The Rotten

Lore

The Rotten is an amalgamation of Undead bodies residing, and writhing, deep within the Black Gulch below the Gutter. The Rotten appears to have begun with an Undead trapped in one of the numerous iron cages found throughout Drangleic and is held together with chains. The Rotten embraces all, in his sanctuary for all things unwanted or tossed away.

The official strategy guide explains:
"A patchwork entity born from an amalgamation of lost souls and the withered bodies they inhabited, over time The Rotten absorbed so many life forces that he came to possess a Wonderous Souls of his own. He dwells deep below the surface world, embracing all that arrive at his sanctuary for things unwanted or thrown away and granting them new life as part of himself…"

There is one particular Undead on The Rotten's shoulder that mimics its movements, like it is controlling them.

Shalquoir mentions in passing that the Rotten has been at the bottom of the Gutter for a very, very long time and implies he may not have been rotten from the beginning.

When Shulva, the Sanctum City was enveloped in Sinh's poison, it may be that one of the fleeing survivors discovered the remnants of Nito's soul. This soul seems to have the perverse urge to gather power by combining itself with other less powerful beings. Nito was a conglomeration of skeletons, and this possibly explains one of the reasons behind his goal to spread death as much as possible (those who died can add their power to his). In contrast to this, the Rotten seems to take a more compassionate line, embracing all those who are unwanted or tossed away. When Shulva sank, he may have sheltered many who were fleeing in the 'Sanctum of the Scorned' (Unused content name for the Black Gulch primal bonfire). We know that the Pit has been used to toss away anything unwanted, and that the Rotten has been down there a long time, so this could mean that while the Rotten's origins may have had something to do with the fall of Shulva, its power grew over the centuries as figures like Lord Aldia and King Vendrick used the Pit to toss away anyone or anything deemed unwanted. The Rotten embraced these poor souls after…

Some of the more determined souls exiled
to the Gutter sought to scale the walls of the
forsaken place and walk the earth once again,
but failed, and wasted away mired in misery and
resentment.

The Rotten's chamber contains a vast number of the poison spitting statues, with the curious detail that they don't actually spit poison. From outside the boss fog, we hear what seems to be a number of voices weeping. When we enter the boss chamber, the Rotten places a broken head on the body of one of the statues. When it falls off, the Rotten has a paroxysm of what appears to be rage and then attacks us. It seems from this that the Rotten has some strong connection to these statues, and perhaps whoever the Rotten was, once constructed them. The Rotten is also capable of an oil spitting attack. Its chamber, as well as the Black Gulch are full of small puddles of oil. From this it is implied that the Rotten is the creator of the oil puddles, and that the Black Gulch, while a natural formation, has been transformed into the Rotten's domain.

Theories

The Rotten is Pharros the Vagabond.

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There are numerous failed and discarded experiments that litter the Gutter and Black Gulch that have connections to Aldia's Keep: flesh dogs, poison curing bug, exploding undead, etc. This implies that Aldia could have been using the hole in Majula to dispose of experiments that have gone wrong, or to even prevent some experiments from escaping. As for the Rotten, it's evident that he has ties to Pharros the Vagabond due to what's around him.

The poison spitting statues are directly from the Doors of Pharros; you can see them lined up and stored away there. Pharros was known for his cunning inventions, but he was also gifted in creating traps (as in Grave of Saints and Doors of Pharros). This would explain why the Gutter and Black Gulch are littered in poison spitting Pharros Statues. If you cut off the Rotten's right arm, he'll drop a Pharros Lockstone, and there's also another Pharros Lockstone hidden in a pot near the closest bonfire to his fog-wall.

With The Rotten holding the Soul of the Old Dead One, Aldia might have kidnapped Pharros (possibly because Pharros was known for accidentally being credited for the the inventions of others, so it might have been jealousy) and tried to recreate a Lord (Nito), but this obviously failed due to Pharros being transformed into what he is now. The opening cutscene for the Rotten shows him trying to repair one of his statues, which he fails because of his hideously grotesque form. He uses a Giant Butcher's Knife, which can also be found in one of the rooms in Aldia's Keep. In essence, Aldia transformed Pharros into an abomination in a failed ritual or experiment, and discarded Pharros and his statues (along with other experiments) down into the Gutter and Black Gulch.

However, Pharros was not directly transformed into The Rotten by Aldia. Aldia's experiments turned him into something, but not quite what The Rotten is as we know now it. Once Pharros was in the Pit, the nature of Nito's lord soul further morphed and mutated his body and mind until he became what we see as The Rotten. This is further evidenced by The Rotten's own soul description, which says he embraces all things thrown down the Pit, and he adds them to himself, and Nito was the god of death who embraced all dead as well.

Behind the first bonfire in Black Gulch there appears to be some sort of face carved into the wall. This may have been Pharros' carving, before he fused himself with other rotting bodies. It resembles a crude version of his devices.

The Rotten is a survivor of Shulva, the Sanctum City.

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Given the position of the Rotten's boss chamber, it seems possible that those survivors fleeing the destruction of Shulva, the Sanctum City found rest within the 'Sanctum of the Scorned' (Unused content name for the Black Gulch primal bonfire). One of the survivors would have come upon the soul of Nito and come under its influence. They used their new found power to help and protect those who had no where else to go, but it was after this deeply compassionate beginning that things began to go wrong. The Old Souls continue to exert influence over the land, and the holder of Nito's soul must have begun to combine with the Undead and discarded who found their way into its sanctum (perhaps by chaining and caging them all together). In this way, what once began as a compassionate attempt to help others eventually went horribly wrong. This would explain why the Rotten can be heard weeping before we enter its chamber, it remembers what it once was. It would also explain the peculiar Undead on the Rotten's left shoulder that seems to control its movements.

We do not know where the poison shooting human statues came from, but can be confident the Rotten has a connection to them. Its chamber is full of them and they encircle the room, looking down upon the Rotten like an audience. The Rotten may have created these statues, which are "probably just some auld pagan custom" (Laddersmith Gilligan). We know that Shulva was a center for the worship of Sinh, but what about the Squalid Queen, Elana? She appears to be the head of the priestess order (as she and the priestesses sing to the Dragon, and have a deep association with dark), and it may be that she was worshiped as some sort of figurehead representing the Dragon. Worship of Elana would certainly constitute as "some auld pagan custom", and the human statues themselves certainly seem to resemble a female, in fact, they seem to resemble the central figure on the sculpture who holds a staff and has a hood over their head, almost like they are the high priest (or priestess). In this case, it could be that the Rotten once ardently worshiped the Squalid Queen and the Dragon, but abandoned that faith when the Dragon's poison toppled Shulva. Yet, the Rotten still fixates on these statues almost as if they bring it comfort… "At thy twilight, old thoughts return, in great waves of nostalgia." (Hawkeye Gough).

It may be (tying into another popular theory) that Pharros was a resident of Shulva, who worshiped Elana and the Dragon but became disillusioned when Shulva sank, eventually finding the Old Soul of Nito and becoming the Rotten, though this is all wild speculation.

The Rotten is a Community

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The Rotten's boss room is full of statues that don't spit poison, which is very odd considering the area and the fact that the others in front of the boss room are pointed towards the advancing player, obviously meant to keep them out. The Rotten itself is sort of its own little community of victims that could be trying to stave off its own version of the advancing abyss, the poisonous toxic waste that has consumed the surrounding environment from lifetimes of careless disposal down the pit. You could think of the statues as the Rotten's children. He's seen trying to help one that has had its head cut off while all of its other children outside have been corrupted by the poisonous abyss. A sort of microcosm mirroring the outside world.

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