The main themei n Thief 1 is an emphasis of humanity's shortcomings. To some extent, Thief 1 emphasizes the struggle between greed, fanatic theism, and antigenism (i.e. a fundamental belief that nature prevails over humans). These three fundamental forces are the drive of the majority of humanity these days, and many interlap. Each is represented by a faction in Thief 1, although this does not mean that factions don't cross-posess these characteristics. Let us examine each in more detail.

What is greed? Greed is the drive to acquire. It is one of the instinctual, Freudian drives in the human psyche. The origin of greed is the fundamental instinct of "the more I have, the longer I will last." This is concurrent with laws of evolution. Greed is not, however, an evolutionary feature of lower intellects. Rather, greed is a by-product of evolution of humanity. Unlike other egotistic desires present in all higher orders of intelligence, greed has no limits - no visible boundaries that prevent it from morphing the behavior of its exhbitor. Greed has been known to turn the tamest and most kindly scholar into a fierce murderer. Capitalism proves that greed is prevalent. Greed can be all-encompassing, as well: greed for love is known as jealousy, and greed for pleasure as lust.

In Thief, greed surfaces in a number of places. First of all, in the Lord Bafford and Assassins missions, the player explores the mansions of self-proclaimed "nobles" who have made greed a central element of their life. Second, the player hears mentions of the Baron, a character who is never physically encountered. Third, the player's character, Garrett, is the personification of greed. Despite arguments to the contrary, Garrett is a thief, and stealing is merely a manifestation of greed. In the bigger picture, one can see that greed is constantly at battle with the aforementioned fanatic theism.

What is fanatic theism? Although not encountered as often or as superficially as greed, fanatic theism is nevertheless an important driving force behind many human leaders. Fanatic theism refers to a zealous belief in ancient scripture. By "zealous," I mean a belief that disregards all other theories and dismisses them as not worth examining. This is what drove Hitler. It is what drove the Turks against the Armenians, and it is what drives every hate war our disoriented and vile race has fought. Fanatic theism can vary in shade greatly. Whereas some fanatic theism may contain some merit (as defined socially) in it, others simply throw away the stability of neutrality completely, and take a far side. On the political scale, the far right and far left sides are actually fanatical theists, as are fundamentalist Christians. Fanatical theism is an outgrowth of emotion, rather than an evolved trait (if emotion is taken as part of paleoanthropology, rather than evolutionary biology). All fanatical theisms are unified behind a prejudice of one belief over another. Most of them are also contrary to greed. This may be hard to believe, but greed is never (or almost so) an intentional product of fanatical theism. Fanatical theisms dismiss greed as an enemy to the beliefs they contain - after all, to them greed is all-encompassing, and a so disgraceful human instinct. It is in direct conflict with the notion that a human must be prepared to sacrifice himself for a *greater* good than himself (altruistic, as opposed to egotistic).

In Thief, we have the Hammerites, a perfect example of self-proclaimed fanatics. The Hammerite sect repeatedly proves that they have disgust for most other people and facitons in the game - particularly the Pagans. They have no right to this disgust, but it seems that society teaches us in such a way that we readily accept this disgust as valid. As you will later see, the Mechanists of Thief 2 quickly disperse any such belief in the goodness of fanatical laws. We are taught morals by fanatics: that is no secret. We may live our entire life without ever knowing whether the morals we have learned are the truth or merely a lie told from some perspective. Such is the case with every member of the Order of the Hammer. Greed does not even come into play here, because the Hammer faiths hold too much antagonism for it. It cannot become a part of the Hammer order when it contradicts every one of their fundamental proclamations. As we will later see, the Mechanists change that, as well. Fanatical theists often fight between themselves when their principles conflict. In fact, antigenism is a more all-encompassing example of this.

What is antigenism? Antigenism is an unnatural form of fanatic theism. It cannot be attributed to the human race. Antitheism is the belief that humanity is worthless. I could not give you a real-world example of a true antigenist, because they are far and few in between. In fact, no individual member of Humanity has a right to claim that Humanity can be discarded like paper. Some people have claimed that whatever deity exists (or does not exist) will eventually take a stab at humanity and wipe us out. Antigenism is one of the ways in which the ruling class kept its underlings within constant reach throughout history. Think back to the Devil. The Devil is defined as an antigenist, and underlings are threatened with the Devil far more than once in Christianity. This is one of the reasons for Christianity's frailty as a worthy religion. [note: Christianity can be very hard to follow blindly; harder than, for instance, Judaism, or some of the Eastern religions. An example of a religion that seems to be even more misinterpreted is Islam, but that is only my own personal bias. There are enough honest Muslims].

The Trickster in Thief is a complex character to analyze. Obviously, he is free of greed, and has an unnatural hatred for humans. Whether ripping Garrett's eye out was a display of the former or the latter does not matter. What matters is that the Trickster represents a force that is alien to humans on its own, but in no way foreign when taken on a larger scale. The fanatic theists and antigenists share a very important feature: genocide. Genocide refers to the selective (or all-encompassing) destruction of men. Whether the target is humanity in general, as is the case with the Trickster, or victims of some ridiculous prejudice, as is the case with the Hammers, genocide is an undeniable aspect of human nature. We could debate for a very long time if genocide is a natural instinct or an emotional outspurt. The Hammers fight the Trickster vehemently, and the Trickster fights the Hammers with at least as much strength. The antigenism of the Trickster can be attributed to a dislike of the morals imposed by cvilization, but that is getting into details.

So, then, what is the prevailing theme of Thief 1? That question cannot be answered without looking at the final faction: the Keepers. The engimatic sect is not interested in greed or fanaticism. Keepers are interested only in control, and survival. The question, "What is a Keeper?" is answered relatively well. The Keepers are moderators. They rely on knowledge, and they rest on a higher point in the fourth dimension than the other factions in the game. The moral is this: every war - every single struggle, animosity, and destructive wave in history - as well as every disagreement and every hardship, every social belief and every differing custom - can be cast down to a remarkable similarity from a point above. The Keepers do this very well in Thief. What of our own world? Question: what is the difference between blacks and whites? Whites and Indians? Nazis and Jews? What is the difference between rich and poor? What is the difference between strong and weak? Do these differences matter to a higher intelligence? What is the meaning of "nationality" or "location" to an eye looking at the Earth from its orbit? How much attention is paid to a wolf stalking a rabbit, other than curious stares and an occsional moan of imagined pain as a condescender places himself into the shoes of the rabbit? The underlying theme of both Thiefs: We fool ourselves with our importance. The particular theme in Thief 1 is that nothing is (as it may be)Black and White, the Thief world is of shades of grey. This fact is not so visible with the Thief 2 world, but Thief 2 carries a more perspicuous message. Thief 1 points out that in the conflict between the three (or two, if you wish to be technical) sentiments [note: and there are more than three, actually], no one ever comes entirely clean or entirely dirty.

What is Thief 2's message, then? Thief 2 is, to some extent, a satire that personifies technology, glorifies it on the basis of prosperity, and then immediately proves it dangerous to society. Technology can spark greed even within the fanatic, Thief 2 exclaims. The Mechanists prove that fanaticism and greed can coexist where there is technology. Is this not true? Genocide requires a carrier. As technology develops, society quickly retrogresses in its emotional and physical fitness. Technology can turn a zealot into a greedy beast, and it can turn a greedy beast into a maniac. Genocide no longer seems so far removed from greed, does it now? Greed can lead to genocide just as well as fanaticism. The only difference between the two mediums is the reason. In the case of fanaticism, it is a "moral" belief. In the case of greed, it is a desire to acquire. In both cases, genocide remains genocide. Thief 2 points out that technology can be as dangerous as chaos. Chaos, of course, refers to the Trickster and Pagans.

This leaves Thief 3. What could the Keepers have possibly said to us that would complete this image?

Ed. Note: Thief has an "emergent narrative." This means that the theme depends partly on how you play, and is open to interpretation. The disclaimer is that this is my view of the theme. Your theme may vary.