One thing I've noticed is that according to that map the only place no man's wharf could be is further along the coast by that boat and anchor. So scales is all out of proportion according to the distance traveled in game.
The game is super weird about scale.
If you look from Majula, you can see the Forest of the Giants' castle, but it is not that fa away. Similarly, from Heide's you can see Majula, but obviously you did not walk that much from Majula.
I wonder which piece of forest is the Huntman's Copse.
Regardless of the ancient dragon being fake, I suspect a big clue is in his phrase "the curse of life is the curse of want". Obviously, being alive you have desire, you want things, and this is framed as a curse.
If Nashandra is the smallest fragment of Manus and has a mental complex due to it, one idea is that she could desire to end life in order to end the ability to want anything. Essentially she wants her discomfort to cease and that requires all reality being consumed by the abyss.
I wonder if the curse of the undead itself is in some way related to all this - the undead cannot truly die, they go hollow when they lose all hope (and stop wanting things, incidentally), and they are fed by greedily consuming the essence of all things. As if the undead curse is itself an extension of the wanting of humanity.
I think you are right on the interpretation of "want".