"The Chantry made us their scapegoat, and the people are like sheep." Hopefully getting rid of the Chantry wouldn't just make something worse rise up in its place, something that the blind faithful would be all too happy to follow.

As Altair spoke, Anders was suddenly reminded of Merrill, and her insistence that blood magic wasn't any different than regular magic. He didn't quite see how something called 'the dark side' could be used for good, but he trusted Altair on the matter.

When Altair finished, Anders whispered, "I'm sorry. You didn't deserve that. Nor do other Force sensitive Chiss."

What he described wasn't exactly like being made tranquil, but that didn't mean it wasn't still awful. It was still treating a gift like something shameful, something worthy of death.

"That sounds as bad as what Qunari do to their mages. They see magic as so dangerous, so volatile, that they just break their mages. Qunari sew their mages' lips together, collar them, and turn them into slaves who exist only to obey their handler." The encounter with the Saarebas still stuck with him all these years later.

"Not to downplay what happened to you, or what happens to other Chiss with your power."