Skyrim:Thieves Guild (faction)

100px|right thumb|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   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.
For historical information, see the Lore article.

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.

Joining
To join the Thieves Guild, travel to Riften and come into contact with Brynjolf, who can be found at the market stalls during the day, or the Bee and Barb tavern during the night. Brynjolf will approach you and question your wealth before inviting you to help him with a little plot. This begins the first quest, A Chance Arrangement, in which you must steal a ring and plant it on another person.

If the quest is failed, Brynjolf will still give you the next quest. Travel down to the canals and enter the Ratway. Defeat the bandits and follow the tunnels to the Ragged Flagon, headquarters of the Thieves Guild. Here, Brynjolf will give you the next quest, Taking Care of Business, tasking you with roughing up three business owners for debts he needs collected.

You can be expelled from the guild by assaulting/murdering a member, attempting to steal from the guild and getting caught, or murdering someone during a guild quest. You must pay 1,000 gold in reparations to rejoin.

Advantages
thumb|Inside the Flagon
Access to the Thieves Guild headquarters.
A set of Thieves Guild armor.
A suit of Linwe's Armor, a unique armor set obtained from a sidequest.
A set of 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 unique sword in the game and the strongest in the original game.
Fences who will buy legally-obtained and stolen goods and will have larger amounts of gold available for trading than normal merchants (1,000 initially, 4,000 after completing all four improvement quests).
Tonilia, the fence for the Guild, is one of the earliest vendors to regularly sell Daedric weaponry.
Access to four new merchants at the Ragged Flagon, including a blacksmith and an alchemist, after completing certain sidequests for the Guild.
Respawning locked chests ranging from novice to master for building up your Lockpicking skill.
Free gold and lockpicks lying around the headquarters.
Unlimited thievery radiant quests which reward gold.
Master-level trainers in Lockpicking (Vex), Archery (Niruin), Pickpocket (Vipir the Fleet), and Sneak (Delvin Mallory).
A set of Guild Master's 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 in major holds can be bribed to remove bounties even if you have a low Speech skill and no bribe perk.
The Skeleton Key, an unbreakable lockpick (temporary).
The only way to learn all three words of the Disarm shout is to complete the first six primary quests.
Access to the contents of Glover Mallory's basement, including a full set of Blackguard's Armor. 

Quests
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.

 (18px 10 pts/Bronze)

  
  

  



 (18px 10 pts/Bronze)
 (18px 30 pts/Silver)

Special Job Quests
thumb|right|Skyrim:Delvin Mallory|Delvin at his usual spot in The Ragged Flagon.
Once you join the guild, you can speak to Delvin and Vex to receive radiant Thieves Guild quests. These jobs can be repeated indefinitely, and you can have one active job per quest-giver, but you must complete or quit your current job before you can receive another one from that particular quest-giver. 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" quest in that city. Completing these reputation quests improves the condition of the Ragged Flagon, and allows you to bribe city guards to clear your bounty in that hold. Once you complete Taking Care of Business, you can bribe guards of the Rift.

'''Delvin's radiant quests:
 
  
 
Vex's radiant quests:
 
 
 
 
 :
  (Markarth)  
  (Solitude)
  (Whiterun)
  (Windhelm)  

Note''': If you quicksave immediately after the dialogue ends, and before the quest is displayed on screen, you can quickload until you get a quest in the city you want. This can be useful if you want to focus your efforts on cities in which you have not yet completed restoring the Guild's status. You can also simply quit the quests, which will be marked as failed in your journal, then select new ones. You can do this an infinite number of times with almost no consequences; the item generated for the Burglary Job will remain permanently, making it hard to do another Burglary in that location, and bugs with the Fishing and Heist Jobs may remove non-quest items from your inventory.
  You may be sent to Raven Rock for the Bedlam or Fishing quests. The Bedlam Job is bugged, however, so it cannot be completed if you are sent there. The Fishing Job will work as normal, though there is no reputation quest associated with Solstheim.
If a dragon attacks and kills the mark, such as the owner of the stables, it will fail the quest.

Other Quests
   
 
 
 
 
   
 

 

The Ragged Flagon
The Thieves Guild is headquartered within the Ragged Flagon. This area is divided into a central chamber, featuring a tavern, and the Ragged Flagon - Cistern which is only open to members and serves as a living quarters. If you join the Thieves Guild, you will receive a bed, end table, and chest reserved for your own use and located next to the entrance alcove. All containers in the cistern are safe for storage. The cistern also features an alchemy lab, archery ranges, kitchen, and locked chests that respawn for Lockpicking practice. Upon first visiting this area, The Ragged Flagon will be gloomy, empty, and dilapidated, but will gradually be restored as quests are completed.

Upgrading the Thieves Guild
thumb|right|The Ragged Flagon - Cistern improves with the fortunes of the Guild.
When doing Delvin or Vex's additional jobs, you need to head out to four different cities: Markarth, Windhelm, Whiterun, and Solitude. After completing five additional jobs in a single city, you'll be assigned a special job for that city. After completing each special job, the condition of the Ragged Flagon will be improved and a new merchant will move into the main chamber. Additionally, completing a quest will enable you to use the Guild's influence to pay a reduced bounty when confronted by a guard in the corresponding city. Clearing your bounty with this method will also allow you to avoid having any stolen items in your inventory confiscated.

Upon completion of the main Thieves Guild questline, a Shrine of Nocturnal will appear in the Ragged Flagon - Cistern. When all quests are completed, the furniture in the Ragged Flagon will be completely replaced with more upscale variants, along with additional furniture and decorations. 


Larceny Targets and Trophies
thumb|Bust of the Gray Fox
Various rare items can be stolen from around Skyrim and sold to Delvin. These items can be found in locations visited during the main Thieves Guild questline. Once sold to Delvin, the items will be displayed on the shelves behind the Guildmaster's desk. Collecting all the items is required to complete The Litany of Larceny.

Queen Bee Statue in Goldenglow Estate
Honningbrew Decanter in Honningbrew Meadery
East Empire Shipping Map in East Empire Company Warehouse
Model Ship in Snow Veil Catacombs
Dwemer Puzzle Cube in Calcelmo's Laboratory in the Dwemer Museum in Markarth
Bust of the Gray Fox in Riftweald Manor in Riften
Left Eye of the Falmer in Irkngthand

As you complete Vex and Delvin's side jobs, trophies will begin to fill the shelves behind the Guildmaster's desk.
thumb|Guildmaster's desk
Jeweled Candlestick appears after 5 jobs.
Ornate Drinking Horn appears after 15 jobs.
Golden Ship Model appears after 25 jobs.
Golden Urn appears after 35 jobs.
Jeweled Goblet appears after 45 jobs.
Jeweled Pitcher appears after 55 jobs (see bugs).
Jeweled Flagon appears after 75 jobs.
A safe appears next to the shelves after completing 125 jobs.

Upon completing No Stone Unturned, the Crown of Barenziah will be placed on the stone bust behind the Guildmaster's desk.

Members

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Fences
Fences are a special kind of merchant that will buy stolen goods from you, removing the stolen tag in the process. Some Thieves Guild quests make available additional fences throughout Skyrim. Note that the Fence skill perk allows you to sell stolen goods to any merchant that you can invest in.

Even with the Fence perk, however, Thieves Guild fences still have the distinction of having the most gold of any merchants in the game (with the exception of Lucan Valerius prior to version 1.9 of the Official Skyrim Patch, though his superior merchant gold is only due to a bug): up to 4,000 gold after completing all of the Special Jobs, and up to 5,000 gold with the Master Trader perk, making them useful even after the Fence perk is unlocked. Enthir is the exception to this. His gold remains at 500 or 1500 with the Master Trader perk.


Shadowmarks
thumb|Danger!
The Thieves Guild is also responsible for the various symbols or runes, called Shadowmarks, etched or printed all around Skyrim.

These marks are codes that previous thieves have left for future thieves. The legend for the code is outlined in a book of the same name, authored by Delvin Mallory. One copy of this book can be found in the Ragged Flagon - Cistern.

Bugs
 
 
 This can be fixed by using the console command   on the items that have fallen off.
 
 In the console, use   followed by   to display the missing pitcher. To disable the flagon, use   followed by  .
 
 To correct this, use the console command for the missing object followed by  . Codes to select missing objects are as follows, in order they should be rewarded:
Jeweled Candlestick:  
Ornate Drinking Horn:  
Golden Ship Model:  
Golden Urn:  
Jeweled Goblet:  
Jeweled Pitcher:  
Jeweled Flagon:  
Safe:  
 If you are uncertain how many of the above they have actually earned, the console command   will list the number of side jobs completed.
 
 You may   them with the console using the following IDs:
Markarth:  
Solitude:  
Whiterun:  
Windhelm:  
 
One workaround is to reload all of the game's data files.
Another workaround is to disable the Unofficial Skyrim Legendary Edition patch or similar patches.  It's thought that due to changes in dialogue, this patch creates a bug with the guild improvement quests. Enable once all 4 are completed.
 
Wait until everyone has left the room.
Go into sneak mode.