I love it how the Thieves Guild is changed in Skyrim(in comparison to Oblivion). In Oblivion, the Thieves Guild was more like a Robin Hood-esque organisation, where killing was forbidden(under almost all circumstances), and a heck of a lot of gold was given to the beggars. When I joined them with my opportunistic Dark Elf, I felt a bit out of place, 'cause I only wanted to make gold, and IDGAF about everything else. And then suddenly you had to bribe beggars, and you were kicked out of the Guild if you killed someone.

However, the Thieves Guild in Skyrim is very different, and much better in my opinion. They extort money from everyone, including hardworking storeowners and poor marketvendors. Everybody says their prime goal is to make money. They even accept bandits and thugs(like the guy who didn't want to execute prisoners) It suits a guild of thieves much better. The only downside according to me are the Nightingales. I love their armor(best looking in the game), but thieves and religion? And it's like Bethesda feels it coming, because Karliah tries to explain it to you when you asked about the link between thievery and religion.

But overall I think the Skyrim Thieves Guild suits a thief much better than those white knights from Oblivion.

I liked the Thieves Guild in Oblivion more. I wasn't a fan of the Nightingale things going on in Skyrim. Took away the Thief experience. The Thieves Guild story in Skyrim was not something I see a thief doing. In Oblivion you steal an Elder Scrolls and jump off of the Imperial Palace Tower, you discover who the Gray Fox is and get his cowl in the end of it. That is something a thief would do in the Thieves Guild, not all of this Nightingale religious doings. Though I do agree the armor looks nice for the Nightingales.

The Thieves Guild is so decentralized, each guild is very different in each province. The ones in Morrowind and Daggerfall operated more like the ones in Skyrim, except there was also other things they did, like kidnapping (Daggerfall), murder (Morrowind), drug smuggling (both). Once again, the Cyrodiil branch is the oddman out, operating more like Robin Hood bandits than actual thieves.

I've got to agree about the nightingale stuff. It was cool, and in my opinion a very good set of quests, but I also think it should've been a "side" quest. The main portion of the guild should have been restoring it to it's former glory. At least that's my take.

I loved the guild in Oblivion myself, but I think this one is damn good too.

I agree with that, but I still think that the core thought of Skyrim's Thieves Guild is 'make money', while that core thought of Oblivion's Thieves Guild is 'make money without hurting the poor'. I think a real thief doesn't give a damn about the money he's been stealing, if you have moral objections, you shoulnd't have become a thief.

Maybe I was a bit too negative about the OB TG, but they don't feel like real thieves, in my opinion. Although, I liked the fact that you had to do some jobs first for the Guild before you got to the 'main' part(stealing of an Elder Scroll) of the questline.

In Cyrodiil though, it was explained that the peasants/poor are very helpful with gathering info/hiding thieves/misdirecting the guards/warning the thieves etc... so it makes sense that they take care of them.

If that was not the case, I'd be inclined to agree. Since it IS though, it's hard for me to accept that any successful thieves' guild COULD ignore them, in that situation.

I agree with you, they need them, but they also could have coerced them in a more negative way, using fear and power to subjugate the poor. But I guess that's personal, because I can understand that not everybody would agree with me on that.

Skyrim's Thieves guild seemed a lot more 'realistic' compared to the robin hood-esque Oblivion guild. BUT the last Thieves guild mission in Oblivion, where you had to was so epic compared to the relatively down-to-earth Skyrim's thieves guild quests.

So, in conclusion, both games had their good and bad points regarding the Thieves guild.

To be honest, I hadn't considered that. You're an evil guy. I like it.


I can certainly agree that it felt MUCH more epic in Oblivion than it does in Skyrim, but I think that's part of why I like Skyrim's guild. It's more "down to earth."

I guess you're right
But when I join the Thieves Guild, I wanna be a real bad guy, and not a saint with questionable methods.

I actually felt really bad during one of the very first missions in Skyrim's thieves guild when I had to break someone's prized possession: a Dwemer urn. I applaud a game's ability to make me feel bad for my action... it's rather hard to do

Only time I had a similar feeling in Oblivion was due to a certain Fighter's guild quest. So Skyrim's definitely an improvement for Bethesda's quest design and writing.

Yeah... I felt like a jerk too. I tend to do that one last unless I'm misremembering something.

It's been so long since I've played Oblivion, but I DO remember feeling bad about one of the quests. I don't rightly recall which though.

I think most real thieves don't care all that much; but it seems to me you're suggesting only callous people ever steal, because all thieving is wrong, and I don't think either point holds. If someone only could steal all Rupert Murdoch's money, I should think they practically had a duty to.

True, in Oblivion it was more of a "Robin Hood" thing instead of being a true Thief that is in it for the gold. I think they could have done something better than the Nightingale story. Mercer Fray was a pretty cool character, had he stay as the leader.