Aetherytes, Garleans, and You!

[Mysterysword]

To clarify: Lahabrea teleported the Garlean strike team directly into the Waking Sands, without any sort of aetherial beacon to send them to? It actually makes me wonder why he needed to possess Thancred for this, unless that was solely to find out the exact location of the Waking Sands, which seems unlikely because there were a lot of people who already knew where the Scions were, and he could probably have possessed some other, lower-profile Scion adventurer Or was it that he needed to possess Thancred in order to bypass whatever security measures they had on the Waking Sands?

[PArcher]

It actually makes me wonder why he needed to possess Thancred for this, unless that was solely to find out the exact location of the Waking Sands, which seems unlikely because there were a lot of people who already knew where the Scions were, and he could probably have possessed some other, lower-profile Scion adventurer Or was it that he needed to possess Thancred in order to bypass whatever security measures they had on the Waking Sands?

Trust. He was an Archon, one of the most trusted and respected members of the Scions. He had access to all sorts of information that others (even the WoL at the time) didn't. Which should have included when you returned to the Waking Sands so you could be captured...but something went wrong and the plan went off early (I debate whether Livia was too impatient, or Thancred himself was able to fool them into thinking you were there)

[Mysterysword]

Ascian possession is such an oddly vague thing. I still don't know if the person being possessed is aware or conscious at the time.

Still doesn't really explain how Lahabrea popped all those people out of the Lifestream, at the exact spot they needed to be, when said spot had no aetherial beacon even in the vicinity. I mean, you could just handwave it by saying "He's an all-powerful Ascian", but what he did goes against the basic facts of how teleportation works in this world.

(Super off-topic, but I find it funny how you refer to Thancred with the past tense, as if he's already dead... because he might as well be, with how stunningly relevant he's been in the story since 4.0.)

[Yuriane]

Still doesn't really explain how Lahabrea popped all those people out of the Lifestream, at the exact spot they needed to be, when said spot had no aetherial beacon even in the vicinity. I mean, you could just handwave it by saying "He's an all-powerful Ascian", but what he did goes against the basic facts of how teleportation works in this world.

I've actually recently replayed that part of the game on an alt and you'll be pleased to know we're actually provided an answer to this before the raid. After defeating Titan, we get a short cut scene showing Nero, Lahabrea, and the Roegadyn guy who never ended up being relevant. We also see Y'shtola spying on them, and she notes that Ascians have access to unique teleportation magic of their own that they can manifest at will. Seeing as the Ascian itself is a being of pure aether, this isn't surprising that they can manipulate it to such a great extent that they can ignore the normal rules of teleportation. Less a fact they're all powerful and more the fact it's their natural habitat.

As for the question of why Thancred, I think that might have been pure chance? Thancred was in charge of studying the Ascians once their involvement was brought to light, he likely got literally too close and was a convenient host with many perks.