In the Aligned continuity, one of the Thirteen Original Primes, Optimus Prime, chose to be reborn as an ordinary Cybertronian to live among the ones soon to be born from the Well of Allsparks. He was reborn as Orion Pax, and Alpha Trion, one of the Thirteen, observed the process, identified him, and took him under his personal mentorship.
Eons later, Orion Pax & Megatron led a movement & petitioned the Council to reform Cybertronian society, but the movement was splintered when the Council accepted Orion's pleas & appointed him to be a new Prime, soon igniting the Great War. Only much later, when Orion travelled to Cybertron's core, did Primus restore Orion back into Optimus Prime.
However, it seems to be uncertain how much Optimus remembers of his original life, before his first rebirth. In any case:
- Is Optimus Prime during the War for Cybertron & the events of Transformers: Prime known by others to be one of the Thirteen Original Primes? Does he himself know and/or consider himself as such?
- Although they are of the same spark, is the first Optimus Prime that fought in the first war of the Thirteen Primes against Unicron and the second Optimus Prime who led the Autobots against the Decepticons considered to be one and the same, or are they two different entities, both empowered to be a Prime by Primus, both sharing the same name, but nothing more?