nightwatcher [OB] Questioning assumptions about the Nightwatcher

[digitalbusker]

So, as far as I can remember we have three viewpoint characters that have sought the Old Magic: Dalinar, Taravangian, and Lift.

Did any of them actually wind up dealing with the Nightwatcher instead of Cultivation herself?

I'm leaning no, given how far what they each got was from what they asked for, and the difficulty of nailing down a discrete boon/curse for any of them. (Taravangian is closest in both these metrics, so I suppose he's most likely to have dealt with the Nightwatcher directly, but the outsize role the Diagram is playing in events makes me suspect Cultivation would have wanted to handle it personally.)

The relevant Dalinar flashback implies that Cultivation steps in for some but not all supplicants, so it makes sense that these three, all of whom are going to have a huge role in this Desolation, would merit her attention.

It's also possible that the lore we have about the Nightwatcher is unreliable, and even "standard" boons/curses are more complicated than we've been led to believe. It would be nice to have a PoV from somebody with a more standard experience, or even a scene where we see the Nightwatcher do her thing without intervention from the boss. Maybe Baxil will change his mind and be back for an interlude.

[Calderis]

This is my thoughts as well. 

The stories of other characters going to the Nightwatcher (mainly from Av in Baxil's interlude) show that the curses were all clear cut effects, separated from the boons granted. 

In Dalinar's case, the boon and curse are intertwined. Taravangian and Lift appear to be the same. 

Add in the complexity of them, and take into account that the Nightwatcher was unable to grasp the concept of forgiveness... I see no way that these three aren't all under the effects of Cultivation directly. 

For Lift, that's not all that surprising and seems to be the most straightforward of the three (so far). Dalinar I think was a move much more similar to what is happening with Taravangian, with her manipulating the pieces on the board. 

Taravangian, in my opinion, is her masterwork. He's going to be the key to undoing Odium from the inside, and he'll never even realize that he's working against the goals he thinks he has, because the Diagram is not, and has never been, what he believes it to be. 

[ScavellTane]

It looks like Dalinar's request gave her an opening to intervene.