Face your daylight horrors!

hawkeward:

Oh my goodness I could not possibly resist.

Niall is a year or two older than Karl, but he’s got one of those faces that makes him look ten years younger. He’s also a magical prodigy, the youngest mage to be harrowed in decades and the youngest Senior Enchanter in centuries. He’s a genius with Spirit magic, and has done prolonged research on the Fade, to the tune of several frequently-cited papers and a book that becomes quite well-respected. (Of course, there is more to the Fade than he could ever possibly know. This is part of why he’s so utterly crushed when he’s trapped there by Sloth—all the knowledge he thinks he has is insignificant, and in the end comes to nothing.)

Because magic, the thing central in his life, comes so naturally to him, he doesn’t really know what it’s like to have to work and struggle for his achievements. This makes him a positively terrible teacher—in fact, he’s excused from dealing with all but the most promising students in his field—and also interferes with his relationships with his peers because he can’t relate to their frustrations. He’s quite absent-minded (or possibly just lazy) when it comes to simple tasks like straightening his study or returning library books.

Karl still likes him, for some reason. Possibly because he’s so different from Anders.

Oh my goodness, headcanon buddies! Thank you for sharing, this is the best answer! (My excitement, how do I contain it!)