Why does Ysayle want to protect Nidhogg? (spoilers)

[Yaichiro]

Once you know about the origin of the war you just want to slaughter every existing Ishgardian.

[Daralii]

Once you know about the origin of the war you just want to slaughter every existing Ishgardian.

It was done 1,000 years ago by thirteen people. You'd really condone the slaughter of what must be millions of innocents for that?

[Kaiser-Ace]

It was done 1,000 years ago by thirteen people. You'd really condone the slaughter of what must be millions of innocents for that?

Yea seriously. A group of 13 knights killed 1 celestial dragon and maimed a second at the cost of at least half their numbers over 1000 years ago.

On the other hand, Nidhogg in that thousand years has killed tens of thousands of innocents at the cost of sending hundreds if not thousands of his own children to their death in the name of a thousand year old grudge.

It's hard not so see Nidhogg as Objectively wrong here. There is literally NO justification of any kind for his actions. I can see not taking out Hraesvelgr as he was merely saving his brother's life, despite knowing full well of his brother's murderous intent, Hraesvelgr was doing a good and merciful act on the surface. And when Nidhogg went on his killing spree all his brother was actually guilty of was not stopping him which is morally grey at worst. But Nidhogg can not be suffered to live. he MUST Die permanently in order for the ceaseless bloodshed of both man and Dragon kind to stop.

[Daralii]

he MUST Die permanently in order for the ceaseless bloodshed of both man and Dragon kind to stop.

And therein lies the problem. We were only able to kill him the first time because Estinien was using the Eye, and now he has both eyes and apparently possesses something like the Echo that lets him reincarnate infinitely.

Hraesvalgr fights him, kills him and dies in the process, we use his eye to destroy his essence?

[FJerome]

And therein lies the problem. We were only able to kill him the first time because Estinien was using the Eye, and now he has both eyes and apparently possesses something like the Echo that lets him reincarnate infinitely.

Hraesvalgr fights him, kills him and dies in the process, we use his eye to destroy his essence?

Well, the Dragonsong War has given us at least one method proven to work - Get an Alliance of 24 Culinarians together, we're eating Dragon tonight.

[Belhi]

And therein lies the problem. We were only able to kill him the first time because Estinien was using the Eye, and now he has both eyes and apparently possesses something like the Echo that lets him reincarnate infinitely.

Hraesvalgr fights him, kills him and dies in the process, we use his eye to destroy his essence?

There is three additional factors now in our conflict with Nidhogg.

Firstly, Estinien is in there somewhere and while he might now be host to Nidhogg I suspect there is something of him in there which Nidhogg will have to control. That's a distraction and a potential weakness.

Secondly, the fact its a possession and not his original form is potentially a fatal flaw, particularly against someone who can use the echo and transend the limits of souls. If we can interfere with his control of Estinien its not beyond possibility that Estinien could potentally be broken free.

Thirdly, while before when we fought him before he was crippled and limited in power by the Eye, we weren't at 100% either. He has both eyes back now but we have the Blessing of Light, stronger than it ever has been. Its not beyond reason that he can't simply oneshot us anymore because the Blessing now shields us from that stuff. If it could stop Ultima in the past when it was weaker than it is now, I recon it can probably handle any uber magical attack he can throw at us.

[Yaichiro]

It was done 1,000 years ago by thirteen people. You'd really condone the slaughter of what must be millions of innocents for that?

and those thirteen warriors are praised as heroes of Ishgard whose houses control the city. People of Ishgard kinda worship them and want to be like them otherwise how would you explain the ability to summon them as primals. Have you noticed that majority if not all are descendants of those thirteen warriors. Have you forgotten the young dragon and his injured siblings who was attacked for simply hunting for food.

Let me remind of the dragoon investigative unit in churning mists. What was the first assignment? Kill blood dragons! Why? Really why?

[Alleo]

and those thirteen warriors are praised as heroes of Ishgard whose houses control the city. People of Ishgard kinda worship them and want to be like them otherwise how would you explain the ability to summon them as primals. Have you noticed that majority if not all are descendants of those thirteen warriors. Have you forgotten the young dragon and his injured siblings who was attacked for simply hunting for food.

Let me remind of the dragoon investigative unit in churning mists. What was the first assignment? Kill blood dragons! Why? Really why?

They were praised because the remaining knights spread misinformation. Every person in Ishgard believed that the dragons started the war so for them Thordan and his knights were heroes. Destroying these lies was the first thing that Aymeric did after he found out the truth. You cant really blame them for that..especially since the dragons still attacked them all the time afterwards. Can you imagine being born in a place where you are always attacked by something, maybe even losing your family thanks to that and hearing the false story about the reason for it and not in a way start to hate the attackers for that? Especially if you have no way to even find out the truth? Both sides did something wrong..there is no true black or white. And yes dragons who did nothing wrong were attacked but at the same time dragons also attacked innocent people. Some of these dragons are also quite judgmental of human beings even if they are not from Ishgard. Ishgard may have started it all those many many years ago but the dragons did nothing to stop the war. Nobody should ever suffer for the mistake another person makes just because their are from the same place. We also found out that Nidhogg could have destroyed Ishgard all the time but choose not to do so, to keep them suffering all the time, even after he knew that the ones responsible for his sisters death were long death..that's not the right thing to do nor is it forgivable..

And please don't forget that these dragons in the investigation also attacked us..so its not like they came over to have a peace talk and the dragoons just killed them..no they would have killed us too. Not every dragon out there wants peace, especially not those that follow Nidhogg.

All of this was made pretty clear in the main story of Heavensward. They (imo) did a very good job to show us that no side was really better than the other and they allowed us (with side quests) to look into the life of both sides. In the end I will never understand people that want to kill off a whole city state or race just because some people did something wrong or because off some bad apples that they have...we saw that the city has quite the good people in it, like House Fortemps or even other NPCs..there are alot of children there too which are completely innocent. And yet you want them all to die..

Heck even Iceheart herself saw her mistakes and turned her back on some of the dragons. Exactly how some of the NPCs in Ishgard turned their back on the recent Thordan.

[Februs]

Snip.

For one thing, technically the war against the dragons started with the Allagan's, whom are widely portrayed to be evil, for some reason. However, keep in mind it is stated that Midgardsormr and his brood came from the stars while the Allagans were already here on this planet. That's right. Midgardsormr and Bahamut, mostly Bahamut, basically invaded the planet and started carving out chunks of land for habitation. Yes, yes, what the allagans did with the dragons they captured is horrible, but I can hardly blame them for defending themselves against invaders.... least of all invaders from space.
Because Dragons have an immortal memory and the emotional maturity of a pre-schooler, they never let that grudge go, and distrusted the Elezen from the start.

It should also be noted that we do not know the whole story.

The fragments that the echo showed us came from Hraesvelgr's memories and a brief snippet that occurs after the battle with Nidhogg and then given a tiny summary of why they might have done it. It's assumed, post echo snippets, that the king Theodan coveted the Dragon's eyes and power, but there's no word on why, what gave him the idea, or how the actual battle occurred. The guilt of the surviving members of the 13 knight would seem to point guilt at Theodan's feet, but, even then, it's difficult to tell if they feel guilty because of what Theodan had them do, or because they couldn't save their fallen members from Nidhogg's wrath.

Also, keep in mind Nidhogg is clearly portrayed to have hated the Elezen from the onset and was merely waiting for them to give him an excuse to attack. The Hraesvelgr memory of eyeless Nidhogg makes it plain as day that Nidhogg was expecting the Elezen to be treacherous, telling Hraesvelgr that he warned him they would. He then goes so far as to complain that if Hreaesvelgr was not "enchanted" by Shiva he would have seen that the Elezen were enemies from the start. They made it sound as though he had been actively attempting to sway Hraesvelgr's opinion form the word go, and merely needed the right evidence. After all is said and done, Hraesvelgr simply takes Nidhogg's word for it, but the truth is that we don't really know what happened. The Echo did not show us the actual battle. All we have to go on is assumptions made after the fact. For all we know, Nidhogg could have orchestrated the whole thing just to create a catalyst for a war he wanted from the start.

[Kaiser-Ace]

For one thing, technically the war against the dragons started with the Allagan's, whom are widely portrayed to be evil, for some reason. However, keep in mind it is stated that Midgardsormr and his brood came from the stars while the Allagans were already here on this planet. That's right. Midgardsormr and Bahamut, mostly Bahamut, basically invaded the planet and started carving out chunks of land for habitation. Yes, yes, what the allagans did with the dragons they captured is horrible, but I can hardly blame them for defending themselves against invaders.... least of all invaders from space.

Main problem with this is, technically Midgardsormr and The Seven Celestial Dragons came to Hydaelyn during the Divine Era so they were here before Allage or really anyone else. Remember the Allage Empire only came about during the 3rd Astral Era.