Urth

[Bombast]

From what we know of Allag, they were no heroes.

Technically advanced? Yes.
Aetherically proficient? Probably.
The Good Guys? Not even vaguely.

They're not heroes or good guys to us.

[HaelseMikiro]

My theory:

Odin was the Allag hero, in love with Urth.
Urth actually fell to some corrupt influence, Odin defeated her.
Odin sealed himself and Urth in the crystal to preserve her life and his love.
Urth and Odin were both released by the Calamity, and Odin searches for her once again.

[Wadoka]

A take on the old Merlin / Nimue trope, Febreealle?

[Morningstar1337]

My theory

I'll take it a bit further than that.

Odin and Urth were Star Crossed Lovers (Think Romeo & Juliet or Hikiboshi & Orihime). Odin was the leader of a group of knights called the Aesir and Urth was his lover, a commoner that sired one of his sons. She was of a rival culture.

Urth was tempered by a primal as part of a plan by her people to rid them of the Allagans. Odin had to put her down.

In grief, Odin renounced his knighthood. He sought out necromancy with the aid his sons. a Barbarian (Warrior) named Thor and a Black Mage named Loki, to Bring Urth back. But each attempt failed.

continued in next post...

[Morningstar1337]

Loki knowing full well the dangers of necromancy and that when one gazes into the abyss, the abyss gazes also, worried about his father's well being. He tried to help Odin get over Urth to no avail. Eventually Odin decided that apotheosis was the only to see Urth again.

Loki and Thor, armed with Mjolnir and Laevateinn battled their father in an attempt to stop him from completing his ritual and eventually slain him. But Loki realized as Odin dissipated into the aether that they were too late. Odin became a Primal.

Having lost their father to that abyss that gazes, The brothers prayed to the Twelve that Odin and Urth would be reunited one day.

Sometime later, Odin resurfaced as a Primal in search of Urth, he found a sorceress of similar appearance and mistook her for Urth. The sourceress saw nothing but a godlike being that must be sealed, so he fought the primal and gave her life to seal Odin in a Crystal.

[Mysteltain]

This probably doesn't mean much, but it appears that Odin has two separate quotes upon failing his FATE. For simplicity's sake, I'll list all of his quotes and FATE description, that way we have a list of battle quotes, FATE description, the Sightseeing Log entry, and the questline dialogue all in this topic:

Atop his mighty steed, clad in armor darker than the void, the Elder Primal Odin has returned to Eorzea to exact his brutal judgment upon the realm.

Initiating battle: "Who is it that would deny me passage?"
@ 90% HP: "Foolish mortals..."
@ 75% HP: "Canst thou hear the lamentations?"
@ 40% HP: "Here I stand--a god amongst men. Yet here I remain--a mere man amongst gods."
Zantetsuken casting: "Mine obsidian blade shalt split atwain the threads of thy future..."
Zantetsuken succeeds: "...whilst its crimson fuller shalt channel the lifeblood of thy past!"
Victory: "Urth... One day, I will find thee..."
Defeat: "Thou knowest not thy folly. Forfeit is thy waking soul..."
FATE Time Out: "Soon, Urth... Soon..."

To add, first, when one first encounters Odin he can be seen without his helmet so long as he isn't engaged in combat. His face appeared then to be that of a pale-skinned, white-haired Elezen male (as we know, he assumes the appearance of his vanquisher--make of this what you will). Secondly, the unique weather that occurs when he spawns in the Shroud is called "Hopelessness." Since Urth, Odin, and the Allagan Champion are inextricably linked, knowing as much as we can about each of them should help us infer more about the others.

Also, I'm curious: did the Amdapori and Allagan civilizations overlap? If so, then perhaps my idea that Urth was an Amdapori queen (or perhaps a noblewoman, given her title of "Lady" in the Sightseeing Log) may be somewhat accurate. It may indicate a connection between the two civilizations, as well.

EDIT: Just checked the Eorzean Timeline, and unless the Amdapor civilization lasted over 2,000 years and survived two Umbral Eras, they never met. So what civilizations does that leave us with? The Elezens in Gelmorra?

[Darske]

I'm getting heavy vibes of Odin being a very tragic figure from his dialogue. How about this?

Odin and Urth are both cursed, somehow, to be Elder Primals. Immortal, yet not invincible. Gods amongst men, yet at the mercy of higher forces, unable to rest in peace. What if the lamentations he mentions are Urth's, in constant pain and suffering, unable to die and yet also unable to truly live? And what if Odin seeks Urth to bring her the peace she desperately craves, through the mercy of a blade?

Now, I'm going to take this theory, and go even further beyond. Because we already know of an Elder Primal that fits this description. Bound by the Allagan, kept alive, howling in pain. In fact, if we treat the order that quests appear in as a sort of timeline, Odin appears just after it's first massive roar in years.

What if Urth is Bahamut?

[Catapult]

I'm pretty sure that Amdapoor spans the 5th Astral Era, given that the civilization was founded upon conventional magic, a product of the 5th Umbral era, and was buried at the 6th Umbral era when the Elementals stripped them of the right to roam the wood. Forced underground, the remnants of elezen inhabitance created Gelmorra before it was superceded by Gridania as the Hyur and Elezen peoples made peace with the Elementals.

With the Allagans being a 3rd Astral era affair, our Black Shroud timeline gap is the Fourth Astral era, where we have no idea what was going on. Nor do we know how accurately history has been retold through that time.

[Mysteltain]

Hrm, well, that's unfortunate, although very helpful. Then that means Urth is either of Allagan nobility or of some as-yet-unnamed civilization. Still, the phase "...countless multitudes of her people" makes it sound like she was some sort of leader... So, that may very well mean that she's neither Allagan or noble. For all we know she was a skilled sorceress and her followers were students of her art. After all, if the Sightseeing Log tells us history as it is, that's pretty damn impressive to be able to seal an Elder Primal away (albeit at the cost of her life), and people with that kind of power tend to attract followers.

[Darske]

Countless multitudes of her people, eh? You know, Bahamut IS traditionally the ruler of the dragons in Final Fantasy. And the Allag seem to have some ties to the dragons.

Just sayin'.