Having attempted to convince the reader that his pentalogy is a non-rational fantasy, Wolfe complicates his literary game by deploying three motifs which can serve to deactivate interpretative enquiry: a first-person narrator, the autobiographical form, and the structure of the monomythic cycle. If the reader is familiar with these paradigms, he or she may not apprehend the subtle subversions that Wolfe works on their conventions and may, accordingly, be drawn further from the story shaping the action of the novel.

Wolfe's employment of a first-person narrator expedites the reader's trust in the veracity of the document, and in the credibility of the protagonist himself. During the act of reading, Severian's voice becomes, inexorably, that of the reader, until the identification between reader and character becomes so intimate that an autonomous view of Severian's thoughts and actions is subordinate to passive acceptance. Leech and Short observe that a close relationship between reader and character inevitably prejudices the reader in the narrator's favour. Consequently, such bias can lead the reader into adopting opinions that he or she would not normally entertain during the reading process. In the context of The Urth Cycle, this effect assists the reader's acceptance of a torturer as a sympathetic protagonist.

Wolfe makes considerable efforts towards evoking this sympathy by making Severian appear almost benign. For example, when Severian executes Agilus towards the conclusion of The Shadow of the Torturer, Wolfe places considerable emphasis on the fact that Agilus has attempted to deceive and murder Severian, has killed innocent bystanders at the Sanguinary Field, and remains unrepentant even when condemned. In his dealings with Agilus, Severian, in his role as headsman, is presented as considerate; he visits Agilus before his execution to ensure that his actions on the scaffold do not disgrace him: