There are a large number of quests to find and complete in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered. Some of them will ask you to join one of a number of factions, like the Thieves Guild. Discovering the Thieves Guild is something you could accidentally do, but there are multiple ways to actually get started with them. This page will go over how to join the Thieves Guild, as well as how to progress the quest chain and list all of the quests.

Page Breakdown¶

Finding the Thieves Guild¶

As mentioned above, you actually have a few different ways to trigger the initial quest for joining the Thieves Guild. There are actually three, although one can be a little glitchy, in that, it doesn’t work all the time, leaving two surefire ways of getting started.

Getting Arrested¶

One of the easiest ways to trigger the Thieves Guild chain is to simply get arrested. You can do this in a variety of ways, like walking up to a guard in the Imperial City and attacking them, or you could simply get caught stealing. Note that the item must be red in order for it to count as stealing. Once you get arrested, choose to go to jail and while there, just go to sleep to serve your sentence (this will decrease one of your skills by a single point). This is just the first part of this method, as there is something else that needs to be done.

After getting out of jail, you will now need to wait for a specific NPC to give you an item. This NPC’s name is Myvryna Arano and it might be better to just pass time by like 3-4 hours to give a little nudge for her to show up. She will seek you out and hand you a Mysterious Note, after which, you can head to the Garden of Dareloth to meet with the appropriate NPC to join the Thieves Guild.

Wanted Poster¶

The second method to join the Thieves Guild is a little simpler than getting arrested. Throughout the Imperial City, there are a number of wanted posters that have been hanged, featuring a masked gentleman. Inspect the poster to reveal someone named Gray Fox, and you can easily find one of these by fast travelling to the Waterfront District, then going north to the Temple District. One will be on the side of the tower right before reaching the door to the latter area.

Learning about Gray Fox will allow you to ask various residents about him in the Imperial City. The correct thing to do here is speak with a beggar, who are the eyes and ears for the guild. There are five of them in the Imperial City, but the easiest one to find is Puny Ancus in the Waterfront District (he sleeps behind Methredhel’s house). Ask him about Gray Fox, then persuade/bribe him until his disposition is above 70. Once it is, ask him again and he should tell you about the meeting place at the Garden of Dareloth.

City-Swimmer¶

The third option for getting a lead on the Thieves Guild is a NPC named City-Swimmer in the town of Bravil, which is south of the Imperial City. You will most likely see her wandering around the town during the day, although she spends the rest of her time at her home. She is an Argonian, so she’s not too difficult to spot and find. Once you do, speak to her and ask about Bravil, which should prompt her to mention the Thieves Guild. When you get to choose an answer, respond with “Gosh. Thieves Guild? What’s that?”

This should give you a new dialog option, Gray Fox, so pick that and she’ll tell you about the Garden of Dareloth in the Imperial City. If she doesn’t talk about any of the above, then you may need to increase your disposition with her by using the persuasion option. Also, this part seems to be a little glitchy, as even if you do the above, you might not get the actual Finding the Thieves Guild quest to appear in your log. Should this happen, then it might be easier to do one of the other two options to ensure you do get the quest.

Garden of Dareloth Location¶

The Garden of Dareloth (map marker) is an unmarked location found in the Waterfront District of the Imperial City. You can fast travel to the Waterfront District, which should place you on the docks. Go through to the south and then look for the set of houses. The Garden of Dareloth will be the little lot behind the Abandoned Shack (the fenced-in area). However, you won’t find anyone there until midnight, so you’ll have to pass the time until around that point (you can just go to 12:XX).

At the desired time, go to the spot and you should see Armand Christophe, as well as both Amusei and Methredhel. All three NPCs will have to be present to trigger the next part, so make sure they’re all there. Speak to Armand and show him the Mysterious Note, if you went that route, or inquire about Gray Fox. You may need to increase his disposition some, but at some point, you should see the option to join the Thieves Guild.

This will start the next quest, May the Best Thief Win, which will require you to steal a diary from someone in the Imperial City. Check out that page to learn more about how to steal that diary. Bring it back to become a member of the guild.

Advancing the Thieves Guild Questline¶

You’ve finally become a member of the Thieves Guild, but you might be a bit confused on what to do next. In order to get more quests from the Thieves Guild, you will first have to steal some items from people. Remember that two of the rules for the Thieves Guild involves not stealing from fellow members, and not stealing from the poor (includes Waterfront District residents and all beggars). You will know something is stolen when its name is red, plus it will have a hand icon next to it in your inventory. Only certain NPCs will purchase the stolen goods for you, with them being called Fences.

Note that you’ll need to be a little careful when you have stolen items on you, as sometimes speaking with a guard will have them catch you. So, if you steal a bunch of things, it’s a good idea to store them somewhere or find a Fence and sell them. In fact, if you wish to progress the Thieves Guild questline, you’ll have to sell stolen items to a Fence. Selling stolen items to a Fence is how you will progress through the Thieves Guild questline.

There will be a quest that sticks with you throughout the entirety of the Thieves Guild, called Independent Thievery, which keeps track of the amount of gold you have fenced. In total, you will need to have fenced 1,000 gold to get all of the quests for the Thieves Guild.

List of All Thieves Guild Quests¶

The following table will list all of the quests for the Thieves Guild, along with who gives them to you and how much gold has to be fenced to unlock them.

The Elven Maiden will be the final quest from Armand Christophe, in the Imperial City. After completing that one, you will get the following four quests (including up to Taking Care of Lex) from S’Krivva in Bravil. The final four quests listed above will be given to you by Gray Fox himself.

Getting Back into the Thieves Guild¶

There are three rules for the Thieves Guild, which you can ask any of the Doyens about, should you forget. The first rule is to never steal from another member of the guild, which is pretty self-explanatory. The second rule involves not killing anyone on the job. There are exceptions to this, as animals and monsters are fine. The third rule is to not steal from the poor, which includes all of the beggars and any resident of the Waterfront District.

While these rules are set in stone, there are some minor intricacies concerning them. You will only be expelled for stealing if you are caught, so as long as you’re not caught, you can still freely pilfer. Breaking any of the above rules will invoke a blood price on you, requiring you to pay either Armand or S’Krivva a fee to be reinstated. This can be up to 1,000 gold for killing someone while on the job, which is a pretty hefty price. Unlike the other guilds in the game, you can never be permanently expelled from the Thieves Guild.