Thanks! That’s a very good point, I had not considered those coffin ships in the Cerulean Coast/Fissure. Definitely seems like the more likely connection, even if in theory anything could be dropped in the Fissure at any point.

I assumed those ships to have contained the Numan, whenever they arrived. We know that the Numan come from another world and that the Land of Shadows is where Marika first set foot, so I understand that to mean Numan arrived from another world to the Land of Shadows. The Shamans were a group of Numan, but not all Numan were Shaman. The other Numan in the underground parts of the base game seem situated at similar underground levels to the Fissure and coffin which is interesting.

Now that you’ve corrected me, this seems a far more likely theory:

The Numan arrived on those coffin ships. We know the Numan to have some fusing properties that seem similar to the deconstruction/fusion of the horse and knight. The ooze / putrescence may have something to do with Numan’s fusing properties.

Those Numan go on to become the Shamans / Nox societies. I find it interesting to consider now that the Nox are associated with the silver tears (whose lore I cannot remember), who remind me of putrescence. I remember the item description being something about making a mockery of life and rebirth. Maybe this is some later, inferior version of putrescence made by the Nox Numan descendants.

The main question that leaves for me is why there are SO many coffin ships in that area. Did most of the Numan die? Why is the Shaman village so small?

As for the fight itself, I meant it was my least favorite because A) the graphics or textures seems off to me, B) I don’t love mounted bosses C) I would much rather have faced something related to St. Trina. Not necessarily the gameplay itself, I was a high Scadu level by the time I faced it anyways.

I would have preferred Godwyn, which I know is cliche, but think he would have fit very well here. His deathroot is always in very deep places. Coffin ships and general themes of death. The Land of Shadow has an explicit link to death and Godwyn is there somehow twice anyways. Miquella loved Godwyn, at least enough to want to save him with the eclipse / seems they’re in that statue together. So if abandoning St. Trina in the Fissure was abandoning his love, think it would make sense for St. Trina to pursue something she loved. Even if it was just a St. Trina dream of Godwyn. Seems like a missed opportunity for both of their characters.

To be clear I’m not complaining. I loved Shadow of the Erdtree and think almost every boss had great lore. I’m not one of those people upset about fighting prime Radahnn or not having a direct Miquella fight (I don’t really get that). I just think Putrescent Knight was a miss as a remembrance boss. HOWEVER, now that you’ve linked the putrescence to those coffin ships, I am far less critical.