The It that came from beyond Imagination – Page 90

Leaving aside, for the moment, the question of whether the twins managed to do anything that the Watcher-Humpty-on-the-Dumpty-Wall had really never seen before, whatever it was that it did see was apparently intriguing enough to thoroughly distract the Watcher from its eponymous function.

But that sort of dereliction of duty cannot go unpunished! Especially since the Watcher doing that watching was supposed to provide the crucial framing device to relate the fate of the heroes in their individual fights versus their respective nemeses. Watching would have made that visible. Which would have been nice.

And the Watcher-on-the-Wall is, after all, one of the bad guys. To the limited degree to which concepts of morality and gender apply to it, I guess, but ultimately to the full degree in terms of narrative structure. While the good guys might get away with a slap on the wrist for a mistake, since their superiors naturally tend to be even better guys, high-ranked bad guys usually try to cultivate an image of not suffering fools gladly.*

And as far as the severity of punishment is concerned, high-ranking bad guys don’t usually mess around. Quite the opposite.
Fortunately for the Watcher, however, Nyarlathotep is somewhat constrained by its own chaotic and unpredictable nature…I would guess Latho had intended the punishment to be a bit (or a lot) more serious than it turned out to be, but if you’re in with chaos for a penny, you’re in with it for a pound.

And, hey, having a delicious donut on its head actually is some sort of punishment for a creature that doesn’t have a mouth…it’s just not quite as bad as getting disintegrated on a molecular level and spread out over the least popular corners of the multiverse. >_>