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A thief is any individual who undertakes the action of stealing. During the Renaissance, professional thieves were one of the available factions-for-hire, alongside courtesans, mercenaries, and the Romani. They were adept freerunners and possessed a number of guilds in different cities; several of these, including the Florentine, Venetian, and Roman guilds, were allied with the Assassin Order. As such, they possessed a measure of virtue, in that they refused to steal from the poor and fought to defy the local, corrupt nobility.
In regards to leadership, the Florentine and later the Roman thieves' guild was led by La Volpe, while the Venetian guild was managed by Antonio de Magianis. However, a number of thieves were independent of the Order. In particular, the Cento Occhi were allied with the House of Borgia and sought to counteract the Assassins. Unaffiliated pickpockets chose to steal freely as well.
Throughout history, many orphans became thieves and pickpockets as a way to survive. In cities like London or New York City, the orphans organized themself as guilds or bands.
History[]
Classical Era[]
During the Classical Era, thieves were not organized as guilds. Criminals like bandits or pirates stole money and valuables during their raids. In Greece and Egypt, ancient ruins and tombs such as the Knossos Palace or the Great Pyramid of Giza were pillaged by raiders or military forces to find treasures or artifacts. These acts were also perpetrated by secret organizations like the Cult of Kosmos or the Order of the Ancients in their search for Isu technology.[1][2]
Abbasid Caliphate[]
During the 9th century, the Abbasid peddler Dervis ran a network of child thieves, whom he provided with food, shelter, and money in exchange for their services.[3] Having grown up as a street urchin himself,[4] Dervis treated all the children in his employ with great care and only had them steal from the corrupt authorities. The goods earned this way were then sold to Dervis' various clients, although some of the rarer items were kept by Dervis for his personal collection.[3]
Dervis with Basim and two of his child thieves
In his childhood, Basim Ibn Ishaq became a thief to survive on the streets of Baghdad, using his gift of Eagle Vision to identify valuables to steal. After moving to Anbar, he joined Dervis' network and quickly proved himself as the most skilled thief in the organization, leading him to be assigned the most important contracts. Many of these jobs were commissioned by the Hidden Ones, who used Dervis' network to procure valuable items and information.[5]
It was during one of his contracts for the Hidden Ones that Basim met the Master Assassin Roshan and subsequently decided to impress her by stealing an artifact from the caliph's Winter Palace. However, Basim was caught during his infiltration of the palace and forced to kill the caliph Al-Mutawakkil in self-defense, leading the Caliphate guards to start a manhunt for all thieves in Anbar.[5]
Dervis' entire network was executed as a result,[5] though Dervis himself survived and relocated to Baghdad, where he continued to lend his skills to both the Hidden Ones and the Zanj rebels. After being reunited with Basim, by now a Hidden One,[6] Dervis enlisted his help to steal rare artifacts from Baghdad's wealthy citizens that he could then sell to fund the Zanj rebellion.[7]
Crusades[]
Altaïr pickpocketing a guard
During the Third Crusade, the theft of letters and other documents was one of the main means by which Levantine Assassins acquired information about their targets ahead of an assassination. Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad could also pickpocket thugs to restock on throwing knives, or beat them in a fistfight and loot the knives from them afterwards.[8]
Renaissance[]
Italy[]
From as early as when a thief helped to save his life by urging him to run from the guards at his family's execution,[9] Ezio Auditore da Firenze both helped and enlisted aid from thieves on several occasions.[10]
Thieves were often included in the most well-informed factions of the cities, for which they were able to provide Ezio with information on ssassination targets and other events in their district.[10] In Florence in 1478, La Volpe made use of one of his thieves to lure Ezio to him, after which he gave the young nobleman details on how to locate Francesco de' Pazzi.[11]
Thieves escorting Ezio and Rosa
In 1481, after assisting Rosa, one of the members of the Venetian guild, Ezio allied with the thieves there in order to infiltrate the Palazzo della Seta.[12] Together, he and the Venetian thieves successfully claimed the building after Ezio assassinated Emilio Barbarigo in 1485.[13]
Some time prior to 1499, Paganino, a member of the Venetian guild, betrayed his allies and became a spy for the Templars; passing them vital information on the Assassin Order and their base in Monteriggioni.[14] At the opening of the new year in 1500, his actions eventually led to the fall of Monteriggioni.[15]
Upon traveling to Rome, Ezio allied his newly-founded Guild with La Volpe's thieves. After aiding them in establishing their headquarters in La Volpe Addormentata, he learned of their close rivalry with the Cento Occhi thieves.[16]
In contrast to the Assassin-allied thieves, the Cento Occhi stole from the poor and terrorized the civilians of Rome. At La Volpe's request, Ezio assisted in repressing them, fighting in brawls alongside La Volpe's thieves,[17] sullying the Cento Occhi's reputation with the Borgia,[18] and killing the guild's leaders.[19][20]
Ottoman Empire[]
A group of thieves in Constantinople
In 1511, Ezio visited the Constantinople Thieves Guild and learned they were having troubles due to a snitch tipping off the city guards to their activities. After an investigation into these claims, Ezio learned that a lord by the name of Halim was bribing the snitch, before assassinating the former.[21]
Similarly to the guilds in Italy, the Ottoman thieves were allied with the local Assassins led by Yusuf Tazim, and Ezio could employ their services in exchange for a small fee.[22]
Spain[]
During the same time period in Spain, thieves also organized themselves in guilds, such as the Cien Ojos led by Luis Chico.[23] As was the case in Italy and Constantinople, many of these guilds were allied with the Spanish Assassins, and some of their members even joined the Order, including Luis,[24] Constanza Ramos,[25] Lupo Gallego,[26] and his daughters Rosa[27] and Luisa.[28]
The largest Spanish thief guild was based in Madrid and led by Lupo Gallego, the legendary "King of Thieves". The guild also had branches in other cities, including Seville, where it operated the brothel La Reina Sonriente.[23]
Golden Age of Piracy[]
- Main article: Piracy
In the Caribbean, pirates committed many acts of thievery, raiding plantations, forts, and ships.[29]
Colonial America[]
In British America, many children became thieves to survive in the streets, including Liam O'Brien, Hope Jensen, and Jack Weeks. Their skills caught the attention of the local Assassins and Templars, who inducted them in their respective groups.[30][31][32] Hope became the leader of a gang who operated in New York City, the River Valley, and North Atlantic and committed acts of thievery and rackets.[33]
Gang members extorting Barry and Cassidy Finnegan
After allying with the Templars during the Seven Years' War, the former Assassin Shay Cormac fought to stop the illicit activities of Hope's gang, which were harming the civilian populace.[33] In October 1759, Shay and fellow Templar Jack Weeks staged a false flag operation by robbing a military outpost in New York while disguised as gang members, prompting the British Army to take action against the gang and ultimately eliminate it.[34]
In New Orleans, thugs operated in the streets harassing the Louisiana Assassin Aveline de Grandpré if she wore her Lady guises to steal her. Aveline also pickpocketed individuals for jeweled broochs, Voodoo dolls and Assassins' coins.[35]
During the American Revolutionary War, orphans organized as thief guilds in Boston and New York. They entered in contact with the Assassin Ratonhnhaké:ton, giving him challenges to accomplish and become a member of the guilds.[36]
Victorian London[]
Evie Frye chastising a young thief
By 1868, orphans from Babylon Alley led by Clara O'Dea operated as thieves to survive and save the children being forced to work in the Blighters' factories.[37] They allied with the twin Assassins Jacob and Evie Frye, giving them ammunition in exchange for their efforts to liberate the children. The Fryes also chased down non-associated pickpockets who had been caught and returned what they had stolen. [38]
Characteristics[]
Though he usually worked alongside the guilds to suppress Templar control of a city, Ezio also hired thieves on the streets, offering them money in return for assistance. Unlike the other hired factions, they could easily follow the Assassin along rooftops.[10][39]
A group of thieves in Venice
The thieves could help Ezio by distracting any soldiers guarding high-profile locations, such as banks or other restricted areas. They often did so by attacking or taunting the men, and subsequently luring them away. Should Ezio engage in a fight as they followed him, they would always help him defeat his enemies as well.[10]
After he had competed alongside them in several challenges, the thieves of Rome and Constantinople began to further assist Ezio by utilizing additional abilities.[39][22]
Combat[]
Thieves were lightly armed, carrying only a dagger (or a sword on rare occasions) and wearing very light armor. This allowed them to follow Ezio in many of his acrobatic moves, though did not offer much protection in combat.[10]
To offset this, thieves resorted to speed and agility in combat, dodging and countering enemy blows much like Agile guards. As such, they were usually only vulnerable to well-protected guards, predominately Brutes and Seekers.[10]
Trivia[]
- The Steal Home achievement was awarded for winning a race against any thief in Assassin's Creed II. Also, in Assassin's Creed: Revelations, once Ezio fulfilled the guild challenges for the thieves and unlocked the capability for them to loot dead bodies, the Fast Fingers achievement could be unlocked after 50 instances of a hired group of thieves looting the dead bodies of guards.
- In the memories "Cleaning House" and "Who's Got Mail?", thieves used swords as opposed to short blades.
- Like guards, in Assassin's Creed II, thieves were generally better equipped in Venice than in Florence.
- The child in the mission "Human Cargo" was dressed like a thief.
- In Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, Ezio could lock onto thieves that signaled the start of a thief assignment and perform execution moves on them. However, after appearing to die, they would soon recover and get back up.
- In Assassin's Creed: Project Legacy, it was possible to train Cento Occhi thieves and use them in missions.
- In Assassin's Creed: Lineage, the courier intercepted by Giovanni Auditore was dressed similarly to a thief.
Gallery[]
Appearances[]
- Assassin's Creed II (first appearance)
- Assassin's Creed II: Discovery
- Assassin's Creed: Project Legacy
- Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
- Assassin's Creed: Revelations
- Assassin's Creed III
- Assassin's Creed III: Liberation
- Assassin's Creed: Rogue
- Assassin's Creed: Syndicate
- Assassin's Creed: Origins
- Assassin's Creed: Odyssey
- Assassin's Creed: Rebellion
- Assassin's Creed: Mirage
- Assassin's Creed: Nexus VR
References[]
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