Why did Louisoix ask us to slay Garuda?

[Taelia]

Thank you Moose+rest for answering my other questions, I have a new one for you.

Louisoix marked Ifrit as our first target, and we adventurers bravely fought and defeated him. Afterwards, Nael came and ruptured the aether flow in order for Ifrit to be re-summoned faster.

Right around this time, the Garlond Ironworks had figured out the aether was disappearing from the earth, and flew to the sky instead. Cid had probably already figured out Nael's plan on Meteor and bringing Dalamud down, which would probably require a lot of aether? Which was kindly supplied by us adventurers releasing the Primal's aether. Over. And over. And over.

Yet still, Louisoix still asks us to go after Garuda on top of keeping Ifrit down.
Perhaps Louisoix thought the primal threat more dangerous than Dalamud? Unlikely..
Maybe Louisoix just didn't know of Cid's ideas yet at that time, but eventually he figured it out, and he didn't call a full stop on slaying the primals because we were fuelling Dalamud's descent.

Am I misunderstanding something? Your thoughts and ideas?

[LunaticTear]

The Dalamud threat is a lot worse but at the same time, like Iffy, Garuda was causing too much trouble in the land to be left alone...she had to be taken out. Dalamud was a long term conflict, but tge primals were a short term because they were happening now. And it would have been bad enough to suffer the day Bahamut came out AND have all the primals still running around causing trouble.

[Anonymoose]

^ Mostly this. Before the fight, Louisoix hadn't put everything together yet.

There is but one course open to us. To forestall Garuda's rise, we must send the power of the crystals she feeds upon back whence it came─to the bowels of the earth.

Cid spoke mostly in theories. He knew the aether flow was being bent and driven away from Mor Dhona, and he looked to Dalamud as the likely suspect, and there were hints here and there that it wasn't even returning to the land anymore, but the whole Garuda incident made it undeniable. We watched the aether rise and Darnus admitted the futility.

Right after In for Garuda Wakening, you unlock Taming the Tempest, a sidequest Hard Mode Garuda fight, and in this version Louisoix changes his tune.

It pains me to say, but even should you defeat the primals and wrest the power of the crystals from their grasp, you may succeed only in handing it to the Empire, to turn upon the red moon. Nevertheless, a primal that has risen is a primal that cannot be ignored. If left unchecked, Garuda will destroy Gridania root and stem and scatter us to the four winds.

Long story short, Dalamud's going to kill everybody in a few weeks... but unless we stop Garuda today, there's going to be one less city-state working to stop the red moon's fall.

[Taelia]

Loud and clear! Do.. d-do you have a huge database of all the NPC conversations and every bit of text in the game or something?.. I'm quite impressed.

[Anonymoose]

Do.. d-do you have a huge database of all the NPC conversations and every bit of text in the game or something?

I, uh ... there's the wik-... and... LOOK OVER THERE, GALAGOS! <smokebomb>