What is The Eye doing?

[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

[Mysterysword]

But then what happened to Hraesvelgr's eye? The one he gives the WoL in the Final Steps...?

Then, we toss both of Nidhogg's eyes into a chasm... so what happens to the power of the Azure Dragoon? Do the eyes still give someone their power? Shouldn't the WoL be a DRG no longer...? Gaaahh!

We gave Hraesvelgr his eye back, as it can be clearly seen when we're flying alongside him in the ending cutscene.

As for Nidhogg's eyes, I don't think the WoL or Estinien can draw on their power any more, but I'm pretty sure the WoL never did that in the first place (except for one instance), and Estinien clearly no longer wants to anymore.

I still say it was pretty stupid to just throw them into the abyss... did they seriously think it's just a bottomless pit that nobody could ever possibly dig them out of? Frankly, I was a little annoyed by that plot hook, because I'm more than a little done with the whole Dragonsong War, which, story-wise, felt like we were constantly taking two steps forward and then two steps back, and then fighting a ton of "final final, no, THIS one is the FINAL ONE, WE SWEAR" battles. We've already fought Nidhogg twice, I don't think Round 3 (or Round 4 if you want to count EX) is going to be very exciting now.

Finally, the Eye may make the Azure Dragoon, but it doesn't make someone a DRG, otherwise there would only be one DRG ever, at a time. It's the soul crystal that makes the DRG, and that is a different thing from the Eye, and, as long as we unlocked the job quest and have the soul crystal, we're a DRG. Note that, if we never unlocked the DRG quests, then the 3.0 storyline plays out the same, with the WoL not being an Azure Dragoon. It... kind of raises the question of how we managed to use the Eye's aether to kill Iggy, if we're not the Azure Dragoon, but I'll chalk that one up to the WoL being a Jedi.

[Ametrine]

I don't think the Warriors of Darkness are after Nidhogg's eyes to revive him at all. I'm expecting the WoDs to eat them just as Thordon and his knights did to Ratataskr's.

[Morningstar1337]

I don't think the Warriors of Darkness are after Nidhogg's eyes to revive him at all. I'm expecting the WoDs to eat them just as Thordon and his knights did to Ratataskr's.

Now that would be an interesting plot twist

[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>

[RobinMalvin]

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...

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 never said the Eye reacted to Thordan. I said that the Eye answered to him, when he reached for it, allowing Thordan to access its power with no apparent difficulty despite Nidhogg's presence in it. Unless you count the Eye's glow as a sign it reacting to someone, then yes, Thordan also qualifies.

But I honestly don't think you need to have the Eye reacts to you in any way to use its power, but you have to beat Nidhogg's will in a mind battle first, which is said to be extremely hard it took Estinien crippled to cripple Nidhogg. With Thordan could access its power seemingly without effort can be adressed to the fact that he was primal when we saw him used it, or that he made Nidhogg's will inside the Eye to submit, making him somewhat one of the chosen and allowed to use it, just like how Azure Dragoons do.

Then, we toss both of Nidhogg's eyes into a chasm... so what happens to the power of the Azure Dragoon? Do the eyes still give someone their power? Shouldn't the WoL be a DRG no longer...? Gaaahh!

Eyes of a dragon can store the surrounding aether inside, so yes, they can still give power to anyone wielding it.

Dragoon's abilities and skills come from training, not the Eyes. It's Azure Dragoons who can tap into the Eyes power, giving them extra power to be able to face stronger dragons i.e Nidhogg. As Alberic has confirmed, an Azure Dragoon can give up their link to the Eyes' power. With Estinien being the last Dragoon to ever bond with the Eyes, I believe his link has been severed when he's freed from the Eyes' grasp, or he simply gave it up when he put down his spear.

[RobinMalvin]

I don't think the Warriors of Darkness are after Nidhogg's eyes to revive him at all. I'm expecting the WoDs to eat them just as Thordon and his knights did to Ratataskr's.

Well since Nidhogg has been confirmed to be dead for real this time, I doubt they'd want to revive him.

No,they must want to use the eyes for their wellspring of aether, maybe to eat them, or to empower something, something...

[Laili]

Requisite text:

Do people really not see the obvious "Slap the eyes into Omega Weapon to raise all seven hells in Ala Mhigo" plotline coming here? C'mon now.

[Valenth]

Requisite text:

Do people really not see the obvious "Slap the eyes into Omega Weapon to raise all seven hells in Ala Mhigo" plotline coming here? C'mon now.

Hadn't thought of that yet to be honest, makes sense! (Spoiler alert for those clicking it and not finish the story yet)

[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...