Well, I may or may not have conscripted the mages on purpose because I knew freeing them was a pro-Leliana choice. 
The funny thing is that to me she was by far the best candidate. When we had the "why stop at mages?" conversation in Haven I thought "omg Leliana for Divine 2k14!" and I was still unspoiled at the time!
But then I found out it was a real possibility and it didn't feel right anymore, not with a romanced Warden still out there trying to stop the Calling for her sake. And by the way becoming the head of the Chantry is literally the opposite of "laying down her burden"...
So I tried to settle for Cass but I failed miserably and got Vivienne, months of chaos, three revolts she crushed quickly and "viciously", a new Circle, a new Templar order and the death of most rebel mages; it was also said Vivienne only won because of the warm relationship she had with my Inquisitor. 
For my next playthrough I'm going to import a world state with a dead romanced Warden. It's going to be depressing as hell, but at least I'll be able to fully support Leli as Divine... we'll see if Viv manages to jump in at the last minute even then 