Professor Carr

Carr is a large professor with white hair.

Sawyer describes Carr as terrifying and dreads the point when the whole year has to experience his style of instruction.

Carr can show limited concern for a cadet’s survival without softening his view of their power. During Violet’s punishment, he warns Varrish that the exercise could overheat or kill her and orders food and a cold bath afterward, but Violet still understands him as seeing her primarily as a rare signet rather than as a person.

Carr’s sparring instruction uses pain and fear as tools. He lets fire reach cadets because he believes scars and terror will make them wield faster, even when that pressure contributes to a cadet’s panic.

With Violet, Carr acts as a clinical signet instructor. He questions whether she has manifested, compares the extraordinary powers in her family, calls her delicate, and says Tairn’s choice creates expectations for an exceptional signet.

Once Violet’s lightning appears, Carr takes direct charge of her training. He removes her from Archives duty, drills her on a high-altitude site chosen to reduce fire and overheating risks, records her responses, and works her through daily sessions that raise her output even before she can aim well.

Felix sharply revises Violet’s view of Carr’s instruction, saying Carr trained her for output and count rather than precision, control, energy fields, or the true nature of her signet. In Felix’s assessment, Violet’s lack of fine control is Carr’s fault because he never taught her to shape small strands of power.

Carr’s instruction begins after a rider’s dragon channels, when cadets have to learn shielding and wielding.

Carr can wield fire from his hands, a signet Bodhi is able to counter and extinguish during the public defection from Basgiath.

Mira counts Carr among the few likely powerful riders still on campus when most forces have been sent to Samara, guessing that the strongest remaining riders are Lilith and perhaps Carr.

Carr’s output-focused approach has practical value when Violet needs broad lightning volume rather than precision. Against the wyvern horde, she explicitly credits his training while using many-column strikes.

When Jeremiah manifests as an inntinnsic, Carr grips Jeremiah’s head, breaks his neck, and carries the body into the rotunda.

During the public defection from Basgiath, Carr attacks the dais with fire and shouts that the defectors will end everyone over people they have never met. Bodhi counters the attack, leaving Carr staring at his hands while Bodhi tells him he taught them well, perhaps too well.

Xaden reveals that Carr killed another first-year for reading minds, which is why Xaden concealed his own second signet when it manifested. Carr later questioned Xaden about strange abilities because officials knew Sgaeyl had bonded one of Xaden’s relatives, but Xaden’s shadow signet seemed strong enough to explain his power.

In Signet Sparring, Carr responds to Panchek’s order by driving an alloy-hilted dagger through a Claw Section second-year’s back and into her heart after she drains color from the mat. The killing demonstrates Carr’s willingness to execute a suspected venin instantly, without questioning or any attempt at a cure.