3.4 speculation

[ChazNatlo]

If you talk to Matoya right now (I don't know if it was the same before finishing 3.3, it didn't occur to me to check), she talks about how Alphinaud was frequently visiting her cave to research, and from what she gleaned from his mumblings it was related to how untangle merged sources of aether.

Huh. So... It isn't a theory I follow, but it IS one I've heard around. That being that Lahabrea will be back. What would be the difference between pulling Minfillia out of Hydaelyn, and pulling Lahabrea out of Niddhog's eye? Beyond his Aether having been used up during Knights of the Round, possibly?

[Berethos]

Huh. So... It isn't a theory I follow, but it IS one I've heard around. That being that Lahabrea will be back. What would be the difference between pulling Minfillia out of Hydaelyn, and pulling Lahabrea out of Niddhog's eye? Beyond his Aether having been used up during Knights of the Round, possibly?

As far as I know, the distinction would likely be that Minfilia and Hydaelyn are apparently merged but with aspects of both being present (unless WOTM was lying, which is still a possibility), as that is what the dialog with her after Antitower suggests.

What happened to Lahabrea seems to be the same that happened to the Sahagin Elder, in that in both cases their aether was essentially deconstructed to a more base version of aether by another.

[Nalien]

What happened to Lahabrea seems to be the same that happened to the Sahagin Elder, in that in both cases their aether was essentially deconstructed to a more base version of aether by another.

Lahabrea was a slightly different case... He was specifically shown being absorbed by Nidhoggs Eye in the Ascalon rather than by a Primal, which Thordan was indeed using as an aether battery, but last I checked batteries don't spend their charge instantly...

It's a slim possibility that he survived, and for me the window has passed... Well, one of my theories for his return has... A Nidhogg/Ascian fusion, similar to the Ascian/Ascian fusion we faced at the end of ARF, would have resulted in Shinryu and brought Omega into the plot, but Nidhogg is gone now...Lahabrea could still be sitting in the Eye we threw away like dummies, in which case his potential ambitions (which I'll admit, is conjecture based on minor dialog with Elidibus) could still come to fruition. After he spearheaded Ysayle becoming Shiva, and Pope Thordan becoming King Thordan, I expected Nidhogg to do something similar (maybe even becoming Bahamut... Que Omega...) at Lahabreas urgings, then Lahabrea to sneak off to become Zodiark, which is not the revival Elidibus wants. That would give us justification to actually buddy up with Elidibus and give Lahabrea a real send off...

I do think Elidibus has an interest in the Eye, but I do not think Lahabrea returning is anything more than a slim possibility now... After Nabriales was so keen to get his hands on Tupsimati, which wasn't powerful enough to one-shot an Ascian without throwing a sacrifice into the mix, I would imagine Elidibus has every reason to want two Wyrm Eyes... If Zodiark is going to be a Steps of Faith style final boss, I think it is somewhat fitting to give him Nidhoggs Eyes... I'd prefer having Lahabrea be the final antagonist, but I acknowledge it's very far fetched at this point...

Now that I'm reminded of Nidhogg though, we still haven't really gotten anything out of the news in 2.1 that he'd flown off to "skies unknown"... I would expect that to come to something eventually, I imagine the Eyes will come back into the plot and we'll get an Echo cutscene explaining what that meant, unless other translations spell an entirely different message for that 2.1 cutscene...