Bittercon panel: Thieves Guilds and Other Criminal Societies

[kate_nepveu]

Last one; I really hadn't meant to spend my night doing this.

Thieves Guilds and Other Criminal Societies

The Thieves Guild is a common staple in fantasy novels. Terry Pratchett's Discworld books parody it; Scott Lynch's The Lies of Locke Lamora critiques it; and Steven Brust's Taltos novels examine a more modern Mafia-style version. What's good, bad, interesting, boring, otherwise worth talking about when it comes to this idea?

Comments

[clarentine]

Personally, I have always been fascinated by the parallels between the concept of the Thieves Guild and the modern intelligence establishment. There are more things to steal than cash and jewelry.

[kate_nepveu]

Hmm. Interesting. They don't really feel the same to me, since I'm used to reading about Thieves' Guilds where the members get to be open about what they do, but if they were a secret . . .

[clarentine]

One of the elements of the concept of "guild" is licensure of the organization by the government. I don't think it's that much of a stretch to include intelligence operatives under this banner.