Skyrim:Thieves Guild (faction)

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The Ragged Flagon, headquarters of the Thieves Guild

The Thieves Guild is dedicated to the gathering and training of those who are stealthy and shadowy in nature. Although criminal by its very definition, for untold years, local authorities in places throughout Tamriel have tolerated the existence of the guild for its role as "crime regulator," as it does not tolerate competition or egregious conduct from its members (not to mention the personal financial benefits for authorities who play nice). It is usually considered to be a distinctly Imperial entity, though of course other organizations of the Empire do not officially condone their actions.

Like any trade guild, the Thieves Guild is an organization of professionals, except that in this case the professionals are burglars, robbers, pickpockets, smugglers, and other enterprising operators. They typically don't have public guild halls, but sometimes have safe-houses, and members tend to gather at a single location in large towns, such as at a cornerclub, inn, or tavern. Typically, members are bound not to rob each other, kill anyone while thieving, or rob the poor. The Thieves Guild usually has the resources to bribe officials, establish a black market of stolen goods, and maintain a network of informants.

Based in the city of Riften, the Thieves Guild's headquarters can be initially accessed through The Ratway, a network of tunnels that runs under the city.

Contents

[edit] Joining

To join the Thieves Guild, begin the initial quest, A Chance Arrangement.

[edit] Advantages

Inside the Flagon
  • Access to the Thieves Guild headquarters.
  • A suit of Thieves Guild Armor.
  • Nightingale Armor, The Nightingale Blade, and The Nightingale Bow after you proceed up the ranks.
  • Three interchangeable unique powers once the Nightingale story arc is complete.
  • Access to Chillrend, potentially the deadliest sword in the game.
  • Fences who will buy stolen as well as regular goods and can carry larger amounts of gold (4,000 after completing all four improvement quests; they have 1,000 gold initially).
  • Tonilia, the fence for the Guild, is one of the earliest vendors to regularly sell Daedric weaponry.
  • Chests ranging from novice to master for building your Lockpicking skill.
  • Free gold and lockpicks lying around the headquarters.
  • Unlimited thievery radiant quests which reward gold.
  • Master-level training in Lockpicking (Vex), Archery (Niruin), Pickpocket (Vipir the Fleet), and Sneak (Delvin Mallory).
  • Guild Master's Armor (a decent light armor) and the Amulet of Articulation can be obtained once the main quest line and the guild improvement quests are completed.
  • Dialogue option to avoid conflict with thieves encountered on the roads, later upgraded to such thieves paying you tributes.
  • Guards can be bribed even if the character has low Speech skill and no bribe perk.
  • The Skeleton Key, an unbreakable lockpick.
  • The only way to learn one of the words of the Disarm shout is to complete the first six primary quests.

[edit] Quests

[edit] Primary Quests

The primary Thieves Guild questline consists of twelve quests. Three achievements (50 points; 2 Bronze and 1 Silver) are unlocked by the guild's quests.

[edit] Special Job Quests

Delvin's and Vex's quests become available once you join the guild, and can be repeated indefinitely. In addition to the monetary reward for completing these quests, they also count towards restoring the guild's status in Skyrim. In order to start the final Thieves Guild quest, Under New Management, you must complete five of these jobs in each of the other four main cities in Skyrim (Markarth, Solitude, Whiterun, and Windhelm), at which point Delvin will give you a special "reputation" job in that city. Completing these jobs also contributes to improving the guild. More complete information is available on the Under New Management quest.

Once you have completed a Reputation Quest, the option to pay the guards off by paying half the bounty becomes available. As you finish the additional jobs that Vex and Delvin give you, trophies of recovered items begin to fill the shelves behind Mercer's desk:

After completing 125 jobs, a Safe is added next to the shelves which contains random loot and potions that improve your stealth skills.

[edit] Other Quests

[edit] Larceny Targets

Bust of the Gray Fox.

Various rare items can be stolen from around Skyrim and sold to Delvin. All of these items come from locations visited during the Thieves Guild quests. As they are collected, they will be displayed on the shelves behind Mercer's desk:

See The Litany of Larceny for the locations of each item.

[edit] People

Members
Mercer Frey - Leader
Brynjolf
Cynric Endell
Delvin Mallory
Dirge
Niruin
Rune
Sapphire
Thrynn
Tonilia
Vekel the Man
Vex
Vipir the Fleet
Etienne Rarnis
Garthar
Ravyn Imyan

[edit] Fences

Fences are a special kind of merchant that will buy stolen goods from the player, removing the stolen tag in the process. As you progress through the Thieves Guild questline, additional fences become available throughout Skyrim. Note that the Fence skill perk allows you to sell stolen goods to any merchant.

Fence Location Quest Required
Tonilia The Ragged Flagon, Riften Taking Care of Business: Help Brynjolf collect some debts for the Thieves Guild.
Mallus Maccius Honningbrew Meadery Dampened Spirits: Put Maven Black-Briar's competition out of business.
Gulum-Ei The Winking Skeever, Solitude Scoundrel's Folly: Squeeze a reluctant informer for information.
Niranye In the marketplace near blacksmith in Windhelm Summerset Shadows: Remove a rival guild from the picture.
Endon Wanders around Markarth Silver Lining: Recover a stolen silver mold for a silversmith.
Enthir College of Winterhold Hard Answers: Help translate Gallus' journal.
Atahbah Roams Skyrim in a Khajiit trading caravan with Ri'saad, seen outside holds. Thieves Guild Caravan Fence Quest: Deliver Moon Sugar to Ri'saad.
Ma'jhad Roams Skyrim in a Khajiit trading caravan with Ma'dran, seen outside holds. Thieves Guild Caravan Fence Quest: Deliver Moon Sugar to Ri'saad.
Zaynabi Roams Skyrim in a Khajiit trading caravan with Ahkari, seen outside holds. Thieves Guild Caravan Fence Quest: Deliver Moon Sugar to Ri'saad.

[edit] Shadowmarks

Danger!

The Thieves Guild is also responsible for the number of symbols or runes etched or printed all around Skyrim.

These marks are codes that previous thieves have left for future thieves. These symbols are known as Shadowmarks and the legend for the code is outlined in a book of the same name, authored by Delvin Mallory, which is found in The Ragged Flagon - Cistern.

Place Mark Notes
Irkngthand Empty Empty
  • Grand Cavern, on a chest behind a gate in a southwestern room.
Guild Guild
  • Grand Cavern, on top of a table in front of the entrance.
Thieves' Cache Thieves' Cache
  • Slave pens, on top of some pipes, follow them all the way to the end. (No items?)
Markarth Danger Danger
Empty Empty
Fence Fence
Loot Loot
Protected Protected
  • Endon's House, bottom left of the door.
Thieves' Cache Thieves' Cache
Riften Danger Danger
Empty Empty
Escape Route Escape Route
Guild Guild
  • Ratway Vaults, left of the The Ragged Flagon door.
  • The Ratway, to the left of the gated door before the entrance.
  • Riften Cemetery, windows and button to secret entrance.
  • Riften Marketplace, barrel right of Brynjolf.
  • Riftweald Manor, bottom left of the front door and top left of the back door.
Loot Loot
Protected Protected
Safe Safe
Thieves' Cache Thieves' Cache
Solitude Danger Danger
Empty Empty
Escape Route Escape Route
Fence Fence
Loot Loot
Protected Protected
  • Erikur's House, left of both doors, and on the barrel by the side door.
Thieves' Cache Thieves' Cache
Whiterun Danger Danger
Empty Empty
Escape Route Escape Route
Loot Loot
Protected Protected
Safe Safe
  • Under the bridge at the entrance.
  • At the left, gated end of the stream of water that goes under the bridge.
Thieves' Cache Thieves' Cache
Windhelm Danger Danger
Empty Empty
Loot Loot
Protected Protected
  • House of Clan Cruel-Sea, top left of the door.
  • On the bottom of the right pillar of the archway next to the House of Clan Cruel-Sea.
Thieves' Cache Thieves' Cache

[edit] Bugs

  • When picking up the last Larceny item, the quest goes to stage 200 (completion) rather than the one regarding the item.
    • To avoid this you need to manually use setstage TGLarceny 80 (tested for Falmer's Eye as the final item)(stage 40 to start 'Return the East Empire Trading Map to Delvin') and additem the object instead of picking it up. Then, after handing it in, setstage TGLarceny 200. There is currently no solution for consoles.
  • Sometimes items on Guild shelves fall off; if left untouched the item will remain on the floor, but if picked up to replace on shelf the item may disappear upon next arrival at the Guild.
  • If the option to upgrade your Thieves Guild Armor is available, Tonilia will not give any other dialogue options, making it impossible to complete her other quests or gain the One with the Shadows Achievement if the armor is irretrievable.
    • PC Only This issue has been addressed by version 1.4 of the Official Skyrim Patch; this has been partially fixed-- players without their Guild armor can find more in the Ragged Flagon Cistern..
  • When quitting a Fishing Job for Delvin, if you have the item you were told to pickpocket in your inventory at the time of quitting, but did not obtain it from the mark, the item will be removed from your inventory regardless.
  • If you break into Mercer's house and take "Mercer's Plans" before starting "The Pursuit," you will glitch the game and "The Pursuit" will not start.
    • If you still have the plans on you, you can continue. Prior to giving the rubbing to Enthir and talking to Karliah to finish the previous quest, drop the plans in the room, then finish the conversations. Once "The Pursuit" has been triggered, do not pick up Mercer's Plans. Finish breaking into Mercer's house. Once the quest directs you to find evidence, go back to the inn and pick up the plans (which will be a quest item from the onset of the quest being given).
  • Sometimes the Jeweled Pitcher doesn't appear when on a job.
    • To correct this, use the console commands "prid E8F04" and "enable."
  • Talking to Tonilia before starting the quest to get your armor may prevent you from receiving it, which will make it impossible to proceed in the Thieves Guild quests.
  • The Miscellaneous Quest marked "Talk to Brynjolf about joining the Thieves Guild" may not disappear after taking to Brynjolf. After already a member of the guild, the marker does not go away.
  • Quitting a miscellaneous job reduces your Thieves' Guild Quests Completed count by 1.
  • After completing each city's "reputation" quest, there should be three Thieves' Caches made available to you there. Due to a bug, these caches may not appear.
    • On the PC you may enable them with the console using the following IDs:
Markarth - prid ff21f; Solitude - prid ff216; Whiterun - prid ff21c; Windhelm - prid ff219.
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