Finished HW (except some sidequests). Had an epiphany about Estinien.

[Frizze]

Yeah, i think its in maybe one of the Hraesvelgr scenes. The dragon(Nidhogg) knows that he can go in and end ishgard, and he chooses not to. He doesnt want to merely kill those who betrayed him, he wants to make their descendants suffer an eternity of war. When his no longer living spirit takes over Estinien, then and only then does he decide that its time for the city to fall and all of Ishgard to die. And as you saw in the game, it was a fairly close thing.

[Tensaihime]

Yeah, i think its in maybe one of the Hraesvelgr scenes. The dragon(Nidhogg) knows that he can go in and end ishgard, and he chooses not to. He doesnt want to merely kill those who betrayed him, he wants to make their descendants suffer an eternity of war. When his no longer living spirit takes over Estinien, then and only then does he decide that its time for the city to fall and all of Ishgard to die. And as you saw in the game, it was a fairly close thing.

I looked through the notes I took, and among all the raging and in-jokes and memes I DO have a conversation that ends with us being warned about how Nidhogg plans to torment the city forever. Now I was in a very bad place following 2.55, but not THAT bad (although I will admit campfire schmampfire, Lolorito having thirty years scared off his lifespan is MY idea of peak Heavensward). So when I typed “Nidhogg might have been me too” I should have just pasted this from my notes:

But Estinien, who looks like some cool (albeit sleep-deprived) 1980s sword-and-sorcery guy, shows he’s not dead by telling Alph to quit crying. He’s just resting. And he’s been thinking: when Nidhogg hijacked his body, he felt a millennium’s worth of sadness and hate. When Estinien’s hometown burned and his family died, he felt the same way, and if he hadn’t had friends and teachers on his side he would have turned out exactly like his enemy.

I probably shouldn’t have let excitement get in the way of efficiency when I made this post.

[Arielen]

then and only then does he decide that its time for the city to fall and all of Ishgard to die.

He didn't intend to stop at Ishgard: that was just the first on the victim list. That'd be why I never understood people simping so hard for that narrative. Even the heretic faction is comprised primarily of violent criminals, many of whom aren't even Ishgardian, which is why they went haywire at the Steps of Faith.