YMMV / Book of the New Sun

• Anticlimax Boss: After gassing himself up as an unstoppable God-Emperor returned to take over the known universe, Typhon is easily killed within pages of his resurrection by Severian socking his Piaton head in the face and then kicking him out of a window. It's as satisfying as it is hilarious.
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: Severian recalls a number of incidents that he admits don't have any apparent bearing on the plot. Subverted in that many (all?) of them do hint at things that Severian hasn't figured out but the reader is expected to. For example, the chapter about Triskele may be taken to show that Severian could raise the dead long before he held the Claw.
• Designated Hero: Severian can be seen as very unlikeable, and his actions are rarely, if ever, heroic.
• Epileptic Trees: Whole groves of them. Some people have claimed that Dorcas might actually be a vampire.
• Everyone Is Jesus in Purgatory: Prone to this.
• Heartwarming Moments: After Severian is declared the New Sun, the human sailors with him try to kill him to prevent him from becoming the Destructive Saviour he's destined to be. The Hierogrammates conjure up replicas of people from Severian's past to defend him - but since they feel obligated to give the sailors a sporting chance, they make sure to only call up people who have reason to hate him. And yet, every single one of the replicas fight for Severian, putting their own feelings for him aside for the hope of a better future for the human race.
• Les Yay: Severian speculates that this happened between Dorcas and Jolenta during his absence.
• Moral Event Horizon: A rather ambiguous example, the nature of Severian having sex with Jolenta. It is highly questionable whether it was non-consensual or not— it might have been Severian's guilt about the rough nature of the sex — and she didn't really resist. Like the rest of the book, it's hard to know. The reader's reaction is how they read into the scene.
• One-Scene Wonder:
  • Master Ultan, a Cool Old Guy librarian responsible for a truly fascinating lore dump.
  • Valeria, whom Severian briefly meets once by accident but can't stop thinking about for the rest of his life. Fortunately, she reappears in Urth of the New Sun, as Severian married her after becoming Autarch, but she's once again only actually present in one scene.
  • The Cumaean only appears in person at the end of Claw of the Conciliator, but is one of the most mysterious and intriguing characters in the novel, and the revelations she presents are essential to unravelling the plot.
• Rewatch Bonus: There are many hidden aspects of the story. Including:
  • Dorcas, Severian's second true love, is also his grandmother.
  • The tomb Severian spends much of his free time in as a child is his own. Hilarious in Hindsight because in one of the early chapters of the first book, Severian specifically notes that the funeral bronze on display in the tomb has similar facial features to his own.
  • For some, the appeal of the Urth cycle lies in trying to uncover the 'true story', to which the events of the plot, seen through Severian's extremely subjective gaze, allude.
• Tear Jerker:
  • You WILL feel sad when Terminus Est shatters during Severian's fight with Baldanders.
  • The Surprisingly Sudden Death of Little Severian, who gets instantly burned to death by an ancient technology he couldn't possibly have suspected of being dangerous.

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