Holy crap! <Late Main Quest Spoilers>

[Obsy]

Since they do possess bodies to exist in the mortal world (loosely remember what Minfilia said), I wouldn't be surprised if Lahabrea would jump back and forth between bodies depending on when he was needed. Whichever host was closer depending on what what he wanted do.

Hm, I'm not sure. Given the shown Ascian ability to teleport in and out at will regardless of their host body, I can't get on board with it being due simply to "convenience".

My thoughts are that Lahabrea possessed Thancred for two reasons:

1) to glean information related to the Scions of the Seventh Dawn (i.e. the location of The Waking Sands, from which he then ported Livia & Co. in for Stabby Time™), and

2) to twist the knife during the big reveal, as evidenced by Minfilia's outcry (and probably a few of our own). From a storytelling perspective, it's obvious the writers wanted to really drive home the notion that nothing was safe; our own companions could be ripped from our hands, corrupted, and used against us.

[Vilhem]

2) to twist the knife during the big reveal, as evidenced by Minfilia's outcry (and probably a few of our own). From a storytelling perspective, it's obvious the writers wanted to really drive home the notion that nothing was safe; our own companions could be ripped from our hands, corrupted, and used against us.

I'm actually REALLY glad they did this. In 1.0, the Circle of Knowing seemed almost invincible..like they were these untouchable bad-asses that could never fall. Now in 2.0, they run the same risks we do...Thancred, in a moment of weakness, ended up "taken" by the enemy. And then of course there's the fact the rest were taken captive by the Garleans.

[Kinseykinz]

why is it then, that Thancred would willingly suggest Y’shtola accompany the player to Titan’s lair...

My thoughts on this are that Thancred might have somehow been too far gone to explain 'crap I've been enthralled' but not enthralled enough by that point in the story to purposefully protect both the adventurer and Y'shtola (a healer who had the most knowledge of LL/Titan) from harm. Especially since 'Livia wasn't aiming to kill the Milifina...at least not right away. Maybe he still had enough of him inside to protect the Scions.

Another reason could just be that the timing (not yours) are off. Thanbrea wasn't yet assisting Livia at the time you left, so there was no reason to try to hold you or Y'shtola at the sands.

[Vilhem]

This was my thought as well when I did the research. From the timeline, barring any "behind the scenes" actions that we didn't witness, Than seems to be completely overtaken by the time of Livia's attack. But, what troubles me is the fact he is wearing the necklace much much earlier. If this was some kind of "homing device" Lahabrea used to keep tabs on Than (and later use to teleport into the Waking Sands), how did Than not notice what he was wearing? He had to have known he had it. Maybe he bit off more than he could chew?

The Garleans and Lahabrea have been wanting to kill the player since the start, so even if Than was slightly overtaken by then, he would not have let the adventurer out of his sight..or would have warned him he was about to be overcome by the darkness. It is also strange that someone with a high intuition like Y'shtola didn't sense a thing o_O

[Rannie]

/snip

You never know he could have found it lying around and lahabrea dropped it to some extent. He saw it as a good equip because it makes him look better to the ladies and BAM instant possession. Remember he was quite a player to the women. Second of all I doubt he even really knew that he was being possessed. Oh he may have had some inkling, (then again we don't entirely know due to the fact he's upset that it happened but it doesn't mention if he remembers it or not) Also for the fact of the clothes Lahabrea could have just made him change it before letting go of possession as to not give him a clue about it.

It wasn't just that Lahabrea was wanting information on the Scions. He was also getting extremely interested in the adventurer who "bested Ifrit" and was wanting to get rid of him and or use him in his plans.

But that's all just my thoughts ^_^

[Tenkuu]

First of all, I apologize in advance for the necro-posting, but this is a really interesting thread.

So, going by that, and what we see in the ending, we know this Crystal of Darkness was in the form of a necklace around Thancred’s neck. We see it shatter inside of the Echo where the player meets with Hydaelyn. The question is: when exactly did that necklace binding appear? We’ll analyze the timeline.

Since I'm right in the middle of these quests right now on an alt, I can tell you that immediately after taking the quest to go see the Sylphs from Minfilia, you can walk outside of the Solar and talk to Thancred who will just be standing there, and he will already have the dark crystal necklace. I don't actually know whether it's a bug that he has it this early given the fact that in the cutscene where you get the Sylph quest, he's there and not wearing it, but either way, that's the earliest that I've spotted him wearing it.

So we know from the quest “Escape from Castrum Centri”, that it was Alphinaud who suggested Thancred investigate the Ascians. When exactly then, did he take off for the mission? Right when the player heads to investigate the Sylphs and a possible threat of Ramuh summoning.

When you're reporting the Sylph quests to Minfilia, everyone is there in the office except for Thancred who, both before and after you report it, is sitting near the entrance to Waking Sands on a stool, again wearing the necklace. Before you actually walk in during that cutscene though, Alphinaud is there talking with Minfilia, and among other things they discuss an unnamed matter which they are having Thancred investigate, and the way Alphinaud is talking it seems like Thancred just gave him an update. There's almost no doubt that this is the Ascian investigation.

If the player returns to the Waking Sands, Thancred is nowhere to be found. Y’shtola, and Urianger are in the storage room, as are several other Scions. Yda and Papalymo, of course, are assisting the player with the quests in the Shroud.

I don't know about if you return during the Sylph quests, but as mentioned above, right after you get the Sylph quests, you can already find him wearing the necklace, whether this is a mistake or not.

But this also brings up the question: if my theory is wrong, and if the possession took place immediately, why is it then, that Thancred would willingly suggest Y’shtola accompany the player to Titan’s lair, instead of summoning Livia and the horde of Garleans to raid the place, knowing that the player is there? The purpose of Livia’s raid was to capture the player, after all.

I think Thancred was himself when he said that, but assuming for a moment that he wasn't, it could simply be Lahabrea playing a game of divide and conquer, especially since he probably would have known that Yda had also remained in Gridania. For me, this reinforces the notion that Lahabrea only meant to separate us from the Scions, and perhaps even carefully kept the strongest combatants such as Thancred, Yda and Y'shtola away so that the raid would have no chance of failing.

I think your theory is correct, but my personal opinion has always been that Lahabrea's and the Garlean's goals were different. I think Lahabrea was more interested in separating us from the other Scions whereas the Garleans wanted to capture us to study the Echo. Just look at us between the raid and Alphinaud's appearance at the church: we don't know what to do. I think Lahabrea knew we would lose our purpose without the guidance of the Scions.

And if he was still himself when he suggested Y’shtola go with the player to Titan, how is it that he does NOT know about the crystal around his very neck? Did he willingly make a pact with the Ascians? Some kind of plea bargain, or perhaps, he tried to take on something he could not handle on his own? Speculate away!

The necklace is fairly inconspicuous, to be fair, but given what Thancred says after the 2.0 endgame, he was likely well aware of having it and didn't think it posed a danger to him, and thus fell into Lahabrea's trap. The way he says it, he took on more than he could handle without realizing it.