(urth) Claw = Fang?

[Lee Berman]

>Jerry Friedman: Yes, rejected but not refuted.  Even bringing something up with a negative is bringing it up.

Completely agreed. (e.g. Severian's unprompted denial of pedophilia is the only reason we might think it happened.)

>the badger: at the climax of the ceremony the torturer's wheel appears to be covered with serpents which turn 
>into roses

>David Stockhoff: If a rose is one of Severian's symbols, and a serpent is not, then what 
does that mean? Was Typhon a serpent?

This is the direction of my interpretation also. Typhon was the worst sort of ruler and Severian will become
the best sort (willing to ban torture, anyway).

The Green Man is a similar amalgam of animal turned plant (and perhaps man and woman), foretelling of a better future.