Are the Thieves Guild more evil than the Dark Brotherhood?

[0JimmytheHun0]

This was bugging me and I'd like to know what you think, but nearly everyone I see on the internet thinks the Dark Brotherhood are the evilest guild. In my opinion it's the Thieves Guild for many reasons.

 

1. The Dark Brotherhood do what they do because they have been paid to do so, like any assassin organisation. Whereas the members of the Thieves Guild all put personal gain before anything else in particular.

 

2. Although the Dark Brotherhood don't fight very honorably, just killing the target instantly whilst they are vulnerable, the Thieves Guild simply take everything they own whilst the target isn't looking, destroy their family artifacts and beat them within an inch of their life which seems less honorable to me.

 

3. The Dark Brotherhood abide to a strict set of rules, yes this isn't true for a lot of the beginning of the Dark Brotherhood quest line in Skyrim. The Thieves Guild on the other hand only have one rule: Do not kill the target.

 

4. The Dark Brotherhood support teamwork and helping your fellow assassins. Unlike the Thieves Guild who, similarly in point 1, only help themselves.

 

If you agree/disagree with this please tell me why.

[Anska]

I don't really see what the difference between "getting payed to commit a crime" and "stealing money" is or why doing something for the money's sake isn't benefiting the personal gain. Apart from that, most of the jobs you do for Delvin an Vex are jobs the Guild got paid for, much like the DB contracts (only without a ritual). The thief gets his or her share of the profit (your quest-reward) the rest winds up in the treasure-room to which only the Guild's leaders have access to. You are told very early during your career that the Guild doesn't take too kindly to it if you start robbing people who stand under their protection (have the "protected" Shadowmark on their house) and apparently it is also frowned upon if you pull a big job on your own without sharing the spoils with your guildmates, the Guild has even marked escape-routes out of some of the prisons should you ever be unfortunate enough to end up there. So I would say, they do take care of their own as well as support teamwork. The big difference between both groups (apart from the obvious killing and not killing thing) seems to be for me, that most of the TG consider their thieving as a job in which they take great pride, while the DB seems to come close to a secret religious order at times.

Apart from that I wouldn't agree that the DB always kill their targets quickly. They seem to take a great deal of pleasure in cruelty, physical or otherwise ... but that is probably too much of a spoiler to discuss here any further. This said, whether you consider stealing a candlestick a worse crime than killing somebody, ending their lives and bringing misery to their friends and family, might depend on personal moral values ...

edited for typos and grammar issues

Edited March 21, 2013 by Anska

[Kayyyleb]

Thug's Guild is more like it. I really hate them in Skyrim compared to the Robin Hood guild you saw in Cyodiil. In Oblivion you were kinda like the misunderstood good guy on the wrong side of the law whereas in Skyrim you're a selfish thug improving your lot in life by trampling over others purely for your own benefit.

 

The DB on the other hand...well they're the DB. Assassins/murderers for hire. So long as you pay, the target dies so it's all about simply fulfilling a contract. I would still consider them more morally detestable (even though I love the DB questline in both games) because I consider murder a greater crime than theft. But at least they are professional about it. In Oblivion they had a decent code to follow as well although it's little more than a novelty in Skyrim.

Edited March 21, 2013 by Kayyyleb

[EmuXanadu]

The Dark Brotherhood are way more evil. For a start they get their contracts from the corpse of an old hag in a coffin. They take delight in the pain and suffering of their victims. You are required to kill to become initiated into their guild. They get paid to kill people.

By comparison the Thieves Guild are greedy low life scum who intimidate, steal and brawl. They even point out that you are not to kill the target. Sure they're a dodgy bunch but not as much as the DB.

[0JimmytheHun0]

I don't see how getting advised by dead people changes anything, but I just wanted to hear people's thoughts on it.

[Georgiegril]

Well, if I'm playing a "good" character who needs to join the thieves guild, I compensate from the things I take by leaving something at least as valuable in its place. Impossible to do the same with the DB.

 

The idea that killing for contract is somehow honorable...How is it honorable to take money to end someone's life, just because someone coughed up the cash and is unwilling to do the murder themselves? And how is taking money for murder not just as greedy (or more so) than taking valuables for money?

[Kayyyleb]

Well, if I'm playing a "good" character who needs to join the thieves guild, I compensate from the things I take by leaving something at least as valuable in its place. Impossible to do the same with the DB.

 

The idea that killing for contract is somehow honorable...How is it honorable to take money to end someone's life, just because someone coughed up the cash and is unwilling to do the murder themselves? And how is taking money for murder not just as greedy (or more so) than taking valuables for money?

Nobody said it was honourable. Killing in general isn't honorable by my standards so the Companions come across as little more than overly self-righteous mercenaries.

[Georgiegril]

 

Well, if I'm playing a "good" character who needs to join the thieves guild, I compensate from the things I take by leaving something at least as valuable in its place. Impossible to do the same with the DB.

 

The idea that killing for contract is somehow honorable...How is it honorable to take money to end someone's life, just because someone coughed up the cash and is unwilling to do the murder themselves? And how is taking money for murder not just as greedy (or more so) than taking valuables for money?

Nobody said it was honourable. Killing in general isn't honorable by my standards so the Companions come across as little more than overly self-righteous mercenaries.

Actually, the OP did: (and that was who I was responding to)

 

2. Although the Dark Brotherhood don't fight very honorably, just killing the target instantly whilst they are vulnerable, the Thieves Guild simply take everything they own whilst the target isn't looking, destroy their family artifacts and beat them within an inch of their life which seems less honorable to me.

[Jaradin]

Yeah, the Thieves Guild aren't "good" by any means, but they're certainly not evil. That one rule they have says it all: they respect, above all else, that they cannot "steal" the life of another person. If anything, it just shows that the Thieves Guild doesn't respect the ownership of property, and that they're willing to beat the hell out of their targets to get it - since Skyrim's a warrior culture and not one for sneaking around, that "thug" lifestyle's natural, but it still separates them from the bandits, the Forsworn, and most notably, the Dark Brotherhood. They're anti-heroes, but certainly not worshippers of Sithis, murderers, and torturers.

[0JimmytheHun0]

Lets just make this clear so I don't sound like a homicidal maniac. I'm not saying what the Dark Brotherhood do is good, killing people at all is the worst thing anyone can do. But I think what I should have said is that the Thieves Guild have worse morals in my opinion.