Everyone's Bad in the City, but Garrett Does Some Good

            There is a small point in irony to be made with the Thief story. Garrett, a thief, is bad. He’s an outlaw whom the City Watch will always chase down on sight. Yet, ironically, he seems to be the only figure in the City who does some good.

            First, Garrett doesn’t mess with anyone. He intentionally keeps a low profile. He doesn’t want anyone to know he’s been in their house, except for the fact of their missing valuables—he’s not out to make a mess or murder people.

            The Hammerites, the Pagans, the Mechanists, and the City Watch all have corruption and evil in their midst. They’ve all done some bad things. So what is Garrett compared to them? He may be the titular Thief, but he’s also the only thing close to a hero the seedy, corrupt City has. He’s like a Keeper. He wants to go unnoticed. He isn’t committed to any group. Detachment is key for the Keepers. Garrett thought he was leaving the Keepers and going his own way, and indeed he did for the most part, but he’s more like one of them than he realizes.

            Whenever Garrett does save the City, which he does in each Thief game, he never does it out of his own good will. He’s always drawn into it through his personal, selfish thieving enterprise. But he does save the City, nonetheless, and it’s the major groups—the supposed ‘law and order’ of this world—that seem time and again to be the ones trying to destroy it.