No one should be treated inhumanely, but yes, turn into the very things that the farmers fear. Murder some of the people who were wanted to help. Unleash a plague of blood magic and demons. I am not saying the templars are blameless. On the contrary, what happened in the Kirkwall circle was abominable. My job was to find the truth behind what happened. Nothing more.
We tried to find a common ground but someone destroyed everything. Killed the divine, most of the mages and templars who had gathered, the entire temple of Sacred Ashes. It created a hole in the sky, a massive breach to the fade. Demons fell to the earth by the thousands. It was weeks before we truly understood what had happened, but by the time we did the damage had been done and the war spiraled out of control. It became nothing more than petty skirmishes over the same land.
As for Hawke....We wanted her to lead the Inquisition. The chantry was too mired in petty squabbling and trying to shift blame. The templars and mages were both out of control. We needed someone to step in and unite everyone. And after the temple, we needed that someone more than ever. Unfortunately, Hawke had other concerns. Gray Wardens, blood magic rituals. A mess.
I'm still going to strangle Varric for hiding her whereabouts from me.
But you must understand. There was no grand struggle for freedom. It was just war and death and pain and misery. Swords chopping off limbs, fire burning skin. Everyone blaming everyone else and peasants and children caught in the middle. We were all so distracted we didn't see the evil manipulating it all behind the scenes until mages and templars alike were turned into red lyrium twisted monsters. We saved most of the mages, but the templars...
I am afraid no one will remember your noble reasons behind what started the Mage-Templar war. They will only remember the suffering the war caused. They will only remember the demons and the corrupted templars.
I have not yet dreamed of the end of it all. I know what I must do. I know that the templars cannot be as they were and the way we handle mages must change. But I don't know yet how that will all look.