That Garlean guy, what was his name? Gaius Van Baelsar

[Kaiser-Ace]

... and King Thordan was using Nidhogg's Eye as his personal rechargeable battery. So it should make little, if any, difference whether King Thordan himself absorbed Lahabrea's aether (or to be more exact, "the aether formerly known as Lahabrea") or the Eye absorbed it.

The reason we need a White Auracite is to prevent the Ascian from using their Dark Crystal to run away. If the Ascian doesn't, as happens both with King Thordan executing Lahabrea and in the Echo Flashback to the Warriors of Darkness' past, it's not unreasonable to conclude that just blasting a weakened Ascian with enough aether can perma-kill them.

I would bring up the fact that we blasted Lahabrea once already but that wasn't a "Kill Shot" as much as Hydaelyn was giving us an Aether powered exorcism to evict him from Thancred.

[SuperFlorinjin]

Like wise, when Nidhogg's body snached Estinien he may have inadvertently done something very simmilar. Or at least pulled a Xehanort and caused both Souls to inhabit one host body.

Yeah, there's no way that Estinien is dead and gone. The only reason for Nidhogg to be resurrected that way is for Drama (can we save him? Or will we have to kill him to free Ishgard from Nidhogg) that would be completely lost if nothing of the host survives.

As for Lahabrea I'm pretty sure he's dead for real this time, although I wouldn't be terribly surprised if he pops up again.

[CyrilLucifer]

Now you made my mind wander into the direction of a Nidhogg x Estinien ship...oh god x.X

Trust me when I say that you are definitely not the first person who thought of this. It's just a matter of time before someone edits a Nidhogg pic to look like the kawaii Bahamut one.

[Cilia]

I would bring up the fact that we blasted Lahabrea once already but that wasn't a "Kill Shot" as much as Hydaelyn was giving us an Aether powered exorcism to evict him from Thancred.

While we used a similar method to exorcise Lahabrea, he had his Dark Crystal attached to the choker Thancred was wearing, which shattered afterwards.

That's why our first "fight" ended up having him live to see another day.

[Kaiser-Ace]

While we used a similar method to exorcise Lahabrea, he had his Dark Crystal attached to the choker Thancred was wearing, which shattered afterwards.

That's why our first "fight" ended up having him live to see another day.

Really? To this day I never noticed the chocker that be was wearing.

[Theodric]

While we used a similar method to exorcise Lahabrea, he had his Dark Crystal attached to the choker Thancred was wearing, which shattered afterwards.

That's why our first "fight" ended up having him live to see another day.

I'd love for the Scions/Hydaelyn to be called out for that. They make no effort to rescue anybody else under the thrall of an Ascian. Which to me is a clear example of Hydaelyn and the Scions playing favourites - and that Hydaelyn may not actually love all of her 'children' after all, let alone equally. Not that I'd want that particular plot device to be used to save any and all who happen to come under the Ascian's control, mind you...

[Belhi]

I'm torn. I want to see the other leaders do more...but I also don't want them to be shrouded in the same plot armour as the Scions. The leaders shouldn't necessarily be on the front lines, anyway - especially when there's so many issues in their territory that has not been addressed as of yet. Hopefully that hypocrisy will be pointed out though.

I also don't want to see Garlemald ally with Nidhogg. Why would they? Nidhogg is essentially a Primal at this point - and even if they're not aware of that fact they loathe the idea of working alongside 'Beasts'.

Plus they don't want Ishgard to be destroyed. Conquered and brought to heel, perhaps, but not destroyed/infested with elezen transformed into dragons.

I wouldn't expect the Garleans to ally with Nidhogg but I could see them showing an interest in his horde. After all the dragons are a formidable force and the Garleans are at the location where the Neural Link Tech the Allagans used to enslave the dragons was developed. If they find a way toe replicate the tech I can see them swooping on any dragons they can capture.

Actually that makes me wonder. If they capture a high ranking dragon can they use its dragonsong to compel lower ranking dragons to obey? Back in 2.55 it seemed that it was suggested that dragons effected by the song are driven to respond.

[MilesSaintboroguh]

I'd love for the Scions/Hydaelyn to be called out for that. They make no effort to rescue anybody else under the thrall of an Ascian. Which to me is a clear example of Hydaelyn and the Scions playing favourites - and that Hydaelyn may not actually love all of her 'children' after all, let alone equally. Not that I'd want that particular plot device to be used to save any and all who happen to come under the Ascian's control, mind you...

It took a ton of aether from Hydaelyn herself just to purge Lahabrea from Thancred. Do you really want her to be doing that to EVERYONE that comes under Ascian control? It'd be playing into the hands of the Ascians to have the mothercrystal drained.

[CyrilLucifer]

It took a ton of aether from Hydaelyn herself just to purge Lahabrea from Thancred.

I disagree with this. The Sword of Light's formation is Echo-based, not Hydaelyn-based. Now, Hydaelyn may have given you the knowledge to form the sword, but the actual formation is all Echo and therefore all you in this case. That whole scene is Echo resonance, so we had a much more direct contact with Lahabrea's essence than we did Nabriales and Igeyorhm, hence being able to cheat our way into banishing him and not needing all of Hydaelyn's power.

The ability to physically manifest the sword of light using external energy defends this, as does Elidibus telling you straight out that your skill with the Echo was what banished Lahabrea. If Hydaelyn's strength banished Lahabrea, why would Elidibus specifically care about your Echo? There are tons of Echo users out there, we're more useful for our Blessing and direct use of Hydaelyn in that case. But nope, it's your Echo that Second Best Ascian pokes you about.

The aether was drained from shielding you from Ultima. What little She had to spare after that was probably used aiding/defending you against the Primals/Extreme Primals, as was Lahabrea's goal and Elidibus mentions in 2.3. Directly banishing an Ascian would take up more Aether than shielding you from Ultima, though, so in a sense I do agree, however, she used up that strength beforehand.

Plus, Hydaelyn has been primary shown as defensive. A shield, rather than a sword. You're the sword, not her.

[Frederick22]

The ability to physically manifest the sword of light using external energy defends this, as does Elidibus telling you straight out that your skill with the Echo was what banished Lahabrea, not Hydaelyn's strength. If Hydaelyn banished Lahabrea, why would Elidibus specifically care about your Echo? There are tons of Echo users out there, we're more useful for our Blessing and direct use of Hydaelyn in that case.

The aether was drained from shielding you from Ultima. What little She had to spare after that was probably used aiding/defending you against the Primals/Extreme Primals, as was Lahabrea's goal and Elidibus mentions in 2.3.

Plus, Hydaelyn has been primary shown as defensive. A shield, rather than a sword. You're the sword, not her.

Even if it was the Echo or not, we will need a ton of aether as a fuel to cast the Sword of Light.