Blood Dragon on 28/1/2007 at 15:17
Hi, I haven't posted a thread for a long time.
I don't know whether this is discussed or not, if yes then please excuse me. I'm just a bit curious about Garrett's past. Do you have any idea why Garrett did not have parents and home? Was Garrett a burdon to them? Or was that very common during the Medieval time?
Personally I think that if Garrett hadn't followed Artemus to join the Keepers, he might not have survived long if he just picked pockets and ran messages.
R Soul on 28/1/2007 at 16:05
I think Garrett's past is left to our own imaginations. Although Thief obviously isn't genuinely medieval, it is set in a similar world, thus it should be easy to imagine lots of things that would turn children into orphans.
Quote:
he might not have survived long if he just picked pockets and ran messages
That's a good point, but remember that he already had some talent before the Keeper caught him (he could actually see the Keeper for instance). So I think it's safe to assume that he was good enough at picking pockets that he could steal enough money to get by, but because he lived in a poor part of the city, the amount of money made still wasn't very much.
Dia on 28/1/2007 at 16:40
Quote Posted by R Soul
I think Garrett's past is left to our own imaginations.
In my imagination, when Garrett was very, very young, a group of City Watch guards invaded his parents' home on the grounds that Garrett's father had been implicated in some sort of nefarious scheme against the local mayor (who was, of course, a petty tyrant). When his parents resisted arrest they were killed by the guards and Garrett escaped to the streets where he learned to steal in order to survive. A few years later when he tried to pickpocket a Keeper, the Keeper recognized Garrett's potential and the Keepers then ended up taking him in and trying their best to train him to become one of them. But being the rebellious sort and having become disillusioned with the Keepers, Garrett finally escaped back to the streets and to the only life he'd ever known before the Keepers.
Oh, and the guard that initiated the violence that ended the lives of Garrett's parents was, you guessed it, a young guard named Truart.
Howzzat for an imagination run amok! ;)
Vogelfrei on 28/1/2007 at 16:55
In my opinion it is an essential quality of Garrett to not have a past.
Dia: Not bad of a story (actually I had a quite similar design once for a protagonist) but for me it just won't fit in the Thief world. Not only because there is no mayor in the City but also because it makes Garrett sort of a predestined avenger and I never saw Truart as being of any importance, for he is such a weak character.
Dia on 28/1/2007 at 17:51
Given the fact that my memory isn't what it used to be, I always got the impression that Garrett had a serious dislike for Truart that seemed to extend beyond the fact that Truart was just plain dislikeable. Iirc, a couple of times in the Thief games it was just the way he said 'Truart' that made me wonder if they had some sort of unpleasant past. Once again, it's just my imagination afterall.
I didn't and don't see Garrett as a 'predestined avenger'; just a man who seemingly had good reason to hold a serious grudge. Imho.
Vogelfrei on 28/1/2007 at 18:18
Well, it is in the game, I guess. Garrett and his world are designed to be very open and if it works for you, that's fine. It just doesn't for me. For me, his anger on Truart is just a thief's anger about a sheriff who's making too many problems (oh, and selling people to Karras).
Elentari on 28/1/2007 at 20:19
I think thats one thing that makes the game and character so. . .gripping and keeps us coming back.
The characters AREN'T highly developed, and Garrett himself is not even a fully defined character. He's sketched out so we have a basic idea, but most of him - even his current personality, etc - is left to the imagination of the player. I mean, we get the basics. Enough of his background that we know why he's here and why he's doing this . . . but we don't get a lot of. . .him with it. We know he's cynical, somewhat a loner and he hates being manipulated by all this. But we don't really know what he is like during the quiet times, or any details about his past or even a lot about what motivates him (apart from money, but I mean as a person.)
Its all sketched out lightly - but most of the character is left up to you as the player. Hence everyone gets somewhat a different picture of him. Its also one reason fan-fiction doesn't work well. . .because to write it properly you would need to get inside his head. And once you're there you start on your own direction with him and most likely not in keeping with most other people's visions of him.
For his past. . .yeah, its completely up to you, as the player. And I think most of us have contrived little 'stories' of it in the back of our minds.
For me, his parents were travellers come to the city - for some unknown reason. He was very very young. Something happened and his father was killed by the guards (or Hammers, more likely), and the mother got sick somewhere in there, got a fever and died too. Someoen kept him until he was old enough to fend for himself before dumping him on the street and from there he goes to learning how to survive. But. . .my view of him also he's a LOT younger than most of you seem to feel. I don't know. I just don't see him as that old. *shrugs*.
I sort of like Dia's ideas. Though I'm not sure the Truart thing works. To me, anyway, Truart was not that old either. Between 35-40. If Garrett's between 25 and 30ish. . .Truart would have been too young at that time to do such a thing. Just a thought. :) I do like most of the idea though.
For some reason I always get the impression that Garrett's not 'native' to the City. He's lived there as long as he can remember. . .its the only home he really knows, but he does not originate from there. I don't know why.
But yeah, while these are not 'real' medieval times, the City does strike me as a place that there are a fair number of orphans. . .and they are not looked on kindly for the most part. Either they're caught and locked up in various institutes or are left to fend for themselves on the streets. Then of course there are always those nefarious schemes that get half of them killed, poor things.
Garriath on 29/1/2007 at 03:54
It's interesting reading these stories- they all work, yet I'd really never thought of any of them.
To me, Garrett's always been an orphan on his own in the streets of the City. I think growing up in a hostile city, knowing your parents abandoned you, and without any real relationships could easily lead to Garrett's independent, cynical attitude. This would make Artemus the first person he formed a connection with, which would make sense as to why Artemus is the only person Garrett listens to in the entire series (apart from, arguably, Viktoria.)
As for Garrett possessing an unnaturally unpleasant disposition to Truart, I really think that's explained by how Truart first almost puts him out of business (intro to Shipping and Recieving) and then orders his death. Garrett's main purpose, to me, has always been simply to satisfy his own expectations for himself- usually in pulling off his latest thieving expedition. The only points where this change, I think, are when his very few relationships come into play- namely, when Artemus and Viktoria need his help. I don't see vengeance- or even grudge-holding- as one of Garrett's prime traits. He seems to hate the City, but he doesn't really hesitate to save it.
That said, the Truart story is still fun to think about :p .
CD Set on 29/1/2007 at 21:13
Personally, I don't really cook up stories like that in the back of my head... since there could've been so many reasons for Garretts parents to die or abandon him.
If anything, I would say the most plausible reason he's an orphan is because his parents could not afford to have a child. Thus, they left him all alone in the streets and probably died soon thereafter...which is why they never appear in the series and are barely even mentioned. I think Garrett was too young at the time to remember them at all.
Also, I agree that it may be a reason for Garretts cynism... as if it ruined his trust in others completely.
Holywhippet on 29/1/2007 at 23:22
Didn't the very first movie in Thief have Garrett saying he doesn't remember his parents at all? The Thief games are like a Hollywood set - a lot of facing but not much behind them.
