Garlemald and Azys Lla

[LineageRazor]

I mean, there's Adamantite. That's got value in metallurgy. There's a metric fuck ton of crystals... and as I remember it, it wasn't that the Garleans deemed everything up there useless, just the primal containment bays. Also keep in mind that, within the idea of the time bubble, most of the facilities were warded up by Urianger to keep the Garleans stymied. There's obviously the issue that they have a plethora of dropships, and the technical know how to get into any of the unwarded facilities. They just didn't, for some inexplicable reason. The Garleans on the Gration should have been the first force inside of the Fractal Continuum. It's much like the plot hole where Thordan, seeking power overwhelming for world domination, didn't fly over to the dragon quadrant and get two more eyes before heading into the ARF, despite having ample time and power to do so.

Well, in answer to that last, it's possible that the bindings keeping Tiamat contained are just as effective at keeping potential rescuers AWAY. Perhaps obtaining her eyes is not as easy a task as you speculate - at the very least, not worth the effort, in comparison to the power he was about to get from the Triad. The eyes he had were already enough for that purpose. Also, considering what happened to Estinien, it's possible that there's a risk in trying to wield the power of too many eyes at once; becoming a Primal allowed Thordan to get away with handling two, but who's to say what four could do? The fact that Ishgard HAD two eyes, but only ever fielded one, might be an indicator that the papacy has known since the beginning that two at once is just too much...

[Vyrerus]

Well, in answer to that last, it's possible that the bindings keeping Tiamat contained are just as effective at keeping potential rescuers AWAY. Perhaps obtaining her eyes is not as easy a task as you speculate - at the very least, not worth the effort, in comparison to the power he was about to get from the Triad. The eyes he had were already enough for that purpose. Also, considering what happened to Estinien, it's possible that there's a risk in trying to wield the power of too many eyes at once; becoming a Primal allowed Thordan to get away with handling two, but who's to say what four could do? The fact that Ishgard HAD two eyes, but only ever fielded one, might be an indicator that the papacy has known since the beginning that two at once is just too much...

Nidhogg is the strongest dragon of the First Brood, and he was defeated by non-primal Elezen who'd gained the power of Ratatoskr's eyes. Thordan at the time only had 1 of Nidhogg's eyes and only ever had the one, since Estinien and the WoL had the other. With that and the entire Heavensward, coupled with the fact that Tiamat is despondent and restrained... yeah it would have been really really REALLY easy for him to take her eyes. We're told she could escape if she wanted, but we're not told how much of an effort she'd have to exert to break her bonds. Point is, they're still a hindrance.

It's not a matter of sheer amount of dragon eyes that lead to Estinien's possession. It was the fact that they were both Nidhogg's eyes, and he had spent most of his adult life entangled with Nidhogg's mind. Quite clearly, when we beat the Aery, he holds Hraesvelgr's eye and Nidhogg's eye, and nothing bad happens to him.

Also now I'm imagining a Thordan with Ascalon, sword with the eye in the hilt. Then a shield with Tiamat's eyes. That'd be ballin'