Thieves Guild (Skyrim)

The Thieves Guild is one of several factions that appear in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

History
As the Fourth Era continued onward, the Thieves Guild slipped further and further into obscurity. Prior to the time of the Dragon Crisis and the appearance of the Dragonborn, their influence had shrunk almost to the point of non-existence. So much so actually, that they now operate solely in Riften, working almost exclusively for Maven Black-Briar.They got accused of killing Phillip J. Fry. They are now perceived by the rest of Skyrim as nothing more than common criminals & thugs, as they traditionally were in the Iliac Bay region. Even Riften itself has acquired a shady, sinister reputation, due to the Thieves Guild's presence beneath its streets.

Joining
First, enter Riften and find Brynjolf. He should be in the town square at his stall during the day and at The Bee and Barb at night. He will usually approach the player to offer the quest A Chance Arrangement, in which he asks you to frame another merchant, Brand-Shei. Speak with him and complete his quest, by stealing Madesi's Silver Ring and reverse-pickpocketing it to Brand-Shei, (it does not matter whether you succeed or fail) and Brynjolf will ask you to meet him in the bar called The Ragged Flagon, located underneath Riften, in the Ratway. Fight your way through the thugs hired to defend the Thieves Guild, avoid the booby-traps, and make your way to The Ragged Flagon. Alternatively, you could pick the lock on the door when hopping down at the raised bridge section to avoid going through the entire Ratway. Talk to Brynjolf in the Flagon to initiate the Taking Care of Business quest. Complete this quest and return to Brynjolf and you will be the newest member of the Thieves Guild.

Here can be seen how to join the thieves guild.

Thieves' Guild Main Questline

 * 1) A Chance Arrangement
 * 2) Taking Care of Business
 * 3) Loud and Clear
 * 4) Dampened Spirits
 * 5) Scoundrel's Folly
 * 6) Speaking With Silence
 * 7) Hard Answers
 * 8) The Pursuit
 * 9) Trinity Restored
 * 10) Blindsighted
 * 11) Darkness Returns
 * 12) Under New Management

Side Quests

 * Deliver Moon Sugar to Ri'Saad (Unlocks Khajiit Caravans as Fences for Stolen Goods).
 * This is a miscellaneous quest that becomes available after you complete 3 of the 4 special jobs that Delvin will give you.

Small Jobs
Delvin and Vex offer an unlimited number of radiant quests known as "jobs." The target item(s) and location are generated randomly. Jobs can be accepted and quit at will and it is possible (and efficient) to run a job for Delvin and one for Vex simultaneously. The reward for each mission is between 100 and 500 depending on how many main quests of the thieves guild were completed, as each quest adds 50 to the amount of the reward. A Special Job will be unlocked for each, after performing five small jobs in Whiterun, Markarth, Windhelm, and Solitude. If you kill any related people during the mission, you will not be paid and the quest will come up as failed.

Delvin Mallory's Jobs

 * The Bedlam Job - Steal enough items or gold to reach a given value within the assigned Hold. Can keep stolen items. (Can be time consuming.) scrolls or potions are easy at night.
 * A very effective method is stealing an expensive item, going to a secluded location, then dropping it and picking it up a few times. Each time you pick it up it counts as a theft.
 * ​The Fishing Job - Pickpocket an item from a given character.
 * Can be difficult, but the quest item has usually a higher success percentage for pickpocketing than its usual kind, hence it is great training for this skill
 * The Numbers Job - Modify the ledger book at a given business.

Vex's Jobs

 * The Burglary Job - Steal an item from a house.
 * Can be done during the day or night easily, as the owner either sleeps or is at work
 * The best time to do this sort of job is around 7:30 PM, as there is no one at home or on the street
 * The Heist Job - Steal an item from a business.
 * If tried during the day the shopowner will most likely follow you around.
 * The Shill Job - Plant a stolen item in an NPC's home.
 * The Sweep Job - Steal three items from a house.

City Influence Quests
After performing five total Small Jobs in a city, Delvin Mallory will offer a special job to restore Thieves Guild influence in that city. The city influence quests are necessary in order to complete Under New Management and assume the title of Guildmaster. In addition, each City Influence Quest will add a new merchant to the Ragged Flagon and increase the total gold of all fences in Skyrim, up to the maximum of 4000. Players seeking to complete these city quests as fast as possible should quick save before getting a new job and then ask for Numbers Jobs only. If it is in a city whose influence quest they have already completed, quick load and try again.


 * Imitation Amnesty - Whiterun.
 * Summerset Shadows - Windhelm. Unlocks an additional fence.
 * Silver Lining - Markarth. Unlocks an additional fence.
 * The Dainty Sload - Solitude. Unlocks an additional fence and one new recruit.
 * Deliver Moon Sugar to Ri'saad - Becomes avaliable after completing 3 side quests, by speaking to Tonilia.

Note: The new recruit(s) may not appear after you finish The Dainty Sload or any other specific special assignment, but rather after you have finished a certain number of them. Players have reported that Ravyn Imyan, the new recruit, did not show up until the third special assignment was finished.

Larceny Targets

 * Larceny Targets are a series of unique items that can be sold to Delvin for an extra bit of coin.
 * Most are found in dungeons, houses, and keeps during the completion of the Thieves Guild main quest series, and during the Special Jobs.
 * Currently bugged...

Trainers

 * Delvin Mallory: Master Sneak trainer
 * Niruin: Master Archery trainer
 * Vex: Master Lockpicking trainer
 * Vipir the Fleet: Master Pickpocket trainer

Fences
Fences will buy your stolen goods from you. There are a total of 7 different fences throughout Skyrim (more if you count each individual caravan seller as a fence. These are:
 * Tonilia (Default fence - available in the Ragged Flagon under Riften upon completion of the Taking Care of Business quest)
 * Mallus Maccius (Located at Honningbrew Meadery. Becomes available upon completion of the Dampened Spirits quest)
 * Gulum-Ei (Located in Solitude . Often in the Winking Skeever . Available upon completion of the Scoundrel's Folly quest)
 * Enthir (Located in Winterhold and the College of Winterhold . Can be found in the Hall of Attainment during the day and in The Frozen Hearth at night. Available upon completion of the Hard Answers quest)
 * Niranye ( Located in Windhelm. Has a stall near The White Phial during the day. Requires special job from Delvin Mallory - Summerset Shadows)
 * Endon (Located in Markarth. Requires special job from Delvin Mallory - Silver Lining)
 * Khajiit Caravans (Located outside of cities near their stables (or near where you're dropped when you ride the carriage and/or fast travel to the area, if they don't have a stable). Requires at least 3 special jobs from Delvin Mallory to be completed, as well as the miscellaneous quest from Tonilia - Deliver Moon Sugar to Ri'Saad)

Armor Sets
When completing quests in the Thieves guild questline, the player can obtain four different armor sets.
 * Thieves Guild Armor (Obtained after Taking Care of Business)
 * Part of the main Thieves Guild questline
 * Nightingale Armor (Obtained during Trinity Restored)
 * Part of the main Thieves Guild questline
 * Guild Master's Armor Set (Obtained after Under New Management)
 * Linwe's Armor Set (Obtained during Summerset Shadows)

Reparations
In the event that you get caught stealing from or attacking another guild member or one of their associates, you will be removed from the guild and none of the members will speak to you. To rejoin the guild you must speak to Vex, she will then provide you with a quest called Reparations where you must pay her 1,000 Gold to rejoin the guild.

Members
Thieves Associates
 * Mercer Frey - Guild Master
 * Brynjolf - Second-in-Command
 * Delvin Mallory - Member, Gives the player Small Jobs and Special Jobs, also serves as Master Sneak Trainer
 * Vex - Member, Gives the player Small Jobs, also serves as Master Lockpicking Trainer
 * Tonilia - Member, Also serves as a Fence
 * Sapphire (Character)
 * Cynric Endell
 * Niruin
 * Rune
 * Thrynn
 * Vipir the Fleet - Member, also serves as Master Pickpocket Trainer
 * Garthar - Member, joins after completing three Special Jobs for Delvin Malory
 * Ravyn Imyan - Member, joins after completing four Special Jobs for Delvin Malory
 * Etienne Rarnis - Only if completed the Diplomatic Immunity quest under certain circumstances
 * Dragonborn - assumes guildmaster after Mercer's betrayal
 * Molgrom Twice-Killed-Located in the Riften Jail.
 * Vekel the Man - Runs The Ragged Flagon


 * Dirge - The Ragged Flaggon's bouncer, the brother of Maul

Trivia
Sometimes in towns there is a random Thief trying to lockpick a door. Guards will yell "Stop Thief!". You can kill this thief and take his items without any reparations.

Normally this random thief will have:
 * Gold (random amount)
 * Gold Ingot
 * Random housewares (candlesticks, platters, plates, etc.)
 * Gems (random assortment)

In the small room where training goes on, there are chests for each level of difficulty and can be picked without it being considered stealing. However, if other members of the Guild are also in the room, they will interrupt you on the Expert and Master level chests, as if the game considers it breaking in. (This is not apparent on the PC version, however) These chests contain decent loot, especially the Master and Expert level ones, and will respawn after a few in-game days, providing the player with a good source of money and training.

A book written by Delvin Mallory can be found in the Flagon, called Shadowmarks. Shadowmarks are carvings into buildings near their main doorways, and are very handy in pointing out locations around cities that have good loot.

{The Thieves Guild is an excellent place to farm arrows; simply steal all of the arrows off of every member (don't get caught while doing this, obviously), and give each member with a bow one of the arrow that you want to farm. Now, simply sit back and watch as they shoot their training targets full of an infinite amount of the arrows that you want. Grab the arrows off the targets, and use them to cause whatever mayhem and destruction you want! This method can easily get you dozens of arrows in minutes.} This will in fact work on the Xbox 360 version, you just need to wait for each member to be sleeping, in order to swap out their arrows.

If you're married to a merchant such as Ysolda, you may get a job where you place stolen goods in their house (your house if you chose to stay with spouse).

Unlike the other factions, namely the Companions (Some Companion Members can be married after the completion of "Glory of the Dead") and the College of Winterhold, you cannot marry any of their members. This is also true with the Dark Brotherhood.

Bugs

 * While not game breaking, the Civil War Quests Defense of Whiterun or Liberate Whiterun can render some houses inaccessible in Whiterun for the Special Jobs. If this is the case, just quit the job and get another. (All Platforms)
 * Sometimes Larceny Targets are impossible to turn in. (All Platforms)
 * Selling your original Thieves Guild armor can trigger a bug later in the Thieves Guild quest tree, preventing Tonilia from upgrading your armor at the end of Scoundrel's Folly. This also prevents you from interacting with Tonilia and therefore using her services as a fence.
 * Sometimes selling your original Thieves Guild armor can prevent you from getting the quest "Under New Managment" even after competing all 4 special jobs.
 * Sometimes you will not get the quest 'Dampened Spirits' after completing the quest before that. Saving + Reloading doesn't seem to work. (PS3, Jan 8 2012.; XBOX, Jan 11, 2012)
 * If after finishing planting the ring for Brynjolf, there is a person who you can talk to that will reactivate the quest to talk to Brynjolf to plant the ring. But at this point, Brynjolf will stand in the market place in his armor (as if he is still distracting to people) and you will be unable to get him into the Ragged Flagon. When talking to him he will only say to talk to him in the Flaggon, but he will never appear there thus making it impossible to join the guild.
 * If you reach stage 4 vampirism while you are a member of the Thieves Guild and are seen by Maven Black Briar, you will have "assaulted a member of the Thieves Guild" and will have to pay 1000 gold to the Doyen.
 * Game Breaking bug - Brynjolf will stand on a blacony which is unaccessable through normal means. It may be possible with Whirlwind Sprint but I have not tested it yet. This is before you start the Theives Guild Questline and you cannot start the questline.
 * If your banned from the guild, Some fences that are not in the Cistern, will still buy stolen goods.
 * Linwe's Armor will sometimes become blurred and make the arms invisible when in first person. Nothing seems to cure this.