What is The Eye doing?

[Nalien]

Haldrath had the Eye until his death, hadn't he? And with the fact Azure Dragoons need the Eye's power to fight Nidghogg on equal footing, and Estinien brought the Eye with him during our journey together, I'd assume that Azure Dragoon would keep it in person when fighting Nidhogg. It was because Nidhogg was thought asleep and thus not an immediate threat that the Eye was kept, until Nidhogg awakens.

I'd think Haldraths story is a pretty good argument for not giving Azure Dragoons the Eye to play with... It eventually claimed him, and everything we saw of Estinien had the same thing happening... It makes sense to me that they'd keep the Eye out of reach, having seen what it did to Haldrath... We saw what having it did to Estinien multiple times... Even with Nidhogg dead, it was a battle for him to harness the Eyes power for something as simple as breaking into Azys Lla, you don't want your "best" fighter to be burdened in that way during such a crucial battle...

I also don't think Nidhogg would have stood much of a chance against Ishgard if the Azure Dragoons always had the Eye backing them up... Estinien utterly crippled Nidhogg during the Aery, if every Azure Dragoon could do even a fraction of that, I think Ishgard would have overpowered Nidhogg long ago, not the narrative we got, that Nidhogg was holding back every time and could easily have wiped them out... Nidhoggs dialog during the Aery also indicates that Azure Dragoons don't usually use the Eye in that way, if every Azure Dragoon used the Eye against Nidhogg in that way, Nidhogg wouldn't have been so surprised when Estinien pulls it out to counter him...

Heck, just from a strategic point of view... While it's possible the Eye can cripple Nidhogg, it's also true that he wants them back... Using the Eye on the front lines is a pretty risky plan, bordering on stupid... You risk letting it fall back into his hands (or... socket?) and powering up your enemy... Given you do not need to be in direct contact with it to be an Azure Dragoon (given we're an Azure Dragoon long before we touch it), it makes far more sense to keep it under lock and key during the battle... The last thing you want is an Azure Dragoon falling in battle and handing the Eye back to Nidhogg as a result...