Vector Sigma, Optimus Prime leapt into the core and opened the Matrix of Leadership, allowing its mystical energies to erase the Darkness and stop the invasion. Genesis

Notes

• The Darkness was created to replace the Matrix of Leadership's projected role in Revelation. Simon Furman's original plan had the Matrix of Leadership taken to the Dead Universe by Nova Prime where it would have been corrupted along with "Nemesis Prime," and its return would "not necessarily be a thing of celebration".^[1] This concept changed as a result of Shane McCarthy being hired, with The Transformers: All Hail Megatron establishing the war was "all about the Matrix", which Optimus had always possessed.

Foreign names

• Japanese: Darkness (ダークネス Dākunesu), Heart of Darkness (ハート・オブ・ダークネス Hāto obu Dākunesu)

References