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Thief: The Dark Project[]

This game's plot focuses on: The Dark Project


The game opens by telling of Garrett as a youth living on the streets of The City. One evening he tries to pickpocket a strange man standing in an alley, who catches Garrett in the act. He is a Keeper and the fact that Garrett can see him at all is unusual. The man offers to take Garrett in and show him the Keeper ways. Garrett accepts and enters into Keeper education for some time, but instead of staying with the Keepers, Garrett leaves to put his skills to other uses (The Keeper Annals state that Garrett left out of the "folly of anger". The nature of this anger is not explained).

Some time later Garrett is working as an independent thief in the City. He steals an expensive scepter from a noble, breaks into the Hammerite prison to spring his fence (who dies while still in prison) and ventures deep into the catacombs looking for treasure. Shortly after this thugs working for the local Warden, Ramirez, attempt to kill Garrett for non payment of tribute. Garrett turns the tables, escaping and going on to humiliate Ramirez by looting his mansion. This brazen display of skill attracts the attention of Viktoria, a somewhat mysterious independent fence. She contracts Garrett to steal a magical sword from the eccentric nobleman Constantine. Upon successfully returning from Constantine's bizarre mansion Viktoria reveals that she and Constantine are old associates who were testing Garrett. Constantine offers Garrett a fortune for the job of retrieving the gemstone known as The Eye. Getting to The Eye means Garrett must venture through the abandoned and walled-off Old Quarter of the City to the old Hammerite cathedral. A mysterious catastrophe, rumored to involve great fires and many undead, caused the area's abandonment decades ago. Garrett finds the cathedral sealed, but the Eye itself tells him of an old Keeper library hidden nearby. Writings there tell of where the talismans that open the cathedral are hidden and how the Keepers almost revealed themselves in order to assist the Hammerites in containing a great evil. The first pair of talismans are found in a place called The Lost City, the ruins of an ancient civilization buried beneath the existing city, its entrance hidden by the Keepers. To get the second pair of talismans Garrett enters a Hammerite temple in disguise. Successful, he then returns to the cathedral and collects The Eye from amid the many undead, escaping with the help of Hammerite Brother Murus' ghost.

Garrett visits Constantine to hand over The Eye and collect his payment. Instead of paying, however, Constantine reveals himself to be the fabled Trickster (aka The Woodsie Lord), the entity worshiped by the Pagans, and Viktoria, his consort. They bind Garrett in vines and pluck out one of his eyes, using it to seemingly activate The Eye stone, and leave him for dead. Some time later two Keepers find and free the unconscious Garrett from the vines. The Keepers then leave Garrett to escape by himself through the caverns beneath Constantine's mansion and amongst some new and strange beasts. Once he reaches the surface Garrett decides the only thing to do is visit the Hammerites and tell them about what has happened. He heads for the temple but discovers that the Trickster's minions have gotten there first. Venturing inside he finds the remaining Hammerites in a hidden sanctuary down in an underground cavern. With stealth being the only hope against the Trickster's army, the Hammerites provide Garrett with a booby-trapped copy of The Eye. Garrett descends into the Trickster's realm, where he finds the Woodsie Lord performing a ceremony with the Eye. Garrett stealthily swaps the Eye for its trapped copy, which then explodes, thus striking down the Trickster as he attempts to finish the ceremony.

The coda shows Garrett walking back to town alone through the snow. Life appears to be returning to normal. A Keeper approaches. The two converse and The Keeper warns Garrett, telling him of a book he should read. Close observation reveals Garrett now has a mechanical eye. Garrett rejects Keeper 'help' in his life and says to tell the other Keepers that "I'm through. Tell them Garrett is done". He then walks away into the city streets. The Keeper says quietly "I will tell them this: Nothing is changed. All is as it was written. The Trickster is dead. Beware the dawn of the metal age.", foreshadowing the sequel, Thief II: The Metal Age.

Thief Gold[]

This game's plot focuses on: The Dark Project


Thief Gold adds three new missions that blend into the storyline of the original Thief: The Dark Project game. These new missions not only supplement the story, but also change it to some extent and insert new lore about the Thief universe.

Thieves' Guild[]

This mission is set between "Assassins" and "The Sword". In the Dark Project original version after Garrett "takes care" of Ramirez, he gets contacted by Viktoria, who represents a client. This client is impressed by the way Garrett managed the situation with the mentioned City Warden and is willing to offer the thief a job. After that the "The Sword" mission takes place.

In Thief Gold there is an "in-between" mission, which tells the story of another high profile job Garrett undertakes. The master thief decides to go after another valuable target - Lord Randall's priceless vase collection, and in particular a specific vase, that is supposed to be worth more than the rest of the vases combined. But a new criminal element appears on the scene. The so-called Downwind Thieves' Guild was apparently also aiming at the same vase collection and was able to claim it first. But even though the valuable sapphire vase is in the guild's hands, word has reached Garrett's ears that they haven't fenced it yet. It seems that the guild's leaders, Donal and Reuben, are arguing over the details around the division of the booty. Garrett decides to use the situation development to his advantage and steal the vase from the guild, before they settled the score.

It seems that the master thief has contacts on the inside of the guild. He understand that the Downwind Thieves' Guild owns a gambling den called the Overlord's Fancy, which is discretely hidden under a restaurant. The guilds hideout is also hidden somewhere beneath the den. Garrett is able to get a rough map of the complex and his plan is to sneak around and try to find out where the vase is stashed. He presumes that Donal and Reuben's disputes would be a hot topic among the Downwinder's thieves, but also supposes that they won't be to happy to see him snooping around and if they see him they'd know who took the vase. If everything goes well the two guild leaders will blame each other.

After darkness falls Garrett makes his move on the restaurant over the gambling den. After breaking in from the back door he makes his way though the restaurant and into the den. Even though the tavern is not working and empty, the Overlord's Fancy is full of gambling clients and it seems that even two servants were gambling each other. But this is good news for the thief as he would steal some of the clients gambled money. Garrett makes his way though the gambling den and finds the secret passage to the Thieves' Guild hideout. The hideout itself is in the sewers system beneath the streets. Upon entering the sewers Garrett overhear two guild members commenting the situation. It looks like the sapphire vase is over at Donal's side of the complex, but Reuben has the key to the safe it is kept in. Now the master thief must first head to Reuben, find and get the safe key, get to Donal's house and find the vase. Upon going through the sewers Garrett finds out that the vase situation has raised the tension between the guild members that support the two leaders, and most thieves try to stay on nobody's side and out of the way. It seems that the guild's thieves are not too happy about the situation. He also overheads that the news of the Bafford job has reached the guild and some of its members even suspect Garrett of stealing the scepter.

While Garrett goes though the dirty sewers over to Reuben, he wishes that he didn't have to do this job, and rather steal the vase from its original owner Lord Randall. Even so he is able to steal Reuben's house key from his top man Thom, get Donal's safe key and head over to collect the vase. Along the way the thief comes across lots of interesting notes and understands that both guild leaders pay bribes to high-ranking officials. Also both don't trust each other. After managing to get through the sewers' security system and into Donal's house, Garrett gets hold of the valuable sapphire vase, which he was supposed to be the first one to get, and makes it out of the guild complex.

The Mage Towers[]

This mission is set between "The Haunted Cathedral" and "The Lost City". In the Dark Project original version after the first visit to The Haunted Cathedral, Garrett understands that in order for him to get The Eye, he must locate four elemental Talismans from two locations - two talismans each. In Thief Gold the locations are four so that each talisman has its own separate mission. The Mage Towers covers the acquiring of the Earth Talisman. The Keepers entrusted its keeping to a mages' a foreign mages' sect known as the Hand Brotherhood. This faction is new to the Thief world and consists of mages practicing elemental magic. Garrett understands that the brotherhood resides in a castle-like compound with four huge towers - one for each element, which also are very well guarded. Garrett assumes that the Earth Talisman is in the Earth tower, but still prepares for some kind of magical defense. But as mages usually write down all their knowledge, the thief will make the library in the central keep his first target. As always he is also able to get a rough map of the place, this time by bribing some servants.

As Garrett breaks in the complex, he sneaks around and overhears the hired guards talking about the mages. It looks like the mages do not trust anybody but themselves as not only are guards and servants not allowed in the towers, but they also punish severely anybody who tries to trick them. His first encounter with the mages themselves is interesting as well. They are highly powerful that speak with distant voices and immerse themselves in the art of magic. Upon entering the library Garret discovers a room with four statues. They speak to him and say interesting thing about his path. In the library the thief discovers the ancient devotion that the brotherhood has and it's despite towards necromancy. The mages also seem interested in the other talismans and were organizing expeditions to The Lost City to try and claim. He also finds out that claiming the Earth Talisman would be quite difficult as he foresaw. The talisman itself is guarded in the central keep, but one would have to go though all the elemental towers to get the key to its chamber. An so he goes on his mission.

First Garrett visits the Water Tower, which is totally over flooded, because of a mishap experiment of one of the archmages. There the thief finds the Earth Tower key and heads over there. The Earth Tower is composed of rock tunnels where the earth mages practice their arts of manipulating the earth and even make it fly in the air. When he makes it through the maze of corridors, he claims the Air Tower key. The Air Tower is mainly consisted of rooms with levitating rocks, used like elevators, and rooms with icy floors and walls. The chest containing the Fire Tower Key, on the top of the tower, appears to be a puzzling challenge. The final Fire Tower holds the central keep tower key and the access to the Earth Talisman. This time climbing up is more difficult. When Garrett claims the final key he goes to get the prize he came here for.

The Earth Talisman itself is a challenge as there is a number of fake ones and if Garrett doesn't pick the right one he will pay. Fortunately the scrolls lying around prove useful to this puzzle. The mages guarding the talismans talk about the return of the Trickster, but at this time Garrett is supposed to have no idea. The thief gets the first of four talismans and heads over to the Lost City next.

Song Of The Caverns[]

This mission is set between "The Lost City" and "Undercover" and it covers the acquiring of the Water Talisman. To the moment the Earth and Fire talismans are claimed. The Keeper's notes show that they decided to hide this talisman in a complex of underground caves - a different place from the Lost City. The talisman itself is hidden in a shrine, build by the Keepers especially for the occasion. The riddle written on the map Garrett has, suggests that the place will be booby trapped. But other than that he doesn't expect to be anything dangerous than a few spiders. One of Garrett's informants, Giry, has taken shelter in these caverns after he lost his job at the nearby Opera House. The thief will pay him a visit, to gather additional info on the caves.

The entrance to the caves is though some local sewers, in which Garrett descents to search for the talisman shrine. All seems well until the first turn in the plan comes. Garrett discovers Giry dead, killed and entangled in web, by the spiders that inhabited the caves. Giry's notes show that the spiders appear to be migrating in numbers recently. Upon descending even deeper into the caves Garrett discovers that the sewer spiders are not the only inhabitants around. Craymen also have come to these places and build their own tunnels where they can live. Even further a human skeleton appears in an isolated cave. His notes show that he was a Keeper and that he was separated from the main group on their way to finding the proper place for the shrine. The map also explains that the expedition lost men to the spiders and craymen as well. But the biggest surprise comes when Garrett finally reaches the shrine and discovers the talisman chest empty. The only leads to the talisman's whereabouts is a dead guard's body, stabbed by the keeper's trap arrows, and a note showing that someone accidentally came across the shrine and now wanted the treasure for himself. The thief continued to the other side of the keeper shrine, he was able to mildly hear a distant voice singing. Upon further investigation Garrett comes upon Raoul - the previous owner of the opera above, that is now a hermit living in the caves. He was tricked by Lady Valerius, into giving away everything to her. He tells Garrett that she now has the treasure from the keeper shrine and that he will help him with a map and a key to a secret passage inside the opera. Garrett doesn't put much stock into Raoul, but he is the only lead to claiming the talisman now.

The master thief breaks in the opera house from its basement and heads up to Lady Valerius's office. The lady has been doing her best to keep the guards on their toes at all times. But this doesn't ruin Garrett's chance to steal some of the rich Opera Guests's valuables, steal the music director's prized silver flute, and even see if Giry's old bragging about how much money was stored in the ticket office was true. The secret passage key Raoul supplied was to the utmost use, as it allowed Garrett to stealthily get into the office and take the Water Talisman without alerting the guards standing at the office's doors. After Garrett claims the third talisman he gets out of the opera as quickly as possible.

Thief II: The Metal Age[]

This game's plot focuses on: The Metal Age


  • The new scripture of the master builder
  • Garrett helps Basso the Boxman break Jenivere out of the Rumford's Estate.
  • Thieving has been kind of slow these days, thanks to Sheriff Gorman Truart, so Garrett loots warehouses by the docks.
  • Garrett is hired to frame Lt. Hagen for robbing the Evidence Vault.
  • Garrett is ambushed at the Crippled Burrick Pub by the City Watch.
  • The Keepers visit and bring Garrett to listen to prophecy. And they talk about there being no trees.
  • Garrett eavesdrops on the Sheriff and Mechanists and learns about servants.
  • Garrett breaks in the First City Bank and Trust to obtain the recording of the Sheriffs conversation.
  • Garrett goes to blackmail the Sheriff at his Estate, but someone kills him first.
  • Garrett stalks Lt. Mosley and then follows her contact.
  • Garrett follows the contact, a pagan, in magical woods.
  • Garrett meets Viktoria in the woods, and allies with her against the Mechanists.
  • Garrett goes to Angelwatch, the new Mechanist tower in Dayport, to find info on the Cetus Project.
  • Garrett goes to Markham's Isle to find more on the Viktoria's agent, the Cetus Project, and Brother Cavador.
  • Garrett stows away in the sub to follow and kidnap Cavador.
  • Garrett steals some masks and a Cultivator from Bram Gervaisius.
  • Garrett learns that the Servants are going to be used to kill all life in the city.
  • Viktoria goes to the Mechanist cathedral to stop Karras.
  • Garrett follows and gets Karras' Servants to return to the cathedral, where they are sealed inside and Karras dies.
  • The Keepers tell Garrett that it was all written.

Thief: Deadly Shadows[]

This game's plot focuses on: The Final Glyph

The Artifacts and the Dark Age[]

In the initial missions, Garrett steals a bronze medallion and the Bloodline Opal from a nobleman named Lord Julian from the Rutherfords' castle, The Builder's Chalice from the Hammerites at St. Edgar's Church, and the Jacknall's Paw from the Pagans, at the underground Pagan Sanctuary. Orland, the First Keeper, asks Garrett to find a lost book called the Compendium of Reproach, which can give more information about a coming Dark Age. Garrett manages to steal it back from Captain Moira's seaside mansion, and steals the Kurshok Crown from the Kurshok in the Sunken Citadel. The Glyph Key is also stolen from the Sunken Citadel, as it is required to open the Compendium of Reproach. After that, the Keepers read the prophecy contained in the Compendium, which follows as, "When the progress of time ceases, the evil one will be pointed out for all to see". Garrett decides that he doesn't want to wait for the prophecy to be fulfilled on its own, and, when realizing that the prophecy might actually be referring to the clocktower in Stonemarket being stopped rather than time itself, Garrett enters the clocktower, run by Hammerites, and sabotages its gigantic mechanism, which stops the clock but causes the entire clocktower to collapse. During a cutscene which follows the collapse of the clocktower, it is shown in a bird's-eye view, and appears to point directly at First Keeper Orland's office.

The Hag[]

After this, Interpreter Caduca of the Keepers is found murdered. First Keeper Orland blames Garrett for the murder, and sets up a trial at the Keeper Compound, where Garrett is found guilty, though it can be assumed that the trial was fixed. Garrett manages to escape, causing Orland to send the Keeper Enforcers, an elite unit of telepathically-connected assassins, after him. Garrett is contacted by a group of friendly Keepers, who mention that the rubble (of the clocktower) forms an arrow which points directly at the Keeper Library. To replace Caduca, Orland plans to promote a girl named Gamall to the position of Interpreter. Garrett believes that Orland is the Brethren and Betrayer mentioned in Keeper prophecy, so he returns to the deserted lower library of the Keeper Compound, and finds a note addressed to him, despite the fact that no one should know of his presence. Garrett visits the Compound's Hall of Statues, where he encounters a mysterious old woman, who uses Glyph magic to bring the statues in the room to life and search for Garrett to kill him. Soon after, the woman vanishes, and Garrett then escapes from the Keeper Compound.

Lauryl and the Shalebridge Cradle[]

After escaping the ambush, Garrett looks for a Hammerite named Inspector Drept for help. Garrett mentions the old woman he saw in the Keeper Compound, and Drept immediately realizes that Garrett has encountered the Hag. Drept advises Garrett to search the abandoned Shalebridge Cradle, as that was where Drept first saw the Hag. The Cradle had once been an insane asylum, but before that it was an orphanage. For a short time, the building was used as both. One night a fire broke out, and the building was abandoned, and grew to be a dark and haunted place. In the attic of the Cradle, Garrett finds a painting of what appears to be Interpreter Gamall. After which, a glowing white spirit appears and introduces herself as Lauryl, beckoning Garrett to help her trapped spirit leave the Shalebridge Cradle. Lauryl asks Garrett to find a vial of her blood and drop it in a storm drain so that it will land outside. After this, Garrett returns to the attic, and Lauryl tells him that because she has been trapped in the Cradle for so long, the Cradle "remembers" her, and therefore traps Lauryl's spirit inside the building. She tells Garrett that once all of her old belongings have been removed from the building, it will no longer "remember" her, and her spirit will be free. Garrett then proceeds to find all of Lauryl's old belongings, such as her night gown, her diary, and other things, and destroys or otherwise gets them out of the building. To do this, Lauryl tells Garrett that he must enter the past by taking an item that belonged to one of the patients, and place it at a specific location. Having done that, Garrett takes on the appearance of an asylum patient, and finds Lauryl's belongings and gets rid of them, supposedly erasing them from the Cradle's "memories". However, Garrett is no longer able to leave, as the Cradle now remembers him because he has been inside it for too long. Garrett enters the past as himself and tricks the Cradle into "thinking" that he had committed suicide by jumping out of the highest tower. However, Garrett only lands safely outside in the present time, with the Cradle having "forgotten" any memory of Lauryl or Garrett. Lauryl then leads Garrett to the nearby Hammerite Fort, Ironwood, where her body was buried. Lauryl's grave is covered in Glyphs, which were left by the Hag, so that she could take the appearance of Gamall, who was supposedly appointed by Keeper Orland to become the new Interpreter. This is where Garrett learns that the Hag killed Lauryl for the purpose of becoming Interpreter, so that she could harness the power of the Glyphs and destroy the Keepers. Garrett washes away the marks on the grave with Lauryl's blood and Lauryl gets her normal appearance back. During this, Gamall, the Hag in disgiuse, is going through a ceremony to promote her to Interpreter. After the marks on Lauryl's grave have been washed away and the spirit of Lauryl gains her original appearance back, the Hag loses her disguise and is revealed to be a hideous monster, the Hag, and attacks the Keepers. Lauryl then vanishes.

Glyph magic[]

The Hag has ruined the Keeper Library. She has found the Final Glyph, and stolen the Builder's Chalice and the Jacknall's Paw from the Keepers. Orland wants Garrett to find Gamall's hidden lair, learn what she wants the Artifacts for, kill her, and find and destroy the Final Glyph. Inside Gamall's underground lair, Garrett steals back the Chalice, the Paw, and the Glyph of Unbinding which allows Garrett to destroy the Hag's magically animated statues. Keeper Artemus appears and tells Garrett that he had been searching for the Glyph of Unbinding as well. After reading a map in Gamall's lair, they discover that the Artifacts - the Eye, the Heart, the Crown, the Chalice, and the Paw — must to be placed in specific locations in the City to activate the Final Glyph, a safeguard in case the Keeper Glyphs are used for evil, which, when activated, will destroy all Glyph magic and Keepers' power. Garrett goes to the Wieldstrom Museum in Auldale to steal the remaining Artifacts, the Eye, the Heart and the Kurshok Crown, before Gamall is able to find them herself. Gamall does not show up in the museum, but when Garrett comes out, Artemus is outside waiting for him, asking Garrett to give him the Artifacts. Orland then appears and tells Garrett that he must use the Artifacts to destroy all Keeper magic, but not destroy the Final Glyph. At this moment, Artemus is revealed to be the Hag in disguise, and appears to kill Orland, and Garrett sneaks away. Garrett puts all the Artifacts into the corresponding positions to activate the Final Glyph, causing all Keeper Glyph magic to be destroyed. The Keeper's key symbol burns into his hand as he places the final Artifact. The Hag and her walking statues lose all their powers, and the statues become inanimate once again. The Keepers have disbanded upon realizing that all the Glyphs in their books have disappeared, and the Keeper Library is now being observed by the citizens as the library is no longer concealed by Glyph magic. The Chalice and the Paw are somehow returned to the Hammerites and the Pagans respectively. After this, the citizens gather around the Hag, who has lost her monstrous appearance and now looks like an old woman. Having lost all her Glyph powers, she is no longer able to disappear or disguise herself, and proclaims, sobbing, that everything is "ruined".

Epilogue[]

During the final cutscene which takes place some time later, Garrett is walking down a street when a young child attempts to pickpocket him, but fails when Garrett realizes that the child is behind him. He grabs the child by the arm and says, "It's no easy thing to see a Keeper, especially one who does not wish to be seen". This event is nearly identical to the first cutscene from The Dark Project, when young Garrett attempts to pickpocket a Keeper walking down the street. Garrett's hand is shown briefly, showing the key symbol burned into his hand, and it can be assumed that Garrett is now the True Keeper that was previously mentioned in Keeper prophecies. And thus he ends the conversation with a smile. The audible fact that he refers to himself as a Keeper may foretell that the sect still survives with him, opening the game up for the fourth installment.

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