Highlights
- The Thieves Guild in Skyrim has a seedy and mysterious reputation, with its headquarters hidden underground in Riften and its members engaging in illicit activities.
- Skyrim's Thieves Guild questline is extensive, with 12 main quests and side-jobs that involve heists and supernatural elements, including fulfilling an oath to the Daedric Prince Nocturnal.
- In contrast, Oblivion's portrayal of the Thieves Guild is more secretive and mythical, with the presence of the guild being downplayed by guards and the Gray Fox serving as the legendary Guildmaster. The questline ends with breaking the curse of the Gray Fox and inheriting the guild's leadership.
The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim did a lot in the way of innovating the franchise's formula to create a truly unique and wide-spanning experience. With that being said, there are a lot of core features of the wider Elder Scrolls identity that the game carried forward, such as its many guild-related questlines.
One of the most memorable re-appearing guilds in The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim is the Thieves Guild, boasting its own dedicated story in the title. The Thieves Guild held a similar level of importance in The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, with both projects' interpretations of the guild and its questlines sharing general similarities alongside several stark differences in certain areas.
Skyrim's Take on the Thieves Guild Questline
The Thieves Guild has always been one of the most alluring and mysterious explorable guilds within The Elder Scrolls franchise. While not being as ominous as the likes of the Dark Brotherhood, the illicit basis of the Thieves Guild gives the organization a seedy undertone which informs the nature of its plots and explored themes.
With the Thieves Guild being comprised of a wide range of eponymous thieves, it only makes sense that Skyrim sees the guild's headquarters be smartly hidden away underground in the city of Riften. Skyrim intensely explores the Thieves Guild as a shady and untrusting organization, with many of its members acting as loan sharks for vulnerable citizens and generally possessing an unsavory reputation.
The quest line for Skyrim's Thieves Guild is quite lengthy at 12 main quests and side-jobs. This narrative sees the Dragonborn rise to the rank of Thieves Guild Master through a range of heists and supernatural elements. For example, the height of Skyrim's Thieves Guild questline sees the player fulfill an oath made to the Daedric Prince Nocturnal, who has many ancient ties to the guild. Skyrim's questline quickly transcends its early roots of petty thievery, eventually encompassing an ethereal experience between realms and mortal plains.
Oblivion's Portrayal of the Thieves Guild Questline
Oblivion is set 200 years before the events of Skyrim, with its own portrayal of the Thieves Guild and its quests being quite different as a result. With Oblivion being set in the important Imperial capital of Cyrodiil, the game's Thieves Guild is even more secretive than other titles due to the increased regulations and security of the province.
During the timeframe of Oblivion, the Thieves Guild has a more mythical-like reputation among everyday folk. Many of Oblivion's guards will even suggest that the Thieves Guild is a nonexistent fairytale, typifying the reserved presence of the guild compared to the pomp of Skyrim's portrayal.
Oblivion's Thieves Guild mystique is further reinforced by the Gray Fox, a legendary figure who sits as the Guildmaster of Cyrodiil's faction. The Gray Fox first rose to fame 300 years before the events of Oblivion, with his trademark gray mask and moniker being passed down to each new Guildmaster over time. This gives a layer of mystery to Oblivion's Thieves Guild quests, with the player taking missions from increasingly notorious figures before answering to the Gray Fox himself.
Oblivion's Thieves Guild questline ends with the player breaking the curse of the Gray Fox, allowing the figure to resume his past identity and pass the title down to the player character. This differs from Skyrim's portrayal in Oblivion's more grounded quest finale, though both concern deeply important lore elements of the guild. With Skyrim's portrayal showing a much more successful Thieves Guild, it is no wonder that its questline involves such grandiose supernatural elements compared to Oblivion's more modest take on the organization.
The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim is available now on PC, PS3, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
