(04-03-2015, 01:01 PM)undefined Wrote:Show ContentMassive good postMelkireSo I unlocked Steps last night. Haven't run the Trial yet. I've had Dragoon unlocked, at 50, and its Job Quests finished since before 2.55. I took a moment to revisit those quests and the relevant dialogue. I think it's pretty obvious what happened.
Alberic spoke of dragonsblood coursing through a dragoon's body, resonating with the soul. "Fatal Seduction" is the title of one of the DRG quests, in which he discussed with the MC the inherent danger of such power: that one might fall under the thrall of a dragon. Estinien later confirms in the lead-up to Steps of Faith that the power/blood/whatever of Nidhogg does, in fact, run through his veins/arteries/what-have-you. He also mentions somewhat in passing about its "lingering influence," if I recall the exact words properly.
Estinien also pointed out - and I think he was telling the truth - that Alberic hid the theft of the Eye from Ishgard and the Holy See itself. He later confirms that he doesn't need to physically keep the Eye on him to benefit from his relation to it, which lines up well with the Eye resonating with and calling out to the MC, effectively acknowledging the MC as a second potential Azure Dragoon.
What happened, near as I can tell:
1. Alberic acknowledged as greatest in all Ishgard, Eye passes to him.
2. Twenty years prior to ARR, Nidhogg assaults Ishgard. Alberic holds him off, fights off the temptation and seduction of giving in to the dragon within him, and in doing so routs Nidhogg... but at the cost of Ferndale. Estinien is the only survivor.
3. Estinien raised to the arts of a dragoon and ultimately acknowledged by Ishgard as the greatest since Insert-Original-Dragoon-Who-Cut-Out-Nidhogg's-Eye-Here. The Eye acknowledges him.
4. Estinien senses, through the Eye, that Nidhogg is soon to reawaken. Gets it into his fool head that maybe he can lure Nidhogg away from Ishgard and double-suicide with the great beast, thereby enacting his revenge for Ferndale and at the same time saving countless lives.
5. Estinien enacts his plan, stealing the Eye away and running off. Alberic covers this up and takes off after him in a matter of "great secrecy". Ishgard doesn't even know. Alberic gets word out to Ywain through others re: his need for an exceptional lancer.
6. DRG Job Quests level 30 - 45 happen.
7. DRG Job Quest Level 50. Alberic and the MC confront Estinien at Steel Vigil. The MC sides with Alberic rather than with Estinien. Estinien, emotionally distraught that he has been bested by his fellow Azure Dragoon (there CAN be two, we've been over this, it just so happens that E & the MC are the first ever case of two in the same generation, despite E's arrogant egocentric assertion that "there can only be one"), succumbs to Nidhogg's influence and invokes the wyrm's name, beseeching him for power. MC and Alberic triumph regardless, and Estinien disappears in a flash of aether. Alberic mentions his hopes that Estinien is still out there somewhere. The Eye, it seems, is not recovered. It is not mentioned or shown to have been recovered, nor does Alberic mention it again after Estinien disappears.
8. SPECULATION TIME: Given his later mentions at Dragonhead of not seeking to challenge you again, and that Nidhogg's influence is now only "lingering within him," I'd say his defeat at the hands of MC resulted in his recovering his faculties, i.e. the emotional turmoil having subsided, he was once again his own man. For the anime-inclined, as much as I hate the comparison, see the early arcs of Naruto and how emotional distress would cause the Kyuubi's influence to leak through and send him into a demon-powered rage. Similar concept, different execution. Having returned to himself, Estinien is likely still hiding his theft of the Eye from Ishgard, or else he has returned it there (whether the Holy See is aware or not is beside the point). Since no one but Alberic, the MC, and Estinien himself knew of his treacherous plot, Isghard, Alphinaud, and the rest of the cast are none the wiser, so Estinien continues to walk about in everyone's good graces.
EDIT: Souns, nowhere have I seen any mention of Estinien being pronounced dead to the Holy See. Where's that come from? -sifts through this thread-
EDIT 2: Regarding the Vault, it's ridiculous to assume that the Azure Dragoon wouldn't have unimpeded access to the Eye, the very relic that supposedly empowers him far beyond any would-be peers. Especially if Estinien had been loyal up until his theft of it. The most loyal DID have access to the Vault, after all.
EDIT 3: The MC, as a potential Azure Dragon, has neither the Eye in his/her possession nor are they capable of stepping into the "official" post of A.D. The MC has been too busy doing Scion-WoL-Hydaelyn's Chosen things to sit around Ishgard as its greatest protector. Alberic's words don't mean they aren't an Azure Dragoon or are incapable of being such, it just means they can't be.
Yes thank you for this. This more or less sums up how I felt about it and why I was not at all bothered by Estinien's return.
