Lahabrea & Nidhogg **Spoilers**

[CyberGoblin]

In all likelihood, if we somehow manage to save Estinien then Lahabrea will be freed as well. I fully believe we will find out how to do it but I wouldn't be surprised that whether or not to do it and release Lahabrea will be some morale problem that we (and by that I mean Alphinaud) have to deal with.

[Walluh]

Lahabrea's dead. The eye munched him.

Bringing him back yet again would be stupid, and reeeally boring.

It's not like Nidhogg coming back made half the expansion so far pointless already..

[Alberel]

I really don't understand why so many people are so quick to say Lahabrea is dead. He was absorbed into a stone but the prison was not shattered so his soul was not destroyed. Yes he was drawn into Thordan's aether supply but with the sheer volume of aether he had we don't really know if Lahabrea would have been used as fuel. The eye clearly had enough aether left to reconstruct Nidhogg's form as well so they weren't drained dry.

Elidibus commented that Lahabrea and Igeyorhm had fallen, but Elidibus is not infallible. All his comment means is that they were defeated, it said nothing of their actual fate.

Honestly I think a lot of people just want him to be dead so badly they're pretending that things prove he died. We have seen nothing to indicate Lahabrea actually died based on what we know of killing Ascians.

[Cilia]

OK, feel like jumping in.

"Lahabrea isn't dead!"

However, from what I gathered King Thordan didn't just absorb Lahabrea's soul, he ripped it apart into its base aether and absorbed that. Unlike our use of White Auracite, he attacked and destroyed Lahabrea's physical form before absorbing the constituent aether. It's different from our use of White Auracite, to be sure, but nobody said that White Auracite + Blade of Light was the clear-cut only way to kill an Ascian.

While it's certainly possible he isn't straight dead, I don't think that's the case. If you want to say he's still alive, you have to prove it - and there's not really anything to prove that theory with beyond "well, maybe...", which doesn't constitute an argument. Burden of proof rests on the believer.

[Alberel]

OK, feel like jumping in.

"Lahabrea isn't dead!"

However, from what I gathered King Thordan didn't just absorb Lahabrea's soul, he ripped it apart into its base aether and absorbed that. Unlike our use of White Auracite, he attacked and destroyed Lahabrea's physical form before absorbing the constituent aether. It's different from our use of White Auracite, to be sure, but nobody said that White Auracite + Blade of Light was the clear-cut only way to kill an Ascian.

While it's certainly possible he isn't straight dead, I don't think that's the case. If you want to say he's still alive, you have to prove it - and there's not really anything to prove that theory with beyond "well, maybe...", which doesn't constitute an argument. Burden of proof rests on the believer.

Burden of proof only applies when one side already has supporting evidence of some kind though.

There is currently no evidence that he is actually dead or alive since we have no idea what happened to him beyond getting absorbed by the eye. If anything, since the only thing we know is that he was absorbed into the eye, which alone is not enough to kill an Ascian, the safest stance would be to assume that he is merely trapped until evidence to suggest anything more is presented. It is the people believing him to be dead that are making assumptions and jumping to conclusions based on scant evidence.

[Cilia]

There's precious little evidence pointing either way, but without anything stating otherwise we have to assume Lahabrea is dead. The story presents this as what happened, so unless there's proof contradicting this or a plot tweest and Lahabrea turns out to be not dead, I have to believe that's what happened.

Could be wrong like I was with Nanamo. Time will tell (or not).

[Akataras]

Considering Thordan basically stole what was supposedly, the final and true kill of one of our oldest enemies from us, I'm sceptical that Lahabrea is dead for good. Players tend to hate Lahabrea a great deal, and the dev team taking away us getting to see the Warrior of Light finish him off for good with their own hands doesn't feel quite right...

This post was originally way longer, with actual lore speculation and theories, but considering I went over the maximum limit by about 5000 characters, I've added my full response to my XIV Character Blog: Over Here.

Not sure if we're allowed to link off-site, but I figure this was better than six posts in a row. :'D

To cut to the point: I think Lahabrea isn't dead, I hope we fight an Ascian Dragon.

[Yumi_umi]

Nah lab will come back through a harry potter voldemort deus ex machina kind of thing i bet.
Its not impossible which is the key term "not impossible" means a lot of things to SE.

[Jinrya-Geki]

No, please. Tired of team rocket villains. Always showing up after major fights going "yes, going as expected".

They are over-sized cockroaches.

[Ayuhra]

I am on Team Lahabrea is Still Around Somewhere. I know Elidibus says he's dead but Laha is a tricky bastard.

If some of his essence escaped he could find a way to manifest. He wouldn't have the power to manifest directly but he might have the strength to inhabit a corpse and I can think of one corpse he might find desirable. I rather hope the plot doesn't do that because Lahabrea wearing the skin of one our companions would just lead to us all screaming "AGAIN!? WE LITERALLY JUST DID THIS!"

In my opinion some key aspect of him is still trapped in Nidhogg's eye and if/when we liberate Estinien odds are Lahabrea will poof out too. I certainly hope he does. I know people want him to stay dead but he's the closest thing this game has had to a core villain so far and having him be cut down by someone else isn't a very satisfying end to that plot thread.

It also entertains me to just think about Nidhogg that way. "Please meet Nidhogg, the vengeful dragon, he's taken over the body of an Elezen and has an Ascian stuck in his face"