A is for Apostate, and that means you!
Garret never thought of himself as an apostate. An apostate was someone who lived outside the law, someone who was dangerous. Garret was nothing to himself but a person, someone who was born free. He never stopped to question why he wouldn't have this freedom, because no one ever threatened this freedom. Other than that, afew Templars would show up, but along with Carver he would always use his wily, wily ways to get rid of them. Carver would be the first to disagree however, stating that the Templars 'were always on their tails.' Carver was always the first to bitch.
When he left Ferelden for Kirkwall, he found out other mages had it differently, and it was a baffling discovery. He thought of the circle more as a sort of school, never a prison. Somewhere mages would go for some time in their lives and be able to leave if they learned properly, and weren't stubborn. This was far from the truth, it seemed, and what an awful truth.
Garret did hear awful tales of Apostates escaping from time to time, and the horrible punishments Templars would unleash if a mage escaped. He was told certain mages would be broken down, distributed and fed to their fellow mages after their death. He was sure this was a load of shit, but the thought was still very frightening.
However, what he feared most was the idea of being made tranquil; The idea of someone taking away your thoughts, your dreams, taking away all the color and daily pleasures of life just because you may be something to fear is a fate worse than death.
Most Templars are idiots anyway, it seems. After Garret left for Kirkwall, if he wasn't an open apostate he didn't know who was. This made Carver increasingly grumpy it seemed, causing almost every sentence that came out of his mouth to be one about how he was caught in Garret's shadow. Garret wondered why he didn't just move over if he didn't like being in his shadow.
Most mages are also idiots it seems. It's very contradictory to state not all mages are blood mages or abominations, and then become one yourself. Garret had met so many abominations and blood mages throughout the years Fenris' ramblings soon began making sense.
Not to mention the two other mages in his little band of misfits were exactly that: an abomination and a blood mage. Increasingly frustrating ones, too.
He missed Bethany. Never once did she go on ramblings about the plight of the mages, never once did she turn to blood magic. She was really into shoes, though, Garret always counted that as her biggest flaw.
One thing people never seemed to get is that Garret Hawke was himself, an apostate that never turned to blood magic and never became an abomination. You think people would pay better attention.
At the end of the day, although Garret was never an abomination, he was a mage he supposed, and mages outside of the circle are apostates. He was also several things the Templars would not see, and this was the same with every mage.
Shit, he's beginning to sound like Anders.