This got stuck in my drafts, meant to finish it sooner
There’s two parts to this, one of which is the part of comparing Prowl to other primes Primes like Sentinel and Zeta or like Optimus, and the other part is Prowl’s personal beliefs on those differences
Prowl is not like Sentinel or Zeta, for a lot of reasons. The main reason being that Zeta and Sentinel truly believe they’re better than everyone else, and especially people from certain groups. Prowl doesn’t believe he’s better than anyone else without reason. He doesn’t believe his spark is better, he doesn’t believe he’s better morally, and while he does assume himself the smartest in the room, in most rooms, he actually is.
Prowl also isn’t ostentatious in the way that they are, he’s pragmatic and minimalist, and he doesn’t really want attention except for when he can use it. The way he’s used by the senate in the fic is as a quiet opperator, and even if the Senate didn’t force him to do it hooked in like that, I still think Prowl would lead from the shadows more than he would in broad daylight, coaching Cybertron along from the quiet corners unless he was truly needed in the blinding spotlight. Someone behind the scenes taking care of Cybertron, whereas the Zeta and Sentinel stood as often as they could in the limelight, only using the shadows for things that they didn’t want others to see.
Optimus is far more like Prowl, but they’re still very different. Optimus is a limelight leader, and he’s good at it. He stands infront of crowds and rallys them to stand at his back. Prowl is a quiet encourager, coaxing out outcomes instead of leading rallys. Prowl is the one you want over the headset, telling you to take the turn to the right because it’ll save your life, Optimus is the one you want fighting with you on the field. (If you put made Optimus lead the way Prowl does, he would struggle, and vice versa. They are fundimentally different in their styles of leadership.)
When I say Prowl doesn’t consider himself to be a true Prime, I’m referring to both him not being like the Primes he would know of (Sentinel and Zeta), and because Prowl isn’t very religious.
Being Prime is an inherantly religious thing. It is to make someone essentially the mouthpiece of god. Prowl doesn’t believe the way others do, because Prowl has seen both the way the other Primes act, and because he’s cold construct. Prowl wasn’t created by god, he was created by mech.
So, while he would believe that Primus exists, Prowl might think him dead, careless, or even cruel. The Prime (as a religious beacon) would therefore just some religious figure for a religion that he doesn’t even really believe in.
Until he gets Shanghai-d by God, after which he kinda has to believe in Primus. But, by that point Prowl already has his beliefs on religion, and how it should interact with state.
It would also put him in a really awkward position at the same time because he believes that the state should fall above religion, while also being the religious figurehead.
TLDR: Prowl doesn’t get a Prime name because he’s not like the other Primes, and because he doesn’t think he’s like the other Primes
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