kate_nepveu | Bittercon panel: Thieves Guilds and Other Criminal Societies

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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?

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From:

kate_nepveu

Yes, Vetinari knows just how to give you what you think you want, doesn't he?

So, the Thieves' Guild is a formalized expression of the tendency for illegal parts of the economy to be integrated in the legal?

From:

antonia-tiger.livejournal.com

Something like Las Vegas, yes.

From:

kate_nepveu

Which suggests that the Thieves' Guild needs an ad campaign a la Vegas's . . .

From:

rysmiel.livejournal.com

So, the Thieves' Guild is a formalized expression of the tendency for illegal parts of the economy to be integrated in the legal?

With House Jhereg as a more explicit examination of this than most ? Given a reasonable balance of power, I mean; the extralegal who has enough influence and power to be genuinely outside the law is a different trope - I was thinking Johnny Marcone when I started that sentence, but it's also a spookily close fit for Bruce Wayne.

From:

kate_nepveu

Seems like an interesting hypothesis to me, anyway. Suddenly I wish I could remember the plot of _Orca_ in a lot more detail.

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