What is The Eye doing?

[synesthetic]

Having ended the war already, I have at least some exposure to the weird things that dragon eyes are capable of. Like how the still-living dragon can still sense stuff through their detached eyeballs, and can exert their will through it to a degree.
So in unlocking DRG now, knowing the nature of "The Eye" that grants the Azure Dragoon power, I am weirded out a bit by the quest text above and seeing The Eye's twinkle in reaction to my presence.

What is Nidhogg's eyeball doing reacting to people?!

Is it like some kind of aetheric resonance, which is why such people can tap into the power of the eye and be the Azure Dragoon? Why does the eye never react to more than one person at a time then (up until you show up)? It makes it sound more like Nidhogg's selecting people.

If he's selecting people, then what conscious or subconscious reasons could there be? Is he recognizing these people as threats? Or.. or... is it attraction?! In another time and place, could we have been best buds?

[Lambdafish]

Nidhogg is obviously nothing but a big WoL fangirl

Or.. or... is it attraction?!

Incoming fanfic

[Mysterysword]

I'm pulling pretty much all of this out of my ass, but seeing as how the Azure Dragoon is a symbol of hope for the Ishgardians to rally around and keep fighting, and seeing as how Nidhogg actively wants the Dragonsong War to go on for eternity so he can torment the Ishgardians forever, I'd say this is his purpose in creating Azure Dragoons.

Sort of like giving your enemy guns, and thus giving them hope that they can defend themselves, when you have missiles.

As for why Nidhogg then chose the WoL, I can only assume that he wanted to try and manipulate us into bringing the Eye back to Ishgard. It's a little far-fetched, and honestly seems too subtle a strategy to fit with Nidhogg's character, but it's the best I can come up with.

I also considered the possibility that it's the dragon heritage that all Ishgardians* have, that the Eye is reacting to, but that wouldn't explain why it reacted to the WoL, who is explicitly stated to be a foreigner to Ishgard, and therefore most likely doesn't have Ratatoskr's essence in them.

*Speaking of Ratatoskr's essence being passed down through the generations, I've been wondering how every Ishgardian can possibly have it in them. If only Thordan and his knights ate the eyes, and then passed them down, and as far as I know, all of Thordan's knights were Elezen, why would the Hyur population of Ishgard also have the essence? I thought interbreeding wasn't a big thing in Ishgard, and if it was, wouldn't it have shown in the features of the people?

[Nalien]

The Azure Dragoon plot point is pretty disappointing... We're an Azure Dragoon at the same time as Estinien! Why? Who cares! Hopefully 4.0s Job quests touch on that, seeing as we sure as hell aren't still being chosen by Nidhoggs Eye, although 10g says they just go "Hraesvlgrs Eye chose you in 3.3!" and nothing more is said...

There are a few possibilities as to why Nidhoggs eye picks us, my favorites being he never actually picked any Azure Dragoons, he just noticed them and Ishgard mistook that metaphorical crooked eyebrow to mean Nidhogg chose them... Ratatoskr, in some small sense, still being alive in Ishgard and manifesting most strongly through the Azure Dragoon would be a particularly heartbreaking scenario... Nothing backing that up though, and it doesn't explain why we're an Azure Dragoon... Midgardsormr would be my explanation there; We're destined to be connected to him, and thus an Azure Dragoon, and Nidhoggs Eye reacts to that... Kinda backed up by our Limit Break...

I think the more likely, though kinda boring explanation, is the one we've already been given, though... Nidhoggs Eye picks an Azure Dragoon, and in us it picked a second Azure Dragoon... Why? Well, because Ishgard has two Eyes... Why Nidhogg picks anyone is still kind of odd, though giving Ishgard hope is a fair explanation, but then Nidhogg tried to take control of Estinien all the same... Still, the city had two Eyes, one picked Estinien, the other picked us... Where was the other Eye? Fused to Haldrath. What did Alberic see when we battled Estinien? Haldrath... We called upon the power of "our" Eye, and manifested the armor it was fused to as a result... No explanation for why the second Eye only just picked a second Azure Dragoon, maybe Thordan disturbed Haldraths tomb earlier than we think to prepare for his summon and awoke the Eye in 2.0 or something...

Really hope 4.0 goes back and explains some of this though... I mean, it kinda has to, doesn't it? How can we be the Azure Dragoon, chosen by Nidhoggs Eye, when Nidhogg is dead and his Eyes foolishly tossed off a cliff? At the very least they need to explain why his Eyes are still giving us... What were they even giving us exactly? 1.x and 2.0 were kind of iffy on Dragoons, the Azure Dragoon seemed like the only one... 3.0 made it clear there is an entire order of them (although... Do they ever show up outside the Job quest? They're in the trailer, and occasionally get mentioned, but the only spears I saw at the Final Steps of Faith were held by statues... All the actual knights fighting there seemed to be Temple Knights...), and we don't seem all that different from them... I'm incline to think you could make Azure Dragoon nothing more than a title and remove any indication of "Chosen One" from it with little impact on the story...

[LineageRazor]

*Speaking of Ratatoskr's essence being passed down through the generations, I've been wondering how every Ishgardian can possibly have it in them. If only Thordan and his knights ate the eyes, and then passed them down, and as far as I know, all of Thordan's knights were Elezen, why would the Hyur population of Ishgard also have the essence? I thought interbreeding wasn't a big thing in Ishgard, and if it was, wouldn't it have shown in the features of the people?

Well, Hilda's backstory seems to imply that, while scandalous, it's not that uncommon for such trysts to occur. So, why isn't Ishgard (or, at least, the Brume) crawling with pointy-eared Hyur? Not all such unions will necessarily result in a child as perfectly half-and-half as Hilda. Many would likely be able to pass quite easily as Elezen or Hyur, with only the barest traces of the other heritage (and possibly without even the knowledge that they HAD another heritage, if their mother kept quiet about the affair). A thousand years of this could well be enough to pass the blood of Thordan's knights to most or all of the Hyur population, as well.

[RobinMalvin]

Can I mention that the Eyes have answered to THREE people at the same time?

Estinien, WoL, and Thordan.

Those three chosen by the Eyes have one thing in common; strong desire for power. Estinien wanted power to slake his thirst for vengeance, Thordan to purge the world from evil and rule with iron fist, and WoL... just for the sake of power(?).

[Morningstar1337]

WoL... just for the sake of power(?).

While that is a possibility, the WoL's motivations are a cipher due to the blank slate thing. With that said, it is more likely that he would desire the power to aid in his Primal slaying (The only one he actually faced by the point Jobs are unlocked was Ifrit) or to protect those that are dear to him, the world, or some other stereotypically heroic thing

[Nalien]

Can I mention that the Eyes have answered to THREE people at the same time?

Estinien, WoL, and Thordan.

Is this the case? Seemed more like he was just using it... If you have to be chosen in order to use it then I'm even more confused by it, given how Estinien effectively crippled Nidhogg with it... Why give your enemy that much power over you? Heck, the Eye wasn't even meant to be carried around, it was kept in the Vault until Estinien stole it, indicating that the Azure Dragoons never really directly used the Eye...

I'd need to go back and check the cutscenes as well, but I don't think the Eye reacted to Thordan in anyway... It clearly reacted to us when we first met Estinien, but the only animation I recall of it with Thordan was him turning it into a sword and it absorbing Lahabreaether...

[Lambdafish]

Can I mention that the Eyes have answered to THREE people at the same time?

Estinien, WoL, and Thordan.

Thordan didn't get chosen by the eye, he just used it as an aether fountain and a substitute for crystals when turning himself into a primal.

I'll give a good example: (3.3 story spoilers)

When primal used the power of Nidhoggs eye, he simply drained it of its aether, however when the WoL uses the power of hraesvelgrs eye they become "blessed" by it, enhancing his/her power, but in a very different way

[radhaz]

Kinda like American foreign policy.

<snip>

Sort of like giving your enemy guns, and thus giving them hope that they can defend themselves, when you have missiles.

<snip>