Skyrim Thieves Guild Guide: Quest Order & Fences
You join the Thieves Guild by talking to Brynjolf in Riften (the market by day, the Bee and Barb inn at night). There are 12 primary quests, but the last one, Under New Management (becoming Guild Master), also requires four "reputation" quests, each unlocked by finishing five jobs in one of four holds. Finishing the primary quests alone will not start it. You can begin the jobs at any time once you are a full member, meaning after Taking Care of Business (UESP).
Sources and scope. This follows these UESP pages, checked on 13 November 2026: Thieves Guild (faction) (revision of 15 June 2026), Under New Management (13 October 2026), Darkness Returns (1 April 2025), Blindsighted (16 August 2026), Taking Care of Business (14 June 2026) and the other quest pages. We last confirmed the game version as Special Edition 1.7.104 on 10 September 2026. I did not launch the game to test any of this. It follows UESP as written and assumes no mods or unofficial patches.
How to join
- Talk to Brynjolf in Riften. He asks about your wealth and offers a "little plot", which starts A Chance Arrangement.
- Steal Madesi's Silver Ring and plant it on Brand-Shei. If you fail, Brynjolf still gives you the next quest (UESP).
- Go through the Ratway to the Ragged Flagon, the guild's headquarters. The entrance is an inconspicuous gate on Riften's lower level, with enemies on the way.
- Finish Taking Care of Business to become a full member. The reward is three leveled potions, depending on how you resolved each debt.
Getting expelled. Assaulting or murdering a member, getting caught stealing from the guild, or killing someone during a guild quest gets you expelled. Rejoining costs 1,000 gold in Reparations (UESP).
The 12 primary quests in order
| # | Quest | Giver | Where / what | Notes (UESP) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A Chance Arrangement | Brynjolf | Riften. Steal a ring and plant it | Reward 100 gold. You can continue even if you fail |
| 2 | Taking Care of Business | Brynjolf | Riften. Collect three debts (Keerava, Bersi Honey-Hand, Haelga) | Full membership. Bronze achievement "Taking Care of Business" |
| 3 | Loud and Clear | Brynjolf | Goldenglow Estate. Burn three beehives, take the bill of sale from the safe | Leveled gold reward |
| 4 | Dampened Spirits | (Maven Black-Briar) | Honningbrew Meadery. Sabotage a rival brewer | Unlocks fence Mallus Maccius. Leveled enchanted one-handed weapon |
| 5 | Scoundrel's Folly | Mercer Frey | Winking Skeever (Solitude), East Empire Company Warehouse | Unlocks fence Gulum-Ei. Upgraded guild armor |
| 6 | Speaking With Silence | Mercer Frey | Snow Veil Sanctum (northeast of Windhelm), tracking Karliah | Reward: Gallus' Encoded Journal |
| 7 | Hard Answers | Karliah | Enthir in Winterhold and Calcelmo in Understone Keep, Markarth. Make a rubbing, with paper and charcoal, of the stone tablet (the Falmer Translation Guide) needed to translate the journal | Unlocks fence Enthir. Reward: Nightingale Blade |
| 8 | The Pursuit | Karliah | Riftweald Manor. Break into Mercer's house and take his plans | Reward: Chillrend |
| 9 | Trinity Restored | Brynjolf | Nightingale Hall. Become a Nightingale | Reward: Nightingale Armor |
| 10 | Blindsighted | Brynjolf | Irkngthand. Kill Mercer Frey and recover the Skeleton Key | Followers cannot come in. Rewards: Nightingale Bow, Skeleton Key, both Eyes of the Falmer |
| 11 | Darkness Returns | Karliah | Twilight Sepulcher. Return the Skeleton Key to Nocturnal | Choose a Nightingale power (UESP's quest stages call it "Choose Nightingale Role") |
| 12 | Under New Management | None | Guild Master ceremony | Requires the four reputation quests and Darkness Returns |
The jobs Under New Management needs
To become Guild Master you must finish five of Delvin's or Vex's radiant jobs in each of four holds: Whiterun, the Reach (Markarth), Eastmarch (Windhelm) and Haafingar (Solitude). At five, Delvin offers that hold's reputation quest. UESP lists them as follows.
| Hold | Reputation quest | When done |
|---|---|---|
| Whiterun | Imitation Amnesty | You can bribe guards in that hold to clear a bounty |
| The Reach (Markarth) | Silver Lining | Unlocks fence Endon / bribe guards in that hold |
| Eastmarch (Windhelm) | Summerset Shadows | Unlocks fence Niranye / bribe guards in that hold |
| Haafingar (Solitude) | The Dainty Sload | Bribe guards in that hold |
- Two people hand out jobs. Delvin gives The Numbers Job, The Fishing Job and The Bedlam Job; Vex gives The Burglary Job, The Shill Job, The Sweep Job and The Heist Job. You can hold one job from each at a time.
- Locations are random, regardless of how many you have already done in a hold. If you get a hold you have finished, quit the job and draw again. Quit jobs are just logged as failed, with almost no consequence, UESP says.
- Two jobs can finish together. If Vex's and Delvin's jobs fall in the same hold and the stolen item's value also counts toward Delvin's Bedlam job, one theft advances both (UESP).
- The Reach (Markarth) offers fewer jobs, so take any you are given there (UESP).
- The Rift is excluded. The guild already has influence there, and finishing Taking Care of Business lets you bribe Rift guards (UESP).
- You may be sent to Raven Rock (Solstheim) for Bedlam or Fishing. The Bedlam job there is bugged and cannot be completed; Fishing works normally, but Solstheim has no matching reputation quest (UESP).
- If you finished Darkness Returns first, Under New Management starts automatically when you complete the last reputation quest.
Each reputation quest adds a merchant to the Ragged Flagon: the bowyer Syndus after the first, the apothecary Herluin Lothaire after the second, the blacksmith Arnskar Ember-Master after the third and the blacksmith Vanryth Gatharian after the fourth. The third and fourth also add a guild recruit each (UESP).
When each fence unlocks
Fences are merchants who buy stolen goods (which clears the stolen mark); with the Fence perk you can also sell to merchants you have invested in (UESP). The guild's fences carry a lot of gold: 1,000 at the start, up to 4,000 gold once all four reputation quests are done (UESP). Enthir is the exception and stays at 500.
| Fence | Location | Quest that unlocks them |
|---|---|---|
| Tonilia | Ragged Flagon (Riften) | Taking Care of Business |
| Mallus Maccius | Honningbrew Meadery (near Whiterun) | Dampened Spirits |
| Gulum-Ei | Winking Skeever (Solitude) | Scoundrel's Folly |
| Enthir | College of Winterhold | Hard Answers |
| Endon | Wanders around Markarth | Silver Lining (reputation quest) |
| Niranye | Windhelm marketplace | Summerset Shadows (reputation quest) |
| Atahbah, Ma'jhad, Zaynabi | Khajiit caravans | Thieves Guild Caravan Fence Quest |
Where players get stuck
- Taking Care of Business: the third debtor folds at once. Collect in any order; after two are done, the last has heard how you dealt with the others and pays immediately (UESP). Talking to Brynjolf reveals each weakness: Keerava's family, Bersi's fragile urn, Haelga's devotion to Dibella. The detail about Keerava's family comes from Talen-Jei in the inn (UESP).
- Hard Answers: a bug can stop Enthir from talking. If you have started but not finished "The Staff of Magnus" or "The Eye of Magnus", Enthir repeats one line and you cannot progress (UESP). UESP only describes the bug and gives no workaround.
- Blindsighted: no followers. The entrance is at the top of the ruins, and the path up is winding (UESP).
- The Skeleton Key is a temporary reward. UESP's list of guild benefits labels it "temporary". You recover it in Blindsighted and return it to Nocturnal in Darkness Returns.
- Tonilia: the armor-upgrade line can block her other dialogue. If you have no upgradable guild armor you cannot finish her remaining quests or earn "One with the Shadows"; this was only partly fixed. Spare armor is in the Ragged Flagon Cistern (UESP).
- A Shrine of Nocturnal appears in the Ragged Flagon Cistern after Darkness Returns. The shrine grants the Blessing of Nocturnal; separately, UESP's guild page describes the Nightingale ability as three interchangeable unique powers.
A route we suggest (our judgment)
This part is our own suggestion, not from UESP. Radiant jobs can start right after you join and run alongside the primary quests. Hard Answers takes you to Markarth, Scoundrel's Folly to Solitude and Speaking With Silence to Windhelm, so take one or two jobs whenever you head toward those cities and you will make fewer extra trips. UESP also notes that Vex's and Delvin's jobs in the same hold can be finished together.
What I could not verify
- Actual in-game behavior (this transcribes UESP as written).
- Recommended levels per quest: UESP's pages are not consistent about them.
- The names and effects of the three Nightingale powers (not covered here).
- Whether official patches since August 2026 changed any guild quest.
Sources
- UESP "Skyrim:Thieves Guild (faction)" (primary and radiant quests, fence table, bugs; revision of 15 June 2026)
- UESP "Skyrim:Under New Management" (prerequisites; updated 13 October 2026)
- UESP "Skyrim:Taking Care of Business", "Hard Answers", "Blindsighted", "Darkness Returns", "Trinity Restored", "Scoundrel's Folly"