Etienne Poisson

When he was very young- only about 4- his older brother was burned at the stake because someone had caught him doing magic. Each member of the family handled it differently, but he was taken in by the idea that he had to hide or perish, so he married a woman who knew about magic but thought it was evil, and let her take the reigns raising their child. Later he came to deeply regret the way he isolated Alastair in an attempt to keep him safe, but by then he was dying and could do nothing about it.