It was handled horribly.
The Qunari retconn was so hamfisted I almost choked. "Well actually, all Quanri have horns except for special Qunari. Who, coincidentally, were the only kind of Qunari you saw in Dragon Age: Origins. And also, every single description of the Qunari in the first game somehow magically omits this most basic of descriptions, but that's not a big deal and is totally believable." It was probably one of the worst retcons in the history of nerdrage.
Your immersion was broken that much? replay DAO with the Qunari mod then, it worked for me.